Chapter 10 : Wednesday

He opened his eyes days later, his right hand was sore, yet he was able to move it without too much problems. Three wound marks were still present on his hand, though maybe it will disappear with time.

Lord Miach entered the room with a tray of food, giving him to eat. As Sidhe was eating he remembered something very important, asking, "Lord Miach, what day is today?"

"Today is Wednesday, do you have to do something?"

Sidhe ate in three big gulp, got up as fast as possible from the bed, then as he was leaving the home said in a higher voice than usual, "I am sorry Lord Miach, I promised to someone that I will help her with some work."

Sidhe was running as fast as he could on the stone paths of Orario, he entered the Hostess of Fertility. It was full of people, the maids were moving non-stop. She approached the one cat ears and asked, "I am sorry to disturb you, but do you know where Syr is?"

She glanced at him, then smiling, she said, "Nyas, Syr is in the back~nya, you can go there, as Syr talked about you~nya."

SIdhe entered the back, there was the kitchen, Mamma Mia was working, sweat glistened on her face, her rough arms where throwing the dough in air. Syr was preparing a basket, Sidhe approached her and said, "Hello Syr, sorry for being late, I had an accident in the dungeon."

She stopped preparing the basket, then looked from feet to head at him, she stopped for a second on his right arm, then said, "Oh my, I am very glad that you are alive Sidhe. I heard what happened to you in the dungeon," hugging him.

Sidhe wiggled, his tail swished through his new, brown robe, trying to break free from the hug. She giggled, saying, "At least you're still as lively as before. "

She took the basket in one hand, then embraced Sidhe's hand, and left the building. They walked together, looking like a couple, though of course, Sidhe only felt uncomfortable, and Syr was doing it just to make him suffr, like a witch she is.

They walked towards the Maria's orphanage, they entered Daedalus street, named after its eccentric inventor, known by the people as the other dungeon, or the labyrinth, there is this folk tale that if you enter, you can never leave again.

There are Ariadne signs that help you navigate the complex street, full of run-down houses, with multiple floors that serve as roofs for poorer people. They approached a building made from red bricks, with painted glass panes. When they got closer to the door, Sidhe found that it was an abandoned church, he wondered how it ended in this state.

Syr knocked at the heavy wooden doors, the doors creaked, and from there appeared a middle-aged woman, thin, mature looking, that had a peaceful expresion, she said, "Good afternoon, Syr, the children will be very glad to see you back," she then glanced at Sidhe, saying, "Dear Syr, who is this person? A helper?"

Syr, was fiddling with her hair, with a tinge of red present on her face, she responded, "He is one of my dear friends, and a helper, he personally offered to come and help me."

The woman smiled, looking at Syr with a weird expression, that SIdhe couldn't decrypt what it meant. They entered the church.

It was pristine, the children were playing with different toys, some had swords, others were building from wooden blocks.

They all left any occupation they had and came jumping on Syr, who grinning herself took all of them in her embrace. One by one she kissed on forehead, saying good natured words, giving them sweets and telling them stories.

Sidhe was perplexed, he didn't know that she liked children, Syr took him by hand, and said, "Let's go and play with the children, don't stay there just watching us, where is the fun in that?"

He wanted to rebut that they had different definition for fun, but the blunder that he did was still in his mind, he joined them in building castles from wooden forms, playing hide and seek in the church, and singing lullabies to the drowsy kids.

The children were sleeping, Maria prepared for both of them a cup of coffee. Sidhe sipping observed how Syr was chatting with Maria. She had a genuine expression of happiness, something he couldn't say he saw that present on her face, in the contradiction with her always sunny personality.

Maria ate a biscuit, brought by Syr, then said, "I am really thankful for your help Syr, I don't know how I could deal with the children otherwise, it's hard to get enough money and food to take care of all of them, I try my best, yet it's my nightmare fuel the day I will not have enough food for them, looking at their hungry eyes, hearing their growling stomachs," a tear trickled from her eye, then continued, "I appreciate everything you did for us."

Syr beamed, blushing at the complements, she said, "I just want to help, Lady Maria. You don't need to worry about money or food, I will make sure you have enough."

They left the orphanage, while the kids were still sleeping, he wanted to go back to the Hostess of Fertility, then go to his home and read, or maybe just nap, he would decide later.

His dreams were yanked, as he was yanked by hand. Syr forced him to Babel tower, saying, "You need a new weapon, don't dare you complain, I know that you lost your saber."

Sidhe blinked a few times, saying, "How did you know?"

Syr pointed at his robe, saying, "It's clear that the saber is missing from the belt."

