The food didn’t just fill me, or taste good, but the heat from the broth warmed me up like nothing else. When I was done, I set down the chopsticks… And waited like he said too…
“So. Who’s the girl?”
He leaned back, taking a drink. “Business picked up a bit, so I’ve been looking for some help, first one didn’t work out but I picked her up about three months back. Hard worker and she’s cute too so people won’t have to stare at my crooked face all the time.”
I looked back to try and find her, but she must have been doing something in the back. “Yeah, she’s cute… Her clothes aren’t though.”
He leaned forward, lowering his voice. “Listen, I had nothing to do with that ok!”
“Pft. Sure, There’s no way someone like you would dare try to use eye candy to drum up more business.”
“What was I supposed to do? She came to work dressed like that, and I could hardly have her go walking back through town dressed like that.”
I picked up my chopsticks again. “What do you think, can we start eating now?”
He nodded.
“I don’t know Gunnar, as far as excuses go that one sounds pretty shallow.”
He rolled his eyes. “She’s been trying to come up with ways to get the restaurant more attention. And she doesn’t always consult me… She acts without thinking… And that gets her into trouble. Well, I’m sure you know the type.”
I kicked him under the table. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
He didn’t even flinch, just laughed it off. “It’s not the worst thing. I’d be lying if I said her methods weren’t working….” His chipper tone turned serious. “I could use another hand if you need a job… Sixteen days without food…”
I looked at him, seriously considering it for a moment as my whole body slowed down. ‘No… The moment I take on a normal job it’s like saying I admit that I can’t make it as an adventurer… I’ve made it this far, so I have at least one more year left in me.’
My arms and mouth picked up their pace again. “Ha, sorry, I don’t sell my body.”
He crossed his arms. “That’s a good call, you wouldn’t get much for it.”
I felt myself let out a heavy breath. ‘Dick…’
He continued eating. “You know that’s not what I’m asking you to do, this is a perfectly legal business, maybe you could knock some sense into that girl for me, give her some womanly advice.”
I watched her as She came out from behind the counter again and served another customer. “You really think I could give her advice?” I wouldn’t say I necessarily wanted her figure, it didn’t look very agile. As far as (Womanly advice) went through, If anything I felt like I probably should have been taking it from her…
She came back over and bowed again. “Owner, Sir, are you both enjoying your meal.”
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
He burst started to chuckle covering his laugh as he looked back at me. “It’s not funny…” I mumbled. His laugh started to grow louder. “Sir is a sign of respect,” I growled back, turning back to her. “I appreciate you asking, and yes it tastes as good as ever.” The man's laugh grew louder still until it burst out, and he became unable to hold it back anymore.
I lowered my head into one of my hands. ‘It never bothered me when people mistook me for a guy… but somehow every time I eat here I end up feeling insecure about everything…’ I let out a sigh. “It’s ok miss. We Don’t need anything…”
‘Should I just take off my helmet? It’s not like it covers my whole face, but that tends to work for some reason. I guess most men tend to have shorter hair. Well, human men at least.’
She smiled brightly, before bowing again, beaming with so much joy she nearly skipped away. Only after did Gunnar finally calm down. “You might be right, maybe I’d be better off asking a miss to help her out, rather than a sir.”
I let out an annoyed groan, looking back at the girl.
Just the sound of his voice was starting to become annoying when he spoke. “She’s 15 by the way.”
My fingers clenched into fists as I nearly jumped from my seat. “She’s younger than me!” I accidentally yelled, instantly regretting my own reaction as strain ran through my muscles that still weren’t ready to contract after being starved and motionless for so long.
Noticing other people starting to stare, and suddenly more than a little embarrassed, I quickly sat back down. ‘If I wasn’t starving all the time maybe I’d grow more…’
“You know if you came and worked here you wouldn’t be starving all the time, then maybe you’d grow more.”
“Don’t say stupid things, Idiot… Shut up…”
He just rolled his eyes as I refocused back on the meal. ‘Even if I’m just trash, it’s better than being nothing, and if I quit I might as well not even exist anymore.’
I finished my meal and thanked him for the food before heading out. For the first time I could remember my body felt hot. Like my tissue was rapidly reconstructing itself. In essence that was what was happening, so I guess it made sense. After using some quick recovery magic to speed up my metabolism my body quickly put to work the 4 pounds of food. It wasn’t a lot, but it was enough. I was still hungry, but even with Guner’s special recipe if I ate any more it would be dangerous, and I didn’t want to have to waste my one healing spell for the week before I even left town.
‘Off to the beehive.’ No matter how many times I saw it, it never stopped feeling like an honor to go inside, to say that I worked there, that I was an adventurer… If I ever had the courage to actually call myself one.
The massive dome was visible from basically any point in the city, and it was right in the middle of the city. Horse carriages went in and out of it, adventurers coming and going with traveling merchants and caravans. The tin great guilds would meet there for matters of government, and it was also the official headquarters of the Red Mantle, the fancy more honorable version of the town guard.
Walking in and looking up, there was nothing in the world that made me feel smaller… At the same time, there was nothing in the world that made me feel more important, like I was a part of something bigger… Like I had the chance to become something greater.
It is the central hub for the entire country, and maybe even the entire southern half of the continent. Regardless of if you were in a guild or not you could go there for work. It was, well I guess you could call it a guild for the guildless. No matter who you were everyone could be a part of the Great Market. That was the principle the whole nation was founded on.
It was a site to be sure. And since every quest taken on by every adventurer had to go through the beekeepers (Receptionists) It was always busy round the clock, doubly so with the snow melting. It was pretty and all, but the snow basically increased all threat levels by 3.
There is jargon for everything of course, but all it really meant was you had to then become 3 ranks past F in order to do F-level quests safely. I was only one past it, so in other words I’d be screwed. Besides, taking a quest in the winter was how my parents died so…
The snow itself was a serious problem, poor footing, and slower movement were problems on their own, but when you couple that with the more dangerous monsters that come out when it’s cold it only gets worse. It’s just bad news.
Heading over to the board, I found a few quests that together gave me enough of a reward to at least get me back on my feet. ‘Now that the snow’s gone though… I’m starting to get excited…’
The quests I picked up weren’t anything special. Gather some herbs, kill a few wargs, and take out a couple of giant spiders. I would be doing all of it alone though, so I’d get the reward all to myself.
Parties and I… I can’t really say we didn’t get along so much as I never got the chance to try. No one thought I was good enough. That wasn't to say I was useless. My magic was good enough to make clean water out of thin air, start a fire, or even make a makeshift dirt hut to sleep in, given enough time.
That being said, most parties had a fairly basic setup that involved three specialists. In other words, a group with a warrior and an assassin would look for a healer or a mage. I could do all four roles to some extent, but not nearly as well as a specialist. So they wouldn’t care if I could set traps, the rogue would be better at it anyway, meaning the only thing that matters is the level of the skill they are looking for, and when comparing me to a specialist I would always lose.
I let out a sigh as I used my magic to make a copy of the quest papers to make sure I didn’t forget the exact numbers, and then I went to wait in line so that I could officially accept the quests.
After that, it was time to head out. ‘Let's go to the warp gate. I should get one free warp since I’m leaving on guild business.’
I double-checked the quest one more time. ‘The great forest… Wait, there’s a quest to kill Giant spiders? They never leave the dungeon though, what’s going on?’