Amelia the Level Zero Hero

Chapter 81

“I was thinking… for payment,” the man started, averting his gaze. “Could I maybe work for you instead?”

I stared at him for a moment, processing what he said. I blinked, and that was when I finally worked my jaw.

“What?”

I didn’t expect this at all. This was my first customer— he was someone who actually enjoyed my cooking. He wasn’t anyone I knew. He was a complete stranger to me. Sure, I’d heard rumors about him before, but that didn’t really mean anything.

He wasn’t a friend like Noele, Nolan, Nicole, or Garron. He wasn’t an otherworlder like Xakor. He was literally someone who only knew of me as an adventurer. And he actually thought my cooking was good. He might have attributed that fact to Xakor, but his response had been a major success in my book.

However, now he wasn’t going to pay for his food. Instead, he was asking to… work for me? I narrowed my eyes as he sheepishly scratched his cheek.

“It’s literally only twenty-five copper coins,” I said as I proffered an expectant hand. “And I can’t even afford to give you a living wage, anyways. Just pay up and don’t fuss about it.”

“You don’t even have to pay me.” The man shook his head, before giving me a pleading look. “I… if you just give me food and shelter, I’ll work for you for free.”

That sounded like a tempting offer. I had been wondering about how I’d staff my restaurant before things took off— Xakor had already funded the building itself, and I was paying for the ingredients. But I couldn’t exactly hire an employee until business was booming. So I had thought I’d be forced to manage everything on my own… maybe with a little bit of Bucky’s help. However, if I hired this man…

I looked him up and down. I saw his ragged clothing— I stared at the bags under his eyes. I remembered all the bad things I’d heard about him so far. I just sighed.

“I literally don’t even know your name, and I haven’t heard anything good about you. Sorry, but I don’t think this will work out.”

He pursed his lips. He shifted in his seat as Bucky eyed him curiously. I didn’t know what his reasoning was for offering me free labor, but I wasn’t going to accept it. Not when I didn’t even know about his qualifications or background.

He got to his feet after a moment’s deliberation and held my gaze.

“Harlan,” he said. “My name’s Harlan. I’m a former guardsman— I come from Whiteridge, and I’m a [Warrior].”

I quirked a brow. I wasn’t exactly prompting him to explain his whole backstory to me. But I just gave him a flat stare.

“Alright, Harlan. Why exactly would I need to hire a former city guard for my restaurant?” I asked, waving a hand dismissively. “I can handle any thugs or monsters myself.”

“It…” Harlan hesitated for a moment. But he still insisted after steeling himself. “It doesn’t have to be a guardsman job. I could work as a server— I could take orders and serve food for you!” he exclaimed like he was trying to convince himself of his words as much as he was trying to convince me of them.

I shook my head. “You have literally no history in the service industry. And pretty much half of Wolfwater hates you. Again— why should I hire you?”

“T-that’s because I’m… a hard worker?” he said as his lips twisted. He looked at me hopefully, but I just rolled my eyes back at him. Even Bucky gave him a judging look.

Harlan bit his lower lip. He glanced between the both of us. The chicken’s gaze made him shrink back slightly, and he tried to muster up a response. But he couldn’t work his jaw. His shoulders slumped as he finally sighed.

“You’re right.” He lowered his head, clenching his teeth. “I’m… not even cut out to be a server. I don’t even have a Class for it.”

He spoke softly, and I paused. I blinked a few times, staring at the former guardsman. He chuckled bitterly.

“I’m only a [Spearman]— a low-leveled [Spearman] at that. I can’t even become an adventurer if I wanted to. I’m too weak. I’d die in under a year. I am… I am just a guard— that’s all I’ll be. I never should’ve left Whiteridge.”

Harlan dug into his pocket and slapped a bag of coins onto the table. He drew back as I slowly picked up his payment, watching him go. He held his head low, his lips creased. He dragged his feet behind him as he slowly walked towards the exit. I looked on as Bucky glanced back at me. She clucked, and I closed my eyes.

I thought about what he said— I looked back on what I just did. I had rejected Harlan because… he didn’t have the right Class. Or rather, was it because he wasn’t exactly qualified for the job? At least, that was my excuse. But serving tables wasn’t a hard job. It was quite easy to learn. Work experience meant nothing when it was something that literally anyone could learn over the span of a day. It just felt… like I was treating him the same way others treated me. And I felt a pang of guilt.

Sure, I had heard bad things about him, and maybe that gave me all the more reason to turn him down. However, right now all I saw was a man at the end of his rope. Maybe he had made a few mistakes over the last few weeks. But that didn’t mean I shouldn’t at least give him a chance.

“Fine,” I called out. Harlan halted right by the doorway. He blinked, glancing back at me, and I tossed his bag of coins at him.

“Wha—” It smacked his face, and I snorted.

“That’s some slow reaction time for a [Warrior]…”

He quickly scrambled to pick up the bag of coins up from the ground as I walked up to him. Bucky followed, and he looked up at me, bent double with round eyes.

Wait, what do you mean by that? Why are you—” he started.

And I cut him off, “I’ll give you a job. But I’m not going to let you work for free, and if you’re a shit worker, I’ll fire you in under a week.”

Harlan just blinked. He gaped at me, clutching the bag of coins tightly against his chest. His mouth bobbed open.

“But I’m… just a guard. I’m a [Warrior]— I can’t even…” he trailed off.

“Anyone with half a brain is capable of taking a couple orders,” I said, and Bucky clucked in agreement. “And I doubt you’ll have any trouble serving trays to tables either.”

