7 Chapter 7 Becoming Full Fledged Adventurers!

It's now been around two days since Thomas fell from the sky and although his back is still quite injured he continued to learn one of this world's languages, and after about a day Lily forgave him for not telling her about his injury. The two of them are currently asleep in Lily's room, Lily of course on the bed and Thomas sleeping on the floor near the door. The dead monsters, however, are still in his storage since he was unable to take them out to turn them in due to his mana pool still being exhausted, although it has been building back up slowly. Toby is still staying at the inn and talks to Thomas every once in a while, although the conversations are usually one-sided since Thomas can still only barely speak the language and usually takes a few minutes before he can realize what was said. Toby, however, revealed that he has this thing called experience to Thomas, and that when his experience gets to a certain point he has this thing called a level that goes up and makes him stronger, he said that a goddess has given him the power and that the goddess claimed that the power has no limits and that his level can grow infinitely, he can also claim an infinite amount of different abilities. After telling Thomas about his leveling power he told him about the quest system which very occasionally rewards skills like the one Thomas received, Toby also told him that he has an ability that allows him to see levels, and although other people or monsters can't typically level up through slaying monsters it does help him access a monster or person's strength. Toby also explained that some people can increase their level through working out, and that some items can also boost a person's level. Thomas, however, didn't seem all that interested in the topic, but Toby also briefly mentioned that if he continued to use his mana pool, it would continue to grow bigger and stronger, which in turn could also affect the level of a person. Furthermore, after Thomas found out that Cali was an elf she showed him that her ears were much more pointed and admitted to being able to use some sort of magic to hide them, Thomas seemed much more interested in this however he soon lost interest after learning that she couldn't teach him how to do it.

Now then back to the story, as Jason entered the room he glanced at the both of them and asked, "How can they still be asleep? It's the afternoon already." Jason walked over to Lily first and shook her shoulder a little and said, "Wake up, it's getting late." As Lily awoke, she stared at Jason for a moment and then said, "Good morning." Soon after, Jason left the room, saying, "Be sure to wake Thomas up as well." Lily nodded while yawning and saying yes, as she got out of bed and began to walk over to him. Lily stared at him for a moment and seen how he curled up in a ball while using his tail as a pillow. She seemed interested in it and stared at his tail for a short while, and then began to wonder what it felt like. After standing there for a little over a minute, she crouched down beside him and reached out for his tail with her left hand. However, just before touching it she paused for a moment stared at his blissful face and then decided that he probably wouldn't notice if she just felt it for a moment. Finally, after another few moments of debating whether she should or shouldn't do it she began to pet his tail. While petting his tail, she seemed surprised at how soft it was and began to wonder how great it would be to use as a pillow just like him. However, as all this was going on, Thomas immediately woke up unable to move, and so he laid there with a bright red face as she continued to pet his tail. After about a minute or two, Lily laid her head down on his tail, causing Thomas to let out an odd sound, startling her and causing her to immediately back away from him. Lily's face was also red at this point as she nervously said, "I-I was just curious how your tail felt." Thomas sat up clutching his tail not facing her without saying a word but only occasionally glancing back at her with a tear in his eye. It looks as though he's trying to show that he has been betrayed.

As Lily tried to apologize with her still red face, he continued to face away from her with his red face while sulking about his tail. While this was still happening, Jason entered the room to see what all the racket was but only seen a perplexing sight. Jason stared at them both for a moment and then curiously asked, "What exactly is going on here?" Lily pointed at Thomas as she said, "I only touched his tail a little, and now he won't even face me!" Jason glanced at Thomas, who was clutching his tail with a red face as he said, "Maybe he has a sensitive tail?" As Lily tried to get closer to Thomas, he immediately scooted away. Lily froze for a moment and then glanced at Jason with tears in her eyes as she asked, "Does he hate me?" Jason flinched as he nervously said, "P-probably not… just give him a minute." After a few minutes, Jason left and Thomas's face went back to normal, and he stopped clutching his tail as tightly, and not long after he stood up and held his hand out to Lily who was still sitting on the ground looking upset. Lily stared at his hand for a moment with tears still in her eyes as she asked, "So… you don't hate me." Thomas continued to stand there in silence for a short while before nodding, after Lily grabbed his hand and he helped her up. Lily was now smiling as she said, "I'm glad that you don't hate me… since you're going to be stuck with me for a long time." Lily then rubbed the tears away as she happily asked, "What should we do today?" Thomas shrugged and yet again did not say anything. However, it seemed that Lily had already thought of something as she said, "Then what if we asked Toby to take us to do something." Lily began to lead him out of the room and down the hall as she knocked on a door and said, "He should be in this room." After waiting a few minutes the door opened and Toby asked "Hello? How may I help you?" As Toby seen Thomas and Lily, he said, "Oh… it's just you two… what brings you two here?"

