READ NOVEL ONLINE Chapter 19: Hostess (2)
Shout out to my new patron:
tabernak
You are a legend!
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(Lyze POV)
The waitress was much smaller than her anime counterpart. If I had to guess (and draw from my knowledge back on earth) the actual Syr Flova would be about ten years old right now. So a little more than a year older than me.
There would be no reason for the girl to be here in the Hostess in this point in time other than the possibility, no the fact that she had already met with Freya and they'd exchanged forms.
So that meant the real Syr was Horn as of this moment, possibly posing as the goddess of war and beauty back wherever Freya spent her time. And Freya herself was standing in front of me in the form of a little girl. Syr looked exactly as the teenager version of her did except that she carried more baby fat on her and she was shorter than even me.
I could never understand why the boisterous tavern owner, Mia Grand, allowed the eccentric goddess to fool around like this. One would think that someone who left a Familia to live a normal life would in fact do everything they could to keep out of it, much less allow their goddess to continue with her games. To each their own I supposed.
What gave me the certainty that it was the goddess standing before me was how Chaos behaved around gods. I'd had experience with Nekros and some of the minor gods that lived in Valaron as well as Loki. Chaos stirred whenever there was a divine presence nearby, as if tensing even tighter to protect me if need be.
I suppose that a god was far more dangerous than any monster or mortal no matter if their Arcanum was sealed. And then there was the fact that Chaos Vision allowed me to see right through the magical disguise, allowing me to see the obsessive glint in Freya's real eye.
What topped it all off was the feeling that I'd felt in the manor, like somebody was staring at me from somewhere I didn't know, had returned in full swing and was now more powerful than ever. After Nekros had set hunter demons on me for 'training practice', I had sort of developed another sense where I could tell I was being observed.
'So this how Bell felt about her gaze. It's really...intrusive.' I thought grimly.
"I've never seen you here before. Are you new in the Loki Familia?" Syr asked me, a bubbly smile on her face. She head a circular tray held up to her chest, probably from having just served some drinks.
"Yes I am." I said casually, making sure to not let any of my suspicion seep into my voice. She gave a self-congratulating hum, nodding her head to herself.
"I thought so. The Loki Familia are regulars here you see, and the executives have never brought you with them before. So I just assumed you were a new member, and I was right!" She said, exactly like a child proud with themself that they connected such obvious dots so easily. I had to commend her for her acting skills.
Finn, Riveria and Gareth were nodding along to this with Ais just staring at the young girl emotionlessly. For a moment though, I thought I saw flicker of something in her eyes, akin to a guarded look.
I passed it off as her being caught off guard though by the sudden conversation. She also shifted closer to me for some reason, probably instinctively trying to protect me against any sudden attack.
She'd become somewhat of a bodyguard for me until I recovered, and considering Syr's conversation was quite sudden, she was probably automatically moved closer to guard me. That was just my take on it though. For some reason, something in my gut was telling me otherwise, though I could not figure out what.
"You're quite clever aren't you?" I said, and Syr giggled. "But you know, clever people also make sure to introduce themselves as well."
She pouted at me, and the older members of my group gave me a slightly disapproving look. Loki just smiled at me and took a swig of beer that had somehow reached her hand before anyone else. I just ignored them in favour of this conversation.
"Well that was just mean! I was about to tell you." Syr said, with the pout still on her face.
"I'm sorry. You just took me by surprise." I said, smiling.
She narrowed her eyes a little more and puffed out her cheeks before sighing and putting on a smile again. Shu tucked the tray under on arm and lifted her free hand to her chest.
"My name is Syr Flova. I'm a waitress here in the Hostess of Fertility. I'm ready to serve you whenever you call me!" She said, a tad dramatically.
I rolled my eyes underneath the blindfold before gesturing towards myself.
"Lyzof Keele. My friends call me Lyze."
"Lyzof...Keele?" She said tapping her finger with her chin and looking upwards. "A strange name."
"Courtesy of my late parents." I replied dryly.
"My condolences." She said bowing a little.
"Meh. Don't worry about it. There was never any love there anyway." I said shaking my hand to pass it off. Behind me, Riveria gave me a concerned look which I could not see.
"Still though...the nickname 'Lyze' doesn't exactly give you a most honest image either." Syr continued as she looked at me. I raised my hands and shrugged.
"I know what word my nickname sounds like. But we don't get to choose our names in this life. So unless I change my identity, which it's a little too late for, I'm stuck with that name."
