But the issue now was that he still did not remember the meeting. Was she telling the truth, or was this a kind of drama she was creating to get close to him for political reasons? The reasoning was simply too perfect if one were to consider it.
"I am sorry. It has been a very long time. I forgot most of the things, especially after my awakening," Max provided some reasoning.
Just in case she was telling the truth, he did not want to hurt a girl who genuinely remembered him. That was a very kind thing to do if it was true.
"Hmph... No problem. I know your situation, and there is a lot of pressure on you after awakening. That is the only reason I am forgiving you. So, you better remember my name for your whole life," Moon said, relaxing her face from anger.
"Of course."
"My name is Moon Chamberlain," Moon stated her full name.
"Hey, I know the Chamberlain family. Bryce Chamberlain, Niko Chamberlain."
At that time, something clicked in Max's head. He actually knew this family name. These were people he had met more than once in his life.
"So you remember my cousins and not me. That is not fair." Moon pouted her face.
"Hahaha, those guys usually visit our manor, so I remember them," Max said with a wary smile.
"So you are from the Chamberlain family. I did not know. You should have come to talk to me first. You know how I was alone in this academy, right? Now, I am angry at you." Max tried to put the blame on her, seeing that she was going crazy.
"Hmph, I think the fault is on my side as well. I should have spoken to you."
She slowly returned to normal after Max placed the guilt on her. While they were having a casual talk, Anne came towards them hesitatingly.
"Oh, Anne. Meet Moon Chamberlain, my childhood friend," Max introduced Moon to Anne. "Moon, this is Anne. She is my party leader, and we are in the same classroom."
"I knew Ms. Moon even before coming to this Academy. She is very famous at archery. She is one of my idols."
Anne stacked compliments instantly. This placed a lot of pressure on Max himself. How come he did not know about her, when even Anne, a girl coming from an ordinary family, knew about her?
"Thanks for the compliment, Anne. At least you remember who I am, unlike some people who forget they even met you," Moon started to poke at his wounds.
The three had a casual conversation for a while, and they did some light archery practice. When the sun was about to set, Max said his goodbyes and left for his dorm.
He had done good Healing practice, but he lacked archery practice with all the drama with Moon. He had no urgent academy work he needed to do. So, Max thought to leave the academy and go on an outing to the city to relax.
He had been to the capital city a few times. However, after joining the academy, he had not gone outside. Therefore, he decided to roam around to see what the city had to offer.
After freshening up, Max walked towards the main exit gate and registered his name. The guards instructed that first-years must come back before 8 o'clock; otherwise, there would be a penalty and punishment as well.
Max already knew this, so he was not surprised.
It was around 6:30 in the evening when he stepped out of the gate. He just wanted to walk around the streets of the city to have some change. He was not going to travel far. The Academy was situated at the center of the city, so most of the main places famous in the Capital were located nearby.
Even before he could step onto the street from the Academy exit gate, he encountered the busy street. Carriages and vehicles constantly moved in the street, carrying goods and people.
This was the first time he had gone outside, so he simply chose the left side of the street and walked along. He would walk for a while, and if any food streets were found, he would enter.
After roaming around the busy streets, Max finally found a street selling a lot of food varieties. The street was wide. Even then, the number of gathered people was enormous; if it were a normal street, one could not even move a foot.
He slowly checked the stores one by one. After passing about five stores, he found a store selling different fishes.
Max decided to taste the fish. The unfortunate thing for Max was that the Land of the West was mostly a wasteland. No rivers flowed in that region, and only specific places consisted of major lakes and constant monsoons. He rarely had sea food in his childhood. So, seeing the fish here, he thought of tasting it.
Upon entering the shop, the tables were all crowded. Not even a single table was empty.
The servant noticed the uniform Max wore, which was the Academy's. The strange rule was that if anyone went outside, they had to wear the uniform; it was mandatory for any year of students. Thus, the servant quickly came up to him and greeted.
