An Offer

Across the table, the woman who had invited them over grinned lazily, and held her pendant over one of her golden, horizontally slitted eyes.

Selina stood abruptly, and held her arm out in front of him.

"He's not a bad human!" The Demon Lord squeaked. "He's... He's not bad. He's not..."

She was shielding him, Souma realized. Her hand was trembling. Feeling his heart start to beat faster, looked nervously back at the woman sitting across from them. At the stack of weapons behind her.

Of course. In this world, humans are invaders that randomly show up every hundred years and massacre everybody. People here probably talk about them the same way we talk about the boogyman back home.

Not knowing what else to do, he felt around in his mind for Restrain. It was still there, and had recharged a little, but not much as he was expecting. Maybe it was because he was so tired? Could he hold up this woman for a while? Long enough to get Selina out of here?

The woman looked impassively at the two of them for a few moments. Then she dropped her pendant and burst out laughing, leaning back into her chair and slapping her thigh.

"Gah ha ha ha! Oh, that's just adorable. Sit down, little Demon Lord." She motioned with one hand for Selina to take her seat again.

"You..." Selina looked between Reiny and Souma, not sounding convinced.

"Go on, you can relax. I'm not a threat," Reiny said, her voice much more gentle now. She motioned at Souma. "I could see he's no monster from the second you two walked in. I mean, the way you two were pawing at each other, anyone would be hard-pressed to think you were enemies."

"P-p-p-pawing!" Selina's face went red, and she flopped back down in her seat. Souma could practically see the steam rising from the top of her head.

"Why don't we start again? My name's Reinheille Ulrich Brightsword. You can call me Reiny, though. This," she tapped the pendant around her neck, "is an appraisal lens. It's not very powerful, but it lets me see at least somebody's basic stats and skills." She shrugged. "I wouldn't normally use it on just anybody," she said, obviously lying, and leaned forward, "but when such a cyuuute cyupple walked in so late, I just couldn't help myself!"

"Cyu-!" Selina pulled her hood back over her head.

Reiny spluttered with laughter again, and Souma frowned at the both of them.

She's doing that on purpose. Absolutely.

"Miss Reinheille-" Souma began.

"Reiny"

"Miss Reiny, I appreciate all you're doing, really I do, but you'll have to forgive us. It's been a long-"

"Yes yes, a long day, fighting rabbits and, let me guess, being summoned from another world?"

"Ah..."

This woman, Reiny, it was hard to tell exactly if she was a friend or enemy.

"Why don't you start by telling me what your names are? I already told you mine, after all."

"Souma."

"S-Selina Lorelei Zellin Doombringer."

Reiny let out a low whistle. "That is a long name. Very well. Selina the Demon Lord, and Souma the human. It has a nice ring to it. Though you've got to admit, you make odd traveling companions."

"We were-" Souma stopped talking as the man from behind the counter made an appearance. He had two plates balanced on one of his massive arms, and two tankards gripped in his free hand. He the food and drink in front of Souma and Selina, then reached into his pocket and dropped two keys on the table.

"Stew and water. Enjoy. These are your room keys. One night only, mind. Just up those stairs, first two rooms you run into." He was turning to leave when Reiny put her hand out to stop him.

"Wait, wait." She picked up her tankard, and pitched it backwards, gulping until it was empty. "Refill this one too. With beer. Not water."

"One nail, then."

"So put it on my tab, Orlo."

"You don't have a tab."

"You don't have a-mgh! Fine. Here." Reiny ground her teeth, but took another copper coin from one of her pockets and flipped it at the old man. "This cup better not run dry before I get drunk."

"Yeah yeah." Orlo snatched the copper from the air and left without saying another word.

Souma looked back at Reiny, then at the food in front of him.

Reiny sighed, and leaned into her palm. "Honestly, could you two be any more skittish? It's like trying to feed stray cats."

Souma's thinking felt sluggish.

If she wanted to, she could have killed them a hundred times over by now. And she wouldn't have paid for their stay. Unless, that is, unless it was to lower their guard so she could learn more about the others. Maybe she wanted to kill everybody, not just Souma. Maybe he just didn't feel comfortable trusting somebody he'd just met.

But then...

Ami trusted me...

"Fine. We'll take you at your word. For now. Selina, I think we can prob-aaand she's already eating anyway."

"Were we noff meanf to be eafing?" Selina said around a mouthful of stew-soaked bread.

"No!"

Not that he could blame her. She was hungry. Of course she was eating. Why would this gremlin show any restraint when presented with hot food?

"Gah ha ha ha!" Reiny laughed again. "Go on, Souma the human, the food isn't great, but it's better than you'll find anywhere else in a hurry."

Souma looked back at Selina, who was desperately stuffing her face, and decided at this point it probably wasn't worth worrying about in any case.

"Thank you for the food, Miss Reiny," he relented.

Reiny waved his thanks aside, and started to pick at her own food. "Go on, eat. You look like you're about ready to collapse. Why don't you tell me what happened when you're done?"

And then for a while nobody said anything as Souma and Selina greedily ate everything on their plates. He had known he was hungry, but it wasn't until he had started eating that he realized just how much.

When he finally finished, he took a deep breath, and turned to Reiny.

"I woke up in a tower. Not too far from here," Souma started.

He went on to fill Reiny in on everything that had happened since then including how he knew the other summoned were probably in Altoria Dungeon. He knew that laying all his cards on the table was probably a poor strategic decision. But he also couldn't help but feel this was one of those moments where he had to throw his lot entirely one way or the other. There would be no sitting on the fence.

