The rewards I received from the boss were much better than usual, not only did I get Karmish’s gear but I also got loot from the Guardian Hound.

{Guardian Hound Monster Core}

{Guardian Hounds Hide}

There’s a lot here that Arga could work on, I should get this to her as soon as I see her. Upgrading our gear should make us even stronger, I might even need to get new weapons soon.

I looked down at Agos and Belos, the two blades that hung from my waist’s sheaths and grinned. I became attached to them over the last month, I considered them members of our party.

“Maybe I don’t have to get rid of them, I’ll just ask Arga to fix ‘em up.”

Now that we’ve all grown stronger, what’s the next step? Ilinore and the demons won’t rest until they have whatever they’re after. I wonder what I should do, it’s not like I can tell them what I saw.

“Sigh…”

I just wish I had some idea what they’re planning…

Silvy emerged from the backroom with a tray of food and drinks, my eyes immediately followed her movements to my table. I was starving, I was worried my growling stomach would disrupt the other customers.

“Here you go, your delicious pasta and tea–!!!”

Her foot slipped and the tray flew up into the air, it cleared quite the height before falling back down. I jumped up from my seat and in one motion, caught her by her backside as well as the tray.

Everything moved so slowly that it was quite easy to catch it all. I guided the tray into the path of the falling food bowl and utensils and it landed neatly. Silvy’s eyes lit up with a starry expression as everything landed in perfect condition on the tray.

She looked at me like I was some kind of superhero, her mouth looked like she wanted to speak but nothing came out. The only sound to escape her mouth was a cute expression of her amazement.

“Woooow…”

Suddenly her expression straightened out again as if she realised she hadn’t said anything yet,

“Th-thank you, that was really cool.”

She smelt so good, her perfume graced my nose with the pleasant aroma of melted caramel. I followed the scent and looked down, it was then that I noticed just how close we were. I had my arm wrapped around her but she was right up against me.

Her cleavage shot out at me when I looked down, the subtle glint of the ceiling lights reflected off her smooth milky skin.

“U-uh, you’re welcome…”

I pulled myself away from her before it was too late, I didn’t want anything…popping out at her while we were pressed against one another.

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I handed her the tray and sat down again, my face burnt up immediately. I looked down at the table because I couldn’t face her, whenever I saw her I thought back at the voluptuous sight I just had.

It was a good thing I made it to my seat, there was no way I’d be able to stand in the condition I was in…

She unpacked my meal out onto the table with a forced smile, her face looked as red as mine. I wanted to apologise but I thought that might make it worse. I needed to do something though.

“So why did you choose to work as a waitress?”

“...?!”

My question caught her by surprise, she looked at me with eyes of bewilderment. I feared I might have said something wrong but suddenly she played along.

“Seeing people’s smiles… I like being around people when they’re not too serios.” She smiled.

“You seem like a very warm person, Silvy.”

Her smile deepened and took a curly wriggled shape as she blushed even more.

“Sorry about…all of that from before. I wasn’t trying to do anything weird, I just didn’t want you to fall again.”

The crimson hue in her cheeks spread across her face, no matter what I said it only made it worse. I couldn’t get a read on her, I wasn’t sure if I was making her happy or embarrassed. It felt like a strange combination of the two.

“Again?!” She yelped.

“Earlier. I saw you fall when I came in.”

I pointed at the table with smiling men and she blushed even more. She covered her face with the tray and dropped into a crouching position.

After a few moments crouched, she collected herself with a deep breath and stepped away from the table. She still couldn’t look me in the eye but I could understand why, I would have been the same.

I chose an easy question so that she could open up and relax a bit but it looked like it had the opposite effect. She was way too embarrassed to even look at me anymore.

“I’m sorry, I have to get back to work. I’m thankful for you saving me back there so…s-so if you’d like…I’d like to treat you to a meal. This one’s on the house.”

“Really?! That’s great, thank you–”

My body reacted to a menacing aura, I nearly jumped out of my seat because of it.

Is there a monster? Did something escape from the Tower, is it an enemy…?!

Silvy saw it too, her body trembled on the spot. I followed her eyes across the room to the glowing red aura that surrounded Miss Serin. She glared daggers at Silvy, it was the look of pure death.

“When I said, on the house, I obviously meant at full price…y-yeah, definitely not free!”

She quickly adjusted her words in response to the overwhelming pressure from across the room. Her response seemed to calm Miss Serin down and she could finally breathe again.

So Miss Serin caused that menacing presence? That’s scarier than fighting a dungeon boss…I better remember not to piss her off.

“I better get back to work, I’ll see you around!”

***

After polishing off my food and drinks, Miss Serin came past with another round of everything. A couple of hours had flown by, I realised I had spent quite the sum afterwards…

I walked out of there with the feeling that I had just gotten scammed somehow. Luckily all that food managed to silence my belly and I could focus on the bigger issue.

I stood in front of a large gate, behind it was a courtyard and pearly steps. Adventurers dressed in knight armour approached from inside the property. They wore the insignia of the Shared Sword guild, a crest of two swords crossed over a city.

Gulp!

I mustered up the courage, they were adventurers but nothing like me. They belonged to the number one guild in the city, so I had to make a good first impression.

I worried that if I came off too timid they would have dismissed me right at the gate. I needed to be confident, if not then they wouldn’t have let me through.

“Ahem! My name is Rei Alos, take me to your leader!”