Walking to the cart, I place a bundle of scrolls in it. Sighing as I glance up at the night sky. We were currently finishing up searching for loot at the centre of the city. Tessa sat in the air with her eyes closed. Every now and then a beam of silver could be seen somewhere in the city, indicating she had killed a monster. At first I had wondered why she was helping us like this since most of the time we would be left to fend for ourselves and her explanation revealed more mysteries.

“You know how we’re in a dungeon, technically, at the moment? Six powerful people fighting in such a low level dungeon will cause problems within that dungeon to arise. We don’t understand how dungeons work, especially external dungeons and labyrinths, but when forces on our level fight in a low level dungeon like this, it can cause…oddities. It won’t happen right away, but as the lingering power and Divinity used in the fights settles then it’ll cause this place to become…complicated. After this, it is likely for Zalus to become a Forbidden Zone not only to the Guild but all. It’ll probably become an Omega Class zone.”

“Omega Class?”

“Mm, think of it as the step before Demigod, which is also known as Zeta Class. Basically the Pathways can be made up of six different levels, or classes, of power. You have Delta, which is when you first start your Path. Then from there you have Beta, Alpha, Epsilon, Omega and finally Zeta. For example, your Master, Alexander, is between Beta and Alpha Class. Since I failed to become a Demigod, I’m in between Omega and Zeta. Finally, Getsuna is in the Zeta class. Once you enter that realm of power, there are more levels. The System only uses this for dungeons and other locations it informs others on, so over time people started to slowly build definitions and it’s very accurate now. Remember, a lot of Pathways don’t have levels or their levels are different, like mine, so we use a universal measurement.”

“What would The Blade be?”

“Demigod refers to those who have stepped into Zeta Class and also awakened their Divinity. However, others can step into the Zeta Class even without a Divinity, depending on their Pathway. Divinity is used to rise to Godhood, but it isn’t the only method to obtain strength on the level of a God. It’s all complicated past Demigod and my knowledge is near non-existent. Anyway, The Blade would be in Zeta Class without a Divinity, but to scale his strength you’d need to know the rankings of Demigods, which I don’t know. I just know he is slightly higher than Getsuna.”

I sigh and lean against the cart, the conversation from earlier today leaving my mind. While we had been working to search for anything good, our hearts really were not in it. The atmosphere around everyone had become depressing, myself included. My mind kept falling back to the other day, the moment when Bloom and Amelia died kept playing in my mind. Even the prospect of fighting didn’t excite me.

“Are you ok?”

Olivia walks over and leans against the cart with me, her eyes worried. She’d taken it harder than I thought she would when we told her what happened. She had been worrying over Elizabeth and I since, and this isn’t the first time nor will it be the last time that she has approached me. Smiling softly at her, I turn back to look at the night sky.

“I’m fine, Olivia. I just need to focus on something else for a little bit. I think I’ll work on cooking and gardening when we return to Vale, maybe look at opening that restaurant that Bloom and Amelia had suggested as well.” They hadn’t been the only ones to do so, but they were among the first.

“That sounds nice. I’ll help you out as well, though I don’t know anything about opening a restaurant.”

“I don’t either, guess we’ll have to learn.” Sharing a small laugh with Olivia, I get up from the cart. “I’ll get back to it. Thank you, Olivia.”

“Mm, stay safe. I don’t want to lose you again.”

***

Pulling the cart out of Zalus as we left the labyrinth, we walked in silence as we made our way back to the houses in the hunting zone. There, we would rest for a day or two, pack our belongings before heading back to Vale. We slowly return, and after a day of rest, we head off back towards Vale. Tessa would join us until we were a day from Vale before also leaving, she had recovered enough to Travel herself, but she said she wanted to head south from Vale.

“I heard there is a giant natural garden down south, past a fairly dangerous mountain range that I want to explore and see if it’s a good place to spend some time to relax. I won’t be able to keep tabs on you Alisha, so make sure you grow strong, ok? I don’t know when we’ll see each other again. Once you’ve had some time to yourself, maybe you should look at conquering the Tomb of Lilith?” Saying this, Tessa gives us a soft smile before walking into the distance as she fades into a silver light. “Take care, all of you.”

