Prytaneum
Stolen Glances
The rest of dinner had been awkward to say the least and by the time I'd finished my meal, I'd had about all I could stand. You know that feeling right before a monster attacks or a fight breaks out? It was like that, for about two hours. Flomel and whoever else stared at me intently enough to make my skin crawl, but no one seemed willing to make the first move. By the time I was done, I felt like someone had twisted my shoulders into knots and wanted to leave.
So I did. I thanked Syr and Mama Mia for the meal, paid with a generous tip, bowed, and left the Hostess of Fertility only to duck into an alley a few building's down. I sent a message to Welf to wait before following me and then watched the door, half expecting Flomel to follow me out to kick my ass once I was out from under Mama Mia's protection. I had to wait for a few minutes before he came out, at which point he sent a glare my way that made me think he was trying to develop heat vision, before turning away from me and vanishing sullenly.
In the end, there was no fight. Instead, my entire night turned out to be a confusing, annoying, exhausting mess that left me without any idea what was going on. I was certain that something was up, but I had no idea what and I wasn't sure I could handle trying to find out right now, given who seemed to be involved. Honestly, the smart thing to do would probably be to just stay away from the Hostess of Fertility, away from Flomel and everyone else who felt the need to stare at me, and away from Syr, who seemed to be at the center of it all.
Being me, I came back first thing in the morning instead, walking through the door shortly after the sun began to rise. Part of that was simple stubbornness; I didn't like the idea of someone pushing me around, indirectly or not, and I especially didn't like the idea of someone else decided who I was or wasn't going to be friends with. Suspicious as I was of Syr, I still liked her and I thought she seemed nice, and after what she said especially, I didn't want to be chased off by her potential boyfriend or ex-boyfriend or creepy stalker or whatever the hell Flomel was. Beyond that, however…I couldn't deny that I was curious. Someone had their eye on me, someone Mama Mia had explicitly tried to warn me away from, and I wanted to know why. Not enough to jump into the teeth of danger, maybe, but I couldn't simply forget about it and pretend it had never happened, either. And for better or worse, the Hostess of Fertility was my only lead.
"Hello," I said as I entered, looking around. The elf and one of the cat-girls I'd seen yesterday were busy setting up tables, but both of them looked up at me immediately.
"I apologize, sir, but we are not open yet. Could I ask you to please come back in a few…?" The elf said before slowly trailing off as she looked at my face. "Ah, you're that young man from yesterday."
"Ah!" The cat-girl exclaimed, widening her eyes. "You're Syr's—gaa!"
"Please be silent, Arnya," The elf said, expression unchanging even as she reached out with shocking speed and pulling on the girl's collar, cutting her off. "I apologize for my coworker. If you would like to wait here for a moment, I will go and retrieve Syr."
"Ah, thank you," I said, blinking at her. That's right, I'd gotten distracted by bigger metaphorical fish, but this girl was the one I'd guess to be Level 4 or 5. "I'm sorry for bothering you at this time, though. And also, sorry about last night. Things got a little tense and I think it might have been because of me. I'm Percy Jackson, by the way."
"I am Ryuu Lyon," The elf replied with a slight bow. "And this is my coworker, Arnya Flomel. And please, do not concern yourself with such things; you were not at fault for the unfortunate atmosphere. If anything, we owe you our thanks for remaining by Syr's side despite what occurred."
"That's right," Arnya said, expression growing angry. She continued before I could even ask about her name. "It was all Allen's fault! That guy, always doing what he wants without any care what happens. He chased out a lot of our customers, too!"
Or at least, that's what I'm pretty sure she said. She made a lot of strange sounds as she spoke, with too many 'n' sounds and things like 'nya.' I wasn't sure why. I might have thought it had something to do with her being a cat-person, but none of the others I'd seen had spoken in such a way. But she probably had her reasons.
More importantly…
"Allen?" I asked curiously. "Is that that guy's name?"
Arnya made a face at my words but nodded.
"Allen Flomel," She said sullenly. "As his sister, I apologize for any trouble he's caused. He didn't do anything to you, did he?"
"Just stared at me a lot," I replied, shaking my head. "I don't know why, but it seems he doesn't like me. I thought I might have done something wrong. I thought he'd leave if I did, but…"
"No," Arnya answered with a pout. "He's just always like that. I'm not sure why he even showed up again, after all this time."
"Mr. Jackson," Ryuu interrupted, still looking calm and remote. "Please be at ease. If you are concerned about Syr, know that nothing will happen to her here. We will go get her now to prove it."
Without another word, she easily dragged Arnya off, leaving me alone in the bar. Or…it didn't really look like a bar right now, actually; if anything, it seemed like a café. Well, I suppose that made sense—they probably switched it during the day when most of the adventurers were in the Dungeon. I'd have to keep that in mind. And speaking of things I had to keep in mind…oddly enough, I didn't feel anyone's gaze on me. Were they gone?
Before I could do more than frown and look around a bit, I heard footsteps and Syr came running downstairs.
"Percy!" She said with a broad, warm smile. "Welcome back."
"Hi, Syr," I said, returning the smile with my hands in my pockets. "I'm glad to see you look well. Sorry if I caused you any trouble last night."
"Last night?" She asked, blinked. "But you didn't do anything last night."
"Ah," I said, scratching my head. "Your friends said that, too. But…I can't help but feel like I was a bit responsible. That guy, Arnya's brother…well, he didn't seem to like me."
