Sitting down across from one another in a small restaurant, both Akari and Aaron picked up the menus from the table between them.
"Steak, chicken, steak…"
The blond boy paused, frowning deeply.
"Sea terror tenderloin?"
Shaking his head, he looked up at Akari, who had stopped her finger on the specialty section of the pamphlet.
Please don't ask for the most expensive item… The few earnings that the Church gave me as a reward won't cover that much…
While he strained his neck peeking at her and trying to guess what she was going to get, the girl pulled back the menu slightly, speaking quietly.
"Have you decided what you're going to order?"
Her words made Aaron's face droop as he rushed to find something to pick, yet as he dug through his options, an idea came to mind.
"I'll just get the same as you."
Placing his menu down in front of him and smiling, he watched a strange look pass over Akari's face.
"If you insist…"
Raising her eyebrows, she signaled towards the waiter who prowled in the distance, waiting for their call.
Hurrying through the packed room, the stout man appeared at the pink-haired girl's side, an attentive smile shining brightly on his face.
"Welcome to Rosery's Butchery. Is there anything I can get the lovely couple on this wonderful evening?"
Blushing red, Aaron placed his hands out in front of him, denying it instantly.
"No, no… We aren't a couple. Just here for the Hunters' Exam."
Nodding his head slowly, the waiter seemed to understand the boy's words; however, one glimpse over at the pink-haired girl made him nearly laugh.
While her face was entirely composed, her ears had turned as pink as her long curls, something the man had always thought only existed in romance stories.
"Alrighty then. Is there anything I can get you two challengers today? Drinks perhaps…?"
A pen and paper appeared in the waiter's hand as Aaron began to speak, the man furiously scribbling his order.
"I'll get a sparkling shot of terror venom."
Akari's expression contracted at her partner's request, a look of confusion and worry streaking across her face.
Similar to her, the stout man paused his writing, looking at the boy in mild horror.
"What dilution amount shall I set it to? The safe limit is—"
He was cut off by a grinning Aaron, who passed the waiter his menu as he spoke.
"I'll take it fresh out of the bottle. No dilution is necessary. Also, for my main, I'll just take whatever she is having."
There was a delay in the man's reply, his eyes simply blinking in concern as he scribbled the order down.
Under his breath, one could hear his quiet murmur quite clearly.
"The customer is never wrong…"
Shaking his head and turning his gaze towards the cherry-haired girl, he waited for her to follow up.
"I'll take the same as him for a drink. Though I'll put mine at a dilution rate of eight-ninths."
She paused, looking at the menu once more and then pointing to her desired entree.
"Can I have the spicy seafood tower, please? And my friend across from me wasn't thinking before; we don't need two. You can just get us one jumbo for the table."
Hurrying to write down what she said and shooting Aaron one last strange glance, he collected her menu and walked away in disbelief.
Sighing to himself, the turquoise-eyed boy met the girl's gaze, a look of worry obvious across her face.
"Oh yeah… That looks really bad, doesn't it…?"
Rubbing the back of his neck and giving her a wry smile, he spoke again, trying to explain his odd drinking habits.
"My mentor loves the exotic beverages offered around the world, and she never once spared any expense on collecting them herself. Therefore, she threw me the extras, and I've built up a stable immunity to the stuff."
Of course, what he said was only half the truth; his total resistance towards poisons and venoms would let him get away even with drinking the most vicious of acids.
Across from him, Akari furrowed her pink eyebrows while leaning on her hand resting on the table.
"Your mentor, eh? She sounds quite interesting."
Realizing immediately that he had messed up in revealing his teacher's gender, the blond-haired boy shifted uncomfortably in his seat, attempting to change the topic.
"She's wonderful. But what about Commodore Maxus? One doesn't get the second-highest rank in the guild for nothing."
Batting her eyelashes calmly and looking up at Aaron with her big blue eyes, the pink-haired girl replied gracefully.
"Harsh but reasonable. I heard he's similar to Camilla in that way. As her student, what do you think?"
Twirling his fork absent-mindedly, he responded without thought.
"Definitely…"
As the words left his mouth, he realized one second late what he had just admitted, his eyes immediately meeting Akari's.
Uh oh…
"So you finally admit it. You know, I wondered why she wouldn't tell us during our introductions, but now that you've confirmed it, it all adds up."
