"She's the girl who can transform into a big wolf, isn't she?"
Emery remembered Luna had stood quite a distance away from that night and when she and Kastan had walked closer to speak with the chief, Morgana's face was ruffled with her red hair and was covered with a mantle. He found it surprising that she was able to recognize her, truly Luna was a business woman who had sharp eyes. He said, "She won't harm anyone, please be at ease."
"If you say so, Merlin" responded Luna almost flatly. "Well, let us eat."
Immediately after that, people walked inside the dining room and their table was filled with lots of food, which seemed to thoroughly pleased Morgana. It looked like before Luna had gone to meet them, she had ordered the kitchen to prepare quick meals to serve for her guests.
Luna mentioned, "Please enjoy the food."
Morgana was served food and indulged herself despite eating two pieces of pig's pie from earlier. This girl… maybe it was because of her Fey blood(being able to transform into a big wolf) that allowed her to have such a big appetite.
Emery watched Morgana stuffed herself, and he couldn't help but sigh inwardly because most of what Morgana had on her plate were meat dishes, almost exclusively not touching the vegetables. Luna also watched with great curiosity but turned her attention to Emery, occasionally glancing at Morgana, and asked, "I am glad to see you're safe, Merlin. Wait, your arm! How come it has returned?"
"Thank you for the concern, Miss Luna. Were you able to get some of the guards safely and with no issues? " said Emery.
Luna caught on his unwillingness to talk about his arm and said, "Yes… it is unfortunate though that some of them didn't make it. But those who are still alive, including me and my brother, are eternally grateful. We are indebted to you."
She then clapped and a female entered the room, pushing a cart with bags. Luna said, "Please accept these bags of coins as tokens of my appreciation."
The bags shone with gold coins inside. Luna's assistant mentioned there were a total of one hundred gold coins, which equated to ten thousand silver coins. Truly the Quintin Family was rich to be able to reward this kind of money. This was more than enough to acquire a huge plot of land, a house in the city and or even start an enterprise. However, these weren't important for him at the moment. He still had a lot of money from the tournament and Luna's initial down payment, moreover he was slightly concerned that if he accepted this, the requests he was about to make would be harder to achieve.
"Thank you, Lady Luna, but I have no need of them," respectfully said Emery.
Luna appeared a bit taken aback but she regained composure within the next second and replied, "Master Merlin, the Quintins do not break their promises. Please take it else, I will feel offended."
"If that's the case," Emery paused for a moment then added, "why don't we exchange it with something else then?"
Luna appeared confused. She asked, "What do you have in mind?"
Looking at her, he smiled and said, "I want us to be friends. What do you think?"
Luna suddenly burst out laughing. "Sorry, sorry. I didn't mean to… we have gone through life and death already, and because of you we're still alive. I already considered you as my friend at that time."
"Oh…" Emery said, scratching his head. "Then, instead of Master Merlin, can you call me Merlin only?"
"Okay, in return call me by name only too," said Luna. Morgana's noisy eating entered their ears, making Luna look at her briefly. She turned her attention back to Emery and said, "That being said, however, the question pertaining to handing out the reward still remains. That still applies even if I consider you as my friend. Do you have other things you want? Keep in mind that since you're my friend, your trouble is my trouble, so if you need help, I'll assist you as far as I can with my power."
It was Emery's turn to feel grateful at this time. So far, this woman had only shown goodwill to him and he could actually determine she was being truthful. Emery answered, "Okay, then I do in fact need help in finding people. I'm looking for a person named Padraig, the leader of a marauder group called Crimson Fang, and another person named Maeve. If there's any news about people looking like they have been… sucked dried… she might be involved."
Luna leaned back on her and thought for a moment. "Crimson Fang… marauder group… I believe I have heard of that group before. They might be the ones ransacking some of the Lioness's Kingdom as well as Belgaie Kingdom, but I need to confirm that with Kastan once he returns after doing my bidding in a few days. As for the second person and the symptoms you mentioned… I'll ask my contacts. I might take some time though."
"It's fine, Luna. If it is all possible, I'd like to ask if you can keep tracking them. I'll be leaving for a couple of months. Hopefully, I'll have news when I return," answered Emery.
Luna frowned. "Leaving so soon? Why don't you stay at least for a few more days here? I'm sure you don't have lodging yet, do you? Of course, you and Morgana are welcome as our guest."
Emery considered it for a moment. Luna would surely have a great web of connection with other people, after all, she was the daughter of a merchant-lord. If he also stayed here, he could learn more about her as well as get at least up to date with the situation of Lioness as well as other kingdoms. He didn't have much to do anyway; asking for information was his primary reason for leaving the forest. And he shouldn't go back to the forest before he gets recalled to the academy.
In the end, Emery nodded and said, "Yes, we would be honored to be your guest."
"Excellent!" said Luna as she finally started eating the dishes served before them.
They were almost done with their meal when the door slammed open and Silas barged in while shouting, "Sister!"