The Author's POV

"Thank you for your purchase, your order will be delivered to you in a week's time"

Coldly looking at me, Richard handed me a receipt and proceeded to ignore me. Rolling my eyes at his obvious display of jealousy I headed back towards the sofas.

Honestly, though annoying, Richard's behavior was quite amusing. Although he acted like a typical arrogant young master, he wasn't looking down on me nor saying things like 'how dare you touch my Amanda! you're courting death!'

It was sort of refreshing...I guess he was just a very frank person.

Either way, once again sitting on the sofa as a light sigh escaped from my mouth, I looked at the receipt in my hand and fell into deep thought.

20,000,000 U

I spent a total of 20,000,000 U on a sword today...

That was just about all of the money I had saved up excluding the budget for the mercenary group which was pretty much off-limits.

...I was now once again poor.

Still, I didn't regret my decision.

If this decision proved instrumental in keeping myself safer in the future, then it was a worthy investment.

After all, my life was more important than money.

Plus, I could very well make the money back in the future. Especially so since I now had a clear direction with regards to earning money.

"Ah!"

Suddenly recalling something I smacked my fist on the palm of my hand.

'Right, I guess now that Amanda is with me I may as well bring the topic of the company project to her'

...I had originally planned on doing this a long time ago, but since I didn't have a concrete product at the time, I didn't do it. However, now that a bit of time had passed since I gave the outline of the project to Melissa, the initial phases of the product were now completed.

From what Melissa showed me, it was now presentable for investments.

Thinking along those lines, my eyes quickly drifted towards the sofa next to me where Amanda was sitting. However just as I was about to bring the topic up, I stopped myself as what I saw and heard made me speechless.

With his elbow on the handrail of the stairs, leaning backward, Richard stared at Amanda who was sitting on the sofa next to me and casually said

"...So, Amanda how long has it been since we've last seen each other?"

Ignoring Richard as she looked through the tablet, Amanda bluntly said

"I forgot"

Not minding Amanda's cold tone, Richard chuckled.

"hehe, but I didn't forget, it's been a total of one month and three days since I've last seen you. Not once did I forget the moment you walked through the door and stole my heart, ever since that day I've bee..."

Completely unfazed by Richard's long love confession, pointing towards the screen of the tablet, Amanda said

"I want to purchase this and this"

Seeing Amanda point towards the tablet, taking his elbow off of the handrail of the stairs, Richard enthusiastically moved to where she was and said

"Oh, you're buying this one? A very wise choice.."

Watching Richard continuously try to flirt with Amanda, I was left speechless.

What sort of failed attempt at flirting was this?

Wasn't Amanda making it obvious that she wasn't interested? Even I who was terrible at dealing with girls could see this.

Facepalming as I cringed at Richard from where I was sitting, I thought to myself.

'...this guy is a total simp'

In the end, much to Richard's disappointment Amanda only spoke a few words to him as she placed her orders down. Regardless of how much Richard tried to shift the conversation, Amanda would just coldly ignore him.

After purchasing everything that she wanted, much to Richard's distraught, Amanda stood up and looked at me.

"Let's go"

"Alright"

of the worn-down apartment. According to what I've been told, our orders would

trace of disappointment flashed Richard's eyes. Thereafter looking at me for a

thank you for your patronage, I hope to see you again in the

the last part of his sentence, shaking my head, I followed

How petty.

the entrance of the building was the same old man with a hunch back from before. Opening the door, the old

thank you for the patronage, I hope to see you

man, Amanda left the building. Following Amanda's example, I too thanked the old man and left

"mhm"

"Yes, thank you"

-Clank!

us closed, we soon found

something I want

Amanda tilted her head and

"Something to talk about?"

do you

couple of seconds, Amanda

"Yes, I do"

today was her day off she naturally had free

resting on my shoulder, Amanda bit her lips as she swore to

after seeing Ren's cat, Amanda couldn't stop herself from

didn't want to

inner thoughts, glancing towards my surroundings,

go somewhere else. This isn't really the

thoughts, Amanda nodded

"Okay"

we were about to move, recalling something, I glanced at

also preferably do you know any place that is

her head to the side, a confused look appeared on Amanda's

"why?"

on Amanda's face, I

...why?

not even aware of

*Sigh*

from my mouth,

don't

thought, Amanda eventually nodded her head and turned right to

"Okay"

she wasn't comfortable with going to secluded spaces alone with a

she wasn't repulsed

it perhaps because of pudding?

...Amanda didn't know.

knew her feelings weren't that of

thoughts about me, I

"Great, lead the way"

head, after thinking for a bit, Amanda decided to go

"Follow me"

the main street, we walked for a couple of minutes before soon arriving at a

small shop that looked quite modern and had a transparent retractable door at

"Is that the place?"

place, Amanda headed

"Yes"

transparent glass door of the cafe', a blanket of warm air brushed past my skin warming my body immediatly. Subsequently, the rich aroma of the coffee invaded my nostrils prompting me to directly stare at

were different

"Welcome"

a moderately beautiful young girl. Greeting the young girl back, Amanda and I quickly placed our

espresso, we soon found a table in the corner of

-Squek! -Squek!

feet creating a subtle squeaking sound. Ignoring this, arriving at the table, I

calmly took a sip of her coffee and

what did you want

on the holographic function of my

a look

Amanda, I had asked Melissa beforehand to send me a video of the current progress of her research..and the video I was currently going to show Amanda was a prototype of a

at the holographic image before her, Amanda