It was getting dark, and the townspeople of Alonzia had begun the nightly tradition of lighting their street lanterns. The roads were illuminated with an amber glow, fighting and winning against the soft rays of moonlight.

The streets that were previously bustling with people, all trying to interact with the hero, had cleared of both the crowd and the merriness of the morning. It didn’t take long for people to notice that the hero did not want to be bothered, and they’d be damned to incur her wrath.

As I began to imagine what the meek girl’s wrath might actually look like, I let the thought pass as the increasingly strong scent of coffee and tea pervaded my senses. We were getting close to our destination.

At this point, I suspected that Hana might have picked up on where we might be going, as all the previous heroes had some form of tea in their respective homeworlds, if not coffee as well. It had occurred to me that maybe she was different in this way too. Perhaps her world didn’t have either of those two drinks, and instead the norm was to drink mud or ocean water. That would explain her rather bleak attitude.

But there was only one way to find out.

I checked up on her, stealing a sidelong glance at Hana’s expression. To my pleasant surprise, she had actually perked up a little.

No, wait, not a little. She seemed to be completely present now, a stark contrast to her previously almost statue-like behavior.

"Where’s that smell coming from?" she asked me, shattering her long unbroken silence.

I flashed her a wide, toothy grin in response. Finally, something I could work with.

"It’s coming from my favorite place in town. C’mon, I’ll show ya."

I quickened my pace, excited to get us there as soon as possible.

----------------------------------------

As we stepped inside the parlor, the aroma of freshly brewed coffee and baked goods greeted our senses. The front counter was lined with an assortment of pastries, muffins, and cakes, each one looking more delectable than the last. The owner stood behind the counter, expertly grinding away at a wide array of beans and leaves.

The cozy atmosphere exuded a very distinct warmth and comfort. It felt like a space where time stood still, and the simple pleasures of life were all that mattered.

The walls were made of rough-hewn wood and the ceiling was adorned with exposed beams that added to the rustic charm of the place. The soft light of enchanted brightstones cast a relaxing tone over the wooden chairs and tables, creating a sense of intimacy among its patrons. In the corner, a musician strummed a guitar, his sound resonating through the space, adding a touch of serenity to the ambience.

Hana walked slowly into the room, taking everything in. She was silent once again, but I could tell that this time, it was for a different reason.

Her expression was difficult, her feelings hard to pin down. It seemed that she was struggling with what to feel, which confused me.

I thought this place was pretty great. Maybe it wasn't to her standards?

As I thought about what she might not like about the place, we sat down at an empty table, Hana across from me. I ordered us two coffees with sugared cream.

I tapped away at the dark oak table, pretending to be interested in one of its many rings while we waited for our order. The silence between us was deafening.

'Gotta say something.'

"So… did you have anything like this in your world?" I asked awkwardly, desperately grasping at the low hanging fruit. Of course, this was a question I knew the answer to.

Her world had to have something like this, otherwise I don't think she would have reacted at all to its existence. The inquiry was basically just bait to get her to talk about herself, and all I could do was pray that she'd bite.

For a few scary moments, Hana didn’t respond. My expectations for a genuine answer lowered by the second, already convincing myself that I had screwed up my only chance of communicating with her. The seconds stretched on and she showed no signs of replying.

At some point, I had all but lost hope in my final trump card. But then, to my surprise, she began to speak.

"Yes, I did."

She shifted a little bit, as if battling with the discomfort of answering with more than a few words.

"It was a little different from this place, but… it was very... similar. I went there a lot."

Another brief silence.

"It helped me stay sane."

A bubble of a laugh began to surface in my throat. Oh no.

'Not the time, sun! Keep it together!' I thought.

Despite the self-chastising, I was unable to control myself, and let out a small chuckle. Hana looked terribly offended, like I had just spit directly into her face.

"What? What’s so funny?" she asked, sitting up slightly. Her face had gone from stoic to upset in a heartbeat.

"Nothing, it’s just… I’ve never heard someone voice my exact thoughts about this place before. ‘Helped me stay sane?’ That’s a very blunt way of putting it, but it works."

Her face softened, slowly understanding what I had meant. Her muscles relaxed, sinking back into her chair.

I continued my thought.

"I visit A Star’s Luck when I have a bad day or want to calm my nerves. Sometimes I even drop by with Claire on her free days, though she only eats pastries and other sugary stuff. I take it you used to do something similar?"

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The question was more of a formality than anything. I fully expected an answer almost identical to mine. What I received was… not that.

"No. I spent a lot of time there because I was homeless." Hana said quietly, her voice barely even a whisper. "I didn't have anywhere else to go."

This time, it was my turn to be speechless. Like it was nothing of note, she had casually dropped a scenario on me that I couldn’t fathom. Immediately, I asked the most obvious question.

"Homeless? Like, you couldn’t build a home?"

She looked at me quizzically.

"No, no… it’s hard to explain." She took a moment to pause and think of what to say next. After a while, her eyes told me she had birthed an idea.

"Let’s just say… I was exiled."

She fidgeted with her fingers, picking at a stray cuticle.

"I wasn’t allowed to go back to my parents’, and I didn’t have any money or a job to... build a home. I stayed in the coffee shop because the workers weren't allowed to kick me out, and they also gave me water. Free food sometimes, too."

I raised an eyebrow. This was all very curious to me. None of that seemed very sustainable for the shop owners.

