Chapter 68: Mia's Secret?

Soon a waiter brings out a cup of tea while I talk with Mia.

"I was trying to find your house earlier but your description was too vague. I hope you can take me there later," I say smiling.

To be honest I actually need Mia for something else.

『Status』

[Name: Mia]

[Race: Fire Harpy]

[Status: Happy]

[Level: 3/50]

[HP: 120/120 MP: 90/90 SP: 25/25]

[Strength: 5]

[Defense: 5]

[Magic: 30]

[Speed: 5]

[Luck: 1]

[Charisma: 10]

[Skills: [Body Enhancement] [Fire Control] [Wind Control] [Intense Focus] [Flying Sense] [Telekinesis] [Telepathy] [Summon: Moon Koi]

[Titles: [Great Moonfish Blessing]

…

I hadn't checked her status until I learned her name since I thought it wasn't worth the time, but... boy was I wrong.

These skills are very unique and they are probably related to the [Great Moonfish Blessing] title. I have many questions like how did she even acquire the blessing or is she even aware of the blessing. The thing might be hidden, similar to how I can't see my first skill and that blessing I always had.

I feel like I should ask her later when she is more comfortable around me. Perhaps if she does know about it could be a sensitive topic she doesn't want to talk about so it's best to ask later.

"Thanks, the tea was great," I say while getting up.

Paying the respectable amount I ask Mia to take me to her house since it was custom-made by Akio. Though if it was, I probably would have been able to point it out from the other houses in the neighborhood.

"You don't have to do it right now. Maybe after the day is over?" I ask.

"No it's fine, Charles, please take care of the restaurant while I'm away," Mia says turning towards a tall young waiter.

"Yes ma'am," he says.

Walking behind Mia I let her lead the way while continuing my inner monologue.

So the main reason I reached out to her, is that I want her to be the head of all the adventures guild. Mainly it will be the head of the main adventurers guild building which will be built near the center of my kingdom.

Over the short moments I have talked with her, I was able to notice her adaptability and how hardworking she is. Even right now she is able to keep a level head while talking to me and still answering questions and giving directions to her employees.

Though the one problem I have is, she probably will decline my offer since she just made her own restaurant. It's not as big as the previous restaurant she worked in, but she probably put in a lot of work to make this restaurant a thing.

"We're here," Mia says.

Looking up, I see a huge house but it wasn't much different from the other houses in the neighborhood.

The house was just a bigger version of the normal look medieval houses in my kingdom. A bit wider and had 2 extra floors compared to the 2-floor normal houses.

"It's pretty nice in here," I say after entering her house.

"Thank you very much. I'm extremely grateful for your tips from before. It might not seem like it to you, but an obsidian coin is a really large amount of money. The first tip I used to buy this house and the second tip I used to furnish the house to my liking," Mia explains bowing towards me.

"Mhm, how is this custom built by Akio?" I ask, ignoring her 100th 'thank you.'

"Well, you can't see it from the outside since when I ordered for this house to be built, they said that I still had some remaining money from the obsidian coin. So instead of standing out with another 2 floors, I decided to expand downwards. When Mister Akio heard this, he decided to help out since it was a rare request," Mia says smiling.

"That's pretty cool. Anyway, just call me Arpious,"

"I-I could never do tha-," Mia says shaking her head.

"A-r-p-i-o-u-s, Arpious," I say, sounding it out.

"...A-Arpious," stutters Mia.

Smiling, I proceeded to sit down on a couch in her living room while patting the spot right next to me, which gestured for her to sit down with me.

"Tell me about yourself," I say.

"O-okay, well…"

Mia proceeded to tell me basically her entire life. She was born from a fire-harpy couple that was "refugees" from the Canyon of Volcanoes. When they bought a house in my kingdom they had Mia not long after. She was already in the womb when they lived in the fire harpy villages so that's the reason why she was born so quickly.

The rate the children grow up is fast but it seems you need about 1-2 weeks to grow the baby in your womb.

As she continued, she told many minor and useless things besides her parents that live close to the center of my kingdom. She rambled on about how nice and amazing her parents are and then said that she finished… but was she really done. She might be hiding the story behind her title.

...I'll just ask right now. If it ruins our relationship… well I might have to resort to force since I want to acquire her power. Not eat her for her skills, more like… her manpower and what she can provide for the kingdom.

"Are you aware of your title and skills?" I ask with a serious face.

"Uhhh, N-no. W-what are you talking about…?" Mia says avoiding eye contact and begins to fidget with her hands.

"You suck at lying, you know that?"

Mia hangs her head downwards with a troubled face. She bites her lip as blood trickles down.

"Can't say?" I ask.

"N-no, my apologies," Mia says through a muffled voice.

"Hmmm… that's troublesome…"

Mia freezes up from my words as she finds it a bit harder to breathe.

"Fine, I don't want another fake person that I acquire through force. To be honest I can't tell if Sophia still follows me because of her fear towards me or she slightly respects me now. I mean I gave her a new home that helped her tribe thrive instead of living like animals in the forest. At worst some of her people that couldn't accept being my kingdom could be planning a rebellion as we speak," I say.

tsk

"I'll propose something, how about you do a special job for me, and in return, I won't inquire about your blessing and skills anymore. Of course, you won't be able to hide it once we run into others with [Inspect]," I say.

"O-okay, but I would like you to take care of and make my restaurant thrive," Mia says, her face loosening a bit.

"Sure… now let me explain the job. I already started this project but basically, I'm making an adventurers guild for the adventures in my kingdom. They will be able to take on quests to spread their influence.

If this works perfectly, even a nameless person can become one of the most popular and influential adventurers in my kingdom," I say.

"S-so what is my job?" Mia stutters.

"You will be the head of all the adventurer guilds. This means every guild master spread throughout my kingdom is your subordinate.

You will help run all of them and the main adventurers guild at the center of my kingdom. You will also help organize some big events that happen in my kingdom such as wars or maybe even a raid on someplace,"

"That seems like a lot of work. Also, why pick me?" Mia says slightly troubled by the amount of work I was about to place on her.

"Don't worry, when I said for you to help run all of the adventurer guilds, I meant that you basically just give them orders and if one of them gets corrupted then you will either eradicate the enemy or destroy the guild building itself. I don't want any rats crawling through my kingdom.

Now moving onto why I picked you. It's pretty simple, you have all of the special traits an amazing boss or leader needs. You are able to keep a level head no matter the situation, besides that time you stormed at me without knowing my identity so I'll pretend I didn't see that," I say.

Silence filled the room as Mia pondered over her decision.

"Oh one last thing, you will be almost at the same level of influence as my direct subordinates," I say.

It seemed like that was the breaking point since her face filled with resolution, ready to say her answer.

"I will accept it since I would probably be forced to do it anyway, but I want to still manage my restaurant. You are not allowed to touch it since I assume I will be able to earn loads of money from this position. With it, I will hire my parents to take care of it since they are the ones who pushed me to work in the food industry," Mia says.

"Are you sure your parents will agree?" I ask.

"Probably not."

"Huh…"