Next, I had the various vials, bottles, and flasks. About half of them were just water of some type or another; most were just from my usual supply for the Dungeon, but I'd picked up another bottle of Alv Pure Water, like the one I'd given to Eina before. The way I figured, if I couldn't think of anything else to do with it, I could give it to her again, but it did have a nice feel to it. What that meant was hard to explain, but it felt very pure to me, so I guess the name fit. I wasn't sure if that would do anything in practice, but who knows; it might come in handy.
Then there were the shells. I'd managed to find a place selling them at the free markets, apparently having brought them over from whatever the nearest sea was—I had no idea what it was called, but I could sense it vaguely. They'd been a bit pricier than I'd expected, probably because of how far they'd had to transport them and their exotic nature in a place like Orario, but a little pricey for a normal decoration and a little pricey for an adventurer's supplies were not at all the same thing and I'd shrugged and gotten a bunch of them. In an emergency, I figured I could summon water from them; even if that wasn't my first choice for providing water, it was better than having no choice at all, especially in the Dungeon.
Thinking about it, though…every time I'd summoned water like that before, I'd gotten in trouble. Well, I mean, I was usually in trouble to begin with and it ended up saving me, but I ended up exhausted or worse every time. Bringing the water out was part of it, but maybe because it was always an emergency, I always went overboard. When I was cleaning the Augean Stables…well that had just been a dirty job and I'd had no choice but to do it; it had taken a lot to make that place clean again. Mt. Saint Helens had been do or die and it had probably been what allowed me to survive the whole exploding volcano thing, anyway, even if it had probably played a part in the shape I'd found myself in afterwards. And when I had that brief job as Mrs. O'Leary's chew toy…enough said. But all told, I'd ended up exhausted twice and near-death once.
I should probably work on that…
Putting a shell into a bowl with one of my helpful water hands, I focused and took a deep breath. What had the naiad said? Even when I was out of the water, the water was within me.
—Abruptly there was a faint sound, barely audible over the shower itself; the faint trickle of a tiny waterspout, rising from the center of the bowl. Slowly, it began to fill with the stuff and without even looking, I knew it was salt water. Which of course it would be, considering who I was, but…thinking about it, it had been awhile since I'd touched seawater. Since before the battle in Manhattan, in fact.
The bowl tilted in place before sliding across the floor and into my waiting hand. I turned my back to the shower's spray and held it in front of my chest, touching it with the fingers of my free hand. I felt a small rush of energy at the touch, but that wasn't why I smiled. Like in the stables, there was something exhilarating about seeing this salt water fountain, however small it might be. Because I'd done this. I'd brought a bit of the ocean to the basement of an empty church.
I could bring more of it, too. When I'd cleaned the stables, I'd made geysers that shot twenty feet in the air, cleaning it with enormous jets of water. But doing something like that here would be…problematic, to say nothing of the fact that it had hurt, the tugging sensation that normally accompanied my control of water growing painful and deepening with every moment and exhausting me quickly. I hadn't been able to fully control it either; it hadn't been as easy as just turning off, I'd actually had to force it down. Stuff like that was why this was my last resort, not my first resort.
But even so, I'd done this; I'd summoned the sea from sea shells.
Could I summon anything else? Come to think of it, if I could summon that Alf Pure Water or whatever, I could give it to Eina whenever I wanted. Could I summon fresh water, if I tried? I didn't have anything like sea shells for that—but I had a bottle of the stuff here already. Would that work?
I frowned down at the bowl, which was already almost full.
"Stop," I said, focusing again as I plugged an imaginary leak. As I did, the waterspout weakened and then died, and slowly the water in the bowl drained away to nothing, like it had at the stables. Where it went, I wasn't sure—back out to sea, maybe? Is that was happened when I used that sand dollar to clean those rivers?
Ah, I wonder if I could do that. Welf had mentioned that ideas might come to me if I did something else; maybe if I used Mystery I could do what my dad had done? I wasn't sure if it would actually matter here, but it had helped a bit there at the end—plus, I'd gotten used to having it around my neck. And…I'm not sure if I'd call it a hobby, but it made me remember something I realized I missed now. It used to be that whenever I was near the sea, or any other body of water, things would ask me to help them; sea animals, mermaids, naiads, and nereids. There'd be some monster running amok and need slaying, or someone would get caught in a net and need untangling, or, gods forbid, some sea spirit would get dumped, it would be the end of the world, and I'd need to go be the supportive friend and need to listen about the loss of their insignificant significant other, even though if I warned them a dozen times. Whatever problems they had, they'd call me—and trust me, they had a lot of problems. It had started to seem like my job for a while there; my duty as the son of Poseidon and all.
