Chapter 27: Delightful Conversation, [Over a Cup of Tea]

“Witch.” Tobias greeted the woman who had a wide-brimmed hat, and she turned her head upwards to face him with crimson, almost-glowing eyes. She was back to her robes which seemed to cling too tightly to her body, and the porcelain mask was nowhere to be found.

“Don’t call me that out here.” She only replied, while she idly leaned against a wall.

“My bad. Stella, then.” He apologized, his voice perfectly neutral as always. “You... found who we’re looking for?”

Her eyes briefly scanned around their surroundings to see any suspicious person around to eavesdrop on them. They were situated in a more secluded corner in the Guild, but seeing as how there was people around them just a few meters away, she gave a small sigh.

“Let’s talk somewhere more private.” She leaned towards his direction, and gave a subtle wink. Then she started to walk away, and her finger only gestured for him to follow her.

With a shrug, he moved to follow her. He wondered what was her deal with these weird and strangely alluring mannerisms, before deciding not to worry about it too much.

It was very Stella of her to do so, and he remembers that she tended to act like that to literally every single human person she came across – Magician excluded, for reasons unknown. Then again, he sounded like a prick. And that was coming from Tobias.

So she led them outside – as in, they literally just strolled past the adventurers just standing about, as they talked. He didn’t pay attention to any of them, but it was clear that they had briefly looked at the two with strange expressions.

And after that, the first thing that greeted Tobias outside was the sun’s rays. It was starting to get really warm, and it was the telltale sign that spring was ending, and summer was beginning. He had already thought to himself before, but he thought to himself again that he needed to wear something other than coats.

He shrugged the thought aside, and focused on following Stella to wherever she’s going to take them.

They passed through buildings, they passed through the marketplace, and they turned here and there for a while. Then finally, she stopped in front of a building. The chairs and tables set up outside indicated that it was some sort of dining establishment – but why go through the trouble of bringing him here?

“Come on, don’t look at me like that.” She said, then sat herself on one of the tables set outside, underneath a large parasol. She pointed at the chair at the opposite side of her. “You should also probably sit here instead of just standing around.”

“Hm.” Tobias let out a small hum to himself, as he did exactly what she suggested. Then he set his elbows down, and propped his head as he continued to stare at the mysterious woman. What exactly was her intentions...?

“We’ll be in here for a while, you know. Want to get anything?” She asked, her gaze fixed on him, without her even finding anything strange about his behavior. “This is a tea house, so only drinks are served here.”

Tobias blinked. “There’s a store which only serves drinks?” He looked at the building in question; the door was left open, and there were glass windows which only let him see the inside. The inside of the building had even more tables and chairs set up, and a man dressed in a black-colored suit walked to them.

On his hands were a stiff paper-like board, and he handed it towards Stella. She took it, and her eyes began to move, scanning the surface. And then she seemed to be delighted from something, because she nodded to herself then gave the paper-like board to Tobias.

“I’ll have Iced Cappuccino.” She said, and the way she said such a word – where did it come from? Why did it sound so sophisticated and impossible to spell in his mind?

“Certainly.” The suited man only nodded, and proceeded to pull out a metal spike-like object, before scribbling on a small rectangular thing which definitely had paper in it. What a strange writing instrument...

Now that he held it... this board had a lot of words written in it. Like – it was a large enough board, and it was filled to the brim with words and numbers. He blinked, then began to read it carefully. What the hell was ‘Iced Coffee’? And why was it priced at seventy coppers? There was something spelled a ‘Cappuccino’ and that was probably what Stella ordered, and it was pricey, at one silver.

The other words were just as confusing. ‘Green Tea’, ‘Black Tea’... was tea supposed to be some sort of drink? And with a sigh to himself, he just settled for ‘Honey Tea’, mostly because it was the only thing he recognized out of everything, colors or ice excluded.

“I choose this Honey Tea...? I guess?” Tobias finally said, letting out a small sigh to himself. There went fifty of his copper coins, but at least what he ordered would be good enough, right?

“Would you prefer it iced?” The man asked, and Stella nodded for him. “If that would be all, then it will be ready in five minutes. Thank you for your patronage.”

When the man had returned to the inside of the building, Tobias gave a subtle glare at the woman. “What is this place, and what are these prices?”

“I told you, it’s a tea house.” She said, and then hummed to herself. “Well, you can think of it as an exclusive drinks-only store, except what they offer is... incredibly exotic, and is probably the most delicious thing you’ll ever drink in your entire life.”

“Exotic...?” He asked.

“Exotic.” She only nodded.

“So that’s why I couldn’t even recognize even half of them...” He murmured to himself, then let out a small sigh again. Then he straightened his back. “Anyways, can we talk about our business now?”

“Right, right.” As soon as she said that, traces of playfulness in her voice disappeared, and her gaze hardened to one of focus. “As I told you last night, the Hex that was used to kill the man narrowed down the profiles of whoever is involved with the attackers. I’ve searched a bit through the archives and... well... there are two candidates, excluding myself. There aren’t a lot of Witches and Warlocks in this part of the kingdom, thankfully.”

