Lin Fan revealed an awkward smile, but then he said, “Well, I was traveling around and I happened to come this way. I stopped for some work, but then settled because it seemed like a good place.”
Of course, that wasn’t the real answer.
It wasn’t as if he could tell her that he had isekai’d to a field near here and had only come here because it was the closest city.
However, this answer was enough for Lala since this was quite a common answer.
Lin Fan then quickly asked a question to get her mind off this topic, “So why did you come to this city?”
Lala also revealed an awkward look before saying, “Well, I guess for the same reason as you. However, after working for the Mercenary Guild for a bit, they offered me a position as a receptionist and I decided to take it. After that, I just settled here since it was the easiest place for me to get to work from.”
Lin Fan revealed a surprised look as he asked, “You used to work as a mercenary?”
Lala also revealed a surprised look as she said, “You didn’t know that the receptionists all worked for the Mercenary Guild as mercenaries becoming receptionists?”
Lin Fan shook his head.
Lala explained, “The receptionists need to have a certain level of strength to defend themselves, after all, the Mercenary Guild isn’t an easy place to work in. So that’s why they choose pretty mercenaries who have a certain rank to work as receptionists. Of course, the reason why anyone would choose to work as receptionists is because the pay is much greater than what we would receive as mercenaries. Not to mention that we get bonuses based on the mercenaries that register their quests with us. It’s much better than risking our lives as mercenaries.”
Lin Fan gave a nod in response to this even though he didn’t really understand. However, he had always been able to feel a trace of spiritual energy from Lala which told him that she was a cultivator.
This at least explained why she would work as a receptionist at the Mercenary Guild.
After this first question, the two of them started discussing all kinds of different topics, ranging from missions that they’ve done, to food that they’ve liked, and finally landing on hobbies that they both enjoy.
Lin Fan’s hobby was naturally reading novels and surprisingly, it was also Lala’s hobby.
Even though she seemed like a bubbly girl who wouldn’t waste her time with novels, she had read quite a few of them.
Of course, the novels here were considered a bit boring for Lin Fan since this was an ancient martial arts world. Most of the novels here were the typical xianxia and wuxia novels, it really wasn’t what Lin Fan enjoyed reading.
Instead, he was someone that enjoyed reading isekai novels, but it was too bad that topic didn’t really exist in this world.
The closest thing he was able to find were some reincarnation novels about supreme experts restarting as young masters.
But surprisingly, that was what Lala liked too, so they were able to have quite a good conversation.
Lin Fan was even able to impress her with some of his ideas since they were completely novel to her. However, for him, these were tropes that were already overused in his previous world.
Eventually, their food came, but the person that brought the food wasn’t the same waiter as before. The one who brought their food out was the same cloaked person that Lin Fan had seen at the Mercenary Guild earlier.
When he saw this person, he immediately raised his guard, but that person didn’t do anything other than put the two plates of food down and pull a chair over to sit down with them.
Lin Fan knitted his brows when he saw this and he asked, “Who are…”
But before he could finish, the cloaked figure completely ignored him and turned to Lala before saying, “Lala, it’s time to come home.”
When Lala heard this voice, she couldn’t stop herself from giving a tremble.
Lin Fan could see the look in her eyes and knew that she recognized this person, so he didn’t say anything as he waited to see what would happen.
The cloaked figure took off his hood and revealed his face, which was the normal face of a middle aged man, but he could be considered a bit handsome.
From beginning to end, this middle aged man had never acknowledged Lin Fan. His eyes had been on Lala the entire time.
After a period of silence, Lala said, “No, dad, I don’t want to.”
Lin Fan was surprised when he heard this.
It turned out that this middle aged man was Lala’s father and based on the way they were talking to each other, it was clear that they didn’t have a close relationship.
The middle aged man knitted his brows when he heard this and he said, “Lala, it’s not time for you to play around. Your engagement has already been decided, your fiance has been chosen.”
Both Lin Fan and Lala revealed shocked looks at this.
Lala immediately said with an angry voice, “Who gave you the right to decide this? I’ve already said that I was leaving the Bai Family, you have no right to decide this for me!”
The middle aged man revealed an angry look too and said, “This unfilial child! Who was it that gave birth to you and took care of you! Now you’re saying that you’re turning your back on your family! Your parents! This is going against the heavens!”
Since they had raised their voices, the people around them had stopped talking and had turned to look at them.
When they saw this, they both revealed awkward looks before lowering their voices again.
Seeing that there was nothing else for them to watch, the people around them went back to their own business.
Lala took a deep breath and said, “I’ve already told you that I wasn’t getting engaged to whoever you chose for me. You can go back, I’m not returning with you.”
Lala’s dad didn’t move when he heard this. He just looked at Lala with a serious look for a few seconds before saying, “It’s the second young master of the Qian Family.”
Lala revealed a shocked look when she heard this.
She asked in a stunned voice, “The Qian Family from Frostfire City?”
Lala’s dad gave a nod and said, “That’s right.”
Lala fell silent after hearing this, deeply knitting her brows.
After seeing this, Lala’s dad gave a sigh and said, “You finally understand how serious this is.”
Then without waiting for Lala to say anything else, he stood up and grabbed her hand, trying to drag her away.
However, before he could even take a single step, Lin Fan had already grabbed his other hand and forced him to sit back down.
It was only then that Lala’s father finally looked at Lin Fan and acknowledged his existence. He looked at him with narrowed eyes filled with hostility and asked, “What do you want?”
Lin Fan just calmly said, “She said she doesn’t want to go with you, so she’s not going.”
Lala’s father’s eyes filled with rage as he said, “Who do you think you are? This is the Bai Family’s matter, how can an outsider like you get involved? Do you think that you can survive if you…”
Before he could finish, he felt Lin Fan’s aura sweep over him.
When Lin Fan’s aura hit him, it was like a mountain of pressure falling onto him. Lala’s father had no choice but to shrink his head back as he swallowed those words that had been in his mouth.
Lala saw this and said, “Lin Fan…”
But before she could say anything, Lin Fan had already looked at her with a strong gaze that made her swallow her words as well.
Lin Fan could tell that from the auras that came from them, Lala was clearly stronger than her father when it came to cultivation. If she wanted, there was no chance that her father would have been able to pull her away like that.
However, she had held back because she didn’t want to hurt him.
Perhaps it was out of filial piety or perhaps it was out of guilt, Lin Fan didn’t know, but he did know that based on the look on her face, it was clear that she didn’t want to go with him.
With him here, who would be able to force Lala to go with them?
Lin Fan looked back at Lala’s dad and said, “This might be the matter between your Bai Family, but you can’t force people to do what they want. That is one of the basic freedoms that comes with being a person.” Then after a pause, he said, “If you want to talk to Lala, go through the Mercenary Guild. If you try to force her to go with you, I won’t hold back, understand?”
Lala’s dad just sat there in a daze as he couldn’t understand what was happening, but feeling the pressure that came from Lin Fan, he had no choice but to give a nod.
Lin Fan nodded as well before taking Lala’s hand and leading her out of the restaurant.
At the same time, he also handed a gold coin to the waiter who had shown them to the table.
As they left, the waiter revealed an apologetic look, but Lin Fan just shook his head to show that he shouldn’t mind it. After all, it was most likely that the waiter was told that it was Lala’s father and he thought that it was a happy event, not what happened now.
After coming out of the restaurant and making sure that Lala’s dad wasn’t following, Lin Fan slowed down his footsteps.
It was then that Lala said in a low voice, “Sorry and thank you.”