Chapter 6 - Reiden City

A line of slightly richer adults and children formed at the city gate thanks to Athena's actions and this did not make the leader of the guards happy.

The man in question was called Urk and was the only son of the chief of the guard. He was known around town as a gambling addict and for always taking advantage of taking money from the less fortunate.

"How many did you get?" Urk asked the four guards who faithfully followed him.

"Two." Said the biggest one.

"I got three." Said the fattest.

"I tried to get a coin and a boy bit me." Said the one with the long red nose.

"I got five. Hehehe...Today I'm definitely going to be able to fuck Lana all night long." Said the ugliest of the four guards.

"Shit! If only we could get those chests..." Urk complained.

"But how to get the chests? We don't even know what magic she used..."

"She said 'inventory', I've never heard anyone use this spell or skill before."

Urk sighed as if he was tired and smiled greedily. "We don't need to know. If we catch that nymph, the woman is sure to give us what we want."

"But what if she's strong?"

"You idiot! If she were strong, would she be walking around unarmed? Now think, if we can catch her nymph, we might even have a 'turn' with her." Urk said as he wiped his mouth off an imaginary drool and the men smiled and mimicked Urk.

The guard who collected the fees listened to the conversation with disgust from his coworkers.

'I need to tell that girl...'

***

In the city, Athena was taken by surprise by the grandeur of the place. As soon as she exited the tunnel from the walls, she came across a large square that she had carved out into a statue as tall as the walls.

The statue was of the goddess of creation and had the appearance of a beautiful woman with long hair with a vellum that covered part of her face and seemed to float.

"Whoaaah!" Athena and Fotiá said at the same time.

"This place is awesome." Athena said as she placed Fotiá on the ground.

"Athena, Athena, Fotiá is hungry." Fotiá complained rubbing her stomach.

"Then let's eat!" Athena said excitedly.

Along with Fotiá, Athena entered the first Tavern she saw. A well-lit place with luxurious European medieval decor.

Athena sat at a table near the entrance and soon a waitress approached.

"What will they want?" the waitress asked.

The girl with the red braids and the freckled face was so pretty she made Athena's heart skip a beat.

"A complete meal for her and you for me." Athena said smiling seductively.

"P-please decide while I go get her food." The waitress said and walked away quickly, even her ears red.

"Heh... She's so cute."

Fotiá looked at Athena as she sucked the tip of her thumb. "Fotiá is cuter!" She said.

" Jealous, Fotia?" Athena provoked. "Too bad for you, I'm not interested in little kids."

"Fotiá is only a child because she is not strong." Fotiá complained, her cheeks puffed out.

"Hm... It's true, Fotiá is over three hundred years old too and Anemus is even more than that... Why the hell are you still kids?"

"Anemus hasn't gone through the growth ritual yet and Fotiá isn't strong enough to go through the ritual."

'Ritual of growth? If I'm not mistaken, in the game there was a quest to make Anemus an adult... I'll ask when we get back.'

While Athena thought, the waitress served Fotiá's food and took two steps away from Athena.

"Lady, have you chosen what you want?"

Athena snapped out of her thoughts and looked at the girl standing beside her as she kept her distance.

Athena smiled harmlessly. "Sorry if I scared you. I'll want one…"

Athena looked at the menu board and saw several options with names well familiar to her. All the options had something to do with the monsters nearby, making Athena's stomach turn inside her.

"Urgh... I don't want anything..." Athena said and handed the girl a gold coin. "You can keep the change."

"M-lady, that's too much!"

"No problem... No, wait! I'll give you that coin if you stop calling me 'lady'. What do you think?"

The girl stirred as she thought and then hid behind the wooden tray she carried.

"Should I call you what then?"

Athena smiled brightly and held out her hand to the girl. "Athena! My name is Athena!"

The girl took the hand offered to her. "M-Mila... I'm Mila."

The girls shook hands, Mila relaxed and then was caught off guard by a kiss from Athena.

"Um, um! Mila's lips are sweet." Athena said. "Fotiá, do you want to try it?"

Mila was as red as the beetroot puree on Fotiá's plate and was completely transfixed by surprise.

"No! And Fotiá doesn't want to talk to Athena anymore!" Fotiá proclaimed and Mila woke up.

"Huh? I- Ah! S-sorry, II d-have to go." Mila said and went bewildered by the tavern which, thanks to the schedule, was empty.

***

After Fotiá's lunch, Athena and she went to the bank or at least tried to get there.

When it was Hades, Athena didn't spend so much time in the city and even in the game the city of Reinten was already very big.

