AN: Wanna play an awful game? Take a shot every time someone says nya~ in this chapter. This is what I get when I want characters to be as precise as possible to the original source.
Chapter 10
"… It smells magnificent." A cat waitress thought out loud, her jaw slightly open with a clear trail of droll coming out.
Worst part of it all, she wasn't the only one.
All of the cat people in the Hostess were currently surrounding a large dish of sweet orange salmon. The smell of it when it was still cooking in the oven was enough to put every single one of them in a trance and somehow make them partially neglect their jobs until it was finally cooked.
And now, here they were, drooling over a dish… well, not all of them.
"No nya~." The head chef of the Hostess stated as she stood between the dish and her co-workers. "Shouldn't all of you be working anyways?"
'Seriously, why is Mia never close by when this thing happens nya~?' May thought to herself, not even daring to wonder how the rest of the bar was bearing seeing it was night hour, which meant the Hostess was full of clients.
'And yet these dumb cats are here nya~!' she, of course, didn't count herself as part of that bunch.
"It's just one bite nya~!" someone complained, this in return caused everyone to start chanting the same, but May didn't budge for a moment knowing full well the ramifications that might happen if they accomplished their objective.
Too bad someone else had a different idea as one of the felines managed to sneak past her undetected.
"Listen nya~, this dish is for-" May never got to finish her sentence as someone placed her hand over the chef's shoulder to turn her around and force a piece of food in her mouth.
May's eyes narrowed as she eyed the culprit.
"Chloe…" and that was the last rational thought she could muster as her mouth started to savor it. Her mouth started to water as she instinctively blew seeing the fish was still hot, but it didn't stop her from appreciating how sweet and delicious it was.
With the final line of defense gone, each of the cats started to take 'just one bite', surprisingly it was in quite an orderly fashion .
Chloe Rolo praised herself seeing her assassin skills come in handy for this kind of situations. She grabbed the fork and played it with it a little before she could start to dig in.
"I thought you weren't working tonight."
Chloe's second set of ears twitched as she caught Lunor's voice coming all the way from across the bar.
"And that still doesn't give me the right to go into the kitchen?"
The eyes of the former assassin narrowed as she caught on Drake's voice. She didn't know why, but her instincts were telling her danger was near.
And it was in that very moment that she finally asked the question all of them should have done from the beginning.
"Hey May nya~," The chef in question managed to partially break off her trance as she kept digging in. "Whose food was this for nya~?"
Her bad feelings were confirmed as May froze mid bite.
"I let May keep an eye on something I left in the oven, my favorite dish as a matter of fact." Chloe winced seeing Drake's incoming words.
"And Tsubaki's here because-"
"Don't read too much into it. Just thanking her for all the help she's giving me."
Now Chloe was just fighting the urge to slam her head on the table seeing the more she heard the worst their situation was getting.
She quickly turned around to see if there was enough to be salvaged , but there was almost nothing left of a dish that was meant to be for four people.
Drake's and Lunor's steps were getting closer, May was now a mess seeing she succumbed to temptation and she still had to take one single bite.
Seeing as they were pretty much doomed, she decided to take at least one bite and savor it as her last. Meanwhile, the blonde was now looking at them with a blank expression with an annoying twitch in his eye, Lunor with her hand covering her mouth just realizing just now some of the waitress had been missing.
"Mine nya~."
And just as she was about to finally take her only bite, Anya Fromel managed to remind her how fast she was by suddenly taking a bite off as Chloe held her fork inches away from her mouth.
'… so not worth it nya~!'
"Are you fucking kidding me!?"
It was already closing time, and every single cat girl was in the bar sitting on their knees.
It turned out Drake didn't only prepare the Salmon, but also paid for it as a patron seeing he was using the Hostess ingredients. Therefore, the cats ate the food of a customer, something that has never happened before.
So, here they were now, being scolded by Mia while Drake stood next to her. There was also the special appearance of Tsubaki Collbrande, who was now eating a large free meal seeing hers had been stolen.
Or better said, devoured.
"The place being poorly cleaned, broken glasses, bad serving of food, poor treatment to patrons, skipping work" a certain elf and gray-haired waitress flinched knowing full well the last two were jabs directed at them. "I can tolerate some of them to a degree," she slammed her foot on the floor with enough strength not to break it. "But this is a new low!"
"We're sorry, Mama." Every single one of them bowed, making the dwarf sigh as Drake narrowed his eyes.
"Here's the thing; they are sorry, but don't actually regret it a single bit." Their eyes widened while all of them stared at the floor. "And the only one that does regret it, simply does it because she wasn't able to take a single bite." Chloe managed to force herself not to flinch as she felt his eyes on her.
Drake sighed, and then delivered the most offensive words he had said to date… at least for cat people.
"This is why I prefer dogs."
It didn't even take them ten seconds in recovering from such a statement before they started complaining at him.
"Horrible!"
"Cruel!"
"Monster!"
"Traitor!"
And so, it went on until Mia cleared her throat.
"And also," Drake looked at the dwarf. "Now I see why there are so few fish related dishes on the menu."
Mia snorted. "I am usually the one that cooks those." She looked at the rest of the staff. "And since fish is so smelly, these delicate flowers don't fit the bill either."
The blonde didn't need to do a double take to know she called the rest 'pansy' in a subtle way, nor did the staff in question; but didn't say anything knowing full well it was the truth.
"Think you can do something about it?" she asked him.
Drake titled his head from side to side as he recalled some recipes before nodding. "Sure thing, but we need to seriously restock seeing there's barely any fish in the stockroom. Even the Salmon was bought separately by me."
It wasn't his intention, but the reminder of it made all the cat staff freeze again.
"Oh, you don't have to worry about that." Mia grinned and walked to a certain waitress sitting on her knees to pick her up by her collar.