We watch Tessa fade away before turning back to Vale. We had managed to fill both carts and several house-size dimensional bags. At first I had been worried about pulling the carts, but I found it easy. I hadn’t had to put as much effort into it as I thought. Looking at my Stats, I guessed it was due to my recent growth that had suddenly exploded since we first headed to the hunting zone. Unexpectedly I managed fine when it came to controlling my strength and figured it was due to the training I had gone through, especially with Refined Muscle Control, which sat at 78%, which according to Tael and Halone is excellent.

We drag the carts to a location the Guild used to collect them, separate from the Guild itself. The employees there told us that everything including what had been brought back from them collecting our carts before were being calculated and sorted and that we could go to the Guild in a few days to collect our money as it would be divided equally amongst us.

Afterwards, we separated ways. Xeno wanted to head home to spend time with his husband, saying that this expedition had made him realise how thankful he was to him. Summer planned to head to some hot springs before analysing everything that had happened, telling us that she’d break everything down so we could learn how to improve. Aubrey too wanted to take a few days to herself and planned to head into a dungeon after. I offered to come along with her, but she said she wanted to do it with her own power.

Elizabeth surprised me the most. On our way home, she brought up a conversation.

“Alisha, I’ve been thinking for a while about finding a house to live in. Not to say I don’t enjoy living with everyone, I just want to get out of your hair. I’ll still be ready to help you any time as I promised you all that time ago. I just want to live out my dream of having a big, fancy home, you know?” Seeing Elizabeth’s smile I just shook my head with a smile of my own.

“I don’t mind Elizabeth, I don’t even remember that promise, nor would I hold you to it. It’s not like you’re leaving the city, but come over sometime alright?”

Laughing, Elizabeth gave me a half hug. “Of course! I’ll miss your cooking the most. I remember when the most we ate was dried or smoked meat. I quite enjoyed those days.”

Elizabeth separates from us, heading towards a courthouse in another district. Apparently she had found a house she really wanted to buy, one that had a small pond outside.

“I think I’ll look for a new house as well, it’s getting rather cramped in our house isn’t it?” Turning to Xia, mainly to make conversation as we arrived, Xia gave me a light smile. She had relaxed a lot since Zalus, being more expressive and had been spending time with Summer and Xeno, both of whom she considered friends now. She’d also stopped referring to those I was close to as “Mister” or “Madam”, saying it didn’t feel right to call those she also considered friends with those terms.

“It’ll be a good idea, Alisha. Would you like me to look for a plot of land? It’ll be easier to build a new house as opposed to buying an existing one. We can plan the rooms, get an underground training hall, have a large amount of land for your gardening and so much more. I’m afraid if we continue building here we’ll run out of space very quickly. In fact, I believe Olivia’s room to be the last one we can realistically add.”

Images flashed in mind of a large and grand kitchen to work in, or a big room with a massive bed, or a hot spring where we could all relax. Even the thought of a large garden had me excited. I did have all of those seeds from the fruits we found in the hunting zone and the chest of well preserved seeds from Zalus.

“Sure! We’ll find out how much we get first from the Guild and then I’ll get you to look. While you do that, I’ll work on getting a restaurant going, maybe we could build it on the same plot of land?”

Xia thought for a moment. “That is a good idea. I don’t know anything about starting a business, perhaps Elise knows?”

“Mm, I plan to go see her tomorrow. Roland mentioned he would deliver information about starting businesses and plots of lands as well, so I want to collect that. There is also the soulbound knife he mentioned so I inte-”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

At that moment, the System gave me a quest.

You have received a quest from Gastron.

Open your new restaurant and serve your new customers with the following food:

20x Heartily Stuffed Eggs

20x Monster Mash Soup

40x Various Stat Increasing Food

You will be rewarded with the following for completing this task:

1x Recipe Scroll

1x Guide to Meat Collection

200x ‘Gastron Points’

“What on earth are ‘Gastron Points’?” Muttering this with some confusion, Xia tilted her head…making me sigh. She picked up on the habit too? I explained the quest, which only further confused her.

