Chapter 16 : Free cake

A month or more of fighting, he thought as he was drinking a cup of coffee at Hostess of Fertility, he supposed it was normal for his growth to slowly decrease, the more you go up in the level, the slower it becomes.

He put the cup on the counter, as Elfy Collete, the girl from Loki familia sat next to him, he looked at her, she smiled, two dimples appeared on her face.

She ordered a cup of tea and some dessert, while Sidhe's stomach growled, and, in lapse of reason, he ordered some food too. He began, "Good day, Elfy, have you again burned your teammates?" in an slight ironic tone.

She chuckled, responding, "No, this time I came to see you."

His tail was swishing, ears twitching, well, you can't win always, responding, "I think we saw each other weekly, I mean, I can see you every week here eating with your teammates."

She rolled her eyes, and took a bite of her dessert, a croissant, then said, "Then why you didn't come to talk with me, I could introduce you to the Loki familia, aren't you interested in that?" she raised her head, "We are the best and one of the most powerful familias in Orario."

Sidhe shook his head, denying what Elfy said, "No, if we talk about strength then Freya's familia is the most powerful, then Ganesha only by its sheer numbers, then we could say, though, it's debatable, that your familia comes next."

She strained her smile, looking at him with irritation, if it wasn't clear from her facial expressions, then the voice made it clear, "Maybe Freya is better than us, I concede that, but, in no way Ganesha is more powerful than us, even if they are more numerous. We have six level adventurers, while Ganesha doesn't."

Fire crackling in her eyes, an intense stare that could burn you to cinders was locked on Sidhe, he felt that he just walked on a bomb, or a laid trap by some monster, he tried to douse the conflict, "Okay, you're right about that. A six level adventurer is indeed better than all of Ganesha's fifth level adventures," he took a sip of coffee, then continued, "How was your day in the dungeon?"

She rubbed her cheek, "It was fine, though, on the twelve floor I saw an young dragon. They're the floor boss." Her eyes showing excitement, "They breath fire and fly. To be honest, "twirling with a stray lock of her hair, "They are so cuddly, I want one too."

He perked his ears, floor boss, dragon? And on the twelve, he recorded that information in his brain, then said, "That sounds cool, and I guess, it tingled your pyromaniac nature."

She coughed up as she was drinking the tea, saying, "No. I said and will continue to say that I do not enjoy burning just for being able to burn, it's a secondary benefit."

He crossed his arms, not buying it at all, and even if she wasn't a pyromaniac, it was fun to tease her, "Sure, sure, whatever you say."

She was rubbing her cheek again, looking at him through her eye margin, she puffed her cheeks, then took another sip of tea and almost finishing the croissant.

An elf girl called Elfy to come to their table, she pouted, and left, not before saying goodbyes.

Sidhe remained alone, he didn't exactly hated that, he found the quietness, or as much as it could be possible in rowdy pub, comfortable.

He finished his meal, paying the almost one thousand valis it cost, then left to the dungeon, he was always prepared to leave for the dungeon, as it means money.

He unsheathed his saber and cut the enemy's head, it was a war shadow, and it never knew when it died, as Sidhe was undetectable to it. He continued to prowl through the large hallways, hiding from the larger groups of monsters, as they were a headache to deal with.

He drew the bow, and shoot at a small group of goblins, five or four in number, he hit the mark, the rest of the goblins attacked Sidhe, some took stones from the ground and thrown at him.

He dodged, shooting at them with his bow, some arrow missed the marks, but some hit exactly where Sidhe wanted, in the head.

He stood in the heaps of dead goblins, happily taking their magical crystals, turning the bodies to ashes, his backpack was filling, it's not yet incumbent to carry them, but, it was starting to be a chore, and a time-waster when he could kill the monsters and not thinking to collect the crystals and the loot.

The backpack was always heavy and that impacted his flexibility and agility, not by a huge amount, but it mattered. He stalked a bunch of kobolds, they were roaming around the halls screeching, searching for any foolish adventurers that tried their luck too hard and ventured down here.

He drew his bow, locking on the biggest kobold there was, the arrow flew in the air, slicing the wind as it passed, then entered deep into the kobold's head, killing him on the spot.

The kobolds were confused, they didn't see from what hall Sidhe has shoot, he drew the bow again, the again he shot an arrow. The kobolds were dying one by one. Undetected by their fine senses, and keen smell, he slowly lowered their numbers down on three, and when, finally they have discovered him, it was too late.

He unsheathed his saber and killed them with his fast speed, slicing their throats, leaving them gasping for air.

