“My roommate in orange pajamas… It’s truly enviable to have such a friend.”
The young Princess said, subconsciously touching the ruby earring on her right ear. Just then, the waiter brought over the vegetable salad she ordered, and the two temporarily stopped talking.
This was a relatively good restaurant in the Wharf Area, and it was lunchtime, so there were many diners. But the tables in high-end restaurants were not as densely packed as in street bars. Xia De and Princess had chosen a corner against the wall, and there was no one else seated around their table for the time being, so they didn't have to worry about being overheard.
“Speaking of which, Princess, what do you do in this City?”
Xia De asked. He had revealed his own profession just now to make it easier to inquire about her identity.
The young Princess, who clearly came from a noble background, did not refuse to answer this time:
“My side job is a reporter; I occasionally write social commentary articles for newspapers. As for my main job… Watson, don’t laugh, but I am a noble. My father doesn’t approve of me working outside, so it’s fine if you think of me as one of those noble girls who are idle all day, attending banquets and salons.”
This self-introduction was similar to Xia De’s guess. Seeing that her answer this time was not evasive, Xia De tried to inquire further:
“A noble? Oh, it seems I’ve really met an extraordinary person. I wonder, your father is…”
“I certainly can’t tell you his specific identity. As for his profession… he’s a social worker, contributing to public welfare.”
“Social work?”
Xia De’s understanding of this was that minor nobles, in order to maintain their dignity and status, would usually seek a position in the City Hall or a government department. The salary might not be high, but it had to be presentable. The Kingdom’s City government departments had similar positions; “social work” was considered a relatively lower-tier job, not one where you could just idle away without doing anything.
Therefore, Xia De speculated that her father’s status should not be high.
“That’s very hard work. Has he never thought of resigning and trying to open a factory? In the past few decades, news of nobles using their connections to open factories and then becoming immensely wealthy has not been uncommon in newspapers.”
Xia De was half-probing, half-joking, while Princess picked up a piece of broccoli with her fork, revealing a helpless smile:
“Resign? Oh, that’s not possible. As far as I know, no one has ever been able to voluntarily resign from the profession my father is engaged in. It’s a lifelong position… You might not understand, although this kind of low-paying job is arduous, often requiring him to handle documents in his study until past nine at night, it also yields unexpectedly high returns that ordinary people can’t imagine. The job content concerns many people, so it’s not something one can simply resign from.”
“That’s truly unfortunate.”
Xia De made an expression of sudden realization, feeling quite sympathetic towards Princess’s busy father, and then cut the steak in front of him with his knife.
After advancing to Second Ring, his appetite had slightly increased. But this was normal; Ring Sorcerers themselves were a power system where both body and spirit improved together, and similar situations often occurred right after an upgrade.
After the initial probing, Xia De believed that although the Five-Ring Sorceress opposite him still had some suspicious points, she could basically be trusted. In this unfamiliar City, hiring her as a one-day guide should not go wrong.
Moreover, he wasn’t afraid of things going wrong; if there was a problem, he would immediately jump into the sea. Even if she was a Five-Ring Sorceress, she couldn’t possibly chase him into the sea.
Princess had very high standards for food; she only took two bites of the vegetable salad before giving up, seemingly because she found the vegetables not fresh enough. As for drinks, Xia De didn’t order wine but chose soup, while Princess asked for plain water and quietly complained to Xia De about the drinks here:
“Last week, I snuck out… *cough cough*, I went out to eat alone and ordered a bottle of Roselle Winery’s 1845 wine here. Watson, guess what happened?”
“The wine was watered down?”
Xia De guessed.
“Of course not. Watering it down is the lowest-grade trick. The restaurant used a bottle of Roselle Winery’s mass-produced third-grade cheap stuff from this year, passing it off as good 1845 wine.”
Her slender fingers gently swirled the glass containing plain water, as if it were wine:
“Watson, if you’re interested in wine tasting, I can take you to a good place for dinner tonight.”
“No, I’m not used to drinking.”
Xia De shook his head. Princess didn't insist, as if she had already known Xia De would say that.
After lunch, Princess decided to accept Xia De’s employment and use the remaining time today to show Xia De around Coldwater Port City.
But since they were going to enter sensitive places, they couldn’t use their original faces. Princess also needed to find a place to store the bag of books she was carrying, so she took Xia De back to her residence in this City, intending to do some simple makeup for herself and Xia De.
Her so-called residence was, of course, not a noble family’s house, but a rented house Princess had found herself. It wasn’t a detached apartment but a relatively simple collective apartment room on Robin Hood Street in the South District of Coldwater Port City.
Robin Hood Street was only a fifteen-minute drive from where they had eaten. The apartment building was more like a large mansion, with wreaths hanging at the iron gate. Inside the building, the first floor was a spacious hall with chairs and card tables for residents to relax and entertain. The center of the second floor was an atrium, surrounded by rented small rooms, with as many as 12 rooms on one floor. The corridor outside the rooms had a railing on the other side, where one could lean and look down at the first floor.
With a cautious mindset, Xia De carefully observed every detail of the apartment when he followed Princess there. This should not be a fake setup to deceive him; it was indeed a normal rental apartment. The aura of ordinary City residents on the other tenants they passed by could not be faked, no matter how hard one tried.
This place was probably only used as a temporary residence, so the apartment interior was very small. Besides the room that served as both living room and bedroom, there was only a small balcony for drying clothes and an extremely narrow washroom.
Although the house didn't have a strong lived-in feel, the mold stains and hanging pictures on the walls, the unwashed teacups on the table, and the dresses swaying in the wind on the balcony all indicated that the place was frequently used and was indeed Princess’s temporary residence, which further dispelled Xia De’s vigilance.
The young Princess hid the books she was carrying in the wardrobe, then motioned for Xia De to sit on a mismatched chair beside the low tea table. Old newspapers were on the chair, and a few loose papers were scattered on the tea table; she didn’t seem to clean her room very often:
“Since you’re hiring me, it’s not too late to discuss the price before we set off. Watson, first, you need to tell me what kind of places you need me to guide you to.”
