Chapter 39 – The Hunt and the prey
After walking over quite a bit of places that turned him away from being too overcrowded already he found one place where a few tables were just recently vacated and went inside.
Waiter walked him to the table of four that was just vacated and cleaned it quickly while Noah sat down. Then he was handed a menu and asked if he could bring him something to drink. Noah ordered some light wine that was usually watered down to make it less an alcoholic beverage and more of a juice and started to choose his dish while the waiter walked to pour his drink.
Noah never found it strange that menus and books have such a wonderful realistic painting in them. After all, people with high level painters skills in a few moments could make a picture so realistic you would not make a difference with real scene at all, however in the stories that he read at night he noticed that that strange world where people of CS lived in had such painting too. Yet from the looks of it they did not have the systems and skills in their world. How were they making them then? That piques his interest, making him sink in thoughts and not noticing how the waiter returned to his table.
*Khe-khem. Drew his attention waiter when he stood near the table unnoticed by Noah
"Oh. Yes. I am sorry. I would like…" Started to say Noah apologetically.
"Excuse me customer. Before that. Would you be willing to share a table with three other customers that have just arrived?" Asked the waiter, interrupting him. "We are quite packed and this table has only enough free spots to fit their company.
Noah looked at the people that stood behind the waiter with a strange look for a few moments.
"I don't mind." He said finally with a smile.
"Thank you, sir." Said the waiter and turned to the people behind him. "Please have a seat."
"So you have made your choice?" Asked waiter while the three people sat at his table.
"Umm. Yeah. Just a daily dish would be enough. Thank you."
"Alright." Said waiter and turned to the new arrivals. "Can I bring you something to drink while you choose?"
"Some light wine is fine, thank you. Said the large man that sat down across the table from Noah."
"I will take beer…"
"Light wine for all three of us." Said the large man interrupting the guy that sat near Noah.
Waiter looked at them with raised brow and seeing as the man that wanted beer shut up, nodded.
"Thee light wines it is then. I'll be right back." Said the waiter and walked away.
"No alcohol before the mission." Said the large man gazing firmly at his companion.
"Tssk." Voiced his disapproval at the guy sitting near Noah, but did not comment on it in any other way.
"Thank you for letting us join." Said the large man looking over at Noah from across the table. "It's really hard to find a nice place with empty spots in market districts at lunch."
"No problem." Said Noah giving a slight smile, barely smiling at all just for propriety.
"I am, Jake." Introduced himself the large man. "This is Kail." He added pointing with his head at the lean man sitting near him. "And that's Boby." He said, nodding at the guy that sat near Noah.
"Noah." He answered by introducing himself in return.
"I think I've seen you before, Noah. You're the Guild as well?" Asked Jake.
Noah peered at him for a moment.
"Yeah. I am an adventurer if you mean that guild."
"Oh you aren't local ain't ya?" Said Boby.
"No. How did you guess?" Asked Noah.
"Locals all call adventurer guild as The Guild usually." Answered Kail from across the table. "As most people here are exactly for the benefits brought by Labyrinth, Adventurer guild is considered the town's center place. All other guilds are usually named as Alchemist or Merchant guild." He explained.
"I see." Said Noah.
"Me and Boby are locals." Said Jake. "Kail came here from another part of the country and decided to stay as a part of our team. We are one team. Called Green Giant. Heard of us?" Asked Jake.
"No, sorry." Said Noah shaking his head. "I am here for just a few days. Registered just recently. Don't know anyone in town yet, except guild attendant."
"Well, it's nice to be your first acquaintance in town then."
"So you are F-rank?" Asked Kail.
"No, I was raised to E, just this morning."
"Raised to E? But you said you just registered a few days ago." Asked Boby
"Yeah. Something to do with my rangers skills or something. Was promoted faster than usual."
"Hold on. Are you the Tamer with an alpha wolf that was just promoted." Asked Jake.
"Am I so well known ready?"
"Seriously? What a coincidence." Said Jake "We were just talking about you while walking here."
"About me?" Asked Noah raising the brow.
"Wait so he is the guy?" Asked Boby raising his voice.
"Yeah." Said Kail. "It looks like he's the one."
"I see." Said "Jake. That makes our acquaintance even more welcome."
"So what were you talking abou?" Asked Noah.
"That was a bullshit idea to add an E-rank newbie to a serious mission like that." Said Boby.
"Oh you also received the order? Wait, you know what the mission is?"
