The girl continued to glance at the information and us, seemingly unsure of what she was supposed to do next. This situation continued for long enough for it to start to feel a little awkward. In the end it was Lillia broke the strangely tense silence.

"Um, is there something wrong with my tag?" Lillia asked politely.

"N-no there isn't, p-p-princess Lillia. I'm so sorry I didn't recognise who you were and there was no mention that you would be coming here in person."

"Oh, is that what this is. Look, don't worry about it and if you could just call me Lillia when I'm in the guild like this, I would appreciate it. I'm just here as an adventurer and would prefer not to draw any attention because of my family."

"Right, yes, sorry p… I mean Lillia."

"Thank you."

"Are you going to be staying in the room with the rest of them?"

"Yes."

"Is that going to be okay?"

"You did say you didn't have any single rooms. We travel together all the time. This sort of thing isn't uncommon for adventurers you know."

"I know…" She didn't look convinced. "I'll leave it at that." The girl looked across the desk to me. "Look um mister, er?"

"It's Theo, just Theo." I replied.

"I'm really sorry about what I said earlier. It's just when I heard you asking questions like that, I thought you were a complete novice or maybe mocking us. Please forgive me." She pleaded.

"Oh, that's quite okay. I suppose I am still quite a novice. I definitely haven't got to grips with everything yet." I explained a little embarrassed.

"Were you not part of the party when the officer was taken down? It says here that all four of you took part in the raid."

"Oh, that. Yes, I was a part of it."

"He's being modest. He's the one that finished her off." Altria added, butting in with a giggle.

"She's exaggerating!" I tried to explain.

"Really. You killed the demon lord's officer?" The girl asked excitedly.

"Well…"

"Would you mind keeping that quiet as well?" Lillia asked interrupting.

The girl had asked quite loudly and at least a couple of the nearby adventures were looking at us and discussing amongst themselves.

"I can."

"Thank you. I don't mean to sound demanding, but we were planning on staying here and if news gets around it could end up being a little difficult, considering how busy it is here."

"Of course, don't worry we won't let the word get out."

"Thank you…. Would you mind passing on our arrival to your superiors then?"

"Yes, I will do so immediately." The girl turned around and went to rush into the back room.

Lillia quickly stopped her.

"Sorry, before you go. Could we collect our reward?"

"Ah I completely forgot. Please give me a minute, I'll need to go to the safe."

"No problem!"

The girl left to the back room. I think the sudden turn of events had ended up being a bit of a shock to her.

"I thought you collected the reward in Lintz? You didn't mention anything about this." I asked once the girl had left the desk.

"You didn't ask. I did go to collect it, but as things turned out the amount on the quest offered by the branch office didn't match up with the reward listed here. They checked with the head office and asked us to come to collect it here in person. It seems that they didn't want to pass up the opportunity to reward this task themselves. Probably because of all the commotion it has caused!"

"How much do we get exactly?"

"Ten gold coins each."

"Sorry, I don't know what that adds up to."

"Well, each gold coin is worth fifteen silvers."

"That still doesn't help me."

"It might be easier if you think of it this way. A single gold coin would be enough for you to live on for an entire year. As long as you weren't too extravagant." Serin explained.

"That much!"

"Yes, well the quest had been up for so long. I don't think they thought anyone would ever collect it. The branch offices even ended up offering their own quests for the names on that board, not that they could offer something like that."

With that much money, I could now be financially independent. I wouldn't have to rely on Lillia for everything from now on. After a short wait, the desk girl came back from the back room and placed a fairly large pouch down on the desk. Lillia quickly opened it and counted out the contents.

"All there. Thank you." She said once she had finished.

"Good. I'll let my superiors know that you have arrived safely now."

"Thanks for all your help." Lillia said stepping away from the desk.

We all moved a short way back into a space in front of the desk.

"What shall we do now, should we go to the room and unpack, or would you like to eat first?" Lillia asked.

"I think we should go an unload our gear first. Looking at how busy it is in here I think we would be better looking for somewhere a little quieter for dinner." Answered Serin.

That seemed like a good idea. The guild hall was so rammed that there was barely a spare table in the whole building, and it was so loud you almost needed to shout to hold a conversation.

"I think that's a good idea, unless anyone disagrees?" Asked Lillia.

Altria and I just nodded in agreement.

"Then let's go and find our room."

We left the guild hall and headed up to the second floor of the building where our room was located. It was quite some way from the stairs, almost at the far end of the corridor. At least that meant it was further away from the noise and bustle. When Lillia opened the door, I soon realised that this could be a troublesome arrangement. I had thought as much when the girl first suggested a shared room but looking now, I knew for sure I would have trouble seeing Celine whilst we were in here.

The room was plain and laid out with four beds in a row, there were no dividers or any other means of privacy from the other occupants. Sure, Celine could hide her presence from the others, but it was going to be impossible to feed her without them cottoning on that something was happening.

We each picked out a bed and after quickly testing out it was comfortable stashed our gear. Then it was time to start thinking about where we would go for our evening meal. This was my first time to the capital, so I had absolutely no idea where might be good to go and eat. The girls on the other had all lived here at some point. So, they were full of ideas that we could check out. They were already busy, discussing the best place to go. I just sat on my bed listening to them talk until the conversation turned to me.

I had heard them discussing while I had kind of zoned out of the conversation. I realised that they hadn't agreed on which place we were going to visit. Each of them had suggested somewhere different and they couldn't come to a compromise choice. When I focused on what was happening, it was because I was being asked to choose between them.

"Well Theo, which one do you want to go to?" Asked Lillia.

"Honestly, I'm fine going wherever you guys decide to."

"Huh, but that's the problem. You just need to pick one of them!"

"Right… But I've never been to any of these places before. So, I've no idea which one is likely to be good."

"Just pick one that sounds good to you." Serin asked.

"Fine… What are the choices again?"

All three of the girls sighed collectively, realising that I hadn't been listening to their increasingly heated discussion about where we would eat. They ran through the places that each of them wanted to stop at, while I sat there and listened intently this time.

"Honestly they all sound good. I'm not sure which to pick." I answered once they finished again.

"Please just choose Theo, I'm getting hungry." Pleaded Altria.

I was getting hungry too, but I was getting the feeling that this had turned into some kind of competition between the three of them and I didn't want to pick between like this. I had to think of a way…

"Well, which one is closest?" I asked.

All three of them looked at each other for a moment as they thought it over. Eventually Altria jumped up looking a little excited.

"Lendros it is then!" She said grabbing my arm and pulling me up from the bed.

"Right."

It just happened to be the one that Altria wanted. The others didn't look particularly happy their own choices weren't picked, but at least it wasn't due to a favouritism of their taste.

"Come on you two let's go and eat!" Altria called back on the way to the door.

Lillia and Serin both sighed, then stood up to follow us out of the room realising the argument was settled already.