Fancy, Lobster

The waiters went away, and then everyone looked at Felix, assuming that these were his instructions or something.

Arleen was the first to ask

"Did you tell them to do that?"

Felix replied in a genuinely confused tone

"No, I have no idea what's going on"

But before they could continue speaking, a beautiful young woman approached the table holding a plate.

The woman's hair was bluish-white, and her eyes were icy.

She was wearing a short black dress, with black leggings under it, it looked more like a uniform than a dress.

She looked at Leus and said politely

"Welcome, Library's Young Master.

We'd like to especially welcome you to our restaurant, that's why your dish is a little special"

Leus' plate looked exactly the same as everyone else's, there was only a single difference

'The lobster is blue, not red'

The woman continued

"It tastes exactly the same, but it's so rare that the chance of finding this magnificent-looking Blue Lobster is one in two million!

We hope our small gift will be to your liking, Esteemed Guest."

She placed the plate in front of Leus, and that's when he noticed her aura

'She's a Mage?, Interesting ... so this is the restaurant's Ice Mage?'

It was the first time Leus saw anyone with an Ice Affinity

'The color looks beautiful'

But these were only secondary thoughts, what Leus really wanted to know was

"Why are you doing this?"

The woman was slightly taken aback by his sudden question

"Ah- Do you not like it?"

Leus shook his head

"No, thank you, I appreciate your efforts. I'm just asking, why are you doing it?"

"It's our policy, to highly value and welcome our special guests"

Her answer was vague

'Why am I a special guest?'

He was persistent and asked

"What makes me a special guest?"

The woman replied with a smile

"Your position and of course, your impeccable display of skills earlier"

Leus was at a loss for words

' ..... Impeccable - display of skills?'

An awkward silence ensued, and Leus didn't know what to say.

Blaze quickly saved him

"Thank you very much"

She nodded with a smile and then said

"Excuse me"

And left back to where she came from.

Felix and Arleen were curious, while Blaze was .. just barely holding back his laughter

Everyone looked at Leus while he silently fidgeted with his finger on the table while staring at the blue lobster.

"I guess you were right, Dad"

Blaze chuckled and explained what happened to Felix and Arleen.

When they heard it, they chuckled as well.

Everyone took the matter lightly.

Felix then said

"Please, enjoy your meal"

Everyone started eating.

Viorica and Arleen ate in a fancy way, effortlessly using the fork and knife to delicately cut each morsel into bite-sized pieces before gracefully bringing them to their mouths with the fork.

Amethyst tried to do the same, but she wasn't very good at it. Still, she kept trying.

Blaze, Merlin, and Felix also cut their food with a knife and ate with a fork, but they did it in a simpler, more straightforward way. It wasn't as fancy, but it worked.

Leus looked at all that and thought to himself

'It's such a shame that this rare specimen is on my plate ... '

Leus used the fork to stab everything and then put it in his mouth, he only ate the caviar with the spoon.

Every time he stabbed something, a low clanking sound came, but no one complained about it

'All this trouble for a meal? what's living in the Red Mansion like then? I'll make sure I have the right to not follow a single etiquette there.'

Leus began eating and genuinely, he enjoyed the food

Everything was very delicious, the lobster specifically tasted amazing, and the tuna and shrimp were very tasty and juicy.

The caviar just exploded with flavor every time Leus took a spoon.

'Honestly, the food is worth the trouble'

They mostly ate silently, with few small talks being made in between, which Leus didn't participate in.

After everyone ate, the two families began speaking again, this time mostly about food and wanting to repeat the experience.

While they were talking, Leus was just looking at the Red Mansion absentmindedly.

It was already dusk, the sun began to set and darkness was falling on the city, but the Red Mansion looked bright. Not too bright that it'd disturb you and not too dim that it'd go unnoticed, just perfect brightness.

Leus just stared at the last floor wondering to himself

'Is Ignatius there?'

Whenever he thought about Ignatius, the image of a red-haired Arno would come to his mind.

'They're the same age and also friends, I wonder how old are they? Definitely older than 100'

Since Arno was running out of longevity, and his Life Force started to weaken, Leus assumed that their ages would be somewhere between 150 and 200 years old.

'Isn't it crazy? So old ... I wonder how much they've witnessed and how much they really know about the world'

Arno and Ignatius represented the very peak

'There's also Sal .. but he's not in this city, and maybe not even in the entire continent. I think Arno and Ignatius are among the strongest in the continent, after the Kings of course.'

Leus remembers that Arno told him before about the city's population

'30 Million something'

So in the entire continent, there are hundreds of millions maybe even more than a billion person

'Yet, Ignatius and Arno are among the top.'

If you really think about it ... how special they are

'It's awe-inspiring.'

Suddenly, a voice interrupted Leus' thoughts

"What are you thinking about so deeply, Leus?"

It was Arleen

Leus turned around and looked at her

"Nothing much, just some random thoughts"

Arleen smiled

"Is that so? Well then, it was nice finally meeting you"

"Same"

Felix stood up, and after him, Blaze stood up as well, the two shook hands again

"We must do it again soon"

"Of course, we will"

They exchanged a couple of words then Blaze extended his hand for Viorica, she held it and got up as well, and after her, the rest of the family got up.

After saying goodbye, Blaze's family left first, and Felix's family had to stay behind to pay the check.

Felix was standing watching his guests leave, while Arleen was on the chair looking at Leus' back with a blank expression.

'Oh Leus ... Leus Inferno, how unique ... how special'

Her lips very slightly curved up

'How interesting.'