Noctis Noir

"Pizza Noir! We serve fresh always!"

In the middle of the Lamont free marketplace was a booth selling specialty pizza. The Noctis Noir girls were dressed in the maid uniforms Anna made for them, except for Christina and Amelie who were wearing butler outfits. The colorful booth and logo were also designed by Anna.

Thanks to their flashy appearance, they attracted plenty of players to their booth who immediately purchased their pizza after getting a free sample. In a matter of hours, a large crowd gathered around them to order.

Astrid did a creepy smile as her fingers jumped from one button to another on the calculator she was holding. "Yes. Yes. We are making such a nice profit off all this. At this rate, we'll hit the goal in no time. No, we might just make five times more money than we originally planned!" Suddenly, her eye for expensive things distracted her. Her gaze landed on the golden turtle on Amelie's head. "Nice hat, Amelie. Where'd you get that? It looks like a rare item."

"Oh, I bumped into a dragon on my way here and accidentally killed it using my ultimate attack," Amelie replied cheerfully as usual as if accidentally killing a dragon was a totally normal event.

"Nice. You got a good drop too."

"Hey look! Black Rose people are coming." Luna pointed at the group approaching them. "And one of them is Garth!" She nudged Astrid.

In response, Astrid quickly hid under the table.

"Why are you hiding!?" Luna tried to pull her out.

Astrid resisted being pulled out. "I can't let him see me like this."

"It's fine! You look cute with the cat ears and tail! Come out and show him."

Lyria whispered to both of them. "Tank and a few other Knights Alliance members are coming. Three o'clock."

Immediately, Luna joined Astrid under the table and stopped trying to pull the assassin out.

Astrid turned her head to face Luna. "So you were saying?"

"Shh! They might notice us." Luna placed a finger over her mouth.

Christina, who had been paying attention to the conversation, kept her eyes on the guildmaster of the Knights Alliance. She figured he was the one Luna had a crush on.

Tank waved. "Yo. I see you have two new members." He looked around. "Luna and Astrid not here?"

Lyria smiled calmly. "Yeah. They're out restocking."

"Hey, are you the guildmaster of the Knights Alliance?" Christina approached Tank. "You look strong."

As Christina continued talking to Tank, Luna sulked under the table. "I want to talk to him too..."

Astrid looked at her friend while eating a slice of pizza and calculating their profit. "Then get out of the table?"

It wasn't long before Garth, Jasmine, and Pio arrived at the pizza booth. They gazed at the vibrantly colored booth before them.

"Pizza!" Pio screamed the moment he smelled the scent of pizza. "I must order!"

"Good business, huh?" Jasmine commented as she stared at the crowd. "Hey, do we get a discount for being friends?"

"Jas! At least pay full price to support them."

"What if I order 99 slices for a discount?"

Lyria gave it some thought. "Well, let me ask our guildmaster." When she turned around, a thumbs-up came out from under the table. "Alright. We'll give you a ten percent discount then."

Jas leaned on the counter. "Ten percent? How about twenty percent?"

"Jas! Come on, they already gave you a discount!" Pio complained.

"Hush, Pio. Witness the art of haggling."

Lyria smiled. "Fifteen percent and you tell your other friends." She offered her flyers.

"Deal." Jasmine took the flyers.

Garth looked around. "Astrid not here?"

Jasmine pointed at their guildmaster. "This guy will buy 99 pizza slices if he gets to see Astrid."

"What?" Garth sleepily turned his head.

"Please wait for a moment." Lyria cast her teleport spell to summon Astrid. She wasn't about to forego the opportunity of getting a large purchase. She knew Astrid would agree to it as well.

While under the table, a notification appeared on Astrid's menu tablet: Lyria has requested teleport.

Luna stared at the screen. "Maybe they need your help for something?"

"Maybe." She hit the button and found herself face to face with Garth. She froze in place.

After a moment of silence, Garth commented: "Cute."

Jasmine placed her hands on her h.i.p.s. "Now, take out your wallet and buy 99 slices, Garth!"

Pio shook his head in disbelief. "Jasmine is coercing people again."

"You should be assertive like me, Pio. Otherwise, you'll get stepped on like a bug. Right, Lyria?"

Lyria laughed in response and prepared their orders. "Here you go!"

Jasmine grinned. "Thanks. We'll be off to a dungeon now. See you!"

"Good luck with sales!" Pio waved.

"Thanks for ordering!" Lyria and Astrid waved back.

Meanwhile, Luna was still under the table. Tank and Christina continued having a chat about equipment and status points. If she went out of the table at that moment, there's no doubt that they would notice her. She awkwardly sat there waiting for their conversation to end while also feeling the urge to just go out and join them.

"Can I have a look at your stats?" Tank asked.

"Sure." Christina took out her menu tablet and enabled other players to view her status points.

He summoned his menu tablet and used the player information scanner. Christina's information popped out on the screen. "Not bad. You're pretty good for a knight your level."

She smiled proudly. "Thanks."

"I'd invite you to join my guild, but I'd also hate to get on bad terms with your guildmates for stealing members." He laughed. "How about a spar?"

She giggled. "Sure."

The two left the booth. Once Luna got out from under the table, they were nowhere to be seen. She sighed and went back to work.