"Ahem... I uhh, I will wait for you downstairs, I trust that by then you'll have decided which we'll do first." Mattheus says while throwing on his shirt and pants.
Only a shy "Uhuh." could be heard from underneath the blanket as Mattheus closes the room door behind him. However, as soon as he lets go of the doorknob, he makes a short silent victory celebration of throwing his fists as far up as he could without hitting the ceiling as well as elbowing the air behind him a couple of times before going back to acting like nothing happened.
After taking a quick look around and confirming that nobody saw what he just did, he then continues to make his way downstairs to wait for Elena.
Coming down the stairs he notices that the inn is much livelier now than it was last evening when the two arrived.
Closing in on the last few steps while looking for a free seat, Mattheus sees a convenient spot right at the base of the stairs where it would be impossible for anyone coming down to miss him.
Not long after sitting down, the inn goes quiet. The only sounds that remained were a couple coughs, some chairs creaking, those not in on it asking what's going on and the sounds of most of the groups sitting at their tables whispering among themselves.
Confused by this sudden change, Mattheus looks around, trying to focus on what is being said, however, he is only able to make out what the loudest among the crowd are saying.
"Oi... tha's im." 1
"Fuhk me, ees uge." 2
"He's look'n here." 3
"Shut up, he'll hear us!" 4
"...Well? You gon do it?" 3
"N-no, are you crazy?" 4
"Me iit'er." 1
"Yeah, he looks strong." 4
"...Don look a me, you go." 2
"bing!"
Mattheus raises an eyebrow and checks the notification since he doesn't really have anything else to do at the moment, though he is still slightly curious as to what the locals were planning even if it doesn't seem like it will be a problem right now.
(Gained knack: Intimidation I,
Gained knack: Presence Release I,
Awww, thanks guys, you shouldn't have!)
Right after closing the notification screen, a moody brat that barely looks fourteen gets up from his seat at the back of the inn and angrily stomps up to the giant stranger.
"What'd you do to big sis!?"
Turning to look at the angry kid, the man, kind of understanding what's going on now, decides to humor the kid. "...What big sis?"
"What did you do to Elena!"
"A deal?? Why..."
"What deal!"
"Well, uhh, short stuff, I don't see how that is any of your business."
"It is!"
"How though."
"Huh?"
"Why's it any of your business."
"...B-because it just is!"
"So you think you have the right to know someone's personal business just because, what, you're worried?"
"That's right!"
"Oh so..." (Actually you know what, might as well do this now to outright block any further annoyances.) Mattheus looks up at the silent crowd staring at him with disdain and loudly announces to the crowd.
"So! you fuckers think you're so worried about Elena that you deserve to know things, that as far as I know, aren't any of your fucking business. You're sooo worried, that you won't come up to check and maybe kick the door down, in order to make sure whatever your fucked minds cooked up isn't what's really going on. Instead, you kick back, relax, grab a couple of drinks with all your buddies and let whatever pass, pass, while waiting together to finally have a chance to publicly humiliate someone you've never seen before, all for your oh-so-precious big sis who you won't go upstairs for, even when you think shady shit's going down. Not only that, you can't even do the humiliation part correctly and instead some kid has to try and do it for you. Self-righteous, incapable namby-pambies!"
"..."
Everyone is quiet, even the ones who were grunting and loudly deprecating at being called fuckers in the beginning, were now silently reflecting on what Mattheus said, looking around for anyone to be able to refute what he'd said, but everyone was at a loss.
"That's unfair!" The kid finally announces as the first to break the silence.
"Life is, kid." Mattheus says as he roughly yet kindly ruffles the brat's hair.
Walking down the stairs, only having heard bits and pieces of the commotion, Elena asks. "Uhh...what's going on here?"
To which she gets a hasty reply from the brat "What'd he do!? Is he blackmailing you? If so I-"
"No one is blackmailing anybody."
"but-"
"Shhht! Thanks Ron, but everything's fine, Mattheus." she makes a gesture with her head that tells to follow her.
"Ahhhh, well, Ron, till next time." Mattheus says as he stands up and as a final jab, he smirks at the brave brat when he walks out of the quieted inn behind Elena.
Mattheus follows Elena through the town to a tiny shop that is attached to a small warehouse near where the guild building is. Going in, the two are greeted by an older man way too cheery for someone doing monster butchery for a living.
"Welcome to Slice & Dice, what do you need dismantled?"
Elena responds to this question by blankly staring at Mattheus who is preoccupied with admiring the framed long machete-like cleaver above the counter desk, thus barely hearing the question. Mattheus's oblivious gaze moves to meet Elena's when he noticed the silence.
"hm? Oh, right, uuh, nine goblins, an ork and a fist-sized ugly bug."
"Allrighty, will you be selling the materials to us?"
This time it was Mattheus's turn to respond by blankly staring at Elena but she catches on in no time at all when the man turned to stare at her.
"Everything but the magic stones."
"You got it, follow me."
The two follow the man through the side door which leads into the warehouse part of the shop, there the man assigns the two a sufficient space in the far end corner and tells them to drop off the wares there and the workers there will begin the dismantling process when it comes to be their turn, this means it will take a couple hours before the workers get to their space and another hour or so for them to be finished with it.