"Welcome, Young Lord. The tables are all occupied. Would you like to wait for a few minutes until a table clears?" the servant asked in a polite tone.
"Yeah sure, I will wait for a while."
Max decided to wait for a while and taste the food. If he had to wait for a long time, he could visit a different shop. With that decision, the servant led him towards the waiting area where a lot of people already sat on the benches.
There, Max noticed a few people who donned similar attire to himself.
Similar to himself, these people also came to eat and relax. Three young ladies and two boys sat nearby. He could not recognize them, but they were first-year students. Maybe they were from a different class?
Max walked over and sat on one of the benches as he waited. The smell of the food permeated even into the waiting area. It definitely increased his hunger a degree.
While he was waiting, the servant suddenly came to the waiting area and called the guys from the Academy.
"Young Lord, would you like to join them since the table has enough space?" the servant asked.
Surprised by this call, Max looked at the servant. The people from the Academy stopped in their tracks and looked back.
"Oh no, I am not with them," Max quickly said. He did not even remember seeing them even once in the Academy. It would be weird to sit with them to eat.
"No problem, then," the servant said as he gestured to the people to follow him.
"If you want to join us, you can join instead of waiting. It will definitely take a lot of time before the next table clears, and even then, there were a lot of people who came before you."
While Max was returning to his own thoughts, he suddenly heard a voice. Surprised by the call, he looked at the person who spoke. It was the girl from the group. She was currently looking at Max, waiting for him to speak or react to her request. Max, who was in a blank thought, took a few seconds before he came to reality.
"Oh, thanks for the invite, but you all carry on. I will wait." Max denied the request. It was not so courteous to join people he had just met.
"Really, it is not a big issue. We are all from the same Academy, so you can join." The same girl insisted on him joining them.
"Yeah, you can join us. We waited for almost half an hour before they called us. It will take even longer for you to eat," another girl who stood near the other girl added.
Max took a moment. He could join them since they were from the same Academy. As they said, waiting for half an hour was too much just to eat some fish. So, he could have some fish and finish with it.
"Okay, if you guys are okay with it, no problem. Let's go." Max stood up. Since these people were insisting consistently, he should consider their kindness instead of refusing even after too many invites.
"Great, let's go," the second girl said as they all moved to the hall.
The servant led them to the six-seated table. They all sat and started to choose the food to order. Max also quickly checked the pamphlet and read a lot of varieties of fish: steamed, fried, deep-fried, panned, stuffed, and soup. The food varieties were a lot.
Max remembered eating steamed fish mixed with some greens at his manor. So, he read the names on the steamed fish list and chose one, as well as one from the deep-fried dish list. The others also chose the food they wanted.
Once they chose, an awkward silence permeated the table.
"So you guys are from Class 1C?" Max asked, just for the sake of making conversation.
"No, we are from Class 1E," the girl who spoke first answered.
"Great, I am from 1A. So, how was the experience of the Dungeon Expedition? Are you guys all satisfied with the ranking?" Max continued the small talk.
"Yeah, it was a great experience. As per the ranking, a few placed in the top 50, and a few in the top 100," the second girl said.
"That's great." Max ran out of small talk on that topic.
"Congrats on your ranking, both individual and party," the third girl chimed in.
"Thanks," Max said with a small smile.
"Your party holds the highest Boss Monster kill and Mutated Monster kill. That's another achievement," one of the boys said in a surprised tone.
"Yeah, our party mainly targeted the Boss Monster." Max nodded, thinking about how he had put pressure on the team. His status really helped him in that aspect; if he were an ordinary guy, his words would not have any weight to them.
While they were having a casual talk about their Dungeon Expedition experience, the food began to be served.
"Here is your order, sir," the servant said as he put down two plates of fish. One was a mix of herbs and greens with white fish, and the other was a colorful, spicy deep-fried fish.
"Help yourselves." Max put his plate in the center so the others could have a taste.