Chapter 28:

It was painful witnessing Jonas's extremely hungover face. I moved towards him and pulled him off to the side so we weren't standing in the doorway.

"What happened to you?" I asked, "Where's Bjorn?"

"Bjorn happened to me," Jonas said, rubbing his forehead, "Got the whole tavern riled up. Drinking 'til everyone passed out. He's probably still asleep somewhere. The last time I saw him, he was doing another toast and round of drinks for everyone before I passed out under the table. The man likes to party."

I looked around the inside of the common room. I verified a statement based on the fact that all of the dozen people in there were extremely hungover and very, very quiet. "Like, damn." I looked at the clock. "Fuck. I had two people we could potentially join the team with, but if they see you-- us like this... Well, you look like shit, man,"

Jonas perked up slightly. "What? Two people?"

"Two women. One of the servers at our place said she could recommend a couple of people. Probably, I don't know. I'm supposed to meet her at ten, and she's supposed to give me an answer at a location. If she actually wants to recommend them. She said that she would think about who she could recommend. I don't know, fuck. Just go find Bjorn. Get both of you sobered up and meet me at my place at ten. We should be able to go meet some people or at least start looking for a team of our own. We need two more people to be optimal, and it would be great if we could have some sort of magic and healing abilities, but…" I looked at him. "Can you do this?"

"Not as unsteady as I seem," he said, pressing his hand to his stomach.

Then, I turned and left, hoping he would be presentable. But I had my doubts. I hadn't realized how big of a deal being unable to get hungover in the Lesser Hall was to us.

I walked back to my newbie house, taking my time on a roundabout path as I explored the city. I tried to keep a map of where everything was in my head, but there were just so many things. Luckily, most of it was drinking establishments that I felt I could safely ignore for now. Well, I didn't mind a good drink. I wasn't like Bjorn and Jonas. I wasn't about to go get wasted. I had other priorities.

The shops and housing were all very interesting. I kept a general eye out for better housing than newbie houses, and unsurprisingly, I found them quite a bit more expensive. But doing some quick math based on how many runs we need and how much profit we could make from each run. None of them were out of grasp, out of reach.

It was barely past nine when I made it back to my new house, but I ordered breakfast nonetheless and slowly sipped on my coffee as I picked out hash browns and eggs.

Exactly at ten, Lagertha came out of the kitchen, as she said, and served customers. It took her about ten minutes to make her way over to me, as I had already been served and clearly didn't need anything. But she stopped by and gave me a half smile.

"You're up early," she noted.

I lifted one shoulder before dropping it. "And I've been up for hours. Just had a late breakfast."

She smiled. "Good. Maybe you'll be a more dependable teammate than most of the guys we've talked to... There are two people who I think might be able to work with you. Well, a pair. There are more than that. But these two, I think, are the first ones you should talk with. I would have offered to join your team myself, but I can't. Not right now, obviously. Ugh. At least the punishment gets me out of the dungeon run for this month. It would be hell if I was expected to work all this time while also running the dungeon. 14 hours a day is no joke."

My eyes widened in surprise. "14."

"Yeah."

"Huh? At least they have that much common decency to give you the month off of the challenge."

She nodded grimly. "Honestly, I'd rather be running the challenge. At least I'd be making progress here. I don't even get a level."

"How long have you been here?" I asked.

A grumpy look flashed across her face. "This is my second month. Missed the minimum on my first but I did gain two levels during that first month. So hopefully next time I have to run the challenge, I'll have more of a chance."

"Damn, that sucks. Sorry." We spent a couple of beats in silence before I moved on. "Okay. How do I contact them?"

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"They're Astrid and Helga. They were two of my former teammates. On the last run, they made it farther than I did, so I got punished, and they didn't. The rest of our team split apart.... for reasons. But they're good people and competent."

I nodded my appreciation.

"They'll be over by the pavilion entrance for the Coliseum in the next hour or two."

I thought about it. It was about a ten-minute walk. "Okay, I'll round up my friends, and we'll all meet and talk and see how things go. Thank you," I said and slipped her my last coin. "I really appreciate it."

She gave me a tired smile before walking away, back to work. I downed the rest of my lukewarm coffee and stood up, this time taking the most direct route to Jonas and Bjorn. I saw both of them. Luckily, Bjorn seemed just a bit subdued, where Jonas still looked miserable, though less wretched than when I found him a couple of hours ago. They were drinking giant mugs of water. Jonas had to shoo the serving girl away several times before Bjorn could order something more alcoholic. I winced at that. This was going to be a problem.

