at the same time, Bell was waiting near the entrance of the Hostess of Fertility on Western Main Street where he walked to the dungeon before being intercepted by Syr and had been given a far tougher morning than he planned, namely due to the fear of what Syr would do if he didn't plan to show up, and then he saw Lefiya with other people as well, so he went to say hello.

Bell:" hello again miss Lefiya"

Lefiya:" just Lefiya is fine, these are other members of my Familia... I told them what happened"

before coming here to help Bell, Lefiya decided to tell her Familia, granted they were in no position to eat out, but given Bell was paying instead, as well as to know more about him given he did save Oranio, select members were going, namely Finn, Riviera, Gareth, Lefiya, and later Loki once she settled thing's to help with their Familia's Debt.

Bell:" are you all sure you are okay with being near me since I am one of the main reasons you're in debt"

Riveria:" if we blamed a victim for our debt, we deserved the fine we got"

Finn:" naw, we more or less want to set a good example, namely by being the bigger men and admitting we were in the wrong and even going out to eat with you to show there are no hard feelings and to-"

Bell:" you're not using me as a scapegoat to help fix your damaged image and reputation, are you, cause if that's what this is, then I'm leaving"

Gareth:" OKAY OKAY, truth is, we're out of money and are starving with our water-only diet, for now, so we were hoping you could pay for our meal for the only real food we've gotten in a long time"

Bell:"..."

Finn:" say something, please, it was pathetic to say"

Bell:"..."

Riveria:" let's just go in, we've already made ourselves pathetic as is"

entering, the Pub was actually relatively larger than Bell had thought, it almost seemed too big, it was a massive 3 story building that is an indoor-outdoor eatery thank's to the roof also acting as another layer for the customers to eat on, but in Bell's mind, it seemed only half the whole building was active with the other half being dark and almost empty, it also seemed to have an inner garden with a large tree as well, Bell couldn't help but shake the feeling that this isn't a normal Pub.

Bell:"... question, why is the Hostess of Fertility so... large"

Lefiya:" that's a common question for any new to Oranio, okay, so about 15 years ago, almost about the time when I first came to Oranio, I asked the owner about it and it seemed like it use to be a mansion for a Familia that grew to the point where they no longer needed it anymore, so it's more or less a small mansion reconfigured to be a restaurant, and that dark Half is where the staff live in"

Bell:" they all live there"

Gareth:" no, not all of them, many of them are part-timers who work on specific days and then go home, the housing is for the staff that do live there, heck, Lefiya works part-time there on weekends due to needing more money due to her wanting to earn saving's for herself for anything she would want or need"

Lefiya:" don't remind me about my part-time work, I am already working double shifts and temporarily working on Tuesdays and Thursdays due to our Familia's debt as is, and on top of that, more customers are getting rowdy and even grabby

Syr:" oh, Bell, it's you"

Finn:" we're here as well"

Syr:" but you're not paying, so I'll only focus on Bell thank you very much"

Bell:" I figured you were an awful person, and I guess it's only right to assume you knew about me beforehand to"

Syr:" but I am only a humble maid, how could I possibly know"

Chloe:" this woman we nickname Witch asked people to know about any newcomers who happen to get a lot of money recently and force them to come here and spend so much of their money"

Anya:" the woman is rotten to her core and doesn't even hide it, trust nothing she says, she's not someone who can be honest if her life was on the line"

Syr:" both of you shouldn't reveal my hand like this, how else can I have fun"

Bell:"... I can belive she would hire people to ruin my food to force me to eat the food she was haphazardly forcing onto me"

Syr:" that said, did you eat what I cooked you"

Bell:" I threw it in the trash immediately, even if I was starving for a few hours, I wasn't eating that even if my life was on the line"

Syr:"... you enjoyed my food very much"

Bell was about to say something when an elf with long blonde hair stopped him"

Ryuu:" don't, Syr oftentimes is in her own world where everything comes up her way when she can't say anything to beat you, it's better just to let her be, you won't win off her share stubborn thick-headedness"

and since they sat at a table, Syr only took Bell's order and ignored everyone else, only for Ryuu to take their order instead, Bell wondered if Syr was someone who the pub really needed considering how she works, namely with such hectic and chaotic ways of working that inconvenienced the staff and other customers, he wondered how she still had a job before he noticed that as time gone by, his order wasn't coming and he had ordered less than the others, then, a lot of food came to Bell, apparently, Syr said Bellorderd one of their challenges

the Host Gut Buster Challenge: anyone who can eat all the food presented on the plate will get their meal free and be given a coupon to receive a prize

