Kilniara quickly nodded, and listened carefully while Joe once again explained to her, quietly, “Offer Shirnacou, and only Shirnacou, access to this one dialog box for this one time.”

“Dial… what is a dialog box?”

Joe thought for a moment before responding, “Right now, you should see a small box likely asking if you wish to join Shirnacou’s party, yes?’

Kilniara quickly nodded, “Yes? It’s asking me to join?”

“Yes, it is. Think that you wish for Shirnacou to be able to see and use this box, but only this box and nothing else and only for this one time.”

Kilniara listened carefully and also took some time to think carefully as well before nodding and thinking with great exaggeration. Suddenly, it was Shirnacou who jumped a bit in surprise, before smiling gleefully and nodding excitedly. Joe smiled and nodded at both before waving Kilniara back to her seat.

“Good job, Kilniara. Now, Shirnacou, press the button to leave our group almost at the same time, just slightly ahead of pressing to accept Kilniara to the group. Yours must be pressed before, or she cannot join. But if it is immediately after, it should work,” Joe whispered conspiratorially with Shirnacou, excitement at gaming the system thrumming through her and the desire to put Muonooan in her place thrumming through him.

Shirnacou quickly nodded before breathing deeply, then accepting the requests as Joe suggested. Joe noticed nothing really different then decided to flip up his log to check and grinned brightly when he saw several entries with Shirnacou joining and leaving the group and Kilniara joining immediately after Shirnacou left.

“Good job. It worked,” Joe congratulated Shirnacou.

Shirnacou beamed brightly before chuckling, “Thank you much for this gift.”

“Think nothing of it. How much do I owe you?”

As the two began speaking more naturally, excited and happy, Muonooan actually groaned in despair and took a few steps back. Joe saw this and spoke quickly to Shirnacou, rather loudly.

“Why don’t you let everyone know you can now create three member groups… without asking for access to status!”

Muonooan’s angry despair turned to shock at this statement but Joe no longer noticed or cared. Shirnacou laughed before nodding, “Yes. I am able to offer three member parties now, for those who wish. I do not need status access. Please seek me out if you have need of my services. Standard rates, of course!”

No one in the dining area really responded to the announcement, but murmuring exploded around the room and Joe felt like he was soon to finally get some peace and quiet. He then nodded to Shirnacou, catching her attention.

“What are the standard rates?”

“A nickel per member,” she replied, bubbly.

“Ah, so Muonooan really was robbing us blind.”

“Ten nickel is not too extravagant, given the rarity of being able to make three member parties,” Shirnacou replied, defending Muonooan with a slight frown directed at him.

“She did not ask for ten nickel, she asked for a copper!” Garnedell interjected with some heat.

Upon hearing that, Shirnacou looked at Muonooan with some shock before shaking her head at her. Joe ignored the standoff and reached into his pockets, pulling out thirty nickels before getting Shirnacou’s attention again and dropping the coins in her hand.

“Standard rates are a nickel per person. I cannot accept this!”

“Muonooan was right. Exceptional services deserve their pay. I was willing to pay her what she would normally ask, and I’m willing to pay you the same as well. It is fair to charge ten nickel per member.”

Shirnacou shook her head at that, “Muonooan would take most of my customers as she will likely return to the standard pay.”

“She requires status access. You do not.”

Shirnacou’s eyes widened at that before grinning and nodding brightly, “True.”

“It will not last long. She can easily send a group to you and pay them to find your secret. It is an easy secret to learn. Use it well while you can until she has stolen your secret,” Joe cautioned her in a whisper.

Shirnacou’s excitement died at that before she bowed to the group and left them to their meal, “I’m very grateful for all you have offered. Many thanks. If you have need of me again, please ask for me.”

Joe smiled and Shirnacou quickly left the dining area and sped into the reception area towards one of the receptionist. Updating her resume? Letting everyone know of her new skill, probably.

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

Joe turned back to the group and went back to his meal. The ‘salad’ and fruit had turned up at some point in the standoff with Muonooan, the waiter slipping the food onto the table so smoothly and clandestinely that Joe didn’t even notice. Now, a much better meal.

“Right. Let’s actually enjoy our meal, please, before it gets even colder.”

The other three quickly joined in, although awe seemed to keep them a little quieter; all except for Garnedell.

“That was amazing! How did you know that, Joe?”

“She was lying about her skill. She had no skill in her grouping ability. It was literally still at less than one digit.”

The other three soon began jabbering excitedly, Zilnek and Kilnaira presseing more on Joe’s ability to read than on what he’d done for Shirnacou, although they soon were all asking him lots of questions on everything as the meal went on. Luckily, Joe was able to enjoy some moments of peace to eat as the other three soon began to ravage through their meals themselves when one began to hog the conversation, giving Joe sometime to eat while the others spoke.

After the meal was over, Joe paid the exorbitant but definitely worth it cost, “That was… amazing! We are going to eat here a lot more. Although, we still need to eat at the inn because they don’t serve enough veges here.”

Garnedell looked up at Joe, “What are veges?”

Joe’s eyes rose at that, “Vegetables.”

“Vegetable? What are vegetables?”

“You don’t know what… right, of course. You wouldn’t ask. Um… Vegetables are any part of the plant that is not a fruit, basically, that humans will eat.”

