They continued to travel throughout the day until noon when they finally arrived at a small town.

“I’m feeling hungry. How about the two of you?” Lucia asked them while rubbing her stomach.

“I’m hungry too,” replied Alex while Luna nodded with a slightly confused look.

Nodding, she leaned towards their carriage driver and asked, “Coachman, take us to the nearest inn and park the carriage nearby so we can get back quickly.”

“Yes, mam,” he replied obediently.

As he started navigating the carriage to look for an inn, Luna began questioningly, “Miss Lucia?”

“Yes, Luna. What is it?” Lucia asked back sweetly.

“Why are we going to eat at an inn? I thought we’re going to have our meal outside.”

“Yeah. I was actually thinking the same thing,” said Alex from beside her in support. “Do we have that much money to spend it on meals like this?”

This made Lucia laugh before replying, “Of course not. We will have our meals outside starting from tonight. This is just a temporary story. I just thought I’d take you to an inn since it’s your first time being here and I’d like to see how the food tastes here compared to your usual home cooking.”

The two kids looked amazed before Luna said brightly, “I get it.”

“That makes sense,” agreed Alex with a smile.

The carriage trundled along the road and it stopped every now and then so that the coachman could ask the passers-by where an inn was located in the town. A few minutes later, they arrived outside a large building that had a mug and the words “Dine In and Lodge In” inscribed on its signboard hanging at the front of the building.

“Alright. Here’s our stop,” said Lucia and the three got down from the carriage.

“Miss,” began the coachman as he spoke to her, “I’ll be over there at the stables. When you’re done, please come over there and we can set off again.”

Once he got the carriage moving, they turned to face the building. The inn they chose to dine in was quite spacious and also let guests have their own rooms in its multiple floors above the ground floor where the dining is at.

“It looks like a house!” Luna exclaimed with awe.

“It kind of does, but the lodging rooms are upstairs while the dining is at the ground level,” explained Lucia to her. Then she led the way by saying, “Come on. Let’s go, eat quickly and be on our way again.”

“Yes!” Replied the two youngsters and they followed her in.

It was spacious inside the inn, with one side filled with tables and chairs for people to sit. The other side had a counter that would be used to serve plates across from the counter end to the outside end.

There were already a few people seated there and this made Luna a little bit nervous. Lucia told them to stay there and went to speak with a water and in the meanwhile, Luna was glancing around nervously at the seated people. They were all having their meals but were also throwing furtive glances towards them. Some had strange glints in their eyes that made her feel nervous, but Alex held her hand firmly and gripped it tightly.

“Relax, Luna,” he told her, and she glanced at him in surprise before smiling and nodding in acceptance.

When Lucia came back, she led them to a vacant table placed next to the window. Upon taking their seat, a waiter came and asked them politely for their order, which prompted Lucia to ask, “What’s in the menu?”

The waitress listed a couple of food to choose from off the top of his head. When he finished listing them, Lucia turned to the kids with a questioning look.

“What do you guys want?”

“Um…” began and hesitated Luna awkwardly and looked towards Alex.

He understood her nervousness and told his teacher without hesitation, “We’d like to have whatever you will have, miss.”

“You sure? There are a couple that you can try?” She asked, but he shook his head in denial. “Okay,” she sighed and made the order for food. When she left, the older girl turned to them and said, “You should’ve tried something different from mine.”

“Without any idea how it’ll taste, it’s best to follow the lead of others,” replied Alex wryly.

“Point taken,” admitted Lucia in agreement.

As they waited for their order to arrive, many of the diners continued to throw glances at them. This was making Luna nervous again since she was never in this kind of attention before. Alex saw this and once again, spoke to reassure her.

“Luna, relax. They’re just curious about us. That’s all.”

“But… they keep looking at us… and it’s so… uncomfortable to be stared at like that,” she said weakly. “I don’t like it.”

“Just ignore them, Luna,” said the older girl with a reassuring smile. “They’re just checking out who were where and wondering about us. They’re probably even more curious since we’re clearly new faces to show up around here and just assessing us up and down.”

“It’s actually pretty rude to do that,” commented Alex, narrowing his eyebrows with annoyance, which mainly stemmed from the discomfort they made his childhood sweetheart feel.

“I know but they can’t help it,” sighed Lucia indifferently as she seemed to be used to it. “Also, Alex, stop glaring at them.

The reason for her telling him this was because he was glaring at them all, which made them feel very taken aback. It must have surprised them that such a kid was capable of giving such a serious glare that it made them nervous and quickly stop looking in their direction.

“Sorry, miss. It’s just that… I can’t help it,” said Alex to her with a smile before continuing to glare at them.

His reaction made Lucia chuckle and say, “You are so overprotective of Luna,” and winked at the younger girl, who turned to show him a loving expression with a lovely smile on her face.

“Uh… Haha,” he said and laughed awkwardly while looking embarrassed at being discovered.

A while later, the waitress returned with their order in a large plate and placed them down in front of each of them and left. A moment later, they picked up the spoon and knife placed on the table and began eating the meal.

“Mmm! Tasty!” Luna said happily.

“Yes. It’s good,” agreed Alex with a smile.

“I’m glad you like it,” said Lucia in between eating her own portion.

After eating for a bit, Luna asked her, “Miss Lucia, this tastes slightly better than the food that my mother makes. Why is that?”

At her question, Lucia smiled and said in a lowered voice, “The chefs at inns tend to add different variants and some stuff to make it look and taste better than what is made at home. However, it’s not necessarily healthy for us to eat it often.”

“Oh…! I get it! It’s unhealthy to eat often from here and so a home cooked meal is healthier,” said Luna in understanding with a bright smile.

“Good girl,” said Lucia, reaching out and patting affectionately the youngster’s head. “You’re very smart. You’ll make a great housewife. You think so too right, Alex?”

At suddenly being mentioned, Alex widened his eyes in alarm and said, “Uh…?”

He was a little taken aback by the sudden question because he was entranced by his childhood love’s innocence. As such, his reaction was slow and weak but he quickly recovered and spoke his mind positively.

“Absolutely! Luna is the best!”

His words caused her to blush a little and begin eating her food a little faster than before. Seeing this made Lucia chuckle and they resumed their meal. However, the happy mood was soon lost when a source of disturbance in the form of five burly men entered the inn looking very menacing.

Vertrex

Oh no! Trouble is brewing at inn! What's going to happen?

Find out next time as the story continues!