“I’ve been working 14-hour days for the past two weeks! I don’t have time for much else besides eating and sleeping. My own responsibilities are hard enough, but it seems like everyone else needs a helping hand on top of that. I just got told off by one of my managers for making a mistake on one of my forms, but I know I wouldn’t have made that kind of mistake if I was just a bit less tired.”
That workload didn’t seem too bad to Adama, who was used to going 24-30 with little to no rest, all while he regularly fought for his life. He reminded himself that not everyone had that kind of fortitude and that he was aided by the superhuman abilities that came from being an adventurer. Eina had been working this hard without a Status or even Foundation level madra to support her. Keeping that in mind, he offered supportive commentary:
“Sounds to me like you’re doing good work, tiny mistakes or not. But if it’s that hard on you, why not tell your coworkers to handle their own job? You handle yours without asking them for help, right?”
“Well, I do get some help from my boss, but I guess most people just ask me for favors. It can get a little frustrating sometimes, but if people who are able to help choose not to, then the whole world starts to fall apart.”
She said this with a kind of resolve that Adama found charming, even if he knew she wasn’t quite right:
‘Maybe, but if the people willing and able to help end up breaking under the stress of people taking advantage of them, then the world gets even worse, doesn’t it?”
She grew thoughtful after this observation, brow furrowing delicately. After a moment more, she responded:
“I guess you have a point. I didn’t want to look at it that way, but…”
She trailed off as Tim brought them to the doorstep of a nice restaurant in one of the more affluent neighborhoods of Orario. He wasn’t exactly going to bring her to the Benevolent Mistress, and he had recently acquired the money needed to splurge a little. He left his gear with the butler in the entryway before leading Eina into the upscale establishment. She nervously followed him in and looked around, yelping a little when she noticed the formal dress of the clientele. She pulled in close to Adama, whispering:
“Tim, I’m not dressed for a place like this! And neither are you!”
“This place is very adventurer friendly, even though it’s very upscale. If you’re an adventurer and you have the money to pay, no one will give you any problems. Also, there are Guild employees who come here in uniform all the time. Your outfit is plenty formal as is.”
He whispered back, pointing to a lady in a Guild uniform sitting at a nearby table. The lady in question picked that moment to turn around and glance at the newcomers, eyes opening in recognition when she saw Eina. Smirking, she turned around and continued her conversation with some other women she was eating with. Eina’s face had turned beet red, mumbling:
“That’s Lisha, my supervisor’s friend. Oh, I can already hear the gossip that’s going to be spread because of this…”
He nudged her and quietly muttered:
“No need to ogle the oglers. Just enjoy.”
He took her hand and led her to one of the corner tables that their waiter had picked out for them. Sitting down, it didn’t take long for Adama to get Eina talking again. He didn’t say much about himself, especially because there wasn’t much in terms of his genuine background that he could reveal. Most of her questions about his history were handwaved away with comments about a boring life growing up on a farm. He preferred to hear about Eina’s stories from school, growing up as student of the Liberal Arts who joined the Guild at age 14 and was sending money back home to her family. She apparently had a younger sister as well, who proved to be a something of a genius.
As usual, Eina downplayed her own achievements, but Adama could tell from their information sessions that she was a genius in her own right. As the night drew on, she regaled him with plenty of pleasant stories about her sister and interacting with her colleagues at work. By all appearances, she was well liked and quite brilliant, if self-conscious and a little overly self-effacing. That tracked with what he had learned about her from their cram sessions. As for the dinner, the food was excellent, and the wine was even better. Tim consciously encouraged Eina to indulge herself with both throughout their meal.
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Truth be told, his motives for inviting Eina out on this date weren’t entirely pure. Sure, part of his motivation was that he appreciated everything that she had done for him. There was also the genuine pleasure of dining with a beautiful lady, of course, but he had another more surreptitious objective. By the time they had finished their food, Eina had downed several glasses of red and was clearly very tipsy. She hiccupped cutely, her eyes slightly out of focus. He decided that now would be a good time to try his luck. Lowering his voice, he softly muttered:
“There was something else I was wondering about recently. I’ve heard rumors about intelligent monsters, ones who use human tools and who aren’t necessarily hostile. Any truth to those wild ideas?”