"Go to buy some with her tomorrow." Mia exclaimed as she extended her hand to present Chloe as if she was an actual cat.
The waitress in question even had the audacity to bend her elbows and knees as if she was an actual cat being grabbed by the collar.
"Feed me nya~" and she had even more audacity to even say that, which made the blonde's mouth twitch behind his scarf before he proceeded to pull her cheeks.
Tsubaki meanwhile finished another glass of hale before she slammed on the table.
"Another!" she replied with a clear grunt, she was in a bad mood.
"What's up with her?" Mia asked, knowing at least that the Cyclops' anger couldn't be related to the food, seeing how she kept eating without problem.
"I am gonna tell you what the problem is," Mia mentally face palmed as she remembered Tsubaki had level five senses, and so even if she was drunk, she could still hear perfectly. "He's the problem."
Drake sighed; he already knew what was coming.
"I put my everything for him and he just tarnishes it like it is nothing!"
Everyone looked at him as she continued.
"He's a bully, plain and simple. Doesn't take into value my work and breaks it like it's nothing!" her rant continued on and on as the intensity of the stares continued.
'Jiiiiiii' he was now even hearing the staring coming from the staff.
The only one that wasn't giving him a glare was Mia who knew there was some sort of different context than the one everyone else was thinking up.
"He's making me feel like I am not good enough at all!"
"I knew you were quite the brute, but I didn't think it would be at this level." Ryu said to which everyone else nodded.
"… And she's pulling this little show because…" Mia pondered out loud as Drake answered.
"Give her a moment."
"Why? Tell me why?" she started as she finally pointed at him. "Tell me why you keep breaking my swords?!"
Silence filled the room as every waitress looked at Tsubaki with a collected "Huh?"
"So, that's what it was." Mia said, while also wondering how strong the blonde beside her was to break apart the works of one of the best blacksmiths in the city.
"You already know why, Tsubaki." The blonde replied as he walked away while she scowled at him. "Be right back."
"Soul power bullshit." The captain muttered to herself while every waitress looked at her with narrowed eyes after taking a large glass of water. "What? It's not my fault you lot are so simple minded to think we are an item. Also, shame on you for ganging up on him, for shame I say!" more than one member of the staff seemed to look away to hide an embarrassed face, especially a certain elf, as Tsubaki laughed before looking at Mia.
"So, how's he been behaving?" she asked as Mia took a seat in front of the blacksmith before giving everyone the order to start closing.
"He wakes up early, doesn't complain about his work, he's a nice cook. Take off his talking skill to the patrons and he would be a damn god send." The Dwarf replied, taking a glass of ale for herself seeing the day was over. "Tell me the truth, why are you helping him?" Mia already somehow knew of his situation, but not at the stretch Tsubaki knew.
The Cyclops in return also snorted.
"Dwarven Vow #2"
Mia's eyes narrowed. "Always help someone in need… and the actual reason?" she wasn't a fool, just like she knew Adventurer's weren't saints.
"That's it. it's not like I am trying to recruit him to my Familia or anything, he wouldn't really fit at all anyway."
'Nor in any other, really' she thought, recalling Drake's dislike for the divine, even if he was one himself. At least that way neither she nor Hephaestus had to worry about someone like him falling on the wrong hands. Besides-
"He just wants a place to settle in and live as quietly as possible, even if doesn't verbally admit it." she said as she heard the humming of the gray-haired waitress close by.
"What is it?" Tsubaki asked, seeing that Mia's glare narrowed as she eyed the waitress walk by before she took a sip of her glass. "Nothing."
"You are gonna have to forgive me, but I still find that hard to believe seeing this is Orario."
Tsubaki shrugs. "And yet here we are. He's in fact trying to help me with a little something I am trying to come up with, but there really isn't any ill intention to it. Besides, you have seen him, he's smart enough to know who and what he's dealing with."
'Probably a little too smart.' Mia thought knowing full well the blonde was on edge whenever Syr was around, and for a good reason.
"Just tell me if you notice something weird, despite being smart he might be the kind of idiot that might want to deal with things himself."
Mia snorted as she prepared to take a sip from her mug , but stopped when she recalled something. "… there might actually be something," Tsubaki raised an eyebrow as Mia looked around to spot a certain waitress. "Lunor, come here for a second."
The former bounty hunter approached the table with a confused look.
"Tell me again, what happened a week ago when you went restocking with Drake?"
Mondays.
An enemy of all people alike.
The day that reminded many that the world kept moving on and had no rest whatsoever. It could be noticeable seeing there were many bystanders with scowls on their faces despite being past ten in the morning.
And apparently, it was also the day the God Njord came all the way to Orario to sell his fished haul from Mellen.
"Please, don't throw up any inappropriate comment at Lord Njord nya~" Chloe Rollo said between laughs, clearly referring to the whole incident with Demeter.
'Damn you, Lunor.' Drake thought to himself as they arrived at the market.
The God Njord, according to Chloe, was a good and hardworking deity, not unlike how Demeter was. And thanks to his previous meeting with said Goddess, he was not gonna judge them as hard at first glance, even if his natural and initial distaste for them from default was still there.
Although, every possibility of a good start for it was thrown out of the window when Drake's first words for the God were:
"So… you are one of those huh?"
Chloe's eyes widened in shock, while the members of her Familia did the same as Drake was clearly referring to the fact that said deity walked around shirtless. She was about to apologize for him, but it seemed it wasn't necessary seeing the deity started to laugh.
"It's a form of habit. Being under the sun for so long makes any top piece of cloth uncomfortable." Njord replied as he eyed Drake and extended his hand. "You appear to be the contrary seeing you are pretty much covered from neck to toes. Really though, aren't you hot in there?"
"… They are refreshing enough." He said after staring at the hand for a moment before shaking it, the God almost twitched; not only at by how firm his grasp was, but also at how cold it was. "Force of habit."
