‘Was.’ Lan said, his voice bearly audible, which didn't matter. Those around him most likely could have heard him from across the room, with the music going. ‘Sorry, don’t mind me. I’ll be back in a minute.’ Lan stood.

Despite not meaning to, his words seemed to have dampened the mood. At this, Lan allowed himself a small smile. They really were good people, he thought as he approached Eliza. Who saw him and looked away before moving to a quieter part of the inn.

Why he didn’t know, all he had to do was sign the annulment; they didn’t need quiet for that. Moving to the corner seat by the window, Eliza sat and waited for Lan. When she didn’t look at him, Lan sighed and sat down, seeing Ganin and another of Dell’s thugs on the other side of the window.

Lan laughed bitterly. He knew they were there to escort her, but the two hovered over them like he would try something. What would he do? Maybe it was to stop him from trying to convince her to change her mind. If that was the case, then they didn’t need to worry. More importantly, she had just let him walk into it again.

‘What are you doing in a place like this? This is an inn for adventurers,’ she said as if he hadn’t noticed.

‘It’s getting late.’ Lan looked over to Locke and the others. Although they weren’t looking his way, they also weren’t saying anything, and none of them were drinking from their mugs.

‘Don’t you want to say anything? We won't have another chance to talk after this. So it’s best to get everything out now. I owe you that much.’ Eliza said, almost sounding annoyed as if she had no choice but to be there. Lan just looked at her for a moment.

When it looked like she would speak again. Lan reached over the table and took the papers from her. Eliza's face flashed with surprise as he marked them with a drop of blood, and the law keeping them linked burned to ash a moment later as she stared as they fell.

‘I think you have said enough.’ Lan stood, leaving Eliza to stare at his back.

[Song of intertwined fate Severed: You are no longer bound by fate to Eliza Dell.]

Lan was halfway back to the table when the first song started, and someone grabbed his hand, pulling him towards the dance floor. Spinning, Lan was greeted by no other than Olivia, who was literally glowing with magic, her eyes alight like lightning trapped in her sapphire blue eyes. With a laugh, she threw her arms around him.

‘Olivia, this isn’t the best…’ was all he managed before she spun the two of them around.

‘Come on, I told you before you were my dance partner again, didn’t I?’

‘No, you didn’t!-’ Lan tried before they almost crashed into a rather large Goliath, who was dancing with a rather short human woman, next they almost ran into Leah, who was carrying two trays filled with mugs. The incredible barmaid lifted the trays above them and frowned at the two.

Lan wanted to be mad. He wanted to shout about what the hell was wrong with her. Instead, Lan found himself laughing at the absurdity of the situation. All he wanted to do was be upset for a while, yet the odd Mage, who seemed to enjoy teasing him, wouldn’t let him do that.

Suddenly she stopped spinning them, wrapped her arms around his neck, and looked over his shoulder. Giving someone a smug smile before leaning up and kissing him. Lan's mind went blank momentarily before he came to his senses to pull away.

‘Wow, that’s a lot harder when you are standing,’ She giggled and hopped back.

‘What was that about?’ Lan blurted out. He didn’t mind the kiss, but he had been sure she was just teasing him this whole time.

Lan got his answer as a chair crashed to the floor. Before Valk let out a death wail of a laugh. Lan looked over and found the Dwarf on the floor as Drevin stood against the wall, quietly weeping.

Vasha looked over then immediately sprayed her wine all over Cassandra, forming a rainbow over the table, while Sora was on all fours trying and failing to catch his breath. And once again, Locke wouldn’t look at him.

‘You didn’t.’ Lan said as Olivia formed a mirror in front of him. Lan felt like he would be sick. Lined up perfectly with his mouth, and most of his lower face was a red pair of glowing woman’s lips.

With a burning feeling of betrayal and a face that tried to match his lips, Lan activated the tome and started the ten-second countdown on the spell as Olivia took a theatrical bow,

‘Face it, Lan,’ she said, straightening. ‘after that, there is no way you can pull off a brooding look.’ She smiled. Maybe it was the glow around her or that it mattered enough to her to care, but Lan found the sight of her etching itself onto his memory.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

‘Oh, right,’ She looked thoughtful. ‘As for the answer about last night…’ Olivia said as she leaned in to whisper. Her lips were moments away from touching Lan’s ear before she turned, and she cupped her hands around her mouth.

‘Drink!’ she sang a moment before Lan found himself rushing toward the table, with the fear of the snow wine the only thing on his mind.

Lan managed to survive the round, with Cassandra losing, although it looked like she did so on purpose. Not only showing little emotion to losing, which Lan learned was how she reacted to most things. She focused intently on the bottle, which Lan guessed could pass for excitement, as she watched the ice climb up the glass before throwing back the shot.

Unlike with Valk, frozen air rolled slowly from the corners of her mouth as her eyes gained silver-blue light that flashed like lightning like an ice dragon waking from its slumber. With her pale skin and silver hair, the frost looked like it was almost meant to be a part of her. Licking her lips, the mysterious woman looked around the table.

‘What?’

‘Oh yeah… I forget that Cassandra is a mana user.’ Olivia added.

