To look like a fairly wealthy person, I changed out of my military uniform and into new clothes.
Buying a nice set of clothes to wear for once was one of 'The 98 things to do before I die,' too.
I swapped out the backpack and supplies I'd carried on my trip for brand-new ones as well.
Of course, I kept the military uniform.
Since I'd need it when returning to my homeland.
Barring anything unexpected, I planned to head straight back to my hometown wearing these clothes, though.
《Where the Wind Lingers》
The reason I had taken care to dress up so respectably was the high-end restaurant right in front of me.
Because I planned to have a splendid meal inside this five-story building before my eyes.
"Welcome to Where the Wind Lingers. Are you dining alone?"
"Yes, a good table, please."
I slipped a silver coin into the hand of the waitress greeting me in a cheerful voice.
They said dressing in decent clothes alone wasn't enough to get a good seat at a place like this.
"Oh my? Thank you, sir. Would it be alright if I escorted you to the fourth floor?"
For some reason, she looked slightly apologetic.
Her expression seemed to say that this was the very best she could do.
It was a shame it wasn't the top floor, but I was still satisfied with the result.
Usually, at an upscale establishment like this, I'd heard the highest-class floor was at the very top.
If you tried walking in dressed plainly without leaving a tip, they supposedly led you to a corner table on the first floor without even a window.
"Lead the way, please."
"Yes, thank you for your understanding."
Following behind the beaming waitress, I headed up to the fourth floor.
Even the interior decor was different from the first, second, and third floors I'd glimpsed on the way up, and since there weren't many patrons, I was able to take a seat by the window.
"Please have a seat, and I will bring you a drink and the menu right away."
"Thank you."
I answered with dignity.
Honestly, my heart is pounding and my mouth is watering.
Even smoked venison had moved me to tears, sure, but I wanted to eat a proper meal cooked by another person.
This would be my first time in ten years eating food from the human world prepared by someone else.
I felt like I had to eat the finest meal possible so I wouldn't have any regrets.
For this exact moment, I had held back my hunger and even bought a brand-new outfit before coming here.
Not to mention it was right there on my wish list.
"!"
At last, the waitress walked over carrying a beverage and a menu lavishly decorated with gold leaf on a tray.
"I apologize for the wait. Once you choose from the menu, I will have your meal prepared and brought out as quickly as possible."
"Understood."
I opened the menu the waitress handed me.
None of the other stuff matters!
The most expensive thing on here!
And it has to be meat no matter what!
"I'll have the largest portion of this, and this wine, please. For the rest, please bring whatever people order the most."
I boldly skipped reading the needlessly long names of the dishes and wines aloud.
I ordered the steak and wine listed at the very top of the menu.
"A ten-ounce veal ribeye steak, and for the wine..."
After confirming the order, the waitress gave a bright smile and turned around.
With this, I had knocked out three items from 'The 98 things I must do before I die' all at once.
Traveling.
Wearing nice clothes.
And ordering and eating a whole, massive cut of the most expensive steak at a high-end restaurant.
Having placed my order, I looked out the window.
Not a bit of the scenery registered in my eyes.
"..."
What will the steak taste like? Smoked venison probably won't even come close to it, right?
My head is so full of thoughts like that, I have zero attention to spare for admiring the view.
Then again...
Back when I was a skeleton soldier, I didn't even have a brain inside my head.
I probably have a brain again now, right?
Maybe my newly formed brain isn't doing its job properly yet, and that's why the scenery isn't registering?
"What do you think of that girl from earlier? Looks like she's new here, and isn't she drop-dead gorgeous?"
"Leave it to a womanizer—here you go again, my friend. Cut it out. This is a high-class restaurant. If you cause trouble here, we might get kicked out."
Two guys were whispering at the table behind me.
Judging by their sleazy hushed voices, they seemed to be talking about one of the waitresses who had come up to the fourth floor.
I don't care what they do as long as they don't cause a scene...
"Waitresses are still just commoners at the end of the day. What trouble could there possibly be?"
"Oh, come on! Want to make a bet? Word is the waitresses here have their noses way up in the air, my friend."
"A bet? Sounds good to me. Winning over a mere waitress is a piece of cake."
"If you fail, you're paying for the meal here and buying drinks until we're wasted. Deal?"
