A Future invitation

"The cost around here sure is expensive…"

Ark mumbled while looking at the price chart in the school cafeteria.

"Yeah…"

Julia agrees, the price here is insane in her opinion. Even the mash potato they still add gravy and bump up the price to 6 silver.

And it is the lowest priced food on the menu!

Average food cost in Landon is around 1 silver/meal/person!

It costs 6 times for normal people just so the noble can feed themselves!!

"I mean, I prepared myself that this place will be priced with a noble in mind, but this is too much…"

Ark looks in his pouch and it only contains 10 silver, which means either he buys the food and forces Julia to pay for her own food, or both share the same bowl.

But that is pure torture, what kind of master he is if he force his servent to pay 6 times more for their food!

"Welp, there is no other choice, Let's just share and hurry back before evening, Albert should have some left over for us, Or do we just go back?"

*rumble*

The sound from Julia's stomach answered the question.

"!!"

Her face turned bright red while she held onto her stomach that now filled with embarrassment.

"Sorry young master, I haven't eaten since morning..."

She lost a lot of time trying to wear the maid uniform so she didn't have time to get breakfast before going to wake Ark up.

"Hmm.. Let's grab the potato before we get back then…."

Ark decides to use his money, He sits on the chair and orders from the waiter.

"1 mash potato with gravy, please."

He asks the waiter politely before looking at Julia.

"Come, sit."

"No… A maid shouldn't sit on the same table as her master…."

She already failed enough tasks for a maid today, let not fail any further.

"I command you, sit."

Ark said calmly.

"If you put it like that…, fine. Understood, young master."

Julia nods her head before quietly sitting down in front of Ark.

The praying eyes around watching with interest but most people here are for food so they kinda ignore them.

"Are you ok with this job, Julia?"

While waiting for the meal to come, Ark asks Julia with concern on his face.

The amount of bullying, shame, and disrespect rates are so high around here even Ark is starting to feel concern for Julia's mental health, especially that both come from descending noble houses, these things will only going to be more severe.

For him, he can't don't care what other people say, but for innocent people like Julia, he wants her to leave.

It's not like he needed protection anyway, so it would be much better for Julia to change her task, like go wash cloth or something.

Anything but this.

"D-Did you hate my performance? No! Please Master Ark, give me a chance to prove myself!"

Julia seems so desperate to keep her job as maid, Ark's maid.

"No, no, you already proved your skill and royalty to me. It's just that this place isn't made for people like you. Remember the Westrich woman in colorful dress and that boy, Vincent? I will meet a lot more people like them, and they will continue to shame you. let me put this straight, I just didn't want you to force yourself being something you don't, ok? I don't want you to be the perfect maid, just being you is good enough for me."

He likes her as clumsy, quick on her feet, and deadly when needed, not a doll following her master order like a typical maid would do.

I felt genuine and cute watching her try to impress him.

"…Thank you, young master. You are being too kind, but I already have so much debt to pay back for Mistress Velvet, just learning to be a proper maid is not a thing to be concern."

She has to admit that this job as a maid felt so terrible at first, but just spending time and having a chance to pay back her most valued person made her feel so happy and want to improve.

"If you still insist, go ahead. But make sure to remember, I will always forgive you, so don't push yourself too hard, ok?"

Ark held her hand gently and told her from the heart.

He knows from experience, if you struggle, stop pushing. Always try to solve the problem first.

You may fail, many time. But if you continue to push without solving the core problem, only when it is too late will you realize what you should have done.

"I promise you, young master. I will let you know when it is at my limit, and I have to say. I'm a very strong person! So, my limit is super hard to reach!"

"Haha! I hope that is true. Oh, look, the potatoes have come, with a steak?"

Ark speaks in confusion, watching a big plate of beef served on his side of the table.

"Sorry, but I didn't order this."

Ark told the waiter immediately without any hesitation for free food.

"But someone does, happy eating."

Before the waiter left, he left the note under the steak plates.

It is a receipt with all the expenses already paid, with a letter on it.

'Clock tower second floor, come alone without your maid.'

Ark quickly puts the note down and notices Julia look at juicy meat with a sparkly eye.

"Someone gave us a free meal, maybe it was the Goldriver family. I don't know."

Ark quickly made up a lie to disperse Julia's curiosity and give her a cut of steak.

"Oh!! Young master, you shouldn't!"

Ark can clearly see the hesitation fighting with gluttony inside Julia's head, so he gives her a little more push.

"I like it more balanced anyway, so let's do an equivalent exchange."

He scoops up some of the mash potato back to his plate, and Julia quickly accepts the steak.

The meal went by fast and both finished their plates.

"Ah… Meat, how long has it been since the last time I tasted it…, Oh I have an idea, Master! I saw some wild animals living in the school, maybe next time I can hunt and cook you some food! It may not be perfect but there will be A LOT of meat for both of us!!"

After tasting the delicious meat and mash potato, The sadness that clouded her mind blew away and let her come up with an excellent idea to feed both of them while in school.

"That sounds very lovely! If I may say, can you do it now? I'm still a bit hungry, looks like I spent too much energy in a fight with Vincent."

Ark fake rubs his belly and lies with a straight face.

"Oh no! I shouldn't have stolen master food! Please wait here, I will be back in a minute!"

After Julia said, she quickly ran away in search of her master nutrients.

'This should take her around 5 minutes tops, I should hurry.'

Ark left the table and disappeared into thin air.

At the clock tower.

"Aren't first year students too young to join our ranks? I mean he needs to wait at least 5 more years to even register as a volunteer member."

A male upperclassman questioned their leader with concern.

He was wearing a green tie that had a special deer emblem on it.

"Who has said I want him to join our rank? I just wanted to have a chat with him, that's all. Besides, have you seen his talent? If we wait even a day, the lion and eagle surely get to him after the news reaches them, we can't let a good kid like him go to them now, aren't we?"

The one who sent the Ark invitation is a fierce looking woman with black hair, she has a tall figure with a big heart while wearing high heels make her far taller than average men. Her tie is also green but the deer emblem is growing in gold.

"I hate that you are correct, but are you sure the kid will come? I mean he is 5, isn't nap time now?"

The male classmen look at the time, and this time normally kids that age start to get sleepy.

"don't worry about it, He's already here."

She smirks and looks up to the ceiling.

"WHAT?!"

On the ceiling, Ark drops down and bow his head politely.

"Hello, and thank you for the steak. My maid and I enjoyed it very much."

"You're very polite for someone eavesdropping on upperclassmen, aren't you?"

"I just need to make sure this isn't assassination attempt, sorry."

Ark bowed his head again to apologize, he had to admit that he created quite a number of enemies.

He didn't want to kill any human if it was not necessary.

And necessary for a hero is something.

"Haha! Funny joke, kid. But don't worry I didn't intend to assassinate you, even if I wanted to, I can just poison the steak and mash potato!"

"You precisely correct. Damn kid, why you have to be so negative."

The male upperclassmen look at him worried.

Not just the paranoid, also the hiding skill that can escape his senses.

'Yes, you are absolutely correct that we need to quickly get in contact with this kid, leader.'

Kid with this skill level is unheard of.

"I just didn't like to ask people questions, hiding and letting them reveal their intention is more reliable in my experience."

"Experience, wasn't it? You must have had a rough life to come up with that, but let's not dwell on that, we didn't have a lot of time today."

She brushes off Ark's hint and goes straight to her intention of inviting him here.

"Let me introduce myself. My name is Lexie, a commoner but also a leader of the Green Deer faction, one of the three factions in Cowford school."

"I want to invite you to join our faction, in the future, of course!"