Chapter 170

170 Don’t forget your reward, please! part The way back was as smooth as it could be expected, everyone was a bit gloomy and tired, except for the little snake that looked at everything with curiosity. Every smell, every color, every sound, everything was new to it.

Ryu stared at it in disbelief, it behaved almost like Mochi when he became loyal, it was playful and seemed to be smart enough to understand its surroundings. Only then did he realize that he didn’t use any skill to find out more about it and he took the chance while the snake was distracted, Ryu took it on his hand and used his identify skill on it.

Normally he would have needed to use his consider skill, but since it had some strange effects sometimes he used it as little as possible. Besides, if the creature wasn’t hostile identify was more than enough to find out what he needed to.

>Wurm hatchling (healthy) (loyal)

‘What!? how is it already loyal!?’ Ryu thought to himself, but he couldn’t hide his dumbfounded expression. Fortunately, no one was paying any attention to him and he went unnoticed.

It would have been awkward for him to explain things even he didn’t understand.

Upon reaching the hot springs they were greeted by the employees who were happy to announce that the water started cooling off. It wasn’t instant, but the change was noticeable.

Two rows of employees bowed their heads as everyone entered the inn, Heimar was already waiting in the hall.

All the guests were treated to a lavish meal prepared with high end ingredients, the alcohol served was of a quality and rarity that most people weren’t able to taste in their whole lives and everything felt like a dream for most of them.

.....

Ryu felt bad for Lea, she wasn’t their partner but their prisoner, and even though he knew this she was still a human being. Not many people would think like Ryu, but he couldn’t help but think that Lea was on a similar situation to that of Sera when she got caught by the adventurer’s guild.

While Sera had some friends that cared about her, it was true that when Bob and Luke heard that she committed a crime they didn’t even bother in trying to rescue her, at least until Risa went to look for them and explained the situation. She was abandoned by her friends and Lea too was abandoned by someone she cared about.

Of course Ryu’s mind wasn’t filled with rainbows and puppies, he did know about the evil within humanity and couldn’t care less about people who got what they deserved. But this time, he couldn’t keep himself from thinking on how he would have felt if Sera was mistreated by the soldiers.

That’s why he went to to the dungeon and asked the guards to free Lea.

“What are you doing in here?”

“I’m taking you upstairs so you can have a decent meal”

“Are you for real? I know what you’ll do to me, I think I’m safer in this jail, thank you very much”

“I actually am for real and as long as you don’t try to escape I’ll make sure everyone treats you well. I don’t know what you think I’ll do to you, but I’m not interested in the slightest”

Lea, having no reason to turn down Ryu’s offer, followed him upstairs and joined the feast awkwardly. Everyone was already having fun and eating to their hearts content.

For most of them it was like a dream coming true. Risa being more experienced than the rest of them, had been in more than one celebration after an accomplished mission, but even she was surprised at the amount and quality of the meal in front of them.

No one asked what was Lea doing sitting by Ryu’s side, they all knew he must have had his reasons and she wasn’t a threat to anyone present anyway. No one complained, but they didn’t interact with her either.

Food never ran out, drinks kept coming, but even good things could become better, and the one in charge of that was no other than Hana who after talking long to her father about what happened was tasked with rewarding the adventurers.

“May I have your attention please?”

Hana’s words resounded in the huge room and everyone remained silent. Her arrogant attitude that had become softer during their short adventure, was the same as it was before joining the party, but this time she did sound a tad friendlier.

“To the adventurers that lent us a hand despite not knowing our situation, we are truly grateful. Here, in the quarrydew hot springs, we value qualities like honor, loyalty, friendship, courage and integrity, all of which are present in your outstanding party and we’d like to offer you our friendship, from here on you are welcome here and will be treated the same as family”

Everyone at the party smiled at the thought of being able to spend some time leisurely in the hot springs whenever they wanted. They didn’t know, however, that a statement like that held a deeper meaning than they realized at the time.

Although Heimer himself wasn’t a noble, it wasn’t for lack of trying. The royals had been attempting to draw his family from generations in the past, but they always refused. The reason behind this was a mistery to everyone but the head of the family, and it would baffle everyone who ever found out about it.

Hana proceeded with a long and boring speech that everyone but Bob and Luke ignored, they too would have been bored if not for their vast experience in role playing games. To them, this whole adventure in Quarrydew was nothing but a side quest, but they knew how important it was to pay attention to dialogues.

It would have been one thing if they were inside one of such games, but this was reality and the speech itself held no value at all. It was just pleasantries mixed up with some nobility talk and it was made to last long without saying much. Needless to say, it was Hana’s way of taking a small revenge on the adventurers that caused her so much trouble during their quest.

Hana’s way with words was more than even the excited duo was able to handle and their mind too started drifting away after no more than ten minutes.

By the time Hana finished her speech no one knew what she had actually said, but two maids came back with plates that contained their money reward.

It was a single light blue coin to each adventurer in the party and nothing else. They didn’t think it was worth much, but none of them was disappointed because they already got the reward they were actually looking for, now they were able to come and go to the hot springs as they pleased.