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Avan continued to stare thoughtfully at the ceiling.
He had all kinds of thoughts running through his head and didn't quite know what to make of all the information about the gods. He was also still thinking about his awakening in this new world and how he had ended up on Aorus in the first place.
Avan's fingers were especially tingling to finally tackle the next floors of the Akkalon dungeon, and he was eager to see all the traps, creatures, and obstacles he would encounter on the lower levels.
Avan stretched his arms diagonally upward and sighed once more as he stretched his tired muscles and bones, which were still under tension from training all morning and noon.
Casting a sideways glance over his left shoulder, he looked to the two women behind him and saw Elisa slide another book straight over to Yue and whisper something softly to her as she stroked her hand over the cover of the book and pointed to the title. The Fox girl nodded to her and whispered something back when she noticed Avan's gaze on her at that moment.
The girl's fox ears wiggled slightly and popped halfway forward, while in her eyes was a tension at the things Avan had yet to learn in the book and smorgasbord of gods.
"Avan!" Yue spoke to him in a calm tone over Elisa's shoulder." Have you been able to read anything else interesting about Akkalon, Exitia, or the other gods?"
With those put, the librarian also turned to him and examined him with an inquiring look in her eyes as her eyes slid back and forth between the book and him.
The fox girl nudged her elbow lightly into the archivist's left ribs and, with a slight shake of her head, indicated to her to leave the subject alone for now.
The brown-haired young woman, who in the meantime had put on her reading glasses, adjusted them with her left index finger on the tip of her nose, and smiled understandingly at him. "In the meantime, we have already collected a few interesting works of historical fiction, novels, and technical literature and put them on a pile here." She told him, pointing with her right hand behind Yues' shoulders to a small stack of books on the right side of her desk. " There will surely be something interesting or new in one of the books, especially for modern times, for our librarian in the dungeon. I hope the bookworm will be well disposed and sympathetic to us on that, and help us fill in historical gaps in history and knowledge."
Avan walked up to them and circled around to the right to approach the small stack of books.
He took the first book from the pile and read aloud the title "Peoples and Races on Eos," looking at the pictures of various people and beast people depicted on the cover. He lifted the book a bit and took a closer look at each race of Eos inhabitants. There were the typical humans, dwarves, elves, and beasts humans like fox, wolf, rabbit, lion, lizard, but also flying animal creatures like eagles and other inhabitants of the sky.
The dwarves, like the blacksmith Balgur, were of medium height and stocky build, while their heads were usually covered with braided and intricately made hair. The pictured dwarf's beard went down to his navel and was also braided, while a metal lump hung from its end to hold the braid together.
The depicted elf, on the other hand, was shown taller than the human, had pointed ears, and long hair sticking out of a ponytail, which reached forward over his shoulders to his chest. On the elf's back was a bow, and on his armor was engraved a tree with large branches.
The animal people all had features appropriate to the species such as fur, ears, tails, or as with the bird people consisting of feathers and even one with wings on its back.
Avan nodded appreciatively and placed the book next to the pile on the desk to grab the following book with his right hand. This book contained the title in white characters which was called "The History of Eos" and was wrapped in a normal brown leather cover which seemed unspectacular.
He also put this book on top of the previous one, and picked up the third book which greeted him with the book title "Theories about Mana and the System of the World". On the dark brown leather cover, there was a large blue tree on the front under the title, which seemed to be encased in a bubble.
As Avan picked up the last and fourth book and read the title quietly to himself, he had to chuckle softly with his left hand in front of his mouth.
"The Loves of Anne Anagram" he read the title aloud and laughed to himself. Elisa and Yue looked up from the books they were holding, and laughed as well.
The archivist, who had blushed slightly, smirked. "Well, you know, we here at the Guild of Cyntha never spurn a book. No matter how ... reprehensible or whimsical the contents may be ..." She explained to herself in front of him, blushing a little more, whereupon she quickly looked back into her open book in her lap.
Yue, seeing the looks on their faces, also giggled a little louder, and he joined in the suppressed laughter.
"Oh, let me ..." Growled the brown-haired young woman in mock indignation.
Avan, who was still chuckling lightly to himself, pointed to the piles of books and manuscripts, as well as scrolls, that covered the entire desk. "Let's have dinner first." He suggested, while patting his stomach with his right hand. "And, if you think more gifts and books would be better, then let's do that in the morning. I have errands to do tomorrow too. Like stopping by the alchemist and the furrier, and stocking up on my provisions for the days or weeks ahead in the dungeon."
Both women looked at each other and then nodded to him nonverbally.
They arranged to meet in a good thirty minutes so they could each freshen up in their rooms beforehand, especially Avan after the splashy and sweaty day of training.
Dinner would be downstairs in the guild hall, where they could all eat cheaper as guild members than in town, and the food, Avan himself knew, was of very good quality.
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With this arrangement, the three strolled out of the study and headed for their respective own sleeping rooms and apartments.
After Avan had showered, visited the restroom, and freshened up again, he set his backpack down beside the large four-poster bed, and made his way to the entrance hall of the guild.
Once downstairs in the large and spacious hall, he looked around for the two women, but could see no one.
"Oh, I guess I'm the first." He said to himself, which earned him a few puzzled looks from other nearby adventurers, who gave him a skeptical sideways glance but then turned back to their own drinks and drinking companions.
Without talking to himself any further, Avan went to one of the empty tables in the right corner, where he found a couple of comfortable armchairs and fabric-covered couches where no one else had yet settled down.
He sat down with his back against the wall and stretched his feet under the mahogany-looking table, as he waved his right hand at Beth, who was looking straight at him, and she made her way up to him, beaming with delight.