At least, until things had started getting bad, both in the sea and on land. It had been well over a year since I'd done anything like that—or however long it had been. Most of the time, I'd thought it was annoying to have to run out to the sea in the middle of the night, but now, after everything, I kind of missed it. It was familiar and nice and…something.
So maybe it was worth a try.
Before I could try anything, though, I heard a knock on the door.
Frowning slightly, I turned off the showerhead and willed myself dry, stooping down to gather everything back in my bag before leaving the bathroom and making my way to the door. When I opened it, I found Welf waiting there, as I sort of expected, but…wow, I'd slept longer than I thought.
"Hey," He said, looking at me. He was wearing his ragged work clothes over his Undine Shirt, and over that he was wearing his usual armor. He had his longsword strapped to his back and the rest of his adventuring gear, so it was clear he was ready for a fight. "You ready?"
I nodded, remembering to take off my helmet and put it to the side, since it might look a bit odd to eat in it.
"Let's go," I said, leading him the same way Hestia had taken me earlier today. We moved in silence, both of us treating this as we would hunting a monster in the Dungeon, but I paused at the entrance to West Main and opened my bag. "Here, take these."
Welf frowned as I handed him a couple of seashells and a flask of water.
"What are these for?" He asked.
"Me," I said. "If anything happens to me, throwing water on me is a good first resort; frankly, if I'm ever in trouble and you're not sure what to do, start with that. In an emergency, throwing me in a lake is a good place to start—throwing me in the ocean is better."
"Okay," He said, nodding slowly at that. He'd seen me heal enough that he could probably put the pieces together. "And the shells?"
"If a fight breaks out, throw them and get clear," I told him. "I'll summon water from them, so you can think of them as wet explosives. You see a group of enemies of something, throw it right in the middle of them."
"Got it," He replied, accepting that easily enough. "You feel anything yet?"
"One sec," I replied before walking slowly out into the street. I looked over the street, noting how different it looked at night, but quickly found the bar I was looking for and focused on the second story window. I couldn't see if there was anything on the other side, but nothing seemed to be staring at me right now. "Not yet. But don't let your guard down."
"Which one is it?" He asked, focusing as I pointed. "The Hostess of Fertility? I think I've heard of it. It's supposed to be really popular. How are we doing this?"
"Follow a bit behind me," I told him. "If anything happens, they'll probably target me; I'll be the bait, you be my backup. You need any money?"
"I'm good," He replied, shaking his head, but merely frowned when I tossed him a few coins.
"Order whatever you want," I told them. "Just keep an eye out, okay? And order a glass of water. I'll give you a signal if everything's okay."
XxXXxX
Prytaneum
Discovery
As I walked through the doors of the Hostess of Fertility, I paused for a moment to look around, trying to look casual as I scanned the inside of the bar. As I'd thought, it really did seem to be very deep; I wouldn't have been surprised if it was the largest bar on the street. Even so, it seems fairly packed and it's full of adventurers, many of them still in their armor like me. I saw several people wearing uniforms like the one Syr had worn earlier—at a glance, I saw a human woman, a pair of catgirls, and an elf, all moving around and serving tables. Behind the bar was a massive-looking woman, muscular enough that Clarisse would have been impressed, and she seemed to be happily talking to the people at the bar. In fact, the whole place felt alive, from the chatting waitresses to the smiling customers.
Although…were all the people who worked here women? That might explain why most of the patrons were men, but maybe I was jumping to conclusions. Still…
Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes, frowning to myself. I still wasn't sure what I was looking for, but I could feel currents of power moving through the room like water beneath the surface. It was all imprecise and distorted as if by a thousand ripples, so I couldn't make out a clear picture, but I didn't feel like anyone was paying particular attention to me; certainly nothing like the stare from this morning. Well, unless you count—
"Syr," I said, opening my eyes and looking at her as she approached.
"Percy," She replied, smiling widely. "Welcome back!"
She held out a hand which I took after just a moment of hesitation—and as she drew near, I had to fight not to react as I felt a heavy gaze settle on me, enough so that I almost felt like I was being run through. As I let Syr pull me along, I instinctively reached out in case I needed to defend myself, and I felt water all around me, in a couple dozen glasses, sinks, and pipes. It was hard to relax when someone was focused on me so intently, but it was still reassuring. Even if I felt like a mouse in front of a cat, I knew I could turn this place into a water park at a moment's notice.