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
Once the older man had left the two be, Mattheus aligned the monsters into two neat rows on the space of slightly elevated wooden ground with small carved lines through which blood can flow that was assigned to them, he even placed the parts and pieces of the decimated bug to where they would be if they were still attached. Then the two left to go get some breakfast and wait for the work to be finished.
Elena leads Mattheus to a modest eatery not too far from Slice & Dice. There they decide to take their breakfast to the outdoor benches since it's a good place to eat and talk during a cloudless day such as this. Sitting down, Mattheus opens the conversation with a question that's been bothering him for a while now.
"So uuhhh...I saw a REALLY fucking huge bird, a roc, back in the forest a few days ago...is that like a, should I-, Should we be worried?
"Ohh yeahh? I guess it's about time for that already."
"...?...And?"
"Uhmm, well, the capital and some other bigger cities own rocs that they send out to known field dungeon locations twice a year where their job is to rid or scatter the area of any bigger gatherings of monsters and to take out the leading monsters of such gatherings, that way most if not all dungeon breaks are effectively prevented..."
"Uhhhuh."
"looking at how on edge you were about it, I bet you nearly shat yourself when you saw it, Hahahaha."
(Please don't talk to me about shitting myself, I'd really like to forget the day before yesterday.) "A-ahahah...it, it was close yeah...by the way...what's a dungeon break?"
"Figure it out, genius."
"Ahaha...I see...hey, umm, then what was that big sis stuff about?"
"...Ohh boy...haaahh...it's embarrassing, don't wanna talk about it."
"OK."
"...? Really?"
"Yup."
"..."
"..."
"Well if you must know-"
"I don't."
"Argh, it's because I can't get any stronger!"
"...uhuh, yeah, I don't follow."
"...B-because I can't get stronger, I've been stuck at F-rank for...ten years now...making me the most senior adventurer in town since everyone who reaches E-rank usually leaves town soon after in pursuit of higher ranks..."
"So that makes you like the mentor of all adventurers in town hence the big sis title."
"Pretty much."
"Huh, Good to know, I'll be counting on you to show me the ropes then."
"What?"
"What?"
"You're becoming an adventurer?"
"Well, I'm not really skilled at anything so I kinda have no other option, besides, learning how to fight seems like a good enough perk to me."
"Nonono, wait, if you're only learning to fight, does that mean you cleared something that an E-rank died trying to clear with no prior experience whatsoever?"
"I...guess?"
"That's...possible?"
"Well what can I say. I'm a natural?"
"...Way to destroy my confidence."
"How so?"
"Didn't I just tell you?"
"All I heard was some whining about how you progress slower than everyone else."
"Wh- you prick!"
"What, it's not like you don't make any progress right? In a world like this, especially in this line of work, you'd have to literally be inert to not make any sort of progress. So what if you're not as overhasty as the others, that just means you'll live longer."
"..."
"...yeahh..."
"..."
"After we're done here, wanna show me around town as a way to kill time?
"...sure..."
"...But wow...ten years, huuh...wait, how old-"
"Wanna die?!"
And so the hours flew by like nothing, while Elena showed Mattheus around town.
Getting back to the butcher shop, the two were greeted by the same cashier. "Heyyy, nice work with the {Night Assassin Beetle}, Rarely do we get those with their core or poison glands intact, shame about the stinger though. Everyone always just completely obliterates any traces of them when they spot one."
"Uuuh, tha-" interrupting Mattheus in his exhilaration, the cashier continues.
"Can't blame em though..nasty little buggers, if you were to be stung by one, you'd most certainly die from it, and if by some miracle you survive, you'd be in intense pain for weeks even with the antidote."
"Y-yeah, I know, it hurt like a motherfucker, but what do you mean by weeks, is the pain going to come back?"
Dumbfounded, both Elena and the cashier just blankly stare at Matthias for a few seconds...
"Hahah, ya got jokes kid!"
"Ahahah, I'm dead serious though."
"..."
"I was stung by it a few days ago and it was three hours of pure hell, s-seriously that pain won't come back right? Right?"
"..."
After an even longer moment of silent staring, Mattheus pulls his right hand out of his shirt and lifts the shirt enough for the puncture mark on his right shoulder to be visible, then he points towards it with his left hand, clearing all doubts about what he'd claimed.
"Whoah, Holy shit kid, it really did sting you, you ok?"
"Yeahyeahyeah, fuck, just tell me, the pain won't come back, will it... Will it?" Towards the end of his sentence, Mattheus begins to lightly tremble at the thought as his eyes slightly water up.
"Uh, no it won't come back once gone, but...how long did you say it took for the pain to subside?"
"Three Hours, ah, actually maybe longer? I was only conscious for the three hours."
"...You got one helluva body... to be able to fight off that things sting in just three hours..." The cashier looks Mattheus up & down, thinking. "You related to giants?"
"Um, no?"
"Then some other-"
"Not that I know of, no."
"Then how did you-?"
