Deal

Contrary to what Bella and I saw a couple of days ago regarding the Hostess of Fertility, it is filled to the brim with adventurers looking for a meal and some alcohol during the evening and throughout the night.

Pubs are really popular in the city at night, something that is obvious considering the demographic of people living in the city.

The joyous and boisterous atmosphere surrounding the Hostess of Fertility is surely appealing, or at least to me. Now, if only there wasn't a certain grey-haired girl standing in next to the door, waving at me with yet another one of her fake smiles, I think my experience would be significantly better.

I don't only have to deal with Canoe and his goons, I also need to deal with Syr and her lies.

'Great.'

Sighing in exasperation, I decide to walk to her, trying to ignore her is an option that isn't available to me anymore due to eye contact.

'So annoying.'

She keeps that annoying bright smug on her face as she watches me approach her.

"Good evening Tian-kun! Have you decided to visit the Hostess of Fertility after Bella told you about us?" she asked, her chirpy tone feeling grating in my ears.

"Good evening, Flova-san," I specifically use a formal way of addressing her to put distance in the way we interact, but because her expression doesn't change one bit at my words, I think this is a failed attempt. "No, Bella didn't tell me anything about the Hostess of Fertility, although she seems to be coming here a lot…"

It's a cheap shot, but since it's technically the truth, I'm not going to abstain from it.

"Oh really?" The corners of her lips rise. "Bell is such a great friend of mine, I'm somewhat disappointed that she didn't talk to you about me…" she trailed off, putting on a faux expression of sadness.

I kind of want to answer with a 'Well maybe Bella doesn't think of you as a friend that much' but not only would it be toxic, both her and I know that it isn't the truth.

"What can I say, she doesn't seem to be that talkative about… Her friends, to me."

"That's probably because you're the only man of her familia." She makes this exaggerated teasing expression that just makes me cringe internally. "You know how it is, the cute and innocent girl and the hunk go to the dungeon, no one else is watching. They go through Difficulty together, they see the best and the worse… Exhaustion generates horniness… And the rest is history," she says, her tone becoming a bit lower and trying to take on a smoky voice.

But failing. Though, if I didn't dislike her that much, I would have probably answered that, because she wasn't bad at this. She seems to be having fun, which irritates me a little bit.

"How would that make her unwilling to talk to me about her friends though?"

"Well…" She takes a step forward, looking at me in the eyes with her eternal smirk growing. "Because she doesn't want the competition… After all," she pauses, looking at me from head to toe, exaggerating greatly her reaction to my body, which nearly made me roll my eyes. "I may be her friend, but I wouldn't mind getting a piece of what I'm seeing right now."

I snort, mildly amused by her words, which makes her chuckle a little bit. Her obvious honeyed tone makes it more comedic than sensual, but she has done that a few times in her life.

More like a lot.

"Alright," I speak, erasing the slight smile from my face. "Why did you wait for me?"

After all, I have an appointment right now, I can't afford to stay here, chatting with someone I'm barely bothered to talk to. If it wasn't for the fact that she is Bella's friend, I definitely wouldn't be entertaining her right now.

She pauses for a moment, before sighing, "I guess you're not as easy as Bella…" she mutters, and I only catch it because of my enhanced hearing. Her expression quickly loses all mock sensuality, and she returns to her bubbly persona. "The reason why I've been waiting for you is that your… Friends, have come here early and already told us of your arrival, and your little business."

I raise my eyebrow at her words, slightly confused about the situation.

"They want us to be the intermediary," she states, taking note of my confusion. "They want both parties to be assured of the safety of the transaction, it's not the first time the Hostess of Fertility has been used to this regard—Mia has a bit of a reputation, after all."

"A reputation?" I ask, remembering Canoe's words in the dungeon. So he wasn't bullshitting after all?

"Yep," she answers, popping the 'p'. "Mia is a known ex-adventurer and is in general very experienced in the way this city works. She can easily make sure a deal between two adventurers is dealt with fairness and in the most respectable way possible. While she isn't employed for deals between familias, due to the sheer scale of the operation, she makes a good amount of money overseeing deals between adventurers."

"Wait, how does that even work?" I can't help but blurt out, truly out of the loop about how a third party can be even remotely impactful in the dealings of two different adventurers.

"What?" Syr tilts her head to the side, not understanding my question.