Hopefully, it wouldn't come to that.
"Now seating one!" Syr called as she faced the crowd before leading me through the bar. I was a bit surprised that I was being announced, but though a few people glanced my way, no one seemed to pay me much heed so I didn't think it was a trap.
Syr leads me to the counter of the bar which is shaped like a long L and then seats me in the corner seat, which I had mixed feelings about—on one hand, my back was to the wall and since there was only one seat, no one could sit beside me or try to box me in. On the other hand, if something did happen, I was just about as far from the exit as I could possibly be; far enough to make me think it's be easier to leave through one of the walls, which was the point where even I started wondering if I was getting paranoid. But gods, the eyes on my back were setting me on edge and I had no idea where they were coming from.
"Please have a seat here," Syr said just before I threw caution to the wind and started rubbernecking.
"Thank you," I murmured as I sat down, trying to both act naturally and keep my guard up; if Syr noticed, however, she didn't comment.
If nothing else, the seat offered a good view—just not of what I wanted to see. It made it easy to see Welf come through the door, though, and not being the center of attention, he was free to look around. Which he did. Blatantly. After a moment, he frowned and his eyes settled on me, so I nodded slightly to indicate I saw him without really looking. Already, a waitress was making her way over to him.
And in that moment, I noticed something odd. The bar seemed almost full of power to me senses—or perhaps presence was a better word. People stood out so much that they almost didn't stand out, blending together for the large part, but if I concentrated, I could feel certain people as almost a displacement. It was hard to explain, but when they moved, I could feel them cutting through the odd currents of the bar like I could feel fish moving through water. But it was blurred oddly; I couldn't feel them, per se, so much as I could feel where other things weren't or where there presence disrupted something else.
Still…with this many adventurers in one place, I was starting to piece together a very weird picture. If I used Welf as a baseline—someone too small for me to really feel—then I had a rough idea of who was a part of blur in the background; those people were level ones. In that case, those who stood out to me as distinct, however vague, were something clearly different. Level 2's, maybe? And those who felt clearer and larger were probably of even higher levels.
And as I looked at the employees in the bar one by one, I began to notice a pattern. Despite how they looked, I knew better than to underestimate them—because I could feel them moving throughout the room like I felt sharks in the water. They were stronger than most of the people in the room; probably at least Level 3. And the elf waitress…she stood out even compared to them. She must have been Level 4 at least, maybe even level five; a killer whale or something. The only one stronger than her was the woman behind the bar.
Should I be proud of myself for being able to narrow things down that much or disappointed that things were still so broad? I wasn't sure, but if there was one thing I knew, it was that all of them were strong, even compared to most adventurers. Whatever else this place might have been, it wasn't a normal bar and the people that worked within it weren't normal people.
Except Syr, who was standing behind me. As far as I could tell, she was completely normal—and in its own weird way, that made her stand out the most.
"So you're Syr's guest, huh?" The woman behind the bar startled me from my thoughts as she turned my way and laughed. "You've sure got a pretty face for an adventurer!"
The words promptly derailed my train of thought and I stopped, blinked a few times, and then pointed at myself. Somehow that just seemed to make her laugh harder and she leaned an elbow onto the counter to look me in the eye.
"You don't look it, but I hear you've got quite an appetite!" She all but shouted, smiling widely. "Well go all out and spend a lot of money, then! I'll keep bringing out the food so you keep ordering!"
I blinked again as she turned away to pay attention to another customer, struck a bit speechless.
"…Huh?" I asked, looking over my shoulder at Syr, who was looking away. "Hey, Syr, what's this?"
"Teehee?" She giggled in cute uncertainty, which just made me frown slightly. "Well you see, I told Mama Mia that I'd invited someone and I may have talked you up just a bit and things might have gotten a bit out of hand, but…teehee?"
Slowly, I looked down at my menu and abruptly realized I'd overlooked a crucial issue—because the words on it made absolutely no sense to me. Despite that, I could clearly read the symbols beside them; three hundred valis, eight hundred valid, five hundred valis…most of the things on the menu cost more than it took to feed both Hestia and I and then some. Given that the snacks Hestia sold cost somewhere between thirty and fifty valis…I could only imagine what was on this menu.
"Um," I said, look back at her. She was bowed over, holding her stomach tightly.
