"A roommate in an orange pajamas... finding such a friend is truly enviable,"
the young lady said, subconsciously touching the Ruby Earring on her right ear. At that moment, the waiter arrived with the vegetable salad she had ordered, and the two paused their conversation.
This restaurant in the Dock Area was relatively upscale, and during noon, it was crowded with diners. However, the tables in a high-end restaurant were not as densely packed as those in street bars. Shard and Miss Princess had chosen a corner near the wall, and since no one else was seated around their table at the moment, they could talk without worrying about being overheard.
"Speaking of which, Miss Princess, what do you do in this city?"
Shard asked. He had just revealed his own profession to facilitate inquiring about hers.
The young lady, clearly of noble birth, did not refuse to answer this time:
"My side job is journalism, occasionally writing some social commentary that I submit to newspapers. As for my main occupation... Mr. Watson, don't laugh, but I am nobility. My father disapproves of me working outside, so it's fine if you see me as one of those idle noble ladies who frequents parties and salons."
This self-introduction somewhat matched Shard's guesses. Seeing that her response was not evasive this time, Shard tried to probe further:
"Nobility? Ah, it seems I really have run into an extraordinary person. May I know... your father is..."
"I definitely can't reveal his exact status. As for his profession... it can be considered social work, contributing to public services."
Shard understood this to mean that minor nobles, to maintain their dignity and status, usually sought positions within City Hall or other government departments. These jobs might not pay much, but they had to be respectable. The Kingdom's civil services offered such positions; "social work" was considered a lesser type of job that one couldn't just slack off in.
Thus, Shard deduced her father's status was not high.
"That must be tough work. Has he ever thought about resigning to try starting a factory? In recent decades, nobles have used their connections to open factories and then leapt into becoming wealthy tycoons, a frequent occurrence in the newspapers,"
Shard half tested, half joked, while Miss Princess used her fork to pick up some cauliflower, showing a helpless smile:
"Resign? Oh, that's not possible. As far as I know, no one in that job can resign voluntarily. It's a lifelong position... You might not understand, but this kind of low-salary job, although burdensome often requiring work in the study past nine in the evening, also has significant benefits beyond the imagination of ordinary people; the work affects many people and isn't something that can simply be quit."
"That really is unfortunate,"
Shard made a face as if he had just realized something, sympathizing with Miss Princess's busy father, and then began cutting the steak in front of him.
After advancing to the Second Ring, his appetite had increased slightly. But this was normal; the Circle Sorcerer system itself improved both physical and mental strength, and similar situations often occurred right after an upgrade.
With the preliminary probing finished, Shard believed that although this Five-Ring Sorceress still had some doubts surrounding her, she was largely trustworthy. In this unfamiliar city, it should be safe to hire her as a guide for the day without any issues.
Moreover, he wasn't worried about making mistakes—if there were any issues, he would simply cast himself into the sea. Even if the other party was a Five-Ring Sorcerer, they likely wouldn't chase him into the sea.
Miss Princess was quite particular about her food; she only tried the vegetable salad for two bites before giving up, seemingly because she found the vegetables here weren't fresh. As for drinks, Shard didn't order wine but chose soup instead, while Miss Princess asked for plain water and quietly complained to Shard about the local beverages:
"Last week, I sneaked out... cough cough, I went out to eat alone, and here I ordered a bottle of Russell Winery's 1845 wine. Mr. Watson, guess what happened?"
"Was the wine watered down?"
"Of course not, watering down is the crudest trick. The restaurant used a cheap, mass-produced wine from this year's Russell Winery label, passing it off as the fine 1845 vintage."
Her slender fingers lightly swirled the glass filled with water, as if it contained wine:
"Mr. Watson, if you're interested in wine tasting, I can take you to a nice place to dine tonight."
"No, I'm not accustomed to drinking."
Shard shook his head, and Miss Princess didn't insist, as if she had anticipated his response.
After lunch, Miss Princess decided to take Shard's offer of employment and use the rest of the day to show Shard around Coldwater Port City.
But since they planned to enter sensitive areas, they couldn't go about with their genuine faces. Conveniently, Miss Princess also needed to find a place to store the bag of books she was carrying, so she led Shard back to her residence in this city, planning to do some simple makeup on both Shard and herself.
The so-called residence was of course not a noble family's home, but rather an apartment Miss Princess rented on her own. It wasn't a standalone apartment, but a relatively modest communal apartment room located in the southern district of Coldwater Port City on Robin Hood Street.
Robin Hood Street was only a fifteen-minute drive from where they had eaten. The apartment resembled a large house with iron fences adorned with wreaths. Inside, the first floor featured a spacious hall with seats and card tables for the residents to rest and entertain. The second floor had a central courtyard, surrounded by a lineup of rental rooms, totaling twelve on that floor. Across the corridor outside the rooms was a railing, from which one could lean and look down at the first floor.
With cautious thoughts, Shard closely observed every detail of the apartment when he arrived with Miss Princess. This was evidently not a facade crafted to deceive; it was genuinely a normal rental apartment. The other tenants who passed them by had a certain air of urban lower-middle-class that simply couldn't be feigned.
This place was likely only meant as a temporary residence, hence the interior of the apartment was very cramped. Aside from the room serving dual functions as a living room and bedroom, there was only a small balcony for drying clothes and an exceptionally narrow washroom.
While the house wasn't filled with a strong sense of habitation, the mold spots on the walls, the paintings, the unwashed teacups on the table, and the dress swaying in the wind on the balcony all indicated regular usage, indeed proving it to be Miss Princess's temporary residence. This further eased Shard's vigilance.
The young lady hid the books she was carrying in the wardrobe and then invited Shard to sit down on a mismatched chair next to a low coffee table. The chair held old newspapers, and a few scattered papers lay on the coffee table; she appeared not to tidy her room often:
"Since you've hired me, it's not too late to negotiate the price before we set out. Mr. Watson, firstly, you need to tell me, as your guide, what kind of places you need me to take you to."