“Who are they?” Tobias asked, slightly leaning forwards to listen more carefully.

“First up is Mythril Ranked Witch, Swanhilde Wolfe.” Stella said, her eyes narrowed down in utmost seriousness. “That being said... she is now mostly retired from Adventuring, and is involved with the Hexenguard Association. And if anything, I know that she’s not the type of person to use such forbidden hexes.”

“You sound like you know her.”

“Maybe. I’ll tell you some other time.” She gave a small shrug. “And as for our next, more likely candidate... Silver Ranked Warlock, Verbantt Eldreich.”

“Now that I think about it, if such a forbidden hex is forbidden for a reason, then why do you know about it?” He asked, his eyes narrowed with some suspicion.

“I figured you would say that.” Stella’s eyes seemed to shine, and then they narrowed. She began to chant in a language that Tobias could not understand, and his instincts screamed at him. He braced himself for the danger that would come... but there was none.

Instead of anything else, a single, white letter-like symbol floated in the air, before traveling to Stella’s forehead. When it touched her forehead, it turned black.

“A Self-binding Geis. With this, I am completely honest for one question. Don’t ask anything personal, but you can feel free to ask anything regarding our business. Is this enough to clear your suspicion of me?”

Tobias blinked at her. Was she insane...? But he shook his head. If there were Hexes which allowed one to prevent information leakage by killing a person, then surely something like that was much more mundane in comparison. Either way, he did have one question he needed to ask.

“Do you know how to use the Forbidden Hex, Absolute Information Denial?”

“Of course not.” Her mouth did not open, yet her voice came out. No – the black symbol in her forehead began to glow, and whenever it did, her voice come forth from it, but sounded more resonant and hollow than usual. “My knowledge of it is like how a person knows that torture exists, but they themselves do not know, or cannot bring themselves to commit such atrocity. The case is similar for me.”

And with that statement, the symbol in her head faded away. But she bowed her head slightly, and her hands reached up to massage it. “I really don’t like using Self-binding Geises... But there you go, I hope you trust me now.”

“I mean... I think you’re somewhat insane for simply binding yourself like that.” Tobias replied, although he was still blinking from at what she just did.

“Really? For us Witches and Warlocks, it’s somewhat of a courtesy to do so.” She hummed, and then her eyes widened as if realizing something, and she snapped her fingers. “Oh, is it because of the display last night?” He nodded. “Well, there’s a reason why it’s a forbidden Hex even to us, you know? Those are the exceptions, not the normal.”

“I see.” He finally said. And right when their conversation concluded, the suited man came up to them, and holding some metal tray, expertly set two glasses full of... yeah, this was pretty exotic after all. Tobias had never seen a drink that was almost black in color, and had ice in it.

“Honey Tea for the good sir, and Cappuccino for the good lady. Enjoy your day.” The suited man bowed, then left the table with a small wooden tray, and then he left with metal tray on hand.

Tobias idly heard Stella give thanks in turn, but he was more focused on the drink in front of him. Ice... during near-summer? And such black color... what was tea, exactly? He raised it, sniffed it... and while it did smell pleasant, it wasn’t quite detailed enough to let him know what it was, exactly.

On the other side of the table, he could idly see Stella taking sips from her own glass full of light brown liquid, and it was seemingly topped with white, frothy-like things.

He shrugged, raised his glass, then took a sip.

It tasted complex. No, that was the biggest, blandest, most understated explanation ever. It tasted like brewed leaves, perfectly dried and left to dry under the sun, before being stored in a cool place and transported elsewhere. The tea itself tasted like a perfect blend between water, tea leaves, and floral, herb-like flavors. And more importantly, the way that the honey was mixed in this concoction of complexity – it didn’t overpower the floral, earthly taste of the tea itself, and it didn’t let itself be lost within the blend of such mixture. No imbalance was provoked, and it was nothing, truly nothing, but the perfect blend between honey, tea leaves, and water. A complex matrimony to rival that of a berry crepes’ –

– Then again, Tobias had no way of knowing that. So in the end, he just let out a bliss-filled hum, and calmly sipped the tea as he savored such flavor. And then, a thought occurred to him.

“But then... he didn’t ask us for payment. How do we even pay for this?” He asked, even though he was already taking sips from his drink.

“You put the money there, then raise your hand and excuse yourself.” Stella replied, her own face morphed to one of relief, and she pointed towards the wooden tray.

“Sounds too complicated to me.” He shrugged. When he moved to pay, she only raised her hand to stop him.

“Not now, it’s considered bad manners to pay while enjoying a drink, or a meal really.”

“Sounds too sophisticated.” He sighed. “So now that we know who we’re supposed to target, what’s our plan now?”

And in that next instant, Stella’s normally calm face turned into smile, filled with particularly malicious intent. “Once again, I am terribly glad you asked.”