Two… two million Valis.
Lili upon hearing the amount just about fainted before she could even collect the sack of coins in front of her now.
Two million…
In a single day her new partner, no Familia captain had earned a fifth of what was demanded from her by her former familia captain to be released from the familia.
A sum unheard of for a single adventurer to earn in a dive of the upper floors, not unless they were a high ranked adventurer simply farming for valis to pay off debt quickly without and risk or threat to themselves.
Huhmmmr.
The teller clear his throat breaking Lili out of her stupor.
Quickly collecting the bag causing the coins within the clink slightly as she didn't.
As soon as she had it in hand, her previous nature sprang up eyes darting around watching for the greedy looks of other adventurers.
Of course there were more than a few who looked at her with greed.
The bag clearly was heavy, and the number of bags she had just turned in indicated a high income value.
But once she walked the length of the guild their greedy eyes ceased.
The person she approached exuded an aura of power.
No one here knew who he was, but just from his aura along they could tell he was not a beginner.
If lili was with him, they couldn't steal the valis on her, not without getting into a serious fight, and even then it wasn't a fight they were sure they could win.
With the Valis in hand, Neme chuckled at the thought that he was finally getting the true value for his hard work.
"What do you say we get a bite to eat before going shopping?"
"Sure!"
The two left the guild, many eyes still on the unusual pair.
Neme didn't mind, instead he decided to go for something one of the top tier adventurers regarded as the greatest meal ever.
"Hello and welcome, We've got the best fried Potato balls in all of Orario."
"Hummm the best, cant pass that up can we Lili?"
"Yeah! I love Potato balls! I'd like Honey Mustard flavor please!"
"As for me… I'll go for Read Bean Cream please goddess Hestia."
"You got it!"
The pair of orders were in and in a flash Hestia the loli goddess began to cook the potatoes before her in a pot of bubbling oil.
The method of cooking these 'potato balls' was incredibly basic.
Considering Orario was a city that had existed for thousands of years, why was their concept of cooking simply taking a peeled potato and then deep frying the thing whole, before topping it with various oddities often creating wild flavor profiles.
To Neme who'd see the advanced food culture of earth this practice seemed backwards to him.
As a croquette should be a form of mashed potatoes that would then be breaded and fried not left as a whole potato.
But oh well, when In rome.
Shrugging his thought about how he could one day fund his very own stalls, ones that could jumpstart the Orario food culture beyond what was currently known, even going so far as to surpass the city wide renowned Hostess of Fertility.
A restaurant that to this day Neme had avoided as if it contained the plague.
The reason of course was the sly fox hiding within.
Freya using Syr as her eyes to scout out possible diamonds in the rough.
Neme still feared her focus being turned on him.
Freya herself wasn't exactly an evil god, if anything she was just a little misguided.
A lovestruck idiot who cared more about quality than quantity, while possessing no greater ambitions.
Sizzle
The scent of the frying food drawing his focus back.
The pair of potatoes were taken from the oil, being patted dry by the goddesses hands, chopped into three, which were then skewered twice, and finally topped with their chosen topping in a simple dish to hold the whole ensemble.
""Thank you Goddess.""
Being handed the food the two thanked the hardworking goddess, taking their food with them.
The scent of the fried food covered in what appeared to be some sort of sour cream mixed with red bean paste, off to his side, Lili was already diving into her own skewer a potato coated in a generous helping of honey mustard sauce and topped with scallions… no or are those green onion?
The combination was shocking but thinking on it further they didn't seem that outlandish, and even his appetite found itself wetted.
Grabbing up the skewer he raised the steaming potato into his mouth.
crunch
It was cooked to perfection, which shouldn't be possible when leaving the potato whole, but it was cooked by a god who cares about logic.
The sweet berry mixed with the tartness of the cream, it worked amazingly well together with the richness of the potato itself.
"Hey!"
"Huh?"
"I said do you want to try mine?"
Off to his side, lili was holding out her own skewer already having eating two of the three pieces but offering up the last to him.
Nom taking another bite of his own he agreed trading his remaining 1/3rd for her own.
Nom
Whoa…
The flavor was totally different.
The richness of honey, mixed with the bite of mustard, and then the heat coming from the greens atop it.
This was like eating a vegetarian form of Crispy Spicy Chicken.
Off to his side Lili face was beaming.
He hadn't taken an actual bite out of the piece offered to her, but she didn't care.
This was her first ever indirect kiss with another person, and that very person was her saviour.
After their snack, Neme took Lili on to visit a place she had only ever viewed from afar.
The armor and weapon shops of the Hephaestus and Goibniu familia's.
These shops sold produced good from their apprentice blacksmiths all the way up to the general goods produced by their top-tier smiths when not working on custom pieces.
The purpose was to acquire new gear, for the both of them.
Neme was still wielding the same weapons he did as a level one, but as he went deeper into the dungeon his third-tier weapons were being pushed past their limits and would eventually break if he didn't bring them in for maintenance though going for higher tier weapons would be better in the short term.
Lili refused to get equipment on par with his own, citing her own personal battle style as a support type wielding crossbows from afar.
She accepted simple light armor, and a third tier crossbow mounted to her left arm, on top of that was nearly one hundred iron bolts, as well as a dagger.
As for Neme himself, he upgraded his light armor to a new Orc hide one, that offered protection without limiting his mobility.
After that was the spending of almost all their remaining valis on a pair of second-tier weapons one was stated by the merchant as a failed product of an overambitious young smith, managing to get it on a discount when he purchased a new Warhammer of his own.
That allowed him to not only replace his weapons but gave him more spares he could use.
From anyone looking at him from the outside he would just look like a generalist.
A Warhammer in his hands, two shortswords strapped across his back, and lastly a mace sitting horizontally across his lower back.