After her cry receded, she was offered a seat at the table. "Thank you, Finn."
"Oh, that's right. Ais, how much have you told Lili here?" Finn asked the other child.
"Not much. I think you want to be the one telling her, so I held myself back, aside from saying about the other Knights' reincarnations."
Lili saw Finn smile. "Thanks, Ais."
Ais just nodded and called for a waitress.
"Please order whatever you want, Lili. Gareth will cover the tab for today. After that, I'll introduce you to everyone."
Lili nodded and ordered some fancy food. Might as well take the opportunity to eat the expensive ones.
After ordering the food together with Ais, Finn approached her again, and they began to move toward the others.
"Right, here we have Bete Loga. In his previous life, he was the Werewolf Emperor, Yuri. Do excuse him because he is drunk."
In front of Lili was the figure of a teenaged Werewolf with a flushed face.
"Shouldn't you stop him?" Lili asked Finn.
"Nobody can," Finn shook his head with a smile. "Anyway, since he can't answer. He's from Vidar Familia."
Lili nodded.
"Next, Gareth Landrock. He was Galmus, the Great Dwarf Hero."
"How're ya, lass," Gareth greeted her.
"And he's almost drunk. Both he and Bete were good friends in the previous life," Finn continued explaining. "Incidentally, he's one of the top executives in Loki Familia, now."
...Somehow, this painted a wrong thing about Loki Familia. If one of the top executives was this one drunk Dwarf, Lili shuddered to think what the rest was like.
They went past Gareth to meet with a familiar Elf.
"Oh my, I certainly did not expect this from you, Sir Finn. Shall I write another song for you?", The Elf joked towards the blonde Pallum beside her. She then bowed a little towards her. "Good Evening, Lady Fianna. It has been a long time since we met. I'm sorry that I couldn't do much."
"It's fine. You're an outsider, anyway."
"My name this time is Ryuu Lion, the Wandering Fairy from Astraea Familia. It's an Alias bestowed to me by the Gods and the people. Pleased to meet you again."
Lili nodded. "Pleased to see you again, Ryuu."
"Incidentally, Lady Fianna. Is it alright if I visit you sometime soon? I have some matters to talk about with you."
Lili raised her eyebrows. What could the Elven bard need her for? "I'll visit you instead. How about it?" She didn't want Zanis to catch wind of what she was doing. Getting a visit from someone like Ryuu would definitely catch his attention, and Lili did not want that.
"Acceptable. Have a good evening, Lady Fianna. We'll talk later," Ryuu saluted her as Finn brought her towards the next person.
"And here's Helga. Her name in this life is-"
"I can introduce myself, thank you," Helga cut Finn off. "I'm Lyra from Astraea Familia this time. Ryuu and I usually patrolled around Orario. I feel weird that we couldn't find you before."
Lili shrugged. "Before I regained my memories, I usually begged for money under a hood. We probably passed each other many times. I don't know."
Suddenly the entire table went silent. Was it something she said?
Lyra looked at her with sympathetic eyes. Unlike Ais', her gaze of understanding included sympathy. She could only guess that Lyra's life was full of hardship before she regained her memories, just like her.
"No need. I cope," Lili said with a bitter smile. "And besides, I'm sure mine's not the worst tale in the world. I can take solace in that."
Lili turned to Finn only to find him muttering some things under his breath.
"Oi, snap out of it, Finn. Let's move on."
They continued towards the last group, the quadruplets, who she assumed were Gren, Berl, and their little brothers. It seemed that this time, they were born together.
"Right. And these are the Gulliver Brothers."
"Alfrigg, I'm the oldest."
"Incidentally, he was the youngest in our previous life. I'm Dvalinn. Thank you for taking care of our brothers before," Dvalinn bowed towards her.
"You're welcome," Lili nodded. "They also took care of me, so it's just expected."
"What the hell are you saying, Captain," Gren's reincarnation grinned at her. "You definitely took care of all of us more than we took care of you. I'm Grer, this time."
"And I'm Berling," Berling followed. "Nice to meet you again, Captain."
"And that's everyone else." Finn finished as they went back to their seats. He then continued. "My name is Finn. I'm the captain of Loki Familia."
So he was Ais' captain, then. Lili nodded toward him.
Standing up, Lili got everyone's attention because she stood on the chair. Otherwise, her figure would've been covered by the table. "It's good to see everyone again, and for those whom I haven't met before, it's very nice to meet you. My former name is Fianna, the captain of the Knights of Fianna. But this time, my name is Liliruca Arde of Soma Familia. Thank you for your attention. You may call me Lili"
She went down from the chair and sat back. Not long after, her order came, so she ate them with gusto. After several bites, she found herself being stared at by the others.
"What?"
Finn was the one who spoke first. "Lili, Ais told me about your Familia. Are you safe there? Do you want to transfer?"
Lili blinked. She was touched that Finn cared for her that much. However, bailing out at this point would mean she ran away from her problems.
"I can handle it," she answered as she continued eating.
"Finn," Lili heard Ais talking. "Slow down."
"Ahaha, I'm sorry, Lili. I just want what I think is the best for you."
Sure, her leaving her Familia would be the best decision. But then Canoe wouldn't change. The others wouldn't change. Soma wanted to change, and if she left him, she would be no better than those who couldn't change.
And so she spoke up. "It's best for me to stay. If I need help, I'm sure I can rely on you guys. But for now? Let me handle it. It's my own life."
"I can understand both of you," Lyra suddenly joined. "Finn, I don't know your life this time, but mine was worse than my previous. We got our own pride with these kinds of things. If Lili wants to handle it herself, then I say let her. If she's still the Fianna we remember, she would know when to ask for help."
