Prytaneum
Discovery
As I walked through the doors of the Hostess of Fertility, I paused for a moment to look around, trying to look casual as I scanned the inside of the bar. As I'd thought, it really did seem to be very deep; I wouldn't have been surprised if it was the largest bar on the street. Even so, it seems fairly packed and it's full of adventurers, many of them still in their armor like me. I saw several people wearing uniforms like the one Syr had worn earlier—at a glance, I saw a human woman, a pair of catgirls, and an elf, all moving around and serving tables. Behind the bar was a massive-looking woman, muscular enough that Clarisse would have been impressed, and she seemed to be happily talking to the people at the bar. In fact, the whole place felt alive, from the chatting waitresses to the smiling customers.
Although…were all the people who worked here women? That might explain why most of the patrons were men, but maybe I was jumping to conclusions. Still…
Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes, frowning to myself. I still wasn't sure what I was looking for, but I could feel currents of power moving through the room like water beneath the surface. It was all imprecise and distorted as if by a thousand ripples, so I couldn't make out a clear picture, but I didn't feel like anyone was paying particular attention to me; certainly nothing like the stare from this morning. Well, unless you count—
"Syr," I said, opening my eyes and looking at her as she approached.
"Percy," She replied, smiling widely. "Welcome back!"
She held out a hand which I took after just a moment of hesitation—and as she drew near, I had to fight not to react as I felt a heavy gaze settle on me, enough so that I almost felt like I was being run through. As I let Syr pull me along, I instinctively reached out in case I needed to defend myself, and I felt water all around me, in a couple dozen glasses, sinks, and pipes. It was hard to relax when someone was focused on me so intently, but it was still reassuring. Even if I felt like a mouse in front of a cat, I knew I could turn this place into a water park at a moment's notice.
Hopefully, it wouldn't come to that.
"Now seating one!" Syr called as she faced the crowd before leading me through the bar. I was a bit surprised that I was being announced, but though a few people glanced my way, no one seemed to pay me much heed so I didn't think it was a trap.
Syr leads me to the counter of the bar which is shaped like a long L and then seats me in the corner seat, which I had mixed feelings about—on one hand, my back was to the wall and since there was only one seat, no one could sit beside me or try to box me in. On the other hand, if something did happen, I was just about as far from the exit as I could possibly be; far enough to make me think it's be easier to leave through one of the walls, which was the point where even I started wondering if I was getting paranoid. But gods, the eyes on my back were setting me on edge and I had no idea where they were coming from.
"Please have a seat here," Syr said just before I threw caution to the wind and started rubbernecking.
"Thank you," I murmured as I sat down, trying to both act naturally and keep my guard up; if Syr noticed, however, she didn't comment.
If nothing else, the seat offered a good view—just not of what I wanted to see. It made it easy to see Welf come through the door, though, and not being the center of attention, he was free to look around. Which he did. Blatantly. After a moment, he frowned and his eyes settled on me, so I nodded slightly to indicate I saw him without really looking. Already, a waitress was making her way over to him.
And in that moment, I noticed something odd. The bar seemed almost full of power to me senses—or perhaps presence was a better word. People stood out so much that they almost didn't stand out, blending together for the large part, but if I concentrated, I could feel certain people as almost a displacement. It was hard to explain, but when they moved, I could feel them cutting through the odd currents of the bar like I could feel fish moving through water. But it was blurred oddly; I couldn't feel them, per se, so much as I could feel where other things weren't or where there presence disrupted something else.
Still…with this many adventurers in one place, I was starting to piece together a very weird picture. If I used Welf as a baseline—someone too small for me to really feel—then I had a rough idea of who was a part of blur in the background; those people were level ones. In that case, those who stood out to me as distinct, however vague, were something clearly different. Level 2's, maybe? And those who felt clearer and larger were probably of even higher levels.
And as I looked at the employees in the bar one by one, I began to notice a pattern. Despite how they looked, I knew better than to underestimate them—because I could feel them moving throughout the room like I felt sharks in the water. They were stronger than most of the people in the room; probably at least Level 3. And the elf waitress…she stood out even compared to them. She must have been Level 4 at least, maybe even level five; a killer whale or something. The only one stronger than her was the woman behind the bar.
Should I be proud of myself for being able to narrow things down that much or disappointed that things were still so broad? I wasn't sure, but if there was one thing I knew, it was that all of them were strong, even compared to most adventurers. Whatever else this place might have been, it wasn't a normal bar and the people that worked within it weren't normal people.
Except Syr, who was standing behind me. As far as I could tell, she was completely normal—and in its own weird way, that made her stand out the most.
"So you're Syr's guest, huh?" The woman behind the bar startled me from my thoughts as she turned my way and laughed. "You've sure got a pretty face for an adventurer!"
The words promptly derailed my train of thought and I stopped, blinked a few times, and then pointed at myself. Somehow that just seemed to make her laugh harder and she leaned an elbow onto the counter to look me in the eye.
"You don't look it, but I hear you've got quite an appetite!" She all but shouted, smiling widely. "Well go all out and spend a lot of money, then! I'll keep bringing out the food so you keep ordering!"
I blinked again as she turned away to pay attention to another customer, struck a bit speechless.
"…Huh?" I asked, looking over my shoulder at Syr, who was looking away. "Hey, Syr, what's this?"