Njord in response simply shook his head. "Pay it no mind. So, seeing as you are with Chloe, I guess you need something from me?"
"Yeah, Mia's looking to expand the menu. So, I am looking to see what I can use with what you have to sell."
Everyone from the Njord Familia seemed a little taken back at the mention of Mia's name.
"Mia, as in Mia Grande?"
"The owner of the Hostess of Fertility."
"The place where all of those cute girls work!?"
"Lucky bastard!"
Drake sighed as it seemed like every member of Njord's Familia and everyone around it started to gossip about it.
"Why the hell must everyone be so damn horny all the time?" His statement made everyone shut up, seeing as he pretty much forced every man around to realize they were not being so subtle about their preferences when it came to the Hostess.
"Forgive them. Although it's a little hard to believe Mia hired a man."
"And it's not the first time I will be hearing that either." He replied as Njord gestured for him to get closer so he could see the goods.
"Seeing as you work in the Hostess, mind telling me how this little troublemaker has been behaving?" he put his hand over Chloe's head, making her embarrassed despite liking that form of affection.
"I have been behaving nya~"
He chuckled. "That's not what I hear from Mia every time I check on you."
"Because she complains about everything nya~"
"I will make sure to remember that." Drake's voice made her give a step back seeing he was more than willing to throw her under a bridge.
"Anything that might have caught your eyes?" Njord's question was answered by a simple nod.
"Plenty as a matter of fact." Drake said as he took off his scarf and jacket before tossing them to Chloe's face before he picked up his sleeves to grab some of the fishes.
"That was rude nya~."
"And do tell when I have not been rude?"
She narrowed her eyes; he had a fair point there.
And so, Chloe Rollo stood there for various minutes as Drake and her God spoke. She had honestly been worried at first seeing Lunor had made it clear how he had behaved with Demeter at first, and he had been like that with her of all deities, how was he gonna be with her own Deity?
Surprisingly, there weren't any problems between them, mostly because they were speaking about fish ironically. Her on the other hand was just standing there, mainly because this was her punishment for yesterday seeing how Mia specifically told her to follow Drake around and listen and do whatever he needed.
Therefore, here she was following her order to the letter. Standing under the hot son holding something cold in her hands.
'What nya~?' she looked at Drake's clothes and made a double take to see if she was right.
His clothes felt cold. Everyone in the Hostess had made comments that Drake was literally 'cold blooded' seeing how cold his skin was every time they came in contact with him. But this was just ridiculous.
'So much better nya~' she thought to herself after she put on his jacket and scarf. The former reached all the way to her knees while the latter was a little big for her, but still felt incredibly comfortable.
The chill they generated made her shiver in satisfaction by the sudden change of temperature in her body. She even started to caress her cheek against his scarf, in the very same fashion she had caught Anya doing before whenever she washes it.
"Are you comfortable?"
"Yes nya~" her eyes widened in realization as she noticed that not only Drake, but also everyone around her was looking at her with amusement, some of the members of her Familia even had the audacity to smirk smugly at her.
"Stop staring nya~." She replied embarrassingly as Drake approached her.
"Then stop acting like a damn cat and help me a little." He said as he extended his hand to place a dead octopus in front of her face. "nya~!" she took several steps back at the sudden action, which then again caused everyone to laugh at her.
"Stop bullying me nya~."
He simply shrugged and walked back to see the stocks. "Why don't you go around and buy something to eat, I have Valis in my jacket."
Chloe crossed her arms in annoyance seeing she was made fun of twice in less than a minute. "You don't-" she stopped mid-sentence as she felt an extra bulge in one of the pockets of the jacket; a bag of valis, just like he had said.
"How nya~?" she asked in a low tone knowing full well there wasn't anything in there before that very moment .
"Go. " Drake said without looking, his hand waving at her. "It's definitely better than standing there without doing anything ."
Her ears twitched in delight seeing he was not only giving her free reign to do whatever she wanted, but it also looked like she could treat herself to something nice with someone else's money.
As far as she was concerned, this was the best.
"Thank you nya~" she adjusted the hood of his jacket and started to walk away without a care in the world, making the God sigh, seeing that girl managed to get her way as usual.
Meanwhile the said thieving cat walked in a good mood though various stands wondering what she should buy, just as little by little the feeling started to disappear as her instincts began to kick in.
Her eyes moved back and forth subtly while also paying attention to the reflection of any glass around her.
Chloe Rollo sighed in defeat as she just walked forward with a scowl on her face.
'Not fair nya~.' She thought as she walked out of the market area while being followed by a group of what she supposed were Adventurers.
"The target keeps walking away."
"Doesn't matter. She's walking to Orario's low Area."
The group tailing Chloe moved close behind her from the roofs, no longer worried of being seen thanks to their target secluding herself.
"She's walking into an alley." One of the persecutors looked around. "And there's no one around. Go look for the captain and the others, tell him we already got the target." One of the Adventurer's nodded and ran in the opposite direction while the rest spread in groups of two to intercept her in the alley.
"Excuse me, sweetheart." Both groups approached the alley, where she simply stood resting her back against a wall as one of them approached her. "I am gonna need you to come with us. My God is really interested in-" he stopped mid-sentence the moment his hand went through her. "What the fuck?"
No one seemed to have a clear response to that, nor did they have one as the next moment a little something crashed down from above and exploded the moment it made contact with the ground.
"Smoke screen!" one of them shouted as a black blur descended on them.
"No sh-!"
The Adventurers never got to hear the end of that sentence, what he did hear was the very familiar splash on the ground and wall in the alley. Although, the fact that some of his friend's blood landed on his face made it easy to understand what happened.
"Get her!"
That was easier said than done. The smokescreen was still around them, and Chloe Rollo moved in between the alley jumping back and forth swinging her knife inflicting either major or minor wounds; it didn't matter since her dagger was coated with poison.
