Professional Stalker on Our Date (2)

After the meal, those two queued up at the mana donation station, standing hand in hand like a pair of cute love birds. They were attracting quite a bit of attention. Had it always been like that?

They made quite an amount, about 2 silver. This befuddled Jun, 2 silver, that was a lot of mana. Were those two mages? Both of them had mantles around them so it was alright to assume so?

Jun tailed them as they walked out the guild.

Seeing how they continued to flirt with each other, how the guy would touch her hair and how the girl would lean against him..

"You.. don't tell me those two are going on a date.." Jun took in a sharp breath to calm his mind.

They stopped at a bridge that overlooked one of the larger canals in Erudite kingdom. These canals were connected directly to the sea and partly connected to the irrigation system. From the irrigation system, before entering the main canals, the dirty water from various places would have to pass through a sea slime filter chamber.

"Oh, the water hasn't frozen over," the guy said.

"It seems so."

"Wanna take a ride on those boats? I ask if they can bring us to the closest carriage stop."

"Isn't it.."

He interjected by whispering something into her ears. And she nodded readily while blushing.

Jun rolled his eyes.. then realized something. How would he follow them? This canal especially didn't have a path beside it to walk on.

"Shit."

The two got on a stick-like boat with a wooden carving of a stupid-looking dragon in the front. Paying some coins, the fisherman started rowing away with the two holding hands.

Jun wracked his brain over what he could do.

He had always been the go to person when it came to scouting and information collecting in the past. Now, it felt as if he had rusted to the point of falling apart even though it had been only a year since he retired from service.

An idea popped into his mind.

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Ah, is this it?

I saw this sleek fishing boat with a dragon head stuck to the front. You know those movies where a pair of couples sat as a boatman rows across a river and under a bridge? Yeah, that.

"Wanna take a ride on those boats? I'll ask if they can bring us to the closest carriage stop."

"Isn't it.."

"We're making his life hard aren't we?" I get that this isn't a really convincing excuse but.. "Besides, I've always wanted to go on a date like this."

Oh man, I'm really playing the straight man here. Liliath blushed, I tried to not blush myself.

"Excuse me," Holding Liliath's hand, we climbed the stairs down to the platform below the bridge. I called out to the boatman-- or fisherman who was doing something with his net. He wasn't the only one around, they were others busy with their own errands.

"You calling for me?"

"Yeah, I was wondering if you could well.. give us a ride.."

"You mean down this small stream?"

"Yeah, if you're alright with it, I'll pay."

"Not the first time I've heard of it. Nobles do ask me often," he stowed his net away and patted the head of the dragon sculpture on the boat.

"So, just down this stream to.." I secretly checked the map, " Um, do you know where the carriage station is down this place?"

"The carriage station? It should be two bridges away," he looked down at the flowing water, some ice at the point where the water and the side of the canal meet, "2 silver," he said.

"Thank you very much."

"T-thanks.." Liliath fumbled. Oh, how cute.

"Haha, what a nice partner you've found. Claire, wait here. You two hop on."

"Hah?" The girl Claire let out a befuddled voice.

Paying the money and getting onto the boat, he started rowing. Liliath held my hands and leaned herself close to me. The small waves rocked the boat lightly.

'Noel's Special Quest Complete'

Yup. Bingo.

"Hehe," Liliath chuckled, "No wonder."

"Killing two birds with one stone. It's nice just being the two of us right?"

Liliath nodded.

'If it was only the two of us, that is.'

Well, she's not wrong. The boatman was giving us a sidelong glance and there was a stalker on our tail.. actually, how is he going to follow us?

I pulled Liliath closer and she let her weight entirely on me. I felt her warmth through my arm.

Just leave him be for now. A profession has a professional's way of doing things.

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Jumping from roof to roof, he tailed the boat from above. Where exactly were those two going? He had no clue. Why exactly was he stalking them? He was starting to question whether or not one gold was worth ruining the date of these two innocent noble kids.

He jumped across another ridge. A woman yelled at him.

[Surround Camouflage (A)] would wear off the moment he moved a speed past a certain threshold. Since he had to gain speed to jump, losing his invisibility was inevitable.

"They're coming down now?"

Jun peared over the ledge and watched as the guy invited the girl off the boat. Saying his thanks to the boatman, they went towards the carriage station.

Wait, the carriage station?!

The two rented a carriage and.. he saw them off.

"Do I really have to chase them.."

He tried his best to remember the carriage design and ran. No matter how he tried, there was a limit to his ability to keep track of multiple things at once. The carriage came to an intersection with four other similar carriages.

"Which is.." Jun who had just climbed over another building couldn't help but grimace.

The four carriages went past each other.

"Crap, it's the one with the white flowers isn't it?!"

Jun winged it and followed the carriage he thought was most probably the correct one. Lucky for him, he chose the right.

After around 30 minutes or relentless chasing, the carriage finally came to a stop at the next station. The two came out with a sweet smile on their faces.

"Damn it," Jun cursed himself for all this. He'll have to ask Grill to pay him extra later. This was way beyond his charge.