Athena has been on the bench twice, the first time when she created Hades and the last time when she deleted it and both times it took her over half an hour to find the blessed place.

However, Athena was confident this time. Now it wasn't a game where she couldn't ask an NPC for information and there were lots of people on the streets.

"Excuse me, could you let me know which direction the bank is in?" Athena asked a little lady with gray hair and a face as wrinkled as a bulldog.

The old woman gave Athena a toothless smile and pointed to the north of the city without really saying anything.

"Ah thank you." Athena thanked her, returning the smile, and with Fotiá in her arms, she followed an alleyway that led north.

Athena walked from right to left, up and down, but there was no sign of the bank.

The truth was, Athena hated Reiden and wanted very much to never again have to set foot in the city, because the place for her was a maze, but she didn't give up.

Looking around to get her bearings, Athena saw people pouring brown water through the windows onto the street and clotheslines stretched from window to window.

The muddy and smelly streets had as pedestrians and perhaps even residents, leper dogs and filthy drunks.

In one alley or another, it was possible to see prostitutes doing their jobs and bad-nourished children, making Athena wonder what was going on in that town.

Athena hugged Fotiá tightly and began to stride apprehensively. The situation of the children clearly cut her heart, but the public safety of the city was not her responsibility.

After more than an hour looking for the bank, Athena found it at the far north end of town, in an entirely different area from the one she had just been to.

The place that was in the upper part of Reiden, smelled of flowers everywhere, in the middle of the square there was a fountain where smiling children ran around, the buildings and houses were well designed and exuded elegance.

'It looks like two different worlds...' Athena thought.

The bank was a magnanimous building, at its entrance were lined up six carved marble columns in the shape of several people huddled together and holding the roof of the building's entrance.

Inside the place, Athena felt almost lonely for the size of the space. With every step Athena took, she felt like someone was following her because of the echo that spread through every place that had a maximum of ten people with the exception of employees.

"Good afternoon, welcome to Erdenleint Bank. My name is Iris, how can I be of assistance?" the attendant said, almost automatically.

"I came to withdraw." Athena replied.

"Your ID."

"Identification?"

"Yes. We can only allow you to withdraw if we know who you are." Iris said with a friendly smile.

"Ah! Sure! {Dimensional Bag}" Athena stuck her arm in the air and pulled out the scroll with her information. "Is this okay?"

Iris took the purple parchment and read the information. The woman's blue eyes widened and she stood up, making the noise of her chair echo scandalously around the room.

"Please wait a moment." Iris said and walked almost running out of Athena's sight.

Seconds later she returned accompanied by a tall, thin hem with black hair licked glossy back.

"Please follow me. I'm the bank manager and my name is Charle." The man introduced himself indicating the path Athena should follow.

Charle guided Athena to a private room where in the corner was a mirror of the soul.

Charle cleared his throat so it wouldn't make as much noise and then bowed.

"I apologize for my audacity if I am speaking to whoever you suggest to be, but I would like to confirm." The man said, signaling the mirror.

"It's okay. It would be weird if you didn't. Where can I lay my girl down?"

"Thank you for understanding. You can put her on the couch."

"I must warn you that she drools!" Athena said in a goofy smile.

"Huhuhuhu... No problem, I also have a daughter her age."

After leaving Fotiá on the couch, Athena approached the mirror and after taking a scroll, she looked deeply into her own eyes and recorded the information on the parchment with mana.

"T-T-THREE HUNDRED AND FORTY-ONE!?" Charle yelled as he read the parchment.

"Hehe... I lost track of time in the forest." Athena said.

Charle's black eyes widened in surprise and the man quickly dropped to one knee.

"Your Holiness, I hope you forgive this poor mortal."

"S-stop it! I'm just a customer!" Athena said trying to lift the man is to fail.

It wasn't that the man was too heavy, but that he was strong. Muscles of his you could feel them even through the thick suit.

'I'm too weak…' Athena thought and walked away from Charle. "Anyway, I need to go to my vault. If it still exists after all this time."

"Wait a bit, I asked Iris to check it out."

After a few minutes, Iris entered the room with good news and then guided Athena and Fotiá to a large hallway with several black wooden doors and thick gold bars.

When Iris opened Athena's safe, the woman fainted at the sight of so much gold, silver, jewelry, and artifacts.

"Let's start!" Athena said as she placed Fotiá on the ground.

Fotiá's eyes sparkled to see so much that she had never seen before and she ran into the vault as if she were in the fun-loving place of the world.