Chapter 27: Eat, Drink, and Sleep

When Violet heard Stroph talking about food, she was immediately excited, she had been fed, but it had been a long time since she had eaten something truly delicious, but her joy didn`t last long for she remembered that she had no money.

"Master... I have no money, I can't pay for the food" Her voice was slightly depressed, she was really saddened by this.

Immediately after her words, Stroph looked at her as if she had said a nonsense, he didn't understand how such thoughts could even come into her head and said: "Wow, what a decent one, but you shouldn't be talking nonsense. It`s naturally my treat! You can order whatever you want and as much as you want!"

Violet couldn't figure out for a while if Stroph was joking or if he was actually ready to buy her a meal. But, when she saw the confident look on her master's face, she knew that she could get enough and enjoy her meal today.

Stroph was also very pleased with everything that was going on, Violet could be a very good subordinate in future, but apart from that, the information window from the system was floating in front of him, which he began reading only now.

[Congratulations! You received a rare level history - "First Subordinate", the effect - slightly increases your charisma]

[200 wish points and 1000 history coins is received.]

Though the effect wasn't obvious or somehow incredibly cool, every history, every title, all of it, made him stronger.

Stroph and Violet had to go to the upper level of the city to have a meal, of course, they could find plenty of food in the underground city, but Stroph wanted to look around upstairs as well, for almost as soon as he had come to Terein he went to the slave market.

They got to the topside fairly quickly, on the way Stroph bought one interesting thing - a special bracelet, which was a some kind of small computer. Searching for everything on the phone display wasn`t as comfortable as with this bracelet. After all, a single press of a button brought up a 3D hologram of a window from which you could access the Internet.

He took two bracelets, one white for himself and the other blue for Violet, they weren`t expensive at all, for literally everyone who was in the underground Terein had them. For everything he paid only five thousand sempets.

They took a lift up, luckily they didn't have to take the stairs that Cristo had taken him up before, because Stroph wouldn`t have survived such a long climb. The lift was free and they ended up in some musty building very similar to the one he had been in with Cristo. When they got out of it they finally found themselves in a city where most ordinary people lived and no human or monster`s organs were sold on the counters.

As they were going up in the lift, Stroph was looking through a list of interesting cafes and restaurants and his choice fell on a café with a name that spoke for itself: "The Fire Pig". There was mostly served all kinds of pork and many spicy variations of it, but it also had several desserts, vegetable and fruit dishes.

This cafe had a pretty good rating and was only a couple of hundred meters away.

All along the way, Violet and Stroph were silent, but when they finally arrived at the place, Stroph said: "I hope you like spicy food, otherwise, you won't be able to fully enjoy the food here ". After these words he opened the door and went inside.

Violet said nothing and quietly continued following him.

Once inside the cafe Stroph chose comfortable seats in the very corner, he liked it when there were fewer people around him. There weren't many waiters, as mostly the trays with food were handed out by drones, and the dishes were ordered through tablets built into each table, everything was automated.

Stroph chose a large medium-rare pork steak, with garlic sauce and an assortment of vegetables, he didn't know exactly what kind of pig it was, because there was a wide variety of species. As with the six-eared cow, it served the meat of certain monsters that looked and tasted very much like pigs. Stroph just liked the view of this steak so he decided to order it.

Violet chose the cheapest vegetable salad with broccoli. Upon seeing it, Stroph said: "No need to be shy, order what you really want, it's my treat, we came here to eat but not to chew the grass."

Hearing him, Violet hesitated for a while, but finally gave in and took what she really wanted to try.

Violet ordered spicy ribs with sweet and sour sauce. As for the drinks they ordered soda for Stroph and milk shake for Violet.

While they were waiting for their order, Stroph was looking for a house, they needed somewhere to live and that choice had to be made very thoroughly. Finally, Stroph liked a simple two-story house, with a small sauna and a pool on the ground floor and a huge underground floor that included a medium-sized shooting gallery.

The house had everything they needed right now and even more, it cost as much as a hundred thousand sempets. At that moment Stroph remembered that he had paid as much as 36 thousand for answering questions to the man with the cigar in Metro-02! That was a third of his future home. Once again he was convinced that the personality of that man was far from ordinary one.

Their food was brought fairly quickly. They were eating and chatting, Stroph didn't learn much about Violet, but the girl was surprised that Stroph wasn't from the slums, but came here from the Outer Circle, so most of her questions were just about the place where Stroph had lived before.

Stroph was full enough of one large delicious steak, but Violet additionally ordered for herself a dessert and a milk shake with berries very similar to black currants.

They paid 1400 sempets for everything, as Stroph realized it was a rather expensive place, but the meal was very tasty, he was happy with everything.

When they left the cafe Violet asked: "Master, where are we going next?"

Stroph yawned and slowly answered her, " Home, of course, it's time for you and me to have a rest, we need to wash up and then go to buy you some clothes, it isn`t good walking around in some dirty torn rags."

Violet only nodded slightly and followed him. As Stroph looked at the map their new house was pretty far away, at least it would be a long walk to get there. So, they went to the bus stop and waited for the bus.

About forty minutes later, they were standing in front of the house.

Just like Cristo had said, the AI of the house already knew that Stroph was its new owner and there was no problem getting in.

Upon entering the house, Stroph immediately sent Violet into the bathroom, she had been stubborn for a while and insisted that he should be the first, but she lost that battle.

While Violet was having a bath, Stroph was looking around the house and the underground floor, everything was just like at the pictures, an ordinary kitchen, an ordinary hallway, everything was usual. But that's what he really needed, just a house, just a place for living.

After watching around the house, Stroph sat down on the leather sofa in the hall and began looking through the store of the system. And eventually he came to one conclusion, he needed points and coins. They could be obtained through histories and quests, but it wasn't stable, so he realized he needed to find a place where monsters lived. He needed to kill and fight that way he could earn points and coins and maybe get titles and new histories.

The next moment he heard a familiar sound.

"Oh, and you're here, I hope you won't attack me this time" Saying this, Stroph looked at the little vacuum cleaner robot diligently cleaning the hallway.