17 Chapter Seventeen

I had no idea why the little elf was glaring at the back of my head so much.

"I see, so you can make them on bigger bags as long as they have some sort of solid material connected to it from the inside or outside if I get that right."

I nodded to Riveria as we walked, ignoring the glare from the female elf at my back.

"And how long does making one that big take?"

Finn asked curiously, his spear back in his hand. I hum thoughtfully, seemingly calculating while pondering on how much bullshit I could feed them.

"An hour or two, depends on how big you want them on the inside, or if you want any other function on the bags."

I shrug and Finn nodded in understanding as he put his hand on his chin in thought.

"Mystery ability is really fascinating..."

And that, right there, really made lying easy, I didn't even have to think of anything, they just provided me with ammunition. I had no idea what the Mystery ability did, but apparently, it could do something similar to enchanting.

"Say, why don't we make a deal?"

The blonde Pallum smiled at me and I raised an eyebrow to indicate curiosity.

"We will compensate you for any bags with bigger storage you make, while we provide the materials for you."

I tilted my head to the side, that was the minimum I could get, I needed support of some kind, and finances were not something I would need right now, since I had arguably the best dagger that was ever made from a god of forging.

"That is a good offer, Finn, however, I will be put at great risk if I agree to that."

I shook my head and got a raised eyebrow from him and a curious head tilt.

"What do you mean?"

I sighed, rubbing the back of my head and putting on a slight frown.

"If other gods find out that I can make bags bigger on the inside, and give them other attributes, it won't take long before they come after me, and I'm the only member of my Familia right now, you see the picture, right?"

Finn nodded with an understanding expression and took on a thinking pose as we walked.

"That makes sense, we could for an alliance, however, it would offer you protection from almost all of the families, but we would need something more than just bigger backpacks..."

His blue eyes turned to me, the same curiosity in his eyes.

"Can you make anything else with that Mystery ability of yours?"

I nodded and took out the dagger that Welf made me.

"I can, if your members have elemental magic, I can make their weapons enhance the spells..."

His eyes practically lit up as I offered that. I wasn't even offering anything that spectacular, just enhancing already existing spells was easy. Easier than giving a whole new attribute to the weapon.

Finn smiled and offered me a hand.

"Well then, let's shake on it, for now, we can write up a contract after we return to the surface."

This was what I was aiming for. Money wasn't an issue, I could ask welf to set up a meeting with his goddess, or ask Hestia to set up the same meeting and I could offer drop items to exchange exclusively with her Familia.

Maybe I could pay off the debt that Hestia put us in.

I reached out and shook his hand, nodding in agreement. The eighteenth floor wasn't the place I expected to make a deal like this, but beggars can't be choosers.

"The city feels weird, doesn't it?"

Tione, Tionas sister muttered, looking around the wooden buildings cautiously. My ears picked up on it either way but I didn't mention anything since I did not know how the city was in the first place.

"Indeed, The town feels a bit off in some way."

Riveria nodded in agreement and I hummed absently, looking around as the door opened in front of us a bulky man wearing a jacket with sleeves ripped off and an eyepatch walked out, looking annoyed.

Finn walked forward to strike up a conversation with him since it seemed like the Pallum knew the man.

My senses flared in warning, someone was watching us, and it was not the same gaze as the one that was coming from Syr sometimes.

I waited until Finn finished the conversation about someone getting murdered in an inn and the group started walking again. I took the chance to speak when the man walked a bit away with a low voice.

"Don't look now, but someone is watching us from our left, up on the cliff, near the large boulder."

Nobody reacted except for the orange-haired elf who froze for a moment before catching up to us again in a few seconds.

"Are you sure, Bell?"

Finn spoke in the same manner, not even looking at me. I nodded and Finn remained silent with the rest of the group.

"Can you see what they look like?"

I hummed and made a show of looking around, my mana traveling to my eyes and my gaze passing over the person who was watching us.

"Red scarf, fully clad in black armor, the helmet seems to be cracked, and they have a longsword on the back of their waist."

Finn remained silent for a moment, not acknowledging what I said as I returned to looking at the road ahead, still following the guy.

"Ignore them for now, we don't know their intentions, they could be anyone."

I shrug internally, he could be right, but something was telling me that it was not a coincidance at all.