He cleaned his saber with his handkerchief, then took their crystals, his backpack was almost full now, he would need to leave the dungeon and sell them after two, or three more kills, he thought.

He then took a moment of respite, drinking water and eating a sandwich, prepared by Lord Miach himself; he whetted the blade of his saber. He didn't use the knives as much now days, being able to kill from distance with the bow was a boom and a great advantage.

He observed a killer ant skittering by, he locked on it, drawing the bow, then shot, the arrow pierced right through the metal armour of the ant, surprising Sidhe with the strength behind it.

He wasn't able in the past to pierce that armour, he got close, looking at the impact, the he saw the ant was injured by fire, it was clear that the front was burned, having charred marks on it. That's why he was able to pierce it…

He got up and sold the crystals, talking with Misha for a minute, then leaving back for the dungeon, he was gathering a good amount of money, that he will spend on arms and armour, and salary for a supporter, as much as it pains his heart to hire one, he will need one in the future, that was plainly clear.

Walking through the twisting paths was never fun, or at least, it's a boring activity, plus with the lucky chance for a monster to form behind you, or to jump in your face, he was lucky to have never faced something like this, but he wonders for how much his luck will continue.

He stopped his musings as he heard the footsteps of the cursed creatures, behind him a group of kobolds was coming his way, he took a good position and started shooting.

They were falling like flies, he loved the bow so much, you didn't need to jump in the heat of the battle, just take a nice position and shoot, his accuracy was improving by leaps and bounds, the unlucky misses still happened, but not as frequent as it was in the past.

They got too close, he took his saber, and started to cut, they fell down in pieces, as they weren't able to stop the blade.

A lizard tried to jump on him, sadly he already heard it, and as it tried to bite him, he took his emergency knife and impaled it, holding with his strength above him.

For the rest of the day he spread death and arrows to the monsters, he was tired, barely able to lift a finger. He crawled back to the Hostess of Fertility for a cup of coffee, then he will leave for his home.

There, Syr, was cleaning the tables, he took a sit to the counter, waiting for a maid to come and take his order. Syr seeing him, approached and took a seat, then patted his head, and scratched behind his ears.

He blushed, that was a sensible point, he looked at her with annoyance, as he didn't want to allow someone to touch him there. She innocently smiled. The witch, she was always taking advantage of him, Sidhe saying, "You know that I don't like people touching me, why you are doing it?"

She kept scratching the ears, and said, "I like doing it, it's relaxing."

He blinked, bewildered by the answer, he thought for a second what to say, "Then get a cat, I guess."

She cheekily said, "Why should I get a cat, when I have one right here."

He felt awkward and stopped talking, waiting for the coffee to arrive, Syr ignored his awkwardness and just kept doing it.

He was drinking the coffee, Syr stopped doing it, now she was trying to start a conversation with him, he gave in, and responded to one of her questions, "I am somewhat close to level 2, if the rate of progression is steady, I will reach level 2 by the end of this year. Though, the hardest problem is that I don't have a heroic act that will give me the possibility."

She patted his head, saying, "Good kitty, don't think too much about it, you still have much time for one to happen and make you eligible to level up. Why the hurry, it's not in your nature to make hasty decisions. Has something happened?"

He had a sour expression on his face, as he drunk the coffee, "Not really, just Dian Cecht has raised the amount of money we need to pay each month, and I may need to take from my personal stash of money."

She hugged Sidhe, saying, "What a bad man, why he has done that, isn't enough that your familia pays the debt regularly, what does he wants? To make you completely poor and not being able to pay the debt?" her nostrils flared, with her cheeks tinged red from fury.

Sidhe was making circles on the table with his finger, saying, "It's complicated, but in simple terms he wants to stop future competition, Naaza had a surge of customers this month, her potions are praised, and even before, before that accident, our familia was known for its great potions, scared by that, that annoying prick wants to extinguish our chances of being prosper, I hate him so much."

His tail was flickering, poking from his robe. He looked miserable, like a wet cat, Syr was feeling pity and a big sister complex, she left for the kitchen and came back with a piece of cake, dangling in front of him, saying, "They are free, you don't need to pay anything. What do you say, want a piece?"

His eyes were shining, looking with greed and delight at the cake. He took a bite and his mind was filled with sweet thoughts, the little sadness he felt was gone, and any stress he gathered through the day, completely disappeared, saying, "Thanks. It's great. You are a great cook."

She smiled, saying, "Thanks you, but how did you know?"

He had a cat smile, "I remember the taste, it's similar to that of the first cake you gave me for free."