"Can I call you Lyze then?" She asked leaning forwards.
"If you want. I don't really mind." I replied. She nodded in satisfaction and straightened her back again.
"Then Lyze it is. I hope we will be friends." She said holding her hand out. I grasped it in a handshake.
I was concerned that Freya even knew I existed. There was no way to know if she could see Chaos inside my soul after all. That special vision of hers was something I wasn't sure I could hide Chaos from.
And knowing her, she'd probably be pining for me to join her Familia. She was collector of special things after all, and special would be an understatement when trying to describe Chaos.
But if I didn't allow her this way of observing me, then I wouldn't be able to tell what other method she would use. In this way, I could be somewhat aware of her, though I doubted I was over with her yet. If anything, it had probably only just begun with the crazy goddess.
One thing I did notice however was that her eyes kept popping over to Libur in my hand. Yet before I could ponder on any reason why, she spoke again.
"Forgive me if I'm being insensitive Lyze, but are you actually blind? You wear blindfolds and you carry a walking stick. Are you sure you are an adventurer?"
"I'm blind in the sense that I don't see in the way other people see." I said mysteriously.
"No?"
"No. I have others ways to see things. That's why I can work as an adventurer because I can still see monsters."
"I see." She said simply.
"My Lyzie is amazing!" A drunken, flushed Loki said as she leapt over the table to grab me. She pulled me into a tight hug while the rest of her body was sprawled over the table. Riveria clicked her tongue in annoyance.
"He is?" Syr questioned. Loki's outbursts made the tavern go a little quieter. I imagined it had already been quiet because of our presence, but now it was nearly pin drop silent.
"Oh yes~" Loki gasped out. "He levelled up today! Can you believe it? On his first day in the dungeon, he killed Goliath and then became a level two!" She exclaimed as she ferociously rubbed her cheek against mine.
The other people in the tavern fell completely silent at that. They were looking between each other in complete shock and disbelief as her words rang through the room. I was half tempted to curse her then and there.
Already her impatience had cost me the chance of maxing my stats as much as possible, and now she'd gone and blabbed it out for the whole world to hear before we could submit a notice to the guild.
Syr was standing there dumbly, just looking on as Loki laughed drunkenly while treating me like a teddy bear. She gulped before looking questioningly looking at the executives. They nodded at her silent question. Why wouldn't they? The way they saw it, it would have to be revealed to the public anyway.
Just that simple action from them seemed to convince a good portion of the customers. I could see even Mia at the counter about to hand a plate over to somebody but her hand was frozen in mid-air, gawking at us but then draw a look of acceptance over her face.
I couldn't imagine there were many that would challenge the words of a high standing Familia like ours. Syr gulped again before looking at me. But through Chaos's eyes, I could see the hungry look in Freya's. I shivered a little as now I realized that any chance of that stalker losing interest in me any time soon was gone. I didn't need that sort of attention in my life right now...not to mention the look in her eye was kind of disturbing.
"Is that true?" Syr breathed out. I sighed and nodded.
"Yeah. I went down to the middle floors under the supervision of miss Riveria on my first run today. Incidentally, Goliath spawned on top of us and we were cornered, leaving us no path to escape. So we had to fight it, and I ended up killing it."
"Yeah, that's it. You tag teamed with Nine Hell and killed the beast didn't you?" Some guy on a table across from us shouted.
I looked towards him and instantly recognized the dirty vagabond. It was the same little dog that belittled me the day yesterday when I tried out for the Familia. His face was red, particularly his nose in his intoxication as well as his anger.
"Nope." I calmly replied. "I killed it by myself. And I levelled up from it."
"BULLSHIT!" He cried out, leaping out of his seat. The chair fell over, clattering with noise that drew Mama Mia's attention along with his outburst. I immediately saw her about to admonish him before I hurried thrust my palm in her direction.
The sudden movement, as well as the seemingly bizarre action for a blind boy who was turned in her direction even though he was not supposed to be able to see her halted Mia, causing her confusion as well as surprise.
The drunkard tensed when he saw her about to yell but then calmed as she refrained from doing so. Before I could allow her to address me, I turned from her to him, catching his attention once again.
"Why don't we talk this out? First of all, what's your name?"
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A little bit of a shorter chapter, I know. I don't know what I was thinking when I wrote it but it's stuck that way now. Anyway, read 9 chapters ahead on my Patreon:
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