The grilled meat was pork covered in a seasoned sauce combined with roughly chopped onions. The fat in the meat melted richly with every bite. It paired well with the onions, cooked to the point they still retained a slight crunch, and ale.
The fish was a freshwater type, its flaky white meat flavored with finely chopped herbs to dispel the fishy smell. The skin was crisp and savory. It seemed to have been grilled over a bed of charcoal, considering a faint hint of the coals remained. This was the first time Bertine found the skin of a fish delicious.
“My lady, this is the first time I’ve had this shellfish,” Dorothée said.
“I as well,” Bertine replied. “Despite being a clam, it doesn’t smell like the ocean. It must have been caught in a river then. It’s so soft, I could eat these forever.”
Evance only nodded as he continued eating. He seemed to be in his late twenties. He had red curly hair and freckles dotted his face. He looked like a mischievous child who had instantly transformed into an adult, so there was no denying his boyish charm. But his height easily surpassed six feet and he had a fine physique, sporting arms as thick as Bertine’s thighs.
“Ahhh, I feel alive again!”
He spoke ecstatically after emptying the plates on the table. He chuckled softly, gray eyes narrowed in contentment. Only a crescent-shaped sliver peeked through his lowered lids.
“That was delicious. Thank you so much again,” he said. “Do you two ladies live in the area? I arrived here from a small town in the countryside, south of the city. Thieves stole all my worldly possessions as soon as I reached Ybit. That’s when I learned how frightening large cities really are.”
“How extremely unfortunate for you! What made you travel to Ybit?” Bertine asked.
“I want to become an architect. I visited several companies specializing in the field, but none of them would give me the time of day.”
Bertine had met several architects back when she still lived in San Luenne, but their personalities and aura were markedly different from his.
“Oh, right,” he said. “I may have been robbed of all my belongings, but I still have the finished blueprint of the house I want to build.”
He withdrew several sheets of paper from his breast pocket. One had an illustration of an incredibly bizarre building. It was an oval-shaped bungalow with a thatched grass roof. Another showed a tall structure that couldn’t rightly be called a house with the way it was designed because a slender spiral staircase wound down its central axis with small rooms attached here and there to the staircase. His other drawings showcased similarly fantastical abodes, like the sort found in fairy tales.
“Ah, no wonder you weren’t employed by any of them. Was it because you showed them these designs?” Bertine guessed.
“I did. I suspected that was the case, but still, I hoped that at least one company in a city as large as this one would show good judgment and appreciate my work.”
“Except that is precisely why they weren’t receptive. Houses like these aren’t in demand in a city,” Bertine pointed out. “Though I do think you might fare better in a place like the Kingdom of San Luenne with its many wealthy visitors from the Empire. Actually, on second thought, perhaps not even there. My apologies for making such a rash statement.”
Bertine’s frank evaluation visibly disappointed Evance. Watching him, a strange thought began to form in her mind. Hazy and shapeless, it nevertheless grew. For now, it’d be best if I didn’t let this giant out of my sight. That was the only concrete thing her heart could tell her at the moment. Besides, hadn’t Father insisted to the point of madness that “You cannot surpass others by doing the same thing as them?”
“Evance, do you have lodgings for the night?” she asked. “If not, you may stay with us in exchange for being our bodyguard.”
“My lady, why not just give him enough money to find an inn? You really don’t have to go so far for him.”
“It’s fine. I’m not particularly concerned about what our neighbors might think. Especially because I don’t have anything to lose anymore. Still, to be on the safe side, I’ll lock your room from the outside since we are two women alone,” she said to Evance. “Which means you won’t be able to get out at night. That said, are you still amenable to my offer?”
“Yes! That’s not a problem for me at all!”
“Then it’s settled.”
✦ ✦ ✦
THEY ate and drank plenty before Bertine paid the bill and they exited the restaurant. Outside, she encountered the young boy she’d met in the afternoon to whom she’d given candy. He held his younger sister’s hand.
“Oh, my, why are you still out here?” she addressed them. “It’s pitch-dark, no? You must go home quickly.”
The children’s faces brightened immediately upon hearing Bertine’s voice.
“It’s the candy ma’am!”
“Perhaps you can call me Miss Bertie instead?”
“Okay, Miss Bertie! We were waiting for our mother to finish her work. But my little sister said she wanted to see her soon, so we walked here.”
Two women around her age worked in the restaurant as servers. Bertine realized one of them must be the children’s mother. Even so, it was dangerous for them to be out here at this time of night.