LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 16: Aftermath and Progress
Harvesting all those Killer Ant corpses by himself was a serious bother, and by the time he finally left the Dungeon, carrying the girl, it was late afternoon. She was sleeping, now, apparently overwrought and recovering from whatever difficulties and stresses she had been put through. He got a few odd looks, carrying her around, but nobody bothered him.
After exchanging his spoils with the Guild, he went right home. Coming down the ladder, he noticed that Hestia wasn’t home yet. He laid the girl on one of the couches, socked the days earnings away in their savings, which had now ballooned to 140,000, and began to wait. Sure enough, Hestia soon came through the trapdoor and noticed that Adama was there with a start:
“Tim! I’m surprised you’re home so early. What…”
Her eyes turned as she entered the room, noticing the sleeping young woman on the couch. She paused, when she did, slowly looking back at Tim, who shrugged at her, then back at the girl. She finally spoke in a seemingly sad tone:
“Oh, Tim. You never struck me as the kidnapping type.”
He raised an eyebrow at that, and she winked at him:
“Kidding, of course. What happened to her, though?"
"You're asking me, but who am I supposed to ask?"
"Has the Dungeon started spawning prums? Or did this little one just fall from the sky?"
Well, that was one mystery solved.
A prum was one of the several non-human races of Gekai, alongside beast people, elves, and dwarves. They were known for their sharp eyesight and their small stature, looking almost like human children even when they were full grown. If this girl was a prum, then she could very easily be a teenager or even an adult. That shed at least a bit of light on how she got in the Dungeon, since there were a few prum adventurers out there, but it didn’t explain the circumstances he found her in.
He told Hestia about those circumstances, and she nodded along as he gave her a brief recounting of the day’s exploits. Just when he had finished his story, the prum began to stir. They both took up positions opposite her, and watched as she moaned softly, opened her eyes, and looked around blearily. Eventually, those eyes settled on the duo, and she jumped in fright before narrowing her eyes in suspicion:
“Who are you? Where am I? What have you done to me?”
The slightly accusatory questions came all in a torrent, but they were interrupted by a commanding interjection from Hestia:
“Settle down now. You’re safe here.”
Then she continued, voice more soothing now, like the crackle of a healthy fire:
“We aren’t going to hurt you, young one. I can see that you’ve been hurt plenty as is. We just want to know who you are and what happened to you.”
She indicated herself and Tim as she said:
“How about a fair trade? My name is Hestia, Goddess of the Hestia Famillia. This is Timaias Adama, the sole adventurer of that Familia. Don’t be fooled by his prickly exterior. He is a sweetheart when push comes to shove. That’s the reason you are alive, after all. He saved you.”
Tim maintained a stony exterior as she continued:
“I’m sure you’ve lived a hard life up until this point. Maybe you’ve done some things you aren’t proud of. But I can tell you’ve got a good heart too. I’m proud of my intuition when it comes to reading people, you know! Why not be a dear and tell us a little about yourself?”
Hestia’s words visibly relaxed the young lady, and she began to speak. Quietly and slowly at first, she told them that her name was Lilli and that she was a supporter and member of Soma Familia. She hesitated when Hestia probed a bit more about her past and her circumstances, but in no time, she was spilling her guts on everything that she had done and suffered. Adama had just wanted an explanation for why she had been cornered by an army of monsters today but instead he was given a history of difficulty, abuse, and crime in this young woman’s life. She wasn’t much older than 15, but she had already dealt with and done so much.
Hestia had brought home dinner, in the form of steak sandwiches and grilled vegetables, and they all ate as Lilli continued her story. In no time at all, she was sobbing uncontrollably in distress as she tried to talk about how Soma Famillia had tracked her down when she tried to leave. Hestia comforted her by giving her a shoulder to cry on. She stroked her hair and whispered quiet assurances that things would be okay. Tim munched on his sandwich as silently as he could, just about as awkward as a whore in church. He comforted himself with dark thoughts about what ought to happen to Soma Famillia and wondered whether that specialty shop he knew sold explosives.
Finally, Lilli composed herself and got to the point where she was abandoned and left for dead. Adama’s eyes widened in recognition as she described the adventurers who had stolen from her and tried to have her killed.
“I know those rats!” He commented when she finished her story, “tried to join their little club when I had just gotten here, shame on me. Tried to give them what they deserved, though. Only earned me a beating in the end.”
They shot him confused looks and he gave them a slightly more detailed account of the events that led up to meeting Hestia in the first place. Once he had finished that, it was Hestia’s turn to talk:
“What are your plans now, Lilli?” she queried, only earning a blank stare from the slightly disoriented prum.
