"Please enjoy your meal."

"You too."

​​

Aw, fuck.

However, the waitress simply giggled, then put her hand over her mouth, "I'm sorry, that was inappropriate of me."

"I'm just glad you liked my joke."

"Well, it's not everyday that we see humour like yours."

…At this point, I have no idea whether this woman genuinely found it funny or is just acting along to keep me from feeling embarrassed.

"As they say, humour is a man's virtue."

"Aww, how cute." She smiled. "I can already see you stealing the hearts of women when you grow up."

"Yours is the only one I desire."

"I'll be waiting for you, then." The waitress giggled, visibly pleased.

Wait, when did women start liking random men flirting with them instead of saying 'Fuck off, creep'? Just what kind of shitty societal system is this world running on?

Ah, right. I'm a child. She probably thought nothing of my compliment.

I guess one can never escape the limits of their fleshly body.

"What are you doing here alone, anyway?" She asked.

Uh, do you not have other customers to tend to or what?

"Celebrating."

"Alone?"

I looked to the empty chair on my left, then to the one on my right and finally the one in front of me, "Apparently, yes."

I could have said that I was expecting someone, but I have no intention of condoning the belief that dining out alone is somehow sad or pitiful.

Partying out with others is for pussies (or dicks, whatever analogy they use for weak-willed people in this world).

Real men and women dine out alone.

"Well, uh, would you like me to accompany you?" She asked with a polite smile.

"Won't it get you in trouble?"

"We don't get many customers this time of the day, so it should be fine," she said.

However, instead of looking at me, the waitresses' gaze was fixed on the steaming hot food lined up on the table.

I picked up my fork and knife, cut a small piece of the steak, pierced it with the fork and hovered it above the plate.

As expected, the waitresses' gaze followed the steak.

"Well, as long as you can pay for yourself, sure."

"That is…" Her voice trailed off.

Did she really think that I would pay for her meal using my hard-earned money? Keep dreaming, sheeple.

"I suppose I'm eating alone today, then." I smiled.

"Right." The waitress stiffly nodded. "Please enjoy your meal, sir."

"You too, miss, you too."

The waitress scowled ever so slightly and left.

She'll probably bitch about my actions to her colleagues later on, but I don't think I have the time to worry about insignificant side characters.

Anyway, let's dig in.

I brought the piece of steak to my mouth and took a bite.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm, yup, average.

Well, it was pretty good from the standards of the people of this world, but for me, it was rather ordinary.

Hmm.

[Memory System, please temporarily delete my memories of delicacies.]

⟦The better term would be to 'hide them for the time being', no?⟧

[You can think of it that way.]

⟦Why would you want that, anyway?⟧

[I just want to enjoy my celebratory feast. I set a new world record, after all.]

⟦If you truly wanted to enjoy a meal, you should have asked Neia. Oh wait, you two broke up.⟧

[Memory System, do you know that if your body was ever on fire, I'd cook popcorn over it?]

⟦If I had a mortal body, I would have killed myself 7 seconds after you brought me into existence.⟧

[Why do you think I never gave you a body?]

⟦Whatever. Temporarily deleting memories of food items you have eaten in the past.⟧

[Thank you.]

That wasn't so hard, was it? Yet the Memory System always makes a big deal about such small matters.

Anyway, I took a second bite out of my steak, "Mmm," and as expected, it was exquisite.

I would have asked the waitress to give my compliments to the chef, but dying by having my head smashed by a plate because I flexed on a waitress is not the best way to go.

Trust me, I'd know.

The wine- well, I call it wine but it's mixed fruit juice because they don't serve alcohol to minors- was delightful as well.

The salad was decent, considering that I'm not a fan of purely vegetarian dishes.

Imagine eating a fully vegan meal despite being an omnivore.

Anyway, as the waitress had said, the restaurant was mostly empty.

Besides me, only one woman was present, and she was sitting on a table far from mine.

I had momentarily considered joining her, but decided against it because that would have required me to talk with her, and socialising is for nerds.

I'd rather sit alone and eat in silence than make awkward, empty conversations with strangers.

Some would say this was how you make friends, but I don't need any friends. I was born alone, so I'll live and die alone.

Huh, that came out edgier than I expected it to.

Anyway, I continued my meal, and so did that red haired woman.

However, as I was looking in her general direction while thinking about useless things, she suddenly turned around and looked directly at me.

Some moments of heated premarital eye contact followed as we stared into the eye of each other, perhaps trying to gauge each other (or whatever normal people having a conversation with eyes do).

My food was getting cold, however, so I nodded because like every normal person I don't like cold food (except cuisines which are supposed to be eaten cold).

She was probably of the same mindset as she nodded back and we returned to our meals.

Well, that was awkward.

Anyway, after some time, I finished my meal, "The bill, please."

"Right away." The same waitress from before brought me my bill.

The total amounted to a whopping 87 gold coins.

Coins, by the way, are divided into iron, silver and gold (pretty generic stuff like geez, introduce some originality. What is this, a shitty transmigrator novel?).

So 87 gold coins is a lot to spend on a simple meal. In a normal 3-star restaurant, 87 gold coins would have been enough to feed a family for an entire month.

So,, have I wasted a lot of money on a meal which could only be enjoyed after temporarily deleting some of my memories?

Absolutely.

Anyway, I paid the bill because I'm a morally upright member of the society and made my way back to the guild house.