Elira looked around to make sure that the other two weren’t there. She even ran across the area where the final lift would’ve arrived in the bottom layer, and found very few people lingering around there. None of those people happened to be her companions, which gave her confidence in her victory.

She looked out into the distance away from the bottom layer of Rupes. Now that she was back out aboveground, Elira relished the heat from Zenith’s twin suns, which was most definitely a welcome breath of fresh air after being underground for so long.

Since she was the first one out, Elira thought that she’d find something to do for the time being. Since Zivot and Gulmory still hadn’t arrived, she looked for something to eat. They hadn’t eaten much since they’d left Draconis, and it was nearing supper time.

The shops around her on Rupes’s ground layer were... uninspiring to say the least. Some of them were geared more towards the affluent folk who would constantly travel up and down the city, while the rest of them weren’t even open at this time.

It seems like a lot of the shops around here close when the lift system doesn’t function properly. But... I still don’t get why hardly anyone’s waiting to go up when there’s so many people waiting to come down...

When calculating how long she’d taken to get down here, Elira narrowed it down to about an hour or two. She didn’t realise just how efficient the path she’d taken was, but it made sense since she didn’t have to worry about any lifts or layers. For some reason, the Waterways were much easier to travel through. Elira chalked that up to the railings that she went down, which would’ve brought her down to ground level even further back into the city, bypassing any of the layers out in the higher areas. It did make her wonder about the construction of the Waterways though, since there weren’t many structural pillars in place that would’ve kept that shell of the mountain from crumbling under its own weight... unless... it was all artificial. In which case, a lot of it would make sense. It was entirely possible that the cavern top in the Waterways was created far before her time, but she’d have to study up on that.

Elira’s thoughts drifted back to her companions.

Zivot would have to find a way down each layer if the lift systems weren’t working properly, which wouldn’t be easy. Gulmory doesn’t know much about the city, so I feel like we’ll end up waiting for her the longest.

*Phew*

Well, for now... let’s find something to eat.

Elira took Tempest to a nearby stable pen that she knew of, and paid to have him fed while she took a closer look at some of the shops she’d seen earlier.

Just next to the bottom exit of the massive lifts, Elira found a small enclosure with a handful of food places around it.

She read the sign that led into the enclosure, which read ‘food court’.

Must be a new addition. I definitely would’ve remembered something like this the last time I was here.

As she looked around, Elira found a few different food places within the food court. There was one that specialised in providing drinks, specifically alcoholic. Another seemed to have a highlighted focus on grilled foods, while the third was marketed as an all-rounder of food services.

Elira was rather peckish, so she elected to take a look inside the place that had a logo of a grilled fish on top.

The restaurant, much like the court outside, was rather clean. Since it was strategically placed in the city to attract richer customers, this was the very highest level of cleanliness that Elira would’ve expected from a restaurant. There were some people eating inside, and some people who were eating at the tables just outside in the court.

She walked over to the front counter.

“Hello.” Elira said, startling the worker at the counter.

“Oh! Sorry, hello! How may I help you today?” They said.

Elira quickly observed the worker.

Not a fighter, or a mage. Just a worker. The green hair’s nice though...

“I like your green hair! It suits you.” She smiled at them.

“Thank you so much!” They said with a wide smile.

“Do you have a menu I could look at?”

There weren’t any boards with writing that would’ve detailed the prices of the food, or even what kinds of food were being served here.

“Ah yes, gimme just one sec... aaaannd... here you go!”

*THUD*

A thick, heavy-looking, booklet slammed onto the counter.

Elira stared at it with wide eyes.

“That... that’s the menu?” She said as she meekly pointed at the booklet.

“Yep! Please take your time perusing our offerings. Our chef is the best in the business, so we can guarantee satisfaction!”

“Uh-huh... Well, gimme a few minutes then. Thank you.”

“Of course. I’ll let the chef know to prepare for your order!”

The worker set off into the kitchen in the back.

Elira was flabbergasted. Not only are there this many options on the menu, but there’s only 1 chef?! How do they handle it when there’s more than this many customers?!

She tried to peek through the window to the kitchen to see just what kind of monster was running this kitchen.

Just a glimpse is all Elira caught.

6 arms... blue skin... a Gegeen? He’s so far from home... It must be that guy’s divine race.

It made sense now. Gegeens were a divine race without a clan. They lived on an island just a few kilometres off the shoreline near the Isle of Chimes. Oftentimes, adult Gegeens were very large, Elira remembered. They matured into giants with 6 arms, but this one here must still be very young.

How’d he end up on the other side of Zenith?

*GGGGRRrrrrrrlll*

Elira wanted to ask about the chef, but her stomach had other ideas in mind.

She sighed, then flipped through the booklet quickly.

The one thing that stood out to her was the grilled kraken tongue.

Elira’d fought against a kraken before, but she’d never once thought about eating its remains, which she’d now regretted since she could’ve clearly made a pretty penny from selling its edible parts. Some group of adventurers must have gone kraken hunting, and sold some of the edible parts to restaurants like this. It would’ve cost a fortune for a full kraken tongue, since they were so big and rare, but the profit an adventurer could make from that would be immense. Even just selling a small chunk that could be preserved and sold in bite-sized pieces... Elira figured that it was probably a lucrative investment.

She looked at the price tag, and thought very little of it.

Elira had money. She wouldn’t mind paying tens of gold pieces to try something like this.

The worker from before came back through the kitchen.

“You ready to order, ma’am?”

Elira nodded. She pointed at the kraken tongue drawing in the booklet.