"Deal!"
It wasn't a conversation I cared to hear, but with them chattering right behind my back, I heard every word whether I wanted to or not.
"..."
None of my business.
And I don't care about the view outside the window either.
So I focused my eyes on the stairs leading up.
Behind me, I could still hear the two good-for-nothings running their mouths.
By now, they were practically crossing straight into lewd talk.
Pathetic bastards!
"Women like that, you just press them hard and..."
"My friend, how about we talk after you actually succeed first?"
The longer their conversation dragged on, the more uneasy I got.
Amid my growing unease, the waitress was finally coming up the stairs carrying a tray.
"Heh! Watch and learn, my friend."
Right on cue, I heard the sound of someone standing up from the table behind me.
Wait, out of everyone here, he's going after the waitress who took my order?!
A guy with fairly broad shoulders walked over as if to meet the waitress at the top of the stairs.
Son of a...
Are you fucking kidding me right now?
***
"Sir, is there something you need?"
Stepping onto the landing with a tray full of food, the waitress answered politely.
Because a sleazy-looking man had walked right up to her.
"My lady, would you grace me with your name? I am Jevon Amit, a knight of Serenion."
Revealing his status, Jevon subtly tried to show off that he was a man of means.
"My name is Rose. If there is anything you need, please let me know and I will bring it to your table."
"Oh! Is that so? What wonderful timing. Then why don't you join me over at our table?"
"Pardon?"
"Because what I want is you, Lady Rose."
"..."
Hearing Jevon's words, Rose's face stiffened.
Her stomach churned so much that she could barely keep up her professional smile.
"I am very sorry, sir, but private conversations with patrons are strictly forbidden while on duty."
"Oh! Then may I know what time your shift ends, Lady Rose?"
"Sir, I cannot tell you that due to establishment policy."
"Are you turning me down right now? Me? Would you care to repeat that so I can be certain I heard you right?"
Jevon's expression shifted.
Losing the bet wasn't the issue.
One look at how her face had stiffened at a simple invitation to sit together told him he had zero chance of seducing Rose.
His pride had been wounded.
'Is this something to get so stiff over? When she's nothing but a lowly commoner!'
Jevon's face flushed red.
In Serenion, where class distinctions were enforced more strictly than in other regions, the gap in status between a knight and a commoner was immense.
Only,
Because of the lord's efforts not to flaunt rank or rule the city with an iron fist, it simply didn't show on the surface.
"I-I must refuse. I a-already have someone I've promised my future to."
"Future? What a hilarious joke. Do you really think a 'future' is going to exist for you, Lady Rose? Huh? Do you?"
Jevon narrowed his eyes.
That alone made Rose feel as though her heart were dropping to the floor, and then Jevon took another step closer.
"Kyaaah!"
Unable to withstand the intimidation, she lost her grip on the food-laden tray and shrieked.
In that instant,
THWAP—!
Someone stepped up beside the two of them and caught the tipping tray mid-fall.
It was Bellun.
"Huh? Who the hell are you?"
Jevon tensed up.
Because he hadn't even sensed the other man approaching.
On guard, he eyed Bellun warily.
Holding the tray steady, Bellun glared back at Jevon with a murderous look on his face.
"That was a close call. See how this tray almost flipped over? If it had, you'd be a dead man right now. Count yourself lucky."
Exuding thick bloodlust, Bellun warned him in a sinister tone.
"..."
Jevon's breath caught in his throat at the overwhelming presence and murderous intent—bordering on sheer madness—pouring off the young man.
In the meantime, a frightened Rose hurried downstairs, and only after escaping that crushing presence could Jevon finally let out a breath.
"Damn it..."
Jevon muttered a low curse under his breath.
Every patron dining on the fourth floor had their eyes locked squarely on him.
Whether it was because he'd resorted to threats after getting rejected by Rose, or because Bellun had scared him too stiff to let out a single peep, plenty of people in the crowd were snickering at him.
Worse still,
Even the friend who had made the bet with him was shaking his head.
The hollow laugh hanging on his friend's lips looked just like he was mocking him for being pathetic.
GRIND—!
Grinding his teeth, Jevon looked around for the bastard who had crushed him with bloodlust moments ago.