He gauged her reaction closely as he spoke, but she just smiled drunkenly and rolled her eyes:
“I’ve heard some of those rumors too, but you can’t be taking those sorts of things seriously, Tim! Adventurers see all sorts of things. It’s a job that attracts superstitious people. None of that has ever been substantiated. Sure, the Dungeon has all sorts of Irregulars. I’m not saying it couldn’t happen. But if it did, it would be big news. Monsters that aren’t hostile are like fish that don’t swim. It’s a silly idea. You should put that nonsense out of your mind.”
Adama nodded slowly and smiled right back:
“I’ll do that, then.”
The dinner ended without issue. He walked Eina back to her house before going back his own home. All the while he stewed on Eina’s answer, alongside the memory of his strange encounter.
…
The next morning, he woke up early and had Hestia give him an update. The results were well worth it:
Timaias Adama,
Level 2
Swordsman: H, Spirit Healing: H, Strong Body: H, Hunter: H
Strength: H-124 -> G-289
Defense: I-94 -> G-209
Dexterity: H-114 -> G-258
Agility: I-89 -> G-230
Magic: H-131 -> F-314
Spells:
Rippling Sword
- Swift Strike Magic
Endless Sword
- Mid-Grade Magic
- Chant: “Endless Sword”
Skills:
Predator
- Increased Growth
- Killing Monsters provides increased Growth.
- Killing more Monsters in a short period of time results in an even greater bonus
Mind of a Swordsman
- Automatic Reception of the Swordsman and Spirit Healing Abilities. These Abilities are automatically raised to grade H upon reception.
- All Grade I Abilities the user possesses at the time this skill is obtained are also promoted to grade H.
- Swordsman and Spirit Healing increase in potency as danger increases, so long as the user can maintain composure.
It was an over 700-point boost across the board. The sheer length of his crusade, along with the fact that his stats were still of low grade, allowed for a significant leap in his capabilities. As per usual, Magic and Strength stood out. His Spirit Healing allowing him to use his magic more frequently, and thus train it faster, so it was quickly proving itself his breakout stat. The only slight surprise was the improvement in Agility, which proved even larger than a lacking increase in Defense. This made a certain sense, however. Since he had improved his armor, the blows he took were less damaging, and thus less likely to train the stat. Meanwhile, he had done so much running around, especially in if fight against Almiraj horde, that he had seen an unusual boost to Agility.
All told; however, his growth had been excellent, and he was well on his way to Level 3 already. Hestia had grown numb to his absurdities by now. She only wryly shook her head and smacked his bare back playfully:
“Plenty of time to run around with monsters but no time to spend with me at all! Where did my precious little Level 1 farm boy go? At this rate, you’ll get to Level 10 faster than you’ll get inside a girl’s heart.”
“I don’t remember being a precious little farm boy at all.” Adama shot back as he started putting on his shirt.
“At least you don’t have time for any other women as well.”
Adama paused for an almost imperceptible second, before he continued getting dressed. Hestia, ever perceptive, noticed the slight hesitation and jumped on it immediately:
“Or am I wrong? Has the little chick left the nest and found himself a nice ladybird? All without telling me?”
“All right, all right, we can schedule a date night. It’ll be good to set aside some time to catch up.”
Tim dodged the question, which Hestia noticed but tactfully chose not to pursue. She beamed happily:
“Great! How about that one fancy place that we went to before? The one that caters to adventurers?”
He winced a little at the suggestion:
“Maybe not there. How about that Michelangelo place we went to with Lilli instead? We can go tonight.”
“Sure!” She responded cheerily as Tim gathered up the last of his things and headed for the door, eager to escape to his morning training with the others. As he approached the door, she left him with some final commentary:
“In all seriousness, Tim, I’ve always thought of you as more of a son than anything else. If you really have found a nice girl, then you have my full support. But if you want to be a two-timer, in the future, then you should work on your stoic face.”
Choosing not to dignify that quip with a response, Adama hurried out the door a step faster, leaving Hestia to her tittering.