35 Enjoyable Dinner

"You are?"

The girl that has a petite body with chestnut-colored hair and eyes warily asked. She wears a slightly torn red and white hooded top, a red skirt, black tights and light brown boots.

Looking at her with an awkward smile, Alex continued.

"You see... The tavern is already full of people so I'm just wondering if I could share a table with you guys?"

She then looked around and confirmed that every table was occupied.

"Bell-sama?"

However instead of answering Alex, she turned to Bell as if letting him to decide on what to do. Bell on the other hand, was slightly surprised as he recognized him.

"Is that you Alex?"

The girl in front of him raised her brows not expecting that Bell's surprised comment.

"Bell-sama, do you know him?"

Hearing her, Bell smiled and gladly replied.

"Yes, I met him 2 weeks ago but I never had the chance to see him again. Also, I'm not really sure but he seemed to have changed."

"Then I'm kind of honored if you still recognized me."

The girl with the chest nut colored hair nodded as she immediately accepted. Alex on the other hand simply smiled and proceeded.

"Hmmm, can I?"

"Ahhh! Sure."

The moment Bell gave his consent, Alex shamelessly took a set. Looking at the two of them, Alex spoke.

"Anyway, what have you been talking about? Mind if I join you guys?"

Still having the awkward smile in his face, Alex forcefully tried to initiate a conversation which made the girl chuckle a little.

"Well I'm just a bit disappointed that my alias is kind of...normal."

"Alias?"

Alex curiously asked. He might be aware that Bell had leveled up but he still didn't knew about the alias aside from his own because he was informed by the system.

Just after Alex asked, soft voices was heard.

"I like the alias Little Rookie."

"Congratulations for leveling up, Cranel-san."

The three of them turned their attention to the source of the voices. Alex saw two beautiful ladies. One has bluish gray hair that she keeps tied with a small knot in a ponytail style while the other is a female Elf with sky blue eyes and green hair.

"Please drink all you like tonight. This is your party after all."

As the employee of the Hostess of Fertility with the bluish hair sweetly said, murmurs of the people were heard. The topics of the conversation around change without warning, like a spark igniting an inferno.

"A white headed human...That's him, all right."

"What did they call him...?'Little Rookie'?"

"That punk-ass kid?"

"You heard, He's one of the record holders now."

"Who said he's gonna keep it. The gods' just awestruck, Nothin' more. Compared to the other, one month is nothin'!"

"But I heard he really did slay that Minotaur. You know the one, the lower ninth."

"Could you kill a Mino at level one? On your own, I might add."

"Who in their right mind would try something that stupid."

Eyes glinting from every direction. Fixing his gaze at Bell, Alex sighed as being the center of attention is really overwhelming. Alex felt like Bell was some sort of criminal or something.

"You've become the talk of the town, Mr. Bell."

"R-really? I can't relax anymore...Even on my way here, I was chased around in the city by a group of gods."

"This is the fate of all adventurers who became known. You are not being singled out, Bell. Please put up with in for the time being."

Bell gave a small bow to his companion and the employee of the Hostess of Fertility with the bluish hair thanking them for the encouragement.

"Now let's get started."

She raised a glass of drink as she excitedly said. Bell's companion on the other hand just narrowed her eyes as she commented.

"Hey, Miss Syr and Miss Ryuu, is it okay for you two to be here?"

"I'll lend 'im the two of ya. Make sure they're well fed' was Mama Mia's instruction, That and 'spend yer cash'."

Hearing the elf imitate the owner's—Mia's—accent in her calm voice, makes Alex chuckle. As for Mia, she was standing behind the counter, waving her hand and giving a hearty smile.

All four people turned their attention to Alex who's chuckle escaped his mouth. Seeing that all of them were looking to him, Alex made a fake cough but then remembered something.

"Ah! I just remembered that I haven't introduced myself."

With a smile, Alex tried his best to be presentable as he stated his name.

"Nice to meet you Little Rookie and you three beautiful ladies. My name is Alex Uchiha, no particular background. You can just call me Alex to be easier. Once again, pleasure to meet you."

"Alex Uchiha? The Crimson Flash who's a record holder just like Bell?"