1 pound of cheese fries

5 pounds of boneless chicken wings with his choice of 5 flavors to choose from

5 pounds of thoroughly fried Salmon

1 2-pound cheeseburger

1 2-pound chicken sandwich

15 pounds of food in total not including the dessert they also have to finish as well

1 3-layer Cake of their chosen flavor

5 pounds of caramel brownies with vanilla ice cream on top

one deep dish cookie flavored of his choice in a 14-inch deep dish pan

all of which had to be finished in half an hour (beastfolk or sub-humans get more food), the main reason why almost nobody passes this challenge except for 2 people, well, 2 goddesses, Athena and Artemis, but that's because they are known to be able to almost inhale their food, both got stomach aches after however where Aphrodite took care of them like she did when they were both "young" when she helped raise them to the goddesses they are now.

Bell:" so why is this presented to me when I only ordered the beef noodles and a drink"

Syr:" oh, you didn't ask for the Host Gut Buster challenge, I couldn't have mistaken that since you are a glutton after all"

Bell:" when or why would I say I'm a glutton, who does that, especially in a restaurant"

Lefiya:" don't argue with her Bell, this is what Syr does all the time, she get's easy prey into the pub, then she gives them the most expensive meals or one of the pub's famous challenges and gets as much money out of them as she can"

Gareth:" doesn't the hostess have something in place for something like this happening"

Mia:" we do... but Syr always finds a workaround to them eventually even if it means breaking a few rules or even laws"

Bell:" HOW DOES SHE STILL HAVE A JOB HERE"

Anya:" even we at the Hostess have no clue how she hasn't lost her job yet, to be honest, I thought she would have been fired a week in my work here due to her scandalous nature causing lots of problems for the pub where we had to pay compensatory and punitive damage fines where we were in the red for weeks"

Lunoire:" not to mention many harassment charges and restraining orders as well that Syr constantly breaks as well, she even has some kidnapping charges as well literally getting people dragged against their will to come here and eat, we would also be charged for theft if not for giving those people's meals for free even after Syr steals their money while also harassing the customer to spend more"

Chloe:" but apparently, Syr worked a deal between her and Mama Mia, so Syr can't just be fired like everyone else here even though the guild has given many MANY warnings and even an investigation on the matters related to Syr, it's honestly the only reason she's allowed to do half the stuff she does here at this point with only a hit to the head as punishment"

Ryuu:" it's also because of this our establishment is the most famous of all the other pubs in Oranio, or more accurately, the most infamous establishment of all time due to Syr's infamy alone, for better or worse, business is always booming, but we tend to attract more bad apples than anything else, we use to drive them away, but with sales as bad as they were when we did that... we have no choice but to accept them, especially since someone is driving away the decent patrons"

Syr:" it's not entirely my fault they run away, if you just let me-"

every maid there including Mama Mia:" NO"

Anya:" you missy, have done TOO much for your own good, so does that answer your question white hair"

Bell:"... the more I learn about Syr, the more I fear her, and the more I'm thankful all she did is ruin my lunch for the dungeon and forced her cooking onto me even going as far as hiring people to ruin my food later on"

Anya:" oh yeah, more than 90% of them are because of Syr, but because she never gives out names and because of her nature, the guild gave up on getting information out of Syr at this point, now they just sent her the fine and charge her any time it happens"

all of this was terrifying to hear, not only is Syr obsessive, but she's also very likely crazy and also has high connections with enough money to be fined and pay them off on a regular basis like nothing as well, and a supposed army at her beck and call, so Bell decided to do it since he couldn't really see any way out of it now, and because they already brought the food to him and couldn't recuse, seeing the other staff bowing their heads and apologizing as Mia sipped a note saying if he failed, it will only come out of Syr's paycheck since Syr forced this onto Bell in the first place, so Bell asked for a container filled with hot sauce to dip his fried in as well as the chicken flavors being sweet honey BBQ, flaming Buffalo, Garlic Parmesan, Chipotle, and Volcanic (Atomic), many questioned why Bell would have hot food for something like this where he had to eat fast, but Bell seemed confident.

