She’d thought she’d be nervous, but it seemed Sara had gotten used to dining with nobles from living in Ri’s mansion, because she didn’t have any trouble with the food or the conversation. Of course, it helped that Bradley, Haruto, and Vince were there too.
Vince and the mayor were doing most of the talking, and Vince was leading the conversation so that Sara would be able to find out what was happening in the town, so she learned a lot about what everyone was doing to counter the continental tortoise.
“If by some chance the protection field fails, at least monsters won’t be able to get into the First District. I was surprised when Ted suggested evacuating the townsfolk into the First District when the continental tortoise comes, but if I think of it as him coming to terms with being the next mayor, it doesn’t feel too bad.”
So he hadn’t just suggested fixing the road to the Dark Mountain. When Sara learned he was thinking about evacuating the people of the town too, she had to admit Ted’s stocks were rising considerably in her mind.
The pleasant conversation continued for some time after that until it was finally time to wrap things up.
“I’ll take Sara home,” Ted announced.
She almost said that she had Haruto and Vince so she’d be fine, but she agreed after realizing it looked like Ted wanted to talk to her about something.
They left the grounds of the mansion and Sara thanked him. “I heard you got the road to the Dark Mountain fixed up. Thanks.”
“It’s nothing you should have to thank me for.”
This curtness was what made Ted, Ted. Walking beside Sara, he spread his arms like the mayor had earlier.
“Just look at this place. It’s like a little terrarium. Before I went to the capital and met Master Chris, this was my entire world. Lavish, perfectly neat streets, a tiny slice of sky, and only a few neighbors to have any sort of interactions with. I always did exactly as my father said, like his little doll.”
It was incredibly rare for Ted to talk about himself like this.
“The people in town on the other side of that wall were like garbage to me. I’d been raised for my entire life hearing that they were nothing more than tools to enrich the lives of the people who lived in the First District.”
Sara was easily able to picture that after meeting Rosa’s mayor. If Sara wasn’t one of the Invited—if she had lived in Rosa for her whole life, for instance—she might have never even met the mayor of her own town.
“I went to the capital believing that, and never paid attention to anything but Master Chris and medicinal plants, so those ideas only solidified inside me when I became an adult. It’s no one else’s fault but my own. And because of that, I caused you and Allen a lot of trouble.”
“I think Allen would tell you that’s all in the past now.”
She wasn’t sure if this could be called an apology or not, but it at least pleased Sara to know that Ted could openly admit that he’d been at fault.
“We’ve got more than enough money. My father plans to leave Rosa to me one day and go live in the capital, so we have enough to waste it on whatever we want.” Sara wasn’t sure why he was talking about money all of a sudden, but she understood when he continued, “So we had the money to fix up the road.”
“Uhh... Ahem.” Vince cleared his throat rather exaggeratedly from a slight distance away. “I’m here too, you know. Don’t say anything you don’t need to. I don’t want to hear about how the mayor’s got money to spare, but he wouldn’t spend it on anything anyway.”
“Then just pretend you never heard it,” Ted said flatly. “We won’t have the Invited up on the Dark Mountain forever. At some point, Hunters from Rosa are going to have to manage the Dark Mountain on their own. And I don’t want people getting hurt out there and blaming Rosa like what happened with the knights.”
“Wow, you’re really thinking about this, huh?”
“Oh, shut up.” Ted was finally starting to act more like himself.
“Are you gonna quit your job as an apothecary, Ted?”
He was only talking about things that had to do with being the next mayor, which wasn’t like him at all.
“Of course not. Even here in Rosa, I want to do work that will help Master Chris in some way.”
Sara was a bit surprised when his tone suddenly changed, but it was just his usual Master Chris worship.
“He can only make that dragon repellent of his in Hydrangea right now. My current goal is to find a way to manufacture it in Rosa.”
“Wow, that’s impressive. I think that really will help him.” Sara nodded beside him.
They arrived at the inn in no time as they spoke.
“It’s you, so I’m sure you’ll be fine, but...” Ted cleared his throat like something was stuck in it.
“But?”
“But, well... Don’t do anything reckless.”
He had already turned around and was walking away before he even finished speaking, but Sara definitely heard it.
“Don’t do anything reckless, huh?” She smirked at the very un-Ted-like sentiment.
Vince was smirking too. “How bittersweet.”
“No, there was nothing bittersweet about it,” Sara asserted.
“I don’t get it. What’s bittersweet about it?”
Sara didn’t think she’d ever be happy to hear one of Haruto’s oblivious comments.
“Ha ha ha. Things are fun when you guys are around. Ha ha ha.”
Vince went home in high spirits, and Sara was relieved to have her Invited duties over with for the day.