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Chapter 4 – When Hero Meets Villain

"SHE DID WHAT?!"

Entering the Blue Pharmacy's workshop in the morning, Shalltear was greeted by the sight of Naaza hitting Miach on the head, who could only respond by letting out growls of pain.

"Well, it was an accident… And she agreed to help us out for compensation." Miach said.

"Humph. You asked for a payoff for once. You keep on giving away potions to everyone that crosses your path." Naaza said, head shaking in disapproval with her arms crossed.

"I'm sorry." Miach said with a sheepish smile, rubbing the back of his head that still hurt before sitting down at a small table with a sandwich. "Oh. Good morning, Aura! Did you sleep well?" He said when he noticed Shalltear had entered the room.

"Hmm… Yes~."

Naaza turned to Shalltear and sniffed the air slightly before commenting: "You smell like the dungeon."

"Eh?" Shalltear said. She was right in a way. Shalltear did enter the supposedly 'man-made' dungeon from a secret entrance last night, but how could that woman smell it from so far and recognize that it was the dungeon's scent?

"Hahaha. Naaza is a chienthrope. Her sense of smell is stronger than other races." Miach laughed, totally missing the point while Naaza looked rather concerned.

"Have you been in the dungeon? What familia are you in?" The chienthrope spoke out of concern and ignored her god's laugh.

"I don't have a familia… My god is not there anymore…" The silver haired girl looked devastated at admitting this fact.

"So, you went in there with your status outdated. You have a falna at the very least, but you should join a familia with a god that's active."

"No! I owe him too much to just do that~!" The girl looked furious, looking almost to the point that she would kill anyone that choose to press the matter further. Naaza shrugged it off as nothing serious and went out to get the mail.

"Hmm, I could give you a list of drop items I want from the 7th floor if you want to keep on exploring the dungeon." Miach said before taking another bite into his sandwich.

"Mister Miach! She's too young to go in by herself!" Naaza called out as she came back inside with the mail.

"You are right, she does need a party to accompany her." The god said firmly before looking back at the still standing Shalltear. "Anyways, you should eat. There are toasts in the drawer over there" He said, pointing in the direction of a small kitchen area.

"I don't need to ea-"

"Don't be ridiculous, you have to eat something if you want to be in top condition for work." Miach retorted. The god obviously didn't know Shalltear was undead, thus did not require food.

"Sure~." Shalltear complied, seething with anger. She took a toast and bit it in frustration. She really didn't like being bossed around by a god that sealed all of his powers to act weak.

Naaza, oblivious to Shalltear's current behaviour, was looking through some envelopes she got out of the mailbox.

"Wha ar they mbout?" Miach asked with his mouth full.

"Taxes, taxes, more taxes and, oh, there's a letter for you. It has the Ganesha familia emblem on it." Naaza told Miach.

"Wha ghoes it says?"

The chienthrope opened the envelope and read it for herself in silence before saying: "To put it short, it says that you're invited to a party with the other gods in two days from now."

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"Ah, I see. Ganesha wants to entertain the gods before the upcoming monster festival." The god's carefree mood switched to a more excited one in anticipation for the party. Having finished his sandwich, he rose up from the table, beaming.

"You're not going to go, right?" Naaza sent the god a terrifying glare as if daring him to go.

"Ahh. O-Of course not. I have too many things to do…" He said, lowering his head and wiping away his tears of sadness.

Naaza gave an approving nod. She then turned to the silver haired girl in the kitchen.

"I see that you're done eating. Are you ready for work?"

The girl reluctantly nodded. She had, in truth, simply incinerated a toast to the point of not being visible to the naked eye. As far as she knew, dogs did not have enhanced vision so there was nothing to worry about… Well, except for the smell of ashes, but the animal woman didn't seem to comment on it so it was all good for Shalltear.

