The night came to a close, starting Shelly's and Maou's second day in Vanchordé. The sun had been up for more than an hour, beaming onto the two sleepyheads in bed.
"Hmmm… Ugh!" Maou weakly pushed himself up, sitting on the edge of the bed.
He sat crouched over, hair messy, spade tail wiggling, eyes still closed. His arms stretched out above his head and a full body shake followed.
"Yawn!" His face was cute yet groggy while rubbing his half-asleep eyes.
The next few minutes he stared into space until he heard an unwelcomed sound coming from his stomach.
"Gurgle! Snurl! Gurgle!" He gripped his belly with a pained look before turning to Shelly.
"Hey, I'm hungry… let's get something to eat." Maou shook her sleeping body.
"Ugh… Let me sleep." Shelly groaned, pulled the covers over her.
"Get up, I'm starving." Maou shook her harder.
"Five... more... minutes," Shelly mumbled half asleep, putting the pillow over her head.
"Gurgle! Snurl! Gurgle!" His stomach alarmed again and he became more adamant. "No! I'm hungry, I can't wait five more minutes!"
He tried pulling the pillow away from Shelly but she resisted, fanning away his little hands. Maou started trembling with annoyance, then he suddenly remembered a familiar situation like this.
"Hehehe!" An evil grin crawled across his face and he removed the sheet from over Shelly's feet. "Since you won't get up… I'll just have my revenge from last time. Hehe!"
With an evil smirk, he grabbed both of Shelly's legs, locking them under his arms, and began mercilessly tickling her feet.
"Ack! Wait Maou, what are you–! Stop! Ahahaha! Stop, stop I'm awake!" Shelly slapped at the bed, laughing uncontrollably and wiggling to escape, but Maou wouldn't let up. "Ahahaha! Stop, I said I'm up! Maou wait I'm slipping off the–!"
"Bam!"
Shelly's wiggling caused her to fall to the ground, cocooned in the sheet. The room was quiet until Maou burst out laughing.
"Pft!" He tried to hold it back, but was overwhelmed and rolled across the bed hysterically laughing. "Ahahaha! You–! You fell! Ahahaha!"
By this time Shelly was wide awake, her hand gripped the edge of the bed deeply as she struggled to her feet. Her apple hair spread wild and unkempt, some covering her raging face.
"Oh?! You found that funny, huh?" Shelly stood to her feet and glared maliciously at the jolly Maou.
"Hehehe! Yeah, it was very fu–." Maou's playful smile went to dread as he glimpsed Shelly's crazed eyes, oozing vengeance. "W-Wa-Wait, Sh-Shelly… it was a joke… I just wanted–."
"–To wake me up, right?" Shelly pressed her knee onto the bed, inching closer to Maou. "Oh, I'm awake… and now I want BLOOD!!!"
Shelly threw herself towards Maou, expecting to catch him but he dodged, jumping off the bed.
"Why did you dodge?!" Shelly exclaimed annoyed. "Be a good boy and stay still!"
"No way! You're mad at me, I can tell," Maou responded with his guard up.
Shelly stood atop the bed in her nightgown looking down on Maou with a deceptive smile.
"Oh please, I'm not mad at you… so just be a good boy and come here." She replied holding her arms open. "I wanna give you a big hug… pretty please."
Maou briefly contemplated Shelly's words, almost falling for them.
"And you won't hurt me, right?" Maou questioned.
"If you're a good boy, I promise I won't leave any scars… I think." Shelly still smiled.
"That's not any better!" Maou replied strongly, regaining his composure.
"Tsk! Just keep still you little brat!" Shelly clicked her teeth.
She jumped at Maou but he swiftly dodged her. Shelly almost lost her balance but kept herself leveled.
"Ohhh… I see you've chosen to not surrender." Shelly turned around. "I'll give you one last chance. Surrender and I'll go easy on you."
"Never!" Maou refused. "You're gonna have to catch me first."
"Fine… have it your way!" Shelly dashed towards him.
A high energy game of cat and mouse followed for the next few minutes before Shelly finally managed to pin Maou to the floor.
"Haa! Haa! Haa!" Shelly breathed heavy, slightly sweaty and her body ontop him. "I… caught you."
"Ahhh! Help me!" Maou cried out.
"Oh, it's too late fro that now." Shelly hovered her hands over his ribs. "I'll make you suffer a fate worse than death."
