It was nighttime, but there were a few stores open for buying food and drinks. One of the advantages of living in a modern society.

After they met back at the inn, they decided to talk about their days and also throw a small party. Silas wasn’t sure where the idea of having a party came from, but they just ran with it. They split up; one group went to buy food, and the other group prepared one of the rooms.

The initial plan was to use one room, but it was too small for all of them and the food they were going to eat. They had to ask permission from the owner.

"You want to have a party? This is a hotel; there are other guests besides you. Have you no consideration for them?" The small mole was fuming with indignation. He was preparing to kick him out.

"Come on, it's just a small party. We won't make too much noise, we promise." Nathan tried to convince him, but he refused to listen.

"You humans, or whatever you're called, have the audacity to throw a measly party. Get out of my hotel!"

"You said that, but you have to give us back the credits." Nadine pointed out, and the mole shook. He was clearly trying to keep the money. "Ah, I see how it is."

"D-don’t think you can do whatever you want with some credits. I’m a mole with principles!"

She offered almost all the credits she got after selling some of the weapons at a forge. They weren’t anything special, but they were a lot, so she had gained quite a sum.

"50,000 credits should cover any damages."

"What? How do you have so much? Are you smuggling illegal items? I can report you to the guards. They are going to confiscate your trade badge."

"Yeah, but you wouldn’t get the credits. Just accept it. We aren’t going to break the tables or anything."

The mole thought about it for a moment; he could refuse and have them arrested, but his greed was more important than a fake sense of justice. Silas chose this place for that reason. A low-quality inn with an owner of dubious morals.

"Just leave it clean by tomorrow morning's breakfast and give me one of those bottles." He pointed to Jacob at the door; he came with several drinks.

After half an hour, they were ready to eat and drink until their bellies were full. The table was full of all kinds of dishes and drinks. They spent a lot on the banquet, but it was worth it. It wasn’t like they were going to use the credits for anything else, right?

As they ate, Silas took the initiative and talked about the results of his investigation.

"To make things simple, Jacob and I found the place with the symbol and talked with a man named Kieran. He’s hiring groups to find a relic and help his boss increase his power. He said they are planning to return to Earth, but he couldn’t give us proof."

"Then are we taking the job? If you didn’t see any proof, it must be a scam." Nathan was already getting drunk.

"Even if it turns out to be a fake, I think it's worth joining for the chance to expand our contact network. We need to make more allies, and at the very least they have the resources to pull this off."

It took some time, but they agreed to join the operation. The hope of going back home was something they all wanted.

"What did the rest of you do today?" He asked, half annoyed; he could already tell they hadn’t discovered anything about Kieran or the job.

"Sorry, we got a little sidetracked looking for magic items, but we didn’t find any place that sold those kinds of items."

"Nothing to surprising. Did you at least find anything useful?"

"Maybe we talk with the owner of a flower shop. He was going to ask his friends for information. He said to go back tomorrow morning." Emily kept her desire to regain her body hidden.

Nadine sighed while eating. If they all worked together, it would be much faster, but Emily didn’t want to put the burden on them. Unfortunately, she wasn’t the only one.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

"Franco and I looked around the residential district. We talked with a lot of races, including humans. Sorry, but we lost track of time and didn’t find anything new." She didn’t mention anything about Diego or Franco's emotional outburst. "I would like to explore a bit more in the center of the city. That's not a problem, right? You guys already found the client."

Silas looked at them with doubt. He could tell they were hiding something, but he wasn’t going to make them talk against their will.

"Fine, just do whatever you want. As long as it doesn’t cause trouble for the others, it's okay. But if you guys need help, you should ask us now."

Emily and Nora were thankful, but they declined.

"Suit yourself." He took a glass full of juice and dismissed his worries. There was no reason to distrust them, but he felt a little awkward after they tried to make him talk about his dissatisfaction with the guild before coming here.

"Hey, you didn’t ask us what we did today?" Nathan interrupted.

"I can imagine you guys went to see some art, like at a museum or something like that."