And so, what was a group of a dozen Adventurer's was reduced to only five in less than a minute, which was apparently enough time for the smoke to dissipate enough to make her partially visible.
"I see her!" The Adventurer made a swing with his sword at Chloe's back, but she quickly side stepped and grabbed his arm to pull him towards her to receive a hit from her elbow, which forced him to fall on his back. "Wait, wait, wa-" she ignored his pleas as her knife descended on his chest to meet its target, completely silencing his shouts permanently.
Her eyes quickly twitched as more curses were sent her way, each coming from both sides. She quickly threw her dagger in one direction; it was a swift and clean stab in the chest.
Only three remained.
Chloe then swiftly took off Drake's scarf and wrapped it around her right wrist, she then quickly sent the other end to wrap it around her knife to then pull it enough force to pull it off and back at her timely enough to block an incoming attack.
Her eyes focused on the Adventurer behind the one she was currently clashing with, and there was also the last one coming from behind her.
"Play around, Felez Cruz."
Two identical copies came of Chloe, one of them moved behind the Adventurer she was currently dealing with, and the other one 'charged' at the one coming from the back.
The copies were intangible, they couldn't really do any damage, but they didn't know that.
"We were told you were a simple waitress! I don't wanna fucking die!"
She heard the shouts coming from behind her, one of her clones had managed to jump over him and made him focus solemnly on her while avoiding his strikes.
"Not my problem nya~." The eyes of the Adventurer's widened in realization as he noticed Chloe's cat-like eyes. "You are the fucking black-"
Chloe didn't waste a moment in taking advantage of his distraction. She quickly kicked his feet off to make him lose his balance and turn him around into a chokehold, the edge of her knife close to his face. "-cat!" and yet he managed to shout that part out. At least it looked like it worked for something seeing as the other two remained Adventurer's seemed to freeze at the mention of her own alias.
'Suck it Lunor nya~'
She then mentally scolded herself seeing it was not the time to praise herself for obviously being better known than her co-worker.
"We were- we were told our target was unaffiliated!" The Adventurer in front of her shouted. "Had we known it was you, we wouldn't have accepted!"
She narrowed her eyes in annoyance. It was a mistake; all of this was a simple mistake. A very stupid mistake that took her free time with money she could have spent which wasn't hers.
And just for that, they were about to die.
"That's because you got the wrong person you imbeciles."
Her eyes widened as another voice came from behind her, the next thing she heard was someone's head being crushed.
She quickly turned her head around, not letting go of the Adventurer she had on hold. The head of the Adventurer that had been behind her was nor laying on the ground, his head now splattered against the wall if the blood on it was any indication of it.
Next to it, there was a tall lone figure wearing a black cloak that concealed his whole body.
"Captain." One of the remaining Adventurer's muttered.
"Imbeciles. I am surrounded by imbeciles." The now identified captain muttered as he raised his palm as magic energy started to gather in it. "Explode, Waves of the heavens."
Chloe's eyes widened as she quickly let go of her former prey and threw herself on the floor.
"Ekrixi Teleios"
A simple beam of light was shot off the Adventurer's arm. The magic attack swiftly pierced the two remaining Adventurer's she had been fighting, but yet in that very moment she quickly threw her knife at him and managed to scratch his arm with it.
Now it was only a matter of seconds before the poison took effect.
But nothing happened, instead he started to walk towards her.
'Abnormal Resistance nya~' she thought, only to quickly discard the idea seeing her poison was strong enough that it would take effect sooner than later. All she could tell was it's something skill related so the person in front of her could still be standing.
"Arise, hero of old."
Chloe's eyes widened before she rushed at him, she didn't know what his magic would do-
"Play around, Felez Cruz."
But she wasn't gonna take any chances.
"Hoplizon Teleios" his body started to glow as Chloe and her copies started to pivot in between the alley to confuse her enemy with which was the original, and it seemed to work seeing she managed to land a direct fist on the man's face, but he didn't flinch.
The Captain grabbed her fist with the strength of a level Four and tossed her around like a ragdoll before slamming her back into the alley.
Her vision started to become blurry, but she could still hear his steps approaching her.
"Now, what do I do with you?"
"That would be all." Drake stated as he passed a list to Njord. The God in question eyes and made a double take seeing it was quite the lengthy list.
"… This is almost half of our stock." Njord said incredulously.
"Don't know whether you are complaining or not." Drake raised his hands, Njord pointed to them, having understood the gesture.
"You can wash your hands over there, don't know if it will get rid of the smell though." He replied as he gave the list to one of his children. "But seriously though, why so much fish? I am sure Mia isn't going to turn her bar into a fish restaurant… right?"
The blonde snorted. "We would go broke before we even open seeing how many cat girls are in that place. As for your question," The blonde soaked his hands in soapy water as he went down memory lane. "Some of my brothers have cat traits of sorts, so it would be natural for them to carve fish. So, you could say I picked that habit from them as well."
There was that, and then there was also the irony that his Dragon side also carved fish dishes.
"They sound like quite the handful." Njord heard a snort in confirmation. "But I take it you still have your hands busy in the Hostess."
"If you say that for Chloe, don't worry…" both stared at each other, as if Njord was an actual parent knowing their child wasn't a damn saint. "Everyone is equally problematic."
Njord nodded wisely. "Now that, I can believe." He started to ponder. "Mia Grande has always had the talent for picking up… interesting people."
The blonde took a nearby towel and gave the God a blank look. "Strays. Let's not sugar coat it, that's the term you first thought of." Njord laughed ashamedly as he waved his hands in defense before Drake simply shrugged seeing the man did have a point.
In a certain manner, even he was one as well.
"Well, it was a pleasure doing business with you." Njord stated as he saw the members of his Familia coming with various boxes, to which Drake indicated to put them in the ground. "I can have them deliver it if you…" Njord words started to die down as he looked past Drake, the visage of someone familiar far behind them. "Want."
