“Hey, did you hear? My coworker just told me a plot of land just up and vanished overnight. All that’s left is a massive crater.”

“You, too? Yeah, heard the alchemist guild was located there, so most of the alchemists are currently wondering what the hell to do. The guild master has also gone missing.”

“Huh? Yo, you ain’t heard the word on the streets? During the festival, some massive white circle appeared suddenly and a great light was shot down. Boom! Heard the top Bishop was there and that only he could do that giant magic stuff.”

“What? Why the hell would a noble be so deep in the middle? All they need are the merchants anyways. Whoever you heard that from probably is wasted from last night. Hmm. Should probably sober yourself up too, mate.”

Huh, one of the perks of having a restaurant. Rumors fly into our ears without any effort,just like an RPG’s bar.

It was the day after the raid, and restaurant Aurora had opened up again as if nothing happened. Saori and Tasianna declined to take the day off to process what they experienced yesterday, arguing that work would be more productive than mulling over something they couldn’t change right now. So, that’s why we were all working today, despite having to do some pretty heavy lifting yesterday.

Rumors had already begun circulating about what happened yesterday. Thankfully, nobody suspected us. Of course, most of the patrons today were more interested in me ‘cause of the performance yesterday, and were requesting repeats of the songs I did yesterday, as if I was a jukebox. Unfortunately for them, this was a restaurant and not a stage. I was simply creating the atmosphere.

Besides, I wanted to “rest” my voice — although, with healing magic that wasn’t necessary — so I was either humming or not singing at all while simply playing my geigler. Tasianna scared anybody who wouldn’t take the no.

“Two bowls of curry rice for table four!” Saori announced as she finished an order, prompting Tasianna to pick them up and deliver them to the designated table before returning to serving another table. Despite what happened, those two were still working at a steady tempo.

“Tasianna! Can we get ‘nother bowl, each? Cold water, too!” a table called out as if we were a tavern, ordered our newest addition to our menu — a tankard full of cold, clear water made with Tasianna’s magic for one davi. Some still wanted us to serve beer or ale but, with no options available other than the healthy and responsible alternative, they still ordered water to quench their thirst.

Considering the standard drink is a diluted ale for most of the working class, since ale was considered safer to drink than well or river water, I guess I couldn’t blame them for asking for something they were used to. Of course, the merchants, on the other hand, were happy with water.

“Ahh, keeps the head clearer than mead, right?” a well-groomed merchant spoke to his table partner, complimenting the water he just drank. “Really makes you feel like a noble here, huh? The food is filled with spices, music is played by an authentic noble who wants to keep everything relaxed, and the tableware is refined and polished.”

His companion, a merchant in more travel-appropriate clothing, finished taking a bite of curry rice, placed his spoon down before taking a sip of water. “It’s amazingly good. It’s not one of the cities but new stuff still comes up in Firwood, huh? It’s a street vendor, but we’re not eating with our hands or from a trencher, which is rare. This curry is also much better than the one in Port Annencia; the flavor just works better, as if it comes directly from Caedhul.”

“Haha! Well, the proprietress is a dragonewt, so I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s true. Her chef can probably cook more exotic dishes, so I wish their menu would have more than two. Eateries and taverns serve more, after all.”

We are earning enough that adding a third dish wouldn’t hurt our finances or supply, especially with my healing services, but without Tasianna or me helping Saori out with the cooking, I can’t exactly allow Saori to stress herself out.

The complaints are mild currently, so there was no need for a change right now. There was always the option to switch up the menu while keeping it to two dishes to give our restaurant some variety.

As I ended my current song, I took a short break with some water, at which point I noticed a group of kids around eight to ten years old watching me from afar. They were wearing working outfits, probably given to them by their workplace, and looked as if they were taking a lunch break with the stale-looking bread and meat skewer in their hands.

While child labor was frowned upon on modern Earth, it was considered normal for children here on Peolynca to work and help their families out financially. I even saw kids from merchants appear once in a while with their guardians to eat here, so this rule applies to every commoner kid. I’ve no idea about nobles, though.

I waved at them and showed them a heart sign, as it seemed they enjoyed my music. Most of them flinched back and looked flustered when I noticed them, acting as if they were looking elsewhere. I kinda wanted to play a fun song right now, but I didn’t really want to ruin the atmosphere for our restaurant’s customers.

