Vessels of The Goddesses

Chapter 14 - Introductions

Christina's POV

We drove out of the village and to a nearby town. This town was much bigger than the village and there were triple the establishments. After Rosalynn's request to stop by at the market first, we went straight towards here - Renshan town.

We were currently in a restaurant. I was amazed at how spacious the place was. And not to mention the choices of food! What a good place to have lunch.

That made me think. I wonder if Lily would work here.

Thinking of her made my thoughts drift to the conversation we had in her house.

-

"How did you do that?" Rosalynn asked. "How did you save us from the fall and beat those bandits up?"

"Well, let's say... I had some training done a few years ago." Her eyes flickered to the side.

"Why help us? I mean, we don't exactly know you before." This time, I was the one who questioned.

Lily placed a hand on my shoulder, a gentle smile graced her lips. "The same reason why you chose to help those investigators, even if you haven't said a single word to them."

-

I was brought back to my senses when Victor spoke. "Before anything else, let's officially introduce ourselves, shall we? My name's Victor Dawson, Lead investigator of Hazen's village police department."

Rosalynn's eyes narrowed at the man, still wary of his intentions. When I assumed she wasn't going to speak, I went next to avoid getting a rude impression on Victor. "I am Christina Benediya, just a simple village girl."

Rosalynn eyed Victor up and down. When I nudged her leg under the table, she sighed. "Rosalynn."

I was confused at the sudden change in Rosalynn's behavior. She wasn't like this a few days ago. What has gotten into her?

Unlike me, Victor didn't pay any mind to it. Instead, he handed us the menus. "Pick any dish you would like, it is my treat."

I gratefully took the menus and gave Rosalynn one. Once my gaze landed on the pictures of the food, I was excited to choose from it. But when I saw the prices, I unconsciously set the menu down. Rosalynn took notice of it and whispered, "What's wrong? Is the food not to your liking?"

"It's not like that." I shook my head. "It's just... The prices are... insane."

"Didn't he say he would pay for us?" Rosalynn motioned to Victor who was too busy reading the menu to see us talking.

"Still," I argued. "We should be mindful of these things. He will pay for the food, the least we can do is avoid the expensive one."

My friend stared straight into my eyes. Then, she exhaled. "Typical Christina."

She grabbed a pouch from her back pocket and shoved it to me. "If the man can't pay for all of the food, we can help him with the payment using that."

I forgot Rosalynn got paid by selling her products to the market.

"You shouldn't worry about that." Victor closed the menu, having overheard our conversation. "I am confident I can pay the bill in full, no matter how expensive or how much food you ordered."

"See?" Rosalynn said. "And he has a car - two of them, even. He should be able to afford food such as these."

With that, Victor caught the attention of a waitress. He told her his order, which was pork braised soup and a hot coffee on the side. Understandable choice as the rainy season draws near. Rosalynn asked for the roasted chicken with vegetable chops. And I asked for the shrimp-flavored noodles - the cheapest one I could find. 

When the waitress walked away to the kitchen to place our orders, Victor opened his bag to get something. "Now, unto business..."

He placed a small rectangular object on the table. It had a circle in the middle with what seemed to be made of glass inside it. On its corner was a red button. "Rosalynn, Christina, this is called a 'recorder'."