Soon the days passed by with the guild once again so busy they were left without any room to take a break. Royman had to call in all of their extra members for support. The anticipation of seeing that bulletin board get new level ups plastered on it was nothing short of palpable. Everyone wanted to see who it was that leveled up. Their reasons were two fold.
First, after the last few months, it became clear that the Hathor familia was far better at dealing with Evilus than Freya and Loki combined. So they have gained far more supporters than before… These aren't the type to go on dungeon runs with them, no, these are those who simply respect their members and occasionally give them discounts… In fact, there was one such display of this happening at a skewer and potato popper stand nearby.
"Thank you for coming, Miss Dancer!" The lady running the stand smiled.
"Yeah, thanks for coming, pretty lady!"
"Awe, aren't cute. Be good for your mom." The dancer giggled. "How much do I owe you today?"
"For Hathor familia, it's half off, so 360 Valis."
"Oh my, that's so generous of you. Here, take this, and let the boy eat one he likes, or maybe use it to spark a childhood love? That'd be adorable." She said handing the lady the full price for two more than she bought, and walked away before the lady could haggle herself down.
"Thank you, I really appreciate the Hathor familia, the strong defend us from Evilus, and the entertainers bring joy back to us after every attack."
A rather annoying man stepped up to the stand, already furious he had to do the grub run, and on top of that he had to wait behind some dancer who didn't even pay attention to him.
"Hey, how fast for 300 Potato Poppers, Old Lady?"
"That'll take at least an hour."
"150?" The man grew irritated.
"About 20 minutes."
"Damn it, the others are already getting ahead of me. 50?"
"About 5 minutes."
"Better, get to cooking lady, I don't have all day."
She saw someone in the crowd just at the edge of her sight. "Know what, no, I don't think so." She crossed her arms. "We don't serve rude- would be- customers here."
Her son copied her in an adorable fashion. And like clock work, the girl in the stand next to theirs did the same thing when he did, causing him to blush.
"WHY YOU! I DON'T HAVE THE TIME FOR THIS! Don't you know this emblem? I'm in the Freya familia. We fight Evilus, yet you've got an attitude, you should be given us a discount, and groveling at our goddess' feet."
It wasn't much longer before the person she saw came over.
"Hey there potato popper lady! Is everything alright? Did your son injure his knee again and get some gentle healing from a beautiful maiden like my little sister?" It was Alise, and she was one of the people posted on the board, a newly reported level 4, but really a level 5, member of the Astraea familia.
"Thank goodness you ladies are here, this man came up and started making demands for ridiculously large orders! And after he got so rude, I told him to leave. Instead he tried to coerce a discount out of my humble stand, and then even said my poor son and I should be groveling at their feet."
Alise' expression soured for a moment in the direction of the level 2 idiot, though it was still a smile, it held a very different meaning. "Care to explain why, Freya familia, is harassing the citizens, instead of fighting Evilus?" She asked. "If this is how you spend your time, no wonder you've been failing for so long. Go on and get out of here before you start more trouble."
"If only he was a werewolf, or even a chienthrope, maybe even a renard… Shurry's influence would be enough to turn him back to his senses."
"That's right, there was a mass of former Evilus members that all turned themselves in a few days after Shurry leveled up." Ryuu mentioned.
"Thank you so much ladies, I'm sorry to have disturbed you on patrol."
"Not a problem, potato popper lady! That's what we do, beautiful maidens for justice, to turn frowns upside down!" Alise cheerfully described. "That's us, the Astraea familia!" She finished with a blinding smile.
"Ahahaha! Sunshine lady is funny!"
"Oh, here, let me give you a fresh popper, take them as thanks for getting rid of that rapscallion."
"Thank you! This'll go a long way to helping us on our patrol today. Yum, uh twanks it so goo!"
"Alise, you have a crumb on your cheek, you need to eat more carefully."
…
The second reason people were eager to see if that one person leveled up.
"Hey, it's been two weeks already, where's Origin Wolf's poster for level 8 at?"
"Yeah, that's right, our gods said that he leveled up."
"I saw Moon Pup the other day, there's no way he didn't level up. So what's taking so long?"
The front desk was clearly overwhelmed.
"Please calm down. We're only showing the level ups to 4 and below for now, everyone who's leveled up into, or as a first class adventurer, is going to take a bit longer to fully verify. Please everyone be patient. Remember there haven't been many level ups to 7 or higher in history. So we want to get it right!"
"Hey, come on, why'd you put my announcement to 3 on the board a week early?"
"It's part of the plan, Sorry if there were any inconveniences."
"Huh, oh no, nothing like that, I was just confused."
"Then go on and get outta here, we're busy."
"Dear me, what's with all this racket?" A soothing, yet sinister feeling voice spoke from underneath a thick robe that hid her appearance. With her, stood a massive mound of muscle, Ottar.
"Oh come on, this is the worst possible timing."
"Apologies if there's any issue with my presence today, I've actually come to submit a request, personally. As for all of these people here… You're wondering if that young man, Origin Wolf, has leveled up?" She waited to see the nods. "The answer will be revealed in time. So sorry."
The crowd started to dissipate, with the underwhelming announcement.
"Good, I'd like to submit a request. To them, for that."
The guild clerk, stunned that Freya wanted to do business out in the open, took the form, and his eyes widened. "Lady Freya, I am aware of the current relationship you have with them, are you sure you'd like to put forward this request?"
"If they don't do it, that's fine. I just want to hear his choice."
…