"Ahhh! Wait, I'm sorry. Please let me go. I'm really sorry–!" Maou felt Shelly speedily rub her fingers across his ribs. "Ahahah! Stop, stop, I'm sorry I–! Ahahah Please stop! Ahaha! Yo–You win Shelly! I give up! Ahaha!"
Shelly ferociously tickled Maou, his body contorting and eyes watering. Her face was evil, smile sinister.
"Knock! Knock!"
"Hey, get up! Room service!" An annoyed voice called out, loudly banging the door.
Shelly was abruptly pulled back to reality and she stopped tickling Maou to quickly open the door.
"Uh, hello? Can I help you?" Shelly slightly opened the door, exposing half her face.
"Here! Take it." Kaga took up a basin of water with a dry cloth and a small cup from a pushing trolley next to him. "Leave it on the outside when you're done."
"Oh, thank you." Shelly opened the door and accepted the basin.
"Tsk! And keep the noise down. I won't have anyone messing with my sleep after this." Kaga walked off annoyed, pushing the trolley.
"Tsk! I hope you get caught by Angie." Shelly mumbled, closing the door and resting the basin onto a small table.
Sitting on the floor, Shelly reached under the bed and pulled out her travel bag. Digging through the bag, she pulled out two palm length sticks, a small grinding bowl, pestle and a small palm sized bag.
"Hey, get up." Shelly handed Maou one of the sticks. "Hurry up and chew it."
Maou spread out flat on the bed, his body still weak from Shelly's earlier assault, but he forced himself to sit up. Putting the stick in his mouth, he chewed on one of the ends until it was stringy. By this time, Shelly poured salt from the bag into the bowl, and used the pestle to crush the salt while chewing on her stick, until it was stringy. Shelly stretched the bowl to Maou and he pressed his chewed stick into the crushed salt then Shelly did the same.
"So, what are we doing today?" Maou asked scrubbing his teeth.
"Uhm… I need to get a job, and fast too. I don't have much money left…" Shelly answered, taking up a cup full of water to pour into her mouth, swishing back and forth before swallowing. "… So we're going job hunting today… and probably for the next few days if I don't get lucky."
"Can we get something to eat first? I'm really straving." Maou asked as Shelly handed him a cup full of water.
"Yeah, I'm kinda hungry to be honest." Shelly agreed while soaking the cloth to wipe her face. "But remember! No going overboard with the eating or you're gonna have to start buying your own meals."
"Haaa! Fine." Maou poured the water in his mouth and gurgled before swallowing.
"We need to hurry up." Shelly urged, wiping Maou's face clean. "Every second that goes by is a job opportunity missed."
"Says the person who wanted to keep sleeping." Maou mumbled as Shelly lay out a suit of clothes for him.
They soon changed into fresh clothes before leaving the Inn, they quickly headed for Joker's Tavern. The morning road was slightly occupied by people heading to shops, others had weapons and armour walking in the same direction, and rough looking men sat in open carts traveling outside the city for their work.
"Looks like we're the only ones here." Shelly sat around an empty table. "This kinda feels uncomfortable honestly. What do you think?"
"I'm too hungry to care." Maou lay his cheek flat on the table, gripping his belly.
"Haaa! A little more patience wouldn't kill you, y'know." Shelly sighed, resting her face on her palm.
Soon after a waitress with a hazel ponytail came to their table and politely bowed.
"Good morning." She handed them both a menu. "While you decide what you want, would you like a free cup of coffee?"
"Free coffee!?" Shelly's cheapskate instinct went off immediately. "Yes please! A cup for the both of us, if that's okay."
The waitress left and started brewing the coffee while Shelly scanned the breakfast menu. She went through the menu with varying degrees of disappointed looks as she examined the price of each meal. On the other hand, Maou inched closer to death, his face seemingly wilting.
"Here's your coffee. Please be careful, it's hot." The waitress put down both glass cups of coffee and a container of brown sugar.
"It smells great." Shelly moved the cup closer to her.
"Thank you, I did my best." The waitress replied, readying her notepad and pen. "Have you decided on what you want to order?"
"Ah, yes actually." Shelly quickly looked back at the menu. "We'll have two bowls of oatmeal porridge, two cheese sandwiches, and two cups of water, please."
"Your meal will be out shortly." The waitress bowed and turned to leave.
"Ah, one more thing." Shelly added, "I hope this doesn't sound strange, but by any chance… are you hiring? I really need a job."
"Uhm… I'd have to check with my boss first. Is that okay?" The hazel-haired waitress asked.
