Hostess (3)

Shoutout to my new patron:

Darrius

You are a legend!

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(General POV)

The drunk, burly man sniffed and jabbed a finger in his chest.

"My name is Moor. And I remember you clearly you snotty brat!"

Lyze rolled his eyes and turned around fully in his stool to face him.

"And where exactly do you remember me from Mr Moor?"

Moor spat in his direction.

"Where do I remember you from? Are you playing games with me? I was there when you tried out for the Loki Familia, so I KNOW you only joined yesterday! And yet you make the claim that you managed to level up since then. You seriously expect me to believe that?"

Lyze cocked his head.

"What's so hard to believe? The executives are backing up my goddess's claim mind you, so does that not make it true?"

"High standing does not stop people from lying!" Moor raved as a group of men behind him grumbled in agreement. Finn narrowed his eyes at them.

"Are you openly accusing us of lying Mr Moor?" The Pallum asked calmly.

Moor stilled for a moment as his drunken haze receded a little for him to realize that he'd just made an accusation against a high class adventurer. But the intoxication still possessed him enough that he didn't pull back his anger.

"And what about you?" He said to Finn. "We are experienced adventurers that applied to your Familia, and we actually have things to show for it. Yet you turned me out despite that and only allowed this kid to join you! A weakling blind brat that shows no strength whatsoever! Why?!"

"Did you not just hear about Lyze's achievements?" Riveria said coolly. "I myself was witness to Lyze emerging from Hellhound fire unscathed, tearing off a minotaur's head with ease, and then beheading Goliath as well as cleaving him down the middle. Is my word not enough for you to believe?"

"No! Because for some reason, you lot are all over him when he obviously has nothing to offer. Why are you making up stories on his behalf?"

Lyze lifted his hands and purple light shone from it. The light left his hands and then grew bigger into some sort of magical mist before a giant object fell on the floor. Everybody stared in recognition at the Goliath Tooth, the drop item of the monster rex as it gleamed with its ivory glow.

"Storage magic?"

"H-he actually has the tooth!"

"Does that not mean he killed it after all?"

"I don't know guys. I'm sort of convinced by this point. Just look at their stares."

All the patrons in the tavern properly took a look at the collective faces of the Loki Familia. Their faces were hardened in silent anger. Lyze had not been with them for long, but an insult against his achievements was an insult to their image.

Not to mention Moors had openly claimed that they were liars and trying back up a false story. The most furious face seemed to be Loki, as even though her eyes were not visible, her expression was wound up in a possessive and righteous fury that dispelled the flush of her drunkenness and made her clutch Lyze tighter.

Syr was slowly backing away from the conversation into the background. She wanted no part of this confrontation as she already had pretty much all information she wanted. But she was interested in seeing how this panned out.

At the back of Moor's mind he was panicking as he was beginning to realise he had gone past a line it would be difficult to step back over. But his pride and indignation was too strong for him to back down.

"So what he has the tooth? How do we know that you did not do most of the damage and then just let him get the last hit in huh? The beast would not give you much good but I bet it gave him something juicy!" He said to Riveria.

"So you do believe that he is a level two now do you?" She asked calmly.

"NO...yes...maybe with the Excelia he gained at level one. But I refuse to believe he did anything on his own! He just rode on your efforts. Yes, that's what happened!" Moor said pointing at them.

Finn looked like he'd come close to having enough with this man's antics. He gestured to Lyze and then to the tooth. Lyze nodded and the tooth disappeared again. Fins then set his gaze on Moor.

"Mr Moor. Tell me something. Why exactly did you want to join our Familia?" he asked. Moors grunted.

"Because I thought that by joining you, I might finally be able to level up from one."

"Really?"

"Yes. Everyone knows how the Doll Princess managed to level up in one year. I can accept that, but I refuse to accept that this brat did it on his own efforts! I've tried years to level up to two but I haven't even come close. I thought that by joining you, I could finally figure out a way to do it, but this blind pipsqueak took that place from me."

Lyze locked onto something the man said.

"You speak as if you were from a Familia beforehand. Which one was it?" Lyze asked.

Moor stared at him before straightening his back and growling out the name.

"I was in the Vidar Familia. What's it to you?"

Lyze stared at him for a moment before releasing a reserved sigh and leaning backwards.

"Honestly, is every guy that comes out of that Familia an arsehole or what?" He asked more to himself than anybody else.

"What did you say?!"

"You are making a racket Mr Moor." Finn said quietly. "And to answer your musings, it is because your only objective is power. While that is acceptable in some cases such as Lyze, one must have a reason for acquiring power like he does and they must possess the necessary talent to reach that point of power.

Let me spell it out Mr Moor. You have no talent whatsoever, nor do you possess any likeable qualities that would make you fit in here. You are weak in pretty much every aspect and one rancid berry spoils the whole jam."

Moor was stunned by this statement, and some people began snickering at his embarrassment.

"Moreover," Finn continued, "the fact that you constantly allude to Lyze's blindness in a derogatory manner is something that will never be appreciated or tolerated in this Familia no matter what."

"BUT HE IS BLIND! How the hell does he fight if he cannot see?"

"Were YOU blind during the spar I had with him? Out of all of you that came yesterday for the try-outs, he was the only one that managed to draw blood out of me with his creativeness. And how do you expect me to trust a man that abandons his own Familia for a chance of more power? What guarantee is there that you would not do the same to us?"

"..."

"Face it Moor. I had everything you did not, and I was considered the better placement for this position. It's just how things are in life. You took a gamble and you lost. By your own volition, you are helpless with no place to go." Lyze said. "I win this. And I believe you have no more to say as everything you were saying was just garbage in the first place."

