Anna walked into the dining room on the other side of one of the doors in the main room of the inn. It was a large open space and well-lit by the mana lamps that were hung from the ceiling by long chains. As one would expect, it was filled with tables, though they were neatly laid out into rows instead of the usual haphazard fashion one usually found at small inns.

She glanced around the room and found most of her friends sitting at one of the tables near the far corner of the room. Everyone in her party, save Elaine, was sitting at the table. The necromancer was with Arthur and his men. She assumed this was due to the fact that the tables weren’t big enough for the entire group to sit at, and that Elaine had a thing for Issac, who definitely had a thing for her. Anna waved at them as she walked over to the table where the rest of the party sat, and they waved back.

“There you are, child. I was wondering if you were going to come back tonight,” Barika said.

“Sorry for keeping you all waiting. I went exploring after my bath and got distracted,” Anna replied.

“Find anything interesting?” Lyreen asked.

“Oh yeah, all kinds of stuff,” Anna replied.

She sat down at the table and scooted her chair in.

“Like what?” Lyreen asked.

“Well, I went to see the huge temple at the center of the city, and I watched the divine power coming out of it float up into the ward. It was sparkly,” Anna replied.

“That does sound nice,” Lyreen said.

“It was, but I still got bored pretty quick, so I walked around until I found a big group of men who were dancing in the street for whatever reason. I watched them for a while before I smelled something good and went to go see what it was,” Anna replied.

“What did you find?” Voekeer asked.

“Meat on a stick!” Anna replied.

The others laughed.

“Got any room left for dinner, lass?” Thokri asked.

“You know it,” Anna replied.

He grinned at her.

“Anyway, I saw the fluffiest cat ever, and I just had to pet him, so I followed him into an alley and then lured him over with some of the meat. He was so soft and friendly, but that was just cause he wanted the meat. Once it was gone, he ran away. But it was fine. Anyway, I walked around in the alley for a while, and I found a dead man. I didn’t know he was dead at the time. I thought he was just sleeping, so I tried to wake him up by nudging him with my foot, but all that did was make something gross leak out. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I left him there all dead and stuff and walked back here 'cause it was getting late,” Anna added.

“How many times do I have to tell you to stay out of alleys, child?!” Barika replied.

“I’m sorry,” Anna said.

Barika sighed.

“I’m not trying to make things hard for you, child. I just don’t want you to get yourself into any more trouble,” she replied.

“I know,” Anna said.

“Well, anyway, I’m glad you had a good time,” Barika replied.

“Thanks, so, did you get what you needed from the market?” Anna asked.

“Mostly. There were a few things I still need to find,” Barika replied.

“Like what?” Anna asked.

“Blessed silver and a few kinds of holy oils,” Barika replied.

“Are they hard to find?” Anna asked.

“Not really. You just have to buy them from a temple,” Barika replied.

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“I wish you would have said something sooner. I could have got those while I was there!” Anna said.

“I need to pick it out myself,” Barika replied.

“Oh, okay,” Anna said.

“You’re more than welcome to join us tomorrow,” Barika replied.

“Sure,” Anna said.

“I’d better get the server over here again,” Voekeer said.

He raised his hand and snapped his fingers a few times to get the attention of one of the many servers. Soon after, one of them walked over to the table.

“How can I help you?” he asked.

“My friend here just arrived, and she needs to put in her order,” Voekeer replied.

“Of course,” the server said.

He listed the multitude of things that they had available for dinner as well as a large selection of drinks.

“Uh, I guess I’ll have a steak medium well, with mashed potatoes, and roast vegetables. I’d also like a glass of sweet red wine to go with it,” she replied.

“An excellent choice, miss. I will let the kitchen know and have it out as soon as it’s ready,” the server said.

“Thank you,” Anna replied.

He nodded at her and walked away from the table.

“Somebody’s eating fancy tonight,” Lyreen said.

“It’s been a while since I had a good steak, and this place seems like they’d be able to cook a decent one,” Anna replied.

“You do know that you have to pay for the meals separately here, right?” Lyreen asked.

