Perhaps because I had visited so many times already, the restaurant staff recognized me.
We were guided to our seats and looked over the menu.
"Have you been here a lot, Erik-kun?"
"When I eat out with Reina-san, it's usually either here or Sara-san's cafe. You can get a dish called rice here, and it goes so well with meat."
"Oh, really? In that case, maybe I'll try this."
Looking over the menu, Philia ordered the stir-fried meat and vegetables set meal.
Having ordered the steak set meal last time, I felt like having some vegetables too, so I ordered the same thing.
"Wow, it looks delicious!" Philia exclaimed, her eyes sparkling as our food arrived.
Once she started eating, the rice clearly suited her palate, and she happily dug in.
"The prices are a bit high here, but the taste definitely makes up for it, doesn't it?"
"Well, it's on the expensive side for a single meal, but it's fine for an occasional treat."
Eating at this diner cost roughly thirty to fifty copper coins per meal.
Eating here every day would certainly be tough on the wallet, but it was a great place to visit once in a while.
"Speaking of which, Reina-san comes here pretty often, doesn't she? Does she make a lot of money?"
"I hear receptionists basically get a fixed salary. But in Reina-san's case, she takes on extra work outside of reception duties, so she mentioned earning overtime pay. It seems she spends that extra money enjoying good food."
"That's a nice way to spend it. I think it's much better than squandering it on things like gambling or drinking. Are you interested in gambling, Erik-kun?"
There were gambling parlors in the royal capital.
They were located near the red-light district, so I had never set foot inside, but I had heard that plenty of adventurers frequented them.
"Not particularly, at least for now. Honestly, earning money through quests suits my personality much better than gambling."
"Ah, me too. I mean, doing it just to unwind is fine, but I wouldn't want to get hooked on it."
"Though I suppose I'll end up going eventually just to socialize."
For adventurers, information was a vital part of the job.
Right now, I asked Reina-san about all sorts of things, but there were some things only adventurers knew among themselves.
I had heard from Olivia-san and the others that sometimes you had to join people for drinks, meals, or games to dig up information or convince them to share it.
"I'm not worried about you, Philia, but if Alan finds out about that kind of nightlife, don't you think he might get addicted?"
"Surprisingly, he doesn't have much interest in gambling or anything like that. He just seems content being lazy."
"...Is that really just an issue with Alan's personality? He wasn't like that in the past, right?"
"Probably. But it started after he underwent the blessing ritual, so I'm thinking it might be the influence of some ability."
Among abilities, there were those that exerted a profound influence on the person who held them.
The "Courage" possessed by the Hero was one such ability.
"Still, since Roan-san is his brother, wouldn't Alan have shown him his status?"
"I'm sure he did, but the fact that nothing's changed might mean it's a troublesome ability."
To be honest, I was worried about Alan too.
"Speaking of abilities, I don't have a special skill, so I'm really jealous of you, Erik-kun."
"Well, it makes sense you'd feel that way, Philia. You're the cautious type."
"Just being able to know for certain that you're getting stronger through training makes it such an incredible ability, if you ask me."
Seeing the increase in experience points let me easily track just how much I was growing.
Olivia-san and Cain-san had told me the exact same thing—that this aspect alone made it a wonderful special skill.
"Besides, when it comes to leveling up, someone like you could reach three digits in the blink of an eye, couldn't you, Erik-kun?"
"Going by simple math, defeating ten thousand monsters will get me to level 100, after all."
"Must be nice... I'm not asking for the moon, but I really wish I had a growth-type skill too..."
As Philia spoke, we finished our meal and got ready to leave.
Afterward, we headed back to the Adventurer's Guild to take on some city requests.
"Huh? There are a lot fewer than yesterday, aren't there?"
Upon returning to the guild, we walked straight up to Reina-san's counter.
When she laid out the available city requests, the selection was noticeably sparser than the day before.
"Yes, adventurers arriving from other cities have been taking them to learn their way around town, so the requests vanished all at once. What would you like to do? Will you stick with city requests through today?"
"Let's see. Going all the way back to fetch my gear right now would be a hassle, so I think I'll stick to city requests for today. Is that alright with you, Philia?"
"Yup! Works for me!"
With Philia's agreement, we had Reina-san process the paperwork for the requests she selected for us.
"Alright then, Philia. Today's our last day for city requests, so this is the final showdown."
"You bet. I'm definitely winning today!"
"I won't go down easy either!"
With our friendly challenge set, we stepped out of the guild and ran off toward our assignment locations.