CH 343

Discomfort

After leaving Shannon’s potion store, we went to another 6 more stores that these two recommended.

All of them were fun, and the day really felt like it was well spent but………

“It’s already this late!? There’s still so many places I wanted to go though!”

“Seriously, the schedule we made yesterday for today had us visiting at least 6 more stores by this time.”

“This is all because granny Marissa kept on talking! I don’t feel satisfied at all!”

“More than Marissa-san, wasn’t it Gordon-san who just wouldn’t let us go?”

………..and like this, these two were still not satisfied with their day it seems.

I could let them argue like this but, since we hadn’t eaten anything since the bread we ate for breakfast, I was really hungry now.

I’d like to head to a restaurant already.

“We can come again another day you two. That aside, let’s go and get something to eat already, I’m honestly starving.”

“Well, if you promise you’ll come with us again then………I guess we can stop for now! And I am hungry as well! We skipped lunch because we were so focused on going everywhere!”

“To be fair, I did actually plan to visit a restaurant between the tour as well but, we never even got to that point. I think most eateries in the back alleys are already closed by this time, so let’s go and find a place at the main street shall we?”

Yeah, the main street stays open for a lot longer than the back alleys, so that’s probably the right thing to do.

Thinking that, I agreed with Esta’s opinion but, a specific place came to mind so I figured I should suggest that as well.

“Hey, there’s a place I wanted to visit actually, so can we go there?”

“Oh? Which one? As long as the food’s tasty, I’m okay anywhere!”

“The food is……..well, it’s normal I suppose. I was talking about the place where the info broker is that Esta had told me about.”

“Are you worried that he might have leaked info about you Chris-san? I don’t mind going there.”

“Yeah, thanks for understanding. Ralf, you okay as well right?”

“Well, sure I guess! Besides we’ll be roaming the main street tomorrow anyway, right?”

“that’s the plan. Just like the last day in Edestor, let’s go around and see as many places as possible.”

“Yeah, then I’m okay with this! The really good food can wait until tomorrow!”

With both of their consent, we headed to the eatery plus informant’s place that I visited a couple days ago.

The daily special I ate was not bad either and if info on me has leaked, it’d be from there so I can check that as well.

It’ll make for a good excuse to go check on him. So we quickly made our way to the place.

Reaching the said destination, I pushed through the door with my hand and entered the place.

There were normal customers there, and everything seemed the same as last time but……..suddenly I was hit by this strong sense of discomfort.

“Ohh! This seems like a nice place! Got some good variety as well!”

“……….Esta, you feel it too?”

“Not sure but, I feel like the whole place froze the moment we entered in here.”

“Welcome! Please get seated wherever you want!”

Ralf was looking at the menu completely unaware, meanwhile me and Esta stood behind and whispered to each other.

It seems Esta did notice the strange atmosphere in here.

I have used the informant here once so I wondered if the waitress would act differently but…….

While the store’s atmosphere feels frozen, she seemed to be working the same as usual.

But, the moment I activated all my detection skills, I noticed a couple things.

I could always be overthinking it all, so let’s just go and sit at a random place first and see how things unfold.

“Ralf, let’s go and sit over there. Let’s sit down and place the order.”

“Eh! The big table at the back seems nicer though?”

“This one’s fine. We’re just here to quickly eat, and I just happen to prefer seats near the exit.”

I convinced Ralf who still really hadn’t noticed anything, and sat down at a table that was close to the exit so we could quickly escape if needed.

To make sure they  don’t get too suspicious, I urged Esta to keep chatting normally with Ralf while I alone carefully began to investigate the interiors of the place.

[Mana Sense] and [Life Sense] didn’t show me anything, so I used [Hearing Enhancement] to try and pick out some info.

I did get the feeling that customers all stiffened the moment they saw me but, it turns out they were just having their usual random gossip and nothing of importance.

Next I tried to focus my hearing to the inner rooms of the store.

“……….he’s here. That……..is the man I spoke of. So please, help…………..”

“……..it seems. The order………..this poison………..come. if you do……….”

Even though it was deep inside the store, they were still whispering for whatever reason, so I only caught bits and pieces but, that conversation was anything but normal.

It seems mine and Esta’s instincts were correct.

If there was no reaction from [Mana Sense] and [Life Sense], so they are probably not a battle oriented person but there’s no doubt, there’s a member of [Under Eye] in here.

Since they supposedly only recruited very specific people, I thought they’d all be skilled fighters but it seems the members are all very diverse in their skill sets.

I don’t how accurate the conversation I heard was but, since they were talking about putting poison in a meal, I should use that to my advantage to lure them out.

But Klaus should know that my skill was [Null Poison] or at least [Poison Resistance] so I did wonder, why they’d go with kind of strategy but………no choice but to go along with this for now.