11 Chapter 11 - Getting the church fixed

"Awwoooo!" "Grrrrrr"

Laurens stood in front of a group of 7 Blood Wolves that seemed to be eager to feast on his flesh yet he merely stood there, waiting for them to attack.

When the Blood Wolves finally were close enough and opened their mouths, Laurens finally moved and put his hand on the sword sheath.

As one of the Blood Wolves entered his range, his hand moved and before the Blood Wolves could even react, Laurens already held the sword at the opposite side of his sword sheath and cut into 3 Blood Wolves in the process.

One of the Blood Wolves swiped its claw at Laurens' stomach but before it even had the chance to come close, its body was vertically cut into from above.

The last 3 Blood Wolves ran at Laurens without a fear of death and attacked Laurens in sync but without giving them a chance to resist, Laurens dashed to their side and cut through their skin like it was tofu.

"So my speed is faster than Blood Wolves now? Anyway, this weapon.... It feels like it's an extension of my body, why did the old man seem to fear it so much?" Laurens held the sword with a smile and walked towards the Blood Wolf and put his sword into its head.

Suddenly, a pain shot through Laurens' body, although not much, he still felt pain.... Before Laurens could think of what was happening, he felt that, although he was suffering, it made his body stronger as if Vitality increased.

'It actually increases Vitality by absorbing the Magic Stones?' Laurens looked at the corpse that slowly turned into light particles and went into the sword.

*Ting*

A brightly shining Magic Stone that belonged to the Blood Wolf dropped onto the floor, Laurens just looked at the sword and then at the Magic Stone in confusion before an evil smile appeared on his face.

"I thought I would have to kiss my money goodbye but it seems that not only will I keep earning loads, I will earn even more due to the efficiency" Laurens laughed as he did the same thing to the other Monsters.

Just like the first one, all the Magic Stone's dropped onto the floor after the Corpse disappeared which made his looting time last 30 seconds instead of 3 minutes!

Although he didn't know how it worked since Monster Decay was a common topic yet still so mysterious, it didn't matter since it could benefit him a huge amount.

He had been considering how to train his Vitality efficiently since he wasn't going to Level up to Level 2 if he didn't get all stats maxed.

'This floor is perfect for me to grind on for a while though' Laurens smiled as he looked around, the 10th Floor was the floor that was covered in mist.

With his [Heaven's Sense], this place was like a perfect grinding spot.

*ROAAAAR*

An angry roar sounded from the mist and Laurens instantly locked onto the being that roared, it was way into the distance, but his vision had only been slightly affected so he could still see that far.

A huge green pig-headed monster with a cloth covering its groin and a huge club in its arm, what was funny was that the pig-headed monster was the same size as him if he released his Divinity.

'It's merely releasing a war cry?'

Laurens noticed the Orc sniffing around and realized that it might have smelled the blood from the Blood Wolves.

As Laurens approached the Orc, it was obvious it smelled the blood on Laurens and ran towards Laurens which caused the ground to tremble each step it took.

Laurens accelerated and before long, Laurens came into the Orc's vision.

*Huuuurrr*

The Orc saw Laurens and tried to intimidate him, which was quite smart considering it was the first Monster that was bigger than a human inside the Dungeon so people might feel pressured.

However, to Laurens, it was just a bigger target.

The Orc lifted its huge club and swung towards Laurens, as it swung downwards, you could hear a gust of wind that clearly signified how powerful the swing actually was.

'However, it's slow....' Laurens jumped to the side and avoided the heavy club.

*BOOM*

The ground shook as the club hit the ground and a bunch of dirt and small rocks flew all around, if someone had a bad center of gravity, they would've fallen onto the ground.

Laurens didn't waste a moment and dashed towards the Orc's side before cutting its side.

*ROOAAR*

A waterfall of blood left the Orc's side as it angrily lifted its club and disregarded its injuries to swing once more towards its side, but Laurens had already left its side and appeared behind it and jumped towards up.

As the Orc hit the air, lifted the club and turned as it tried to turn its head to look behind it, a motion it would never complete.

Laurens swung his sword and separated its head from its body.

Its body slowly fell forward, a heavy sound was created when its body fell onto ground which clearly showed how heavy its body was.