He looked with a shocked expression at his robe, in his honest opinion he couldn't agree, but he didn't put too much thought how his weapons look hidden in his robes.

They reached Babel tower, Sidhe was feeling the incoming burn to his savings, he could feel in his heart. They got up using a magic elevator, it was a platform fueled by magic crystal, a wonder of the modern age they were in.

He discovered there was an exchange place here, yet it was always full of people waiting for it. It was better to use another one, you will spend less time.

They approached a Hephaestus shop, it was one of those who sold beginner stuff, it was of variable quality, some was good, some was even amazing, then most of the times it was just garbage.

He should admit that even in garbage tier, or what Hephaestus considered garbage, for him and many other adventurers will be great stuff. He rummaged together with Syr in different boxes for weapons, in the end, she found a saber with dark red hilt and sheath, with tin decorative elements.

His tail was swishing, eyes sparkling. Then he saw the price, his blood left his body, his heart stopped beating, he couldn't believe his eyes, it cost around eight thousand valis, he had that amount of money; he shook his head, removing his glued eyes from that saber.

The next saber that caught his eye was simple in design, only a dark brown hilt, and nothing out of the ordinary sheath, the blade was shinning though, it was sharp. He admired the blade, then he with a trepidation, looked at the price. It was possible to buy, only six thousand valis.

Syr was chuckling seeing his childlike wonder for a saber, it had the Hephaestus logo on the sheath, and the name of the creator on a hidden location, hard to find and read, "Alazan Yer"

He remembered the name as he liked the build of the saber, and the delicate work on the blade.

He parted with Syr at the Hostess of Fertility, leaving for his home, there he prepared his backpack for dungeoning, left to go fight.

His muscles were sore, his bones still hurt in places, the right arm had a dull sting every time he move it; he wanted to fight, he felt like a caged animal in his sickness, as much as he hated the dungeon, he loved the thrill of fight, the highs it can lead you as you are one away from death.

Death is your only true companion as an adventurer, first the monsters die, then your companions and in the end, you.

He descended to the fourth floor, a group of eight goblins were marching through the halls. Weird, this rarely happens on the upper floors. He crawled through the shadows and hard to see places. Then struck.

Two goblins left their heads on the grounds, the rest were in a state of confusion and Sidhe started fighting them, he jumped in air, twisting himself like he was dancing to evade the attacks.

One slash and another goblin died, one who was the closest to him tried to jump on his back, he bended down as the goblin face planted on the ground, he cut its spine in two.

Four remained, they tried to corner Sidhe, attacks came from every direction, yet, now he was prepared for these kinds of attacks, that war shadow taught him much on the art of combat.

He dodged the attacks he could, stopped the attacks he needed, and countered only when it was necessary, one goblin had a weak defence, Sidhe saw throught it and cut that goblin down.

The goblins lost their plan, Sidhe cut one down at the waist. Two remained, they leaped together at Sidhe, who taking a low stance struck them down in one attack, the blade passed through them like hot butter.

Sidhe collected the magical crystals and prowled more. After long minutes of exploring the winding paths, the smooth halls, discerning the monsters voices from the cries of battle, he found his next target.

A band of kobolds, they were five, and he was one, yet he was confident in his winning chances. He approached one as most as he could, and plunged his dagger into the creature's back, then swung his saber at the nearest kobold, killing it on the spot too.

Three remained, they couldn't deal with Sidhe, one howled, trying to gather more kobolds, the remaining two bought time by doing suicide attacks, vicious in their slashes and bites.

Sidhe back stepped as those two kobolds didn't care at all for their lives, they had cuts on stomach and face, he couldn't land a decisive blow, and now, his confidence will bite him in the ass, as five more kobolds appeared, cornering him like a rat.

He gripped his sabed and jumped in air, the kobolds prepared to catch him when he will fall to the ground. Sidhe swiped with his saber and cut two of them down.

One more attack one lost its leg, then its head.

Five remained, two heavily injured and three in good shape, those two were behind, he baited one attack from the healthy monsters, then ran through their ranks to reach for those who were on the verge of death.

He slashed with saber and two bodies fell, parted in two.

The remaining three turned their back to just see their kin being killed. They leaped at him with weapons in hand, one, two, three, the attacks were coming.

With elegance, Sidhe parried and evaded any threatening attack, he was content with how much he has grown, if this how much was visible after a fight with a war shadow, he wondered what awaited him down in the lower floors.

One attack passed by his eyes, he took his dagger and cut that kobold's throat, the other two tried to resist for more, for naught, as they too fell to Sidhe's saber, ending with their head cut and magical crystals taken.

Sidhe continued his dungeoning, liking his progress.