Lily stared at him with a mischievous grin as she said, "Take us with you on a mission." Toby stared at her for a moment with a look of disbelief as he said, "You know the bar lady still gives me hell for letting him get hurt, right?" Lily nodded while still smiling as she said, "Yeah… but if you don't, we'll tell everyone about your secret." Toby flinched as he asked, "Am I… being black mailed by a Child?" Lily nodded as she smugly said, "Yup, and if you don't take us, you're also gonna get exposed by a child." Toby stood there looking disappointed for a moment and then saying "Fine… but only this once alright… and we're not doing anything too dangerous… otherwise that lady might kill me in my sleep." Lily immediately jumped up into the air celebrating as she heard this and then asked "So what are we gonna do?" Toby sighed as he said, "How about we go look first?" Lily nodded as she excitedly said, "Alright!" As the three of them began to walk down the stairs, Cali had already noticed them and began to walk over towards the stairs. Once they reached the bottom, Cali surprised them and said, "Your mana pool is looking a lot better… it should be fully replenished by tomorrow morning." After saying this, Cali glared at Toby and asked, "And what exactly are you doing with these two?" Toby quickly averted his gaze as he nervously shouted, "N-nothing!" Cali glanced at Thomas and Lily as she asked, "Is that true?" Lily nodded as she said, "Y-yeah, we just ran in to each other on the way down here." Cali then sighed as she said, "You're both terrible at lying." Cali glanced at Thomas as she said, "You're injured, so keep whatever it is you're doing as safe as possible." Cali glared at Toby as she said, "Understood?" Toby nodded nervously while saying, "U-understood." Toby then quickly walked off while nervously saying, "A-alright, we should get going now." Once Toby was gone, Cali stared at Lily and said, "I'm already aware that you're the one forcing him to take you two, so please stay safe, your father would be very upset with me if you two got hurt."

Lily nodded as she said, "Alright, sorry for lying." Cali slightly smiled as she said, "It's fine… now go before your father finds out." Once Thomas and Lily left to follow Toby, Cali sighed and said, "I can already tell one of them is going to come back injured." Cali glanced at them and watched as they left as she said, "They'll probably all come back in one piece, though." As Toby, Lily, and Thomas all stood outside, Toby said, "I think I'm going to throw up… why is she so scary?" Toby stared at them both as he said, "Alright… let's get going." After walking through the town for a short while, they arrived at a tavern. The tavern had about the same wooden and stone look with a few windows like every other building but with the exception of a sign that read "Adventurers welcome!" Toby stared at the sign as he nervously said, "This is the place." As they all entered, Toby mumbled, "Please let the quests be easy." Once inside the tavern, Thomas looked around and seen dozens of people eating and drinking and standing around at counters and a massive wooden board that looked quite fancy with papers sticking to it. Toby pointed at this board as he said, "That's the place to grab quests." Toby then pointed at the counter with long lines as he said, "And that is where you get your pay." Toby pointed at Thomas as he said, "Oh, I also forgot to mention, all those monsters you have stored up can be turned in there as well." Lily stared at him as she asked, "Then why did you say we should sell it to merchants?" Toby pointed at the counter as he said, "If you sell it there you'll get less because they buy it from you and then resell it to the merchants at a higher price, that's also how they keep this business functioning, but by selling it to the merchants directly you can get more, but at the same time the merchants are paying less for the same product." Thomas stared at Toby with a confused look, but Toby already figured this would happen and then said, "You get more money by selling it to a specific merchant." Thomas seemed to understand this but wasn't all that interested in it.

Toby walked over to the line as he said, "I'm going to go ask what their easiest quest is right now, you two can either look at the quest board or come with me, either is fine, but just stay out of trouble." The two of them glanced at each other for a moment and then followed Toby into the line. The line moves rather slowly but steadily, and after a few minutes they finally reached the front of the line. The women at the desks all wore a green uniform with various colors of green that varied on the sleeves the chest and the legs, it also had a small portion of white near the chest that seemed like it was there to draw a person's attention to that very spot. The lady who was with them now had slightly darker skin, long curly brown hair that ran down her back, light blue eyes, and had a few freckles on each of her cheeks. The lady smiled as she greeted them and said, "Hello, I'm Grace, how may I help you today?" Toby stared at her for a moment and then asked, "Do you have any quests for beginners?" Grace thought for a moment and then pulled out a stack of about a few thousand papers as she said, "This pile consists of our easiest quests, anything else I can help you with?" Grace stared at Lily and Thomas for a moment and then asked, "Is that a demi-human?" Toby glanced at Thomas as he nodded and nervously said, "Y-yes, why do you ask?" Grace leaned over the desk with a smile as she said, "No reason… it's just my first time seeing one." Grace thought for a moment as she asked, "Are they with you?" Toby nodded as he said, "More or less." Grace stared at the two of them for another moment as she asked, "Will they be signing up to become adventurers to?" Toby flinched at the sound of this as he mumbled, "I knew this would happen… it was only a matter of time." Lily stared at Grace with a huge smile as she said, "Yes, please!" Grace glanced at Toby awaiting an answer as she asked "Well can they?" Toby thought for a moment about Cali being angry and then said, "S-sure." Upon hearing this, Lily began to cheer, however Toby seemed to fear what Cali might do to him if she found out.