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Berth, a young Giant Boy, Acaracia, a young Banshee Girl, and Mitiliph, a young Cockroach-type Insectoid Girl had been living in the slums of Seashore Town since they had memory.
?
None of the three ever remembered having lived elsewhere, but some of them remembered that their parents died of hunger, or others killed by thugs.
Mitiliph remembers having been born from a clutch of eggs in the sewers and had survived somehow up until then.
For varied motives and circumstances, the three came to meet each other rather early on in their lives.
And since then, they had stuck together, protecting each other, and surviving as they could.
After the incident that left this particular building abandoned, the children moved inside for a safer place to live than just the slums.
Although the place seemed haunted by ghosts and was covered in blood, it was better than the outside world, and for some reason, the ghosts did not seem to be angered at them and mostly ignored their presence.
After some time, two old men also came to occupy this place, and somehow, fended off other people that wanted to get inside the building and did not have good intentions.
These men came to be ex-adventurers, of C-Rank and D-Rank respectively, who had lost everything because their hands or legs were broken, named Bartholomew and Jose, respectively.
"And that's how it has been since then," said Bartholomew, he resembled a thin old man with a bald head and a long white beard, after having taken a bath and wearing new clothes, he seemed like a new person.
"These kids are rather mischievous, they sometimes steal our coins! Well, they buy food with that, so it was fine," said Jose, he had long red hair and tired orange eyes.
"So you two used to be Adventurers? That's pretty crazy!" said Veronica.
"Yeah, to think that a C-Rank Adventurer would live in the slums…" said Ervas.
"Well, when you lose an important limb such as your dominant hand or a leg, you pretty much are done for. There is not any type of magic accessible for us that can regenerate limbs. And prosthetic limbs are too expensive and might not even withstand the attacks of monsters… Due to that, we ended pretty much useless," said Bartholomew.
"All that glory for nothin'…" sighed Jose.
"Well we lack a lot of humans in our Kingdom so feel free to join," said Ervas.
"K-Kingdom?" asked Bartholomew.
"Oh right, we never explained them I guess," said Veronica.
"Hm, well, we can do it as we have dinner, the burgers are ready… Also, there is meatloaf, freshly baked bread, mashed potatoes, tomato salad, boiled grains, and dragon steak," said Ervas.
"T-That's… real… food?!" asked Berth in shock, glancing at the clean white plates, which served him several burgers for him as he was a giant, alongside a large portion of mashed potatoes, freshly boiled and mashed, which was also added with butter and sea salt. There was also a warm loaf of bread with butter at the side and strawberry jam… and to top it all, there were large grilled steaks of dragon meat covered in barbeque sauce. All accompanied with warm tea, fruit juice, and wine for the old men.
"It looks… so good…" muttered Acaracia, as tears began to flow off her eyes, falling into the food.
"And the smell… Aaahh… Is this a dream?" wondered Mitiliph, as her antennae moved happily.
"What are you waiting for? Dig in!" said Kireina.
"C-Can we?" asked Berth.
"Eh?! We just made all of this for you guys!" said Veronica.
"I would feel rather offended if you didn't eat my food…" said Ervas.
"Indeed, we worked hard to make it tasty for you, please enjoy it," said Gaius.
"T-Then…!" muttered Berth.
"Thanks…!" said Acaracia.
"Thanks for the meal, gishii!" sad Mitiliph, as the three kids began to devour the food, the delicious juices of the meat-filled their tastebuds with wonders they had never tasted before, the warm and creamy mashed potatoes went excellently with the meat, and the warm bread with butter and strawberry jam was like the most delectable of delicacies for them.
The warm and aromatic tea and the fruit juice helped them swallow everything which they ate almost hysterically, it was a sight to behold.
The old men, Bartholomew and Jose also began to dig in rather quickly, although not as crazy as the trio of kids, they enjoyed the food, especially the delicious burgers, which Ervas named 'Anir Burgers'.
"These burgers are delicious… I would have never known that meat could be triturated and then made into a patty like this… this is wonderful," said Jose.
"It is indeed a wonderful taste and flavor… the meat is so tender, it almost melts in your mouth… And the juices are also very good, the melted cheese, tomato, and other sauces that I have never tasted over it and enclosed into bread is… this is the best food I've ever had in my entire life…" said Bartholomew.
"A-Are you planning to sell this on here? You'll make the entire district your loyal client!" said Jose, devouring the burger voraciously while sipping on wine occasionally, making the entire experience even better.
"Yeah, you are like our beta testers," said Ervas.
"Well I am glad my food is enjoyed by people from so far away from my home…" said Gaius.
"W-What are these steaks?! They're so good!" cried Mitiliph, devouring the steak with her bare hands.
