” I think we should go. Right, Fio? ” I tried, again. It was like, the fourth time already?

” Mm. Alright. ” 

And she finally gave up. Even though I wasn't against staying like that and being pampered by her, we had to go down. It wasn't like we didn't have other options but I wanted to see what kind of food was common for people from this world. It would help to get rid of the awkward first impression from earlier too.

Fiona had to keep the hood as to at least hide her collar. I kept mine as well. It would be strange if she was the only one with it. We really had to find a solution since we could not wear these things all the time.

We made our way downstairs but as I was about to call for them, I heard a man’s voice coming from the store. The stairs that lead to our room were somehow separated from the main store by a wall. 

It was more like a small corridor that was connecting the main store with the kitchen and the second floor. There was another door but I didn't know what was behind it.

I put back my hood and approached to take a look. A man was speaking with Sara while checking a pair of boots.

” Ehh... Hey, Erin. ” she was standing on a chair behind the counter and since I didn't want to bother Sara when she was busy, I called for her instead. 

” Miss elf... ohh... I mean, Miss Elizabeth... ” she quickly sprinted in my direction blabbering something I didn't quite understand. 

The man simply gave me a short glance and Sara waved her hand at me while smiling. They turned back at what they were previously discussing shortly after.

’At least my hood is doing his job...’ 

” M-Miss Elizabeth. Mother is a little busy right now but we already prepared the food. ” said Erin trying to peek under my hood with sparkling eyes. 

” You helped too? It seems that Sara has a reliable daughter. ” 

” Hehehe... A-Anyway, come after me. The food is in the kitchen. ”

*creaky* 

The door that I previously didn't know where it was leading opened and a small boy came in. Behind the door seemed to be some kind of warehouse but I didn't have time to see too in detail since he closed the door shortly afterward. 

He looked like he was around eight or nine years old and his features resembled pretty much with Erin’s so I assumed that he was the younger sibling. 

” Sister, who are these people? ” he said looking at me and Fiona a little hesitant. 

” Arron, don't be rude. They are our guests. ”

” Mm. Sorry... ” 

” Erin, don't worry about something like that... ” I tried to interject.

” No, no. That can't be. We already made a scene earlier, Miss Elizabeth. ” she replied and turned like a tomato as she realized that the scene from earlier was kind of her fault.

” I said that we should forget about that already... Anyway, you can call me directly by my name. ” I reassured her. I really, really, wanted to get rid of that already.

” Eh... But... But mother said that we should be respectful to you and... eh... I'm sorry, I wasn't supposed to tell you that. ”

She lowered her head with an anxious expression on her face. She seemed to lose her temper and started to make mistakes after mistakes from the moment she learned about my race. I had to do something to help her to get used to it. Or else, I was sure that another scene was going to unfold soon.

*sigh*

I let out a sigh and looked at her with fixed eyes. She was taken aback with my sudden change but I didn't care too much. 

” Listen, Erin... Didn't I say that it's alright to call me by my name? ”

” Is... Is that really alright? ” 

” Yes, I'm more comfortable like that. ”

” O-Okay then. I-I’ll do that. ”

She seemed oddly excited for some reason. Was that such a big deal? Fiona was calling me by an even shorter version of my name without any problems. 

” Sister... ” the little boy grabbed his elder sister's sleeve and called to her with a weak voice. He seemed to be quite confused by this development. 

” Ah, yeah... Miss Eli... I mean, E-Elizabeth. This is my little brother, Arron. ” 

” Nice to meet you, Arron. I'm Elizabeth and she is Fiona. We’ll live there for some time so let's get along. ”

” Mm. ” he nodded and looked at his sister for help. They seemed to have a good relationship at least.

But since Arron didn't seem to be that comfortable with new people, the conversation ended there and Erin led us in the kitchen. Besides some simple utensils and pots of different shapes and sizes, there was a table with several chairs in the middle. 

Erin didn't waste any time and gave each of us some bowls with soup, bread and some kind of weird looking dish with vegetables. 

The taste wasn't bad even though it was a little too simple. It would have been much better with some condiments but I was already used to simpler food already. After so much time in the forest, I was forced to be. 

Looking at it again, there wasn't much meat in these dishes and that gave me a good idea. Even though it wasn't much, they shared with us what they had. It would be bad to not help them a little since that was pretty easy for me to do. 

I quickly stood up and ran upstairs to take my rucksack. As I came back, Sara finished whatever business she had with that man and was already there in the kitchen. 

” Was there something wrong with the food, Miss Elizabeth? ” Sara asked me the moment she saw me coming in the kitchen. 