The former Noble turned around, there were many people walking through the area, but locating the person of interest was simple seeing he was also staring back.
The person in question could be summarized in a simple word.
He was a mess.
He wore a loose-fitting robe with its sleeves and hem dirtied with soil.
He had Long black curly hair that was so tousled that his bangs covered part of his eyes, and yet Drake could see clearly that those black colored orbs were focusing on him.
"He almost never, and I do mean it, comes out of his Familia home." Njord stated neutrally as Drake's instincts kicked it, a familiar feeling invaded him.
"He's a moon deity, isn't he?" The God's eyes widened slightly as he eyed Drake. "Yes… although," the black-haired God turned back and headed his way, but not without glancing at the blonde one last time. "Soma's usually known for his alcohol rather than his other domains."
Drake's serious face turned into a deadpan.
'Great, I will be dealing with a highly potential alcoholic in the future.' He thought as he fixed his sleeves, which made him remember that Chloe still had his things.
"… She should have returned by now." Njord' eyes widened immediately, seeing how he had also forgotten about Chloe's absence.
"Just how much money did you give her?" he asked with a deadpan as Drake's eyes started to glow after staring at the direction she had gone.
"Enough to give herself a small feast," he narrowed his eyes and tried to search for her Aura between all those people. Njord on the other hand ran his hands through his face to cover his eyes and then sigh. "Luckily, she's close by."
The God heard a low hum in confirmation before he felt a sudden burst of wind to his side. Everyone in the area looked to the source and saw there was nothing on it, not even the blonde who was just standing there not even a second ago.
"What-"
His words remained stuck in his mouth, but the members of his Familia figured out what their deity wanted to say. "I think he jumped, Lord Njord."
"… huh." Njord took a sigh before his eyes widened. "Wait! What about his purchase!?" The God turned around in panic seeing Drake had forgotten it, but apparently that wasn't the case seeing that instead of various boxes full of fish, there was just a single big bag of Valis.
"When did he-" Njord's children started to question what just happened while the deity watched to the other side, no clear direction in mind.
He just hoped Chloe hadn't gotten in another mess.
"I was kind of annoyed when I heard the others got the wrong target, but when I lay eyes on her," an Adventurer smiled viciously as he saw Chloe's body lying on the corner of the floor, hands and legs tied up. "Kind of makes it worth it!" his hands moved closer to her figure with an ominous dance in his fingers.
"That's the black cat, you dumb ass." One of his fellow Adventurer's replied. "She could be faking for all we know and wait for the right moment to kill us." The first Adventurer shrugged before kicking Chloe's stomach, sending her crashing against the wall.
"Seems unconscious to me." He chuckled before eyeing his friends.
"What about the target? I don't wanna have to attend another session with our God and his cursed dagger."
Everyone in the room felt a chill run down their spines at the thought.
"Nobody wants to." Another one replied before cursing. "Fucking Gregory, dumbass didn't even specify the gender of the target." The previous emotion of fear was replaced with a groan. "I wanted a hot girl damn it!"
Many agreed as the Adventurer that previously kicked Chloe moved to the stuff she had been carrying, he whistled. "This looks good."
"Hey, who said you could keep those?" his friend asked with a snort, seeing his fellow Familia member putting on a very elegant black jacket and a white scarf with a dragon motif.
'… You are all dead nya~' Chloe though as she slightly kept an eye open. Sadly, it was easier said than done. Whoever this Familia was, their Captain was down stairs in the safe house they were currently in.
She didn't know how strong he was, just had the feeling she was stronger than him, or so she thought before he finished that spell that made him glow.
The point was, she could get free instantly and kill everyone in the room. But the Captain downstairs was a different story.
If she had her dagger, she might have a chance. But she wasn't strong enough to break a Level 3 or below effortlessly, the same applied for punching a hole in his chest like a certain brute of a co-worker she knew would.
So, her only hope was waiting for him to leave for her to act. Until then, all she could do was pretend to act as a ragdoll.
One thing was fur sure, Drake was not gonna be happy with her.
"I said I called dibs damn it."
She eyed again the Adventurers discussing Drake's stuff.
Yeah, Drake Aurion was not gonna be happy, for more than one reason.
"By the way, where are the others?"
Another person shrugged. "They went to clean up the bodies from that alley… although," he started to ponder, they should have returned by now.
"Pl-pl-plea-" An Adventurer tried to mutter a word, a very simple one. And even if the person near crushing his windpipe with his grasp could tell what his victim tried to say… he simply didn't care.
"…" Drake Aurion simply stared at the man's eyes, their light already starting to fade as the blonde kept choking his victim like that.
'He came out of nowhere.' One of the Adventurer's that pretended to be dead recalled what just happened.
Their captain had commanded them to clean the scene, and so they were doing when he appeared in the alley's entrance. He didn't say anything, nor has he until this very moment, all he did was stare menacingly, eyes like Dragon looking glowing at them.
One of his fellow Familia members walked to him with the intent of pushing him away , until he suddenly stopped. No one had seen it, but somehow, their companion's body exploded a second after he stopped moving.
Everyone looked in shock at the sigh as blood and several pieces of their former comrade were sent flying in the alley, just when they were about to finish too.
They stared at the assailant and noticed he was now holding the dagger of the Black Cat they had found stuck in a wall, which was probably used to dismember their friend. But the curious thing was, there was no blood on it.
Only the eyes of few widened in realization of what had happened; he had slashed the body so fast that not only they didn't see it, but also so the blade wouldn't be coated in the blood.
"You bastard!" one the other hand, the ones that didn't figure that out charged at him with clear rage in their eyes. But it didn't matter, since he didn't discriminate who was killed next .
Several black chains with knives attached to their end had emerged from the alley's walls. Some had pierced through the heads of a few, ending their lives in an instant.
Those had been the lucky ones.
