The tables were pushed together and the waitress had come to take the order. After the soft-spoken young man finished his order, Haru was inclined to try the chicken melt as well and decided to add one more to the list.
“One more of that chicken melt, please,” he said. The waitress wrote it all down and vanished behind the nearby tables. He knew it was going to take a while for their orders to arrive with this many people at the restaurant. So, he took it slow with whatever was on the table already.
Haru was surprised that Idran had guessed the two of them were Knights.
“Look at that. We got a keen one here,” he said, grinning at him. The Holy Knights were not public knowledge until a while ago, but had garnered enough attention over the last couple of years for everyone to know of their existence. And since the two organizations were too similar in their hierarchy, he wasn’t surprised when people confused the two.
“We are Rune Knights,” he added, answering the question.
As he expected, the food arrived quite late, by which time the plates on the table were already empty. Just when Haru was about to take his first bite of the chicken melt, he saw a Page running towards their table, frantic. The Lieutenant knew this Page had terrible news from the look on his face, and was afraid he was going to scream out sensitive and fear-inducing information in the crowded restaurant. The moment the Page was within earshot, Haru held up a hand in an attempt to stop him from blabbering. It didn’t work of course.
“LIEUTENANT! DEMONS…” he yelled between his pants. The restaurant fell silent for a moment, and Haru could feel the tension rise. “…in Orchidia,” he finished. The people who were about to scream simmered down to murmurs of fear and concern. Haru stood up from the table, leaving his food untouched. He left more than enough Jewels for everything they had ordered, and was about to walk out of the restaurant.
“Let’s go, Kazimir,” he said to the wind mage with a nod.
“It was nice to meet you both. Unfortunate that it has to end this shortly,” he said, turning towards Idran and Adriano. If either of them offered to come with them to fight the Demons, Haru would initially hesitate. But if they insist, he would remember that he had once fought a powerful Demon when he was just about their age. Besides, he shouldn’t be assuming that they could not handle the fight. So, he will then agree and give the two a word of encouragement.
“Whack them back into their hellhole,” he would say, smirking at the two.
-Exit-