"Oh yes please, I would appreciate it." Shelly answered then a thought ran across her mind and she frantically stood up. "Don't get me wrong, I have money to pay for the meal! I'm just unemployed now, that's all. I'm not trying to dine and dash or anything."
"No worries, it's not a big deal." The waitress reassured Shelly. "Looking for a job is normal. We all need money to survive after all."
"Yeah exactly." Shelly agreed.
"Well… I'm going to go get your meals ready now. Please make yourself comfortable in the meantime." The waitress walked away with her notepad and pen palmed.
"Oh God, that was awkward." Shelly mumbled, covering her face, embarrassed.
"Peh! Peh!" Maou spit out the bitter coffee with a disgusted look. "Yuck! This taste like dirt."
"You have to mix it with sugar." Shelly added three spoonfuls of sugar into Maou's cup. "Give it a good stir and see if it's better."
Maou spun the spoon in the cup until most of the sugar was dissolved then he turned it to his head.
"Eugh! It tastes like sweet dirt now." Maou scornfully put the cup down with his face disgusted. "I hate coffee."
"Oh please, it's not that bad." Shelly turned the coffee to her head and she immediately spit it back into the cup. "Oh God! It's bitter… and tastes like dirt."
"See, I told you." Maou scorned the coffee even more.
"It's missing some sugar that's why. A few spoonfuls should help." Shelly added then stirred the sugar in her cup vigorously.
"That won't make it better." Maou tried to convince her but Shelly turned the cup to her head.
"Peh! Peh! You're right, it didn't help. It still has that bitter dirt taste in there." Shelly put the coffee down, repulsed and wiping her tongue on her sleeve. "I'm so glad it's free. That would've been a waste of money."
"Ugh, I'm so hungry! What's taking so long?" Maou stretched out across the table.
"Take your head off the table. She's coming with the food." Shelly moved the cup of coffee aside, making space for the incoming meals.
Maou sprang back to life as he swiftly look to the waitress with the tray in her hands. She put the cheese sandwiches, cup of water and the bowl of porridge before the two. They took a big whiff and their nostrils went in ecstasy.
"This smells so good. Thank you very much." Shelly looked to the waitress.
"Oh it's my pleasure. Please take your time to enjoy." The waitress politely bowed. "As for the job request, I'll be sure to get back to you before you leave. I hope that's fine."
"Oh yeah, no problem. I really appreciate it." Shelly thanked.
The waitress noticed both Maou's and Shelly's coffee was nearly untouched.
"Is there something wrong with the coffee I made?" The waitress became concerned.
"I hate it!" Maou frowned. "It taste like dirt."
Shelly froze before biting into her cheese sandwich, having been caught off guard by Maou's sudden yet honest critique.
"Really?!" The waitress eyes widened. "My apologies, I'll–."
"He's just lying, don't take him serious." Shelly diluted Maou's harsh remark.
"But I'm not lying." Maou retorted. "You said the same thing too."
"Uhm, no I didn't, you heard me wrong. I said "its taste makes my belly hurt"." Shelly replied, but lying of course.
"No you didn't." Maou frowned. "You said it taste like bitter dirt and was a waste of money."
"I'm not gonna argue with a child about what "I" said, okay?" Shelly responded to Maou.
"Hey, don't listen to him, he doesn't know what he's talking about. I never said it like that, he just didn't hear me correctly." Shelly pointed out to the waitress who stood there awkwardly, as the two argued. "It just had a… what's the word I'm looking for…. It just had a unique tinge that my stomach can't handle, that's all. So, it would be a waste of my already small funds to buy more. That's what I said– uh, meant. That's what I meant."
"It's fine. I'll just remove it then." The waitress took up the cups.
"I'm so sorry. Trust me, the coffee you made tasted fine." Shelly falsely reassured. "It's just my stomach couldn't handle it very well."
"That's okay. It happens sometimes. Not everyone can handle it." The waitress placed the cups onto her tray. "Well, I hope the food is to your liking at least."
"I'm sure it will be." Shelly smiled as the waitress walked away.
"Liar." Maou mumbled, his arms folded and eyes gazing to the side.
"Liar? I'm trying to get hired so we don't starve." Shelly mumbled, inching closer to him as she spoke. "And need I remind you, your stomach isn't exactly cheap."
"Hmph! Liar." Maou pouted.
"Argh! You know what, let's just eat. I can't do this right now." Shelly took a bite out the sandwich, but while chewing she bit her tongue. "Damnit! Just my luck."
Soon after, they were finished eating and ready to leave, but not before Maou managed to burn his tongue twice and Shelly wrestling with her aching tongue.