56 A Very Good Day
“You are that Faith Cyrilia!? The one who helped fend off the Norian armies!?” Gesel’s eyes were wide open as she stared at me. I, for one, would have never thought my name would be so well known. I could feel my cheeks burning up as I scratched my head and nodded. It was kind of embarrassing. It was like being a celebrity in a way. Although for me, it was due to killing thousands of men. Now that I think about it, I am not sure if I should be happy about being well known for killing so many people….
“To think I would get to meet the little genius that every noble is talking about. Not to mention I get to hug her golden thigh while I mooch snacks. Haha!” Hearing Gesel joke around and laugh made me laugh as well. She had this kind of charm about her that made it so you could not not be in a good mood around her.
“Alright, let’s get down to the reason we came here!” I could smell the yummy pastries and really wanted to try them out.
“You’re right! Gretta, give us the works!” Gesel ordered while pulling me to a small table that was off to the side. She sat me down before sitting across from me. “Now, Miss Genius. How does it feel to know that you are like the number one star of the capital now?”
“I do not know about being a genius, but I just did what I needed to do. If it was not for the fact that our kingdom bans slavery, I would have not rushed into harm’s way. I would have taken my family and hid someplace in the mountains. Believe it, or not my Cyrilia family are all strong.” I flexed my muscles as I said this, causing Gesel to let out another laugh. She then slammed her arm down on the table and grinned at me.
“Let’s see how strong you are. Come on, arm wrestle me.” Gesel opened and closed the palm of her hand. Her huge muscles bulged. At this point, I was not sure if I should or not. I mean, if I did win, I would feel bad. But if I didn’t win and come to find out that I was actually rather weak after everything I had been through, then I would prefer to go out and level up some more. But seeing the fighting spirit in Gesel’s eyes, I sighed and gave in and placed my skinny arm up on the table.
“Fred, you be the judge.” The middle aged man that came with us, who was as quiet as can be. The one person who had I forgotten was even here. Walked over from the nearby stall that was selling meat skewers and frowned upon seeing the situation.
“Gesel, are you really arm wrestling a kid? I mean, isn’t that a little unfair?” Fred asked as he sat down and bit into his skewer.
“What do you mean unfair!? Did you not hear what I said earlier!?” No, Gesel, he did not since he was not with us! Is what I wanted to say, but I stayed out of it. I think there was a thing going on between the two. You could say my horns were tingling when I looked at them bickering.
“You said something?” Fred asked, causing Gesel to stare at him as if he was crazy.
“You didn’t listen at all! Look here, you know the name Cyrilia right?”
“Hmm yeah. Back at the capital, the genius girl…. Wait…” Fred looked my way. I gave him a smile and a wave. I would ask if he wanted an autograph, but I am sure he wouldn’t understand what I mean. “You are Faith Cyrilia!? Hot damn! No wonder you can kill all those nerdals! That explains it. Okay, then never mind, I want to see who is stronger now. The Genius of her time Gesel or the newcomer, Faith!”
Now Fred was all fired up. I helplessly shook my head and grabbed Gesel’s big hand. In a way, this looked quite funny because her hand engulfed mine. Which kind of gave her the advantage, so I guess I would need to really work hard at this. With our hands gripped together, Fred placed his hand on top of ours. After finishing the meat in his mouth, he looked at both of us to see if we were ready. “And go!” ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀꪶ
I felt an overwhelming force pushing against my hand, causing me to firmly push back against it. Gesel was strong, and I mean strong. She had a lot of power, and I was struggling quite badly. This was the second person I have met since coming out into the real world whose strength was on par with my own. First, it was an idiot fake hero, and now Gesel. The world was much bigger than I could ever imagine.
Because of the size difference, I knew I wasn’t going to win. Gesel had more leverage than me, so my little arm was bending in a funny way. “Faith, you are really strong!” Yes, so are you! I really wanted to cry. My lovely stats were nothing! Sigh…. Oh system that has granted me such great power, why have you forsaken me…? I sighed as I relented and allowed my hand to flop over.
“See, I told you it was unfair. Look at the size difference!” Fred yelled. He then looked at me and shook his head. “If you were not so tiny, I am sure you would have won. Plus, she cheated. She held onto the table.”
“No, I did not!” Gesel cheeks turned red. I looked at the edge of the table, and sure enough, finger marks were embedded into it. I looked up at Gesel, who turned her head to the side, whistling away. After a few moments, she finally threw her hands up into the air and yelled out: “Fine! I cheated a little! But who told Faith to have such monstrous strength in such a skinny body!? I have a reputation to uphold, you know!”
“Hehe!” I let out a laugh. And shifted my thigh to the right covering up the marks on my chair. Yeah, I was cheating too… I heard a chuckle to my side, and Fred gave me a knowing look. I can only lower my head in shame.
“Here you go! One of my newest creations. Mipalia filled sweet bread. The mipalia has a kind of tart taste that will make your taste buds scream.” Gretta announced while placing a few plates in front of us.
The smell coming from the pastry was unlike anything I smelled before. I had no idea what mipalia was, but whatever it was, it smelled amazing. It had a fruity smell to it but nothing I had ever smelled before. I picked up the pastry with my hands and bit into the soft doughy sweet bread. A burst of tart yet sweet flavor filled my mouth, causing my lips to pucker slightly. but after the tartness, my lips couldn’t help but curl up into a smile. I even let out a squeal as my body shook. “Gretta, this is amazing!” I had to praise her. It was truly delicious.
“I am glad you like it! I had a hard time preparing the mipalia. It was a tough ingredient as the fruit’s shell is so hard that it took my husband an entire day to break open a single one with a hammer and chisel. But once he got the hang of it, we got quite a few opened, only then could I start preparing it. Sadly these are only limited additions as they come from the Kingdom of Lodinia.” Gretta let out a long sigh.
It was hard to get the ingredients you wanted from other kingdoms unless you went to that kingdom and found a supplier willing to deliver. And Lodinia, of all places, was basically asking for trouble as it was a kingdom ruled by beastkin. They did not really like humans very much, and traders seldom went between the two kingdoms. The worst part about the kingdom was it was a desert wasteland. This was why none of the kingdoms cared too much for Lodinia at first. But before they realized it, the beastkins kingdom grew at a rapid rate and now they were a strong power on par with Gravos or the even Norain Kingdom.
“Anyway, I am glad you all like them. I got one more. I would like you to try it as well and let me know if it is worth selling. I have an actual supply line for this one.” Gretta ran off to prepare more pastries while I finished up the one in my hand. Mesta, a world that could only be dreamed about in stories and people’s dreams back on Earth, was alive and thriving, and here I was, experiencing it all for myself. I was really starting to get excited about the future.
I spent a few hours chatting with Gesel and Fred before saying goodbye, as they had things they had to do. She told me to look for her if I ever pass by the capital’s mercenary guild hall. I hope we do meet again. I found Gesel to be a really fun person.
After they left, I bought a lot of pastries from Gretta, who was shocked when I kept pointing to each pastry one after the other. The other pastry she had us try, tasted like a chocolate truffle. It tasted very good. With my hands full of pastries, I walked towards an inn that Gretta recommended and booked a room. Only when I was behind closed doors did I store all my pastries away. I will say that I did get strange looks from the innkeeper when she saw me carrying so many pastries. All in all, I can say today was a very good day.