In the dining room of the Fordora's Mansion, food was served on a long golden rectangular table.
The maids had been going in and out of the kitchen for and with trays containing food which although normal for them, was soul-shaking for Klimo. He'd never seen so much meat before or rice, or wine, or salad!
He had to force himself not to drool!
The food was served for the whole family of the Fordora's which consisted of a man and a girl. Both of whom he'd met earlier.
Klimo was given the honor of sitting on the opposite side of the table, facing the girl's father directly.
The man had a passive look on his face while the girl gazed at him sporadically, blushing and turning her face when his gaze met hers.
'Is there something I don't know?' He thought as he ate.
For some minutes, there was silence while this went on, until the girl's father opened his mouth to speak.
'And here comes the barrage of questions.' Klimo thought with a sigh.
"We haven't had the pleasure of knowing your name kid." He said, his voice deep and bold.
"My name is Klimo, sir." Klimo replied quickly.
"What were you doing in the forest? If not for my daughter forcing me to take you with us, you would definitely have died a few hours later because there were reports that a rogue X-terror was sighted in it."
'An X-terror?' Klimo shuddered at the thought. 'I thought those monsters were taken care of and are no more existing? And from what he's saying, it seems I wasn't dead when they saw me.'
Klimo was sure he was a goner when that snake bit him, and he was definitely sure he died. But it seemed the system was able to revive him. Nonetheless, it would have been useless if he wasn't going to be awake before the X-terror would sight him. He would surely be dead totally after that!
'I guess I have her to thank for my life.' Klimo thought giving her a quick glance before answering the question.
"I was chased by some bullies and I knew they wouldn't follow me into the forest." He said, lying through his teeth. "I planned on getting out once I was sure they'd given up and turned back, but I was laced with tiredness from running so I decided I would take a little nap."
[He he he, Host is a good lier!]
Klimo heard the voice loud and clear and it seemed to come from his head.
'Wait, you can talk?'
[Of course, Host! I just needed time to process some things.]
'Hmm. A system that talks...'
*Clears Throat*
The girl's father noticed that Klimo's attention seed to be divided, but by what, he wasn't sure.
"Where are your parents?" He asked.
Klimo noticed the girl giving her dad an angry stare, but her father just ignored her.
Klimo tried not to frown, not because of the question, but because he had to talk about his parents who he'd grown to hate even before meeting them.
"I've never met them." He answered simply.
"So you have no home?"
"No...not anymore."
"In other words, you were abandoned and homeless and resulted t—'
"DAD!" The girl yelled, pouting.
Klimo was not bothered by the questions as much. He was already used to people talking to him like that. However, what he was bothered about was why the girl was behaving the way she did.
'Why does it seem like she is trying to stick up for me? She barely knows me.' He thought.
Her father turned to her, but with a slight frown on his face.
"I'm just curious as to why you suddenly picked interest in him." He said then turned to Klimo. "Have you been seeing each other?"
The girl groaned, covering her face in embarrassment.
'What the—' Klimo nearly choked on the piece of meat going down his throat when he heard that. So this was his concern?
'It's virtually impossible for us to have met each other, less of seeing each other! And if we ever did, it would have been under the circumstance that I was stealing from her...or somebody beside her, and was caught.'
Klimo sighed. "Not at all Sir. I've never even met your daughter before."
By now, it was clear to Klimo that the only reason why he was still in this house, in these clothes and eating with them was because the girl had made it so.
'I wonder where this road will lead.'
For a while, her father stared at Klimo who continued eating immediately he'd answered the question, before resuming eating his food.
The girl took another quick glance at Klimo and was surprised to see him comfortably eating and downing wine like he had no cares in the world.
'He's quite bold!' She thought, taking her face away, the moment her eyes met his. There were only a few people who would stand in the presence of her father and act carefree. And it wasn't just normal men, even many other nobles had to greatly compose themselves and their manner of speech when standing before him.
One of the many reasons was; he was from a direct lineage linked to a progenitor, proven infallibly by his powers which was the manipulation of the Fire element!
Just as Klimo downed another cup of wine, he recieved a system message.
[Daily Quest complete: Eat like a King!]
[5 exp gained!]
[5/100 exp]
'Finally!' He thought. He was already getting tired of eating and he only continued because he was waiting to receive this very message.
He surpressed the urge to belch and stood up from the table. He then thanked the man and his daughter for the food before proceeding to the room he woke up in.
"I'll have to see what I can do with him tomorrow." That was the voice of the girl's father, amd even though he muttered it and Klimo was already on the landing, Klimo heard him loud and clear. This was because his sense of hearing had increased due to the system.
Klimo had no idea what the man meant or had in mind, but somehow he knew it wasn't going to bode well for him. Besides, he couldn't just stay here, except he wanted to become a servant.
And although it was not a bad idea since it would mean free food which would help him complete his current daily mission amd get him nearer to filling his exp and leveling up, he was very sure he would be kicked out personally by the man who was suspicious of him having any kind of relationship with his daughter.
While in the room and on the massive bed, Klimo had some thoughts.
'I wish there was a faster way of increasing my exp and leveling up.'
With one daily quest, it would take him a little more than fourteen days before he'd filled his exp bar. He couldn't wait that long.
'Wasn't there a notification that appeared when I touched the foot of that statue? I bet the energy can be converted to energy if I absorb it!' Klimo thought, his eyes lighting up.
He sprang up from the bed and walked to the window outlooking the courtyard. He was just two storeys up.
Now, all he had to do was wait till everyone was asleep amd using his experience of climbing walls, he would leave his room through the window and go into the temple!
Hopefully, it would still need open.
The sound of the door being opened pierced a hole into his thoughts.
It was the girl.
'What does she want now?'
"Hi." She said, quietly closing the door. From that, Klimo could tell that she'd sneaked into his room.
"Sorry about what happened earlier. My dad's always been like that." She said.
"It's okay." Klimo said with an insincere smile.
"My name's Crystal Fordora."
Just at that moment, Klimo had a thought.
'Wasn't she the one leading the family into the temple? I guess I can take advantage of her.'
"Was there a ritual today or something?" He asked with curiosity.
Crystal's eyes brightened up. "Oh that? My family has a tradition of worshipping the Great Phoenix every fortnight, as it is connected to the Progenitor from whom our powers come to be." She explained.
Klimo nodded. "The statue's aura is really holy. I wish I could be in its presence again. But I guess it's too late. I'll have to wait." He ended in a sad tone.
Crystal shook her head.
"No, you don't have to wait. I'll take you there, but my dad mustn't find out."
'Jackpot!' Klimo thought, a massive grin appearing on his face and disappearing just as quickly as it had come.
"Meet me on the last floor in thirty minutes."
Crystal said, before exiting his room, of course with a blush.