Chapter 12 : New Home

Lord Miach gathered us at the table, his carefree smile was not present, he was worried, with furrowed brows. Naaza was not looking sleepy, she was alert and with sadness in her eyes.

Lord Miach said, "We will miss this house, but, we need to open a potion's shop in the Western Orario."

This was not the real reason, all of them knew, that damned Dian Cecht has raised the amount of money they needed to pay for the month. Even with Sidhe dungeoning, they couldn't gather the asked amount, now, they are forced to sell their beloved house, everyone left to gather their stuff and take their last goodbyes.

Sidhe took his books, he didn't have many, books were expensive and he couldn't buy them too frequent. His money were invested back into better weapons or, as he was thinking for a time, to buy an armour, while he had the misconception that an armour would slow him down.

He found that it wasn't true, he could get a chain armour that will keep most of his flexibility intact, and give him a protective layer for any unexpected attacks, he still had a mark left from those killer ants.

The backpack was full, he couldn't put anything more in it, Naaza was dragging a huge suit on wheels behind her. She had that drowsy expression back on her face, it seems she already made terms with the new situation.

Lord Miach locked the house, and with a leather bag in his hand, left together with Sidhe and Naaza to their new house, as they walked on the paved streets, passing through throngs of people, they passed by an abandoned church, he wondered why there are so many of them.

The paved road started getting dirty, with trash littered around, the houses looked dilapidated, Lord Miach pointed towards a bluish building, with their familia's logo on it, saying, with a tinge of proudness he said, "This will be our new home, and our shop."

They entered in, there were cobwebs, dust everywhere, and the windows were yellow from the dirt. Sidhe saw in the corner of his eye a rat moving, his cat instincts awoke and tried to jump on it, sadly it ran faster. Sidhe fell with his face on the floor.

Dust entered his nostrils, he sneezed. Naaza was chuckling at him, while Lord Miach was just smiling in his kind way.

They settled in, the shop had four rooms, without the front where the shop will be, Naaza will sleep with Lord Miach, Sidhe alone, and the other two will be used to store and make potions.

He agreed, he liked his privacy, away from Naaza if possible, she was mean, even if she hid it very well behind her drowsy facade. The shop of Naaza was just a wooden stall, well, now they had a real one, though he wondered who the hell will come here to buy their potions, when they co just go to Dian Checht.

He would never dare to tell this to her face, she would literally kill him. He took a broom and started cleaning the floor, while Naaza was wiping the cobwebs, and Lord Miach was trying to wash the windows.

They spent hours in shaping the building, the room were now clean, the stuffy air disappeared after two, three wiping of the floors. Lord Miach took from somewhere a toolbox and began to make the shelfs for potions, and repair any broken furniture. Naaza was looking with excited eyes at his work, or it was his beautiful hands and muscles.

Sidhe wasn't sure, he took his weapons and backpack and was with one foot on the exit, then he remembered about the war shadow finger, that he had, he took it with him, thinking to make it into a knife or a dagger.

He was in the Central park, sadly, now he needed more time to walk between the dungeon and his home, he sighed, and gone up with the magic platform.

He was looking through the Hephaestus shops in search for Alazan Yer, he checked multiple shops, and at last, he found… her. He expected to be a man from the name, he greeted her, saying, "Good day, you are Alazan Yer?"

She was a young adult with black silky hair, and green eyes that penetrated through you, she had an imposing build, towering over Sidhe. He felt a bit intimidated, he wasn't intimated even when he faced that war shadow, yet this person could easily make him shrunk his shoulders.

She answered in a deep voice, "Yes, do yer need somethin'?"

With hesitance he took the war shadow finger and said, "Could you make a knife from this war shadow finger?"

She looked at it, then locked her vision with him, looking directly into his eyes, she said, "Sure honey, I estimate around 4000 valis will cost yer, pay half before, the rest after, if not, yer are free to go elsewhere."

He put the war shadow finger on the table, then took a IOU wrote the sum of 2000 valis and gave it to her. She took the money and the finger, and said, "Do yer have any specifications on how yer want the knife to be? Say them now, otherwise don't come and complain after, I don't refund or remake my weapons."

His tail wiggled through the robe, he searched in his memory for anything special he would have wanted, in the end, he shrugged, saying, "No, you can make however you want, though I like for it to be a straight blade."

She heated the furnace, put coal on fire to increase the temperature. Sidhe seeing that he was done, he lingered around to see the armours, will there were good armours that demanded your attention, he didn't have the money to buy them.

