"What the hell?" Princess Renner curses in her mind. This guy, a newly promoted A-rank adventurer, first introduces himself like a gentleman, and then just starts eating.
The contrast made Renner unable to react for a moment, her pretty face blushing with embarrassment before Gagaran lightly pats her right shoulder.
"Hehehe, Sir Hiyama, it seems you haven't been eating very well lately..." Gagaran smiles, making the atmosphere feel a little more pleasant.
"Actually, I haven't been eating very well lately. I hope the ladies will excuse me," Hiyama smiles before continuing to eat.
Evileye, the strongest of the Blue Roses, watches this without emotion; elegance is not something that is important to her.
"Well, that's no important for me, so, Why don't you start by telling us what you found in the dungeon?" Lakyus, the leader of the Blue Roses, asks curiously as she sits down on a chair near the table and begins to eat as well.
The other girls follow Lakyus' example. After all, Chef Root's food is always delicious, and Renner has been addicted to the chubby chef's cooking for a long time.
"Hmph... delicious," Hiyama murmurs as he puts a piece of meat in his mouth.
A moment later, Hiyama takes a sip of wine before elegantly wiping his mouth with a small cloth. He looks at his plate, his eyes perhaps too focused on the meat on his plate before looking at the other girls at the table.
"Well, hmph, it's complicated, it was strange, the thing was asleep, hehehe," Hiyama laughs, not in a funny way, but rather a nervous laugh.
Immediately, the girls' attention is focused on Hiyama.
"I seee, inside the dungeon... it dark, I walked quietly through the dungeon, the first floors were empty, the passageways wide, and from time to time I found something strange like a small empty chest or skeletons of unknown creatures," Hiyama licks his lips slightly as he looks at Renner.
"On the fifth floor, I encountered a kind of muscular bear with horns, hahaha, the thing talked, it told me it was a Sasquatch, and that if I went deeper, I would regret it," Hiyama takes a sip of wine as he pauses.
"Obviously, I ignored it, killed the Sasquatch, and kept going down. After going down ten floors, I encountered another strange creature. It was giant, over five meters tall, with a blue body, a belly, and... strange," Hiyama pauses again, observing the reaction of the girls present.
"It introduced itself as Mog, a kind of magical ogre lost in the dungeon. Obviously, I killed it without hesitation and continued descending, and on the fifteenth floor, I found it," Hiyama smiles slightly, a slight chuckle escaping his mouth.
"It was strange. Down on the fifteenth level, I found him. The floor was spacious, I think even the size of a small palace. The walls were stained with an unknown liquid, there were cobwebs all over the floor, and strange patterns drawn everywhere..."
Hiyama narrows his eyes
"Some small insects lived there, which I found strange because there were no traces of those insects on the upper levels. In the center of the level was something... indescribable, giant, a twisted mass of something alive," Hiyama takes another sip of wine.
"One word came to my mind at that moment, The Forgotten One," Hiyama lies, that was the name Kel'thuzad whispered to him when he encountered the creature.
"It had eyes closed at the four cardinal points, eyes as big as a small room, gray scaly skin, and things like giant claws at the tips," Hiyama describes The Forgotten One, but omits something.
On top of The Forgotten One was a small box, the box he gave to Matt.
The Blue Roses adventurers listens curiously. Hiyama's story seems fantastic, incredible, and, honestly, it captures their hearts in a feeling of dark adventure.
Gagaran smiles, "And then you ran away?" she asks aggressively.
Hiyama looks at her, takes a sip of wine before smiling and laughing slightly, "If you had been there, witnessing The Forgotten One, I'm afraid you would have shit your pants in fear..."
Renner narrows his eyes at Hiyama's rudeness, while Gagaran simply bursts out laughing.
"It doesn't matter what you did, what matters is what we're going to do now," Lakyus interjects, his eyes shining with a hunger for battle.
After all, the adventurers' guild had tasked them, the Blue Roses, with investigating who The Forgotten One was.
