After the literal dust had cleared and the combination of Mizu and Milo emptied, welded, and reinforced a water pipe, the two groups finally had time to greet each other. As Arthur guessed, Karbo had gotten bored at some point and covered the last few hours of travel midair, dragging Itela, Ella, Minos, Eito, and a very terrified wagoner with him.

Now that the guards were gone, they were all reacting to this in very different ways.

“Dad! Mom!” Milo shook some of the water and mud off his hands and ran up to his parents. “Sorry. I got sort of caught up in that project.”

“No problem. I needed to catch my breath anyway,” Minos said. “You think being a great big adventuring type would help me weather that kind of thing, but…”

“But he squealed like a little girl.” Ella put her arm around her husband’s waist. “He never liked heights.”

“The only little girl I know is Lily, and she loves that kind of stuff,” Arthur said. “I’m with you, Minos. Being carried by Karbo is terrifying.”

“To be fair, nobody was ever meant to endure those kinds of speeds. It would have hurt us if Karbo’s protective auras weren’t so big.” Eito yawned. “They aren’t supposed to be, you know. He’s doing something to make the auras bigger when he has people with him. He can’t explain it at all. He’s forgotten how he figured it out in the first place.”

Off to the side, Talca was arguing with Karbo, trying to make his case that carrying the wagons was cheating. Karbo wasn’t having it. Arthur was forced to take the infernal’s side when they brought the argument to him and Karbo pointed out that if not carrying the wagons was a rule, Talca had to mention it before the bet was struck. He felt bad for Talca, since it was legitimately hard to remember that Karbo could do things like that, even after watching him bulldoze a monster army or level an inconveniently bumpy mountain.

After a bit, Talca relented.

“Okay, everyone. Karbo is the official winner of the race to the capital.” He looked at the driver with some pity. “And Hiu, of course.”

“Don’t tie me up in this mess.” Hiu was petting his ox-beast's neck tenderly while still glaring daggers at Karbo. “I was perfectly content to take the loss without terrifying poor Bova. I don’t want anything to do with this.”

“Well, there’s a free lunch involved,” Talca explained. “At a restaurant only I know.”

“Oh.” That did appear to change things for Hiu and even his beast, Bova. “Is it as good as the breakfast master?”

“Different. But it’s arguable, at least.”

“Hmph.” The wagoner was trapped between his own anger and hunger. “Fine then. But I need to put up Bova first.”

“No problem. We all need to get ready, anyway.” Ella gently maneuvered her husband and son towards the door of the inn. “Let’s all get checked in and cleaned up. We can go after.”

The interior of the inn was very nice. Arthur had next to no experience with big-city hotels, but he had expected something in the marble-and-big-pillars kind of things. The foyer of the hotel was big, but wasn’t at all intimidating in those ways beyond that. There were couches, chairs, and tables, but all were relatively simple, sturdy, well-executed designs. There were shiny things, but they tended to be brass, not gold, and showed real use instead of being buffed within an inch of their life.

“Welcome!” a heavy-set elephant man behind the counter yelled. “Thanks for getting the water running again. I’ve been watching through the window. It was good work.”

“It was the least we could do,” Milo said. “Especially since we know the guy who broke it.”

The elephant dismissed this with a wave. “Karbo always breaks things. They usually don’t get fixed that fast. You’re a net benefit for our city, as far as I’m concerned. Itela, I found the reservation for you, but it doesn’t seem to be enough rooms to cover your entire party.”

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“That’s because it’s two parties. You’ll be looking for Arthur Teamaster for the other reservation.”

“OF EARTH?” The elephant bumped into the counter as he stepped forward, looked down like he was shocked to see it there, and then circled around. “My gods, it really is you. I’m sorry. I thought you were some sort of —”

He stopped mid-sentence.

“You can say it.” Mizu looked amused. “He’s a shaved monkey, but he’s our shaved monkey.”

The elephant stopped in his tracks and looked embarrassed. If there was any question about what he was going to say, it was resolved from his facial expression alone. He shook it off and bravely continued.

“My wife is a tremendous fan of yours. A huge admirer. Please, if you could find the time to talk with her during your trip, she’d love it.” The elephant blinked, looking hopefully from face to face, but mostly at Arthur. “It would mean so much to her.”

