“Delphie, Hei, and what’s this, even young Eli has returned!” The portly shopkeeper, Midas, calls out enthusiastically from behind the corner of his shop. It seems that there is no one inside at the moment. “Those bloody Fallen have scared away all my business. I hope the Young Miss of the Roses can keep them in line next time!”

“Haha…Sophie’s doing her best.” Delphie replies awkwardly, her kaleidoscope eyes turning worried as she gazes around the empty shop. “Midas, is this really okay? People are only scared because they know I visit this shop sometimes. Are you sure we should be coming here?” Even though it was her idea in the first place, suddenly the Nephilim girl doesn’t seem so sure.

“Please, true talent always comes through. No one else sells lichen noodles like me! Have no fear, your mother’s support was what got me this shop in the first place. I’m not going to lose it over something so trivial as a few missed days of business.” Midas continues to grin while fiddling with something behind the counter. “The usual orders? Three classic black lichen noodle soups? Ah, four, I forgot you’ll need one for Young Miss Sophie as well. Hey, how’s this, I got something new today. I’ll include a free sample to spice up your order! Let me know if you think I should make it part of the main menu!”

The shop owner busies himself cooking and after returning from the kitchen with a bunch of brown paper bags, he shoos us out of the store.

“Thank you, Uncle Midas!” Delphie replies and Eli and I nod. I reach into my pocket for the System Coins to pay for our order, but the usually reserved Nephilim noble suddenly grows steely-eyed. “No way, Hei! You paid way too much last time! I just got some System Coins from killing those goblins so let me pay this time!”

“Um, if you’re sure. But I don’t really have money troubles…” I return the System Coins to the System and feel their weight disappear from my pocket. Delphie sheepishly counts out the proper amount, and while she seems proud to pay on her own, I swear I see tears building in the corner of her eye. Jesus, how bad is her family’s debt if this much makes her cry?

“See you next time!”

We head off to Sophie’s lair. I let the Exiled Prince and Delphie guide me back to the ghetto while I keep a quiet lookout for assassins. However, our passage is uneventful and when we get back inside to the living room, I immediately plop myself down in my favorite chair.

*Crackle Crackle*

The brown takeout bags crunch as we open them up. Delphie glances around the empty living room, but it’s only the three of us and the Nethergulpers for now.

“Should we wait for Sophie?” She asks. However, I’m already wolfing down my share of Midas’s noodles with a vengeance. Seeing how hungry I am, Delphie has no choice but to smile and begin to do up her hair again. Eli also doesn’t hold back and begins to chow down. The man has been rather quiet since seeing my ability and I can only wonder what he’s thinking in that mind of his. “Alright, I guess we’ll have to start early since Hei’s still recovering!”

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“Hehe!” I search around in the bag for a napkin when a small teabag-like packet falls out. “What’s this? Oh, it must be the new ingredient Midas was talking about!” Examining it, I rip open the top and find something resembling bonito flakes inside. “Huh, it smells kinda good…”

“Oh…” Delphie sees the packet in my hands and after a whiff, grimaces. “That smells terrible.”

“Wow, agreed! These are awful!” Eli also shakes his short black and violet hair back and forth. He holds out his free sample. “You want mine?”

Huh, I guess the Nephilim don’t like it.

After taking a taste, my eyes widen.

Delicious! It really is like dried fish!

“Hell yea, this will go great with the soup!” Taking all of their packets, I’m dumping the flakes inside my bowl when Sophie walks into the room. Instantly, she freezes.

“Ugh…that smell, did one of my fish die?” She peers over with a frown wrinkling her face. Upon seeing the contents of my bowl, she smirks. “Got Midas’s noodles again, huh?”

“Yup.” I spoon up all the rapidly expanding fish flakes with some broth and suck it down. “We should go again tomorrow, after leveling!”

“Ahh, Hei, about that.” Suddenly Eli interjects. He raises a hand. “Sorry to bring this up over dinner, but seeing that you’ve gained a few levels, I was actually wondering if you’d be down to go pay Taer a visit tomorrow instead?”

“Oh?” The two Nephilim girls and myself all look at him curiously.

“Well, I was thinking, seeing how strong your ability was on that goblin, that it will probably be enough to punish Taer now that you’ve leveled a bit. We don’t actually want to kill him after all, right Delphie? If Hei were to gain any more levels, Taer, who undoubtably has a low Spirit Stat, might not survive…” The Exiled Prince reasons and I have to admit I’m surprised. I thought he would be interested in really giving it to Delphie’s brother. But maybe I misjudged him. Perhaps he’s more tolerant than I thought?

“Heh…Eli has a point. Sorry, Delphie, but your brother’s mental fortitude is probably rock bottom. I have no idea how you two came from the same womb.” Sophie plops herself down on the couch between Delphie and Eli once again, and picks up her package of noodles. Despite her jokes, I notice that she is just as eager to eat Midas’s noodles as us. However, when she opens the bag and sees the free sample packet inside, she freezes. “This…”

“What’s wrong, Soph?” Delphie leans in to see what she’s so worked up about. A second later, she also freezes. “Oh…I didn’t know that’s what they were. My bad…I’ll tell Midas not to include them anymore.”

“No…it’s fine. Hei, you actually enjoy this?” Sophie’s expression is a little stiff as she holds up a packet of the bonito-flake like stuff. “You want mine?” To this, I hold out my hand. She tosses the packet directly onto it with a dry chuckle. “Surface people really have strange taste.”

“What is it?” I look the packet over closely, and see handwritten text in the corner which wasn’t on the other packets. It seemed Midas only decided to label one. Oops! “Damn…it was dried Nethergulper Fish? My bad! I didn’t know!”

Awkwardly I look at all the koi ponds around us. The pale white fish seem to be staring accusingly at me with their multicolored eyes. The daughter of the Roses just shrugs and waves me off.

“It’s fine, if you like it. They’re just fish anyway. It’s our nature to eat each other. Though honestly, it really does smell disgusting, you actually like it?” She stares at my bowl curiously and now it’s my turn to shrug.

“On the surface, we have something similar. It kind of reminds me of before the System came.” I reply while draining the last of my soup. “So, Eli, tomorrow, you want to punish Taer? I’m down to give it a go if you guys can get me close to him. But keep in mind, I can only use the ability once right now, so don’t expect much.”

“That’s fine. Delphie and I will plan it out tonight. Get some rest, tomorrow we’ll teach him a lesson!”