As I put down my tankard I saw Ilaria nodding silently while most of the others looked at me even more shocked than when I told them I had ripped out someone's spine. Suddenly I saw Gapler step forward. In his hand, he held a chain that was connected to the cage with the little fairy in it. I looked into the little humanoid creatures eyes, they were seemingly dead, not a single sign of life besides the minor movement of the fairies chest remained.

"I heard you're powerful, but now I really want to test that!" Gapler said loudly.

His deep voice echoed through the room.

"Gapler, he's our guest, don't overstep now," Ilaria said.

I kept silent for now and took another big sip from my drink.

"Well, you said you wanted information? What kind?" Ilaria asked me.

"About the church," I responded.

"The church huh... then I'm sorry, but we're not allowed to share that with outsiders," Ilaria stated.

I raised one eyebrow and stared into her eyes.

"And why is that?" I asked, trying to sound as serious as possible.

"The leader of Pergament values that kind of information greatly so it's kind of top-secret," Ilaria explained.

I chuckled, feeling anger grow within me. But I managed to suppress it.

"Well, we did have a deal, didn't we?" I asked.

"We did, you simply need to choose information that we can disclose," Ilaria stated matter-of-factly.

I chuckled once again.

Then let's at least try and gain some info about that girl, shall we?

'No need. There's a weak mana signature coming from the back, she must be behind one of those doors,' Ira said to me.

'You sure it's her?' I asked.

'It's a human at least but whether or not she's the daughter of that man I can't tell, too far away and I'm still too weak,' Ira stated.

'You had six years to regain your power wasn't that enough?' I asked.

'Not really, I'd say I'm around a fourth or so there by now, that is when I take over your body, while I'm just in your mind I'm fairly limited in the things I can actually do,' Ira explained.

'How inconvenient for me...'

"Alright then, I'm looking for a girl, daughter of some noble guy. He believes she's here, in this city," I said, paying attention to the facial expressions of the people around me.

"Hmm... I don't know anything about that but I'm sure we can look around," Ilaria said without changing her face at all. "After all, you shared a good story with me."

While her facial expression gave nothing away I could see Cole looking a little surprised, same as Sarge and a few of the people I didn't know. Orca's face was a dead giveaway that she knew something, she hid her face behind her hands and was trying to look away from me.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

'Guess that answers our question... damned amateurs,' I said to Ira, doing all I could to hide my smile.

"Well, if that's how it is I will take my leave," I said. "Contact me if you find out anything."

I smiled at Ilaria and got up, drinking the rest of my drink in one big gulp.

"Of course," she responded.

Her face once again didn't change at all. On my way to the door, I was stopped by Sarge and Gapler.

"We need to go drinking again sometime," Sarge said loudly.

He then suddenly leaned in closer and I heard a sound that reminded me of distortion sounds from my old world.

"How much are ya willin' to pay for that information?" he asked, his voice suddenly changing to a much deeper one.

I was surprised but didn't act like it.

"What information could you possibly mean, Sarge?" I asked, only now noticing that something about him was different, the feel of his mana wasn't disgusting.

The presence of the other humans had masked it but this was a different person.

"Oh, don't be like that. You know what I mean," the fake Sarge whispered in my ear. "Information about the church of course!"

He suddenly got louder and I was worried that others might hear but... time seemed to have stopped without me noticing. Gapler just stood there, not moving at all and none of the others seemed to move either.

What is this? Did this Sarge fake somehow stop time? But if he can give me info about the church...

'Ira? What do you think?' I asked.

I got no response.

'Ira!' I called out in my mind.

I got no response.

What the hell...

I grit my teeth and spoke again.

"Alright, what do I need to do?"I asked.

"Simple, beat this mountain of muscles right there without using magic, and I want you to do me a favour in the future, if you make it, that's the main part of it. I won't tell you when. But one day I'll come to you and tell you that you owe me a favour, a big one, or maybe it's going to be small... who knows? I certainly don't. So what do you say?" the fake Sarge asked.

I smiled.

"That's all? Sure, why not," I responded.

"Oh great, you won't regret it! Or maybe you will, who knows?" the fake Sarge said, sounding excited.

Suddenly I heard that distortion sound again and everything began moving again.

"C'mon Altair, fight me, just once!" Gapler pleaded, grabbing me by the shoulder.

It took me a few seconds to regain my composure after this weird conversation.

'What happened?' Ira asked all of a sudden.

'Some guy stopped time and said he'd give me the info about the church I'm looking for in exchange for a favour and for beating this guy,' I responded, looking at Gapler.

'What?' Ira sounded surprised and confused.

'Some things just don't make sense, but that could finally be my way of getting ahead so I took it,' I responded.

'I don't like you taking deals like this without consulting me first,' Ira responded.

'I tried, you weren't exactly... available,' I said.

I heard a sigh from inside my mind and then got no response.

Sometimes...

"So, you up to fighting me or what?" Gapler asked, getting a little louder.

I freed myself from his surprisingly tight grip and stared right into his eyes.

"You know what, fine. Let's do this," I said.

Gaplers eyes began glowing with excitement and I could see a flame erupting from the cage he was holding, a flame that lit up the entire room with its warm, orange light.

"Good! This will be the best fight ever!" Gapler yelled.

For a sorcerer, he's quite the muscle head... strange.

The room was suddenly filled with cheers and applause. I looked to Ilaria whose face was hidden behind her tankard. Gapler then led me towards the boxing ring and both of us stepped inside, all the others, except for Ilaria who still sat at the bar, followed us to it.

"What will the rules be?" Gapler asked, the question directed at Ilaria and not me.

"No magic, since that would favour our new friend a little too much," she responded.

I chuckled.

"Fine by me," I said, sounding less excited than I planned on.

Gapler removed his robe, revealing that he wore neither a shirt nor shoes. All he wore was a pair of leather trousers. I cracked my knuckles and took off my leather gauntlets, my cloak with hood and my armoured leather top, revealing my athletic upper body and two of my three magic marks. The one that resembled thorn tendrils crawling up my right arm and the runic-looking somewhat T-shaped one on my back. I heard a few whistles from the crowd.

'I hope you're prepared,' Ira said. 'Even young orcs can lift tons.'

'Uh... how nice of people to always give me such important information too late,' I responded.

"You ready?" Gapler asked as he cracked his bones.

I stretched a little before answering. With one last look across the room, I nodded.

"Then let the fight begin!" Ilaria yelled out, observing us from her bar stool.

Did she plan this?