"Teehee?" She giggled in cute uncertainty, which just made me frown slightly. "Well you see, I told Mama Mia that I'd invited someone and I may have talked you up just a bit and things might have gotten a bit out of hand, but…teehee?"
Slowly, I looked down at my menu and abruptly realized I'd overlooked a crucial issue—because the words on it made absolutely no sense to me. Despite that, I could clearly read the symbols beside them; three hundred valis, eight hundred valid, five hundred valis…most of the things on the menu cost more than it took to feed both Hestia and I and then some. Given that the snacks Hestia sold cost somewhere between thirty and fifty valis…I could only imagine what was on this menu.
"Um," I said, look back at her. She was bowed over, holding her stomach tightly.
"Ah," She groaned. "I'm so hungry…I couldn't eat breakfast…I feel…so weak…"
I look down at her quietly, feeling worried. For a brief moment, I couldn't help but imagine Syr as some kind of bar Siren, drawing in adventurers and then squeezing out all their money, but then she looks up and catches my eye, smiling.
"It's just a joke," She told me with a small laugh, winking. "I just wanted to have a little fun—just relax and order when you're ready."
Her cheerful words put me a bit at ease and I look down at the menu, a part of me hoping it would somehow start making sense. Alas, it did not.
"Well…" I said, sighing. "I'll do my best, I guess."
I handed her the menu, which seemed to confuse her.
"Huh?" She asked.
"You know the menu better than I do, right?" I said. "I'll have whatever you think is best."
"Ah!" Syr said, smiling at me brightly. "Okay then—I'll be right back! Look forward to it, alright?"
I did my best not to sigh as Syr walked away, turning slightly in my chair to take a quick look around.
"Pretty bold move, letting Syr do the picking for ya'!" 'Mama Mia' said as she turned my way again. "I wish you luck, boy!"
Her words tipped me over the breaking point and I actually sighed—but then I turned towards her.
"Mama Mia, can I ask you a question?" I said and was somewhat proud of myself for resisting the urge to comment on her name. Admittedly, her presence and biceps helped a lot on that front.
"Hm?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.
"What's in there?" I asked up front, pointing towards the door at the side of the bar.
Immediately, she paused in her work before continuing to clean the counter—but her eyes flicked up to meet mine.
"Nothing," She said in a very pointed dismissal. "It's an indoor garden we planned to do something with, but the plans fell through."
"Ah," I said, pursing my lips. "Let me rephrase that—who's in there?"
Mia looked annoyed at the question, but I wasn't sure if it was because of me because her eyes flicked past me to the door.
"Do yourself a favor and don't go looking for trouble, boy," She told me. "I make sure nothing happens in this bar of mine, you hear? So whatever you're worried about, just forget it."
I looked at her for a long moment, exhaling slowly. On one hand, that was a pretty blatant confirmation that something was there and that she knew about it—but I guess it would have been hard not to, seeing as it had gotten from the second story to the garden somehow. But now I was even more curious about what it was; a monster, maybe, or something else?
On the other hand…her face was serious and she held herself with strength enough that I'd have thought her capable even if she didn't feel like a blue whale to my senses. The way she stood seemed almost protective and I could tell that she meant what she said about her bar. And, well, it was her bar. I had a pet Hellhound and a bag full of secrets, so who was I to talk, anyway.
In the end, I just ducked my head.
"It's a little hard to forget about them when they're staring at me like I'm a piece of meat," I grumbled quietly before sighing. "But it's your bar. Nothing bad happens? You're sure?"
"I'm sure," She said even as she joined me in a sigh and shook her head. After a moment, though, she gave me a measuring look. "How about some ale to soothe your nerves?"
"No thanks," I said. "I'm only sixteen—and I'm not sure I'll have enough left by the time Syr's done anyway."
"Bah," She replied, ignoring everything I said and setting a full mug down beside me. "Enjoy yourself. You look like you've got enough to worry about anyway."
"If you say so," I murmured, looking away. When I saw a waitress set a glass down on Welf's table and leave, I splashed a bit of water over the rim, slowly shaping it into a pair of emoticons—namely a smiley face and a frowny face—with an arrow pointing to the former. Not the most amazing of dignified of communications, but I did my best with what I had and Welf seemed to understand. He met my eyes and nodded to me.
Given the look in Mia's eyes, she'd noticed our shared looks, but she didn't comment.
"I wouldn't have guessed you for the worrier type," She mused. "A room full of adventurers and you still felt the need to make sure everything was okay. Were you worried about Syr? Don't be—I take care of my girls. Well, but I suppose caring about people isn't a bad thing."
"Please don't say stuff like that," I replied, looking away again. "It's embarrassing."
Mama Mia laughed and made to say something else before abruptly grimacing, lips puckering as if she'd just eaten something sour—and I didn't have any trouble figuring out why. She didn't look away from me, had stopped moving even, but I turned towards the door and towards the new presence I felt. When I did, I locked eyes with a cat-man with black and grey hair and a presence that matched or exceeded even Mama Mia's. All told, he was probably the strongest person in the room by a lot, even counting me.
Before I could say anything, Mama Mia put a hand on my shoulder and turned me around, giving me a look, but I could see the tightness around her eyes.
"Your food's almost out," She told me with a tone of a stern teacher.
I took a deep breath and nodded.