"Lapiz, are there nearby stores that sell souvenirs that only cost around two silver coins and below?" Renard asked.
"Hmmm..." Lapiz pondered for a while before giving a suggestion. "Why don’t you wait for the night bazaar? Once the sun sets, the main plaza will have countless stalls lined up around it. You might find sothing there for a good price."
"That actually sounds like a good idea." Nessia smiled. "However, we still have several hours before sunset. Why don’t we have so lunch first?"
"Sounds good." Charles nodded. "I’m actually feeling a bit hungry."
"I know a good place." Lapiz thought that this was a good idea to treat her friends to lunch. "Let’s go. It will be my treat!"
"Free food is always welco." Nessia clasped Lapiz’s hand, and soon, the two ladies jumped on the spot, making Charles and Renard smile helplessly.
When girls gathered to chat, guys should just listen and accept everything they did because understanding won was very hard.
With that, Lapiz took the lead and took her friends to one of the hidden gems of the city—a small restaurant tucked away in a small alley found at the east of Everdawn.
Though, when they entered the shop, they saw two familiar faces eating at a table together.
These two were none other than Alex and Lavinia. The pair had arrived at the restaurant a few minutes ago and had just told the waitress their orders.
Since they were at the corner and seed to be busy talking with each other, the group of four chose to grab a table in Alex’s blind spot.
By doing so, they could observe the lovebirds without the two noticing them!
"Those two are as close as always," Nessia said with a smile. "Charles, rember this. If you try to date other girls, I’m cutting it off. Got it?"
Charles coughed lightly before reaching out to hold Nessia’s hand. When they started dating, Nessia already told him that she would not allow him to have anyone else aside from her.
He accepted this condition since he frankly had no interest in dating anyone else in his life aside from Nessia.
Both of them had many similarities. Plus, being with each other felt so natural that Charles believed that Nessia was his missing half.
As for Renard, he didn’t really care about his friends’ love relationship. Then again, he had to admit that there were tis when he wanted to ask Alex for advice since he had more experience in handling multiple partners.
"Hello. May I take your orders?" The waitress approached their table with a smile.
Since it was Lapiz’s treat, she ordered the specialties of the restaurant, which she had already eaten in the past.
However, while waiting for their order to arrive, she would glance at Alex and Lavinia from ti to ti.
She knew that Lavinia, Evangeline, and Latifa were Alex’s lovers, though these three got along very well.
Of course, she also heard the rumors that Vaan and Alex were dating. But when she secretly asked Vaan if this was true, "she" only said that she would leave the answer to Lapiz’s imagination.
"Um, I have a question for you guys," Lapiz said shyly. "What do you all think of Alex? Is he a good person or a bad person? My sister keeps telling that I should not approach him no matter what."
When her sister had brought her to confront Alex when they t, the young man had been forced to confess his feelings for her.
Since then, every ti they t, the atmosphere would beco awkward.
She even felt like Alex was trying to distance himself away from her, as if he feared that doing so would make her think that he was being pushy.
Aeris, on the other hand, said that Alex might be using sothing that humans called "neglect play."
This was a love strategy where they would purposely ignore the person they liked so the other party would wonder why they weren’t paying attention to them.
If Alex had been chasing Lapiz, the situation would have a flip, and Lapiz would start chasing Alex instead.
Of course, the young lady didn’t believe everything her sister told her.
However, everything happened so fast that she didn’t know what to feel or think about Alex.
""He’s definitely not a good person.""
Nessia and Renard said in unison.
Renard had suffered a lot from Alex’s antics, especially during the scholarship trials when he sent Dim Dim to pester him.
That was still the darkest and most embarrassing mont of his life to this date.
As for Nessia, she had been Alex’s partner in cris. At this point, she had already lost count of the sches she’d helped him with. Since she understood how evil Alex could be at tis, she would never want the young man to beco her enemy.
In fact, she was the most wary about Alex. That was because, even now, she still couldn’t predict the things that he would do.
The battle against the Demon Worshipers.
The Dungeon where the Undead Monsters sprang up.
And this ti, the Dungeon of Beasts.
Alex wouldn’t have faced all these difficult challenges if he didn’t have a plan.
Of course, whenever Nessia asked him why he knew about all these things beforehand, he would only say, "I am a Seer. Did you forget that already?"
’What a convenient excuse,’ Nessia thought before shifting her attention back to Lapiz. "Listen, Lapiz. Alex is not a simple person. I’m sure there are many people who have tried to dig into his past, yet they all failed in the end. He is just like a mushroom that sprouted out of nowhere.
"Also, you should be careful of his little mushroom growing down there. That thing... that thing will give you nightmares."
Charles and Renard almost choked on their drinks after hearing Nessia’s words.
anwhile, Lapiz only blinked.
"Mushroom? Is he hiding a mushroom down there?"
"Yes. The poisonous kind. Sothing that will leave a mark if you handle it carelessly."
Charles didn’t know whether he should laugh or cry at his girlfriend’s explanation. Alex was his benefactor, so he wasn’t really comfortable with people talking behind his back.
Then again, he was already used to Nessia’s honesty. And frankly, Alex wouldn’t even mind if these things were said right to his face.
He would just laugh in response and even collaborate with Nessia to make her descriptions more profound.
"So... is he a bad person?" Lapiz asked once more.
"Well, he’s not exactly bad." Nessia fixed her glasses with her finger. "But he is a very troubleso guy. As you can see, he has many lovers, and all of them love him very much.
"Of course, he loves them too and makes sure to spend so ti with them on a regular basis. But even then, a man having many lovers can also be a recipe for disaster. Wait... don’t tell that you fell for him as well?!"
"N-No!" Lapiz shook her head. "That’s not it. I’m just genuinely curious."
Nessia breathed out a sigh of relief. "Good. At least your father will not send out a decree to bring Alex to the prison of Faelarun, kicking and screaming."
Lapiz smiled wryly because she could see that happening.
Her sister had repeatedly warned her not to get close to Alex because he might trick her into thinking that he was in love with her, even when he was not.
Even so, since the young man held the only lead they had to arrive at the mysterious island of Hy-Brasil, Aeris decided not to get on his bad side... at least for now.
As for Lapiz, she truly hoped that their mission to bring back their mother would be one without hardships.
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