Not only was he trespassing a couple's privacy, he had to chase down a carriage by foot, from roof to roof!

Jun climbed down the place with wobbly legs, making sure to take his time so his [Surround Camouflage (A)] wouldn't be dispelled-- and also to make sure he wouldn't break anything unnecessary. This place was riddled over with nobles, merchants and knights.

He already noted the place they entered. The merchant's guild. Of all places they could've gone for a date, why here? Jun grew a little suspicious.

He entered the guild after dusting himself off.

"Oh, long time no see Jun, anything you need?" An acquaintance of his waved. He was wearing a nice suit.

"No, I just came to complete a request."

"Oh, is that so? Are you open to an errand?"

"Sorry, this is more of a personal request."

"I understand. In that case, if you change your mind, I'll be here tomorrow morning at 7. That's your chance," he patted Jun's shoulders and walked off.

It wasn't that he and the guy were on bad terms, just that he didn't feel like doing any more infiltration-related quests.

Jun shook his head and walked into the cafeteria. What he saw shocked him to the bone.

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"Um.."

I honestly have no idea if I should say no but since Liliath was smiling at me so brightly.. more so was that scary look in her eyes that said 'no' wasn't an option.. I couldn't bring myself to deny it.

On the counter, besides the order we had made on our drinks and the cake, Liliath had taken the boxes of tea on display.

It wasn't a single box of 12 types of tea. It was 12 boxes of 12 types of tea, 144 cups of possible tea altogether. What was she thinking? I get how there are 24 tea collectibles to choose from but did she really need that much?

Oh, looks like the guy managed to follow us all the way here. Congrats. I think he's a better stalker than Nile and Brusq. No offense guys, but this mage-cum-assassin named Jun managed to chase us across half the kingdom.

"Here's the number, please find a seat, the orders will arrive shortly," The female abrista gestured with her hands.

""Thank you.""

You could hear her chuckling at us when we tried carrying the 12 boxes to our seat. The price of it all, including our drinks and cake was 40 silver, 3 large copper. Expensive..

We chose the seat where Miss Margrett and Hal last had a meeting. This I think was the best spot still because it had a good view of the shops out on the streets.

Our orders arrived and we dug in.

I was reminded of some rather good memories. I'm so glad Liliath wasn't into food condiments now. But her passion for tea was also a little expensive..

I think that's a bad way to put it. I've also spent money on some rather non-essential stuff.

Liliath smeared part of her cake on my face as I was lost in thought.

She giggled.

'He's probably watching us, you know?'

'I know. Makes me want to mess with you even more.'

Ah yes. No wonder going to a cafe like this was so nostalgic.

"May I?" she asked, timidly.

"Yes," I said in resignation.

Liliath leaned over and licked my face that had the cream of the cake. After pulling away, she rolled her tongue on her lips, and gave me a tempting look.

"I wonder what would happen if I did the same," I swiped some cream off my chocolate cake.

"No, no. It's the wife's privilege."

"We never decided on that," I smeared the cream on her anyways.

She wriggled as if it tickled.

"Can you put up a concealment barrier?"

"That would be unfair wouldn't it? I licked you without hiding," she said with a red face. Anticipation painted all over her eyes.

Hnng…

What to do. What to do..

I could create a concealment barrier using autocasting but..

"I can't, sorry," I was about to wipe the cream off her face with the napkin provided when she took some of it on her face up on her finger and presented it to me.

"Here, much earlier isn't it," She smiled sweetly.

Ahh.. I think I'm filled with sugar already.

I took her finger into my mouth.

After savouring it, she pulled that finger into her own mouth.

Hey… that was covered in my saliva. Seriously. Is she just shameless or what?

We talked about various things, for example, our future. Ah yes, I can't believe we're talking about a future with the two of us. It's surprising how you could even say that Liliath was already engaged to me. Her surname had already changed to my own.

Somehow, we ended up talking about Laura's situation again. Then it hit me. All we needed was 100 points for Laura to teleport to her 'Oppa'. Attached the teleportation widget and the [God's Eyes] skill and she could just make her way over with no problems.

So we texted her, and everyone else about it.

Hm.. but the Regressor is currently somewhere deep in the dungeon. I wonder if Laura is alright with that?

Laura came back saying it was alright, and that we didn't need to help her like this. She'll arrive in a week at the latest.

Okay then.

Now back to the present.

"Where should we go next?"

"How about we explore this area? There seems to be bookstores and ateliers which I believe you have yet to visit?" Liliaths said with her hands cupped to support her chin.

"Oh yeah--"

I remembered that I wanted to check out those places. I've been curious about the talismans thing for a while now. I think they're sold at the ateliers? There's also the thing with alchemy equipment and blacksmiths. Also, the kinds of books produced by this world. I wonder what kind of novels the bookstores sell?

The 12 boxes of tea were stuffed into a magic bag--

'Did he just disappear?'

I checked the map. Oh wow, he left. Says here his position is somewhere between where we are and the adventurers guild. Glad he got his fill of sugar.

Liliath and I spent the evening enjoying our day together, exploring the various places.

When evening came, we went to the orphanage with the help of [Home Sweet Home].