Chapter 645 Mascots
A few days before the Rakian invasion, after the night of Evilus' mass assault, Serafall had to go and follow Sona's group into the Dungeon, because her little sister had contacted her about Medusa not feeling very well for some unknown reasons.
Serafall immediately sent this issue to Kisuke and he asked her to go get him some Mana samples from Medusa. Kisuke also asked Serafall to tell Aika to extract a small amount of Reiryoku (Spiritual Power) from Medusa if possible.
As such, Serafall left the manor that day, leaving the others to their own devices. Since Hestia and Artemis were around, she didn't have to worry about Claire and Ophis, even if they were to go around the town.
Hence the fate of some unsavory Adventurers was sealed that day.
After lunchtime, Claire and Ophis wanted to go out and look around the city and asked Hestia and Artemis to permit them. Hestia and Artemis didn't think very hard about it and decided to accompany them to the market area.
They immediately went towards the part that they hadn't explored yet, while getting some snacks on the way from the stall keepers. As it wasn't their first time arriving here, most of the stall keepers knew about the little girls, especially the black-haired one due to her many quirks.
The first time they went here, Ophis immediately garnered everyone's recognition because of her seemingly endless appetite and her rude way of calling anyone according to their physical features. Although it immediately put off everyone who came across her, upon further inspection, her bad name-calling didn't include any hostile feelings. In fact, they all felt that it was just the stoic girl's way of remembering a person.
Besides, even with her apparent expressionlessness, whenever she was given food, she would enjoy it to the fullest, which made these stall keepers happy and they would always give her their merchandise at a discounted price.
In addition to that, Claire, a little girl with grey hair and eyes, who was a large contrast to Ophis, captured the hearts of many due to her development.
When she first arrived on these streets with Serafall and Ophis, she was very afraid of strangers. But as of late, she became a jolly kid that was very polite and kind to everyone. Her 'development' felt like they just watched their kid growing up and overcoming her fears.
As such, these two unofficially became the mascots of the food street.
Of course, they still had questions regarding Ophis's endless appetite and were worried that they were feeding her too much. To ease their worries, Hestia 'revealed' without thinking that Ophis had a rare skill that lets her eat all the food she could ever want.
Although it indeed eased the worries of the stall keepers, it inadvertently attracted some pesky Gods, wanting to know about this 'rare skill'. But since Ophis wasn't an Adventurer, nor was this skill very useful in battle aside from wasting food, it didn't gain much traction. However, Hestia still regretted the fact that she'd run her mouth in the heat of the moment.
A man with a big mustache called out to them, "Hey, little missies~! You're here today too! Come and take some of my fried chicken skewers!"
Immediately after, a blonde woman also called for their attention from the opposite side, "Considering the time, they just had lunch, didn't they? Take my sweetened fruits! I'll give you large servings!"
For Ophis, however, there weren't any choices to be made here, and she pulled out her small black purse, "...I shall take it, Mustache Man, Flat Blonde."
The man with a mustache laughed out loud while the blonde woman took some mental damage.
Soon after, more stall keepers started calling out to them while Hestia and Artemis watched from behind with gentle smiles. Scenes like these were more to their taste rather than exciting Adventures.
Not long after that, Gods started bothering Hestia and Artemis again. But after that minute timeframe of shooing away the pesky Gods, Hestia and Artemis asked each other at the same time, " "Where are they?" "
Both of their eyes widened and they hurriedly looked around, " "Where are they!?" "
They severely underestimated Ophis' superpower to get lost.
Immediately, Hestia and Artemis started asking around for their whereabouts, but each time, they would be pointed towards a random direction, showing how erratic and fast the little girls' movements were.
Meanwhile, Ophis was dragging Claire around through the various stalls. Sometimes, she would take some random alleys, which made locating them even more difficult. After getting full, Claire suggested that they rest and finally realized that Hestia and Artemis were not with them anymore when they returned to the first area, "Hestia-neechan and Artemis-neechan are not here... Are we lost?"
The man with a big mustache saw them and called out to them, "Hey little missies! There you are! The Goddess-samas are looking for you everywhere."
Ophis also realized the situation they were in, but she came up with a different conclusion, "...They are lost?"
The man with a mustache and Claire looked at her with a speechless expression but the former just laughed out loud and said, "AHAHA, isn't that right? They are lost, aren't they? But I think you should wait here until they find their way back."
The man then brought out two chairs and placed them on a shaded area, "Come sit here while you wait."
The mustached man asked some of his friends and acquaintances to inform Hestia and Artemis of the current location of the little girls while he kept them from wandering off and time went on peacefully until some Adventurers, who were in a very bad mood, arrived.
There were a total of four Adventurers that came. One greatsword user, two knife users, and a mage. Of course, it was not unusual for Adventurers to come here at all, but the four of them all had bad reputations, especially the bulky man leading them who was a Level 2 and the greatsword user.
Once the stall owners saw them, they all became quiet and the people around them also started leaving. If it was the normal them, they wouldn't be so scared, but clearly, these people just met some misfortune within the Dungeon and were seething with anger.
And indeed, this group had spectacularly failed on their exploration, losing all of their supplies, magic stones, and some equipment. Though they were lucky to be able to get out alive, they didn't care about that and just thought about the debt they'd be put in.
With nowhere else to go, the group decided to go to the free market area to get some 'free' food and maybe, release some of their anger. And without much searching, they immediately found a target for their unreasonable harassment.
Approaching the blonde woman who sold sweetened fruits, the leader of the group pointed at the cup containing her merchandise, "Give me that one."
Slightly shaking from fear, the woman gave it to the man while saying its price, "I-it's 50 Valis."
But the man didn't say anything and grabbed the wooden cup before bringing its contents to his mouth. After eating some of it, however, he spat it out and threw the cup towards the woman, hitting her stomach, "Gahh!"
Not minding that she fell to the ground and started tearing up, he yelled at her while kicking over a crate of apple-like fruits beside her, "What the f*ck is this!? It tastes like shit! How are you going to compensate me!?"
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