“Yeah, I kind of figured that when he was telling me all the stuff they served,” Anna replied.

“Just don’t spend all of your money on food, alright?” Lyreen said.

“I won’t,” Anna replied.

They chatted for a while, and the others told her about their trip to the market and all the interesting things they had seen. The server returned with a tray and started to pass out plates of food and drink.

“Let me know if you need anything,” he said.

“Of course,” Voekeer replied.

The server walked away, leaving them to their meal.

Anna picked up the fork and knife, sliced a small piece from the rather large steak, and popped it into her mouth. The meat was well seasoned and tender with a hint of smoky flavor from the wood that had been used to build the cooking fire.

She swallowed her first bite and then scooped up some of the mashed potatoes with her fork. She stuffed the fork in her mouth. The potatoes were light and fluffy and tasted of fresh cream and butter. They had been seasoned with salt and dragon pepper which made for a wonderful flavor.

Once she finished with that mouthful, she stabbed some of the roast vegetables next and took a bite. The vegetables were soft and tasted of salted butter which she found to be quite agreeable.

After tasting each portion of her meal, she sipped some of the wine, which was very sweet, just how she liked it. She licked her lips when finished and then picked her tableware back up and began to cut up the steak. She ate it piece by piece, making sure to savor each bite.

This is as good as the one I had at the necromancer’s guild.

“So, is it any good?” Voekeer asked.

“Yeah,” Anna replied.

She kept eating at a slow pace, sipping her wine in between every few bites. She finished her meal after a few minutes and then sipped her wine as she waited for the others.

The server came over holding a bottle of wine. He gestured towards her glass, so she downed what was left and held it out for him to refill. He poured the bright red wine into her glass, filling it all the way to the brim before nodding at her and walking away.

I wonder how he knew I was almost done with my glass? He must have been watching us, but from where? I didn’t see him.

By the time she finished her second glass of wine, her friends had finished their meals. They got up from the table and headed for the exit. The table where Elaine had been sitting with Arthur and his men was empty.

They must have eaten fast for some reason.

She walked out of the dining room with her friends and then up the stairs to the third level where all of their rooms were located. She walked to the end of the hallway where her room was located and unlocked her door before going inside.

“Hello, master. Did you have a good bath?” Ted asked.

“I did! The bathhouse was huge and full of people, which is nice,” Anna replied.

“That’s good to hear,” Ted said.

“Oh, uh, I’m going to have to leave you here again tomorrow. We’re going to the temple, and I don’t think bringing you there would be a good idea. But I’m going to bring you to see an appraiser the day after tomorrow,” Anna replied.

“Is that necessary, master?” Ted asked.

“No, but I would like to know if you can do anything else,” Anna replied.

“I’m not sure if I want to know what I can do, master. I used to belong to someone so evil that everyone is afraid of me,” Ted said.

“It’s not your fault, Ted. You’re just a sword. Anything that the fifth general did with you is on him,” Anna replied.

“That doesn’t change the way people feel about me,” Ted said.

“One day, the chosen one will kill the Dark One, and then people will forget about all the awful things he and his followers did, and then everyone will just think you’re a spooky magic sword,” Anna replied.

“Do you really think so, master?” Ted asked.

“Well, that’s what Thokri told me, and I believe him,” Anna replied.

“Then I believe it too, master!” Ted said.

She tossed her dirty clothing into a pile on the floor and then took off her belt, placing it on the large table in the center of the room. Then she went over to the bed and sat down, taking off her shoes before getting back up to finish getting undressed.

Once her clothing was off, she folded it up neatly and placed it on the table next to her belt. She went back over to her bed but paused for a moment before turning to the full-length mirror standing in the far corner of the room. On a whim, she walked over to the mirror and looked at her reflection.

“Same old me,” she said.

She looked at her hair and frowned, lifting a lock of it up to examine it closely.

I’m going to have to dye you again, aren’t I? Oh, well. There’s some left in the bottle I got from Elaine.

A tentacle appeared and reached into her pack, pulling out the bottle of dye.

“Better get started,” she said.