BXBX NOVEL Chapter 405 Next Round Of The Tournament (2)
"…"
The bunch was speechless at Eli's answer. Her words could only mean either of the two things.
First is that she planned for this to happen regardless of Desmond's results today or that she is confident that Desmond will have a spot for the finals.
Regardless of the reason, the students admired Eli's actions. It reflected how highly she viewed her role in Desmond's growth and that she also had her mind for them.
Not that they wanted to disregard their respective mentors, they were the perfect fit for them. But Eli was the one who convinced them to enter this tournament and so everything that Eli did for them had such a great impact.
"What are you waiting for? Eat up, tomorrow is another hard fight for all of you." Eli knew what was on their minds however, she really did not want them to vilify her. All she did was treat them with a nice meal, like how a manager would treat her subordinates.
She grabbed the baked scallops and handed it over to Desmond who was sitting nearest to her and continued with a soft smile, "We'll never even know if we could eat like this in the next few days, for your schedules will be tighter as the tournament goes."
The students looked at each other and nodded, beaming in delight, they started to taste the delectable array of food on the table. Never in their lives did they imagine that they would have a chance to eat in such a glorious restaurant, but here they were!
Outside the private room, there were many eyes that saw Eli's group entering in a careless manner.
Most of them belong to the Vanderford Empire and their allied territories. When they saw Eli's face, they immediately scrutinized her appearance.
As Eli was seen wearing the Farauld Faculty Uniform, they could not access Eli's overall appearance and so they immediately assumed that she was just a normal-looking lady with a stern personality.
Because of this, they clicked their tongues in disdain and immediately discussed at their respective tables.
"So that's the legendary inventor whom the Seirende Empire is excessively proud of?"
"She looks so ordinary…"
"Right! I think that the rumors were quite exaggerated, maybe she's just a little bit smarter than our researchers, but give our scholars a little more time, then they might achieve what she has done!"
"Well it does not matter now, look how she is so busy caring for the music and fine arts department? I do not really understand why she would do that instead of supporting the research and the other academic branches of their institution?"
"Heh, what do we know? Even the noblemen in Seirende said that she is quite addicted to putting her nose on things she did not know about! And since she's an adopted granddaughter of Grandmaster Farauld, the elders indulged her to do whatever she wants!"
"If that is not an attention seeker then I do not know what she could be called…"
"Hahaha, I know right?!"
"Well, do not care too much. In fact, her leaving the research and academic teams might become a blessing in disguise for our teams too! Since what could she have given them in such a short time to make the research team and the academic team formidable?"
"Hahaha! You're right! But I want to watch her own colleagues blame her for being naive in coaching the music and fine arts departments."
"I pity the mentors she asked for help though, did you not hear? Their identities were also prominent, they were the Imperial women!"
"Well, one day they would blame her or even banish her after this tournament due to humiliation!"
Back in the counter and the back kitchen, the general manager of Ristorante de Rion was fuming in anger.
"How atrocious these foreigners were! How could they talk behind our Lady's back! I will kick them all out!" The general manager growled in anger, his face was red and there were a bunch of veins bulging on his forehead.
He was also a dwarf sponsored by the Forgeworn Family, along with the rest of the crew of the restaurant.
"Manager… hold your heart! If you go out now, it will only bring trouble to milady! If that happens more people will slander her!" The chef and the rest of the assistants held the general manager's agitated body back.
"But you would just allow them to bully our lady? I'll tell you! We do not deserve to stay in the Forgeworn family if we would just ignore one of our masters to get bullied by foreigners like this!" The general manager increased his strength once again and moved to barge out of the back office.
"Sigh! I know the manager, but we did not say that we will not do anything. Let's get back at them, but not through straightforward means!"
"Not through straightforward means?" The general manager raised his brows and looked at his assistant in interest.
"Yes… this is what I think we shall do…" The assistant bent over and everyone in the room listened to his hushed words.
While all these were happening, Eli and the bunch were enjoying their dinner harmoniously. She also got to know more about the youngsters and their personalities.
Marie was quite an assertive young lady, but she usually keeps up with Raya every time the latter would joke around and animatedly tell a story. Anna and Hailey were the quiet ones.
Raphael is a little bit more like Desmond, but he is more aloof, probably because of his inclination on expressing himself on the canvas. While Max was the rowdy one.
Not long after, they were already sighing in satisfaction. This has been one of the best meals of their lives.
Eli smiled, seeing the content faces of the bunch, "Are you all ready to go home?" She asked.
"Yes, mentor!" They replied.
Calling the manager, Eli asks for the billing.
Moments after, the general manager strode inside with a wide amiable smile on his face, in his hands a silver tray with a few things.
"My lady, it's an honor to have you and your students dine in Ristorante di Rion! In fact, even the diners outside were so delighted by your presence that they all insisted on paying for your meal! And so my lady need not pay a single cent, for it has already been paid by them!"
"Woah!?"
"For real?"
When the youngsters heard it, they all exclaimed in amazement. How famous must their mentor be to have many random people scramble to give her a favor?
Eli was also shocked but she contained herself and took out an appropriate amount of shinies in her space pouch, "If so then, you can have this as a tip. Treat the entire crew nicely, you have done such a nice service for everyone."
The general manager almost cried on the spot after hearing Eli's praises, he did not even glance at the shinies placed on his tray. What mattered to him is the fact that Eli had just praised him and his entire crew!
Such a lovely day!
"Ah, it's an honor, milady! You need not do this!" He said frantically,
"No, I insist," Eli said with a smile. "I only request that the next time that happens, please help me respectfully decline."
"T-thank you so much, Milady!!!" He bowed respectfully.
"Oh, before I forget! Milady, since everyone outside insisted on paying a portion of your meal, there was a lot of excesses. So I have decided to divide all the excess to pay for the lifetime silver membership of your eight students to all of the Forgeworn affiliate stores! I hope you do not mind that I went ahead of you to decide on this matter."
"What?!"
"Just how much did the patrons outside give? How could those be enough for the eight of us to have a silver membership card?!" The youngsters were in the shock of their lives once again.
"Well…" The general manager was quite helpless, he also did not expect that those foreigners would not suspect anything at all.
"Accept it, anyways it is still a silver membership card. 15% discount on all the stores from the Forgeworn group is not bad." Eli no longer wanted to trouble the manager and so she did not refuse their kindness.
Although she was quite sure that something uncanny happened outside that caused this string of events, she decided to go with the flow and not delve into the matter deeply. She trusts that the Forgeworn employees will not harm her, a member of the Forgeworn clan.
Besides, the General Manager was quite sensible enough to not exaggerate the memberships of the youngsters, and so she deemed it no harm to accept.
When they exited the room, there was already a batch of people outside and so they no longer had a chance to figure out who were the ones who sponsored their meals.
Sending the VIPs off, the General Manager went back to the back kitchen and relayed everything to the team.
"Hahaha! I told you, General manager! Increasing their charges to 10 percent will do the magic! Hahaha, I wonder how they would feel if they knew that they paid a lot of money to the person they were gossiping with earlier!"
"How satisfying! Hahaha!