"That's correct, but I also managed to get a free sample of the magic bandages they use to heal your wounds. I think I could understand them better with enough time and practice, or even recreate their techniques." Rebecca was looking at the future with optimism about her knowledge growing. She wasn’t going to be so dependent on her power to help everyone.

"Interesting. Anything else of note?"

"Silvano also made a friend in the art museum." Nathan pointed while spilling the drinks; he was already tipsy.

"Really, who was it?"

"It was a man with a gambling background. We talk a bit about art, but he was bored and wanted to pass the time. He gave me a coin of silver; he said it was valuable, so we should exchange it for more credits."

"We probably can’t do it with the mole if he’s so mad at us."

"You want me to buy that coin from you?"

Without noticing, the small mole was sitting between Nadine and Nathan, eating and drinking from his bottle.

"What are you doing here? Weren’t you upset earlier?"

"I just decided to join to make sure you guys aren’t damaging my furniture. Pass the fish."

"You just wanted to eat free food. Have you no shame?"

"Who cares about shame. Parties are more fun with more people. Have a glass, buddy, haha." Nathan passed more drinks to the mole, who used his scale to exchange the coin.

Something happened; the scale couldn’t measure the prize. The numbers were just going up and up without any end in sight.

"What, is this piece of garbage broken?" The mole hit the scale, but it didn’t change for half a minute.

[Error: item unknown, please contact the ministry of resources for an accurate evaluation.]

"I guess you need to go there if you want to get the full value."

"Let me hold it for a moment." Nadine looked at the coin from all sides, and her face turned sour. "This isn’t silver; it's not even a metal or something from earth."

"Did you try to use your power?"

"Yeah, this thing is not responding. It would be another thing if it were hard to move, but it’s not budging at all."

She gave it back to Silvano, who put it in his pocket. "Guess I know what I’ll do tomorrow."

"It could raise suspicion if it’s too valuable, but I’ll go with you just in case."

It looks like the groups for tomorrow are going to be the same as today. Emily took some pieces of meat and went to feed the geckos in the stable. The rest of the night went as expected.

They laughed and made dumb jokes. Franco was still depressed after the afternoon, but he was feeling better just seeing all the kids having fun. Even the owner was laughing and letting his pride go to have fun with the humans.

They just played and ate until they were full. A well-deserved vacation for everything up until now.

***

Silas woke up in his room; he wasn’t sure how he got there. The last thing he remembered was going to sleep on the floor of the dining hall.

"About time you woke up, buddy." Jacob was in the other bed, preparing his things for the day.

"What time is it?"

"I think it's close to 10 a.m. Everyone else left for the day; they wanted to do a lot of things today. It’s fun; everyone is going to do their thing like it was back home. It feels so strange to be able to act like a normal person without having to worry about our lives or the responsibility of hundreds of people depending on you."

"Do you want to join the Empire, Jacob?" He asked directly.

"No, but if everyone else is on board, why not? Nora and Franco told me they were thinking about it, but if they did, they would leave the guild so they wouldn't drag the rest of us down with them if something went wrong. Are you fine with letting them go on their own?"

Silas looked down. "It’s not like I can convince them; if the empire has something we don’t, then the choice is obvious. There is nothing else I can do."

"You should stop underestimating yourself."

"I’m not!"

"Maybe you don’t know everything about them, but they appreciate you for everything you have done. If you asked to be included or to go along, I’m sure everyone would follow you to the Empire. I know I would."

He had no idea how to respond. He was just another member of the guild, not a super charismatic leader. He saw the difference with his own eyes.

It was kind of funny; he used to think he was a perfect leader, but after meeting the likes of Grimdow of the Crimson Caravan and Sesius of the Valein Empire, he couldn’t look at things in such a simple manner.

"I’m just the strategist, Jacob, nothing more. Let’s go see Kieran before he changes his mind."

They left the "Sleeping Mole," whose owner was still sleeping on the front desk, but it wasn’t like he had a line of clients waiting to register.

As they stepped outside and were greeted by the bright sun, a ship came from above, casting a shadow. It was one of the Army ships. He paid it no attention, but inside was Sesius, the man who saved his life in the Underground world.