"That's dragon meat… I think that's the steak of a Rank 7 Storm Dragon," said Veronica, rubbing her chin.
"Oh, I see- EH?! A DRAGON?!" asked Mitiliph.
"Yeah… Have you never eaten dragon meat before, little girl?" asked Anna.
"O-Of course not… that's… a pretty strong monster…" said Berth.
"Wait, this steak is dragon meat?!" asked Jose.
"Indeed, we hunted them a week ago, but the meat is still good thanks to my magic," said Veronica.
"Dragon meat is incredibly expensive! It is often only enjoyed by the richest of aristocrats… This is rather insane…" said Bartholomew.
"Is that valuable? Maybe we should sell some?" asked Ervas.
"Oh yeah… I guess Rank 8 monster materials sold pretty high," said Veronica.
"J-Just how strong are you?! Only B-Rank or above Adventurers could ever hope to defeat dragons… Yet you talk about it so casually…" said Jose.
"It could be said that we are a bit good at fighting," said Ervas.
"Yeah, nothing much, really," said Veronica humbly.
"In fact, we are pretty weak," said Ervas.
"Yeah… Don't expect much of us," said Veronica.
"W-What?!" asked Bartholomew.
"I mean modesty is nice and all, but don't you think you're going a bit overboard?" asked Kireina.
"Well, compared to the one we want to defeat, we are incredibly weak," said Ervas.
"Yep… Long way to go!" said Veronica.
"And who… are you planning to defeat?" asked Jose.
"Bestellen," said Ervas and Veronica at the same time.
"T-That's literally the strongest god in this world!" said Bartholomew.
"Eh? They're so weird, they want to kill Bestellen?" asked Acaracia.
"That's indeed weird… But I guess people can dream weird things," said Mitiliph.
"Maybe they're just joking…" said Berth.
"They're not really joking, but I believe this is not the topic we should talk about for now… It really does not concern little kids," said Kireina.
"Yeah, sorry about that," said Ervas.
"I guess we are around S-Rank Adventurers, strength-wise," said Veronica.
"Well, that's the pinnacle of strength that an Adventure can reach…" said Jose.
"I-I knew there was something weird about them…" said Bartholomew.
"So strong! Can we be as strong as you one day?" asked Acaracia, she seemed happy after having filled her little belly with lots of food.
"We can help you grow strong if you want that," said Ervas.
"Yeah, no problem~," said Veronica.
"R-Really?" asked Berth.
"Our dream… has always been to become Adventurers!" said Mitiliph.
"Oh? That's an interesting dream," said Kireina.
"That will be a tough road… But we could help them out while we do our things," said Anna.
"Yeah, I don't see why not. Kireina helped me grow so strong, we should give back the favor to someone else," said Ditoyle.
"Hm? Oh, it's already night… I guess we'll have to move the things we wanted to do for tomorrow," said Ervas.
"Yeah, for now, let's prepare things for tomorrow's grant aperture!" said Veronica.
"I wonder what we can do to help out?" asked Kireina.
"Oh, I got a nice work for you to do, Kireina~," said Veronica.
"Indeed… Ditoyle, Anna, Ismene, Desephise too…" said Ervas.
"E-Eh? W-What?" asked Anna.
"It's a surprise for tomorrow, fufu," laughed Veronica.
"I have a bad feeling about this…" said Ismene.
The party continued eating and enjoying the food over the table, as Veronica and Ervas explained their new allies and friends their story and their purposes as well.
"Y-You… You are truly… something else…" said Jose.
"A… Living… Armor? No way, you really look just like some Vampire lady…" said Bartholomew.
"Wanna see?" asked Veronica, as she suddenly transformed her dress into an immense dark armor covered on spikes and deadly decorations of skulls, jewels, and more. Her body became a pure spectral and dark phantom, it was as if Veronica became something else completely, a monarch of death, or some kind of final boss on an S-Rank Dungeon!
"G-Gaaaah!" cried Jose, falling unconscious due to the shock of Veronica's aura.
"Uunnghh…! I almost threw up… W-What with that dread feeling?!" asked Bartholomew, whose Detection Skill was sounding alarms inside of his head, Veronica had suddenly changed from a happy-go-lucky vampire lady into a monstrous being of hell!
"S-See? This is why I don't like going around with my true form…" said Veronica, quickly changing back to normal.
The Kids were somehow still conscious and only surprised, perhaps due to their low level and lack of skills, Veronica was so strong that they could not even fathom detecting her presence.
"Auntie Veronica is so cool!" said Mitiliph.
"I-Indeed… Although that was pretty crazy," said Berth.
"I like her armor!" said Acaracia.
"Maybe I can make you guys some armor similar to mine, I am sure that you will rock the style!" said Veronica.
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