Elena, finally breaking out of her daze, intervenes. "C-could you give us our money now, please?"
"Uh, yes, sorry, here you are." the cashier places 8 copper tags that are tied together by a thin piece of rope going through a hole at the top of the tags and 5 separate copper coins on the counter.
"That will be 64 copper for the goblins, 15 copper for the ork and 21 copper for the beetle which is 100 coppers total, minus the 15% Butchery fee, which comes to 85 coppers."
(Nice, oh wait, the lizard and stuff)
"Oh hey, uuh, do you also buy monster materials here?"
"Yes, what is it you're selling?"
"Bones, feathers, claws, teeth, a beak, and some lizard skin."
"Alright, let me inspect the wares."
"Yes, ah, I'll be back in a sec."
Mattheus, thinking smart, takes a short trip outside and pretends that he was getting the items even though he was just pulling them out of his inventory.
After a few minutes, he goes back in with everything in hand.
"Hm? Is that a {Black Scaled Acid Lizard}'s Skin?"
"Ahh, maybe? You're the expert."
"Ohohooo, it's from a bloodshot one and mostly undamaged as well, this is rare."
"Yeah, of course it is. Ahem, I tried my best to not damage it when pulling it off."
The Cashier then goes over all the bones and jokingly says. "You gonna try telling me that you also ate these too?"
"Why, something wrong?"
The cashier makes the calculations and starts pressing coins on the counter and adding tags to the rope with the others and explains at the same time.
"Because, a {Leech Parrot}'s flesh is, despite how it looks, mostly inedible since they like to scrub themselves against {Herb Poison Birch Trees}'s and a {Poison Spot Toad}'s meat always causes food poisoning unless you prepare it perfectly with a special technique...that will be 43 copper for all the bones, claws & teeth, 1,4 copper for the feathers & beak and a 114 copper for the lizard skin for a total of 158,4 copper."
Elena, once more dumbfounded, stares at Mattheus without him noticing and while Mattheus grabs the coins off the counter he answers.
"Yeah, it was a real nightmare having to deal with both at the same time as the sting." this leaves the cashier speechless as the two leave the shop with their money.
Outside, Mattheus hands over the coins to Elena, though she
"I can't take all that, that is nearly two months of pay!"
"Hm? I did promise you though, you sure?"
"Yes!"
"...Well, alrighty then, how about this." Mattheus stores all the coins and only hands the 13 copper tags to Elena.
"That's still-!"
"You're not allowed to say no this time, also I'm not sure it's such a good idea to be announcing the fact that we have lots of money on us that loudly."
"Ah, right, well, ok then."
"Aand now we're even, thanks for the kindness you've shown me...oh and as a last favor, would you mind showing the way to the adventurers...association? Once more...I uhh, forgot."
"You mean the Adventurers guild?"
"Yeah, that's the one."
"Well, I was going to head there now anyways, so feel free to tag along."
And that's how they ended up here in front of the guild.
"Thanks, now I know where to go when I run out of money...oh right, here are the magic stones I still had, I hope you don't mind me keeping the lizards and the Beetles magic stones."
"No, yeah, that's fine, I only really need the magic stones from the goblins since those are what's appraised when proving monster eliminations and just so you know, you can only buy & sell magic stones at the adventurer's or the merchant's guilds unless you have a permit from the merchant's guild to do so elsewhere...oh and registering as an adventurer costs a few copper coins."
"Alright, thanks, see you around!" Mattheus says as he turns to leave.
"You too, hey, is what you said at Slice & Dice really true?"
Mattheus turns around and does his best to give a charismatic sly smile at Elena after saying. "Every word."
Mattheus starts making his way towards the gates wanting to explore more, while Elena goes into the guild and to the reception.
"Ohh, Elena, welcome...back...I see..." the receptionist is saddened by the sight of Tom's guild sheet which Elena held in her hands.
"I'm...sorry for not bringing it in right away yesterday...I...just couldn't bring myself to do so when his family was here asking where he was...I...I didn't even know he had a daughter..."
"It's alright...but, how come you don't look sad, you worked with him the most over the course of the past two years since he joined...and he just joined your party not too long ago as well."
"I wonder about that...I uhh, met this really promising guy that'll be a wonderful addition to the guild, but...I don't know...I've only really known him for a few hours but I feel like I've known him for as long as I can remember, you know...like I can just trust him with anything and just talking with him for a while...kind of like, flushed out so much of the sadness I felt...I don't know...there's just something about him...was it his handsome face, sexy body & intimidating eyes, or his calm, silly & kind yet somehow firm & adorable personality...You know what I mean Kathyrin?"
"...Sounds like someone's in love."
Right after hearing that without having any time to process what Kathyrin said, someone calls out to Elena from behind her.
"Hey, Elena..."
"Oh? Thorne? What's wrong?" Elena asks out of instinct and habit, her head empty and still not quite caught up to the present.
"The crew and I, uhh, we're sorry for...pissing off your boyfriend this morning."
"..."
"..."
With her brain catching up and these two sentences landing in place at once, overwhelming her thoughts as red starts shining in her face, the only response Elena could give is a simple.
"...Eh?"