Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

After a while, he saw Irene bringing Cecilia who was hiding behind her inside the dining hall. Simon couldn't help but smile once again looking at the cute action of the girl with bright emerald hair and wearing a pretty green dress.

Her face that still retained some of her childishness, looked very adorable. Grooowwl… a voice came from her stomach and the snow-white face of Cecilia quickly became beet red. Simon quickly opened the [Shop] and bought numerous dishes that lined up the table.

Cecilia looked over the table as an appealing fragrance assaulted her nose and increased her appetite. Food that she had never before seen was neatly lined up on the table and looked so delicious that she couldn't help but gulp audibly.

Simon looked at the sparkling eyes of the little girl as she stared at the food on the table. But was still hesitant for some reason. He pulled out a chair and told her to sit down. Cecilia after giving it some thought, came over as told and sat on the chair.

Irene pulled out her own chair and sat near Cecilia as she watched her glittering eyes when she looked at the food. Even Irene had to admit that the dishes Simon brought out, was always delicious.

"I know you must be very hungry so you don't have to hold back. Dig in and eat whatever you want. Don't worry about the food, I can bring out some more whenever I want" Simon said when he saw that the little girl was still hesitating.

Groooowwl~~~ Her face dyed a crimson red, Cecilia nodded and finally couldn't hold herself back in the face of the appetizing smell. She grabbed the strawberry sundae and brought a spoonful of it to her mouth. "mmm~~" a sweetness along with a cold sensation spread across her whole mouth and her big wide eyes became stunned.

She hurriedly gulped down few more mouthfuls before moving on to the next items. Burgers, cream stew, shrimp fries, meat rolls. One after the other she tried all the dishes. It was so delicious that tears glittered across her eyelids and it was only after a while that her appetite began to satiate. Seeing her finish one dish after another, Simon had to wonder where she was putting all the food into.

After finishing her meal, she finally gave her thanks "Thank you for the food and also for saving me". Simon nodded "You don't have to worry about it. I saved you because I wanted to so there is no need for you to concern about anything".

Cecilia opened her mouth and tried to say something but words failed to come out of her. After struggling internally for a while, she finally said it out loud "But now that you have involved yourself with me, trouble will come seeking you all". Her eyes were trembling and her face was masked with worry.

Simon snorted and replied curtly "Who doesn't have their own share of trouble. It is useless to worry about something that might or might not happen in the future. What matters is the will to tackle it." He smiled and said in a resolute tone "And even if trouble does knock at my door, I just have to get strong enough to smash through it all".

Hearing Simon's confident reply did alleviate some of her worries but she still felt it was inappropriate to involve them in her troubles so she asked "I don't want to burden you guys. It is something I must tackle myself so instead, will you train me so that I can get strong enough to beat those people back?". Cecilia's eyes showed how determined she was.

Simon sighed helplessly and couldn't help massage his temple. He said "Fight huh?! You better give up on that idea. I heard from Irene that your race is not suited for combat so even if you train, it would be hard for you to even kill a Direwolf as you are now. Look now, I know that you are worried about getting us involved in your troubles but now that I have saved you I have already gotten myself involved with you so those troubles of yours aren't just yours alone are they?".

Although Cecilia was at level 259, according to Irene she wasn't even strong enough to beat a level 100 direwolf alone.

Cecilia had a look of surprise on her face as she heard what Simon had to say. She couldn't believe that even after knowing that troubles and misfortune would befall him if he harboured her, he would still choose to get himself involved in it.

The first thing that came to her mind was why. Why would someone she just met, would choose to involve himself with her troubles instead of casting her away. Cecilia couldn't help but ask "Why?".

Simon reached out with his hand and caressed Cecilia's emerald hair and declared "You don't have to think of yourself as a burden because I'm not the kind of person who has it in him to abandon a girl who is suffering so much all alone and whose eyes clearly say that they need help".

Irene was still as indifferent as before but if one looked carefully, one would see that her eyes were no longer as icy as before whenever they stared at Simon.

Cecilia became dazed for a while, she felt warmth and care from him who was so adamant on getting himself involved with her. Simon looked at her clear green eyes that shone as bright as a crystal and said "Did you really think that you could convince anyone while having that look in your eyes".

He could see the girl's pain and suffering in the depths of her eyes as they desperately pleaded and sought help. No matter how she masked it, Simon saw right through it. When she saw his determination, tears glimmered in the corners of her eyes and she finally nodded and gave a weak reply that was a mixture of gratefulness, sobbing and relief "Unngh".

Irene wiped the tears from her cheek and comforted her. She knew that the girl who was less than five years old had gone through a lot and she couldn't bear to see her suffer anymore.

While hugging the girl in her bosom, Irene looked at Simon and said "I have a proposal. The Forest Spring Spirit Clan have the innate ability to manipulate nature and grow the rarest of plant and trees. Not only that but they are the best caretaker and overseers of the forest you could find in this whole world and lots of hidden abilities that even I'm not aware of".

"Therefore if you take the Forest Spring Spirit Clan under your protection as your subordinates, it will help you and the dungeon grow in the future. You, who need subordinates to maintain the dungeon for you, and they who need protection to live on, are a perfect fit don't you think so? If you harbour and protect them, the benefits that the Forest Spring Spirit Clan can provide you will far outweigh any cons that they might bring in the future".

Simon looked deeply into Irene's eyes which wanted to protect the Forest Spring Spirit Clan. The benefits that the clan can provide was just an excuse to make him shelter the pitiful clan. However, even without her telling him the benefits he already made his mind to protect the little girl and her clan.

He stared at Cecilia and asked, "Where in the forest your clan is located at?".