Amelia the Level Zero Hero

Chapter 94

Chapter 94

He had finally arrived.

It had been a long and arduous journey. The trek to this village had taken a toll on him— not because it was difficult or treacherous. And even if it was, he was rather high-leveled, so he could dispose of most monsters with ease.

No— the reason it took him so long to arrive here was for another reason entirely. It was a simple reason, really. It was not complicated in the slightest. In fact, it was quite obvious why the trip had been so cumbersome with just one quick look at him. 

It was because he was so tiny.

He sighed. “Well, at least I’m finally bloody here now…”

He was Saros the Gnome Inventor, and he was, of course, a gnome. That meant that he was incredibly short compared to the normal person— human. He didn’t mean person, he meant human.

Growing up in a majority-human continent, Saros occasionally found himself defaulting to humans as the standard of what was normal. But that was not true— humans would not be of average height if they lived in Alius. In fact, they would be quite the outliers since trolls, nagas, and the like tended to be rather tall, while gnomes, dwarves, and fairies were rather short. 

That was unlike the average pers… human, who stood at an odd middling height. They would just be this norm… weird size which could barely fit in any house or tent they entered there.

By the Thrones… Saros hated that he was raised in an environment with such a human-centric culture. But most cultures were quite self-centered. It wouldn’t have been any different if he had been born in Drazyl— he would have just started off thinking that elves were the baseline norm in that case.

Although— humans and elves were honestly quite similar in terms of size and frame. The main difference was in their ears and their skin color. All elves had light-pale skin, while humans had all kinds of skin tones. For example, those who lived in the western parts of the former Archon tended to have darker skin, and those who lived in the original territories at the south of the Kingdom of Kal would have browner skin.

Kallistus Kal himself was the odd-one-out with his blond skin and blue eyes, but he wasn’t from this world anyways. 

Nevertheless, when humans and elves mixed, they didn’t stand out quite as much from each other as much as humans and fairies did. 

The Gnome Inventor shook his head. In any case, he wasn’t in Alius. Other than being annoyed at how he was raised, he didn’t care for any of that. He was here in Laxo, and he was searching for a single person.

And this person just so happened to be a human. An insanely powerful human. One who was honestly quite rude— but also pretty helpful from time to time. After all, she did save his life.

Her name was Amelia. She was an unranked adventurer, and she was the only person in the world who could help him in his predicament. His gaze darkened as he thought of the consequences if he did not enlist her help. It would be truly calamitous.

Saros had to swallow his pride and seek Amelia out if he wanted to prevent the worst of the worst from happening. So he arrived here in Wolfwater with this single goal in mind… only to find a long queue waiting before him.

“Uh, what?” he asked, staring at the long line of families leading into a small building. “What the fuck is going on?”

He furrowed his brows, utterly confused. The Gnome Inventor had been redirected here after asking around. But this was… a restaurant. He didn’t get why Amelia would be in there. It made no sense— until he heard the excited whispers coming from the waiting crowd.

“Is there really an angel working there? I just can’t believe it.”

“Honestly, if this turns out to be a hoax, I’ll demand to be compensated for my time.”

“It’s real! I saw it myself! I swear to the Thrones that it is—” 

“Do they think Amelia’s an angel?” Saros pursed his lips. That was a ridiculous assertion. Although…

He could see it. That might explain her overwhelming strength. If she really were an angel, it would make a little bit of sense. But he still thought that was incredibly unlikely. 

He shook his head and strode forward. “It’s probably a misunderstanding.”

The gnome couldn’t care less about eating at this restaurant. While he was mildly curious about these rumors about an angel, he was more concerned with finding Amelia. Because she was the only one who could help him. He knew this for a fact. And his grip tightened over a piece of paper in his Bag of Holding. 

“‘Scuse me!” Saros called out as he made his way to the front of the queue. “Coming through— I have important business here! Move out of the way!” 

He waded his way right to the entrance despite the protests before a boot finally landed right before him and stopped him. He blinked, looking up at a towering figure… well, most humans towered over him since he stood barely a foot and a half in height. But this human blocking him was nearly four and a half times taller than he was, which was relatively tall.

“Oi! What do you think you’re doing, little man?” the man said. 

He had a grizzled look— a scar on his face. He had a crossbow and a shortsword hanging from his side. Probably a [Hunter]. And he crossed his arms as a pair of his friends joined his side.

“Get back in line like the rest of us,” he continued.

Saros frowned. The gnome shook his head and started around the three humans. “I don’t have time for this. I need to speak with Amelia—” 

But the [Hunter] just swung his boot down at Saros once more. “I said— get back in line, you damn gnome.” 

The kick narrowly missed the gnome. Saros frowned. Seriously? he mentally scoffed. And in response, he grabbed the boot and yanked the [Hunter] forward.

Saros watched as the man stumbled and fell in a single motion. Dusting his hands off, the gnome began to walk off, heading for the entrance to the restaurant. But a hand reached out to grab him from behind, and he slipped out of the way.

“Don’t you know who I am?” the fallen man exclaimed as he scrambled back to his feet. “I am Lucas— the highest-leveled [Hunter] in Wolfwater!”