“I’ll have a chunk of kraken tongue please. To go.”

“Yes, of course. Since it’s a big ticket item, we need you to pay half now and half once you receive your food.”

“Understandable. Here.”

Elira summoned 40 gold pieces from her spatial storage. She handed 20 of them to the worker.

The worker stored the gold pieces in an arcane lockbox, which was a device often used by businesses to store their daily income in. Elira wanted one, but she had no real reason to get one.

“Wonderful! I’ll let the chef know. It should be ready in the next 20 or so minutes.”

“Great, I’m looking forward to it!” Elira said with a smile. “Here, take this.” She handed the worker a small disc. “When it’s ready, just push that button and I’ll come back. I’ll be stepping outside for a while.”

“Ah, well I guess I could? I mean... never mind. I’ll do that. See you in a bit then!”

Elira nodded, and stepped back outside while the worker went to inform the chef. She didn’t want one of the other two to reach the bottom and think that they’d won the race because she was in the restaurant waiting for her food.

A small bench just outside of the food court was all she needed to be in view of the bottom layer’s lift. Elira assumed that the most realistic place for the other two to exit would be there. Well, it was a bit more than an assumption.

There were no other exits except through the sewer canals, which was the exit that Elira took. She was sure that Gulmory, who prided herself on her appearance, wouldn’t dare set foot in the sewers.

An invasive thought prompted Elira to sniff herself.

*sniff sniff*

*whew*

Not bad. You can hardly smell the sewer shit.

Well...

Fuck it. Better safe than sorry.

Elira muttered under her breath as she cast an incantation.

A swirl of light blue mana circled around her from toe to head, before dispersing out into thin-air. Elira sniffed herself again.

Okay, I’m clean... but...

She withdrew a small bottle of perfume from her spatial storage.

Elira sprayed herself a few times, and waited for it to sit.

She sniffed herself again.

Mmm... that’s a lot better.

Now that she was here, and had some time to spare, Elira began people-watching.

She watched out in the distance and took in the view in front of her.

The vast city of Rupes with all of its layers went up the mountainside, causing a bit of a juxtaposition between its mechanical atmosphere and the rocky, snowy, and green patches just outside of its bounds.

The people around the bottom layer were all dressed to impress, it seemed to Elira. Many of them were organised in family units, and wore incredibly expensive clothing. At least, that was for those who were walking along Rupes’ streets. There was a small number of horse-drawn carriages as well. Though, those were all backed up because of the lifts not operating at the moment. It seemed like the only people going up were the rich, while the only people who were coming down were the poor. Travelling on foot through the Undercity would’ve taken more than a day just to get down to the bottom of the city, but the lifts were open to everyone.

Which, Elira imagined, resulted in the verbal abuse of the poor who took them, but they had little other choice if they had to make haste.

Even though there was a lot happening, Elira took it all in.

A child dropped their ice cream. Their parents berated the child for dropping the ice cream. Then the child began crying.

Just beside that was one of the drivers of a horse-drawn carriage. He was taking care of his horses while they waited to move forward. He used such a large brush, Elira thought.

Beyond all of that were a couple of clothes shops. One geared towards women, and the other geared towards men. Elira squinted to see a rich looking man coming out of the men’s shop with a new tailored white suit. Doesn’t hide his massive belly though.

*Pfft*

Elira giggled to herself. The suit was so poorly tailored that she could see the man’s belly peeking out from the bottom. Or maybe... the measurements are old, and that man just got fatter...

*Pahahaha!*

It really tickled Elira, given that both possibilities were hilarious.

Rupes wasn’t a warrior city. There were few adventurers that resided here, but the ones that did were often very wealthy thanks to their obtained spoils. She looked around trying to see if she could spot any of those old guard warriors who’d have settled here in Rupes. But to Elira’s disappointment, there were none roaming the streets right now.

*BZZT BZZT*

Elira jumped. The vibration in her pocket startled her.

But, fortunately, it also meant that her food was ready.

She returned to the restaurant.

The worker had a box beside them on the counter.

“Wow, that was fast.” The worker said. “How did you... how does this disc thing work?” they asked while pointing at the disc on the counter.

“Oh that little thing? It’s a simple device that works with a minor mana tether. You push the button, and it sends a small burst of mana to the one I have, which vibrates whenever you press it.” She answered, picking up the disc.

“Woooah... that’s... really cool! Ahem. Well, here’s your piping hot kraken tongue!” The worker took the lid off the box to show Elira.

Elira was amazed when she saw it, but her mouth only started salivating when the smell wafted up into her nostrils.

“Wow... that smells amazing! Here!” She handed the worker the other 20 gold pieces.

“It’s one of my favourite pieces from the menu, so I hope you enjoy!”

“Ah right... one more thing. Please tell your chef that I said “Argonáftes anathematisménoi. Zíse ópos théleis”. He’ll know what it means.”

“Uh... I can’t lie, I won’t remember any of that... could you tell him yourself?”

Elira stared at the worker. She sighed.

“Fine.”

The worker ran into the back and brought the chef out just a few moments after.

“You say you have word for me?” He asked in a broken tongue.

Elira nodded.

“Argonáftes anathematisménoi. Zíse ópos théleis.”

The Gegeen’s eyes widened. He bowed quickly.

“Les tin alítheia. Efcharistó.”

Elira took the box of food and the disc back from the counter, and left without another word.

Hopefully he gets to go back home at some point, but he should also live his life to the fullest now that he’s here.

Elira smiled to herself. She was excited to try something now while waiting for her companions.