So, I gave in and played one of the songs from my concert. I didn’t know if they watched me perform yesterday, however, I did notice a few familiar faces among them. Sure, pushy adults couldn’t influence me, but cute little kids could.

“Is this the fated battle, the light shines ♫

It’s blinding my sight ♫

But I’ve gotta hold on, the stage calls ♫

The cries of a thousand, the flames of war will descend ♫”

“Woooh! Let’s go!” One of the patrons jumped up, clapping wildly as he vibed with the song. This seemed to have attracted some of the other patrons — mostly workers — to join in, too. Thankfully, they had the decency to not go completely wild with dancing and cheering, interrupting those who simply wanted to eat and relax.

After I finished my song, I had to return to playing simple instrumental music to keep up the atmosphere. It would be best if I kept my idol songs to my concerts only after performing them on stage in a town or city, just to avoid the fanfare associated with them.

I wonder, do other idols also have to deal with this? How do they deal with their fans when they're this close to you every day? My fans in Firwood probably aren’t as wild due to the concept of idols not existing in this world yet, and they were simply cheering me on like some local celebrity. Well, this is what happens when all I’ve learned is how to entertain as an idol, and not how to interact with fans as an idol during my trainee phase.

To be honest, it’s been sooooo long since I watched a video or any clips of any idols, Japanese or Korean. With how much this world has preoccupied me, remembering any of the smaller details is so hard.

Speaking of Earth…

“Hey, good afternoon, Tasianna.” As I was thinking of something else, somebody familiar seemed to have come.

“Oh, Guild Master Farron? Welcome,” Tasianna greeted a tall red-haired middle-aged man. “Oh, and Miss Priscilla, correct?”

Behind the muscular man, a white-haired Scandinavian-looking girl peaked out with a playful smile. If it weren’t for her red eyes — which resembled her father greatly — I wouldn’t have believed those two were related.

Huh? They are eating out today instead of from the guild’s kitchen?

Priscilla, Farron’s daughter, was one of the chefs working in the hunter’s guild’s kitchen, which served both the main building and the inn adjacent to it. Usually, whenever I visited the guild to train with Farron, Priscilla would bring his lunch to the training field or to his office, depending on where he was. I never saw them eating out before.

“What to order? Hmm, well, there are only two dishes…,” Farron contemplated before ordering both the curry and fried rice twice for himself.

On the other hand, his daughter gave a clear answer, “I would like to order both, too. Oh, but only one of each for me, please. I’ve heard quite a lot from the adventurers about your eatery, so I want to get to know the taste of both dishes.”

...Hmm, come to think about it, I could use a break...kinda. Okay, not really. But, I do have something to talk to them about.

I waved at Saori and signaled towards the duo. Saori raised her brow as she saw them, but gave me the “okay” with a nod. Playing music was my part of the job, so she had the right to speak up and say no to my request.

I placed my geigler back into my storage and walked over to Farron’s and Priscilla’s table. “Good morning, Guild Master. Priscilla. Would you two mind if I joined you?”

“Ahh, Hestia! Yes, sure, please.” Priscilla stood up and offered me a seat. “Well, this is your eatery, so it would be rude to reject, hie hie.”

“And you are my customers. Besides, I wouldn’t want to be rude and impose myself if you didn’t want to,” I responded casually, seeing as Priscilla was just joking.

It’s her perfume, again. Nice as always.

“I don’t see you come out to eat very often, guild master. What’s the occasion?” I asked.

Farron looked at me and gave a deep sigh. “Work. As always.” The answer wasn’t very clear so I asked him to explain it further. “Some mednoble from the White Talon Order visited me.” As I gave him a look that I still had no idea what he meant, he nodded in understanding and began explaining everything as detailed as possible.

“A mana blood-”

“Father!”

“Oops, sorry. That guy got to me.”