‘So, how was it?’ Valk asked, clearly, hoping she liked it. Although he was trying hard, he still would have lost if not for Cassandra wanting to try the drink and was now hoping that she may have taken a liking to it.

‘Hmm, could be sweeter.’ She breathed, seeming to lose interest in the drink.

‘Agh, fine. Bring it on, ya tall bastards.’ Valk shouted. ‘I’ll drink you all under the table.’ Despite this declaration, Valk lost the next two, looking more like a snowman with every loss, even if thawing soon after.

Each time, Olivia seemed to find it all the funnier than the time before. Luckily for the Dwarf, in the fourth round, Sora choked and paused just long enough for Valk to finish before him. The young rogue threw his head back and let out a geyser of snow before falling back onto the floor.

Following Cassandra's lead, Olivia took a loss, but if Vulk thought there would be any retribution. It was dashed as she took the shot and braced her arms on the back of her chair, tilted her head and blew the frost into the air. The magic snow gathered before forming large snowflakes that danced and spun, catching and reflecting the light in the inn before breaking apart and floating away on a breeze.

Now in high spirits, Olivia rolled her head to look at Lan before dragging him onto the dance floor again. Lan himself had long since felt the effects of the cheap wine they were forcing down, and he had to work not to trip the two of them. Although he didn’t really need to worry for too long.

[New skill unlocked: Dancing.]

Just gaining the skill was enough to make Lan feel a little more confident, and Lan started having fun instead of being moved around, terrified of breaking something.

After a while, Olivia headed back to the table, but as Lan tried to follow her, a large grey hand fell on his shoulder. Turning, Lan was greeted by a woman, a head taller than him, with greyish-white skin, grey hair and red eyes.

‘Hey, human, I need someone to dance with.’ She said and dragged him back. It wasn’t unpleasant. The woman was pretty and less skilled than Olivia, making it easier for him to keep up. Despite having seen one before, this was Lan's first interaction with a Goliath. Despite there being plenty of them in the city, they rarely worked in manual labour, choosing to join adventurers guilds whenever they left their clans.

‘Drink!’ Olivia shouted. With a spike of panic, Lan turned to run to the table before the Goliath woman wrapped him in a bear hug.

‘Sorry, you aren’t going anywhere.’ The woman grinned before looking at the table. Following her eyes, Lan felt terror grip his heart as he saw a smug-looking Valk who toasted the two of them before starting his first mug.

When his first mug hit the table, the Goliath woman let go of him, and Lan rushed to get back just as the others were finishing their drinks. Getting to the table, Lan pulled as hard as he could from the mug, knowing what was at stake.

Before he was halfway through, the others started to cheer them on, and Valk was beginning to slow down from the pain. Lan could finish. He would finish and rub it in the face of the smug, cheating bastard; he thought for a moment before he heard the sound of a mug hit the table, and Lan felt his stomach sink as he heard a cry of victory from the Dwarf, who jumped on his chair so he could plant a foot on the table.

‘Oh, don’t worry, Lanny. Really it’s not that bad.’ Valk said, patting Lan on the head as Olivia poured the shot. ‘Just… just think of something warm.’

Although all of the punishments had been a spectacle, the others seemed to be extra interested in what would happen to him. With no small amount of despair, Lan watched the ice grow over the shot glass. With how Valk and Sora reacted, would he even be able to survive this? He was at least twenty levels lower than them.

Locke and Drevin looked worried but didn’t try to stop it, and Olivia just winked at him, so it couldn’t be that bad. Having watched the others, Lan sucked in a deep breath before drinking.

As the cold liquid hit the roof of his mouth. Lan felt a shard of ice stab through his mouth and into his temples as tears formed and immediately froze in his eyes, sure his eyeballs would ice over. Lan breathed out, feeling the cloud of frost pull from his lungs before hitting and forming a clump of icicles on the table.

[Ability Gained: Frost resistance]

‘Ah! What?’ Light and stars.’ Lan said, trembling as his brain started to defrost.

‘Oh, wonderful job Lan. Delicious, is it not?’ Olivia smiled, seemly happy about something.

‘There was a taste?’ Lan asked. He had been too busy worrying if his brain would start working again.

‘Ah, that was worth every gold.’ Valk laughed, slapping Lan on the back.

‘That was low…’ Lan breathed, still feeling a chill in his bones.

‘Come on, I was only doing you a favour. Can you really pass up the chance to taste a drink made for mages, huh? Plus…’ Valk said, leaning in to whisper into Lan's ear. ‘Now you can help me get the last three of them.’ Although Lan didn’t do much in the end. Valk eventually got Drevin and Vasha before the events of the night started to blend together.

There was more dancing and many, many more punishment shots.

At some point, Lan found himself sitting in a corner with Valk, Drevin, Sora and two Goliaths as the illustrious Dwarf enlightened them on the finer points of hammer fighting.

To Lan’s surprise, there was more to it than just hitting things with the heavy bit, and he learned there was literally nothing you couldn’t do with a hammer. At least, that was what he thought the point was. It was all terribly interesting, even if he couldn’t remember how he found himself in the middle of it. All in all, it was another memorable, forgotten night.