Lariel sat on the bench and sighed. None of the shops he had found, closed or open, sold beasts, and as such, buying one was out of the question, at least for the time being since he still had plans for his breeding empire.

I have already spent.... five hours? What the hell?

Despite having a skill that passively allowed him to know how much time had passed since he had woken up and the fact that the sun was high in the sky, he still managed to lose track of time.

Maybe go to the library now?... Nah, better to go grab some food first.

With the prospect of eating a nice meal at the orphanage, Lariel lazily got up from his bench on the side of the makeshift road that led to the Dungeon and started dragging himself towards said free food offering destiny. None of the kids living in the orphanage were required to pay for the food, which was a blessing in disguise. Many failed to comprehend the fact that food was expensive. Having never bought actual food for themselves, they never realized that paying for sustenance every single day three or sometimes two times a day was a drain to their wallets. And that, combined with a room along with the maintenance of equipment in case they were adventurers added up to the problems someone had to rise in life.

You could be lucky enough, like Lariel, that could sustain himself alone due to his deal with the dwarf and the orphanage, or like the remainder of his roommates that were able to earn enough to sustain themselves in case they needed, albeit with no excessive purchases. But many were not bearers of such luck. Adventuring costed more money than people realized. Your life was constantly on the line. You needed a decent party, which was hard to encounter these days, nice equipment, which got increasingly expensive the better quality it had, and some items that helped you keep hold of your dear life.

Ultimately, adventuring was not for the lazy ones.

Lariel soon reached the orphanage's canteen, where he found noise and confusion, the typical scenario that one would encounter in such an establishment that was majorly populated by kids. He got himself positioned at the end of the line for the food.

What they gave them at the canteen was not bad at all. It was the same one could get in an average inn for a couple of silvers, which just proved that they wanted to have their occupants well fed.

While waiting around, Lariel glanced around. Kids running, chasing each other, other ones eating at their tables with their closest friends. Some isolated themselves, not particularly fans of all the noise and population density, and stayed at the corners of the giant canteen.

He continued to look around, recognizing a few faces here and there of people that he had either talked to in the past or seen regularly in the halls of the orphanage. But one face got his attention. The face of someone that was known in the orphanage for being the errand boy of the Director that owned the orphanage. And to Lariel's surprise, the person to which that face belonged was moving towards him, a smile on his face.

His brain started going into hyperdrive. Am I going to get evicted? No, that shouldn't happen now... I think I still have more time... Did I do something I shouldn't have? No, I don't think that is it...

The reason Lariel was worried was that the Director had a reputation of being harsh on anyone that did anything wrong, and no one liked to be the target of the person that ran the establishment they were living in. Being in Jake's collision course was not a good thing, because it meant that you were under the gaze of the Director, and the Director rarely had anything good to tell you.

With the answers to his questions soon to be answered, he readied himself to speak with Jake, the Director's errand boy.

"So, what brings you here Jake?" he asked once the boy was close enough to hear him despite the noise around them.

"I think you know extremely well why I am here. Boss wants to see you," the smaller boy answered. Jake wasn't particularly threatening, and nobody would usually fear him due to his lack of physical prowess. But what he lacked in his physique, he had in mental power. He was one of the smartest kids in the orphanage, that being the reason why he had been chosen by the Director. He knew where to be and when to be at a specific place to get information on his fellow students, and unless you somehow bribed him, he had the power to snitch on you to the Director.

Of course one could beat him up, but he was directly protected by the Director's presence, therefore, most dared not to ill speak of him, afraid of the possible retaliation.

Lariel had no particular qualms with him, but Jake loved to throw around his weight like it was nothing. 'A sheep shouldn't mess with the shepherd.' was one of his favorite lines. Many made fun of him due to that line, calling him not the shepherd, but the puppy of the shepherd, following the orders of the owner with pleasure.

"Can't I just eat?" Lariel asked. It was not like he was starving, but he guessed it was better to go talk to the Director with a full stomach, making him more inclined to not get pissed of by anything she might say.

"Your funeral. You know how mad Boss gets if you make her wait," was the answer he got from the puppy, that then left. Probably to find an easier victim.

Lariel had the knowledge that making the Director wait was an extremely bad idea, but fortunately for him, she liked to play the political games of making people wait just so that she could seem busy, thus giving the appearance of being more influential than she really was. She was the Director of an orphanage after all. Not the mayor of the city.