"Yeah." I am going to be a person in charge of it on the field." Said Jake.
"Oh. So will I be your ballast bringing problems in the mission." Said Noah nodding.
"You will be a problem for yourself there man." Said Boby. "You could die there, you know? This time it's not a walk in a park. We're gonna have a hard fight there."
"I see. And my skills are too subpar to participate."
"Well, not necessarily." Said Kail. "We have enough fighters. You are listed for your rangers skills. If everything goes well, rangers would not need to participate in close combat fights much."
"I see. So what's the mission if you don't mind telling me in advance."
"Well as you are in the team you can know. We're gonna raid the fake village of criminals tonight." Said Boby whispering it to Noah's ear.
"Boby." Said Jake firmly.
"What? He's in the team."
"Don't go spreading it around, Noah." Said Jake. "An information leak may cause a lot of problems and make it even harder for your own survival. Do get ready well though, now that you know what's waiting for you."
"Alright." Said Noah. "I understand."
******
"So what's the deal with the guy?" Asked a brown skinned girl with a beret on her head, while sipping from her mug.
"I don't know. Just doing the guild's job." Said the man sitting across from her.
They sat at a small table barely enough for two in the corner of the eatery.
"Come on, Rey, do you take me for an idiot?" Asked the woman. "I am doing you a favor you forgot? You're the one coming up to me for help."
"I really don't know, Keena. There are some circumstances that made Jake agree to the job. That's enough for me."
"Jake did not tell you?" Asked the woman, surprised. "Must be some top notch secret then. But from the looks of it, he seems like a usual newbie to me."
"I agree. That's why we need to be vigilant. It may be either just a mistake or he is a great actor. But there must have been a great deal of a reason for the guild to mark him."
"Well whatever the reason it actually benefits me quite a lot." Said Keena smiling at Rey. "I get to have lunch with you finally." She said with a flirty voice and Rey felt how something touched his calf.
"We are on the job, Keena." Said Rey flustered, while feeling his companions foot rubbing his leg.
"That is a part of the cover. We are love birds on a date aren't we?" She said gazing at him demurely.
"Can you be serious here, please?" Said Rey with a blush.
"Oh, I am serious, Rey." She said while something moved under her beret. And a black furry tail showed up from behind her back, swaying slightly from side to side. She licked her lips looking at Rey with a hungry look. "I am good at my job. Hunting is my best skill. And I am very serious about catching a rabbit that dares to escape me all the time." She said while her leg traveled even higher on the inner side of his leg, making him jump a bit, hitting the table and making his blush even deeper.
******
Noah exited the establishment after the lunch saying goodbye to his new acquaintances. And went to continue his tour around the city.
/So what do you think, system?/ Asked Noah in his head.
*We are in trouble.* Answered the voice from within his mind.
/But how did we mess up?/
*I can't tell as of now. I can't find any mistake we could have made. However all point to the same answer.* Said system
/That I am under surveillance./ Said Noah watching at the pictures that were showing up in the corner of his view, unseen to anyone but him.
One picture showed his previous day in the adventurers guild. Or to be exact the pictures from his eyes point of view, showing the moment when he threw a glance of the hall with people watching in his direction from the second floor balcony.
The other picture showed his view on the table in the corner of the establishment he just exited from. The one where the same man from the first picture, sat now with a beautiful dark skinned girl pretending to not know the Jake guy he was sitting with and watching him in the first picture.
Third picture showed a group of people that he had in his scope of view while reading the menu. That group of people went down from the second floor, clearing a big table there with their exit. So why were these three people led to his table?
/They sat with me on purpose. Probably a paying waiter to pretend they had no space, when they saw me sitting alone. Waiter clearly nodded in farewell when the group went out, so he knew there was another table. That's what made me suspicious./ Said Noah. /But now that you found these images in my memory, there is no doubt about it. These people are surveiling me./
*But what is the purpose of making an acquaintance with you?*
/I suspect it has something to do with what that Boby guy said. Or to be exact, what that Jake guy let him say. He knows the guy well. Stopped him before he could ask for a drink, but did not manage to stop him from blabbering the mission's contents? Sounds like a play to me./
*So what did they want to achieve with it?*
/They want to see what I am going to do after finding out./
*So what are we going to do?*
/The best thing a guy in my position can do. Pretend to be small, cute and innocent and do absolutely nothing./ Said Noah with a smirk.