Mana blood was a derogatory term used by commoners against nobles, since nobles are known to have a higher potential to become mages due to their higher innate mana capacity. It was similar to how nobles were called blue-bloods on Earth. Farron knew I didn’t care about my noble birth, but I guess Priscilla either didn’t know about it, or she just didn’t approve of him cursing like that — either way, he got reprimanded.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Farron cleared his throat and explained the situation in a more kids-friendly tone, “A noble from the Lecartiglio Duchy, the son of a viscount, visited me today for something. He is a knight from the White Talon Order, a knight’s order specialized in riding hippogryphs instead of griffons or gargoyles. With the royal family’s Order of the Lionheart, these two orders form the upper echelon of our kingdom’s military. This person was very stressful.”

Priscilla continued for him, “The knight sounded very pushy when he entered the guild, demanding a meeting with father without prior notice. As the hunter’s guild isn’t obligated to follow noble orders, especially from someone from another duchy, Father could have rejected the knight’s demands, but he let him in his office anyways. The knight still looked annoyed after he left and father just seemed stressed out.”

“He demanded I tell him about some bovline adventurer; however, the guild has no obligation to tell him anything about our members if they weren’t criminals. Surprisingly, the bovline seemed to have kidnapped his sister or something, but still, it happened in another duchy and Lord Marquess Sirius or Lord Duke Greenveil haven’t put a bounty on him yet. Plus, I wasn’t in the mood to look through the files for him,” Farron said. “If he wanted to track somebody down, I told him to go get a merc or something. Hunters hunt monsters, not other hunters or adventurers. He was obviously furious, even threatened to report me to the Lord Marquess Sirius himself. The knight ruined my mood, so Priscilla suggested leaving work and coming here. Besides, I couldn’t experience the whole concert with her yesterday, so I owe her this.”

Bovline? Could it be?

“Speaking about concerts, I really loved your singing and dancing, Hestia! Especially your first song. Uhm, Fuja uwuri fuja uwuru ♫'' she tried to sing Renai Circulation’s pre-chorus, but butchered the pronunciation.

“Fuwa fuwari fuwa fuwaru ♫ When you sing this part, let your voice do the signing. Don’t strain it too much, just let it out like a calm river,” I corrected her, explaining how to pronounce the words since she couldn’t understand Japanese.

“Ahhh, alright, alright, thank you very much! Your singing is soooo very good!” she gave a childish smile, looking so happy to meet me. “Hmmm, father, do you think that knight will come again?”

As the discussion changed, Farron's fatherly look returned to his previous annoyed expression. “Yes, probably. Priscilla, if that noble annoys you or the staff in any way, warn him that I will make him regret it. Tell him I don’t care if he uses his influence to do something, as I will crush it, alright?”

“Yes, I understand, father!” Priscilla showed a very clear lack of fear of nobles, unlike most commoner children. Children were taught to avoid nobles ’cause nobles could, and sometimes did, abuse their authority without fear of any significant consequences, as I heard from Lorena and Ruld.

The food arrived just as we finished talking, as expected of restaurant Aurora! Wolf hunts, wolf feeds — delicious and fast at Aurora… I should probably practice my jingle writing skill a bit. This sounds like a fast food joint… And now I want a burger with fries. Sigh.

Speaking of food, Tasianna also brought me a curry while she was at it, ‘cause it would be awkward if I were the only person who wasn’t eating. It was very considerate of her. Farron and Priscilla then offered a prayer, and we three then began eating after that.

“Mhmm! What is this?!” Priscilla exclaimed after tasting her first curry rice. “There are so many different spices within this brown sauce! So many spices, wow! There is a hint of zestiness, but it is otherwise mellow and sweet.”

“The sauce is called curry and it’s placed over some rice — thus, the name ‘curry rice.’ The dish originates from Caedhul, where the levianewts and merfolk live; do you remember when I told you that, Priscilla? Although, it’s been a while since I’ve been there, I believe this curry sauce is an original recipe,” Farron explained, showing off his worldly experience.

“Oohhh? This is Miss Saori’s own recipe?! Wah, that’s so good. All the recipes I’ve learned have been from the other chefs and the nice ladies from the neighborhood! Making a new recipe sounds fun.” Priscilla’s eyes sparkled with a strong interest in her craft, befitting a hardworking young girl like she was. Seeing her like this reminded me when I was twelve, well, if you ignored how exhausted I was with failing auditions.

