Chapter 94

Chapter 94

Chapter 94

He had finally arrived.

It had been a long and arduous journey. The trek to this village had taken a toll on him— not because it was difficult or treacherous. And even if it was, he was rather high-leveled, so he could dispose of most monsters with ease.

No— the reason it took him so long to arrive here was for another reason entirely. It was a simple reason, really. It was not complicated in the slightest. In fact, it was quite obvious why the trip had been so cumbersome with just one quick look at him.

It was because he was so tiny.

He sighed. “Well, at least I’m finally bloody here now...”

He was Saros the Gnome Inventor, and he was, of course, a gnome. That meant that he was incredibly short compared to the normal person— human. He didn’t mean person, he meant human.

Growing up in a majority-human continent, Saros occasionally found himself defaulting to humans as the standard of what was normal. But that was not true— humans would not be of average height if they lived in Alius. In fact, they would be quite the outliers since trolls, nagas, and the like tended to be rather tall, while gnomes, dwarves, and fairies were rather short.

That was unlike the average pers... human, who stood at an odd middling height. They would just be this norm... weird size which could barely fit in any house or tent they entered there.

By the Thrones... Saros hated that he was raised in an environment with such a human-centric culture. But most cultures were quite self-centered. It wouldn’t have been any different if he had been born in Drazyl— he would have just started off thinking that elves were the baseline norm in that case.

Although— humans and elves were honestly quite similar in terms of size and frame. The main difference was in their ears and their skin color. All elves had light-pale skin, while humans had all kinds of skin tones. For example, those who lived in the western parts of the former Archon tended to have darker skin, and those who lived in the original territories at the south of the Kingdom of Kal would have browner skin.

Kallistus Kal himself was the odd-one-out with his blond skin and blue eyes, but he wasn’t from this world anyways.

Nevertheless, when humans and elves mixed, they didn’t stand out quite as much from each other as much as humans and fairies did.

The Gnome Inventor shook his head. In any case, he wasn’t in Alius. Other than being annoyed at how he was raised, he didn’t care for any of that. He was here in Laxo, and he was searching for a single person.

And this person just so happened to be a human. An insanely powerful human. One who was honestly quite rude— but also pretty helpful from time to time. After all, she did save his life.

Her name was Amelia. She was an unranked adventurer, and she was the only person in the world who could help him in his predicament. His gaze darkened as he thought of the consequences if he did not enlist her help. It would be truly calamitous.

Saros had to swallow his pride and seek Amelia out if he wanted to prevent the worst of the worst from happening. So he arrived here in Wolfwater with this single goal in mind... only to find a long queue waiting before him.

“Uh, what?” he asked, staring at the long line of families leading into a small building. “What the fuck is going on?”

He furrowed his brows, utterly confused. The Gnome Inventor had been redirected here after asking around. But this was... a restaurant. He didn’t get why Amelia would be in there. It made no sense— until he heard the excited whispers coming from the waiting crowd.

“Is there really an angel working there? I just can’t believe it.”

“Honestly, if this turns out to be a hoax, I’ll demand to be compensated for my time.”

“It’s real! I saw it myself! I swear to the Thrones that it is—” The inaugural upload of this chapter took place via N0v3l-B1n.

“Do they think Amelia’s an angel?” Saros pursed his lips. That was a ridiculous assertion. Although...

He could see it. That might explain her overwhelming strength. If she really were an angel, it would make a little bit of sense. But he still thought that was incredibly unlikely.

He shook his head and strode forward. “It’s probably a misunderstanding.”

The gnome couldn’t care less about eating at this restaurant. While he was mildly curious about these rumors about an angel, he was more concerned with finding Amelia. Because she was the only one who could help him. He knew this for a fact. And his grip tightened over a piece of paper in his Bag of Holding.

“‘Scuse me!” Saros called out as he made his way to the front of the queue. “Coming through— I have important business here! Move out of the way!”

He waded his way right to the entrance despite the protests before a boot finally landed right before him and stopped him. He blinked, looking up at a towering figure... well, most humans towered over him since he stood barely a foot and a half in height. But this human blocking him was nearly four and a half times taller than he was, which was relatively tall.

“Oi! What do you think you’re doing, little man?” the man said.

He had a grizzled look— a scar on his face. He had a crossbow and a shortsword hanging from his side. Probably a [Hunter]. And he crossed his arms as a pair of his friends joined his side.

He apologized, before I strode back inside with Saros following right behind me— and Bucky right behind him.

“Gah— stop bumping into me you damn chicken,” he said as she peered curiously at him. Too closely.

“Don’t mind her.” I waved a hand off dismissively. “She’s probably just curious because she’s never seen a gnome before.”

The gnome crossed his arms, harrumphing. “And this is why I hate small animals.”

She tilted her head at him, before pecking his right shoulder once. Saros backed up and cursed as I shook my head.

“Don’t insult her— she can understand you.”

“Oh, great. A leveling chicken.” Saros sighed, before grumbling as he scowled. “Fine, I won’t insult it.”

And Bucky clucked, pecking him once more. He yelped again as I corrected him.

“Her,” I said. “Bucky is a girl.”

“This is ridiculous. Why do I have to respect—” Saros opened his mouth as I turned left, heading for the bar. And he slowed to a halt.

“Excuse me.” I nodded as I stepped around a tall winged being.

Apologies, the reply came.

His jaw dropped as Guardian Angel Z357 passed me by, before stepping over him. He rubbed his eyes for a long moment. But when he raised his head once more, nothing changed. He was still staring at...

“...an angel?” Saros whispered, gaping at Guardian Angel Z357. “Is that a bloody angel?”

“Yeah, pretty cool, right?” I said casually as I came to a halt at the bar. I hopped onto a seat, and the gnome murmured under his breath.

“That’s an understatement.” Bucky walked past him, and he followed after her. “What kind of a restaurant is this?”

The chicken leapt onto my lap, and I patted her back. “It’s my restaurant.” I grinned. “It opened just a few days ago.”

“I...” He hesitated as he stared at me. “I’m not even going to question it.”

“What are you even doing here anyways?” I leant back against the bar, eyeing him with a raised brow. “Shouldn’t you be busy doing adventurer-things back in Whiteridge?”

That broke him out of his stupor. The gnome looked down at himself, blinking. “Oh, right. I came here because I need your help.”

“You need my help?” I narrowed my eyes. “Depending on what it’s about, I may be able to help you out.”

First Dorien, and now Saros. I shook my head— I had a restaurant to run. I wasn’t expecting much from the gnome. He probably needed my help with something unimportant. Like testing out some equipment or whatever.

Or at least, that was what I thought. Saros took in a deep breath and held my gaze, his reply making me blink.

“It is about Ar’elith,” he said. “The First Lich King is back.”

“Uh, what?”

MelasD

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