"Ah, Allen," She said, clapping her hands slightly before sighing and looking away, seeming somewhere between upset and exasperated. "I'm sure he didn't mean anything by it; he was probably just there to visit his sister!"
Given how she'd spoke of him and how he'd ignored her, I kind of doubted that was the case, but I didn't question her.
"Well, I guess its fine as long as you're all okay," I mused, deciding to just relax. Reaching out, I handed back the basket she'd given me yesterday morning and smiled at her. "I just wanted to stop in and make sure everything was fine. I'll see you later, Syr."
"—Ah, wait!" Syr said as I began to turn around. I glanced back to see her hurrying into the backroom and paused curiously, only to watch her come hurrying back with the same basket as before.
"Huh?" I asked, looking down at it. It had been refilled with fresh bread and such and it looked warm.
"You're going back into the Dungeon today, aren't you?" She asked me. "Please, take this with you."
"Isn't this your breakfast again?" I asked, looking at her in concern. "I can't take that again—I can just go buy something on the way like I usually do."
"I want you to have it," She said, looking down shyly. "Since you never know what might happen in the Dungeon, I wanted to do at least this much to help you."
I hesitated at that, looking away embarrassedly.
"Well," I began before clearing my throat. "Then I guess I should come back tonight, to make things fair?"
Syr laughs quietly again, looking at me with a smile—and then door hinges squeal loudly as someone walks in from the back.
"It's the boy again?" Mia says with a click of her tongue, sighing. "No wonder nobody's working. Are you done yet, Syr?"
"Ah!" Syr says, jumping slightly and flushing. "Yes, Mama Mia. I'll go finish setting up right now."
Mia watched her hurry back up the stairs and then settled her eyes on me.
"I was a bit worried there when you left," She said gruffly. "Trying to play the hero, eh?"
"Mrs. Mia?" I asked, but didn't meet her eyes.
She snorted.
"You've probably already figured it out, but stay away from Allen Flomel," She said. "I don't think he'll do nothing to you directly, he probably just wanted to get a look at you, but you don't need to be anyone's hero now, boy. For a kid like you, just staying alive is enough."
I looked down at that, feeling embarrassed—but I couldn't argue, even if it hurt. Whatever my status said, I didn't feel like much of a hero, in large part because 'just staying alive' seemed to be all I was good for.
"Hey," Mia said sharply, staring down at me with eyes that looked like they could see straight through me. "Whatever happened, its fine if you're still just a little brat—everyone starts as one and I'm sick and tired of them thinking they have to be perfect and do everything. You just stay alive and keep getting stronger; strong enough that you'll be able to do better next time. You're still alive, yeah? Then keep on living and growing."
Feeling surprised, I blinked at her, looking at her eye to eye. She was observant, but more than that—
"And don't go looking at me like that, either," She barked, grabbing me by the shoulders and spinning me around. "Get out there and fight—you're getting in the way here!"
"Yes, Mama Mia," I said, nodding even as I held onto Syr's basket and tried not to stumble.
"It should go without saying," She continued as if I hadn't spoken. "But after making me waste so much breath, you better not go and die on me, ya' hear? Now go!"
She pushed me out the door and I stumbled onto West Main, somehow feeling a bit more at ease. As I straightened myself, however, I looked to my left and saw Welf leaning against the front of the bar.
"What's that?" He asked, looking down at the basket. "A present from your girlfriend?"
"Syr's not my girlfriend," I said, frowning at him. "But she gave me this, yeah. What about it?"
Welf sighed.
"I was really worried last night, you know," He said. "Just when I start thinking everything will be fine, you say a Level 5 has shown up and he spends the whole night glaring at you. I'm busy feeling terrified that something might happen and you…you spend the whole night chatting with a pretty girl."
"It can't be helped," I told him as we started walking. "I was nervous too, you know. But what did you want me to do, sit there while he glared at me the whole night?"
He ignored me.
"And then when you finally leave, you tell me to stay put—and the guy follows you out," He continued. "And when I get out there, too, both of you are gone. I thought you died for a minute there and you waited something like twenty minutes to show up again."
"It was maybe five," I corrected. "And only because I was making sure he was actually gone. But you're right; I'm sorry. Next time I think someone might be out to get me, I'll try and give you early notice so you can find a date to bring along to watch."
"That's all I'm asking," He said, lifting his hands and then laughing a bit and shaking his head. "But man that was tense. Who was that guy?"
"Allen Flomel, apparently," I replied. "He's the brother of one of the waitresses. I don't know much else about him, though."
"Allen Flomel?" Welf repeated, furrowing his eyebrows. "I know that name. He's…a Level 6!?"
"Why are you asking me?" I wondered, frowning at him. "Do you know what Familia?"
"Uh," He paused for a moment, pursing his lips. "I think so. The big names like that are pretty easy to pin down, even if I don't know much about him. He's part of the Freya Familia, I think—and he's not the strongest guy in it, either."
I didn't recognize the name, but what else was new.
"Okay," I said, making a note of it. "Let's just try and avoid them, then. We heading for the tenth floor again today? If we finish up early enough, we might be able to explore the entire floor."
"We'll have to see," He replied. "There's someone I want you to meet, first—someone who replied to the Guild notice we put up."
"Already?" I asked, feeling surprised. "I thought it'd take you awhile to screen people, but you already found someone?"
Welf frowned and looked down.
"It's…a bit of a special case," He said. "That's why I wanted to get your opinion on it. Come on."