He left for the dungeon, he blazed through the first four floors, it was a relaxing time for him, as he could gather a good amount of magic crystals without tiring out too much, yet he was aware that he will not grow strong this way.

You grew faster if you fought stronger monsters, or faced difficult situations, you could lose your life, but at the same time your growth is much more than of that of an average adventurer that may never leave the fourth floor.

Sidhe prowled through the fifth floor, hiding in the green light, as he blended in the shadows, the skill he got was useful in many situations, but one of them was that it hid his smell. Now, monsters have a harder time finding him, the killer ants may never feel his movements in the earth as he approached behind them.

He cut the ant's head, cleanly passing through its weak point with his saber, his ears twitched. He didn't let the cursed bug to call reinforcements. His speed was increased too, as he could keep up with the war shadows.

He was fighting two at the same time, one tried to catch him off guard by thrusting, he sidestepped, then slashed the creature's hand, cutting through it. The other one was behind him, he twisted himself as a swipe passed through were his stomach was before.

He kicked the war shadow in its leg, making it fall on the ground, as Sidhe plunged his dagger into the creature's throat. He then killed the injured war shadow.

His tail was swishing, he got better at killing war shadows, you just needed to be faster than them, as that was their main advantage.

He looked at the sixth floor entrance, the monsters were the same, so, embolden by the present successes, he entered it.

The first monster he meet was a huge moth with purple wings, with every wing beat a powder was spreading through air. How he wished to knew how to use a bow, one good shot and it would have been dead.

He got closer, walking in silence as he approached the unsuspecting monster, he slashed, damaging the moth's wing. It lost its balance was going down, he slashed again, cutting its body.

The moth was dead. He started coughing, his throat was scratchy, feeling pain deep with in with every cough. Then, it stopped, he let a sigh of relief as he coughed non-stop for five minutes.

The moth's poison could be deadly only when the moth was alive, as for why, he didn't know. He prowled some more till he found two war shadows. He gripped his saber, this was the sixth floor, he remembers the first time he met a war shadow, it was so powerful that he almost lost his live.

He doesn't want to do the same mistake, he will not underestimate the monster, he approached as close as he could, then leaped at them, he slashed with his saber and left a long gash on one.

The other one reacted at the same time, appearing right next to Sidhe in an impressive burst of speed. Sidhe sidestepped as an attack came his way.

The attacks continued, they were faster and stronger than those of the fifth floor, he was glad that he injured one, as it was losing strength.

Slashes, swings and thrusts, Sidhe evaded all of them, changed his positions as the war shadows were trying to grip him in a place. He observed their attacking patterns, nothing different yet, they use their speed as a weapon.

Though, their flexibility was impressive too, he almost cut the throat of one of them, yet it bended its head in a weird way, evading the attack.

Dull thuds, metal meeting the mysterious material the war shadows were made from, he exchanged blows, he got cut at his left arm.

He parried a thrust to his face, then did a high swipe, making another grisly wound on the already wounded war shadow. He took the chance and cut its head before its kin could react.

He cartwheeled as the war shadow tried to slash his face, another attack came to his leg, he changed the position before the fingers made contact.

Sidhe was breathing heavily, he was tired after the fight with these monsters, he prepared a low stance, then, when the war shadow wanted to leap at him, he attacked first.

He cut the war shadow in half. He took his danger and took their magical crystals, then sat on the ground and ate some fried chicken legs, he licked his fingers and sucked the marrow from the bones. He liked chicken very much.

He took a gulp of water, then continued his dungeoning. Two ants were walking in a hallway, he sprinted and cut the legs of one, then jumped in air as the other ant darted towards him.

He blocked the mandibles with his saber; inserted the dagger into the ant's head, killing it on the spot. He killed the other ant too late, as two new ants appeared, ready to battle with Sidhe.

He took a defensive position, baiting the ants in attacking him, one burrowed in the ground, the other ran towards him, with its little metal legs, then jumped in an impressive length, trying to bite Sidhe.

He moved from the ant's pathway, and as it was flying through air he cut its head. The other ant appeared from the ground, made a beeline to his leg. He cursed these damned bugs, why they were trying to bite his legs, just why?

He wanted to kick the ant, but then remembered they had metal armour. He slashed through a weak point at the throat, it cleanly passed through the armour. To his luck this time he was just fast enough for the pesky ants to not call reinforcements.

He gathered any loot and magic crystals, then continued his adventuring, he didn't make any blunders this time, that was good. The less blunders he will make, the higher his chance of survival will be, he is a cat, where were his nine lives?