Lyze turned around his seat and faced his teammates again. Moor stood there gobsmacked. His anger had slowly fizzled out, being left with despair and confusion as he spoke with the Familia Captain. But at being addressed by the kid in question and then being turned back on like that brought all the rage back. In his drunken outrage he leapt towards the boy.

Mama Mia was about to yell again as the rest of the Familia tensed to protect Lyze. Ais partially jumped between the two to protect Lyze, her fist clenched tight and her emotionless visage drawn tight in anger, ready to fight.

But Moor suddenly froze mid-air and clutched his throat with both hands as he began choking. Slowly, his body was lifted up in the air of the floor, leaving him suspended as his legs thrashed while his hands clutched at an invisible grip around his throat.

Lyze stood up and turned around to reveal his hand clenched in a slight gripping motion. He clicked his tongue at the pathetic sight as Moor stared back at him in fear, as it was obvious Lyze was behind this phenomenon. Lyze sighed.

"And this is why I've never liked alcohol. It robs a man of reason, and makes him act too quickly and rashly." He said shaking his head before looking up at the man. "A word of advice Mr Moor, be careful not to choke on your aspirations. It could end up killing you."

Lyze gripped his telekinetic clutch on the man's throat tighter, making him choke out some saliva before Lyze made full sweeping gesture of his arm Moor went flying out of the doors, crashing into a cart across the street. The patrons stared at the boy nervously. Lyze ignored them and sat down to await his order.

"A little bit harsh that was, don't you think lad?" Gareth asked, sipping from mug that had been brought to him.

"Nope. He deserved it, truly and absolutely." Lyze replied as he picked at a loose nail.

Riveria caught sight of him doing this and lightly slapped his hands downwards. Lyze looked up at her in shock and indignation.

"Why?"

"Bad manners." She said sternly. Lyze just huffed and looked away. Around him were a few snickers as he got the mum treatment from her.

Eventually a bowl of soup was put down in front of him. Or rather slammed down, giving him a jolt as 'Thread' indicated a threat too big for him to handle. He followed the large arm up to the unusually large dwarf woman giving him a stern glare that was harsher than Riveria's.

"I don't appreciate violence in my tavern, young man. Nor do I appreciate being gestured to like that as if you were older than me or in a higher position of authority." She said in her heavy voice.

Lyze bowed his head slightly.

"I'm sorry miss Mia. I just believed I could handle it in a way where he would not become a bother to me again. I'm sorry for taking the initiative, and not adhering to the tavern rules." He said sincerely.

A part of him hated that he had to submit to this character but there was good reason. This was an iconic place he did not want to be barred from plus he was face to face with a former level six adventurer and captain of the Freya Familia. Anybody who had to be captain of that rabble surely could not be a normal adventurer of their level.

Mia stared at him a little more before smiling a bit and patting his head a little hardly. Partially to show her acceptance of his apology and partly to drive her message even further home as he felt his skull being hammered like a nail into his body.

"That's alright kid. We all had hot blood at that age I suppose. Just don't do it again." She then observed him and gripped his arm. Instinctively, Lyze tried to pull his arm from her grasp but he could not even budge. Even his arm did not move in her grasp.

The strength of a level six dawned on him as he realized again how much further he had to go, even with all his perks. A retired first class adventurer could pin him like this and make him helpless, which laid out exactly how far he needed to go before standing up to a person like this. Mia felt his arm a little before pinching on a bit of skin.

"A kid like you should have a little more fat than this. What exactly do you eat?"

"I don't eat all that much miss Mia. Just my greens and meat. Nothing much else." He replied as he rubbed the sore spot on his arm. Mia tutted loudly.

"That simply won't do. Even if you are an adventurer, kids still need to eat a lot if they want to grow big and strong. I know. I'll whip you up something extra as a treat for that." She grinned at him She then leaned towards him. "You do understand that someone as small as you desperately needs some vittles down ya right? I'm just helping out."

'Shrewd business owner.' Lyze grumbled in his mind but nodded. She gave him a thumbs up.

"Back in a jiffy." She said, mimicking his accent as she swung around and marched towards the kitchen to bellow out whatever she'd chosen for me.

Finn began chuckling as he sipped his beer.

"What?" Lyze asked.

"It seems Mia likes you kid. Just by that alone, you can tell that you'll go far." Gareth answered.

"How?"

"You'll see."

Somebody coughed next to Lyze quietly and he saw Syr standing beside him.

"Uhm, it was nice to meet you mister Lyze." She said, holding out her hand. "I hope you come around to eat more often. I'll serve you personally."

"Sure thing." He said, gripping her hand again. This time he concentrated on the texture of her palms. To his surprise, he found that instead of being soft, they were firm and tougher than a normal girl's would be. Not as calloused as an adventurers or thick as a man's skin but these hands had definitely seen action.

'A goddess that's not afraid to take things into her own hands when she must do so.' He thought as he looked at the smiling goddess disguised as a little girl. 'I mean she is also a god of death and war. I can't imagine she hasn't gotten her hands dirty at least once.'

"SYR!" Mia bellowed out from the counter. "Get back to work! What have I told you about chatting with customers?!"

"Yes Mama Mia! At once!" Syr said as she rushed off.

Lyze chose that moment to tuck into his broth as the others had already begun eating. To his surprise, it was tastier than expected and much fresher than anything back on earth. But it still did not beat modern day food.

Lyze mourned that he would not be able to play around with his usual devices and eat the food he liked back in that world. But it only added to his resolve to grow stronger and find a way home. That was the point after all, even if for the entertainment of a Transcendental.

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