Chapter 343: 343 - Melting a Frozen Hearth

"Noah!" Maggie waved at him as he walked inside. The tables were, much to his surprise, mostly empty. Her, Bel and Carlos had already bought each their own, but she had an extra cone on her other hand. "Look, they had mint!"

"Did you buy mine too?" he asked with a smile, as he sat on the chair.

"Yeah! I bought it the way you always did when you came over to eat with me," she said while giggling. "But, where's Lilith?" she asked, leaving around to see if the snake was behind him.

"Oh, Lilith, she wasn't feeling that well so I left her in the car. She's probably taking a nap," Noah brushed it aside, watching and Bel's face became a little troubled.

"The ice-cream here is damn great. Why the hell is it so empty? Even the prices aren't half bad either," Carlos hopped in, tryin to changethe course of the conversation.

"This is not a trendy place. Everything is very traditional, and they don't even have Blessed Discounts. It's not really that much of a surprise, to be honest," Noah half-heartedly answered. He had no emotional connection to this place, at least not like Maggie had, but he also knew she was more kin of the memories the taste reminded her of, than the brand itself.

"Why in shit lord's name should I give discounts to that kind of fuckers?" the voice of an old man said behind them, making Noah turn around. Near the wall, on one small table, an old man ate a small cup of ice-cream that was not branded like those bought, his words indicating how many were around. "In all my years, never once I saw a single Blessed uphold a finger to help me and all the rest of the normal people. All they care is about their money and Fortresses," he said, before cussing under his breath, and taking a spoonfull of ice-cream to his mouth. "On the day a fucking blessed does a single thing to help me, like that masked fucker the other day, then I'll acknowledge those unbearable bastards."

Noah simply stared at him, dumbfounded, but Maggie and Carlos had shit-eating grins on their faces, knowing he was talking to the masked person himself. And Noah, already being a long-timer, already knew the old man, "Come on, Youseff, isn't it better you never needed those people in the first place?" Noah's words surprised the others in his table, but seeing Noah's expression, Carlos quickly understood the broader picture.

"Come fuckin' on, No-boy. You know all to well what those bastards did to you. I was here all that time, and I was the one to help you out, and your mom, may God rest her, poor girl." As the old man said this, a sad face could be seen on Maggie's face, while Carlos looked troubled. Bel didn't really understand a thing, and just stared at Noah, as he saw him bite his lip, not knowing how to respond. "Talkin' bout it. How's your little girl? You haven't ever come to get her ice these days, she doin' alright?"

Suddenly, Noah's face relaxed, as he smiled, hearing the old man's question. "Come to think of it, I haven't introduced you two, have I?" The man just furrowed his brows, as he saw Noah stand up and walk around the table, putting him hand on top of Maggie's head. "Maggie, say hi to Youseff, he's an old friend who helped us all this time you were in the hospital."

Widening his eyes, the old man pushed the table away from him, stading up, "Sweet mother of god, is that you lil' sister?! What in the hell happened? Did you sell your soul to the devil? She looks so dang well I didn't even recognize her." He walked towards them, a broad smile on his grumpy old face, as he walked down to their table.

"Well... something like that," Noah chuckled nervously while smiling. After all, it was the first time he saw this grumpy old man smile ever since his mother, whom he cared for like a daughter, passed away.

Carlos, who had now no clue of what was happening here, just stared confusedly at Noah, trying to figure what in the hell was happening.

Meanwhile, the old man finally made his way to the table, waving at Carlos, and patted Maggie's hair while grinning. "Oh, damn. Your mom would be so proud to see you like this. She always talked about how lovely you were, in contrast to that stinky old brat over there," he said while teasing Noah, who stood behind her. "Allie, grab yourself the house special and a chair, we're closed for the day!" he yelled towards the counter, where a woman ran out towards the glass doors, flipping the sign, before passing them by.

"Hey, Al," Noah said, as the woman hugged him shortly, before turning around towards the counter once again.

"Been a long time, No. I'mma get the thing before the old man gives up," she said while chuckling, vanishing behind the counter again.

The old man pulled a chair and sat on the table together with them, much to Carlos' surprise. "Now, now. Tell me what in the hell is goin' on here, and why you are dressed like a businessman," the old man said while eating his ice-cream, prompting Noah to tell him about Maggie's recovery.

Having withheld all the information about his sudden power-surge, Noah told him about having finally managed to pay for Maggie's treatment, and about having managed to get better at Fortress diving, finally paying off his mother's debt.

As he told him, the old man shed a tear, which he quickly wiped off, "Oh damn... No-boy, to think my garbage boy would manage to go that far." Theold man laughed off, a smile on his face, as he turned behind without hearing a sound, "There you go, Al. I thought you had forgotten it," he complained, as the woman walked from the counter with a massive bowl of ice-cream, one that easily fit more than a couple galons of it.

"You know this stuff takes a while to scoop, stop complaining," she said, putting the massive thing on the middle of the table, Maggie and Bel's eyes shining.

"No-boy, don't get used to this treatment. Today we are celebrating Mag's recovery," the old man turned grumpy for a second, making Allie and Noah hold themselves from laughing.

"So, Noah, did you work here?" Carlos asked, as he saw the woman sit down on the table and introduce herself to Maggie.

"Oh? Yeah, I used to work here a lot until I became a blessed. And even after that, since F-Rank Blessed don't make all that money," he said, taking one of the scoops and starting to eat at the massive bowl of ice-cream, which the kids were already attacking. "Also," he leaned over, talking a bit softer so only Carlos could hear, 'the old man here did a lot for my mom while we were small. He was the guy who helped her get jobs after the whole thing with my sister, so we owe him quite a lot. Whenever he needs a hand, I just hop by," he said, making sure the prideful old man wouldn't hear.

"Noah, we should bring Lilith over, since we are doing this," Bel said, happily eating the ice-cream, while Maggie nodded. The old man and the woman stared at Noah, not understanding who the kids were talking about, and poking him for answers with his stares.

"Right," Noah sighed, stading up and readying himself for heading to the car, "I'll go her her from the car. Be right back," he told the table, turning around and leaving the five people behind, talking to each other about ice-cream flavors, for some reason.

Noah made his way out and across the street, walking directly towards his parked car. From far away, he could already see the large snake laying across the back seats, sprawled over them, visibly larger than when he left. "Hey, Lilith," he called her out, opening the door and climbing in the back seat, pushing part of her body away so he could fit on the back.

"Noah? Are you back already?" she asked, slowly coiling herself, and lifting her head as she yawned, her fangs massively protruding as she did so.

"Yeah, my old boss is having an ice-cream party. Bel and Maggie wanted me to get you so they could see you. Are you any better?" he asked, seeing her still a little weird.

"I don't know... I feel a little dizzy, and my head hurts," the snake told him, making Noah finally realize what was happening.

"Seriously? You have a hangover?" he said, a strange expression on his face as he doubted his ears. But as he did to himself, he quickly used his [Healing Flames], getting her back to normal. "So, can we go now?" he asked the snake, which now looked and sounded a lot better than a moment ago.

"Sure. Also, should I talk to you by telepathy, or are you fine?" she asked him, just to make sure.

"Yeah, it's a public place after a—" Mid sentence, Noah was interrupted by the sound of a large explosion, the car itself shaking, and turned towards the source of it, looking back to the source of the sound, and seeing a large dark cloud a few blocks away from them.