The food was great~

It was served in a similar style to those rice set meals that you might find in a certain eastern country back in my old World.

There was rice, soup, some side dishes and a main dish all arranged on a tray so everyone got their own set.

Then when the dessert came... I found myself looking at a plate of what looked like brown sugar balls that were coated in a layer of honey.

Oh!! These must be the honey glazed balls that Drebann had told me about all those years ago! I’ve waited so long to try this!

I immediately picked one up and popped it into my mouth, biting down on it and, almost immediately, an explosion of sweetness filled my mouth.

It was like they had packed sugar into a ball and wrapped it in flour before they fried it.

It’s soooooo gooooood!!

I got lost in its sweetness and proceeded to finish off the rest of the honey glazed balls that were in front of me, licking my fingers the moment I was done.

Mmmm~ Drebann didn’t lie, this was so yummy!

Hmm... Maybe I should ask Hiandoca if she could recommend any sweets to me as well within her territory? Though I have a feeling she would demand that I do something lewd for her in return...

Om nom nom nom~ Ah... All the sweets are gone already... I wonder if I can order more?

"Mistress, would you like some of mine?" Katsuki asked, offering her plate of those honey glazed balls.

Wahhhh! I love you, Katsuki!! I could kiss you right now!

Om nom nom~

Mmmmm!! So goooood! It’s so simple yet it’s so delicious!! How are they even able to make this?

In a flash, the plate in front of me was also cleaned out and this time I had a sense of satisfaction from it.

That was when I noticed Ather busy sketching away beside me while looking intently at me but at this point, I’ve already grown used to it so I didn’t make a fuss.

Albert smiled at me, "Seems like you really like that, Lady Aster?"

I nodded at him, "I heard about this sweet before and it certainly lived up to my expectations~"

"I’m glad to hear that. Would you be setting up camp outside?"

"Oh? Are we also able to rent the rooms here as well?"

Katsuki answered before he could, "Mistress, I do not recommend it. I will suggest setting up camp outside instead."

Eh? Is there some kind of problem renting the rooms here? This place is an inn, isn’t it? That means there should be rooms upstairs too, right?

Although now that you mention it... Despite the fact that there are rooms upstairs, there’s still people camping outside so unless the place was already full, why wouldn’t they want to stay here?

Albert turned to Katsuki and smiled, "You’re a real local, huh? I guess there’s no need for us to worry then."

Before I could ask what he was talking about, one of the Nomad Nekomatas from his group came over from another table to stand in front of Emilia.

"You’re also one of those who gave up tradition to become a pet, aren’t you? Pathetic."

Instead of answering her immediately, Emilia looked around her as though she was looking for someone before turning to me.

"Boss? Is this destitute nobody talking to me?"

Oh geez Emilia... Are you trying to start a fight or something? Though I guess she was the one who started it...

Obviously, the other party wasn’t happy with what Emilia said and slammed her palm on the table in response.

"What did you just say?! Say it again, you stupid pet!" She shrieked.

Albert immediately jumped to his feet, "That’s enough! Did you already forget that these are our benefactors who saved our lives?! The least you could show is some gratitude and if you can’t even do that, then at least don’t be rude!"

That only made her turn her attention to him instead, "You... Don’t think I have forgotten about you, ’leader’. All of us only took this job because we were told that only the leader was a city pet. How dare you show up with another group of them? If we had known there would be more of you, we wouldn’t have accepted this job!"

"I admit that this was a problem on our side and I apologise. But this and that are two different issues. Please at least be civilised."

"Civilised?! Ahahaha! Yeah, civilised. Because us Nomads are the uncivilised ones all the time, isn’t it? And you guys are the civilised ones since you all live behind walls and act like you’re more important than you really are!"

"Look... I’m not asking you girls to like us or be our friends but--"

He didn’t even get to finish his words before another Nekomata came forward and slammed her hand on the table, this time coming from one of those Metropolitan Nekomatas that were on the other side of our table.

"Why are we even letting you take the benefits of a civilised society anyway? You’re the ones taking advantage of all the amenities we’ve given you and even this job as well! If you’re so great then why don’t you just head out on your own without depending on us?!"

"You want me to drop your goods right here? Because we would definitely do it if you tell us to leave right now!"

Albert quickly clasped his hand over the other woman’s mouth right as she was opening it, "Ah, ah! Please don’t say that... We need your help, ok?"

She crossed her arms, "I don’t care. Being with you stupid city pets is even worse than just being by ourselves."

"As I said earlier... We’re not here to ask you all to be our friends or something... But we do have a lot of stuff that needs to be moved to the capital so maybe we can just at least tolerate each other for another few days and we will all go our separate ways after that?"

The Nomad Nekomata scowled, "I demand our pay to be increased because of this."

The other female Nekomata slammed the table again, "Increase?! You’ve been giving us nothing but trouble the entire time! Your group has just been giving backhanded insults the entire time we’re walking and constantly complaining about our presence! You were the ones starting the problems and you still want to ask for a pay increase?!"

"Was anything we said wrong? If it wasn’t for us, all of you would barely be able to light a fire without setting the forest ablaze. All of you are proof of the degeneration of our race."

"Stop flattering yourself. The only reason why you’re able to even get such comforts like sleeping on a bedroll instead of a pile of leaves is because of us. You make use of all the comforts that we give you and you still complain about it. If that isn’t the peak of hypocrisy, I don’t know what is."

"You make it sound as if we won’t be able to survive without you when it’s clearly the other way around."

"Newsflash, forest savage, we don’t need to live like savages anymore."

"And this is why we’re losing our history and tradition to idiots like you who care nothing about it!"

"And that’s why you guys are never taken seriously because you cling so hard to the past and never move to the future!!"

It really looked like they were going to start fighting until Albert jumped in between them once again, "Ok, ok! Let’s all agree to disagree, alright? We all have our differences but we have a similar goal right now and that’s just to reach the capital city, right? So let’s all put aside all these Metropolitan and Nomad arguments and just focus on getting there peacefully first, ok?"

The two women glared at each other before huffing and turning away to return back to their tables.

Albert let out a sigh and bowed to me, "Please forgive them, Lady Aster... It’s... A really delicate issue for them. If you would excuse me, I need to arrange their sleeping areas for tonight."

I waved at him and he left our table, leaving us alone.

"Is this a normal thing here?" I asked the girls.

Emilia sighed, "Yes. And it’s worse than you think... I’m honestly surprised that they haven’t already fought but I guess that Albert guy is just barely keeping them from going at each other’s throats. Pretty impressive if you ask me."

"So... Is this a cultural issue or..."

"Something like that... Let’s just say that both sides have sold each other out in the past before and now neither side trusts each other not to stab them in the back again. Plus, there’s a really deep rooted stereotype for both sides which may or may not apply to a majority of either side."

"You seem to be fine?"

She stuck out her tongue and made a circle with her index finger and thumb, "Creas do not discriminate~"

Right...

Anyway... I guess we should set up camp for the night?