"That's all the information we need. In a week, we'll meet at the main gate of Re-estize to depart," Evileye says as she watches Hiyama.
For his part, Hiyama nods, asks the waitress to pack several dishes of food to take away, and then leaves with a lot of food in his hands.
...
A few days later.
"Is your name Mikasa?" Matt says as he looks at the young girl Armin brought this morning. The girl nods before pulling a frail-looking boy close to her.
"And this skinny kid is called Eren?" Mikasa nods again at Matt's question.
Matt looks at Armin for a moment before scratching his head. What is the reason for this free worker bringing two kids to his store? "Maybe it's for work," he thinks before blinking.
Eren stares at Matt with wide eyes, his mind, overwhelmed by various intrusive thoughts, focusing on the ordinary man behind the counter, his determination wavering and his face showing doubt.
Is Matt really someone who can help him become stronger? Armin said yes, but looking at Matt, Eren has many doubts.
"Armin said you could help us," Mikasa says, fixing her gaze on Matt's sour face.
"Hmph..." For his part, Matt simply narrows his eyes as he looks at the beautiful girl for a moment before shaking his head.
Mikasa slightly raises her hands to stroke the red scarf around her neck, looking with some anticipation at the items inside the counter.
According to what Armin told her, the items in this shop are magical and can provide immeasurable power.
She had verified this with Eren yesterday, both of them watching in astonishment as Armin cut an ogre's body in half without even breaking a sweat.
At first, they thought it was a fateful dream, but no, it was simply the blade of Ashbringer cutting through the thick, resistant body of an ogre.
And the owner of Ashbringer, Armin, whom they hadn't seen for a few days, was watching them calmly.
Now, Mikasa looks at the counter, where there are several weapons of all sizes, various weapons and items hanging on the walls, and different things enclosed in transparent boxes, but something stacked on a kind of bookshelf behind Matt catches her attention.
Small transparent boxes hiding strange fruits inside, fruits that look like small works of art carved on top of magnificent shiny porcelain plates.
"How beautiful," Mikasa murmurs unconsciously, the beauty of the fruits trapping her mind in an endless chocolate desert, she focuses her gaze on a particular blue fruit.
Ray-shaped patterns cover the surface of a fruit with a rough texture, it has a small stem at the top and almost seems to radiate electricity.
She observes it, her mind and body caught in an enchanting dream that unleashes her curiosity, her body and mind captured by the essence of the fruit.
Mikasa opens her eyes, thinking about the fruit with almost fanatical devotion for no apparent reason, about its taste, its texture, the secret behind it.
...
"Prepare yourselves, for the daughter of God has been born," an enchanting voice sweetens Mikasa's ears, causing her cheeks to turn a deep crimson.
"There is no destiny without sacrifice, no gain without loss, and no heaven without you," Mikasa licks her lips unconsciously.
She watches, with curious eyes, with expectant eyes, with an inexperienced mind, as in the distance she glimpses the figure of a god, a superior being, but it almost seems that her mortal eyes are not sharp enough to see any details beyond the silhouette.
A man, tall, very tall, wearing what appear to be baggy pants, a defined body, a strange circle behind him, and long ears? Well, it's not like Mikasa can see anything beyond the silhouette anyway.
The man is God, the one who calls himself God, the one who rules over the heavens, the one who punishes, the one who judges.
She can observe, with fanatical devotion, how the man who calls himself God punishes a group of humans with wings for a crime they committed.
The crime? Offending God, because God is unique and only good things are said about him.
Mikasa narrows her eyes, disagreeing with this punishment, the fanatical devotion in her eyes diminishing a little, but something inside her tells her that this is how things must be.
She is not kind to everyone, only to Eren. She does not preach peace like some do; only Eren does that. She is not a kind-hearted person; she does not consider herself kind-hearted. She only knows one person who would fall into that category, according to her, and that person is, of course, Eren, the man who is in her mind day and night.