The Gnome Inventor just blinked. “Who?”

“You…” Lucas gritted his teeth. 

“Look, I’m not here for this damn angel,” Saros sighed. “I’m here to speak with an acquaintance. So just let me through already you daft idiots.”

And that made Lucas pause. His brows snapped together before he turned to his two friends as they raised their fists. 

“Get that gnome!” he shouted.

Saros rolled his eyes. “You really are a bunch of morons.”

He easily sidestepped a punch from Lucas, before dodging a kick from one of the two goons. He grinned as he circled around the trio as they yelled at him. He watched as they stumbled over each other, before he backed up towards the entrance of the restaurant.

“Seeya, assholes!” He waved back at them as he turned towards the double doorway.

Lucas cursed and reached for the crossbow at his side. The nearby bystanders backed up, gasping at the scene. Saros reached for the doorknob, then paused. He just stared deadpan as the [Hunter] raised the weapon.

“Are you seriously going to do this over entering a restaurant?” the gnome asked dryly.

But Lucas didn’t answer. Instead, he pulled the trigger. Saros just shook his head.

“You—”

And the door slammed open. The gnome staggered forward, blinking as the arrow whizzed past him and into the restaurant. His eyes went wide as he spun around in a panic.

“Wait, but the arrow—” he started.

But before he could even react, a chicken flew out of the restaurant. Saros froze. He could only watch in utter disbelief as it reached Lucas and kicked him right in the face. The [Hunter] yelped, before falling face-first onto the dirt ground.

His friends paused, staring at the chicken as it landed triumphantly over him.

“Bawk bawk bawk!” it exclaimed.

“What… just happened?” Saros asked, staring in shock. 

And a voice approached him from behind. “Calm down, Bucky. No need to make things worse. I can handle it from here.”

The Gnome Inventor immediately recognized the source of the voice. He looked up and stared as a brown-haired woman strode out of the restaurant holding the arrow in her hand. She snapped it in half and tossed it aside.

“Amelia?” Saros said as he looked up at the familiar face.

She paused, before glancing down at him. And she raised a brow. “Oh, hey Saros. I didn’t see you there.”

“I—” The gnome opened his mouth, then caught himself. His shoulders sagged as he sighed. “That makes sense, but it’s still rude.”

—-- 

I let Saros into the restaurant after giving a quick warning to Lucas for endangering my other customers and causing a ruckus. Apparently, according to Noele, he had already caused some trouble before during the grand opening, so I made it very clear that the next time he tried something, I was banning him from Bucky’s Out of this World Restaurant.

He apologized, before I strode back inside with Saros following right behind me— and Bucky right behind him.

“Gah— stop bumping into me you damn chicken,” he said as she peered curiously at him. Too closely.

“Don’t mind her.” I waved a hand off dismissively. “She’s probably just curious because she’s never seen a gnome before.”

The gnome crossed his arms, harrumphing. “And this is why I hate small animals.”

She tilted her head at him, before pecking his right shoulder once. Saros backed up and cursed as I shook my head.

“Don’t insult her— she can understand you.”

“Oh, great. A leveling chicken.” Saros sighed, before grumbling as he scowled. “Fine, I won’t insult it.”

And Bucky clucked, pecking him once more. He yelped again as I corrected him.

“Her,” I said. “Bucky is a girl.”

“This is ridiculous. Why do I have to respect—” Saros opened his mouth as I turned left, heading for the bar. And he slowed to a halt.

“Excuse me.” I nodded as I stepped around a tall winged being. 

Apologies, the reply came.

His jaw dropped as Guardian Angel Z357 passed me by, before stepping over him. He rubbed his eyes for a long moment. But when he raised his head once more, nothing changed. He was still staring at…

“…an angel?” Saros whispered, gaping at Guardian Angel Z357. “Is that a bloody angel?”

“Yeah, pretty cool, right?” I said casually as I came to a halt at the bar. I hopped onto a seat, and the gnome murmured under his breath.

“That’s an understatement.” Bucky walked past him, and he followed after her. “What kind of a restaurant is this?”

The chicken leapt onto my lap, and I patted her back. “It’s my restaurant.” I grinned. “It opened just a few days ago.”

“I…” He hesitated as he stared at me. “I’m not even going to question it.”

“What are you even doing here anyways?” I leant back against the bar, eyeing him with a raised brow. “Shouldn’t you be busy doing adventurer-things back in Whiteridge?”

That broke him out of his stupor. The gnome looked down at himself, blinking. “Oh, right. I came here because I need your help.”

“You need my help?” I narrowed my eyes. “Depending on what it’s about, I may be able to help you out.” 

First Dorien, and now Saros. I shook my head— I had a restaurant to run. I wasn’t expecting much from the gnome. He probably needed my help with something unimportant. Like testing out some equipment or whatever.

Or at least, that was what I thought. Saros took in a deep breath and held my gaze, his reply making me blink.

“It is about Ar’elith,” he said. “The First Lich King is back.”

“Uh, what?”

MelasD

Start of the month! Best time to patron!

You can read up to 15 chapters ahead on my patreon here!

Join my discord and subscribe to my subreddit!

Or follow me on twitter!