The rest of the chains on the other hand wrapped themselves at their necks and dragged them against the wall. It wasn't strong enough to kill them with the impact, no The intention was choking them slowly, the grip on their necks becoming tighter second by second.
It was clear, he wanted them to suffer.
Slowly.
The poor Adventurer that witnessed all of this saw how his companions kept dying one by one. One of the Adventurers that hadn't been attacked ran in despair to the other exit of the alley, only for their assailant to suddenly jump in the way to then grab and lift him by the throat.
And so, here they were now.
The one member that had been stared crossed eye with his friend, in that moment he cursed his luck as the blonde that butchered them moved his orbs slowly to lay his gaze on him.
'Fuck!' he thought in panic, he stood up instinctly and ran on the opposite side. Hope burning bright in his eyes as he made it out, but still filled with enough panic to keep running straight to their safe house.
All while Drake Aurion finally broke his prey's windpipe before letting him fall down. The eyes of the adventurer started to become bloodshot, the feeling of suffocation invaded him. All he could do was stare and wait until his agonizing pain would end, and so he did as he stared with widened eyes as the bodies of their friends suddenly started being absorbed into the ground, as if their own shadows had devoured them.
"Can't do anything about the blood though." Drake replied for the first time before he laid his gaze one final time on the one that was reaching Death's door, all while the dying Adventurer looked in terror with a clear thought in mind.
'What a monster.'
"One job, Gregory. You had one simple job, and you couldn't even do it right." The Captain of the Familia thought out loud, a glass of wine hanging in between his fingers. "Scout for people that might interest our God and bring them to him. And when tasking these imbeciles with the job, you didn't even give them the right description."
He took a sip, all while the Familia members around him looked at nothing in particular, as if they were staring at the void itself, a clean reflection of their eyes.
"Hopefully, an infamous high-level Adventurer will satisfy our lord. Even if she's not quite to his liking." He kept thinking out loud to nothing in particular as his ears picked up on something coming closer to the entrance, in quite the rush if he may add. Soon after, the safe house's door was slammed open with almost enough strength to bring it down.
"Captain!"
The man narrowed the man that had just entered, he didn't care to remember his name, but he knew enough to recognize one of the members of his Familia. Especially those who he just saw less than thirty minutes ago cleaning a crime scene, and in a better state than this… and definitely no stains of blood on his clothes.
"What happened?" he narrowed his eyes, and the distinctive sound of the entrance's door closing from afar.
"We were ambushed sir! Everyone's dead! And-"
"The assailant, what did he look like?"
The man of the eyes snapped open, not noticing that his captain was looking behind him while the eyes of their Familia members widened. "He wore black clothes, had blonde hair and-"
"Did he have weird green eyes?"
The low-level Adventurer stopped on his tracks. "… Yeah… how did you-"
"Because he's standing right behind you." He replied nonchalantly as his underling's face went pale before he turned around, he never got to see his face clearly. All he saw was someone walking past him with a swift move of his hand. The thing he knew was him grasping his own throat after feeling an ominous itch. He fell on his knees, still holding his own neck despite the blood that was leaking through it until he was no more.
"What do you know?" The captain stood up from his chair. "Gregory wasn't exaggerating, you're quite the catch. Tell me boy, what level are you?"
Drake didn't answer, instead he stared at every single person in the room, then at the ceiling while his eyes slightly glowed for a moment before releasing a sigh of relief.
The blonde then looked back at the clear leader of the bunch and walked to the table. The Captain had thought he was going to take a seat on the other side of the table, but instead he grabbed the edge of it.
"I told your friend to never show himself in front of me again," The table was suddenly flipped without effort. "That also applies to all of you vermin, by association."
Everyone's eyes widened before they prepared to charge, only for the airborne table to be sliced in two and then subsequently kicked to each side and crash at an Adventurer.
The captain groaned as he finally stood up, his hand extended at Drake. "Explode," the blonde dashed from left to right without effort as the cloaked individual tried to follow his movement, but still continued his spell as his underlings rushed at their enemy.
"waves of the heavens!"
The blonde finally stopped his movement as another Adventurer swung his sword at him, only to be dodged without effort. Drake then quickly kicked one of his opponent's legs to make him lose his footing and then quickly grabbed him by the collar to then toss him at his captain.
"Ekrixi Teleios!" Hishis beam attack didn't hit its target, instead he managed to hit the underling that had been sent airborne his way. The end result was killing his own underling and making a huge mess of everything in the process as the blood of the dead body was spread in their direction, some of it managing to land on the man's face under his hood.
"You bastard!" The man removed his hood to reveal a long blonde-haired elf with purple eyes. "I was planning on offering you something great!" The elf screamed, not really paying attention to the clear sounds of screaming and crushing around him while he tried to clean the blood off his face. "But I suppose I am gonna have to drag you by force!" he finally opened his eyes. "Such a shame-"
His words died in his mouth, eyes widened in shock and trembling hands.
Right now, there were only four people standing alive in the room. The rest had had their heads splatted either against a wall or the ground, making them unrecognizable as they were. Others had succumbed to the poison of the knife he now recognized as black cat's, and the last remaining two were on their way to Death's embrace.
Because one of them currently had black cat's knife's impaled in their chest, while the other one had Drake's hand punching a hole inside the man's body to grasp his heart and then crush it.
All at the same time.
And so, their bodies fell to the ground, and then there were only two. One whose left hand was now literally full of blood.
"Arise, hero of old!" the elf shouted out of pure panic, especially since Drake was now walking towards him, his bloodied hand cracking by its irregular way he moved its fingers.
"Hoplizon Teleios!" the elf grinned; his body started to glow as Drake grabbed him by his face. "You imbecile! I have already won!" he quickly grabbed both of Drake's arm and started to put all if strength into crushing it, but nothing happened.