"Ah," She groaned. "I'm so hungry…I couldn't eat breakfast…I feel…so weak…"
I look down at her quietly, feeling worried. For a brief moment, I couldn't help but imagine Syr as some kind of bar Siren, drawing in adventurers and then squeezing out all their money, but then she looks up and catches my eye, smiling.
"It's just a joke," She told me with a small laugh, winking. "I just wanted to have a little fun—just relax and order when you're ready."
Her cheerful words put me a bit at ease and I look down at the menu, a part of me hoping it would somehow start making sense. Alas, it did not.
"Well…" I said, sighing. "I'll do my best, I guess."
I handed her the menu, which seemed to confuse her.
"Huh?" She asked.
"You know the menu better than I do, right?" I said. "I'll have whatever you think is best."
"Ah!" Syr said, smiling at me brightly. "Okay then—I'll be right back! Look forward to it, alright?"
I did my best not to sigh as Syr walked away, turning slightly in my chair to take a quick look around.
"Pretty bold move, letting Syr do the picking for ya'!" 'Mama Mia' said as she turned my way again. "I wish you luck, boy!"
Her words tipped me over the breaking point and I actually sighed—but then I turned towards her.
"Mama Mia, can I ask you a question?" I said and was somewhat proud of myself for resisting the urge to comment on her name. Admittedly, her presence and biceps helped a lot on that front.
"Hm?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.
"What's in there?" I asked up front, pointing towards the door at the side of the bar.
Immediately, she paused in her work before continuing to clean the counter—but her eyes flicked up to meet mine.
"Nothing," She said in a very pointed dismissal. "It's an indoor garden we planned to do something with, but the plans fell through."
"Ah," I said, pursing my lips. "Let me rephrase that—who's in there?"
Mia looked annoyed at the question, but I wasn't sure if it was because of me because her eyes flicked past me to the door.
"Do yourself a favor and don't go looking for trouble, boy," She told me. "I make sure nothing happens in this bar of mine, you hear? So whatever you're worried about, just forget it."
I looked at her for a long moment, exhaling slowly. On one hand, that was a pretty blatant confirmation that something was there and that she knew about it—but I guess it would have been hard not to, seeing as it had gotten from the second story to the garden somehow. But now I was even more curious about what it was; a monster, maybe, or something else?
On the other hand…her face was serious and she held herself with strength enough that I'd have thought her capable even if she didn't feel like a blue whale to my senses. The way she stood seemed almost protective and I could tell that she meant what she said about her bar. And, well, it was her bar. I had a pet Hellhound and a bag full of secrets, so who was I to talk, anyway.
In the end, I just ducked my head.
"It's a little hard to forget about them when they're staring at me like I'm a piece of meat," I grumbled quietly before sighing. "But it's your bar. Nothing bad happens? You're sure?"
"I'm sure," She said even as she joined me in a sigh and shook her head. After a moment, though, she gave me a measuring look. "How about some ale to soothe your nerves?"
"No thanks," I said. "I'm only sixteen—and I'm not sure I'll have enough left by the time Syr's done anyway."
"Bah," She replied, ignoring everything I said and setting a full mug down beside me. "Enjoy yourself. You look like you've got enough to worry about anyway."
"If you say so," I murmured, looking away. When I saw a waitress set a glass down on Welf's table and leave, I splashed a bit of water over the rim, slowly shaping it into a pair of emoticons—namely a smiley face and a frowny face—with an arrow pointing to the former. Not the most amazing of dignified of communications, but I did my best with what I had and Welf seemed to understand. He met my eyes and nodded to me.
Given the look in Mia's eyes, she'd noticed our shared looks, but she didn't comment.
"I wouldn't have guessed you for the worrier type," She mused. "A room full of adventurers and you still felt the need to make sure everything was okay. Were you worried about Syr? Don't be—I take care of my girls. Well, but I suppose caring about people isn't a bad thing."
"Please don't say stuff like that," I replied, looking away again. "It's embarrassing."
Mama Mia laughed and made to say something else before abruptly grimacing, lips puckering as if she'd just eaten something sour—and I didn't have any trouble figuring out why. She didn't look away from me, had stopped moving even, but I turned towards the door and towards the new presence I felt. When I did, I locked eyes with a cat-man with black and grey hair and a presence that matched or exceeded even Mama Mia's. All told, he was probably the strongest person in the room by a lot, even counting me.
Before I could say anything, Mama Mia put a hand on my shoulder and turned me around, giving me a look, but I could see the tightness around her eyes.
"Your food's almost out," She told me with a tone of a stern teacher.
I took a deep breath and nodded.