༺ The Ashen Witch ༻
District 4 of the Empire was a place difficult for ordinary people to access. It wasn’t that there were particular restrictions, but the atmosphere there made it so.
The streets were extravagant, ant for the aristocrats boasting imnse wealth and power, filled with the Empire’s most luxurious 5-star hotels and departnt stores brimming with all sorts of high-end goods.
We were standing right there.
Despite it being the festival season, District 4 was not as crowded as the other districts.
However, those walking the streets were all aristocrats or their servants. Except for the two of us, there was no one around who wasn’t attended by a servant.
“Instructor, Instructor Graham. Are you sure this is the place? Shouldn’t we turn back now?”
“…It’ll be okay.”
With Instructor Lirya, who was nervously looking around as if she had co to a place she should not be, we headed to the restaurant that Sylvia had reserved.
As expected from the mont we heard about the district, the location of the restaurant Sylvia had reserved was extraordinary.
Hotel Arcadia. The most luxurious and premium hotel in the Empire where foreign royals and VIP guests stayed. And ‘Hil Garden’ was a restaurant located within the Hotel Arcadia.
The restaurant, befitting its na of ‘Heavenly Garden’, was adorned with bright white marble and radiated a bright and vibrant atmosphere. Even the palace could be faintly seen beyond the windows.
Instructor Lirya looked around the restaurant with her mouth slightly open. After looking down at the dress she was wearing, she tightly grabbed my sleeve with a face that had gone pale, seemingly thinking this was all wrong.
“I, I really shouldn’t have co here! I’m not even dressed for a place like this…!”
“I think you fit in just fine.”
“That…! That’s kind of you to say, but… The woman over there is Mrs. Lemong, the wife of the rchant Guild leader, and those over there are the Mayor of the Empire and his wife! And everyone else here is an incredible aristocrat, and to reserve a place like this so easily, there must be so misunderstanding. This is not a place you can get into just because you have money…!”
“……”
In my view, it was more surprising that Instructor Lirya, just by looking at their faces, knew who all these people were.
And it piqued my curiosity. It was strange to see a gentry-born person, who was an academy instructor, a job nothing to be ashad of, and had a deep knowledge of the upper class, feeling so resistant to high society.
I was slightly concerned about what kind of environnt Instructor Lirya grew up in that led her to have such a mindset.
Regardless of my thoughts, Instructor Lirya gripped my sleeve tightly and spoke.
“Ah, anyway… I don’t fit in places like this. It’s not too late, we can still-“
“Right. You country bumpkins are an eyesore here. Can you stop blocking the way and move aside?”
The one who said that was not , but an ashen-haired woman in a flashy dress standing behind us. Lirya’s eyes widened at the sight of the woman’s audacious dress that exposed a dizzying amount of her back and chest.
But it was not her attire that surprised . Seeing that I was surprised upon recognizing her face, Lirya asked curiously.
“Do you know her…?”
I slightly shook my head.
I did not personally know her, but I recognized her face.
She was the Chief Mage of the Imperial Palace Mage Corps and a companion of the Hero.
‘Ashen Witch’ Greta von Runhardt.
Flicking her characteristic ashen hair aside, she spoke with a sharp voice.
“The fact that such country bumpkins can walk in here so nonchalantly… the managent here is really lax. Seems like Hotel Arcadia’s standards have fallen.”
Greta tried to brush past and walk into the restaurant, but she failed to push aside. Instead, she lost her balance and stumbled backward.
Her face scrunched up as if she could not understand the situation.
“What the hell? You’re not so boulder… Ahem, hey, you! How dare you not move out of the way while the Chief Mage is walking- Huh?”
She put a hand on her hip and glared at aggressively. Upon doing so, Greta’s eyes widened and her lips slightly parted in surprise.
Her stunned eyes were only for a mont; she humd with interest and unabashedly scrutinized my face. Her gaze was mixed with the deep avarice typical of a mage.
“At this level, well… it’s not bad. Yes. You’re worth showing around for a bit. You, what’s your na?”
I responded to her question with silence.
Greta’s eyebrows subtly furrowed at my silence.
“…Right, so you’re playing hard to get, huh? I’ll let it slide this ti. Do you want to enter this restaurant? If you want, I can guide you in. But not your country bumpkin little sister.”
