Amelia the Level Zero Hero

Chapter 92

It had been nearly a month since Kallistus Kal had encountered Guardian Angel Z357 in Briar Glen just outside of Windrip. He was the [Hero King]— he was the Void’s Heir. And yet, he had been so thoroughly defeated, he had been forced to flee for his life.

The outcome… was not unexpected. From what Kallistus knew of this world, angels were incredibly powerful heavenly beings who were far greater than even the Elder Dragons. While the [Hero King] had accomplished a great many feats in the ten years since he had appeared here in Vacuos, he knew that he wasn’t quite the strongest creature around just yet.

For one, the Elder Dragon Grat-ra’zun was still alive, even after the devastating battle at Mount Arkais. And Kallistus knew he would not have won back then if not for his most loyal servants sacrificing themselves for him. Each and every one of them had been some of the greatest individuals in all of Vacuos— only, disgraced and lost. But that was why they were able to be so greatly empowered by the Void.

So they were incredibly useful, and it saddened Kallistus to lose them, but it had been a necessary sacrifice if things had worked out.

Unfortunately, Grat-ra’zun lived, and Kallistus never found who he was looking for— the one who had formed a rift to the Void.

But it was not a complete loss for the [Hero King]. Because now, the call of the Void was stronger than ever. He could hear its voice like a susurration in his mind. Not only that, he had also been led to Windrip where he learned a new power.

Create.

Kallistus closed his eyes as he recalled the odd, wet sensation dripping from his fingers. It had been like he had cupped his palm into a lake, before sprinkling the crystal clear water into a bed of flowers. And the flowers bloomed— they had grown tall and strong, facing the sun.

Except instead of flowers, they were voidlings. And instead of watering them, the [Hero King] had created them with the Void’s essence.

It was such a fascinating power. He wished to learn more about it. He wanted to experiment— push the limits of what it could accomplish.

But Kallistus Kal couldn’t do any of that. Not often, at least. Because of a simple reason.

He was trapped.

He was certain he was trapped. It was more of in a metaphorical than a literal sense. He couldn’t conjure up the Void’s essence because in doing so, he’d call attention to himself from Guardian Angel Z357.

The [Hero King] had been monitoring the angel’s activities. It was hard to track with even the greatest of scrying spells, and using the Void’s power to do so was out of the question. Instead, he had been paying careful attention to the news he received from the Sect of Abyssal Thorns.

Those [Missives] alone relayed enough information as to where the angel was going to be that day. After all, their members were apparently being hunted down in Alius, but they didn’t know by what.

Kallistus knew the truth. But he didn’t tell them what he knew. He laid them out as bait— using his communications with those mad cultists to lure the angel away from him.

And if that wasn’t enough, the [Hero King] also carefully paid attention to the world for a flare in the Void’s magic. While he wasn’t acute enough with his senses to detect every instance of the Void’s essence being conjured across Vacuos, he still noticed when there was a surge in its power.

Whenever that happened, Kallistus would take that opportunity to experiment. Discreetly and inconspicuously, he’d hide his own dabblings into the Void’s essence, so that the angel would never find him. He had very few opportunities to act in this manner, and his mastery over Create grew slowly. But as long as he could avoid detection, that was all that mattered.

So he closed his eyes and waited for his next opportunity. He sat alone in a bunker beneath his palace, continuing to filter through the [Missives] sent by the Sect of Abyssal Thorns. He had already been gifted a very lucrative opportunity a day ago.

Kallistus had sensed a powerful flare in the Void’s essence somewhere in the Astrad Kingdom. And during that time, he had begun to understand more of Create. He started to learn of its abilities beyond the creation of voidlings. He couldn’t wait until he could continue his experimentation again.

Until then, he wondered what Guardian Angel Z357 could be doing during these long lull periods between such flare-ups.

—--

“Order for table five!” Harlan called out, poking his head out of the kitchen.

Guardian Angel Z357 raised its head from the other side of the room. It swept across the restaurant in a single deft motion as the seated patrons just gaped at this sight. Harlan handed out a pair of steaming dishes, and the angel quickly took them off his hands.

He couldn’t help but watch with the wide-eyed customers as it did its job, serving the table without any issue. It was such a ridiculous scene— the former guardsman never thought he would see anything like this… ever.

But it was happening. And he wasn’t even sure if this was reality, or if he was hallucinating from being at the brink of starvation after being kicked out of Wolfwater for being a drunk asshole. He was starting to believe that it was more likely the latter than it was the former. However, he couldn’t know for sure.

He shook his head and turned back around, before pausing. Harlan blinked as he saw a lanky figure standing in front of him, holding up four different plates. Xakor the Patron of the Culinary Sciences stood before the former guardsman and harrumphed.

“Xrr, my apologies,” Xakor said quickly, before stepping out of the kitchen.

“R-right, sorry.” Harlan just stared at the otherworlder— one of the highest-leveled [Chefs] in the world. The former guardsman pinched his cheeks. “...I really am hallucinating, aren’t I?”