” Ah, no, no. I'm sorry that I rushed so suddenly without a word. I just remembered about something I left in the room upstairs. ”

” Oh, I hope that there wasn't any problem. ” 

” There wasn't any problem... But since you invited us to eat together, I remembered that we still had some provisions from the journey. ” I said and took out from the rucksack several chunks of meat. Each chunk was poorly wrapped in some kind of gigantic leaf we took from the forest but it was better than nothing. We didn't have any proper wrappings so we had to go with that.

” M-Mommy... Meat, a lot of meat... ” the little boy seemed to be excited after he saw what I took out.

As I was guessing, it wasn't that easy to raise two children as a single mother. It was bad to make their lives even harder even though they were the ones who invited us to eat with them.

” Arron. ” Sara looked at him and called his name with an embarrassed face.

” Mm... I'm sorry, mommy. ” the little boy lowered his head.

” Miss Elizabeth, we can't accept these. Not to mention that the meat seems to be quite high quality too. ” Sara tried to refuse. 

But I wasn't going to give up. Not when the high-quality meat wasn't much for me and Fiona. We had way more than we could eat anyway.

” Do not worry, we didn't buy them. We hunted for it when we came here so it's not a big deal. ”

” Even if it's like that, we can't accept it for free... ”

” Then, we can make a deal for it. ” I said and took out another two or three chunks of meat.

” I'm sorry, but we can't afford such high-quality meat either. ” 

” Oh, no, no. I didn't say that you need to buy it. I wanted to say that I'll give it to you in exchange for some meals during our stay here. ” I offered. 

” Even though you put it like that, the exchange isn't equal at all... ” 

She was quite adamant about it so I had to at least give her a reason to accept the meat. That would be beneficial for all of us after all.

” Sara... We are more than happy with the deal... We don't have what we need to prepare it, not to mention that it's too much for us. It wouldn't last for too long either and we don't have what we need to preserve it. It would be much easier for us to let the food preparation on you... You could say that we are the ones who gain the most from this deal. ”

” But—

” Please, Sara. ”

*sigh* 

” Fine... I'll give up this time. Thank you very much for it. Erin... Arron... ”

”” Thank you very much. ”” 

She quickly took the chunks and moved them as to not be in the way. 

’Her expression seems to be a little odd though...’ 

” You seem to be thinking about something, Sara. Is there a problem with the meat? ”

”Ah, no, no...  It's just that you mentioned that you hunted for it... Is it possible for you to be an adventurer, Miss Elizabeth? Do you come here for the emergency quest? ”

” Emergency quest? ” I inquired. There was several pieces of interest in what she said earlier.

” Oh... So you didn't come here for it... The Adventurers Guild announced it several days ago. I don't know too much about it since I'm not an adventurer but there was quite the ruckus about this topic these days. People started to arrive here for it. ” 

” Is that so... Maybe I'll ask about it tomorrow since it's pretty late to visit the city right now... What do you think, Fio? ” 

” Mm, tomorrow... ” she just nodded and resumed her eating. It was kind of amazing how little interest she had in Sara and the siblings.

” Anyway... If Miss Elizabeth didn't have anything else to surprise us with, we should resume the meal. It won't be good if it gets cold. ”

” Okey. Thanks again for the meal, Sara. ”

” Oh, do not worry about that. ”

After that, we finished our meal without any major incident. 

 They seemed to be a little surprised when we confirmed that Fiona was part of the beastkin race. Even with the hood, her yellow eyes, long and pointy nails were harder to hide. If not from the first glance, anyone would notice after a while. 

They said that it was quite rare to meet a single elf, let alone one who was traveling with a member from the beastkin race. At least they had nothing against her race. It was for an instant, but I thought that I saw the corner of her mouth rising a bit as she heard that. I hoped it wasn't just my imagination.

.

.

.

As I was trying to get asleep, resting on a proper bed for the first time in a while, I started to think about what should be done from now on. 

Fiona’s collar was the most important thing to get rid of, no question asked. But after that, I didn't have any plans. I was quite surprised as to how smooth things progressed thus far. 

For the moment, we got a place to stay, our meals were resolved as well, and if all was good, her collar would be removed soon too. If my deal with Albert would be successful, our money problem wouldn't be a problem anymore either. 

I was a little worried about what Sara said earlier but since she didn't seem to worry herself too much, I wouldn't either for the moment. 

’But still... I'm a little curious about what the situation might be...’

It was an emergency quest... You couldn't be called a man if you wouldn't be excited about something like that. Even though I wasn't a man anymore.

If I were to take it like that, I wasn't even a human anymore.

’Anyway... Sleep... sleep... I'll have to deal with it tomorrow.’