Reiny listened patiently to each detail, nodding her head as he went. "I see," she said when Souma was done. "That explains why you two are together at least. And now you're here to join the adventurer's guild before you head out to Altoria."

"That's the idea," Souma confirmed.

"Well, in that case I have good news and bad news." Reiny took another drink. "Good news is you don't have to worry about getting to Altoria."

"We don't?"

"You're already here." She motioned about the guild with her tankard. "This is the Altoria Adventurer's Guild."

Selina instantly perked up. "See human? The great Demon Lord's sense of direction did bring us right where we needed to be! Be grateful!"

She's still sore about not being able to find the guild.

"So, the bad news?" Souma ignored Selina.

"Even if you join the guild, there's no way they'll let you into the dungeon."

"They won't? Why not?"

"Because if they let every rookie adventurer into the dungeon we'd pretty quickly run out of rookie adventurers. I mean... It's a dungeon. They're dangerous. You wouldn't normally let anybody in there unless they already had combat training or a few levels under their belt."

"Y-you mean... We can't just go in? Until we level up?" Selina looked up at Souma. "What are we going to do, human? We don't have time to level up!"

Souma hated to admit it, but Selina was right. If they spent too long here, the others might move onto a new dungeon entirely. On the other hand, it wasn't like what Reiny was saying didn't make sense. They had barely made it away from the Rabbit Clan Bandits in one piece. A dungeon dive might be a little premature.

"If you need to level up, why don't you join me for a while?"

Both Souma and Selina looked at up Reiny, who was still leaning back drinking.

"Miss Reiny?" Souma probed.

Reiny lifted her pendant up and peered through it again. "I mean, it's not every day you meet the current generation's Demon Lord. To say nothing of a summoned human. Might make life a little more interesting for a while." Her voice seemed to get a little more distant. "Besides, I know some people who would skin me alive if they learned I ran into you two and let you go off on your own."

"I really-"

Reiny lifted one hand, cutting Souma off. "You don't have to answer right away. Why don't you sleep on it? At least one of you looks about ready to pass out. I'll be here tomorrow. You can let me know your answer then."

"Selina..." Souma began, but when he looked down he saw Reiny hadn't been exaggerating. The Demon Lord's eyelids were half closed, and her head kept drooping precariously close to the table. "Okay, we'll sleep on it. Come on Selina."

He scooped their keys off the table, and prodded Selina in the shoulder. She sat bolt upright, scowled at him, and got to her feet.

She really is just a kid. She probably would have fallen asleep in her stew.

As Souma led her towards the stairs, he turned back to Reiny one last time. The golden eyed woman was staring with a far off look into the fire.

"Thank you, Miss Reiny," he said.

She looked back at him briefly and waved him off. "Yeah yeah, go take your Demon Lord to bed."

Souma frowned at her phrasing, but led Selina up to the second floor. As promised, their rooms were the first ones they passed. He unlocked one of the doors, and with a quick peek inside, passed the key to Selina and pushed her in.

"W-what are you doing, human!"

"This is your room. Mine's the next one over. Go to sleep and tomorrow we can figure out what to do."

Selina looked into her room distastefully.

"It's dark." She said finally. "And small."

"It's still better than an alley. See you tomorrow." Souma said. He walked the few steps over to his room, and quickly locked himself in.

His room was just as small and dark as Selina's, but it wasn't at all as terrible as she made out. At least it was warm and dry. There was a little stove in one corner that seemed to have been lit a while before he arrived, and a lantern hung from one wall cast a soft, comforting light. Other than that, there was a small bed tucked into one corner, and a table and chair in the other. Across from the door was a small window, the view obscured by two closed wooden shutters.

After everything they'd been through today, he couldn't have asked for more. Breathing out happily, he stepped out of his shoes and let himself fell backwards into bed.

Well, it's softer than sleeping on the floor.

Souma stared up at the ceiling. It didn't seem like there was any other choice but to go along with Reiny's suggestion. He wasn't sure what leveling up in this world entailed, but at the very least it sounded like they needed to learn how to fend for themselves before they could enter the dungeon.

"Assuming we can learn how to fend for ourselves."

I wonder how Ami is doing?

If the dungeons were really that dangerous, then would she be alright? Sure, she had a lot of other people with her, but was braving a dungeon with those idiots any better than braving it alone? Not to mention she was in there with Tenka.

I'll just have to prove I'm good enough to get into the dungeon before anything happens to her... Them... Whatever.

There was a knock at the door.

Sighing, he got back out of bed. He headed to the door and pulled it open just a crack.

On the other side was a small green hood holding a pillow and blanket. Selina kicked the door open, clipping Souma in the shoulder, and forced her way in.

"Ow! What are you doing?"

"Shut up! Stupid human! My room is too cold!"

Selina stormed over to Souma's bed and threw off his pillow and blanket. She put her own pillow down in their place and climbed in, wrapping herself in her blanket and turning her back to him.

"You sleep there," Her hand poked out of her blanket and she pointed at the floor. "Idiot."

"What? Listen here, gremlin, you can't just..." But before he had finished, he could already hear small snores coming from the bundle on his bed.

For a while he just stood there, watching her small, gently snoring outline.

She's so tiny.

He had been too hard on her before. Of course she didn't want to sleep on her own. It had been an exhausting day, and thinking back on it, she'd probably hit her limit ages ago. Selina might act tough, but she was still just a child.

She was probably just scared to sleep in that room alone.

Souma locked the door, and turned off the lantern. He arranged his pillow and blanket as best he could on the floor in front of the warm stove. He had barely rest his head before he too was asleep.