—--

Harlan wasn’t the only one who thought he was dreaming. In fact, he wasn’t even an outlier. He was very much so in the majority— every single customer who entered Bucky’s Out of this World Restaurant was completely blown away by what they saw.

It was, as Amelia put it, an ‘out of this world experience’. Noele rolled her eyes when her mentor said that. But even she could admit that she was quite shocked by the recent turn of events. When an angel showed up, the last thing she expected was that it would work as a server in Amelia’s restaurant.

Noele massaged her temples as she sat at a table in the corner of the room. Garron, her parents, and Dorien joined her. They weren’t able to get seats together during the grand opening yesterday due to how crowded it was— and also because the blonde girl had been busy dealing with Guardian Angel Z357.

The restaurant was still packed today, especially after word quickly spread about an angel working here at this establishment. But the five of them had a table reserved just for them thanks to Amelia. Noele’s parents really wanted to come again today because they hadn’t been able to get a good look at Guardian Angel Z357 yesterday.

Order for table one, the angel said as it laid the platter of dishes before the five of them. It stopped to eye Noele for just a moment, and she mumbled a response.

“T-thanks.”

It didn’t bother giving her a reply. It simply drew back and returned to the kitchen as Nicole watched with round eyes. She turned to her daughter, shaking her head.

“And its name is Z357?” Noele’s mama asked curiously.

“I don’t know if it’s a name or a title… that’s just what it called itself,” the blonde girl replied as she dug a spoon into her bowl of yellow rice.

“What an odd name,” Nolan said, frowning. “And is it male or female?”

“That’s—” Noele shrank back as her parents interrogated her about the angel. They tried to wring out practically everything she knew about it. But she didn’t know much.

Was it male or female? The blonde girl didn’t ask. She had been the one who was hounded with questions when she spoke with the angel yesterday. The angel’s gender didn’t even cross her mind.

Garron was quite fascinated by Guardian Angel Z357 too, but unlike Noele’s parents, he knew better than to direct his questions to her. In fact, he just patted her on the shoulder reassuringly as he tried to offer her some morale support.

The only one who wasn’t quite as impressed about the angel’s presence was Dorien. The [Druid] seemed to be quite intrigued by the reactions of the other customers, but he was more interested in the food. In fact, he quickly went through a dozen skewers of meat before raising a hand.

“‘Scuse me,” he called out, waving a stick in the air. “Can I have some more of these ‘kebabs’? Also— get me some of those pilaf-things too!”

Guardian Angel Z357 turned its gaze towards him as he spoke casually. A few other customers looked on in horror at the way Dorien addressed the angel. Their panicked whispers swept through the restaurant as Noele looked on.

“Seriously? Does he have no manners? He’s talking to an angel!”

“As expected from a [Druid]!”

“They should kick him out for his rude behavior—”

But contrary to what was being said, Guardian Angel Z357 didn’t seem to mind. In fact, Noele was pretty sure it didn’t care about how anyone addressed it. It was doing its job, and that was it.

Still, Noele shook her head and turned to Dorien. “I can’t believe you’re acting this nonchalant around an angel. Have you met one before or something?”

“Absolutely not,” the [Druid] said as he leant back in his seat. “I have never seen something quite as ridiculous as this.”

He eyed the blonde girl’s bowl, before pointing at it.

“Are you going to eat that, by the way?” he asked.

“I— yes,” Noele said as she blinked. “But… how are you so casual about this? Don’t you think this is insane? “

“I just find it amusing.” He shrugged, then chuckled. “It is absolutely insane— and that is why it’s so funny to me.”

Dorien raised his head as Guardian Angel Z357 returned with a steaming plate of pilaf and half a dozen kebabs. He thanked the angel before it left. Then he immediately started scarfing down his food.

“Also, the food is great. I haven’t had a proper meal in so long— eating fruits and raw meat gets bland after a while.” He spoke as he chewed on a skewer of kebab.

“Wait, you ate raw meat?” Noele stared at the [Druid] with round eyes. “Isn’t that bad for you?”

“Sometimes,” Dorien said dismissively. “It’s not that bad. Not if you wash away the taste with some malim juice.”

“What is that?” She frowned.

He began to explain. “It’s this fruit that grows in the Vox Forest—”

—--

The hubbub didn’t die down. Bucky’s Out of this World Restaurant was as crowded as it was during its grand opening. Everyone was talking about the angel who worked as a waiter, the four-armed otherworlder who was a high-leveled [Chef], and the chicken who was supposedly a C-ranked threat.

But while word quickly spread out of Wolfwater of this restaurant, the rumors reaching the nearby villages and even Whiteridge, no one talked about the owner who had no levels. She was plain, unassuming, and honestly quite dull. She looked like an adventurer, but she worked as a cook, so what was there about her to talk about?

Maybe they liked her cooking— even if they attributed the food to someone else— however, no one came to the restaurant for her. No one except for him.

Was he a stranger? Not really. What about a friend? That wasn’t it, either. But he was searching for Amelia.

Amelia the Level Zero Hero

Chapter 92

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