Miach, whom had recovered from the sad reality that he won't be able to go to the party of the gods, clapped his hand and said: "Very well! I'll let Naaza do the teaching. I must go buy more ingredients for the potions. I'll be back later in the late noon!" He then turned around and left, leaving the two girls alone in the shop.

"He's dumping all the work on me…" Naaza growled.

After a few seconds of silence, she spoke again: "… Then, I guess we should begin?" and then proceeded to walk to the door that led to the main shop. She turned her head to look at Shalltear, who had not moved yet and said: "Come on."

Shalltear reluctantly followed and entered the main area of the shop from the back and followed the chienthrope all the way to the counter at the front.

"We'll simply be going over the basics for how to run the shop. Making potions may be a little too hard for you at the moment, so leave that to us." She began. She then went on to explain things about the shop such as: how to talk to customers, what each item does, how to handle the customer's money, etc.

After about half an hour of formation, the bells from the front door jingled to announce the first customer of the day.

"Welcome to the Blue Pharmacy." Shalltear greeted the customer, behind the counter at the front of the shop. The customer was wearing a shoulder plates and a breast plate along with a sword attached to his belt. His face was covered with scars and he had an eyepatch. The man was most likely a hardened dungeon veteran.

"Mornin'." He greeted Shalltear with a gruff voice and his sole eye opening slightly in surprise. Shalltear guessed that the man was either surprised in seeing a new employee or was merely mesmerized by her above-the-divine beauty. Perhaps even both.

Following what Naaza taught her, Shalltear continued, though not without a slight stutter of embarrassment at the words she was about to say to a lower being. "W-What can I do for you?". Shalltear couldn't help but be infuriated at what she was currently forced to do. This had to be the worst day in her entire life!

"I need potions, obviously. Where's Miss Erisuis?" The man replied and asked to see someone whom Shalltear supposed was Naaza's last name. She pointed further in the back at the chienthrope making some sort of medicinal potion.

The man nodded and approached the woman from behind, greeting her with a quick, but loud "Hello!"

Naaza jumped with a small yelp of surprise and the man laughed at her reaction. "Oh, Mister Elton. Please do not do that again… I suppose you require more physical healing potions, slightly diluted, for your trips in the dungeon? Didn't you already buy those from us a few days ago?"

"Correct, but you know, we've heard some terrible rumors about a monster that went on a rampage yesterday on the upper floors along with a minotaur party. It would seem that it killed over forty adventurers."

"Oh. That's awful…"

"Yea, it is. Although the death count may be an exaggeration… Who knows?" He shrugged and then went on. "They say the guild gave a heavy fine to the Loki familia. It was apparently their fault for scaring em' off on the middle floors and that they've dealt with them already, but you never know if one or two minotaurs were left out, so we'll be a little more cautious in today's trip."

"That's good. Better be cautious than to injure yourselves or even die from it." Naaza gave an approving nod before opening the cabinet that held potions and picked up a small bag. "How many?" She asked the man.

"Four will be enough. Thank you." He said as he picked up the small bag that contained the potions and made his way back to the counter near the entrance where Shalltear waited impatiently.

"I'm back. Here you go. These are slightly diluted potions." He told Shalltear as he placed the bag on the counter.

'If I can recall correctly, slightly diluted potions cost 240 valis each, so times four equals-ahhhh! I don't know! Math is too complicated… I'll have to resort to underhanded tactics.'

"240 valis each." Shalltear said with a smile, satisfied with her answer that saved her from solving the equation.

The man grins and places the money on the counter. "Here you go, new girl!" He exclaimed merrily and exited the shop after waving Naaza goodbye.

After that, Naaza walked over to the counter with a smile. "You did well for your first customer. And it was the first time I've seen you smile. You should do it more often."

Shalltear wasn't certain about what to say… That smile was simply her being proud of herself for using her brains instead of having to do difficult math. It didn't have anything to do with the customer. Why would she want to smile to lower life-forms? That just didn't make any sense and she really hated her job.

The vampire sighed.

This was going to be a very long day…