A minute after the bell was rung, waiters and waitresses started to flood in, pushing carts with plates covered with tallic silver cloches. Behind them, the chef who presumably prepared their al also tagged along, a smile of pride fitted on his face.
"Good evening, ladies and gentlen. I'm the Head Chef of Yeon Hwa Restaurant, Philippe! It is my honor to serve dinner to everyone present here."
As he spoke, the plates were placed before each of them, still covered with the cloche. The added mystery made them anticipate what was to co, not only inducing their hunger more but also sating their inquisitive minds.
"First, we'll be having our hors d'oeuvre!" The chef, Philippe, announced in an energized tone.
The cloche covering the foods was removed at the sa ti, revealing a small, fluffy blini topped with a delicate slice of smoked salmon, topped with cre fraiche.
"This is a Smoke Salmon Blini with Dill Cre Fraiche! The concept was..."
As the chef started to explain the ideas as he prepared the dish, the girls, and even Aster, skipped listening to him and instead took the small, bite-sized food and ate it in one go.
It was light and slightly tangy, paired beautifully with the rich, smoky salmon and the creamy, herby cre fraiche. Cassy showed a reserved smile, her face saying that it didn't et her expectations. It was too bad for the chef, but the girls' palate was already trained to perfection with Aster's level 99 cooking!
After that, just before the chef finished his explanation, another cart was pushed over, again, containing several plates covered with silver cloche. This repeated one after another as they went from the appetizer, fish course, main course, palate cleanser, cheese course, and dessert.
The entire al took about an hour and a half before it was finished!
"I'm still hungry..." Cassy comnted.
As expected of a high-class restaurant, the food they were served practically had too few portions. It was impossible to get filled after eating those, making Aster wonder just what the purpose of such als was, other than entertainnt.
As if finding a bright idea, Cassy leaned across the table, exposing her deep cleavage to Aster directly. "Right! Star! Let's have a second al in your room later!"
"Hmm? Well, I don't mind, but... looking at the ti, this would an you'll be staying over again. Are you fine with that?"
"Yep! Who wants to co too?" Cassy nodded while raising her hand, scanning everyone else's faces.
The first to raise their hands were Tina, followed by Kali, and then Liz, who reservedly raised her hand. Right, although Liz was originally from a higher-class family, she, too, didn't like expensive course als like this.
"So that's everyone..." Aster sighed, wondering how he'd sleep tonight.
"Ahem!"
Right then, Lorelai cleared her throat as she took a small swig of her red wine, swirling it in her glass like a virtuoso.
"Do you rember what I said before the al started?" She asked Aster as if to confirm if he was listening.
"You an... about sothing you want to ask of ?" Of course, he wouldn't forget it so easily, as it was just about an hour ago. "Thanks for this wonderful al, by the way. I'll try to recreate these recipes later and try them. Anyway, what is it you want to ask?"
Mixing his gratitude with moving on to business, Lorelai showed a wry smile and chuckled.
"Alright. I guess we can't waste ti." She started. "Actually, after half of my party died, it was dissolved by the leader, so now, I don't have a party to hunt with. I was wondering if... you could add to your party? It seems like there are still vacancies, after all."
"You want to join our party?" Aster raised a brow, surprised by the suddenness of her request.
"Yes. I'm a Witch, specializing in debuffs and curses. I'm sure you'll find useful since there are no spellcasters in your party."
Aster turned to Cassy and thought that a healer wasn't really counted as a spellcaster.
"Why not? We're still looking for more mbers anyway, and her job has great utility for our party." The first one to voice her approval was Liz, who was drinking the after-al coffee.
"Right. A debuffer would be a good addition to our party, increasing our versatility and responsiveness to unexpected situations."
Kali added in fast speech, with her cheeks slightly red. Her hand was holding a glass of red wine, the sa one Lorelai was drinking, which was now almost drained of its contents.
Tina was also holding a glass of wine as she pressed her assets tight against Aster's arm, waving the glass randomly as she spoke. "As long as she doesn't bother and darling's confirmation of love, then I don't mind either way."
"Of course, I don't have any problems with it either~!" Even Cassy was giving a thumbs-up to her offer.
"..."
Aster pondered for a bit, before facing Lorelai once more. He stared straight into her eyes and started to feel lightheaded. He wasn't drinking alcohol, yet the feeling was as if he were drunk!
"... Alright. Then, tomorrow, we'll go to the guild and register you as our new mber." He slurred a little as he replied.
"Yes! I did it! Thanks!"
Lorelai smiled sweetly, making everyone feel warm toward her.
---
After that, Aster and the rest went back to his room in the Twister Hotel, while Lorelai split up with them, saying that she still had things to prepare for tomorrow.
She walked to a high-class hotel, a different one from the Twister Hotel, and went to the 177th floor, where her rented room was. As soon as she placed the keycard against the door, the lock released with a click.
After entering, she didn't bother turning on the lights and went straight to her sofa, plopping down and letting out a long sigh.
"With this, I've now infiltrated their party."
The order she received was originally to "control" Aster and bring him to *** City for "safekeeping."
'But if I do that, I'll just return to being the lapdog of that fucking general.'
She placed a hand over her left eye, as if wanting to pull it out if she could. However, she stopped. Behind her left eye was a microchip—the thing that the general was using to control and monitor her actions.
If it ever detected that she was trying to get rid of it, then the small explosive installed inside it would activate, and cause a small explosion inside her head, enough to destroy a large part of her brain, leading to instant death.
In short, she couldn't escape from their clutch, even if she wanted to!
'Soon...' She mused, smiling lightly. 'Soon enough, I'll be able to free myself from this curse!'
She gently closed her eyes and slowly drifted into the world of dreams. And as she fell asleep, from her closed left eye, a red dot of light ca to life, blinking like a heartbeat.
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