Harlan still wore an apprehensive look on his face. He averted his gaze, tempted by my offer, but not fully persuaded. I sighed, crouching down as I looked into his eyes.

“Look, your Class doesn’t define you. Why does it matter that you’re a [Warrior]? You don’t enjoy fighting, do you? That’s why you quit being a guardsman, right?”

“I…” He hesitated. Slowly, he shook his head. “I do not.”

“So why should you be forced to do something you hate just because the System says so?” I asked, holding his gaze.

Harlan chewed his lips. Bucky tilted her head. That was… probably blasphemy. Or maybe not. Other than Grat-ra’zun, I didn’t really think that most of the people of this world held the System in reverence. They— most of them, at the very least— just saw it as a fact of life. No different than the laws of physics back on Earth.

He rose to his feet as he looked down at the palm of his hand. He clenched a fist, nodding to himself.

“You’re… right,” Harlan whispered. “I don’t want to be a guard anymore. I’m tired of fighting— I’m tired of risking my life for the sake of others. It’s just serving tables, right? I… can do this.”

His words almost seemed familiar to me. Even though I barely knew this man, he reminded me of… well, myself. Someone who was lost and trying to find themself. Someone who was tired of what they were doing, and was now searching for something new.

He was someone who didn’t fit in. He was someone who tired of the stakes and danger of battle. He came to Wolfwater for a simple reason— to escape from it all and live a simple life. And while he might have squandered the few opportunities he had been given since arriving here, I was still going to give him at least one chance.

A smile slipped onto my face as I gave Harlan a nod of affirmation. “Yeah, it’s easy enough. Although… since I’ll be giving you lodging too, you won’t just be serving tables. I was thinking of giving you a more general job description.”

“What do you mean by that?” He looked up at me with a quizzical look.

“Your first job is simple,” I said, patting him on the shoulder. “Go and get me some customers.”

He paused. He glanced between me and the window, blinking a few times. “How am I supposed to do that?”

I shrugged casually. “I dunno, figure it out.”

And that was how I got my first employee.

—--

Guardian Angel Z357 swept his gaze over the vast room. He heard the shouts and screams. He saw the flying spells, but he descended, unaffected by their attacks. Phase Shift. It was a powerful Technique that allowed him to maintain a visible but incorporeal form— unneeded against such weak attacks. But the only alternative would be to slaughter his assailants.

And there were hundreds of them. Guardian Angel Z357 landed amidst the swarm of nagas as they hurled their magic his way. His form was translucent, but their spells passed through him like he wasn’t even there. His twelve eyes landed on the [Shaman] standing in the center of this tent. She was a naga too, but with a longer tail than the others. She slithered forward and raised a staff as a purple aura coalesced beneath her.

“Kill it, ya daft idiots!” she screamed.

Guardian Angel Z357 zipped straight ahead, but a pair of twisted tendrils shot out, grabbing him out of the air. He paused for a brief moment, mostly out of curiosity, watching as these void apparitions clung onto him despite his incorporeal form.

And the [Shaman] panted, grinning. “I got ya now! This is why you don’t mess with us, ya slimy bastard!”

As she raised her staff once more, Guardian Angel Z357 simply tore through the bindings. She blinked, and he grabbed her, before shooting up into the sky. He tore through the tent ceiling as the nagas screamed down below.

“That thin’ has got ta chief!”

“Ain’t someone gonna stop it?”

“We can’t hurt tha fucking—”

Their voices faded away, and he came to a halt high above the clouds. He held her up as she squirmed, her tail thrashing beneath her, and her two arms clinging onto his metallic hand. She stared at him with wide eyes, and he transmitted his thoughts simply, asking the same questions he had asked his previous target.

And the response he got from the naga was no different. “I swear I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

His twelve eyes narrowed, and he began his interrogation.

[In Progress: (2/3) Void-touched Individuals Interrogated!]

Twice now, Guardian Angel Z357 had interrogated a Void-touched individual. And both times, he learned nothing. Despite his interrogation Techniques— even when magically compelled to speak— they revealed no new information to him. It was evident to him that either this method of interrogation was lacking, or maybe the denizens of Planet 16B were more clueless than he had assumed.

Even with the World System’s guidance, it seemed that he was not likely going to be making any progress towards finding the source of the return of the Fal-Deus anytime soon. There had to be at least a single anchor located somewhere that he needed to eradicate. If not one, then multiple. Otherwise, there was no reason for Guardian Angel Z357 to have been awakened.

He dropped the charred corpse of the naga before sweeping his gaze to the horizon. He saw the rising sun. And he saw this vast land mass beneath him. It was Alius— the continent of dwarves, gnomes, nagas, fairies, and more. So far, he had discovered nothing of use while exploring this part of Planet 16B. The closest he had come to learning more about this threat was in Laxo.

But Guardian Angel Z357’s programming had brought him here. His current objective was to interrogate those who were Void-touched, and he had detected the usage of their powers most frequently in Alius. However, it had borne no fruit. So it would be the intelligent course of action to pursue his investigation in Laxo.

For a moment, he was conflicted. He would be defying the World System’s guidance. And that nearly made him malfunction. But logic and reasoning won out as he concluded that the World System’s guidance was just that— guidance.

It was not infallible. His presence was better suited elsewhere, pursuing leads that would better serve his main directive. And so, Guardian Angel Z357 made his decision and returned to Laxo.

MelasD

And we're back! Sorry for the impromptu break. Burnout got to me real bad last week.

Also, the fanart/fanfic contest is ending in about two hours' time! So if you're seeing this right as the chapter was posted, you can still make your submissions now!

Amelia the Level Zero Hero

Chapter 81

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