The Protagonist System

21 Negotiations And Payoffs

Eina sat down at the small table and looked across it at the ridiculously handsome young man across from her. For some reason, she knew that he was going to be trouble. That blatant hand kiss in front of all the other employees had been the first hint. The second was him mentioning money and earnings. That did not bode well for the Guild's immediate profits or for her balancing the books.

“Mister Cranel...” Eina started to say.

“Please, call me Bell.” He interrupted and gave her a warm smile.

Eina did her best to ignore it, even if she really liked that smile. She was supposed to be in negotiation mode right now. “Bell, you mentioned a few questions about money.”

Bell sighed and nodded. “I only arrived in the city a couple of weeks ago after travelling across the country. After searching all this time for a Familia, I finally found one yesterday. The problem is, I am her first child and we used the last of our available money on buying enough food to make stew.”

Eina was a little surprised that he offered up so much information. “I'm not sure why you are telling me all of that.”

Bell had a sheepish look on his face as he unhooked that odd cylinder from his belt.

Eina's eyes widened as he broke the top off with a clack and set it onto the table upside down, then he unscrewed a kind of cap from the cylinder and the room was quickly filled with the most delicious smell she had ever smelled.

Bell carefully poured out some of the stew and broth into the top, put the cap back on the cylinder, and handed her the broken off top. “Go ahead and try it. It's still hot.”

Eina wanted to refuse, because this was a blatant bribe if she ever saw one. Her mind was still trying to decide if she should throw him out for insulting her as her hands moved on their own and brought the top to her lips.

AMBROSIA! Eina's mind yelled and she moaned as she sucked in some broth and a nice chunk of tender meat. She chewed it up in seconds, even though she wanted to savour it, and tipped the top up to get the vegetables and the rest of the broth. It warmed her insides unlike anything ever before and it settled in her stomach to continue giving her warmth.

Bell took the top back from her and surprisingly popped it back over the cylinder with a clack and it stayed there. “As an opening gambit to negotiating a loan, I offer this to you.”

Oh, you rotten bastard of a human! Eina thought and her arms tensed up as he slid the thing towards her. She wanted to cradle it in her arms and hug it and never let it go.

“The cylinder is called a thermos and it keeps things hot for a long time. Thermal. Heat.” Bell explained.

Eina blinked her eyes several times as she thought about that. “Can you make it bigger?”

Bell looked thoughtful. “Maybe. It depends. I suffer magical backlash if I cast too much magic.”

Eina wasn't sure why that mattered. “And the stew?”

“It only took about an hour of cooking last night.” Bell said.

“You made it?” Eina asked, surprised.

Bell smiled. “I can't expect my Goddess to cook, so someone had to do it.”

Eina knew she was being teased. “How much of this stew do you have left and do you have any more of these thermos things?”

“There's about three-quarters of a large stew pot left and I only have two thermos containers.”

Eina thought about that for several minutes. “The fee for signing up as an adventurer is 1,000 Valis.”

Bell looked surprised and then sighed. “That's probably going to take a while to pay off.”

Eina held in her smile at sucking him in. “I will pay you 2,000 Valis for this thermos and I offer the same if you bring me the other one.” She said and the young man's face brightened with a brilliant smile. “I am only offering this deal because of your offer of the delicious stew.”

“I knew starting off with a bribe was the right choice.” Bell said out loud and then clapped a hand over his own mouth.

Eina had to pinch her lips closed to muffle her laugh. “Just for that, when you bring me other thermos, it needs to have the same contents as this one.”

Bell ducked his head slightly and nodded.

“All right. Let's get this paperwork filled out and I'll bring you over to the exchange counter for your payment.” Eina said and Bell nodded again.

*

I rushed home and created another thermos and filled it with a bowl's worth of stew, the same as the one I gave Eina, and ran back to the Guild. I knew I was underselling the thermos, especially when the stronger people in the guild find out what it does. It had been completely unexpected that she would offer to buy the thing when I had been giving it to her with the stew inside and not just the stew.

I entered the Guild Hall and wasn't surprised to see all of the workers had gathered around Eina's desk and were sharing the stew. It really was delicious and now she was going to have another serving of it. I waited until someone noticed me before I waved and held up the new thermos.

Eina was across the office area and around the counter in only a moment. “I didn't expect you to come right back with it, Bell. Thank you.”

I handed it to her and she hugged it. “I didn't want to make you wait and worry that I wasn't going to come back.”

Eina smiled at me and brought me over to the exchange desk and signed off on the payment of another 2,000 Valis for me.

“Thank you for this.” I said and piled the money into the small pouch she had given me that was secured to my belt. It had a small expansion charm inside and it could only hold money, so I didn't have to worry about it spilling out of my pockets or anything. “Having this much money so soon means a lot to me.”

Eina led me back over to the counter and tucked the thermos under it. “I assume you're going to buy some light armor and maybe a dagger or something?” She asked and slid a piece of paper across the counter with a list of items and their prices.