Laurens put his sword into the Orc's body and the same thing happened as what happened with the Blood Wolves, its body slowly turned into light particles.

The pain he felt this time actually hurt somewhat, it felt as if worms were crawling under his skin for a few seconds.

The sword seemed to be a very sadistic one, it would train the users body by torturing it....

Laurens had tried to inspect the sword a bit, but the only thing he found different about it was that it had veins that wouldn't be visible without Divinity.

It was safe to say that this sword was created by Hephaestus, which in itself was worth way more than the original price of the sword.

"One Orc is the same as around 30 Blood Wolves huh" Laurens grinned and picked up the Orc's Crystal, it was the same size as the Blood Wolves yet the mana circulating inside of it was atleast a few times brighter.

A Blood Wolves Magic Stone was worth 2.500 Valis whereas an Orc's Magic Stone was worth 11.750 Valis, the difference was obvious just by looking at them let alone their use in crafting.

Laurens smiled and went further into the 10th Floor, throughout the day, he had been killing a huge number of different creatures like Imps, Orcs and Bats.

Out of all the creatures, Orcs gave the most pain when the sword absorbed it while bats and imps were quite lackluster.

Laurens left the Dungeon after filling his back with Magic Stones, he was curious as to how much his Vitality grew.

***

"I would like to sell these" Laurens stood at the counter inside the Guild and said to the person behind the counter.

Sadly, Rose wasn't there which was quite disappointing, but he already knew she didn't just stay here all day when she worked.

"Do you want to have it in Coins or in Gnome Crystals?" The woman behind the counter asked with a smile on her face.

Laurens couldn't remember her from the Anime, so he just put it to the back of his head and answered, "Coins"

The woman did the quick calculations and wrote down the prices for the Magic Stones, there weren't any drops this time because only Orcs tended to drop Orc Hide but they weren't worth the trouble for Laurens to take with him since they were big and worth less than the Magic Stone itself.

"Here you go" The woman smiled and handed Laurens the paper

-------------

251 Tenth Floor Bad Bat Magic Stones worth 194.525 Valis (775 Valis each)

109 Tenth Floor Blood Wolf Magic Stones worth 272.500 Valis (2.500 Valis each)

77 Tenth Floor Imp Magic Stones worth 404.500 Valis (5.250 Valis each)

62 Tenth Floor Orc Magic Stone worth 728.500 Valis (11.750 Valis each)

= Total =

1.600.025 Valis

-------------

"Seems fine to me, thanks" Laurens smiled before putting the coins into his now empty pouch, as he turned around though, he noticed Bell standing there with Eina who looked like she was giving him a scolding.

Laurens just shrugged and guessed because she thought he was being either reckless or stupid again, as he walked towards them, he could already see why it was when he saw the person standing next to him was.

Lili, or her real name, Ririruka Aade....

"I told you to keep calm but instead of that you went ahead and picked a fight with other adventurers!" Eina said with a sigh.

"B..but still, look at how they were treating her! I can't help but do something!" Bell argued while looking down at the ground.

"You.... *Sigh* fine.... Anyway, be more careful from now on" Eina said with a bitter smile.

"What's with the long faces? Did someone die or something?" Laurens interrupted which made the three of them look towards Laurens.

"Laurens!" Bell said excitedly while Eina merely smiled and said hello with a smile on her face.

However, Lili's eyes shone as she heard the coins in Laurens' pouch.

"Did you listen to Rose?" Eina suddenly asked while squinting her eyes, it seemed that Rose had asked her to keep an eye on him.

"No blood this time" Laurens smiled and sat next to Eina and asked, "So what are we talking about?"

"Well, I wanted to complain about how he ended up on the 5th floor already, but it seems that I can't with you around" Eina said with a bitter smile.

"Ah, I see. I will leave then so enjoy scolding the brat" Laurens grinned.

"Ah no! It's fine, don't worry about it. I just hope he finally learned something" Eina said with a helpless expression.

"But I didn-" Bell wanted to make an excuse.

"You shut up!" Eina angrily interrupted, it was clear that she wanted to help Bell but was frustrated with his hero-nature....

"Y..yes ma'm"

"Anyway, I need Bell for something.... Do you mind if I take him with me?" Laurens asked.

"No, we're done here but please take it easy aswell. You never know when something unexpected might happens" Eina said and showed a face that showed how many times she had gotten news of an adventurer's deaths.

