"A treasure map? For the Valtoria Kingdom?" Scott frowned. He had a nagging feeling there was a key piece of this puzzle he was missing.
"Tsk... You don't actually believe that treasure map is real, do you?" Kevin sneered.
"You think it's fake?" Scott said, his eyes narrowing.
"Of course. How long has the Valtoria Kingdom been gone?" Kevin waved his hand dismissively. "Even if a map existed, it wouldn't possibly turn up in a backwater place like this."
"No, this one might be real." Scott shook his head and gestured toward a nearby table, lowering his voice. "Didn't you see those beastkin over there? They left immediately after hearing about the treasure map."
"What does that have to do with anything?" Kevin was baffled. How did that prove the map was real?
"Heh... Don't forget the unique nature of this place," Scott said meaningfully. "This city is full of beastkin. It wouldn't be strange at all for a map to appear here."
"That..." Kevin was speechless. He couldn't argue; the city really did have a lot of beastkin.
"Tomorrow, we'll attend that auction. We brought plenty of gold, so hopefully, there will be something good." Scott said calmly. He was very familiar with auctions—after all, plenty of slave auctions had quality goods.
"Fine, we can treat it as a way to kill time." Kevin shrugged. They were stuck on the perfume formula, so they'd have to play it by ear or wait for the Fourth Prince's orders.
Tap tap tap...
"Gentlemen, your tea has arrived." The waitress approached, holding an exquisite wooden tea tray covered in beautiful, intricate carvings.
"This..." Kevin stared blankly at the tray. There were so many items. Is this just for drinking tea? It's so... ceremonial.
"This is the tea set. The set varies depending on the price of the tea," The waitress explained. She arranged the cups and pot, then brought over a small charcoal stove and placed a ceramic kettle on it to boil.
"These cups... they're so small. But quite beautiful," Scott murmured. He instantly took a liking to this strange, artistic tea set. It had a very aristocratic feel.
"There's a whole art to it..." The waitress gave a brief speech about the art of tea, then placed several small plates of pastries on the table. "These are our secret-recipe pastries," She said softly. "They're very delicious. We had one noble buy several gold coins' worth to take with him."
"Are they really that good?" Kevin frowned, looking doubtfully at the pastries. They were certainly exquisite, but there were so few of them. It looked like a few bites and they'd be gone.
"Please, try one," The waitress smiled politely.
"Fine, I'll try." Kevin picked up a pastry and put it in his mouth. He had barely chewed twice before the explosion of flavor on his palate made his eyes go wide.
"How is it, sir?" The waitress smiled lightly. His reaction was a bit like hers when she had first snuck a taste.
"Ahem... The taste is... quite good, yes." Kevin's face flushed. He felt he'd lost a bit of face, acting like some rube who'd never seen the world.
"How much are these pastries?" Scott asked after tasting one. He agreed they should get some to go.
"This plate is our Wheat-Milk Pastry, this is Red Bean Pastry... Each plate of pastries is eighty-eight copper coins," The waitress smiled.
"Er..." Scott froze, staring at the four tiny pieces on the plate, which all together were barely half the size of his palm. That's absurdly expensive, isn't it?
"The technique for each pastry is a secret recipe, and many of the ingredients are extremely rare..." Seeing the customer hesitate, the waitress immediately launched into her sales pitch.
"Give me ten plates of all four types, to go," Scott cut in immediately. He felt as if the waitress was looking down on him.
"Right away," The waitress said softly. These guests are certainly concerned with appearances.
Rumble...
The water boiled. The waitress immediately placed tea leaves into the pot, poured in the hot water, and began a fluid, graceful series of steps—washing the tea and so on—that left Kevin and Scott watching in a daze. It was just so artistic.
"Gentlemen, please enjoy the tea," The waitress said politely after pouring. "It's a little hot."
"Mm." Scott lifted the cup, blew on it a few times, and drank it in small sips. It was slightly bitter at first, followed by a sweetness that made his eyes narrow in pleasure. The aftertaste was incredible.
"What a tea!" Kevin shouted, drawing annoyed glances from the surrounding tables, which made him flash an apologetic smile.
"Sir, one must be calm and composed to truly savor the flavor—bitter first, then sweet," The waitress reminded him softly.
"This is well worth one silver coin," Scott said, opening his eyes. He was conquered by this tea. It was leagues better than that bitter swill.
"Gentlemen, we also sell the tea leaves, and even the tea sets," The waitress interjected, seizing the opportunity. "If you enjoy it, you can buy some to brew for yourselves."
"Oh?" Scott's eyes lit up. "This exact tea set," He asked quickly, "How much is it?"
"This set costs five gold coins," The waitress replied, beaming.
"I'll take one set. And some of this tea as well," Scott said magnanimously. Although his heart ached at the price, he had to get a set of this aristocratic tea to show off. He could just imagine having guests over, serving them tea like this, and seeing their dumbfounded expressions. What a sense of accomplishment that would be.
"And what price level of tea would you like, sir?" The waitress's cheeks were flushed. By selling that tea set, her commission would be at least five hundred copper coins.
She quickly began her spiel. "We have tea for ten silver coins, twenty silver coins, or one gold coin... Of course, we also have some more common teas for one silver coin, or eight hundred copper coins..."
"What's the price of the tea we're drinking now?" Scott asked. Tea for more than one gold coin was just too extravagant.
"This is the twenty-silver-coin-per-pound tea," The waitress replied promptly.
"I'll take a pound of this one, then," Scott said, feeling magnanimous again. Compared to the tea set, the price of the leaves was acceptable.
"Me too. I'll take the same order—tea set, tea leaves, and the pastries," Kevin chimed in.
"Excellent. I'll arrange that for you both immediately," The waitress replied, her face all smiles.
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