He grimaced, opening his mouth to say something, his right hand raised in a fist ready to knock on Aqua's door, but he stopped.
His dull eyes and slow breathing made his state clear. He slowly lowered his head before turning around, inhaling deeply before exhaling.
"I shouldn't bother someone I barely know," he muttered before heading over to open the door.
A while later.
"Hey!!! Inox, how are you?" Darkness and Dust smiled, quickly greeting the prince while holding small boxes in their hands. He tilted his head, a bit confused.
"Hehehe, how about we discuss it inside?" Dust proposed, to which Inox nodded.
"What are the boxes for?" He was confused; each of them was holding boxes half their size. Darkness looked to the side, her cheeks flushed.
"Didn't you say we could live here too?" Dust raised an eyebrow. The prince shook his head, letting out a soft chuckle before stepping away from the door.
"Go on in, there's a newly built house. Wake up Kazuma and Aqua in the cabin; I'll go buy something for dinner."
At Inox's words, the two blondes walked in with wide smiles. He made a mental note to ask how the two of them found out Rosco had finished building the house just to come knocking on his door, and then he left.
The outskirts of Axel City were bustling. People were trading and selling things at street stalls, and geared-up adventurers were entering taverns that they would stumble out of completely drunk a few hours later.
He watched all this with an expressionless face. "I should go to the guild to get some toad meat." He let out a slight smile at the mention of toad meat, licking his lips before continuing.
With quick strides, he arrived in less than half an hour. The person at the reception desk was Luna. Curiously, the guild's tavern was a bit empty, but Inox was able to spot certain people in the distance.
"Tsk!" He clicked his tongue. His eyes immediately landed on a group of four people sharing a table in a corner. He watched them: a mage, a priestess, a warrior, and an assassin.
"Their levels shouldn't be very high," he said to himself, remembering those faces. They were the same ones who had been watching Kazuma from the shadows this morning—probably the ones who beat him half to death.
"Looks can certainly be deceiving," he smiled before heading to a table. The priestess of that group was beautiful, with golden hair and bright eyes, a delicate appearance, and a petite stature, but he had seen an arrogant smirk on her face.
A waitress quickly approached his spot to take his order.
"Good evening, sir, umm..." the waitress hesitated for a moment, catching his attention.
He raised his head slightly to look at her. Short black hair, red eyes—a girl who had barely entered adolescence. With a delicate frame and a polite smile on her face, she was furrowing her brow.
"I'm Inox," he slightly bowed his head.
"Ahem, Mr. Inox, would you like to order something?" The prince immediately broke into a wide smile upon hearing that. "If I didn't want to order something, would I be here?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Uh..." Megumin opened her mouth a couple of times trying to say something, but couldn't. Instead, she lowered her head slightly while trembling.
"Hahaha!!! Don't be so polite, kid. Come on, just give me 4 kilos of frog legs, 2 kilos of potatoes, and some vegetables and spices..." Smiling, he patted the girl's head just like he used to do with his pet back in the kingdom.
Megumin nodded her head before retreating.
The prince was about to lean on the table when he noticed the four-person team looking at him; his laugh had probably been loud enough to catch their attention.
He gave a half-smile, placed a hand on his chest, and raised an empty glass with his left hand in greeting.
The warrior of that team did the same and they went back to their business. However, the assassin—a skinny, youthful-looking man—kept watching him out of the corner of his eye every now and then.
He noticed how, after that, Megumin approached that group of laughing and joking adventurers with her head down and her body trembling. One of them said something that made the girl take a few steps back.
"Ah, I've seen this before. Isn't this how Dragon Knights from noble families treated their commoner peers?" he muttered. A moment later, Megumin brought his order in several bags.
Inox saw the girl smile faintly when he paid her. She bowed before attempting to leave. "Hey," he said softly.
Megumin turned around, "Do you need something, sir?"
His fingers drummed on the table as he looked at the girl's face. "You're from the Crimson Demon Clan. Talented like the rest of them, I assume. Why are you working as a waitress here?"
Megumin looked into his eyes, pursed her lips, and gripped the tray in her hands tightly before opening her mouth. "Actually, I'm not as talented as the others. I only know one spell, and I don't have an adventuring party."
Inox's smile deepened. "If you only know one spell, that must mean it's an amazing spell, or at least important to you, right?"
The girl's eyes widened a bit. She took a step back, nodded her head, then shook it and lowered her voice. "A person died because of me, and I couldn't do anything to defend him, and... I'm sorry, I have to work." She bowed to excuse herself and returned to the kitchen.
"A death?" Inox repeated. He was about to grab his things and leave when someone stopped him.
"Buddy..." The soft-spoken assassin from the four-person team smiled at him, extending a hand as he spoke. "My name is Mtyr. What's yours?"
"Inox, I'm Inox," he returned the handshake while forcing a smile onto his face.
"I can see you're very strong. Would you like to join my party?" Mtyr got straight to the point.
The prince's forced smile widened. He really didn't have a good impression of this person. He grabbed the bags with his left hand and shook his head, whispering, "No."
But before he could leave, a hand on his shoulder stopped him again. "Actually, you could be a great..."
"Oh, fuck it, I try to keep my cool, and this son of a bitch..." the prince thought. Mtyr couldn't finish his sentence. Inox had already gotten into stance; he turned his head, shifted his body, and with a twisting motion of his torso and leg, struck the guy hard in the face.
"Whack!" The guy's nose broke against his fist. His eyes barely registered the rapid movement, and he let out a stifled groan as he was lifted into the air before being sent flying a few meters by the blow. His teammates watched, unreacting.
"Ah, shit..." Inox whispered. He immediately grabbed his things and bolted, running all the way back to his territory.
Behind him, he could hear the shout of a man, the screams of two women, and the curses of several people, along with the laughter of others.