"That's riiight," the drunk Bete also entered the conversation. "An' yet it's exackly b'coz our life's hell, we wanna help you."
Lili was taken aback. She did not consider their sympathy for her situation to be their motivation to help.
"Is he drunk or not?"
"I don't know."
"A wise Sir Bete. What a rare sight."
Lili sighed. "I understand. Let me handle the internal matters of the Familia. If the other Soma Familia became rowdy, please discipline them. They're rabid dogs who will do anything to get money. I'm very sure some of them steal and extort other people."
Finn looked at her before he laughed. "And those exact people are what you want to help, aren't they? I understand the feeling. Very well, I shall do nothing against Soma Familia unless you ask for help."
Lili flashed him a smile. "Thank you."
"He's gonna do everything for you, Liliruca," Alfrigg grinned. "After all, he really admired you."
Finn only looked abashed as he diverted his attention to everything but her. Dim was still Dim, even in his new life. Lili thought to herself with a smile.
"Ooi, speakin' of Finn. Arde, did y kn'w dat Finn-"
Gareth couldn't finish his drunken sentence because his mouth was covered by Finn's palm. "Now now, Gareth. You had too much drink."
It was Lyra who caught the cue. "Wait, really?!" Wasting no time, she turned towards Lili and grabbed her shoulder. "You're a Pallum, right? Do you read the bible?"
Lili blinked. "Pallum have a bible?" She had never read any of the sorts. Either her parents weren't believers, or somebody in Soma Familia burned all kinds of books because she had never found anything there.
"As the bard loves to say, 'oh my, oh my,'" Alfrigg did an impression of Ryuu.
"No wonder you didn't sport any bruises," Dvalinn grinned. Lili didn't get it. What were they talking about?
"Prepare your cheeks now, Finn," Grer said between his laugh.
"You see, Fianna... Aah, I can't do it!" Berling tried to explain but lost himself in laughter. "Ryuu, explain to her, please."
"As much as I would like to, I think it's better if someone else does it. Lyra, please?" Ryuu passed the request to her fellow Astraea Familia members.
Now Lili got a bad feeling about whatever this was. From her observation, it was a topic that was generally known by everyone here, making Finn embarrassed and sort of hurting him if Dvalinn's comment was correct. For the love of her, she couldn't hazard a guess about what they were talking about.
"You're all just cowards!" Lyra shouted in frustration. After a huff, she turned towards Lili and began. "Now, this is a secondhand account since we all died in the Forest. But apparently, after our death, Finn-"
"Whoops, in knocking Gareth out, I didn't pay attention to everyone else," Finn remarked after sealing Lyra's mouth with his hand.
"Mfffff! Mffff!" Lyra struggled to say something under Finn's hand, but it was futile. With a chop to the back of her neck, Lyra went unconscious.
Lili blinked. How much Finn was trying to cover this up made him look even more suspicious.
"Anyone else wanted to try?"
"You know it's not going to stop someone from telling her later, right? And when she woke up, Lyra would be upset and no doubt would want to tell Lady Lili the truth," Ryuu pointed out.
Finn nodded and answered. "As long as it's not in front of me."
His answer got a laugh from the drunk Werewolf. "Kha! he jus' want ta keep his imaaje!"
Lili also couldn't help but sport a smile. Even in this new life, he still wanted to look good in front of her, huh? Cute.
The topic got dropped when Grer asked her how the Dungeon was. They talked about the intricacies of hunting monsters in the Dungeon. Lili paid attention to them, especially since the other Pallums, except for Lyra, also used spears like her.
"I was surprised you're struggling, Lili," Berling mentioned. "You were always so strong."
"Ah, it was the same case as me, actually," Finn explained, then he grimaced. "Ah..."
"Finn... it couldn't be..." Lili realized what Finn meant seconds later. She still did not know anything about what Finn was trying to not let her know in front of him. Even so, from Finn's misstep just now, she could guess what that was.
Lili clenched her fist. Finn... made a deal with Finnegas. That was the only conclusion she gained when she heard Finn talking about the 'same case.' After all, the Bloodfury Spear was what made her strong. If Finn were the same, then he also had the Bloodfury Spear in his previous life before he lost it when he woke up in this life.
"Look at the time. I have some documents to peruse. See you later, everyone."
Finn bolted out of the restaurant.
"Wait, Finn!"
Lili tried to call out to him but was ignored.
Everyone at the table looked at the door where Finn had just left.
"...Does he really not want Liliruca to know about it?" Berling voiced out what was on everyone's mind.
"He bore through our anger and frustration," Grer continued. "And yet, he couldn't bear to even imagine his beloved Fianna knowing about his deeds."
Ryuu, who was silent up to now, finally said something. "He looks up to all of you. But even so, there's someone he looks up to, even more, you realize. It's Lady Liliruca here. I can't say I agree with his cowardice in front of her, but I can certainly understand. Lady Liliruca, please come to the Stardust Garden tomorrow, preferably after your jaunt in the Dungeon. I think you deserve to know everything from an observer's perspective, and it also concerns what I wanted to talk to you about too."
"I can go with her," Ais entered the conversation.
"Thank you, Milady. Are you interested, Lady Liliruca?"
Lili sighed. "I can guess what happened after I died from his slip of the tongue. It's foolish. Even so, I can't form any definite opinion before I know the full story."
She then nodded toward Ryuu.
"Very well, I shall come tomorrow."
And so the night passed without any more interruption. The merry atmosphere even made her smile several times. All in all, it was nice meeting others in similar circumstances like her, despite Finn ditching the meeting he orchestrated for her sake.