At the words “little sister”, Instructor Lirya flinched slightly, but although she seed to recognize Greta, she didn’t say a word, instead casting anxious glances between and Greta.
“Not just this restaurant. I can even take you to the Imperial Palace Ball. Have you ever been to the palace? Of course you haven’t. But I can make it possible. Because I’m the Hero’s companion and the Chief Mage of the palace, Greta von Runhardt. You’ve obviously heard my na, right? So acknowledge it as an honor and-“
“That’s enough.”
Recently, I’ve been running into unwanted faces wherever I go.
Seeing no end to her words if I let her continue, I firmly cut her off. Unintentionally, my voice was colder and heavier than usual.
Upon hearing my stern rejection, Greta furrowed her brow and could not hide her discomfort.
“……Ah, is that so? I see I’m kicking my own fortune away. Well, have fun amongst yourselves, country bumpkins.”
With that, she flipped her ashen hair and strutted away. This ti, instead of trying to push past , she stepped slightly aside and walked around. And then, she confidently spoke to the staff standing at the entrance.
“You know who I am, right? Lead to my seat.”
“…Ms. Greta, pardon , but did you make a reservation?”
“Huh? Don’t you know who I am? I’m Greta von Runhardt, the Chief Mage of the Imperial Palace. If I wish to use this restaurant, should I have to notify all of you?”
“I’m really sorry, but due to the large number of guests during the Victory Festival, we’ve been advising for two months now that reservations are a must. Even if you are Ms. Greta, without a reservation, you cannot use our facilities.”
“What? Are you out of your mind? Are you talking like this knowing that my father is the Grand Mage? He doesn’t tolerate disrespect. If he finds out and drops a teorite on this hotel, will you be the one responsible?”
“I apologize once again, but even if Mr. Runhardt himself ca here, without a reservation, he cannot be accommodated.”
“You… you dare… to in, insult…!”
Greta, her face reddening, glared angrily at the clerk for a while.
Several custors in the restaurant looked this way due to the commotion, and eventually, Greta turned around, unable to hide her humiliation.
I passed by her and approached the entrance with Instructor Lirya. Seeing this, a smile spread on Greta’s face. It was a smile as if to mock, ‘Do you think you, of all people, can get in here when even I couldn’t?’
“Welco, guests. Could you please tell the na of the reservation?”
“It’s under the na Eon Graham.”
“Eon, Graham… here it is. You made a reservation for two, correct? I will guide you to your seats imdiately.”
“What…!”
Greta shouted at the clerk in a mix of anger and disbelief.
“Hold on, why can he get in and I can’t!?”
“Eon made a reservation, Ms. Greta, you did not.”
“But still, how could you allow such lowlifes… Eon Graham? Ha! The na tells he’s not even a noble!”
Ignoring Greta, who was seething with rage, I followed the clerk into the restaurant with Instructor Lirya.
Glancing back, Instructor Lirya sent a worried look.
“Instructor Graham, are you alright…?”
“What are you talking about?”
“I an her. She found out your na… won’t she seek revenge later? Maybe we should give up our reservation to her right now…”
“There’s no need for that. And I’m fine.”
The Chief Mage of the Imperial Palace?
A re fa in na and a skill that couldn’t even asure up to the tip of the Crimson Sage’s foot.
teor? The very sa teor that I had sliced and shattered dozens of tis in the last great war. In order to harm with magic, one would need to wield magic of the magnitude of Caius’s Breath or the Sage’s Infinity.
What really bugged right now was the trivial curiosity as to how exactly Sylvia managed to make a reservation at this restaurant. The ashen-haired witch was less than that to .
Still, whether Instructor Lirya was still worried, or was not able to adapt to the atmosphere of this restaurant, she was hunched like a scared rabbit.
I sighed briefly and said,
“Instructor Lirya, straighten your shoulders.”
“Pardon…?”
“At least compared to that woman earlier, you, Instructor Lirya, are a much more mature woman who fits in here far better.”
At that, Instructor Lirya looked at with surprise. Her face was a mix of surprise and shyness.
“Th, that remark…”
With her cheeks flushed, she tightly closed her lips, not uttering another word.
However, she stepped a little closer to .
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