when the time began, Bell started with the fries and salmon, stacking the fried on top of the salmon as he was eating it and finished that in less than 1 minute, he then took one batch of fries and dipped them in the hot sauce and ate them before moving to the cheeseburger, eating it in a circular motion as he ate the last bite in only 2 minutes and moved on to the chicken sandwich, using the same strategy, Bell making good time as people cheered for Bell who was making very good time, Syr worried cause she wanted Bell to fail to spend the large sum of money, and also being restrained by Ryuu with Anya and Chloe guarding as well, making sure Syr doesn't do anything, one of the main reason's so many fail this challenge is namely Syr, who does thing's like hitting the back of their throat while eating to force them to vomit, coach, or both, and also "trip" to ruin their food and also on extreme cases, trades a person's drink for pure Ipecac to make them vomit, often times leading to the person's hospitalization, Syr say's a challenge is suppose to be challenging, so why should she be in trouble for making it a "tincy" but harder, to the annoyance and anger of other staff and Mia as well, not they hold Syr and make sure she doesn't do anything in these challenges.

Bell made good progress in the challenge with the wings, Bell's strategy with the hot sauce shown here, by changing the flavor, it made each bite easier, and since the spiciness of the hot sauce and the Volcanic wings helps with the strong flavors of the other wings, and made Bell want to dispel the heat with something else to eat more of the other wing's to help, Bell flew through each of the wings and was done with the first half with about 22 minutes left, and as dessert was coming, Bell got up and stretched his stomach out, something often seen, also burping as much into his hand as possible, many people saying to not mind his manners and just go for it since it is also common to help there be more room in your stomach for more food, even elves saying this who are sticklers for manners.

as the dessert portion came, Syr had an idea, she loosened a shoe and tossed it to be food for Bell to throw one of the utensil knives to pin the flying shoe to a beam as all eyes were on Syr who tried to play it off as the other staff tied Syr up with rope, arm's, legs and all, and upon the dessert portion of the challenges, Bell put the cookie onto the Cake and started eating as fast as he could, and in about 5 minutes, he ate both the cookie and cake, but instead of going at the brownies now, he got up and stretched again, preparing for the mean, taking a minute to relax the food in his stomach, people cheering as this was also common, then, bell got in and devoured the brownies and with 7 minutes left, at the last of the brownies leaving no doubt, and won the challenge, even getting a new record for beating it the fastest as the pub cheered for Bell, thank's to bell's times as a hunter with the pelosophy of wasting nothing of what you hunt, Bell had to often times eat more than his fair share than what he would handle at most, so Bell could handle this with the trick's he learned on how to help him eat more.

Syr:" aww, no big pay"

Rose:" and my job is done for the day"

Lefiya:" miss Rose, what are you doing here

Rose:" one, getting an on-the-house meal courtesy of the owner, and second seeing what fines and charges to have Syr charged with for the week, it's barely been 3 day's into the week and she already has almost a hundred charges she's committed that are serious enough for me to report on, and that only the one's I know of when I walked in"

Syr:" wow, only that many, I must be having a slow week then"

Anya:"... why can't we fire the witch again, what dirty deal did she make with Mama that she can do all this and we can't fire her, let alone her not get arrested by the guild, they don't even need much, what she did today should net her plenty of time in jail"

Rose:" I ask the same thing, but even with my position, I'm not high enough in clearance to know"

whatever strings Syr pulled had to be big if someone like Rose wasn't high enough clearance to know, and because of this, bell's fear of Syr only grew, thinking it's best if he never meets her again, but fate had other plans.

Authors notes

for those wondering, yes, the food challenge is for humans as demihumans and sub-humans have larger stomachs, so they get 5 times more food, which is why those who beat it are so few, that and Syr's little "interference" AKA sabotage

I plan to have Syr being the scam artist she is not only common knowledge, but also something that is bothersome to the rest of the staff in the Hostess, as well as the guild notice it to the point where Rose has to come by every time to see the charges she has to charge Syr with on a daily basis, and spoilers as well for why, but it involves Freya's handiwork as well

in my story, I again took inspiration from SCP again and made Syr more similar to Alto Clef, an infamous person in SCP, and both are equally troubling as well who regularly and frequently cause heaps of trouble, but is still allowed to work due to getting results, similar to Syr, and for how Syr isn't arrested, I wanted the aspect of why she's allowed to do this to be a question, in my story, every action good or bad have consequences or reactions based on what they are, so what is the consequence of arresting Syr that makes the guild decide it's not worth the trouble, and why aren't the guild acting on it since Syr has committed so many crimes, and how can she pay them off without losing her hair as well

I figure this time, I have Bell have a battle a food challenge, and it was so much more fun than I expected, namely taking from Matt Stonie and Randy Santel