Chapter 102 - Keep The Gold

After explaining what he had been doing for the past 10 years, Steven was once again accepted into his own guild. Once this had taken place, Steven began to meet with the members of the battling barbarians which had entered the guild after Steven got captured by the dungeon.

"Sorry to ask but who's this person named Julius? I heard you talking about him like he was an important figure," Steven asked Ozel.

"Oh right, you still haven't gotten a chance to meet our newest member of our guild. He just passed out because of something so you'll have to wait until he wakes up but trust me, you two together might make us an unstoppable force. I can't believe we got you back at the same time we received a power house like Julius, we might actually be able to take the title of the strongest guild in the world from the 'shining stone' guild," said Ozel as he sat Steven down on one of the stools at the drink desk of the first floor before asking Cece to get him a drink.

"Cece, get him our finest booze will you?" Ozel asked.

…

"Cece? You mean the kid who had just turned 14 when I left this place?" Steven asked with a surprised face.

"I guess that would be right, she's 24 right now so I guess you're thinking of this Cece," Ozel replied.

"No way, have I really been for this long that I can't remember how the people of this guild look?" Steven asked himself out loud before receiving his booze and drinking it as if it was air itself.

"You're probably hungry, what do you say to going out to get you enough food to make up for the 10 years you haven't eaten," said Ozel as he began to walk towards the exit of the guild.

"It's fine, I can cover my own fees," said Steven only to realize that he didn't have any money. Not just that but the pockets he had reached into to find gold coins were empty as they were cut. In fact, Steven didn't even have a shirt on and all he had instead was a tattered pair of jeans.

"Sorry, it seems that I've lost my gold coins. If it wouldn't be too much to ask, could you cover it for me today and I'll pay you back another day?" Steven requested.

"What do I look like to you, some kind of monster? Get up and let's go. I already said that I would cover the fees for you and don't you dare try to pay me back," said Ozel as the two walked out on the middle of the night so that they could eat or more specifically, so that Stevan could eat.

After arriving at the food centre area of the the kingdom which were already closed aside from some night time stores, the two went into a small store that served only meat comprised dishes from the looks of it. It didn't matter to Stevan as he went in without a question and ordered a small meal before basically inhaling it like air.

"Go ahead, order as much as you like," said Ozel and after being pushed so many times, Steven's broke and he began to order nearly everything on the menu and yet he was never full. He just kept eating for hours on end. It wasn't like he was eating slowly either as the owner of the store had trouble serving Steven with the complex and also simple dishes they had.

"Is he even human?" The owner asked after he rushed to the back of the shop to bring out the food that Steven had ordered.

"Even I'm not sure. Sorry for causing you so much trouble, I'm willing to pay you extra for making you work so hard," Ozel offered the owner.

"No no, by all means, the more he eats, the more profit we gain so there's no need to pay extra. In fact, we should be thanking you for coming since business has been dry lately, but thanks to you, we might actually be able to pay for the necessary upgrades that this place desperately needs," the owner replied to Ozel.

While the two of them talked, Steven continued to fill his boundless stomach with food which the owner occasionally interrupted his conversation with Ozel to get from the back once the chef finished preparing it.

"Thank you for the meal!" said Stevan as the sun began to rise up while clasping his hands along with bowing at the same time to Ozel.

"Don't worry about it, you've already payed me back for this by returning to our guild, I'll cover this," said Ozel as he handed the owner of the store a relatively large sack of gold coins before walking away.

"Wait sir, this is much more than you needed to pay, you still have to collect your change," said the owner of the store.

"Are you satisfied with the meal you've had?" Ozel asked Steven which the shirtless post ace member of the battling barbarians replied to with an enthusiastic nod.

"Just keep the gold. You need it more than us plus my friend here has been satisfied so there's no need for us to collect change from you. Thank you for allowing us to dine at your establishment," said Ozel before leaving while the store owner was speechless.

Once Steven and Ozel had left, the owner took the large pouch of gold to the back of the store to show the chef which had tears in his eyes from the amount that they had received. Even though Steven and Ozel had gotten pretty far away from the shop, they still heard the happy yells of the owner and chef which brought smile on their face as they had managed to be the highlight of someone's day.

"Do you think the other members will recognize me even though it's been 10 years?" Steven asked out of the blue.

"Of course not. Even though you were the ace card of our guild, you used to be extremely skinny and always never got hurt. Now you have countless scars along with a giant's body. Even I ha trouble remembering you.. The only reason I knew was because I can sense your aura," Ozel replied.