I read them and remembered my comment to Hestia about people ripping off new adventurers, because just starting out meant a lot of cost to get outfitted. Since most of the average adventurers stayed at Level 1 and only a few managed to go above that to break Level 2, they would eventually have enough money to buy much better equipment. If they lived.

The sellers had to get as much money as possible out of the new people, as quickly as possible, or never get it. Reliability wasn't really a word that these people knew.

“Not right now, thank you. I have a few errands to run and preparations to make before I think about going into the dungeon.” I said and the smile on her face grew. She apparently liked that I wasn't rushing in.

“Well, if you ever need anything, like floor maps and advice about the monsters you'll face, you can come to me. I'm your official advisor, after all.” Eina said.

“I will. Thank you.” I said and held a hand out to her.

Eina clamped her lips together to muffle her laugh and took my hand. I gave her a warm smile and kissed the back of her hand, to her delight, and I waved at the others in the office before I left the hall. I could hear the tittering and comments from the others as they teased Eina about me.

I chuckled and went to the closest tailor for clothing. I didn't go inside because I was only wondering what the clothing was like. I would need to visit an armorer or a blacksmith to see if they wore specific underclothing for their armor. If they did, I would need to examine it and maybe buy one. I would also have the chance to ask for scraped weapons or damaged items.

I looked through the expensive shops on the main thoroughfare and mentally nodded at the outrageous prices for their things. There was no doubt that some of them would help an adventurer reach a lower floor than they would get to on their skills alone. The problem was that they were so expensive that they would need to venture to those same lower floors to get enough to pay for the thing that would get them to the lower floors.

I had a weird thought about renting equipment and when they died, it would be retrieved and rented again. It would be a losing proposition, because repeated business would depend on your clients dying to replace your stock to rent. That wasn't a viable business model at all.

I entered the storefront for the Hephaestus Familia and all of the zeros on every single piece in the shop hurt my eyes. It seemed like the adventurer was made by his equipment and these people embraced that philosophy to the extreme.

“Can I help you?” The woman behind the counter sneered at me. “Sir?”

“What's your name?” I asked instead of answering.

“Madeline.” The woman said, clearly lying.

I smiled and cast the truth spell. “I didn't quite hear you. What was the name you said?”

“Vivian.” The woman said and her eyes widened.

“Thank you, Vivian. I'll be sure to let Goddess Hephaestus know how polite and welcoming her store attendant is.” I said and walked right back out of the shop. I half-expected her to rush out after me to apologize and I didn't stick around to wait in case she did.

I tried to enter a few more shops and received almost the same reaction, only less antagonistic. It was almost like they didn't want anyone to shop around and buy their wares. I tried one more, an accessories store, and the glare the woman gave me was as noteworthy as the first woman's sneer.

“Is it because it's my day off and I'm not covered in armor from head to toe that makes all you idiots not want my money?” I asked her with anger in my tone.

The woman flinched as if I had slapped her and her face flushed red with embarrassment.

“I'm not going to bother asking your name like I did the others. I'll just make a blanket statement to the gods and goddesses about how very nice and helpful their idiots are.” I said and walked back out.

“WAIT!” She yelled. “I need this job!”

“I don't care.” I said and slammed the door and cast a temporary barrier on it to keep it closed. I walked away with the sound of her banging on the door to try and get it open.

“That wasn't very nice.” A feminine voice said.

“None of them are nice and I thought a taste of their own behavior would suit them.” I said and turned to look at her. My eyes couldn't help taking in the miles of exposed tanned dark skin that was only covered by a strip of cloth over her small breasts and what I was sure was part of a blanket that hung from her waist.

“Are you getting a good enough look?” The woman asked with a teasing smile, her short dark hair barely moving in the breeze.

“No. Could you turn around so I can see the rest of you?” I asked, just as teasingly.

She barked a laugh and swung around, which billowed out the cloth and gave me a nice view of her ass in a thong, and she finished her turn to grin at me. “How was that?”

“Wonderful.” I said and grinned back. “You could only look better if you were naked in my bed.”

“HA HA! You wish.” She said, smugly.

“You can't blame me for that. Have you seen yourself?” I asked and she laughed. I stepped close with my hand out. “My name is Bell Cranel and it's nice to meet you.”

“Tiona Hiryute and it sure is nice to meet me.” She said and took my hand.

I was tempted to kiss it, just to make her laugh, and decided against it. She might see it as an attack. She was an amazonness, after all. I shook it and let it go. As if she suspected I was going to do something with it, she let it hang there and looked at it and then at me.

I laughed and bowed slightly. “I was going to kiss the back of it, like you were a fancy high class lady from the big city, to try and make you laugh. I didn't do it because you might think it was an attack.”

Tiona laughed pretty hard and slapped her hand against her thigh. “I would have, too!”

I motioned to walk down the street and she nodded. We walked side by side for several steps before she spoke.

“You were just playing with the shopkeepers, weren't you?” Tiona asked.

