Waiting in the queue at the Haffy bar, the three young girls simultaneously turned their heads towards Noah.
He looked quite handsome and charming with a smile on his face, which made all three halt for an instant.
As if realizing his mistake, he immediately apologized, but a wide grin remained on his face.
The one who had been complaining about the prices soon replied:
"That's not how it works, laughing at someone in public, can't just shake it off with a casual apology."
Although she said that, the girl's mouth was also slowly curving upwards.
She was clearly joking.
Seeing it, one of her friends smiled, while Amy couldn't quite catch the strange mood beneath those words.
Noah kept his composed smile.
"How about I treat you to something then?"
The casual mention stunned the young girl.
She certainly needed a little financial help, but she wasn't shameless.
Also, a random dude allowing others to take advantage of him, something was fishy…
"Why would you do that?"
She questioned.
His mind functioned on its own as he replied:
"A lonely young man like me, having three beautiful faces to feast my eyes on, what more can I ask for?"
With a single phrase, all three of them blushed.
Amy seemed flustered by the remark, but the other two found it extremely cringe.
While cursing his damn mouth, Noah once again chuckled to play it off as a joke.
The gears in his brain were turning as fast as possible to cover up his mistake.
Luckily, his decent brain allowed him to make a quick excuse.
"Look at you taking my words seriously…
The whole place's almost full, they'll probably tell me off if I ask to get on the terrace, but they might let us up if we're a table of four."
Still a bit caught up in the previous comment, Amy nodded in agreement.
That did sound like something they'd do.
But her two friends didn't seem to think the same.
"It's useless, we've already asked, the terrace's filled to the brim, you can wait for your spot if you want."
"Yeah, the prices are already absurd, I'm not gonna wait for a place to sit."
Noah smiled as he glanced behind them, where the light signal beside the elevator had lit up.
"Well, it seems we're blessed by good luck today."
With a ding, the elevator opened, and five people came out.
One was a waitress, but the other four were clients.
This caught the girls' eyes, but by the time they turned back towards Noah, he had already disappeared.
In the blink of an eye, he now stood beside the elevator's entrance, approaching the staff with a calm expression and a relaxed stance.
"That damn… he went for the spot before we could even move."
The most talkative of the group immediately complained.
While the others stood silent with a bit of regret.
Had they acted faster, maybe the only free spot left in the terrace would be theirs.
But in a casual movement, they saw him pointing towards the three of them, prompting a nod from the employee.
Then, he gestured as if to call them over before making his way towards the elevator.
It was clear what he meant: the offer was still on.
Amy was dazed while the other two looked her way, unsure about what to do.
She was the one who had interacted with the most people of the three.
Although her emotional intelligence wasn't particularly high, she knew what to do and what not to do.
So, with a sign of approval, all three of them moved in unison towards Noah.
As they did, the one who had made the decision told them in a low voice:
"Don't worry about it, this time it's on me, I'll also take the occasion to repay him for sharing a table on the rooftop."
A minute or so later, they were accompanied by a waiter to one of the best spots on the rooftop terrace.
The only empty spot just happened to be really nice.
'Quite lucky indeed.'
He smiled inwardly.
The low wooden sofas with white cushions surrounded a low table made out of darker wood.
The hot summer sun shining on the rooftop was shielded by the grey, elegant tents tied to a few poles scattered through the terrace.
A nice breeze caressed their cheeks, making the four's hair flutter gently but freely.
The building was probably a dozen stories tall, standing over fifty meters.
It wasn't the city's tallest for sure, but it stood out amongst the surroundings' ones, making for a wonderful view of the skyline just a few kilometers away.
Noah glanced at it intensely.
It bore stark differences compared to what he had seen at night upon his arrival.
The Skyscrapers covered in shimmering lights that made up the glowing urban forest had become huge pillars of concrete and glass instead.
They were still beautiful and incomparable to what he had seen till now, but they were certainly different from yesterday's impression.
The other three, feeling the refreshing touch of the wind and looking at the magnificent city, had their eyes light up, and their mood loosen up.
The waiter's greeting brought the guests back to reality.
"Good morning, do you already know what I can get for you, or should I leave you to the menus for a few minutes?"
With a nod from the three, Noah began to order, and the girls soon followed.
They had ordered quite a few things.
Four pastries and a couple of sweet drinks.
What would've cost twenty or thirty dollars in any other place would probably cost twice as much there.
Since he had offered to pay, it was time to earn his meal's worth.
Fixing his posture, Noah looked at Amy, who sat in front of him, then turned to the others.
Their eyes were fixed on him.
"I forgot to introduce myself.
My name's Noah."
"You have told a casual lie, calculating character relevance… calculating character involvement… calculating lie's weight."
"Congratulations!
You have earned a total of 13,65$."
"Congratulations!
You have earned a total of 8,83$."
"Congratulations!
You have earned a total of 7,99$."
"Host's current name: Noah-...
Host's current balance: 28,37$
Today's casual lies count: 9
Main lies progression: none.
Lie to named characters or higher to trigger main lies."
The girl sitting opposite him was the first to reply.
"I'm Amy."
Then it was the one who complained about the food, sitting beside him.
She had chestnut hair and green eyes.
She wore a simple but nice summer outfit.
"My name's Leah"
And at last, the one who sat beside Amy and had taken her side earlier:
She had black hair and a similar appearance to Amy, just more mature.
Dressed in stylish clothes and wearing a nice pair of earrings, she introduced:
"Nice to meet you, I'm Emilia."
Noah felt a wave of relief.
Lying to these three had earned him quite a bit, but more importantly, while two of them now bore a system label telling him they wouldn't be useful anymore, one of them didn't.
In front of him, Amy had a sign on her head, floating above her black hair.
Of course, it was only visible to him.
It read:
"Available lies remaining: 2"
Finally, he had found someone like Sophia, who could be lied to more than once.
The two blonde, good-looking siblings from the previous night were the same, but they had run off without much interaction.
He had taken the risk of offering the three girls something to eat exactly because of this.
They were quite beautiful, and they went to college, which meant their financial situation probably wouldn't be too bad.
Sophia, like the blonde siblings, could handle a total of five lies, while Amy could only handle three.
This meant people were categorized in different ranks.
Normal people, to whom only one lie could be told.
The most common, most people in the world probably belong to this category.
And then special ones, who could earn him a lot more money.
If he ever found someone who could handle fifty, maybe a hundred lies… wouldn't he be set for life?
Hope raged inside him.
But while his mind was in turmoil, his appearance remained flawless.
Leah and Emilia had left to wash their hands, meaning only he and Amy remained at the table.
To avoid the atmosphere turning awkward, Noah looked at the city as he kept the conversation going:
"You know, back in the country I grew up in, you couldn't fight a sight like this anywhere, no matter how much you paid.
It's so much easier here in America: pay fifty dollars for a cake, and you can enjoy the skyline without distractions."
Amy was a bit surprised:
"You're not from around here?"
"Why? Something gave the impression of me being American?"
"Well, you're young for being alone in a foreign country.
Are you here to study?"
" No"
"What for then?"
Noah hadn't quite found the right answer, but his mouth seemed more knowledgeable than him… since it moved flawlessly.
"I ran away from my family."
That was bullshit.
He was an orphan.
"You have told a casual lie, calculating character relevance… calculating character involvement… calculating lie's weight."
"Congratulations!
You have earned a total of 19,37$."
"Congratulations, you have told 10 casual lies in a single day.
System upgrading…"