drunk

After recovering my stamina, I contemplated going deeper into the dungeon, but Lili seemed to disagree and wanted to return to the surface because we wouldn't know if there would be reinforcements coming. Acknowledging that possibility, we both decided to return to the surface.

"Ah, Bell, how was the dungeon exploration?" Eina greeted me as I approached her counter.

"It went well enough; we explored and went to the 8th floor," I replied. Eina's attention shifted toward Lili, who was quietly following me.

"Ah, let me introduce you; this is Lili. She is a supporter who helped me with today's dungeon."

"Hello," Lili greeted briefly but said nothing more.

"Ah, thank you for deciding to help Bell," Eina thanked.

"Oh, right, Eina, I want to report an ambush," I said, shocking Eina in the process.

"Ambush! By who?" Eina shouted, gathering the attention of all the people around us.

"Calm down, Eina. We're fine, as for who, I don't know. All I know is their facial features," I sadly admitted.

"It was the Soma Familia," Lili said, surprising us both with the information.

"O-Oh, alright. We'll need to conduct an investigation on the Soma Familia. Thank you for that information," Eina quickly wrote down the report. We quickly departed after exchanging the magic stone, earning us an astounding 100,000 valis each from ransacking the Soma's members' pockets and magic stones. Why would they carry their money into the dungeon? I could never comprehend.

"Hey, Lili, how did you know they were from the Soma Familia?" I asked, throwing a random question that had been on my mind.

"Because I am from the Soma Familia," Lili's revelation quickly shocked me.

'Why would they go after their own members?' I inwardly thought. But looking at Lili's expression, I decided not to ask further.

"Lili, let's go celebrate at the Hostess of Fertility," I tried to change the subject. I had heard from Xian that the Hostess of Fertility would be open today.

"The last one to the pub will be the one paying!" I quickly ran, surprising Lili.

"HEY! That's cheating!" Lili tried to run along, but her low stats struggled to keep up.

-

"Huff, huff," Lili tried to recover, leaning her body against the wall right in front of the Hostess of Fertility.

"You okay, Lili?" I asked with a bit of worry. Before I could react, Lili dashed inside the Hostess of Fertility.

"Loser pays for the food!" She disappeared inside the pub, leaving me stunned outside the pub.

"HEY, THAT'S CHEATING!" I cried out in injustice but followed her inside with a defeated expression. Upon entering the pub, the tables were full to the brim with adventurers who had long awaited the opening. The air was filled with the joyous laughter of patrons as drinks and food were served.

"Xian! I missed you!" one drunken adventurer shouted. Xian could be seen serving drinks and food to the tables as she effortlessly weaved through the crowd.

"Xian, how about you warm my bed tonight?" one bold adventurer declared, stopping Xian in her tracks.

"Do you want to get pegged?" She sent a cold wave of disapproval that left the bold adventurer shivering as others laughed at his unfortunate rejection. scanning around I saw Lili was sitting at one of the tables as I joined her

"What do you want for today, Nya?" Anya approached our table. Looking over the menu, I ordered today's special of cow beef soup and a glass of water, and Lilicura ordered the same. Xian took notice of our presence but did not greet us, as she was busily serving other adventurers.

"Here is your food, Bell!" Syr served us our order, discretely glancing at Lili. "So how was your dungeon exploration today?" Syr took her eyes off Lili and asked.

"Thanks, Syr. It was pretty fine, though I did get into a fight with some adventurers."

"Oh my, I hope you're fine. I would be sad if you got hurt."

"As you can see, I'm perfectly healthy."

"Syr, don't slack off on the job!" Mama Mia's shout could be heard from the kitchen.

"Oh, time for me to leave. See you later, Bell." Syr quickly went back to work to avoid angering Mama Mia. I returned my attention to my food, enjoying the joyous atmosphere of drinks and laughter.

"Hey, Kid!" one drunken beast-kin approached our table, glaring at me with focus. I prepared myself for trouble.

"Mama Mia, give this kid some beer!" He shouted to Mama Mia, surprising the two of us.

"Hahaha, one beer coming right up!" Mama Mia replied, and he joyously laughed.

"Um, I don't think I should be drinking," I tried to reject his offer.

"Hah! Kid, man up, as for you." He turned his attention towards Lili

"Mama Mia, Fruit juice for this kid" He laughed as Beer and fruit juice were served on our table

"C'mon Kid! DRINK, DRINK, DRINK" He rallied the other adventurers as they chanted for me to drink

"DRINK DRINK DRINK!!" and shortly all the drunken adventurers joined the chant as they looked at me with anticipation, I caved in from the pressure and took a sip of the drink

"WHEEEYYY" Everybody cheered to my sip as they returned to laughing amongst each other

"How do you feel?" Lili asked as she drank her fruit juice

"Not bad actually-" My vision quickly blacken as I passed out on the table