I called out to them, and they came to the door. "So we got a couple of perspective team members. They have a little bit more experience than us, and they made it through the minimum completion last month, but something happened to their team. I don't have the full story yet."

It was a bit of an assumption, but seeing that they weren't in the same punishment as Lagertha, they likely were in a better position.

We weren't in any rush as we made our way over to the meeting point. The Colosseum was relatively central, and we weren't too far away. Besides, like I said, they'd be there for a while. Still, I didn't want to miss them, and Bjorn and Jonas's slow pace started to get on my nerves.

We chatted softly, as anything loud made Bjorn and Jonas wince. I asked them if they had found any place to train. They both shook their heads. I would be surprised if they had even looked. There was one thing I realized. I didn't see any training grounds. There's got to be some way for people to train. We trained all the time. Even if we couldn't get stats from training, proficiencies would be great, and we would have always trained in the lesser hall. The gods clearly wanted strong warriors for Ragnarok. Not allowing us to train seemed silly if the stories were to be believed. Perhaps that was mostly in the arena.

Eventually, we made our way through various bustling courtyards with fountains and other decorations, seemingly surprisingly intact and well cared for, and made it to the specific entrance we were supposed to go to. I jumped up on a stone bench, leaning against the statue, and looked around. There were a lot of people milling about. Still, after a bit of scanning, I saw two women standing by themselves, leaning against a wall as if waiting for someone. I waved at them for a little bit until they saw me, and they waved back.

Jumping down from the bench, I grabbed my two friends and pulled them along through the crowd until we were face-to-face with the pair. They were ducked part of the way into an alley so they weren't exposed. They looked me up and down, and one of them said, "Lagertha sent you?"

"Yes," I replied. "Are you Astrid and Helga?"

They nodded. "That must make you Miles," Astrid said.

I looked her up and down. She was a shorter woman with blond hair, blue eyes, and black face markings already painted on. She had a bow slung over her shoulder and wore tight robes. I wasn't exactly sure what was different, but something was odd about her. A sparkle in the air, almost like sitting next to a live wire. As if... something I hadn't really noticed with anyone ever before. Was it something that had to do with my focus stat?

"Nice to meet you," I said, "These are Bjorn and Jonas."

"And that must make you Helga," I turned to the second woman, who couldn't have been more different than Astrid. Instead of being short with a bow, she was almost as tall as Bjorn, with a massive claymore slung over her shoulder. Her dark brown hair was cropped short, and her eyes were a piercing green. From what I could tell, she had no magical current running through her, though she did have a bag with a book on it, just like Astrid did. She grunted in reply and eyed Bjorn and Jonas warily.

Like everyone I had seen in Valhalla, they were in prime physical condition. That and their implausibly symmetrical faces would have them turning heads anywhere back on Earth.

Bjorn seemed taken with her, his jaw half-open as he stared before he reached out with one hand. "Bjorn. I like your sword," he said.

She looked him up and down and gave him a nod, barely touching his hand in greeting. "Thank you," she said. "You don't have one."

Bjorn smiled. "We're working on that."

I looked over to where Jonas was, introducing himself to Astrid. She seemed wary, but he was polite. I looked around, and with everyone passing by, I decided to change venues. "What do you think about going inside and getting a booth so we can talk while we watch some sport?"

The two exchanged looks and nodded. I thought my situation was rather reasonable. It was still a public place, but we'd have the ability to talk without being overheard too much, and also a little bit of entertainment, getting to know each other a little bit.

We all walked over to the entrance and filed through. Jonas actually had the most coin remaining as Bjorn apparently spent his time drinking, and I was out. The two ladies didn't offer to pay, but I wasn't surprised. We were the ones trying to get them to join our team, though. At least, that's how it appeared. I wouldn't be surprised if they were as anxious to join our team as we were to get them, but I was. He found it was best to be polite in these situations.

Jonas paid a coin, and we got a table, drinks, and snacks as we watched the arena. The arena was currently empty, and workers were assembling some sort of set-down beneath it, preparing for the next match, so we had a little bit of time to talk.

Surprisingly, Astrid was the first to speak up when we sat down and sipped on our drinks. "So you want us to join your team? Why should we?"