During our party’s many visits to the hunter’s guild, whether they were for Quests or my spars, Priscilla and most of the hunter’s guild had gotten to know us better over time. We weren’t full-time hunters like the others, but we’d become regulars to them. It also helped that our restaurant attracted adventurers to come to eat. Priscilla even dropped the “Lady” part for my name after I asked her to!

“Oh, yes, the Republic of the Aquapolis. The center of Goddess Plesia’s faith, correct?” Priscilla answered, looking proud of herself when her father nodded with a smile. “Ah, but, it is a bit unfair. Father knows so much about the world, but I still only know Firwood. Caedhul must be fun if they can think of this ‘curry.’”

“I know you don’t like it, you say it all the time, but I can’t exactly leave my position. You have enough time in your life to experience the world one day, Pricilla. I promise,” he replied, patting the pouting girl on her head. “I’m pretty sure when your mother comes back home, she’ll have more stories to tell you.”

“Oh? Your mother isn’t here in Firwood?” I asked, having heard this for the first time.

“Oh, right! My mother and father used to travel around the world as adventurers before father had to retire due to his injury. Mother can’t stay in Firwood for too long since she’s always preoccupied, but whenever she comes back to Firwood, she always comes back with tons of stories.” She then looked at Farron, giving him a very weird look. “...They’re also very loud whenever they meet. I can’t sleep in the first few days.”

“PHFFF!!! WHA-!” That comment caused Farron to spit out the water he was drinking, causing people around him to look at him with disgust. Some of the worst gazes were from fellow hunters who knew the duo. “Priscilla! Don’t say that out loud! You are a lady!”

...She might not be as pure as I thought. She was so sweet until now, ahhh, how fun.

“It’s true, father. Even the neighbors complain about it. Just not in front of you or mother,” she revealed, causing Farron to flinch back.

Appearance aside, her personality is very much like Farron’s. Or maybe it’s more like her mother’s?

“Hie hie,” I chuckled as I witnessed this healthy father-daughter relationship. It felt like something was squeezing my heart a bit. “It must be tough having your mother be an adventurer. You must be worried all the time.”

“Rarely.” Farron blurted out without a thought, before drinking some water.

Huh?

“Oh, father meant that mother is really, really strong. She’s an A rank adventurer like him, but she rarely takes on any difficult Quests since she doesn’t want to worry us. Mhmm, in adventurer terms, she doesn’t accept Quests that would take her deep into the wildness, and she sticks to handling problems that affect villages and towns directly.”

That meant she didn’t adventure a lot into ruins or deep into mountains for rare or strong monsters. She was more a protector, a local guardian kinda. She would take on Quests to subjugate a local goblin infestation or a strong monster wandering into the vicinity of a village or town. It meant she wouldn’t risk her life as much, as she would have guaranteed support and reinforcement if she needed it.

“Hmm, come to think of it, Hestia, aren’t your parents worried?” Priscilla suddenly mentioned. “You might have your retainers, but being an adventurer isn’t the safest profession. I heard that rank C Quest you took was quite difficult.”

Her eyes told me she already knew what the high mortality rate of a hunter and mercenary was — she wasn’t ignorant of the truth of being an adventurer. She said her mother was strong, but could it be that she was hiding the fact she was worried for her? Until now, I’ve only been able to get a glimpse of her personality from the surface, where I believed she was a papa’s girl. We mostly talked about the small stuff and work; it wasn’t the same deep discussions I had with Saori, Tasianna, or even Ellaine and Lorena.

“Come now, Priscilla. We brought up your mother, so Hestia’s interest was warranted. We shouldn’t bring up topics she might not want to talk about,” Farron came to my defense. Honestly, I appreciated his support, but his argument wasn’t very convincing, seeing as Priscilla had all right to ask me about my parents if I asked her about her mother.

She wasn’t in the wrong here, but she apologized nevertheless. I waved my hand to stop her, “No, no, it’s ok. If you share stuff about yourself, it should be appropriate for me to do the same. Just… I know my parents are worried. And that’s really all I know.”

I frowned and cast an [Air Shield] around us to block any eavesdropping. “Uhm, this is hard to say, but I’ll have to say it sooner or later anyway. We will be leaving soon.”