"Good evening, Avan! I must say, these pancakes, are extremely popular with all my customers, whether adventurers or guests! And the best thing is that by now word has spread everywhere, and I am the only person who is able to offer this food." She told him with a grin and eyes shining with business success as she shook his hand. "For that alone, it's all on the house from you tonight!" She declared to him with a pat on his right shoulder.
Avan grinned back and sat back in his chair. "That's wonderful! For helping me cook the recipe at your place, you deserve it."Laughing at her, he looked around more closely at the other eating guests, and he actually glanced here and there at a few tables with plates full of pancakes and various syrups and sauces. Glancing back at the Beth standing in front of him, he gave her an appreciative nod.
"Not bad! If it's okay with you, I'd like to order dinner from you for me and two other people."
The barmaid nodded at him and looked up at him demandingly, eyebrows raised.
He thought for a moment and tapped his forehead with his left index finger, looking up at the left staircase." Then I'll have a mixed brew of cela and ale, if that's feasible, and three of your best dinners. I can't tell you the drinks of my two companions right now, but they'll order that for themselves once they get there."
The powerfully built woman pursed her lower lip thoughtfully and looked briefly into the distance and back at him, nodding. "All right. I'll let the kitchen and our new cook know." She informed him with a nod of her head. "With the increased rush on the new pancakes, I've actually had to hire a cook now." She grinned mischievously at him and glanced around herself at the eating guests at the many other tables in the large guild hall.
"A waitress will bring the food to your table then. Nice meeting you Avan, see you next time. And if you have another such brilliant idea or recipe, don't hesitate to approach me again!" Laughing at him once again, she gently slapped his side with her right hand on his shoulder, and marched away.
Avan grinned with amusement to himself after this encounter with the quirky barmaid, and stretched his arms up in pleasure, dropping his hands behind the back of the sofa as he watched and observed the eating and drinking guests and adventurers at the many tables. Some of the groups were playing cards while others seemed to be making plans, and still others were simply enjoying the company of their comrades seated at the table or nonverbally toasting each other.
After a few more minutes of relaxed sitting and lounging on his seat, out of the corner of his eye he saw two familiar faces making their way down the left staircase, chatting away.
With a gesture of his left hand in the direction of the two women who had just arrived at the bottom of the stairs, he drew attention to the two who seemed to be looking for him.
When Yue and Elisa saw his gesture, they marched directly toward him. The fox girl also dropped down the cloth-covered bench, while the guild master's granddaughter settled down on the sofa opposite him.
The fox tail behind Yue peeked out to the left side, wagging back and forth slightly as she looked at him. "What's there to choose from?" A hungry and excited young woman with fidgeting fox ears on her orange fiery hair asked him. "I'm starving!" And leaned forward a bit in his direction tensely.
Elisha looked at Avan with amusement. "Yes! She's been raving about food non-stop since I met her up in the hallway."
He looked over at the amused archivist, then smirked as he looked at the fidgeting Yue. "I've already ordered us something to eat, though you'll have to order your own drinks since I didn't know what you'd like to drink with dinner." He explained to the starving girl, casting a significant glance in the direction of Beth's bar, from which just by chance a young man with three large plates and a tray with a drink on it actually made his way in their direction.
"Ahh, just speaking of which!" He pointed his right index finger at the servant who was just halfway to their table.
The two women looked from him toward the bar and spotted the young man with meals stacked left and right on his hands and arms. Suddenly, a stomach growl from Elisa, seated across from him, also made itself known, and she looked at him in response and blushed slightly. She ran her left palm over her brown, straight hair, which flowed over her shoulder in a perfect waterfall on the right side.
Yue, oblivious to this, was already jumping up and walking towards the young man and her steaming meal. She couldn't wait and didn´t see how it looked to the amused and smirking Avan.
Yue returned to her seat with feathery steps, and a plate between her hands, next to the servant, placed her plate on the table in front of her and sat down, only to immediately gorge herself on the hearty pancakes with a dark sauce and vegetable garnishes.
The young man, smiled in amusement, and placed the other two plates in front of Elisa and Avan, looking questioningly around as he held the cela and ale mixture in his hand. Avan indicated with a right hand gesture that the drink was for him.
The young man wiped his hands off his apron after setting the drink down, ran his right hand over his short, stubbly hair, and looked questioningly around once more. "Is there anything else I can bring? Like something to drink?" He asked pointedly to the two women, who were already going over their respective plates with forks and knives in different manners. While the librarian gulped down the food relatively cleanly and slowly, Yue's dark gravy dripped from the left corner of her mouth, and she looked to Avan and then to the young man with a satisfied grin.
Chewing and swallowing down the morsel remaining in her mouth, she set to reply. " I'll have an ale too!" She shared, beaming with joy and happy about the food.
The young man nodded and then looked to the Guildmaster's granddaughter. " I would like to drink the same as Avan here." She said between bites, gesturing toward Avan's drink, which he just set down from his mouth after he drank. He gave her a satisfied thumbs up and the server nodded with an "All right!" and turned right around to walk back to the bar to fill their order.
All three of them were enjoying themselves and the food tasted great, which was evident from the extremely satisfied moans and sounds heard in between from Yue's direction.
When their drinks arrived, they toasted each other and talked for the rest of the evening about Akkalon, gods, and the dungeon, which they planned to tackle tomorrow at noon or afternoon. After Avan had finished the other errands in town.
In the end, Elisa and Avan said goodbye to a buzzed Yue outside her room and headed together toward the archivist's bedroom to spend another night together.
On the way, he thought again about how satisfied he was to have found these people and friends. Inwardly, although he was not a religious person, following an inspiration, he spontaneously thanked the goddess of luck, Tur, for the events and acquaintances he had experienced so far and that had gone happily.
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