“Not sure.” She said, stifling a sniffle and trying to look tough, “I obviously can’t work with those guys anymore. But lots of the adventurers in town won’t work with me. It’s hard to blame them, all things considered, but I think I’ll struggle to earn a living. Escaping Soma will be impossible now that my savings have been cleaned out.”
“Well, why don’t you work with Tim!” Hestia indicated brightly.
That surprised Adama so much that some steak sandwich went down his windpipe, though it probably shouldn’t have been that unexpected. Once he finished coughing, he looked between his patron, who was beaming happily, and the prum girl, who was looking at him with a skepticism that masked a thin and tentative hope. He frowned a bit and responded:
“Can’t say I don’t know why you did what you did, but I need someone I can trust to watch my back out there. Not someone who will steal from me. Can’t afford to watch you 24/7.”
He looked pointedly at Hestia, then said:
“That’s what I’d say normally, anyways. But if Little Miss Sunset over here says that I should work with you, then I’d be willing to give you a chance. A chance, mind you. If I have good reason to believe you’re stealing from me, we’re done. If I hear you blabbering about my secrets, we’re done. You try to betray me during a fight, then it might get uglier than just a little partnership break-up. Am I clear?”
She nodded vigorously, seemingly earnest:
“As crystal.”
He stared at her for a bit longer, to make sure she got the message, then nodded once:
“All right, then. Eat your dinner. You’ll need your strength for tomorrow.”
Hestia protested that the poor girl was injured and tired and that she needed to recover from her recent trauma, an argument that Tim begrudgingly accepted. He needed to replace his armor and a few potions, anyways, so he would take the day off tomorrow to do some shopping and have a partnership contract written up. In the meantime, Lilli would stay with them.
They gave her the bed to sleep on, and despite her earlier nap she was comatose on that thing right after dinner. The last thing Adama did before going to sleep was get his status updated.
Timaias Adama,
Strength: C-671 -> B-714
Defense: C-612 –> C-651
Dexterity: C-647 -> C-690
Agility: D-563 -> D-599
Magic: C-664 -> B-707
Spells:
Rippling Sword
Swift Strike Magic
Skills:
Predator
Increased Growth
Killing Monsters provides increased Growth.
Killing more Monsters in a short period of time results in an even greater bonus
Hestia’s poker face had improved since she had first begun to witness Adama’s meteoric rise, but the bounds of that poker face were tested in this very moment. Ever since he had gotten that sword, his kill counts had increased dramatically. Especially when roaming the seventh floor, where hordes of enemies were easier to encounter or generate, Tim’s growth had skyrocketed. He had already reached the point where he had outgrown it and could brave floors deeper in the Dungeon. Her worries for their future were starting to melt away and were being replaced by sheer astonishment. After they were finished ogling his gains, they both went to sleep separate couches.
The next day, Adama and Lilli went to Babel to sign their supporter-adventurer partnership agreement. This type of thing was standard for adventurers of any stripe who worked together for an extended period while not being in the same Famillia. Adama didn’t have practice with Aiz that morning, so he went right from that signing ceremony to breakfast and then to shopping.
He took Lilli along on this errand, introducing her to Miach, who then tried to give him a health potion for free as a congratulations. A part of him wanted to accept, but Miach would go out of business if he kept that type of thing up, so Adama practically forced the vals into the man’s hand. After that, he took a trip to one of the cheaper blacksmiths to replace his armor and subsequently went home. They also made a quick stop to get Lilli some supporter equipment, like a replacement for her robe, a good knife for harvesting, and a comically large backpack. All told, he was set back roughly 25,000 vals.
As they were walking home, Lilli was looking at him strangely. Eventually, he asked her why she was looking at him like that. In contrast to her typical shyness towards him, she looked at him frankly and said:
“You could have gotten that potion for free. Why didn’t you?”
“You’re still thinking about that?” He replied, rubbing the back of his neck at her scrutiny, “Wouldn’t have been right to take advantage of Miach’s generosity when we can pay, would it? Leaves him with more to give to people who actually need it.”
He thought a bit more about that before continuing:
“Don’t think too hard about that one, understand? All I’m saying is that I don’t need charity, clear?”
She nodded and dropped the topic, though he caught her looking incredulous and more than a little skeptical.
“We’re going down to the 9th floor tomorrow. 7th has gotten too easy. I have training with an adventurer buddy that morning, so you can do what you want when you wake up. But we are heading into the Dungeon at 9:30 sharp, Okay?”
She nodded again and they finished the rest of their walk in silence.