Tossing her loose locks of hair behind her shoulders, she waited for the boy's reply, which came soon after.
"How long have you known?"
He had stopped messing around with the silverware; instead, he was nervously rasping his fingers on the tablecloth.
"Ever since the exam started, basically. My job is about information gathering and assassination. You didn't really think I hadn't tried to look for the documents regarding your mentor, right? Of course, when I found them, it was obvious that she had allowed me to look."
Sighing lightly and puffing out her cheeks, she continued.
"There's no getting past that woman… The moment I stepped into her office, I could feel her killing intent pressing down against me. I had tried to leave, but as I backed up, I nearly tripped over a pile of documents. Those, of course, were the ones pertaining to you."
Aaron's face was pale as she finished her story, his chest heavy and wrought with betrayal from his teacher.
She sold me out that easily…
As he was about to respond, he was interrupted by the waiter, who brought both challengers sharpened knives to cut through the harder-shelled creatures.
"The food will be here shortly. Enjoy your drinks."
Placing Akari's metal cup in front of her, the sound of the drink inside attempting to eat through its containment sizzled gently through the air.
On the other hand, the boys' cup was made out of solid stone, reinforced with a mana-enhanced shell of platinum alloy.
Inside, a sickly green substance bubbled profusely, making the man who had brought it flinch after each pop.
He bolted from the table shortly after, leaving the two to their drinks.
Taking the first sip, the pink-haired girl swallowed hard and exhaled deeply, a happy smile curving her lips.
"Your turn."
Egging him on, she watched as he raised his cup to his lips, a paleness spreading across his face.
"You chickening out now?"
Striking a nerve in the blond boy, there was silence as he downed the suspicious liquid, making a few people from other tables gasp.
His face alternated between enjoyment and disappointment as he placed down the now-empty cup, a strange tremor going up and down his body.
Then, in a tone less than a mutter, he spoke softly.
"That poison resistance doesn't do anything for the flavor…"
Sighing heavily and leaning back in his chair, he closed his eyes, wishing for a mint at that very moment.
"Impressive. I thought you'd be half dead on the floor right now. Guess you're tougher than I expected."
Akari's jest made the boy chuckle lightly, his throat only tingling slightly as he responded with a jeer of his own.
"I'm the top of the exam for a reason. What were you again? Oh, right, only second place…"
Laughing, he watched as the girl's cheek twitched slightly, a competitive scowl taking over her face.
"Well, unlike you, I was granted an audience with the King of Souls himself. Not only that, but I actually travelled on a Ghostship with his first mate!"
Smiling with a sense of victory, she placed her hands on the table, looking at Aaron to see what he could say to top that.
He, however, only breathed in, then out, resisting the urge to ruin every ounce of secrecy he had ever maintained.
Wait… Did she say…
"You travelled with Sir Solister Lune?"
Akari furrowed her brow at the question, her friend picking the least dramatic of her accomplishments to highlight.
"Yes? He brought me back to Corvassa on the Ghostship."
Nodding his head slowly, a small grin appeared on Aaron's face as he spoke again probingly.
"By any chance, did you mention my name to Lord Droskyn when you met with him?"
The pieces of the puzzle had begun to click within the blond-haired boy's head, a realization dawning on his groggy mind.
Across from him, the pink-haired girl only looked further confused, her response coming out more like a question than an answer.
"Perhaps I might've mentioned you to him… And your family history might've also come up a little…"
Raising his eyebrows in surprise, the turquoise-eyed boy took in the additional information about his family, storing it for later.
Well, that explains how he chose me instead of someone else from the top rankings… I'm sure he'll be displeased at my refusal…
About to speak again, he was stopped by the arrival of his meal, a massive tower of seafood that stretched up nearly a meter in height.
His smile faded slightly as he made eye contact with what graced the very top of the platter, two cooked black eyes staring into his very soul.
On his index finger, he could feel a slight buzz bolt through his skin.
Aaron's face paled as he looked at the baked crabs with a solemn look, their red shells different from Mr. Crab's own.
Taking a deep breath and not thinking any harder, he reached out with his fork, grabbing the largest of the crustaceans.
And as he cut into it with his knife, he battled against the pains radiating from his finger, as if the ring itself was trying to deny his privilege to eat.
Sorry, Mr. Crab. I can't pass this food up for you.