“Oh, is that Keti?”
The moment she heard the name, Xiasha’s face immediately lit up with a look of surprise.
She then affectionately patted the silver-haired beauty on the shoulder and continued to ask:
“Are you Keti’s friend? How’s that kid been lately? He used to come here to eat all the time, but it’s been a long while since I last saw him…”
“Ah…haha, he…is doing fine.”
Keti felt a bit awkward, taking a bite of her noodles.
It felt strange to talk about herself in the third person like this.
But the landlady in front of her seemed genuinely concerned about her.
After hearing the young woman talk about Keti’s recent situation, Xiasha let out a sigh of relief and said: “That’s good. I heard he might have left that little team of his. I don’t know if he had some kind of disagreement with those three girls.”
“That boy is very gentle and kind. He often brought candy for my kids as gifts. I really like him. Since he’s not from around here, I was actually thinking of asking him if he wanted to work part-time at my tavern to help him get by. But he never came. Hey, little girl, could you help me ask him?”
“?…”
Looking at the kind landlady, Keti was silently moved…
Sister Xiasha even knew about this, and she was planning to take her in…
Originally, she thought she had nowhere to go after quitting the team, but unexpectedly, someone here had already prepared a warm shelter for her.
Hmm…if she didn’t have better prospects now, she might have seriously considered it.
But for now, the Magic Academy offered a bigger future.
“Thank you…no, I mean, I’m thanking you on Keti’s behalf, Sister Xiasha. I’ll tell him, but he has his own things to handle now, so he probably won’t come.”
“Oh, is that so…? Well then, I’m relieved~! Hmph, but we really are short-staffed these days…Oh, by the way, little girl, what’s your name?”
“Eh? Um…my name, my name is…”
Suddenly asked for her name, Keti was momentarily at a loss for words.
What was the name she thought of just now?
Oh, right!
“My name is Lulu. Lulu, haha.”
“Oh~ what a nice name! Just as cute as you~ Hey, Lulu, would you be interested in working at my tavern? A cute girl like you working here would definitely make business boom! I can give you an exceptional salary of three thousand Denar a month, plus room and board!”
Seeing Sister Xiasha’s eyes shining so brightly at her, Keti cleared her throat awkwardly.
Ah…so it’s unavoidable that she has to take the job, huh?
She’d already been invited twice…
No choice, the girl could only refuse once more.
The silver-haired beauty sighed and shook her head:
“Sorry, Sister Xiasha, actually, I’m an assistant teacher at the Magic Academy, so I don’t have much free time.”
“Oh! A teacher at the Magic Academy?”
Hearing that, Xiasha’s eyes lit up, and she gave a hearty laugh, nodding as she said:
“That’s impressive! No wonder Keti always has such outstanding girls around him~ Haha, are you his girlfriend? Are those teammates jealous of you?”
“Ah, no no, just an assistant teacher…um, and Keti and I are just…friends, um…”
“Pfft~ alright alright, assistant teacher is impressive too~!”
Seeing the girl’s shy blush, Xiasha smiled knowingly.
Uh…
Keti felt like the other party misunderstood something.
Just as Keti wanted to explain she was neither his girlfriend nor anything close, suddenly, a familiar commotion rose from the tavern’s entrance.
Keti immediately turned her head and saw three uninvited guests slowly walking inside.
Ahem, of course, this time it wasn’t Alice, Layla, and Sylvia —
Keti’s former teammates.
If it were, the silver-haired girl might have already been lamenting how unlucky she was and fled in a panic.
But the visitors this time weren’t going to make Keti feel any more at ease either.
Upon recognizing them, her expression instantly darkened.
Among these three uninvited guests, the one walking in front was none other than the most troublesome person to Keti recently, second only to Lynn.
The most arrogant, undisciplined bad student of Class 25, Ximon…
“Tch, Kutar, what kind of place did you bring us to? Such a filthy environment…”
As expected, even outside school, this guy was just as awful.
The moment he stepped inside, he glanced around the tavern with a look of utter disgust, then turned to his lackeys and scowled:
“Did you plan to make me mix with this lowly rabble in such a dive?”
“Th-this…there was no other choice, boss. Who’d have thought this street would be so packed tonight? Every place was full. This was the biggest spot left, and I’ve been here before. The food’s cheap and decent…”
Kutar, the underling, trembled under Ximon’s scolding and hurriedly explained, insisting he had no better options.
“Heh~? Cheap…decent?!”
Ximon sneered, as if hearing a ridiculous excuse, then turned his gaze back inside the tavern…
The atmosphere instantly fell silent with their arrival.
The boisterous men who had been drinking and laughing moments ago now all fixed their eyes on Ximon, their expressions radiating strong displeasure.
No one dared to step forward to tell Ximon to watch his mouth or to kick out this troublemaker.
The reason was simple — judging from the lavish clothes this arrogant brat was wearing, it was obvious his family background was no joke.
Nobles are numerous in the Imperial Capital, and the common folk here still have families to protect and lives to live.
They simply can’t afford to offend the children of these noble masters…because they all have weaknesses.
So even the most straightforward and vengeful men here could only clench their mugs and silently endure Ximon’s arrogant attitude.
Enduring now is better than stirring up big trouble later.
However, this silence and tolerance only made Ximon more smug.
After a moment, he sneered disdainfully, then shook his head: “Ugh, just eating with this bunch of rat stench is enough to make me sick.”
“No choice though, the old man won’t let me drink at home, haha…I guess I’ll just pinch my nose and force down a few bites of this low-class food~”