“Perhaps you should consult with Roland?” Olivia spoke as we settled in the lounge room. Coffee and Alice went to play in another room, making me further consider having a large plot of land for them to be able to play on.

“I do need to meet with him to pick up the knife. Argh, I have a lot to do.”

Xia giggled, and turning to her with a bit of surprise she quickly stopped even though the smile lingered.

“Perhaps you could write everything down? It will make it easier to keep track of.” Understanding why she had been laughing, I shook my head as I pulled out my notepad that had been filled from my attempts at writing up to when I started to write full sentences.

“Xia?”

“Yes, Alisha?”

“Don’t hold back laughing, you have a cute giggle you know?” Giving her a teasing smile, Xia shook her head with a smile as well. Even though we were forcing these smiles, it did work to lift our moods.

“Right…Speak to Elise, Roland. Sort out items we got from Zalus. Collect money from the Guild. Practise Gravity. Study Spellcasting. Get a plot of land bought. Design house. Get the restaurant opened. Sort out Yin and Yang’s problem. Hmm, I think that’s it for now.”

Putting my pencil aside, I thought over everything and nodded in satisfaction. Folding the note and putting it in a pocket, I got up and headed to the bath, dragging Alice along who started screaming about how she hated water.

***

After storing the fruits and vegetables that had been harvested while I was away and after a good night's sleep, I get up and head towards the Guild with Olivia. Xia headed out and planned to inquire with several places about plots of land. Coffee and Alice walked by my side. I wanted to also solve Alice’s problem, which is getting her some experience, or a source of experience to help her level. At this rate we would leave her behind, something I didn’t want. She had motivation to continue growing stronger, and even though she still acted like a child outside of fighting.

Entering the Guild, I noticed quickly the atmosphere had become gloomy. Usually there would be those that would be happily drinking, celebrating something yet this was no longer the case. Not helping my own gloominess, I sought out an attendant who led me to a private room, where we waited for Elise.

Elise entered and upon seeing us made her way over and simply hugged each of us. Sitting down, she sighed while looking at us with a sad expression.

“Good work and thank you for returning safely. The Branch Master announced the news of what happened out there to the Guild when he returned. Bloom’s family has been compensated, Amelia’s sister has also been provided compensation. Xander and Amanda don’t have family here, instead they had said in the case of their deaths all of the possessions are to be sold and the profits to go towards orphanages. We will be holding their funerals in a month.”

“So that’s why the lobby felt gloomy.”

“Bloom was well loved by a lot of adventurers. I told you before, he never levelled past 40 before the mutation occurred in the Tomb of Lilith. He guided those he saw potential in and helped them get to level 50 and Gold Grade. He didn’t care that he remained Silver Grade, in fact he said he enjoyed the simple life. There are many adventurers out there today that had been taught by him, and many more that enjoyed his company. They were excited when he started levelling and became Gold Grade himself. Because of that, Amelia also became popular with everyone, and those who had witnessed her fight became terrified of her. Then there is Amanda and Xander, while they don’t really involve themselves with the day to day lives of adventurers, they were a symbol of power.

“Many know you were involved, so just be cautious in case some become too overly emotional, though the testimony of the Branch Master does state that you all were on the verge of death too and had fought to the very last breath. Many actually sympathise with you all, so don’t be surprised if some approach you out of kindness.”

I sat there in silence while I listened to hear. She too spoke fondly of everyone, causing the room and all of us to feel saddened.

“In lighter news, Roland passed a message and several documents to me. He wishes to see you once you’ve returned and he has given me documents and recommendations about opening your restaurant.”

“Oh, thank you.” Accepting the pile of papers she handed me, I stored them in my bag. “I’m looking to build a new house as well, so we’re looking for a rather large plot so we can build the restaurant on the same plot.”

“A new house so soon? Well, I guess with so many living with you that small house that was perfect for you is now a bit cramped.” With a chuckle, Elise smiled a bit more and leaned forward. “What are you looking at? Building anything fancy?”