It didn't matter how hard he tried. Even with his enhanced strength he acquired thanks to his spell, it simply wasn't enough, but he still tried and tried until the green eyed blonde finally spoke.
"You had such a nice face." The spoke with a low and bored tone, and it was in that moment the elf panicked as he started to feel Drake's hand beginning to and emitting heat.
"[Raging Blast]"
The energy in his hand exploded.
The screamed in pain, any hint of arrogance in his voice replaced by pure terror and pain as he realized the meaning of his words before. Because the explosion had managed to go through his spell defenses and burn his face partially.
"Ho- How-" he struggled to say before his eyes widened again the moment he felt the heating energy again.
"[Raging Blast]"
And again.
"[Raging Blast]"
And again.
"[Raging Blast]"
And so on until the blonde was sure the elf's face was unrecognizable.
"This was your Familia's second strike." He tossed him to the side and walked to the stairs. "The first one being when that fat bastard approached me before." He stopped and looked over his shoulder coldly and then stated in a low yet very hearable and ominous tone. "Make sure there's not a third."
A few minutes before
"I need to get out of here nya~" Chloe Rollo thought in panic. Her instinct had kicked in not a minute ago when she felt something ominous approaching this place. Something she hadn't felt since Shakti Varna all those years ago, but it was definitely worse now.
Her fears just got worse the moment she heard fighting breaking out downstairs.
"What the hell's going on downstairs?" one Adventurer asked nervously, his friend just shrugged it off however. "The captain is downstairs; he will deal with it."
There was an uncomfortable sigh before he looked back at Chloe laying on the ground. "I think I could use some stress relief after all." He chuckled as he approached her, ignoring all the warning thrown at him as he kneeled in front of her to start running his hands on her thigh all the way from top to bottom.
"She's really knocked out." He stated as he moved her a little to have a better position of her, and it was then noted something, the ropes around her legs were already loose. A feeling of dread invaded him as he looked up, there she was, Chloe Rollo staring at him with her deadliest glare before she wrapped her legs around his head.
"Help!" He managed to say as he stood up, Chloe still leg locking his head as he did to then swiftly break it with a quick twist.
"I fucking called it!" Chloe let go of his head as she fell and quickly got rid of the ropes tying her hands. She then quickly kneeled to the dead body and pulled his sword.
It wasn't her bread and butter, but it would do.
"Play around, Feles Cruz!"
Two replicas of herself appeared next to her, each charged at a different Adventurer to distract them while she headed to the last one. Her body was still sore after the beatdown she received, but she could still deal with them as long she was careful.
She quickly slid on the floor to avoid an ax attack that smashed the floor as she went in between his legs. She swiftly stopped and accommodated herself to do a circular slash to cut his lower limbs before she stood up to slam her sword on his head; his screams completely ignored.
Chloe quickly looked around and noticed her clones were starting to fade, she gritted her teeth as she took the dead Adventurer's ax and threw it at another with a spinning horizontal effect. He never saw the weapon coming, seeing as he was focused on Chloe's double.
The result was a very clean decapitation as the clones faded.
"Shit!" The last remaining Adventurer cursed at his luck as he rushed to the door, but just when he was about to open it he noticed a shadow over him. He turned around to notice Chloe going for an slam attack, he covered his head with his arms in panic as he begged for his life as the impact came… and nothing happened.
The Adventurer blinked, even Chloe blinked. Both stared at the edge of the sword not being able to cut through the Adventurer's arm… or rather, Drake's jacket.
"Shit nya~." She thought out loud as the Adventurer grinned before he delivered a straight kick to her chest.
"I don't know what's it with this," he focused on the clothes and then at Chloe, lying on the floor once more. "But I barely felt anything!"
The grip on his weapon tightened. "I truly hit-" a hand suddenly broke through the door and grabbed his neck. "-Jackpot?"
He was pulled outside the room. The next thing Chloe's ears caught were the sounds of several bones breaking to the point even she winced. Chloe managed to stand up and grip the hilt of her sword, her instincts telling her to run away instantly. But soon enough, she started to calm down after hearing a familiar voice after the Adventurer was thrown back in the room, several bones broken; his spine included by the looks of it.
"Who the fuck gave you permission to touch my stuff?"
Her eyes widened as she saw Drake entering the room, his clothes already back in place.
Chloe felt relieved. She wasn't surprised by the sudden demonstration of brutality at all, seeing she and many already figured out how strong he was if Tsubaki Collbrande vouched for him, and his eyes reminded her of Ryuu's, Lunor's and even her own sometimes.
Truly; not everyone in the Hostess are saints.
"Are you ok?"
She nodded, the sword she held fell on the ground as she massaged her shoulder.
"Took you long enough nya~" that was an understatement, seeing as she never expected to see him coming to save her. Chloe wanted to ask how he found her, but it wasn't the time.
"…" She noticed his eyes glowed for a second before he extended his hand at her. "Stay still."
"nya~" she tilted her head as his hands started to glow green.
"[First Aid]"
Her body was surrounded by the same green energy as a warm sensation invaded her.
"Feeling better?"
She nodded repeatedly as she embraced herself in delight as Drake coughed.
Chloe eyed him curiously as he continued before he pulled his scarf off slightly to spit some blood on the ground.
"Are you ok nya~?"
He pulled his scarf up and then waved his hand. "Pay no mind to it, it's just magic and me having a bad relationship… like usual."
She nodded a little hesitant before both looked at the near to dead Adventurer.
"Feel like doing the honors? I think I overdid my killing quota of the day."
Chloe narrowed her eyes, especially when Drake handed her trusty knife to her.
"He tried to grope me nya~."
The bloodshot eyes of the Adventurer widened as he forced himself to look up from the floor, two pairs of angered green eyes staring down on him. Their pressure was big enough that he passed out on the floor.
Both sighed.
"We need to clean up nya~."