"Don't be so serious! I will take care of myself" Laurens grinned and patted Eina's head with a grin on his face.

Eina's face turned red and looked towards the ground, she gave him the feeling of a caring sister by disregarding herself instead.

"Anyway Bell and.... your friend? Come with me, I need your help with carrying furniture, see you later Eina" Laurens smiled at Eina who waved goodbye with a blush on her face.

Laurens, Bell and Lili left the Guild building and they followed Laurens through a few streets and arrived at a huge furniture shop.

Laurens casually walked inside whereas Bell and Lili looked a bit awkward coming into such a big shop, especially since the first few price tags were over 10.000 Valis!

"L...laurens, what are we doing here?" Bell asked with a nervous expression.

"The furniture inside the Church is old and broken, we might have aswell buy new ones" Laurens smiled and led them further inside, Lili just silently followed the two as she looked at the pouch on Laurens' waist.

A fat and bald man with jewelry and a warm smile on his face walked towards Laurens and his group.

"How can I help you Sir?" The man asked in a polite tone.

"One 2-person bed, A single 1 person bed, a couch, four cabinets for next to the bed, two wardrobes, an L-shaped couch, a round dining table that is made for small rooms, everything for a kitchen including cubs and plates to a stove, paint, a team of workers that will help me fix a building, gardeners...." As Laurens kept talking, the man was writing everything down on a paper he got from who-knows-where and his eyes kept shining brighter.

On the other hand, Bell and Lili started sweating bullets, the sheer cost of the workers would be more than the money they ever had!

Laurens kept naming stuff for another 5 minutes before the Laurens was finally done, even the man was sweating his ass off at this point, he had 7 papers that were the same as Earth's A4 paper in his hands while a worker helped him with the ordering of all the items on the side.

"W...was that all, sir?" The man said with a bright smile, this was his biggest deal in the last month!

"Yes, do you have designs of the items I named? I would like to pick them myself" Laurens said with a calm smile on his face.

"Sure! Come with me" The man and Laurens spent the next 2 hours walking through the store, followed by Bell and Lili, sometimes the man even walked to another store to show him some items there.

It seems that the man and the owners of the other stores had a friendly relationship so he would probably receive a % of the profit or something along those lines.

***

"Sir, including what you showed us what the workers needed to do and the gardeners had to create in that place would cost quite a sum. I hope you understand but that isn't a small job, the rubble around the church has to be removed, the infrastructure of the building has to be modified and the time it will take is atleast a few weeks" The man said after writing the total cost down.

--------------

1x Vaniichi 2-person bed – 19.924 Valis

1x Liratta 1-person bed – 14.992 Valis

4x Sursa cabinets – 32.120 Valis

1x Elvenheim Dinner Table – 51.322 Valis

6x Sharatta chair – 42.000

….

…

..

Total cost workers inc. Workers – 629.031

Total cost gardeners inc. Workers – 87.230

=Total Cost=

1.102.175 Valis

-------

"Holy....." Bell looked at the price and nearly fainted, as for Lily, she couldn't help but gulp at the thought of so much money.

"Here, can you send some people to help us carry stuff? I don't feel like walking twice" Laurens pulled open his pouch and put the money on the counter without much thought, what was he going to do with the money otherwise, bury it with him?

"Sure! You don't have to pay for it, take it as a gift for the huge purchase" The man smiled widely and ordered a few workers to help Laurens carry the stuff with a wagon.

"Laurens, was this really, okay?" Bell asked with a concerned expression, he didn't expect Laurens to have that much money and neither did he expect to spent it so easily, it kind of scared him.

"Don't worry about it, anyway, show me your weapon" Laurens said and held his hand out, Bell didn't show much concern and just gave it to Laurens who unsheathed it in his palm.

Although it was quite new, its quality was not up to par, even his old sword was better.

Laurens sighed and grabbed his pouch, he grabbed 30 Gold Coins (300.000 Valis) and gave it to him.

"What are you doing?" Bell asked with a confused expression.

"Get a new weapon, your growth will get faster that way" Laurens said as he kept looking forward towards the empty streets, it was already starting to get dark and was considering what to go and eat.

"I...i can't accept that! I'm sorry but I really can't" Bell said and waved his hands in front of him as if he was scared.