Telling her about what Xia, Olivia and I had spoken about, she nodded along looking excited. “You should look into a mana gathering room, they’re fantastic for meditation and assisting in spell creation. You’d want a rather strong one, and the plot of land you want to get needs to be in a good area. It’ll set you back about ten or fifteen Mithril coins for the land itself, but it’ll be well worth it. Especially since you’d be making a garden as well, it’ll make everything better.

“About the restaurant, I would actually recommend buying a separate plot of land for it, since large plots of land will be further from the Guild and with your stat increasing food it’ll be a smash hit with them. Depending on what else you’ll be serving, it might be better to make a take away style restaurant instead, one where they can order and pick up, rather than eat in. It’s up to you at the end of the day though. What else are you planning to make?”

Telling her about the new food I had made during our trip, her face dropped in shock. Standing quickly, she slammed her hands on the table in between us.

“Alisha, do you have any idea what you’d be selling?! I’ve never heard of food that gives you extra experience, nor gives you a boost in stats for a short time! Can you benefit from those two multiple times?” I told her that it did. “Insanity! That kind of food would change the market so much! You’d make so much damn money you’d be buried in it. You’ll make enemies and friends so fast that I’m fairly sure fights would break out. Alisha, as your advisor, I recommend that you do this!”

I saw her excited expression and couldn’t help but start laughing as a genuine smile crawled up my face. I hadn’t seen Elise this excited before, it made me feel excited too.

“Look, I’ll work out a deal to get requests for the ingredients you need, that way you only need to focus on getting this business going. I take it you’re only going to do it when you’re available?” I nodded, I didn’t want to do this sort of thing full time, once in a while I would do it. “Good, you’re an adventurer first after all. I can’t help with any of the business stuff, ask Roland to find you a trustworthy manager to help you. Tell him about what you’re making, I’m sure he’ll ensure the very best for you. Now, tell me what you need.” She pulled out a notepad and pencil and I told her everything I had used to make the foods I had made.

“So you’ll handle the fruits and vegetables, the rest we can do. We can do the requests for you, but it’ll be at a price. I’ll sort out the costs and let you know, come and find me only once you’ve got everything else sorted. That means plots of land bought, house built, restaurant built and garden growing fully. Once you can start harvesting crops, come to me and we’ll start arranging everything. By my estimates, you can get this all done in the next two months before the blizzard hits. The crops should be growing by then.”

Nodding along with her words, we continued talking about various plans. She told me that once I pass the Crossroads she’d stop being my advisor. From there, an executive would become my advisor when I became Platinum Grade and they’d start training me for leadership rather than fighting or adventuring.

“It’s how it all works I’m afraid. Now, Olivia. I know you’re afraid of going with others to level, but we have to bite the arrow at some point. I have a very trustworthy group of adventurers around your level that I would like yo-”

“No! They’ll…they’ll betray me.” Olivia grabs my arm and shakes her head. Elise stands and moves around the table, crouching in front of Olivia while gently grabbing her hand.

“Let me finish before making your decision. If you still don’t want to, I won’t force you, ok? I’d like you to join them, because they’re looking for an experienced adventurer to guide them and I’ve chosen Alisha for this. She won’t be helping you guys at all, unless it’s absolutely vital, but she’ll be there so you can talk to her in case anything happens.

“I’ve told their leader about your past, she is a very gentle person and it nearly broke her heart to hear what happened to you. I trust her and her party very much, I wouldn’t risk putting you in that position ever again.”

Olivia looked uncertain before glancing at me. I hadn’t heard anything about me being a leader or guide for a party, but I didn’t mind doing it if I could help Olivia. I wouldn’t force her though. Putting my free hand on one of her hands, I smiled gently.

“It’s your decision Olivia. I can’t make it for you.” Summer had talked to me about this privately while we were still hunting monsters, but Olivia might become completely dependent on me for everything. As to stop that from happening, she told me to push her to make her own decisions early instead of saying yes to everything.

Olivia stared at her knees for a while, her eyes swimming with fear, but also some determination. I didn’t know of the source of that determination, but I knew that deep down, she too wanted to get stronger. Closing her eyes, she took a breath then opened them and looked at Elise.

“Okay.”