Wait…
Leo watched as Rosh's eyes suddenly lit up, and a strong sense of foreboding immediately rose in his chest.
At the side, Sharan's words perfectly confirmed his suspicion.
"Oh, if that's the case, then I'm relieved."
Sharan looked as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.
"Although the Mage Guild's funding is quite sufficient, the budget allocated to food isn't very high. If this child kept eating and drinking at the cafeteria for free, it wouldn't take long before the guild would have to make mages pay for their own meals. After all, this kid alone eats up half of the guild's food budget."
She pinched Rosh's cheek, her face full of helplessness.
…Half the budget?
Leo felt that if he were holding a cigarette right now, it would have dropped straight to the floor. There was no doubt about it—this information was way too shocking.
"Hehe…"
Rosh scratched her cheek a little embarrassedly, but her expression didn't look forced at all.
"It's mainly because I was starving for too long before. Actually, my appetite isn't that big."
"..."
Leo was still half-skeptical.
"Are you sure? Or is it just that the guild's food budget isn't very high?"
"Well, it's true that it's not very high, but what I said is also true… alright, fine, in a sense it was a joke. What, are you regretting it now? And it's not like I recommended Rosh to you without reason. This child is very strong in spellcasting, so she can help you a bit on your path of learning magic. I wasn't trying to trick you."
Sharan chuckled softly.
"I understand."
Leo nodded, then turned to look at Rosh.
"Then please take care of me during this period."
Leo extended his hand toward Rosh. Rosh, however, very politely bowed to him first, then walked up and shook his hand, her manners impeccable.
"Please take care of me!"
Isn't this extremely polite?
Leo felt a bit strange. In games and various fan works, mages always seemed rather rude—more accurately, childish.
But this was clearly a very polite child.
"Then let's go eat something first."
Leo's words made Rosh's eyes light up. She bowed to him again, her fiery red twin ponytails swaying back and forth, looking quite pretty.
Unfortunately, her twin ponytails weren't tied very nicely, and her figure was a bit small and thin. If she grew a bit more, Leo might have ended up having some strange thoughts.
But right now, Leo had absolutely none of those worldly desires.
"Mm, thank you, Brother Leo!"
Hearing her call him "brother," Leo once again felt that he probably hadn't been tricked after all. He said goodbye to Sharan and led Rosh toward the small alley beside the Mage Guild, planning to take her to a decent restaurant to eat.
However, just as Leo was about to take Rosh into a restaurant that looked rather expensive, Rosh suddenly tugged at his clothes before he stepped inside.
When Leo looked at her curiously, she spoke a bit embarrassedly.
"Um, Brother Leo, let's forget about this place. The food here is really expensive. I don't want you to spend too much money on me, and I know a place where the food is really good and also very cheap!"
Her eyes were filled with anticipation and worry. Given Leo's recent period of high-intensity breeding, combined with certain things in his genes, he had absolutely no resistance to that kind of gaze. He subconsciously stopped, smiled, and rubbed Rosh's red hair.
Only then did he truly understand why stories about doting dads and little sisters had such a market.
The reason was simple: being with a pretty, cute, well-behaved, and trouble-free girl was genuinely a very pleasant experience both physically and mentally.
"It's fine. I have plenty of money."
Leo patted his wallet. With iron ingots from Seven Days to Die as a foundation, he was never short on cash.
But as soon as he said that, an awkward expression appeared on Rosh's cute little face again.
"Well, um… it's mainly that I really like that place… and also, um, my relationship with the owner here isn't very good. Before, when I ate here… I was chased out once."
Chased out?
Leo immediately looked toward the busy shop owner. The other party's expression wasn't very good when looking at Rosh. After thinking for a moment, Leo grabbed Rosh's hand, turned around, and walked out of the restaurant.
"Alright, then we'll go to the place you mentioned."
As soon as he said that, Rosh visibly let out a sigh of relief and subconsciously patted her completely flat chest.
Leo was genuinely curious.
Why was she reacting like this? After all, Sharan had said that eating up half the budget was just a joke.
But just to be safe, when they entered the small eatery Rosh mentioned and were about to order, Leo still took a look at the prices on the menu first.
"Three copper coins for a bowl of rice, and twenty copper coins for a dish? There isn't a single item that costs silver coins? That really is cheap."
Feeling his wallet—which still held dozens of gold coins—Leo's heart finally settled. He felt these funds were definitely enough for Rosh to eat her fill!
"Yes. So whenever I can't get full, I come here to eat. The owners here all really like seeing me. I just don't know why she isn't here today."
Leo didn't think too much about it and simply nodded.
"I see. Then go ahead and start ordering. You can eat as much as you want."
He really didn't believe it. A loli—a loli who didn't even reach his chest—no matter how much she could eat, there was no way she could finish off dozens of gold coins, right?
"Mm! Thank you, Brother Leo!"
Rosh politely replied again, then raised her hand toward the waiter.
"Um, please bring me three pots of rice first, and these five dishes."
Three bowls of rice and five dishes—wasn't that a lot. Why did Sharan specifically bring it up?
Leo nodded, then suddenly realized something.
Three pots of rice?
He immediately turned his head, only to see two attendants smiling as they carried over three steamers with a diameter of one meter each.
His mouth fell open as he watched them place the rice on the table. Then he gently patted Rosh's red head, wearing the same doting expression as them, and smiled as he spoke.
"Not feeling well today? Why are you eating so little? Just an appetizer?"
So little?
An appetizer?
Leo stared at the steamers—fifteen centimeters tall and one meter in diameter—silently picked up his chopsticks, then trembled as he brought them to his mouth like he was holding a cigarette.
He had underestimated two-dimensional characters.