After Lilly also treated her own injury, their team set off again. The siblings received some new advice from Groob and Forgoz before fighting a few more red thorns.
When Lilly and Iain began to suffer from the coldness and exhaustion, Groob ended their training for the day. Hunger assaulted the sibling's bodies as soon as they relaxed slightly.
Fortunately, some ingenious alchemists in the empire created a pill which would prevent water from freezing even in the Frozen Hell. Otherwise, many adventurers might just die of thirst.
However, the same couldn't be done with food. This drastically limited the time newer adventurers could stay in the Frozen Hell.
The same applied to Lilly and Iain who were now returning to the base camp together with the EFM team.
On the elevator the siblings did a short recollection of their training. Both felt like they learned a lot today thanks to the adventurer's advice.
Especially the improvement of their skill delighted them.
While Iain was able to raise his hammer wielding to level 7 and received the skill pain resistance, Lilly's harvest was even better. The young woman managed to strengthen her healing magic to level 7 while also learning pain resistance, basic swordsmanship, and (Ex)death magic.
Even Groob wouldn't have guessed that the siblings could gain so much in a single day. They were definitely among the most talented newbies their team had trained so far. On top of that Lilly and Iain weren't some spoiled kids from rich families. They earned their improvements fair and square.
Since everyone was satisfied a lighthearted atmosphere accompanied them as they returned. While other groups worried about their injuries, Groob's team even had the mind to small talk. Of course this brought them some snide remarks form familiar adventurers.
Only after Groob promised to spend a round of yelle beer did he earn everyone's goodwill.
Therefore, the mood turned boisterous as soon as the adventurers left the Church of Light's temple. As a big group they slowly streamed down the mountain towards everyone's favorite place.
A few minutes later the door to the 'Frozen Tavern' was forcefully kicked open. Groob's loud voice sounded through the building:
"Deri! One yelle beer for everyone! My treat!"
Suddenly the room was filled with excited cheers. Who would say no to a cold beer after a hard day. Especially if they didn't have to pay for it.
Naturally Groob quickly became the star of the day as he sat on the most prominent table.
An excited voice came from behind the counter:
"Groob! If it isn't my favorite costumer! Did you hit it big today?"
"Haha no I'm just in a good mood!"
Lilly and Iain kept themselves towards the group's back. Their exhaustion prevented them from getting caught up in the excitement.
Only after most adventurers had already entered the tavern was it the siblings turn. They quietly looked around until they found a small three-person table a bit towards the side.
Lilly and Iain felt grateful as this was exactly what they needed right now to eat and drink in relative peace.
The siblings took in the tavern's atmosphere while they waited for someone to take their order.
Drunken adventurers filled the dining room. Some proudly presented the fresh injuries they received in the Frozen Hell. Others obviously had problems finding the tavern's exit. Unfortunately, they had been forced to drink for a few days.
Therefore, scenes of staggering men flirting with the stuffed heads of various beasts were a common sight in the Frozen Tavern. In the end they were still better of than those who slipped and decided that the metal flooring was a comfortable bed.
From time to time the tavern's tranquility was disturbed when big groups of adventurers arrived and started a new round of drinking.
All in all, this place vividly showed Lilly and Iain what those men and women did to forget the many struggles between life and death.
Lilly vaguely recognized that the adventurers weren't as glorious as one might think.
Taking on the role of spectators the siblings watched an attractive, busty woman preparing one bear after another from behind the counter. She proved unexpected dexterity and strength as she carried dozens of glasses towards Groob's table.
The second the beer touched the wooden surface, the soothing beverage was already snatched away. Lilly's and Iain's eyes could hardly follow the adventurer's movements before they were already happily pouring their drinks down their throats.
A few minutes later the waitress had finally managed to serve everyone before she made her way over towards the sibling's table. She had a hard time talking over the crooked songs now sounding through the room, as she addressed Lilly and Iain:
"Hi, cuties. How great to see some new faces. Care to tell me your names?"
The seasoned waitress immediately noticed that her flirty tone annoyed the young redhead before her. Her male companion however quickly turned red as he forced himself to focus on her eyes.
"I'm Lilly."
"My name is Iain. Nice to meet you."
"My pleasure. I'm Deri, the owner of this humble establishment."
While answering, Deri smiled naturally while waving a part of her long brown hair from her front to her back. Noticing Iain's barely concealed gaze, she knew her action had the intended effect.
"Don't worry, you can look as long as you don't touch.", she invited the young man coquettishly.
Suddenly an impatient voice interrupted her flirting.
"Yeah yeah we can all see that you're hot. Can we order something to eat now?"
Deri looked at Lilly's annoyed face and resisted the urge to tease the siblings further. Just as she wanted to take their orders Iain also spoke up.
"My sister is right…"
Before the you man could continue his sentence, Deri couldn't go against her habits as she asked:
"Oh? Right with the hot part or the order part?"
"Ehm, both.", answered Iain without overthinking.
Even Deri was stomped for a moment when she noticed the honesty in Iain's voice.
Suddenly both girls chuckled in amusement.
When they noticed the confused look on Iain's face Lilly and Deri broke out in a short laughter. The two women looked into each other's eyes and felt like they knew the other's thoughts. Suddenly Lilly's dislike of Deri evaporated.
Iain smiled wryly as he observed their interaction. He wasn't sure if he said something wrong, but since everyone seemed to be happy it was probably alright.
A few seconds later Deri finally took the sibling's order with a professional smile on her face.
"Do you have any idea what to eat or should I give you a menu?"
"Why don't you just recommend us something?"
"Sure. Do you want something normal to eat or some enhanced food?"
Iain could only watch as Lilly continued the conversation:
"Can you explain the difference please?"
"Hmm? You don't know about enhanced food?"
"Yeah, sorry we don't know that much about the world."
Lilly chuckled nervously as she spoke those words. It could be seen that she got better and better at pretending.
"Ohh, you aren't from here or…?"
"No no. We unfortunately couldn't learn much over the last few years. We just made it through Malo Disease."
"What?!"
The busty woman's surprised shout drew the surrounding table's attention. One sleeping adventurer even woke up and staggered towards the counter to get another beer. Fortunately, someone else had already arrived to take over this job.
Deri quickly lowered her voice as she went on:
"Damn. By the God of Light. You really defeated that disgusting disease?"
Observing Lilly's calm nod, Deri spoke in a serious voice:
"Wow. Respect. Then I wish you all the best from now on."
Both siblings smiled as they felt the sincerity in those words. At this point they had already accepted their identities, so they didn't feel guilty for lying.
In the eyes of everyone they would be Nua's successors who overcame the Malo Disease for the foreseeable future. As they interacted with more and more people, even they themselves slowly felt like this was the truth.
Lilly ignored the notification that her acting skill had increased as she answered Deri:
"Thank you. But let's get back to food now, I'm really hungry."
"Of course.", chuckled the beautiful owner.
"Back to enhanced food. Only someone with a cooking skill at or above the expert rank can cook enhanced food. Just like other craftsmen they make use of mana and runes to give attributes to their food.
Thus, the food they cook has effects like boosting your usage of strength or mana."
After this explanation the siblings nodded in amazement. The concept sounded logical. If other craftsmen could enhance their work through magic, why couldn't cooks do the same? The siblings simply hadn't thought about it so far.
However now the siblings slowly realized the unlimited possibilities magic provided.
Noticing that the siblings had processed her words Deri recommended:
"If you are ok with it, I will bring you some enhanced food. We have a skilled chef who is close to the master rank, so our food has great benefits for warriors. You can look forward to it."