“What do you mean?” I asked back.

“You don't have anywhere near enough money to shop in any of them.” Tiona said.

I gave her a sideways smile. “If they charged admission to the store, I couldn't pay the entry fee.”

Tiona laughed and nodded. “Thought so.” She said and gave me a look. “How much do you have?”

“4,000 Valis.” I said, because I had no reason to lie.

Tiona's look changed to surprise. “What happened? Did you lose everything in a raid?”

I chuckled. “No, I'm a brand new adventurer that just signed up today.”

Tiona almost skidded to a stop and grabbed my arm to stop me from walking. “You're kidding!”

“I was adopted into a Familia only yesterday.” I admitted and she looked shocked. I did not miss her hand slowly rubbing my arm.

“You... you're... only Level 1.” Tiona whispered.

I nodded. “I can tell you're a lot more than that.”

“Level 5.” Tiona said and then her look became pointed. “I'm 16 and a half.”

I had to smile at the half part. “I'm 14.”

Tione's mouth dropped open and she stared at me, because she was three inches shorter than I was. “You look like this and you're only Level 1, you're younger than me, and you like teasing people like I do.”

“Those comments resemble me, yes.” I agreed.

The words were barely out of my mouth when I was scooped up and slung over her shoulder in a fireman's carry. There was a gust of wind, the sound of smashing wood, a high pitched scream, and I was dropped onto a fairly large bed and bounced. The entire thing happened in only five seconds.

“Did you know that when you register as an adventurer, it doesn't matter what your age is, you're considered an adult?” Tiona asked me as she undid her half-blanket skirt. She saw me looking at it. “It's called a pavna. It's a ceremonial covering that family members wear. My sister wears the same one.”

“When I first saw it, I thought it looked like a half-blanket.” I said and she nodded.

Tiona tossed it onto a chair and showed me that the thong she wore would barely cover her if she ever did a high kick. She saw me looking and moved the skirt to show a long piece of cloth that hung down.

“Smart.” I said and she blushed.

Tiona reached for the cloth that covered her breasts and paused, her blush deepening.

“I should probably tell you that my last girlfriend had breasts the same size as you.” I said and her eyes widened. “She smeared them with cake batter for me so I could lick and suck them clean.”

Tiona let out a growl sound and snapped the cloth, then dove for me on the bed. I caught her and kissed her passionately. She moaned as I did, because I was also massaging her breasts. Just because they were small, that didn't meant they were any less sensitive than a larger pair.

I rolled us over and kissed down her neck, over her collarbone, and down to her breasts. Her breathing sped up as I did so. I paused and gave her a pointed look, then I dove onto her breasts like a madman.

“OHHH!” Tiona moaned loudly and her arms wrapped around my head to keep me there.

I stayed there and played with them for quite some time and I was sure she came at least twice. Her nipples were so hard that they could have cut glass and I made sure to lick and suckle on them to get as much blood flowing to them as possible.

Tiona eventually let me go and I kissed my way down her belly and stopped just before her drenched opening. “Wh-what... what are you doing?”

I broke the tightly tied string and tossed it aside. “Probably something you'll like more than me playing with your breasts.”

Tiona literally screamed when I dug my tongue inside of her and she came hard. The room was suddenly filled with her teammates that were armed with weapons, only for them all to see what was going on. They quickly made very embarrassed sounds and then spoke many excuses to leave. All except one of them.

“What are you doing to her?” Aiz Wallenstein asked as she sheathed her sword.

“I'm making her feel like a woman.” I said and waved for her to sit down.

Aiz did and stared at me as I worked Tiona over and made her scream, and yell, and orgasm like crazy. By the time I was done playing with her, Tiona was mumbling incoherently between begging me to hurry up and take her.

I stood up and took off my clothes, which Aiz also stared at. Her eyes roamed over my muscles and then her eyes dropped down to my quite prominent erection when it was revealed. On a lark, I carefully took her hand and used it to stroke myself several times. The look of interest on her face couldn't be faked, so I leaned down to gently kiss her.

“Maybe you want to be next?” I asked and she didn't answer. I stepped back out of her reach and climbed on top of Tiona. “I hope you're ready for this.”

Tiona could only mumble and nod, so I lined myself up and then shoved hard. “AHHH!” She gasped. “THAT FEELS SO GOOD! DO IT AGAIN!”

I laughed and started to move, not surprised that losing her virginity didn't bother her at all. Tiona started panting right away and it wasn't because she was getting tired. As far as I knew, amazonnesses had remarkable endurance and I wouldn't have a problem with her keeping up with me.

Aiz laid down beside Tiona and the contrast was a sight to behold with her long blonde hair next to Tiona's short dark hair and Aiz's fair skin next to Tiona's deeply tanned skin. Aiz also held Tiona's hand as she watched us having fun. Her curiosity had seemingly gotten the better of her and she probably wondered how things were going to turn out.

I didn't tell her that Tiona's sister was at the room's door and peeking in to see what happened as well.