"How does she get the authority to just overrule the decision of the party writing the contract? I mean if someone gets scammed, she can't exactly tell the scammer to fuck off, can't she?" I declare, my expression gaining an incredulous edge.

"I mean," she starts, blinking as if she can't get why I am not getting it. "She can just force things to happen?"

My jaw drops a little bit at that. It seems that I've truly misunderstood how things go in this city.

"The thing is she is employed by both parties. Therefore, generally, it doesn't come to this, but she gives advice on the contract for the offered party and stops the offering party from using any underhanded measures to get the deal signed," Syr says as she shrugs her shoulder.

"So she's a lawyer that can flatten to the ground anyone making trouble," I utter, sarcastically chuckling.

"Hmmm, yes that is what she is. At the end, who's going to tell her that she technically doesn't have the authority to do so, she's employed by the adventurers themselves."

"Therefore, Canoe hired her for our deal?" I tentatively ask. Syr nods in response. "Am I supposed to take it as a sign that he isn't willing to fuck me over?"

"Wait, why would Canoe-san try to trick you? While he is in a dubious familia, so far he has shown to be rather straightforward in the way he makes money outside of the dungeon. He is a regular of Mia's lawyer service and has a good reputation," states the grey-haired waitress, tilting her head to the side once again.

Internally, her words make me sweat, since it means that the Canoe here is far more intelligent than his anime's counterpart. He was displayed as an abusive asshole that was as bad as any other member of the familia except Lili, and here he has a great reputation and even a bit of renown? This could be dangerous for me—because it means that he has successfully swindled his previous targets and I'm the next in line.

"He has a network of Supporters that he oversees and lend to talented adventurer to help them through their first level at a very affordable price. I don't see how it can be dangerous for you…" she continues, a slight frown appearing on her head as she seems to think of a way that Canoe could be tricking people.

"Don't worry, it's just that I'm slightly paranoid," I lie, trying to dismiss the subject. She barely narrows her eyes at me—something that I once again wouldn't have seen if it wasn't for my enhanced senses—but ultimately nods and shrugs her shoulders.

"I guess you are, Tian-kun."

"Anyway, I think I need to go in, I don't like to make people wait," I say, stepping into the establishment. When I open the front doors, the volume of the people in the pub assails my ears, and I barely hear Syr's words due to it.

"Canoe and Mia are waiting for you on the third floor, just knock on the first door to the right when you arrive on the third floor," she informs me, watching my eyes wander around the adventurers in the building. I immerse myself in my Ki sense for a split second, noting that the general level of Ki of these adventurers is far higher than mine—a result of their bodies growing stronger through the use of the falna system.

However, their Ki is unused and slow, just sitting there, a fountain of untold potential untapped. I wonder if a level up through the system of the Gods will also grant me with the boon of my reserve skyrocketing, or if the fact that I am a cultivator will stop this effect.

"Tian-kun?" Syr wakes me up from my thoughts. I blink and turn around, facing her.

"I'm sorry, I was just thinking about something…"

"I can see that," curtly says Syr Flova. "Either way, I'll be going, I actually took my pause to wait for you, therefore I need to get back to work right now."

"Have a great night, Tian-kun." She slightly bows to me, her smirk turning meaningful for a moment before she walks away.

I don't waste a single second and begin my climb to the dreaded room, wondering if things will be as straightforward as Syr mentioned they should be. Despite everything pointed to the fact that Canoe is very different than his anime counterpart, I can't help but have a nagging feeling that I shouldn't trust him. Just like Syr, and to a certain extent Eina now, he just seems to be part of the type of people I can't get along with.

He definitely knew what he was doing when he accosted me in the dungeon with his whole squad, armed to the teeth behind him. The way Lili reacted when he called her, the slight shaking, the hesitant glance, and the fearful demeanor…

No, there's no way that Canoe isn't as slimy as he is in the anime. The difference probably comes from the fact that people don't see his true nature publicly. He seems to have made a name for himself as a trustworthy provider of supporters, but knowing how Lili is treated in the anime, I can't help but steel my resolve at the idea of meeting him again.

Despite the knowledge that things have indeed changed from the anime, I just can't shake off the feeling that Canoe is the same. Heck, even Bella—being hit by a sex change—is strikingly similar to her male counterpart, therefore, it seems much more reasonable to treat Canoe with caution until he can prove himself to be worthy of trust.

Something that—considering his approach in the dungeon—is probably never going to happen.

