Date

"Take your time making your choice, esteemed customers, simply ring the bell when you are done and a waiter shall come immediately" a polite, middle-aged man with a fabulous, twirling moustache bowed a slight bit before quietly exiting a private room, the door sliding shut into deafening silence for a few instants.

"What's the matter? Look at the menu and take your pick" Edrick was rather amused looking at Hui looking way out of her depth, naturally, he had taken her to a nice restaurant where they could get served in a separate area and with rather expensive items on the menu.

The mousy librarian was doing a poor job of trying not to appear stressed and anxious, looking at what was available, and then at the prices, she swallowed her saliva and looked at Anoteros.

"S-Sir? This is all rather costly…"

"I know, but no worries, I'll pay for you" he said with a reassuring tone, knowing well that Hui was worried specifically because he was the one paying for her, watching the girl trying to find the right words and just turn all red was certainly entertaining, but he eventually spoke again.

"Just pick whatever, I won't hold it against you, I took you here, so enjoy yourself and relax, Even if you pick the most expensive things twice, it won't put a dent in my treasury" he waved her concerns off, she still looked a bit worried but heeded by his words and the bell was soon rung.

A young waiter arrived and took their orders in a swift fashion.

"So, Hui… Do tell me about yourself" Edrick leaned forward and rested his chin on the back of his hands, the girl readjusted her glasses with a somewhat shaky hand.

"I- I was born here in Oie, actually… I am the only child of the family, even for the most modest, living in Oie means that my family was doing pretty good for itself, but just before I was born, my father left, so I was only raised by my mother…"

"That explains a lot"

"Huh?"

"Go on"

"...Hum… After my father left, the household lost its only source of revenue, but things were fine still as we had ample savings and my mother took a job as a seller for a local merchant, but things really turned for the worse when I was…" she paused as if uncertain "...Something like fifteen? Sixteen maybe? My mother fell ill and could no longer work, and so, I had to go into debt to afford her treatment, she got better but the amount of money I had to pay back was astronomical and just kept on increasing with interest… And that's why I joined the sect! As a disciple here, the people I owe money to can't do anything"

"The elders are very unkind about such things, so they can only hope that I get kicked out to get their money, but I managed to land a job as a librarian and things have been pretty good since then!"

"Your mother is fine?" questioned Anoteros.

"Huh, she actually passed away about a year ago…" Hui scratched her cheek, realising that talking about being in debt on a date was actually a pretty poor move, but Edrick didn't seem to care about that at all.

"So you've got no family left at all?"

"Well… I guess that if my father is still alive, I do… But I wouldn't even be capable of recognising the guy" she responded, not thinking much about it, her father being absent was something she had lived with since the very beginning and her mother's death didn't really weigh on her either, people dying was fairly common, it was honestly surprising such a frail woman had lived as long as she had on top of having a child so late.

"I see" Edrick considered this a good point, he wasn't a big fan of dealing with a step-family, and this would mean that if he decided to keep Hui, that he would be her only family.

Just as they were discussing this, the food arrived, just prepared by a skilled chef, Edrick had ordered today's special meal, which was a soup containing the cooked head of a sheep, although he found it rather odd that food and cuisine around here was incredibly diverse and included what most in his old world would have qualified as disgusting with just a glance, he was rather pleased as he took food very seriously and had the occasion to test many new things and more unconventional parts of animals.

Coincidentally, Hui had ordered the same thing, she didn't mean to mimic Edrick, the librarian just happened to find it rather appetising.

The waiter was quick to depart and once again, it was just the two of them.

Beginning to take apart the meat on the sheep's skull, Edrick asked another question.

"What do you do besides working at the library?"

Hui took a sip of the soup, understanding that getting roughed up by him didn't count as an answer, the heat of the soup covered her glasses with steam.

"Well… I know that might sound like it's also a part of my job… But bookbinding and restoration are things I really enjoy doing, in fact, I am quite fond of books in general… In my spare time, I like to translate books from other languages, decipher old tomes that were written in older variations… The sect has quite a few books that are in pieces, the pages have all detached and such… I often try to put them back together and fix things up… I also hand write copies of manuals and such…" she explained, feeling she was really passing off as a bookworm and nothing else.

But it was true that her life was mostly subject to the confines of the library, it was where she had discovered her hobbies, where she worked, and even where she had encountered love…

"That's pretty interesting, so you can speak a variety of languages? And even know some of their older versions?"

"Huh? Ah, yes! Nimeri is considered the common language of Cangea and is spoken and written pretty much everywhere, but there are many others that are still in usage! Durhurri, Loronaii and Arvish are still largely in use amongst their respective populations, namely, the orcs, demons and elves! Although they have plenty of variations depending on the region and all…"

"...Nowadays, people seem to think that as long as you know Nimeri, you can communicate with everyone from anywhere, well, at least on the continent… This is true to an extent but that doesn't take into account the fact that Nimeri is subject to changes and deformations in many places… As people somewhat meld their own language with it… Overtime these changes become commonplace and you may run into someone from another country that just speaks gibberish to you despite technically using Nimeri, so you see-"

Edrick just let her ramble on, only interrupting to remind her not to let the food run cold.

He had not suspected that the girl he had been using as a meat-toy was so knowledgeable, in fact, it seemed like he had really decided to go after the one outer disciple working as a librarian that had such a keen interest in something.

Anoteros licked his teeth, he quite liked that.