Leylin woke up to someone shaking him. Looking around, he saw Emily kneeling next to him with a look of worry.

"Are you ok?" she asked.

Leylin jumped up.

"Yeah, I'm fine. What happened to the lich? One moment, I was shooting fireballs at him, and now, I'm here," he said, perplexed.

"The lich is dead. Maybe you exhausted yourself so much that you blacked out."

"Maybe...." Leylin recalled one other time that he blacked out. The situation was similar. One moment, he was facing danger, and the next, the danger was gone.

"Now that the lich is dead, you need to redeem the reward. To do that, you need to go to the City of Viribus. It's a few days journey from here." Emily said, handing him the note for the Bounty. "Once you get there, go to the main Bounty Office. You will need some proof that you killed the lich, so I had the mayor write a letter vouching for you while I was out. He owes me a few favors for helping out townspeople in need every now and then."

"Thanks! I don't have to go immediately though right?"

"I guess not.... Don't you need money?"

"Yeah, but it isn't urgent. I can stay here until I finish my work right?"

A bit surprised, Emily nodded, "You've been slacking though. You only have a few finished and its been an entire day."

Emily got an odd enjoyment from teasing him. He had an odd way of making people feel comfortable. 'Maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all, courting him,' she thought.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"Ah, I just haven't gotten used to it yet," Leylin said sheepishly.

Giggling, Emily said, "It's fine, it's fine," In her mind she added, 'Take as much time as you need.'

"Come on, I'll cook us some dinner, free of charge," she said.

Leaving out of the room, Leylin observed the inn more. Outside of the room, there was a hallway with roughly ten doors. The floor of the hallway had a luxurious red runner from end to end. On the walls, there were painted portraits of what he assumed was Emily's family.

Following behind her, Leylin asked, "Where is your family?"

Pausing a brief moment before continuing, Emily said, "I was adopted, and this is my adoptive Mother's family. She was an old maid, so she really could have been my grandmother, but I didn't care. Her name was Patty, which is why this place is called 'Patty's Inn'. She took me in one day when she noticed me begging on the street."

Arriving in the kitchen, Leylin helped Emily prepare the food for cooking.

Continuing, Emily said, "She told me she always wanted kids, but she never got married because she devoted all of her time to this inn. She used to say 'I don't need a husband. I'm married to this building, and it protects and provides for me more than any man could.' It was just a joke she used to tell, though. I'm not really sure why she never got married, but she probably had her reasons."

"What happened to her? Why isn't she here?"

"I don't know. She just disappeared one day. Most people think she is dead.... Anyway, after she was gone, I took care of the inn. I wanted to protect what she loved, but sometimes, I wonder if it's even worth it."

Leylin noticed that Emily sounded a little bitter. Unsure how to comfort her, he continued slicing beef for dinner.

"Anyway, let's talk about something less depressing. What do you plan to do with your reward?" she asked.

"I'm not sure. I need to find a way to get back home, but I'm just taking things one step at a time. I suppose I will need a steady income firstly. I don't really have a lot of skills aside from magic," Leylin said.

"You're a mage?" Emily was surprised.

Becoming a mage required talent and a lot of knowledge about the mechanics of mana. She assumed he was some kind of fighter because he was able to travel safely through Petram, which was riddled with monsters due to the war with the Orcs. She was surprised that he was a mage because a majority of them came from Noble familes. Raising one required a highly expensive education. Even with training, there was no guarantee that the mage would be talented because manipulating mana was highly intuitive.

"Are you a noble??" Emily asked.