“Oh, so the spiritual herbs we ate are vegetables?”

“Yes,” Joe replied quickly, “And, spiritual herbs?”

“Yes. We ate spiritual herbs. That was why they were so expensive.”

“Wait. Spiritual herbs?”

“Yes?” Garnedell replied with some confusion then quickly realized Joe didn’t know, “You… do not have spiritual herbs?”

“Not as you describe them.”

Garnedell thought a bit before replying, “They are very powerful and strengthen your body and mana. Many great cultivators use herbs to increase their strength, although they are usually taken by alchemists to create powerful medicines and elixirs. They are strong by themselves, but a good alchemist will make them much stronger.”

“Huh… interesting. So… a magical buff of some kind?”

The mana in the air wavered, condensing, then exploding outward, his language skill coming into play once more. Ganredell quickly began shaking his head no even as the shockwave of mana passed.

“No. It permanently improves your body.

“Huh… that’s… not quite the same as our people. It is… maybe similar? Seems a bit more magical in nature, though. Our people have found that it is very healthy for the people to eat a variety of foods. The ‘spiritual herbs’ are called greens by my people. Maybe some would call them herbs but herbs are used for medicine or to spice food. Greens are the leaves of plants, usually, and are very healthy for humans. Roots are the parts of plants that are usually in the… well… root or ground. But basically, anything not a fruit is a vegetable.

“A fruit is the part of a plant that grows seed and surrounds it with sweet edible flesh. Apples and oranges are fruits, as are kiwis and, well… there are many. Another kind of easy way to define it is if it’s sweet, it’s a fruit. If it’s not, it’s a vegetable. The sweet thing isn’t always true, though. Some things that many think are fruits are not and some things… You know what? It’s a confusing mess and even our people get it messed up,” Joe ended with a sigh.

The other three stared at him with some confusion before Garnedell replied, “So fruits are sweet, but not always. And they are what grow the seed on a plant? So, nuts are fruits?”

“No. Nuts do not have … look, it’s confusing and crazy and ultimately it doesn’t really matter. What matters is that for health, eating a variety of fruits and vegetables is important.”

“You need fruits and vegetables to be healthy?”

“Hmm… there are four major food groups with a fifth kind of important. Fruits, vegetables, grains, and proteins. And milk, although, I’m… I don’t know what your bones are made out of, so… maybe milk isn’t important. You know what, just eat a variety of foods to be healthy and remember to balance each meal with fruits, vegetables, grains, and meat in about equal parts. But also eat eggs and milk fairly regularly.”

“So eat a variety of foods but try to eat fruits, vegetables, grains, and meat?” Garnedell asked.

“Yes, well... for my people. Acokzau would probably be best just with meat.”

Garendell paused for a moment before continuing, “Then, grains are nuts? So then…”

“Nuts are not grains.”

“What? Grains are seeds! Nuts are seeds. So nuts are grains!”

Joe laughed at that, shocked amusement trickling from him, “Ha.. ah.. well, yeah. You’re right. That’s got to be confusing. Well, nuts are usually larger and grow in shells. Grains are…”

“All seeds grow in shells,” Garnedell interrupted in frustration.

“Grains don… ok, never mind, you're right,” Joe cut off as he remembered chaff and the need to remove the tough outer skin of grains. He shook his head and chuckled a bit before began again, “It’s a confusing mess, I guess. It will make sense if I can teach it all to you. It might take some time though. Sorry it’s so confusing.”

The other three grinned at that, Garnedell actually laughing, “Can you actually teach it? It seems like an utter labyrinth!”

“Or alchemy!” Kilniara added with laughter.

Joe laughed with them then cocked his head in thought, “Well, actually, I guess it is alchemy.”

The other three stopped almost dead at that, Garnedell looking up with some confusion and Kilniara, in shock, asked, “Is it truly alchemy?”

“Our people call it chemistry, but essentially, yes.”

The other three seemed to be tense in thought before Kilniara interjected, “And you would teach us alchemy… chemistry?”

Joe laughed at that, “I can teach you the basics, only. I’m not rejecting you, but I only know a tiny bit about chemistry, but I will teach you what I can.”

Garnedell and Zilnek took this proclamation in stride but Kilniara grinned in excitement, “Really! I can learn to be an alchemist.”

Joe looked at Kilniara, “You want to be an alchemist?”

Kiliniara quickly sobered before nodding cautiously, “If that is OK with you, Joe?”

Joe’s eyebrows rose at that, “Don’t ask me. Do as you choose. I will support you as best as I can. That goes for all of you, too!”

Kilniara smiled at that, brightly, before skipping on ahead, leaving them behind. All three laughed at her behavior, Zilnek and Joe being first and Garnedell joining in after. The continued with Kilniara leading them until Zilnek finally shook his head and pointed to the side.

“Joe, we need to go this way.”

Joe looked where Zilnek pointed and smiled evilly before calling out to Kilniara, “Bye! Enjoy your jaunt around the city. We’re going this way.”

Joe pointed as he called and the three guys laughed loudly as they turned down another street. They’re laughter doubled when they heard Kilniara’s irritated rejoinder and the sound of running feet behind them. Joe spun when he heard her turn the corner, waving at her as she ran up to them.