“Huh?” Priscilla looked surprised as my statement came out of nowhere, while Farron simply raised an eyebrow.

“Well, my party’s original plan was to stay in Firwood for the winter, and winter is almost over. Even the snow is gone already. Also, Saori has to do something very, very important, so we have business outside Firwood.” Farron seemed to have understood what I meant and nodded, wishing me luck on my travels.

Priscilla looked quite sullen, saying it was hard to lose a friend after just getting to know me, but I quickly soothed her by saying we weren’t leaving just yet. Our party had a few issues left to solve before we could go, but go we must eventually.

As I was almost finished with my curry, I told Farron something I remembered yesterday. “Oh right, I would like to say sorry, as I forgot about it until now.” I looked at Priscilla for a moment, to which Farron signaled it was alright for me to say it. I could trust Farron with this information, however, I wasn’t sure if Priscilla should hear it too. “Well, it’s about the alchemy guild’s master. Davison and what he did yesterday.”

“Hmm?! Wait, Hestia, do you know something about what happened with the building?!”

Farron placed a hand on his agitated daughter’s head to calm her. “Priscilla, please, I will explain everything later. Let her speak first.” She nodded obediently.

“Well, his transformation with those potions, well, I think I’ve seen it somewhere before. When I was traveling through the Belzac forest, I had to fight against a group of trolls. They had a camp set up in the depths of a mountain where they used a Warhammer Mana Cannon to fight against us, and when we finally thought we had defeated the troll shaman, he drank a potion and then stood back up as a scary eldritch monster. I believe it looked similar to Davison’s transformation.” Farron was obviously perturbed by this, not ’cause of the potion, but rather due to the cannon.

So, I continued, “I… I don’t know if this is 100% true, but we managed to meet a group of lizardmen in the forest’s swamp area. According to them, they were slaves captured and brought here through a maritime connection to be used as free labor for a grimgarian army in the southwest. Uhm, over the Avitor mountain range,” I recalled. “We also had an encounter with a bunch of grimgarians, among them goblins, kobolds, orcs, and some ogres, that shot multiple Warhammer mana cannons at us. They were also the reason why we were forced to come to Artorias.”

Farron’s face did not look good. There was a shadow looming over his eyes as he kept silent, staring at me as if I just did something unbelievable. He placed his elbows on the table and began massaging his nose with closed eyes and a deep sigh — telling me he was currently working through the information I gave him.

“This… is bad.” He said after a while.

Priscilla looked at her father with worry, unable to understand what was going on. “F-Father?”

He patted his daughter on the head, forcing a smile as he told her everything was alright. He then returned his focus to me, speaking in a serious tone, “This information was very valuable, to the point I wish you had mentioned it earlier, Hestia. I can finally make sense of the sudden spike in grimgarian related Quests despite it being winter. Priscilla, I’m sorry, but could you pack up the food and bring it to my office? I need to get back to work.”

And just like that, he left as soon as I’d dispelled the [Air Shield]. “I’m… I’m sorry, Priscilla. I didn’t mean to ruin your day with your dad.”

“It’s okay,” she said with a stifled smile. “Father has important work to do as a guild master. He can’t spend much time with me, but I’m just happy that he’s around all the time. Home is never lonely with him. When mother comes back, it’s so loud that I can’t sleep, but I feel so happy that we’re reunited.”

“Ohhhhh myyyyyy jeeeeezzz! You’re so precious!” I couldn’t help myself but give her a big hug. The smell of her perfume intensified. “I am sorry! I’ll make up for this, alright? I’ll visit the guild more often to visit you. I can teach you a few of my own recipes or even a song. Okay?”

“Hie hie, that sounds like fun, Hestia! Yes, please!”

After lunch service was over, I reflected on my unrefined behavior...not. As if I would. It’s not like Manuela or my etiquette teacher was here to scold me, right?

Anyways, after lunch service was over, our party went our separate ways for the rest of the day. Saori and Tasianna were planning on going to the hunter’s guild to change their Main Jobs, then heading over to visit Gael; Saori needed more information about her students, the reason for why we needed to leave soon rather than later. I, on the other hand, went to the temple.

It was about time I gave Aurena another visit, especially now that I had this weird orb I found after the onnikai Quest.