Ignoring the promise of an hour of waiting time, Lariel stayed in his sweet spot in the line to get food. His time was coming, and he soon found himself in heaven. Grilled meat. Mashed potatoes. The sauce of gods that he had failed to obtain the name of. Caramelized fruit. Chocolate treats. The true heaven of food appeared right in front of him. And he took advantage of it all.

Unfortunately, his plate had a limit, and getting seconds was out of the question, so a disappointed-looking Lariel could be seen walking out of the food choosing area with a pile of food on top of his plate.

He settled down to eat at an isolated table, enjoying his food to the maximum.

The meat was tender. It almost melted in his mouth, showing just how good cooking skills actually were. I have to get my hands on that skill... Probably going to become my most useful one in times of great importance.

The mashed potatoes were normal, but the spicy sauce that covered them was like heavenly rain, purifying it and giving it a flavor he had never thought possible. Many times he had tried to sneak into the kitchen and figure out how this sauce was made. But all the times, he had been caught, leaving him sauceless, desiring that sweetness that made everything align.

The food didn't last long. After the sauce, everything just seemed bland. Even the small cookie pie slice that he had carried in his hand due to the lack of space failed to compare itself to the divine liquid.

Imagine if someone with a level 200 made this sauce...

Lariel knew that the higher the level, the faster you could make something and the more quality it had. As such, the likely at around level 50 cooking skill chefs couldn't compare to the level 100 ones or even the rare case of a level 200.

It is actually a very plausible theory that it could end life as we know it...

Getting up, Lariel confirmed that no longer than thirty minutes had passed since Jake had told him his presence was required in the Director's office.

It should be enough that I won't have to wait too long...

He delivered his tray with no traces of food to the cleaning lady and went upstairs, to the administrative floor of the building. The stair connect to the corridor that led to a waiting room at the end of it where the Director's assistant was working, allowing people to enter and signing some papers in the name of the boss, not wanting to bother her with meaningless things.

Lariel soon found himself entering that small room.

It had five chairs against the wall. Cushioned chairs at least. If someone important had to wait in a chair that left their asses sore, the Director would probably have trouble on her hands, as such, it was a blessing to those that were meaningless.

Such was life. The paws took advantage of the king's moves to better position themselves, and Lariel was positioning himself in a comfortable way, readying himself for the long wait.

What he didn't expect however was for the assistant to immediately get up and aggressively move towards him the second she saw him sitting down.

"What in the name of all that is sacred do you think you are doing?" she asked, grabbing his arm and forcing him to get up.

"Sitting down...? To wait for you to allow me to enter the Director's office...?" he answered uncertainly. The assistant, despite her frail look, terrified everyone that had to wait in this room. She had an aura that demanded silence and obedience from whoever sat in the chairs. There was even a rumor that she was able to fight toe to toe with Gold-ranked adventurers, although she was an office worker.

"Why would you need to wait? The Director sent Jake to call you more than thirty minutes ago. She has been waiting for you ever since," she said, surprising Lariel while pulling him towards the door to the Director's office. Lila, the assistant, then proceeded to open the door and almost literally throw Lariel inside the office, then proceeding to slam the door behind him. After half a second, loud walking noises could be heard from the other side of the door, and then a smooth 'puff', signaling the presence of Lila in her chair, just behind her dark oak desk stacked with papers to the brim.

A momentarily stunned Lariel shook himself awake, noting his surroundings in the case he needed to escape the monster that was known as Director.

Kela Valet, the Director of the orphanage stared at him from behind her oak wood desk, her aura flaring up. Unlike Lila's aura that demanded silence and obedience, the Director's aura demanded respect. Anyone under her level of power would have trouble going against her. She wasn't all that powerful, but her overwhelming aura made her deadly to those that couldn't fight it. It weakened them and allowed Kela to gain the advantage in any confrontation. She was above Lila in terms of power, but she couldn't be compared to a Platinum adventurer. The gap was massive between that rank and Gold, and the Director was still not able to cross it.

Her desk was clean, giving the impression that either she had nothing to do and therefore had waited for Lariel in boredom, or that she had cleaned her desk so that she could sound more threatening to Lariel, who had no barrier to separate them besides the brown desk. In either case, it wasn't looking good for Lariel.

"You have made me wait," she claimed, her aura increasing in another tier of power, making Lariel whimper and shrink in his spot.