I knock on the door that Syr described, and I don't have to wait for long before I'm greeted by the absolute unit of a woman that is Mia, the owner of this pub. She's nearly as tall as me, has a square and cut jawline and her muscles show through her uniform. If she gained a few inches, she would fit the description of an Amazon perfectly.

'Tione and Tiona though…'

The descriptions of an Amazon from my previous world, then.

"Are you Tian, member of the Hestia familia?" she asks me, her eyes unwavering and her voice quite deep for a woman, and authoritative. Damn, she even has the voice of one...

"Yes, I am," I answer, looking at her straight in the eyes. Apparently, that is the correct thing to do because she barks out a laugh, and her expression gives the barest of signs of approval towards me as she says that I have guts, if nothing else.

No point in taking offense in her words, considering that according to the monstrous reserve of Ki she has, she could probably destroy me in a split second.

I shrug, displaying a nonchalant smile at her remark.

"That's more than most, in my opinion."

Mia chuckles once more and gestures me to enter the room. My eyes immediately zero on the slimy man sitting on one of the two chairs associated with the only table in the room.

He smiles, making me mentally narrow my eyes, even though I keep a steady gaze on him in reality. He oozes sliminess in a way not even Syr can compete with.

"We meet again Tian!" he barfs out, in a semblance of a jovial tone. His voice is way too friendly, making me uncomfortable due to the way it is forced, but I steel myself and even put a slight smile on my face at his words before sitting on the chair next to him.

"Indeed." I curtly answer, which only makes him smile harder. The big weapon on my back however briefly attracts his attention, but the fact that it is covered in clothing makes it ultimately impossible to glean anything from it. That doesn't mean that Canoe's curiosity and greed aren't aroused by the sight, as evidenced by the glint his eyes obtain, the way his eyes slightly narrow when he stares at it a bit longer than anyone should.

"I want to keep this short so that nobody is wasting their time here," he says, bringing out a piece of parchment that has a seal over it. "I have already written the standard closes for a contract between a supporter's party and an adventurer."

He slides the parchment to me. I take it and open it carefully, before reading the contract in silence. Both Mia and Canoe studying me, trying to not miss any reaction on my face.

I sigh when I finish the document, mainly because I can't find anything wrong with it.

"Nothing's wrong with it, but how can I be sure that this document is truly what you say it is and that I won't get fucked over," I claim, sliding the parchment back to him.

He blinks a few times, before sighing in realization. "That's true, as a new adventurer, you probably don't know how to recognize an official Guild document. This seal right here." He points to the red wax sitting on the top right corner of the paper. "Is an official seal of the Guild. Since you'll probably have to deal with similar documents in the future, you should learn how to recognize them. Despite many attempts, nobody has ever been able to copy this seal."

I glance over to Mia, looking for her approval, which I get when she nods at his words.

"I know what you want to say," she interrupts Canoe's explanations. "If you truly want, you can go to the Guild right now and see for yourself, but my presence is as good as the Guild's words."

Her boast doesn't reassure me in the slightest, but I'm willing to take the risk. The only problem could come from the fact that this parchment is a magical binding tool, but I can recognize magic thanks to my Ki sense. Since it can't interact with magic at all, if this piece of paper was magical in any way, it would be a blank spot for me.

Since it isn't, I can be assured that there's no magic involved.

I—thanks to the pen Canoe 'graciously' provides me—sign the same document three times. One for me, one for Canoe, and one for the Guild.

Unwilling to talk any longer to him, I leave the building after exchanging polite words—the contract in my hand.

The thing that has been stuck in my mind isn't the contract, however.

'How did he know that I was a new adventurer?'

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Beta: AsuraJZero but he is currently dealing with IRL stuff.

A/N:

So at first, I thought of detailing the contract and all, but I realized that it would be useless to the story since it is as standard as possible and I didn't want to waste time searching for the correct way to write the terms so that it looks like a real contract. Also, Tian wouldn't be able to deal with the little discrepancies if there were any, Hestia could. I'm trying to push Syr into a new direction, as in since she's Freya, she's able to easily adapt to the person she wants, and since her cutesy act doesn't work with Tian, she's playing with it and trying to see what makes him tick. Compared to before, Tian was at least willing to talk to her because she acted more 'naturally' aka she knows that she has a facade.

If you thought that Tian would be able to resist an old goddess of beauty just because she made a wrong step at the beginning, you'd be wrong. Or at least I'm trying to write it that way.