"That son of a bitch!"
Rage surged up so hard the back of his neck went stiff.
Exclaiming 'Oh, oh!' in amazement, or 'How can something taste this good!'... Bellun was eating his food with wildly exaggerated reactions.
Acting as if he'd already forgotten what he'd just done to him—no, as if he were ignoring the very existence of the man named Jevon Amit!
'That goddamn bastard is ignoring me?'
Livid to the tips of his hair, Jevon strode over to where Bellun was eating.
His hand was gripping the hilt of his longsword tightly.
Bellun was slicing his steak with a look like he owned the whole world, and right when Jevon closed to within five paces,
"Stop right there! Can't you see I'm in the middle of my meal?"
He turned his head and lashed out with killing intent.
Yet there was no way Jevon, his pride already bruised beyond repair, would meekly obey that order.
"You bastard!"
Jevon felt something snap inside his head.
Humiliating him once wasn't enough—now the punk was insulting him even further with the ridiculous excuse that he was in the middle of eating!
He wrenched his longsword from its scabbard.
SHING—!
In the same motion, Jevon brought his blade crashing down on the table with all his might.
CLANG—!
"Huh?"
Jevon was genuinely shocked.
Because the sword he had swung down at full strength had been blocked cold.
'He was definitely holding a fork and knife a second ago—when did he draw?!'
He hadn't even seen when Bellun had set down his fork and knife, drawn his blade, and parried the longsword.
Seeing the atmosphere take a dangerous turn, the patrons dining on the fourth floor hurriedly rose from their seats and headed downstairs.
'He's no ordinary guy!'
Realizing he had picked a fight with the wrong person, Jevon's tension hit its peak.
Right then, Bellun, blocking the longsword with a hard expression, parted his lips.
"You just crossed a line you shouldn't have crossed."
"You're the one who butted into another man's romantic affairs!"
Stepping back a pace, Jevon adjusted his grip on his longsword and dropped into a combat stance.
Provoked, Bellun slowly rose from his chair.
He cast a brief glance at his steak, which still had about a third left, before fixing Jevon with an icy glare.
"You would have been better off attacking me instead. For daring to attack my steak, you have no right to complain even in death."
"...What bullshit are you spouting?!"
Compared to mere food and insulted all over again, Jevon flared up in rage.
"Die."
A short single word, sounding somewhere between a curse and a battle cry.
"!"
Flaring with anger, Jevon's eyes flew wide open.
Because his opponent had lunged forward with bizarre timing.
Even so, without panicking, he skillfully parried the incoming shortsword.
K-CLANG—!
After all, he had already mastered dealing with such telegraphed, straightforward attacks before he'd even left his teens.
'It's light?'
For a strike swung at full power, the shortsword had bounced off with almost no weight behind it.
So light he had barely even felt the impact of parrying it.
"Whoa!"
By the time Jevon realized it,
Bellun had already spun a full turn in the direction the deflected shortsword had bounced.
Right on its heels, the cold blade let out an eerie whistle as it traced a silver-gray arc through the air.
SHHK—!
Jevon's neck was sliced clean through, and his headless body tried to swing his longsword in defense before teetering and collapsing to the floor.
"Kyaaaah!"
"M-murder! It's murder!"
The fourth-floor patrons, who had already been scrambling to get out of the way, shrieked at the sight of Jevon's head rolling across the floor.
"A bastard who doesn't know the value of food deserves to die. Tch!"
Flicking the blood off his blade, Bellun clicked his tongue.
Then he locked eyes with the other man who had been sitting with the freshly slain Jevon.
"What about you? Going to avenge him?"
"Why would I? Though things are going to get messy for you. He might've been a woman-crazy idiot, but he really was a knight of Serenion. If I were you, I'd run right now. Before this turns into a real headache."
The man left behind answered in a calm voice.
Inside, however, he was trembling like crazy.
Jevon, who could defeat someone like him in the blink of an eye, had lost his life in the span of a single breath.
Fighting someone who sliced a man's head off without the slightest hesitation was a dangerous choice.
"Right, I'd better hurry."
Bellun slid his shortsword back into its scabbard and hurriedly...
Sat back down at his table.
Because steak loses its flavor once it gets cold.