When we arrived back at Damiya, Livio came to inform us that their master had called for us to be brought to him since he wanted to receive the report as quickly as possible.

We were escorted out of the airship and towards the city. Surprisingly, it wasn’t in the direction of the library we had gone before, but rather to the downtown of Damiya. Livio then guided us to a local tea house.

As soon as we entered it, we found the place almost completely deserted with the exception of the three of us and the old man sitting comfortably while sipping on his tea.

We sat at the table a bit uncomfortably, with Livio not sitting but rather walking up and standing right behind the old man.

I was surprised that he didn’t send him off like he did with the guild staff the previous time we met, but I guess he trusted Livio since he was one of his men.

“So, I assume the task was completed without a hitch?” He took a glance over his shoulders at Livio before looking back at us.

“Yes, I believe we’ve done quite a bit of work on this one.”

It’s not like it was particularly hard to do this quest, but knowing that he probably is a wealthy patron, I should probably try to butter him up so that we can get a bit more compensation.

“Heh, for someone who didn’t even want to quietly accept the task that was given, those are some bold words.” He scoffed at my words and took another sip of his tea. “Ah, that’s right.”

As if he had remembered something, the man tapped the table loudly with his finger and two people sprouted from the door at the back of the store, silently bringing a small tray each.

The first one served both me and Fiora cups of tea while the second one served the food that was on the tray, which was a mix of cookies and sandwiches. The tea I had been served was probably some kind of black tea, while Fiora got a pale yellowish tea.

After it was all served, the old man broke the silence. “So, let’s see if your work is up to your words.”

I handed over the papers and drawings we had made during the expedition to the old man, who took them and started flipping through them as he had his tea and sandwiches.

Since he went through the trouble of serving us with tea and other things, I didn’t hold back and started eating while he was busy appraising the reports. 

Fiora followed my lead as soon as she saw me eating, though she didn’t look like she knew where to begin eating. She probably also never had tea before, since she took a small sip and made a strange face, but continued drinking hers.

While we were busy eating and having tea, the old man finished reading the papers and put his tea cup down. “Everything here seems to be fine. I’ll still have to make some further tests with the samples you collected, but that should be enough to send to the guild.”

“So we’ll be handing those papers, or…”

“Of course not. I wouldn’t be as daft as to hand over these scribbles you made to the guild under my name, so I’ll have someone redact the documents to a presentable state before handing them to the guild. Don’t worry, you’ll get your cut if you are worried about money.”

“Ahaha, I would hardly say I’m that worried about money. Just happy to see you’ll do the busy work for us.”

“Is that so…” The man cracked a slight smile at my words. Somehow I feel like I just said something I shouldn’t have. “Ah, speaking of which, I never mentioned my name, I believe. You can call me Sinică. Make sure to remember it the next time we meet.”

I forced myself to smile back. “Of course, I’m looking forward to working with you.”

After that exchange, the man got up and left with the papers leaving us and Livio behind. The young man assured us that we could continue eating until we felt like it since it had been paid already and after we finished he escorted us out.

With that finished, I decided to swing by the artisan’s district again to purchase something for later. It was a couple of components that ended up rounding up to about fifteen silver coins, which meant we only had about five left with us.

Hopefully we can get less troublesome or fishy jobs from now on, but I have a feeling things aren’t going to be that easy.