Drake moved his hand under his chin to ponder. "I can take care of the bodies, but the blood will be the problem if someone finds this place."
"Well…" she imitated his pose as she continued. "… We can always burn it all nya~"
He stood still for a second before he walked to pick up the blade she had been previously using and pointed at the floor with it.
"Gotta need a way to start the fire nya~." She looked up and then noticed Drake pointed at the ground with the sword, which started to turn red and redder by the second.
"What are you doing nya~?"
"[Hell Pyre]"
"A warning would be nice next time nya~." Chloe stated as they walked away calmly as people ran in the opposite direction, a huge source of smoke coming from the distance.
"I thought it was kind of obvious." He replied, both with blank expressions as shouts could be heard from a distance.
"I see bodies in the fire!"
"Who lives there!?"
"I think I heard screams coming from the second floor!"
Both kept walking, unfaced by the comment.
"… We forgot about the guy that passed out nya~."
"No, we didn't." he replied in a matter of factly tone, Chloe forced herself not to snort at his response as she recalled the events of the day.
"Wonder who they were after nya~?"
Drake's face remained stoic. He thanked that despite being a very highly trained assassin, she was still dumb enough to not figure it out.
They had her targeted because of his clothes. But he didn't wear his scarf and jacket when he met the fat bastard of the same Familia a few weeks ago, when they were at Demeter's place.
Which meant that someone had been keeping an eye on him, not only in the streets but also probably in the Hostess.
The captain had already ditched when they had returned to the first floor. Part of him hoped they didn't, but the Dragon in him was a completely different story.
"Let's keep this between us, better not worry Mia and the others."
A sly grin appeared on her face as she stood in front of him and walked backwards.
"You want little old me to lie nya~?"
"Yes." The lack of hesitation of the answer made Chloe look at him in surprise. Lunor knew he couldn't lie at all thanks to a certain Spirit back home, but Chloe didn't. So it would be easier for him if she lied on his account.
He could tell her, but he knew she would find some kind of profit out of it.
"You are no fun nya~" Chloe sighed, once more back next to him. "It will cost you nya~."
Now he gave a sly smirk under his skirt.
"Oh, don't worry. I have something in mind."
"… This is not so fucking fair." Lunor exclaimed.
It was already closing time once more, and all the waitresses were sitting and having dinner after their work time.
Usually, Mia would prepare the food for everyone, and so she did like always and everyone… almost everyone.
"I call bullshit." She stated again and pointed at the dumb cat sitting next to her. "There's no way this dumb cat behaved the whole damn day without causing any problem."
Chloe Rollo didn't reply. As a matter of fact, she wasn't even paying attention as her sole focus was on the food in front of her; A double portion of sweet orange salmon. The very same dish that had gotten her into trouble the day before and she hadn't even gotten a chance to take a single bite out of.
Although, the only moments she did react was when some of her coworkers tried to take a bite from her. Suffice to say, Anya Frommel had come close to being stabbed and losing her hand at least thrice.
"Drake!" Her head turned so fast it might as well have snapped. "Explain!"
The blonde in question just so happened to pass behind her with several dishes on a tray.
"She did nothing to cause me trouble." He replied after looking over his shoulder to cross eyes with her. Lunor knew he couldn't lie, so she had to take his word for it. "Also, she didn't set me up to say something stupid, so there's that."
Her eye twitched. "That was your own fault!" he just kept walking until he sat around a table with Tsubaki and Mia.
"Do you honestly expect me to believe Chloe behaved, really?" The dwarf eyed him suspiciously as he served.
It was the truth. If anything, the events that transpired today were solemnly his fault seeing he was the original target.
"Oh nice, rice." The blacksmith beamed a smile as she tasted the food that was meant to be yesterday's meal. But deep down, she was a little worried, not for Drake, but the damage he might cause. That's why she knew that despite being unable to lie, there were ways to go around it.
"Nothing worth mentioning happened." He took a seat between them. "I would say you are profiling her as a black cat, if I didn't know any better."
Mia groaned before she took her fork with a piece of fish to her mouth. "Don't put words in my mouth you brat…" she didn't keep speaking until she finally swallowed. "You are putting this on the menu."
"Oh hell no." he took a bite himself. "I am not gonna prepare my favorite dish too frequently, it will lose its grace." He replied knowing full well no cat, not even May would be able to prepare it seeing she might succumb into temptation.
"Once a month then." Drake didn't reply as they kept munching, all while Tsubaki took a sigh as she put her utensils down for a moment. "Marry me."
Every waitress in the room spit their food and stared at the table at the sudden proposition.
"Nope. If you want someone to cook for you every day, do it yourself you lazy bitch."
His response made her snort before she shrugged the idea to continue eating, all while ignoring the dead glares from almost everyone by the sudden proclamation.
"So, if you say nothing worth mentioning happened today," her eye narrowed dangerously as she spoke in the lowest tone possible. "Mind telling me why you smell of blood?"
He had told Chloe to go take a bath as soon as they arrived at the Hostess to hide the stench. But he didn't do the same, not only because he was gonna have to cover for her shift, but because he hoped the smell of fish would cover it.
Apparently, this wasn't the case seeing as both Tsubaki and Mia had recognized the smell.
The senses of First-class Adventurers were no joke after all.
To his credit, he didn't stop eating nor did he do anything to sell himself out. He just needed to think in a cloudy truth to tell and he would be-
"I hope it doesn't have anything to do with that Familia that approached you when you went to Demeter's." Now his eye twitched. He fought the urge to turn back and sent a glare to Lunor, the waitress in question sneezed, as if someone was thinking about her; and not in the best way.
"I want to know what happened, both today and last week," The edge of Tsubaki's mouth took a dangerous move upward as her eye narrowed. "And I want to know if that was after or before you asked Demeter for such a dirty proposal."
Lunoire Faust would feel a chill running down her back for the rest of the night.