The cute girl with bluish girl exclaimed in surprise but her voice was soft and low making the nearby people unable to hear. The companion of Bell, and the elf also showed an expression of surprise.

"Oh~you know about me?"

"Crimson Flash?"

Alex was also surprised hearing her. Looking at Alex's surprised and Bell's oblivious expression, she sighed and smiled as she slowly explained some things.

"I just haven't recognized you immediately but the alias of Crimson Flash has widely spread in Orario already for having to rank up in just 2 weeks breaking everyone's record."

She played a bit with the drink in her hand as she continued.

"I'm just quite surprised that Bell doesn't know this. By the way, I'm Syr Flova. Pleasured to be your acquaintance Alex-san."

With the lead of Syr, the other two also introduced themselves. The elf also introduced herself as Ryuu Lion while the other one reluctantly gave her name as Liliruca Arde clearly not showing her full trust at Alex.

Gladly introducing themselves, it's not long before they say "Cheers!" and clink their glasses together.

Syr's holding a citrusy cocktail, Lilly's gotten sick of her of ale so she's drinking fruit juice. Ryuu refuses to drink anything except for water while Alex was the same saying he had no money left to buy himself a drink.

"Wait a second...Syr and I are the only ones drinking alcohol?"

They then heard Bell making a fuse out of nowhere mumbling to himself.

"Mama Mia said that I try ale for the first time, being a special occasion and now, I got a small jug of the stuff in front of me."

Soon, the foods start's arriving at the table. An employee that has brown hair and eyes with cat ears and a tail of the same color named Anya and Chloe drop by in the table a few times for some friendly banter and they start to have a genuinely good time.

Lilly is laughing like she was having a great time. Syr is smiling ear to ear, Ryu is responding to their questions as seriously as ever while Alex remained silent focusing on eating his fruit salad with a blissful expression.

"Now, Bell and Alex drink lots and lots. You two are the star of the show tonight. Or maybe, would you like something to eat?"

Suddenly, Syr who was at the side of Bell gave him more ale, loading up his plate with more food all over the place while Alex politely refused saying that he couldn't afford the bill. Also for some reason, Alex found the smile of Lilly slightly scary.

"I could be wrong...but you seem to be in a very good mood, Syr."

Alex heard Bell spoke in a rabbit like manner that Alex noticed that he usually had. "Do you really think so?"

Alex noticed that she blushed a little, hiding her cheek with her hand and giggling behind her shoulder like someone's tickling her.

"If I may say, Cranell~san, congratulations to you. To think you would be able to level up on your own...I seem to have underestimated you. I don't know what hardship you had faced but congratulations for you too Uchiha~san."

Ryuu said everything in a deliberate, serious voice. She looks at Bell and Alex with a refined gaze across the table. Alex nodded and thanked her while Bell seemed embarrassed as his face was turning red like the word "thanks" was stuck tightly in his throat.

"So you guys are planning on going forward into the middle levels of dungeon, yes?"

Hearing Ryuu's voice, Alex remained his silence as Bell was the one who replied.

"Of course, we'll see how it goes, but..."

Bell then told her that he want to test his leveled up abilities at the upper floor first and then go to the middle floors.

"It may not be my place to say this...but I believe that you should not proceed to the middle levels at this time."

As if being insulted, Lilly rebuked her.

"In other words, Miss Ryuu, you believe that Bell~sama and Lilly aren't good enough to make it in the middle floors."

"No, that's not what I mean at all. That being said the upper levels and middle levels are very different."

Of course, Ryuu doesn't leave her explanation at that.

"It's not a problem of individual strength or ability. It becomes impossible for a solo adventurer to dispose of every monster. That's the kind of place the middle level are."

Bell, Lilly and Alex intently listened to the every words of Ryuu.

"You should add additional members to your battle party."

A 3-man cell is the most basic party formation for dungeon crawling. At the very least, that's what the Guild suggests. The three-man cell—a formation that allows for attack, defense and support.

'A party, huh?'

As Alex was listening to Ryuu's every words, he wondered if he would really need a party considering that aside from he had Krausel to support him, Alex himself was a living cheat.