Laurens started getting a headache and turned towards Bell and asked,

"Listen Bell, your dream is to become a hero right?"

"Yes! It has always been my dream since young!" Bell said with a determined glint.

"Good, what if someone wanted to kill Ais or Hestia? What would you do?" Laurens asked straight-forwardly.

"Fight them! I would fight them with all I have!" Bell said with a determined yet confused expression, not knowing what Laurens wanted to achieve with this question.

"Naive" Laurens said coldly which shocked not only Bell but also Lili who thought it was a good answer, Laurens continued talking,

"What if they came back after you fought them? Since they can't beat you, they might go after your family, friends, lover.... In my opinion it would be best to slaughter until none remain, I'd rather be seen as the Devil himself as than a person who couldn't protect their loved ones." Laurens said coldly, however, despite being extremely naïve, it seemed as if Bell picked something up from Laurens' expression and kept silent.

"Take the money, just keep doing what you like, let me take care of the dirty work" Laurens smiled for the first time at Bell, although a bitter one, it was still a smile.

Bell looked at the coins and grabbed them tightly, although it wasn't a lot, it felt like they atleast grew a little closer as Familia Members.

Laurens saw a bit of himself in Bell, which he hated and unintentionally released a bit sometimes, when he was on Earth, he was the same as Bell.

He was naïve, wanting to protect his country at all costs but when push came to shove, his comrades died one after another, new ones replaced them and they once again died and got replaced.

People that he drunk with, laughed with, cried with, ate with, woke up with, died in his arms and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it.

In the end, he tried to shoulder everything himself, in which he failed miserably and was saved yet also killed by Iris, he never once blamed her.

She got him to warm up despite the buried feelings and cold-blooded nature, from such a person, she made him a happy-go-lucky person that would smile at the most insignificant thing which still made him sometimes doubt reality.

As the three of them walked home, followed by 3 full carts of furniture, they arrived at the broken-down church where Hestia sat on the staircase with her head in her hands, clearly waiting for them.

Hestia suddenly looked at them and happily jumped up while waving and jumping around.

Laurens and Bell looked at each other and laughed before waving back, Lili was still following them for some reason and Laurens thought she would've long since disappeared but....

"Laurens! Bell-Kun!" Hestia exclaimed with a bright smile on her face but soon changed into a weird expression as she saw the carts following them.

"What is this about?" Hestia asked in confusion while watching the carts full of what seemed to be luxury items.

"I wanted to rebuild the building, do you hate the idea?" Laurens asked with a concerned look, although he knew she didn't have any attachment to this building, doing this as a surprise might be too much for her.

Hestia looked doubtfully at the carts before seeing a big bed being pulled on a big cart, Hestia's twin tails jumped up and her eyes started shining before she happily jumped onto Laurens.

''A bed! A comfortable bed!" Hestia hugged her legs around Laurens' chest and hugged his head with her arms.

The Loli Goddess didn't even realize her boobs were resting on his head while he held her thighs so she didn't fall.

"So you don't mind?" Laurens asked with a relieved smile.

"Are you crazy? Ofcourse not! But how did you get the money? This stuff doesn't look cheap" Hestia said with her head tilted to the side.

"Hunting ofcourse" Laurens grinned and made a peace sign and turned towards the workers, "You can leave it in front of here, thanks!"

Laurens grabbed into his pouch and threw them all a Gold Coin, the workers looked at the coin with a happy smile and bowed before off-loading the stuff.

Meanwhile, Bell just realized Laurens had thrown more money to the workers than he had earned today..... Maybe it was really time for a new weapon.

"Goddess, can I throw the stuff inside out? Or is there anything you would want to keep?" Laurens asked and Hestia shook her head, she didn't have much despite an extra set of clothes, a jacket and an extra pair of slippers.

"In that case, let's get started" Laurens grinned and the three of them got busy, Bell didn't notice that Lily had long since disappeared when they waved towards the Goddess but he saw that the little runt was slowly sneaking away.

[A/N: Chapter is around 4k words again, but I couldn't resist.... Anyway, since I like adding pictures and made them refurbish the basement.....I used paint to show how I meant it to look like, don't expect too much, my Adobe didn't work and Paint is a pain.... xd]