“Is this a prank?” Arthur looked at Lily and Milo with accusatory eyes.

“It wasn’t me.” Milo shook his head.

“Me either.” Lily looked like she was about to laugh. “You might actually be famous. Although I don’t know how.”

“The boba!” the elephant yelled. “The paper on boba tea!”

“What are we talking about, now?” Eito asked. “Arthur, did you write something about your work?”

“I mean, yeah,” Arthur said. “Spiky wrote most of it, really. It wasn’t long or that important. Is that what this is about?”

The elephant became serious. “Arthur, I don’t think you understand how the capital works. Do you know how many teamasters there are in the capital? Not just beverage classes but classes that are specifically about brewing and preparing tea.”

“Dozens?” Arthur had no idea how to estimate things like that, but he took a stab.

“Hundreds. Hundreds upon hundreds. Tea is important. And past a certain point, there are only so many things that people can do to level. I’ve heard about it from my wife thousands of times. You must know yourself. You can only boil the water so well. There are only so many leaves to try.”

“Oh, I’ve got it,” Eito said. “He introduced a variant.”

The elephant nodded vigorously, apparently pleased someone was following along. “An offworld variant. A good one.”

“Still not following,” Mizu said. “This is about boba?”

“Indeed,” Eito explained. “Boba is a big deal, it’s something new that people can get better at. It opens a whole new world of minor skills and achievements. Both tend to matter when one hits a bottleneck.”

“My wife was stuck at a bottleneck. She’s been there for months, maybe even years. But she read your pamphlet, and by the time the dust cleared, she had gained two levels.” The elephant had been doing a pretty good job of controlling his volume, but lost it now. “TWO!”

“Oh, good,” Arthur said. “I’m glad for her. I can absolutely meet her. I’ll just have to find the time. It’s just going to be busy while I’m here.”

“Ah.” The elephant seemed to snap back into a normal frame of mind. “Actually, in a strict hotelier sense, I probably wasn’t supposed to do… any of that. You are a guest. I shouldn’t be making requests of you, especially before you’ve had a chance to rest and enjoy the amenities.”

“It’s no problem,” Arthur said, getting increasingly uncomfortable with being treated like a somebody over something as small as a published recipe. “It’s not like I’m going to be busy every single minute. And I’d be glad to compare notes with her. If she’s worked that much on it, she’s probably noticed things I haven’t.”

“Oh, just look at the superstar.” Lily was holding her ribs, trying not to laugh. “So humble. So down to earth. He’s really managed to stay one of us.”

“Shh, you.” Arthur flicked Lily on the head very softly. “But yes, tell your wife I’ll make it down there once I get settled. Speaking of which…”

“Oh, yes, your rooms.” The elephant man fished out keys and handed one over to Milo, Arthur, Lily, and Mizu. “Thanks to your efforts, the water should be hot and flowing. Will you be taking lunch here? I could send it up to the rooms.”

“No lunch,” Talca said. “I’ll be taking them to Uttap’s.”

“Oooh.” The elephant’s eyes widened. “How do you even know about her?”

“I’m a transporter.”

“Of course. Well, If you need anything, please let me know. I am here to serve.”

—

The room was small, smaller in fact than Arthur’s room at his own house. There was a chair by the window, which shared use of a side table between it and the bed. Otherwise, there was just enough room to get from the bed to the bathroom, and not a lot else.

It’s a room meant for sleeping, not entertaining. Arthur was fine with that. He liked the simplicity of it. Although I might ask the elephant if there’s a room for working in. And his name. If he said it, I think I missed it.

Arthur took his clothes out of his bag, hung them up in the closet, and dumped the things he had traveled in into a chute labeled laundry. With no further ado, he ran to the shower. On the road, there had been a few opportunities to bathe, but they had all either been while he was exhausted or in cold, cold rivers. The prospect of a real shower with a mostly rested body followed by donning more comfortable walking-around clothes was far, far too much to resist even if Arthur had a reason to.

The water was just as hot as promised, and the water pressure was almost as good as the Mizu-designed water supply at his house. Within a few minutes, Arthur was nearly boiled pink, but clean and relaxed in a way he hadn’t been able to manage in a week. He dried off with a huge, fluffy towel and walked towards his clothes, feeling anticipation build in his heart.

It was time to really visit the capital.