The sound of the impact of their fists resounded throughout the room as a cloud of sand rose up, covering everyone's vision. A few seconds passed, but it was clear who had won the contest. Bete Loga, a level 5 adventurer from the Loki Familia, had lost to a complete stranger. Yuri was on top of the small crater that had formed, looking at Bete lying on the ground, unable to move.
"Is that all you got, mongrel? You should be more respectful towards people. I don't think it's a good idea for you to start a fight with someone you don't even know and don't know how strong—"
"You damn thing!!!"
The look of contempt on Yuri's face deeply irritated Bete. Just as he was about to use his magic, someone intervened, stopping the fight.
"That's enough, Bete!" Loki stood up and shouted angrily.
"You are so rude, Bete," Riveria said with a straight face.
"It's quite funny to see you beaten like that," Tiona curled her lips into a smile and said.
Loki, Tiona, and Riveria's words made Bete interrupt his magic. He gritted his teeth, got up, and walked out of the hole. However, his fierce gaze still remained on Yuri, as if he wanted to remember his enemy's appearance.
"Let's get this matter over with." Finn Deimne, the Loki Familia captain, stood up, followed by the dwarf Gareth. "This fight was caused by Bete, so I hope we can put this aside."
"I have no objection to that."
Yuri didn't really care about that. He was very curious to know the difference in strength between him and a level 5 adventurer. Even though Bete hadn't used his full strength, Yuri already had an idea of how strong he really was.
Finn had a good head on his shoulders. He was responsible for commanding the main team that ventured into the dungeon. He had a young appearance and short stature. He was a man with enough strength and intelligence to unite the entire familia.
Yuri was strong, but he didn't know if he could defeat Finn without having to use all of his Oni powers, breathing styles, ninjutsu, and his Mangekyou Sharingan.
Finn also looked at Yuri.
To be honest, he hadn't expected someone with an appearance like that to be so strong.
How could someone who looked like they had never trained in anything be so skilled and powerful? The most intriguing thing for him was that he had never heard of anyone this strong in Orario.
"Are you from outside?"
"Yes, I just arrived from the Far East."
"I have to admit that Orario's hospitality was some of the best I've ever received."
Yuri's provocation made Bete's eyes twitch. On the other side, the Amazon sisters, who didn't like Bete very much, couldn't help but laugh at his unfortunate situation. They were very happy to see Bete being beaten.
Finn nodded. It was to be expected—if he came from so far away, it was really possible for him to be that strong. But it was still strange that he didn't have any training marks, not even fighting scars.
"Come, I'm sure we'll have another chance to meet in the future."
Finn took note of Yuri's face. He intended to investigate his origins, and then see if he could recruit him into the Loki Familia.
After that, Finn led everyone out with a normal expression.
The two sisters, Tione and Tiona, secretly smiled at him. Behind the Amazons, the expressionless blonde girl said nothing and followed them, but Riveria couldn't help but look at him once again. As for Lefiya, she quickly rushed to Ais's side.
With the Loki Familia leaving, the adventurers who were also there quickly left as well, and the entire tavern became silent. Yuri, who had already finished his meal, unconsciously wanted to leave as well, but was grabbed by the shoulder by the store manager, Mia Grand.
"Hey girl, you still haven't paid for the food and repairs to my tavern!"
The huge Mia looked at him with a dark and frightening face.
"Or are you planning on not paying me?"
She looked at Yuri while snapping her fingers.
"Of course I'll pay, here—take it."
Yuri shivered a little upon seeing Mia's expression and quickly took out some gold bars from his inventory.
As for how he managed it? He won them on his last trip. Tengen was really extravagant—she literally threw gold bars at the guests at the 'Most Extravagant Party of the Century', as he called it.
"What is that?" Mia frowned.
"They are… gold bars."
Yuri looked at Mia in confusion. This was literally a bar of gold—it was enough to pay for almost anything in his world.
Seeing the strange atmosphere that was forming, Syr came close to Yuri and whispered:
"Orario only accepts magic stones or valis as payment."
"Eh?"
Yuri blinked and said:
"So... it turns out I just arrived in Orario today and I have nothing left."
"Why don't you borrow it from one of your family members? With your strength, it should be pretty easy to recover everything, right?"
There seemed to be some kind of change in Syr's eyes, as if she could see through Yuri's soul, and she spoke intentionally about the family members.
"It turns out that I haven't joined any familia yet."
As soon as Yuri said this, everyone in the tavern fell silent and looked at him.
Mia and all the employees gave him perplexed looks.
Seeing this, Yuri continued:
"Actually, I came to Orario because I heard I could become stronger by joining a familia. As I was hungry after the long journey, I decided to come here, but I didn't expect that to happen..."
Yuri explained calmly while looking at them with a look that said: What's wrong?
"How is this possible, nyah?!"
The first person to speak was Anya Fromel. She was the biological sister of Allen Fromel, the vice-captain of the Freya Familia and a level 4 adventurer.
"How is it possible for someone to be so strong without having received Falna?"
Chloe Rollo, the girl who had attended to Yuri, couldn't believe it either.
They started talking to each other. And no matter what they thought about it, they couldn't believe the fact.
"Ryuu... what do you think?" Syr asked the elf girl next to her.
Ryuu said calmly while looking at Yuri.
"Have you forgotten? Long before the gods came down to our world, there were humans capable of defeating monsters alone, without having received any grace from the gods.
They achieved incredible feats through their hard work alone."
Ryuu's voice interrupted the argument between the girls, and their eyes focused on Yuri.
"In other words, you mean he is one of those heroes, right?"
At this moment, Syr could barely hide her burning desire. The girls looked at Yuri as if they were looking at treasure.
(Me? Hero? I'm not even human anymore!! I'm a demon, or rather, an Oni! How could I be a hero!?)
In response, Yuri's gaze became serious. His expression hardened and became similar to Jotaro's as he looked at Mia and spoke:
"Can I pay later?"
.....
Around half an hour had passed since then. Yuri got an immediate response from Mia.
To do the dishes.
(I hate having to do this... But on the bright side, now I have a place to stay.)
Working in the kitchen is quite boring.
The sound of running water and manual labor always distracts people unconsciously.
Ryuu, who had gradually gotten used to having colleagues around her, also became distracted.
For some reason, after learning memories from her old life, they continued to flood her mind after she met Yuri today.
At that time, everyone said that elves were the most beautiful and striking race, and even today, many think so too. This is an indisputable fact. They are proud and do not allow others to touch their skin easily...
There are also some elves who think other races are extremely ugly, both internally and externally. They do not want to communicate with other races and prefer to live in their forests.
However, when Ryuu saw that her compatriots looked down on other races as dirty existences, she had an idea:
Perhaps the elves, considered the most beautiful race, are actually the ugliest.
This kind of thinking would probably be considered heretical among all elves.
Among all the elves, she was the only one who had doubts and feelings of disgust about their way of seeing the world.
After that, she left her hometown, wandering around other places... and then came to Orario thinking she could find something here.
Ryuu stopped what she was doing and stared at her hands.
In fact, what she wanted back then were companions who respected each other not for how she looked, but for who she was.
Things she couldn't get in elven culture and customs.
(End of chapter)
Give me some power stones there you go~😉