Corvus and Mika were sitting alone by the table in the corner of a roadside inn during a morning rush.
Both of them had only ordered some tea but had the guts to occupy a whole table by themselves when other potentially more profitable patrons had to wait...
...which has earned them more than a few annoyed glares from the staff whenever they'd pass by.
"Tsk...! Where did that woman go? It's been over thirty minutes! Maybe she was deceiving us from the start and want to get me in even bigger trouble?!"
Corvus was nervously tapping his foot while looking all over the inn in search of the missing third member of their small group.
But alas, Ti, who left the two almost immediately after they were seated by the table, was nowhere in sight.
"Corvus, isn't she just waiting for the other two to show up?"
Mika took a small sip of her lukewarm tea and frowned, trying to bear with the bitterness of the beverage - after all Corvus didn't add any sugar to his own tea and she tried to match him.
The only thing was, Corvus didn't even touch his drink yet.
He didn't even appear to be interested in the tea in the first place and left it to the side as if he expected it to be poisonous or something.
"Yeah, right. More like waiting for the other two to plot against us."
Corvus scoffed and started watching the entrance as if expecting a patrol of guards to just burst in and charge at him.
*clank*
But instead, he was served a large platter of delicious-looking food.
"...huh...?"
He groaned and glared at the smiling waitress who had just put yet another platter in front of Mika.
"We didn't order this."
Corvus scoffed at the woman and pushed the food away.
"Enjoy your meal."
The waitress was smiling so much that her eyes were basically closed.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})"We. Didn't. Order. This."
Corvus slowly spelled each word with increasing anger.
"..."
But then the waitress opened her copper-colored eyes. And glared down at him.
"Cal is already here but Cri got held back in the mansion. Eat."
"!!!"
"Ti...?! Why are you dressed like that?"
While Corvus was too busy being drenched in a cold sweat to say anything, Mika gasped and stared at the platinum-haired woman who perfectly blended with the staff.
"Collecting information."
Ti simply shrugged her shoulders and turned to the next table with a friendly smile back on her face.
With her gone again, Corvus and Mika ended up eating the food and waiting for another twenty minutes.
The morning rush was coming to an end when Ti came back to their table, this time back in her travel attire.
"We're going."
She gave a short command and walked to the door without even looking back.
"..."
Corvus gritted his teeth and clenched his fist looking at her back.
"Let's go."
He scoffed and waved at Mika, who was already up and ready to go just waiting for him to move.
The two of them caught up with Ti in front of the inn where Cal and Cri were already waiting for them in the carriage.
Without further ado, Ti grabbed Mika and got onto the carriage and Corvus had no other choice but to follow them.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})"We got some lead. They've been seen in the next town over, doing a mission or something."
Ti explained one Cal closed the door and Cri smacked the monster pulling the carriage with the reins.
"Huh? Just like that?"
Mika asked in confusion mixed with hints of disappointment.
"Stop being ambiguous and tell us who're you talking about"
Corvus didn't fall for Ti's little trap and asked in an annoyed tone.
"Fine, fine."
Ti rolled her eyes.
"I'm talking about the Dandelions. The party of adventurers who worked together with lady Cranberry's party, Superbia."
She explained.
"Why should we even bother with them? The report that Greeds gave to lord Pomegranate clearly stated that those guys were only responsible for cleaning up monster corpses. They have no value to us."
Corvus dismissed the idea while shaking his head.
"It never hurts to double-check the information. Knowing the Greed family they weren't too generous while asking their questions."
Ti smirked and pulled out a bag filled with money.
"The Dandelions are just an average bunch, below average in terms of strength even, a little bit of positive encouragement might jog their memory better than any threats made by the official investigators."
Ti shrugged her shoulders, shaking the bag.
"They should be able to at least point us in a direction in which we should go to start the real search."
She added, putting the money down.
"..."
Corvus glared at her in silence, furrowing his brows while trying to find faults in the plan.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})"I guess that's not the worst idea in the world, considering that apparently, every trace of Cranberry's existence cuts off in Envy's city."
He sighed and leaned back in his seat with a grumpy expression.
"Lady Cranberry."
Ti corrected him without batting an eye.
"What?"
Corvus looked at her as if she just lost her mind.
"Just in case, get used to calling her lady Cranberry. You've seen the report, she clearly hates when people are too casual with her."
Ti explained patiently.
"Umm..."
Mika fidgeted, shyly looking between Ti and Corvus.
"What is it, Mika? You need a toilet break?"
Corvus raised his brow and asked.
"Wha...?! No! Could you stop treating me like a little kid already?!"
Mika blushed from embarrassment and stomped her foot.
"I just thought, that if we think that the Dandelions were hiding something even from the royal investigators, then maybe they've also straight-up lied about lady Cranberry's capabilities?"
She suggested, gathering the attention of others.
"By that you mean...?"
For the first time since his arrival, Cal spoke, voicing a question.
"During the lessons about the etiquette and social structure of our kingdom, I've learned about the direct descendants of other avatars of sin, and lady Cranberry... well... let's just say that she was used as a negative example of too much empty pride not backed up by real any real strength."
Mika fidgeted both happy and terrified by the attention she got.
"How do we know that those Dandelions weren't just using her as a cover and they did everything by themselves and got rid of her after?"
She asked.