"So... how often were you there?" I asked, curious about her living circumstances. Surely she wasn't allowed to do this very often.

Her eyes fell to the floor.

"Every day."

I paused, letting my thoughts gather before releasing the only response I could come up with.

"I see. I’m sorry to hear you had to go through that."

Frankly, I didn’t really understand her predicament at all, so I figured it was a good idea not to comment.

Around here, there was a lot of work to do. Everyone was looking for an apprentice or someone to help with menial tasks. Even the Adventurer’s Guild was mostly just people taking odd jobs that no one else would pick up. I couldn’t imagine a world where people weren’t hopping at the chance for another laborer, nor could I imagine a food establishment that would just give away shelter and food to anyone that wasn’t a paying customer. It seemed so surreal.

In the end, I never did come up with something substantial to reply with, so I just resigned to waiting for our drinks. It felt like forever before our coffee arrived, but when it did, Hana spared no time in sipping away at it, unbothered by my silence.

Cupped in her hands was a piping hot mug of my favorite brew – a rich, velvet blend with hints of caramel and cinnamon. The frothed foam of the steamed sweet cream lingered gently on her lips before she licked it away. Though she wasn’t necessarily smiling, her expression softened into a state of appreciation. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone look at their coffee like that.

Noticing that I had been staring, she looked at me inquisitively.

"What?"

"No, nothing," I said quickly, bringing my own mug to my lips.

The coffee was tasty as expected, and after a couple sips, I set it back down.

A few more moments of silence ensued.

"…"

"So, how did you beat him?"

I almost jumped out of my seat, thoroughly startled by the girl’s voice. I didn’t anticipate her to start the conversation back up.

It just didn’t seem like something she would do.

"The big guy from the Guild." she clarified, since I still hadn’t answered.

"I wouldn’t say I beat him, per se," I replied in a hurry. "Just knocked him out."

I gave her a dumb answer on accident. Whoops.

Unsurprisingly, she frowned.

"In my world, that means you beat him."

"Yeah…"

An awkward silence ensued once more.

It was in that moment that it dawned on me that I wasn't too good at this whole small talk thing. Claire probably would have been way better for something like this. That girl could get a stone to talk if she wanted to.

Nevertheless, like a blessing, the hero spoke up again.

"I haven’t been here for that long… but that guy was really big. Like really, really, big."

"True." I confirmed, not having any qualms with her assertion.

"So then how did you win so easily?"

I leaned back in my chair, debating whether or not I should give her a genuine answer.

It's not as though I didn't want to give her a serious answer, it's just that I wasn't sure whether or not she'd understand, even if I told her. Sometimes people just didn't really get the explanation, even as simple as it was. The fact she asked the question at all didn't do much for my confidence in her, either.

She seemed genuinely curious, though, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to answer truthfully. I was talking to the hero after all.

"Because most adventurers aren’t trained to fight other people", I started. "They’re used to fighting monsters or beasts."

Her mouth formed an "O" shape, as if quickly coming to an understanding.

"So you were? Trained to fight people, I mean."

"Yes." I replied. "My mother and father were martial artists. They trained me since I was three years old."

Hana nodded intently, sipping at her coffee.

"So then you were just more skilled."

My eyes widened.

"Exactly."

I was surprised at how quickly and concisely she understood my explanation.

As stupid as it sounded, a surprising amount of people within Prithvi attributed power to strictly size of muscle or mana pool. It was a popular sentiment among nobles that somehow wormed its way into general public opinion, probably as a sort of propaganda for bloodlines or whatever.

I guess I shouldn't have been too shocked, as she wasn't from here, but it was still refreshing to see someone understand such a basic concept of life. It wasn't uncommon for people to say something along the lines of, "you cheated", or "you were playing dirty" if they lost a fair duel to me.

Propaganda was scary, man.

...

Though, much like all good lies, there was definitely more than a little truth to the idea.

Hana took a sip of her coffee before speaking once again, immediately sleuthing out what I was thinking.

"So does that mean he can kill monsters better than you, since your training was mostly against people?"

I stopped abruptly, even if only for a fraction of a moment, to purse my lips.

'Wow, she's pretty sharp.'

There was no reason to lie.

"Yeah, probably. My body doesn’t have much of an affinity for mana and my muscles are naturally weak. Once the monster gets tough enough skin, it becomes really difficult to hurt them without hurting myself."

Hana’s eyes went wide and lips slightly parted.

"What? And there’s no way to like, magically surpass your limits?"

I shrugged.

"Not really. That’s sort of a hero thing. You could probably do that eventually, but for someone of an average upbringing like myself, I’d be hard pressed."

I sighed, gazing down at my fists, letting my fingers unfurl. I didn't even know when I had begun to clench them.

"Skill is just how you use your allotted strength, after all. Can’t outskill a dragon if I don't have the power to get through its scales. I’m just lucky people are fragile enough that they're usually not much of a problem."

I let my hands fall to my lap. Nothing but the ambient noise of the cafe could be heard for a long few moments.

Ugh, I was definitely oversharing.

…

Then, Hana spoke up. And she blessed me with something quite nice.

"For the record, I thought you were pretty cool."

A compliment in earnest, without even a hint of sarcasm. I appreciated it more than she knew.

"Thanks," I replied, my heart thoroughly warmed.

We spent the rest of our visit to the cafe in silence, enjoying our coffee to our hearts’ content.