Alice made her way to the bar, intentionally leaving Grimmy talking to himself. “He will be alright,” she thought. “Not much I can contribute to what quest to choose anyway. I trust he will make the right choice.”

When she got to the bar, she was met by a fish-looking person. The fish-looking person’s official race name was Sahuni. They were a race that was rare to see on the surface. They had no pupils and had gills underneath their eyes. They had scales covering their whole body just like a fish would. They usually lived in the ocean and could only be above water for a couple of minutes before having to go back underwater. How could this Sahuni be a bartender above water? Well, the Sahuni was wearing huge goggles filled with water that allowed his gills to breathe.

This specific Sahuni was a male and was about five feet eight inches with silver blue scales. “Hi there, have not seen you here before. New adventurer?”

“Yep, just became one this morning, and it has been a long day. Can I get a Sour Pearl please sir,” said Alice.

“The name is Rami, and sure thing, coming right up,” said Rami as he started preparing the drink.

“Nice to meet you, Rami. I’m Alice. Can you make sure that Sour Pearl is on the stronger side please?”

“One of those days huh,” said Rami as he was shaking her drink.

“This one is on me, Rami,” said a tall muscular man with a ponytail that was suddenly standing next to Alice. Rami rolled his eyes and nodded to the man.

“Oh no that’s okay, I can pay for my own drink,” said Alice quickly.

“I can’t let a pretty lady like you pay for her own drinks,” said the man as he leaned closer to Alice.

“No really, it is fine. I ordered it. I will pay for it,” said Alice as she took a step away from the man.

The man pulled Alice’s arm back towards him and said, “Come on, let me do this for you. Maybe you can repay me later in another way.”

Alice pulled away again and said, “Please don’t touch me.”

“Oh, are you playing hard to get?” The man moved closer to Alice as if leaning in for a kiss.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Back on Earth, when Alice was single, she had to deal with many guys making inappropriate moves on her whenever she went out with her friends. She quickly learned how to turn them down fast to not cause any major incidents or even fights, but every now and then, there were guys like the one she was facing right now. Guys that just did not know what the word ‘no’ meant. So, what happened when Alice met guys like him? She would rely on a little bit of violence.

Alice kicked the man in the crotch, and as his head was coming down from the blow, she uppercut the man right on the chin.

The man fell to the floor, and people around started to laugh and point at him. The man stood up with anger on his face. “You bitch! You just signed your own death warrant.”

Alice took her sickles out, one in each hand, and prepared herself for an incoming attack. As the man was about to launch towards Alice, a huge, towering woman put a hand on the man’s shoulder.

The woman was a little over 7 feet tall, towering the man by at least a foot. She had brown skin and what seemed to be bunny ears on her head. The bunny woman race was actually called Rabinos, half human half rabbit. She was wearing this sort of Amazonian outfit that clearly showed she was no stranger to violence. “Is there a problem here?”

“Oh Bonetta, no, no problem here,” said the man, shaking nervously as if he was a 10-year-old kid that just saw a monster underneath his bed.

“Good, now I believe my friend here wanted to pay for the drink that she ordered. Is that okay with you,” said Bonetta in a menacing tone.

“Yes of course, that’s fine.”

“Good. Off you go now,” Bonetta said, gesturing for him to leave. The man left without even looking back at Alice.

“Sorry about him,” said Bonetta to Alice. “He seems to think that all women find him irresistible and does these sorts of things.”

“Thanks, I appreciate it. I am Alice, pleasure to meet you.”

“My name is Bonetta, and no problem, it is not the first or last time I will have to keep that guy under control. Hey Rami, I will get what she is having.”

As if Rami had read her mind or foretold the future, he arrived with two Sour Pearls, one for Alice and one for Bonetta.

“You’re the man, Rami,” said Bonetta.

“Thanks, Rami,” said Alice.

Grimmy finally made his way to Alice with a couple of quests in his hand. “Was that guy bothering you?” said Grimmy to Alice. “Next time do not waste your time kicking him in the crotch, go straight for the necrotic wound. He will run so fast to a healer; he will not have time to do much else.”

“Oh, you have necrotic wound?” asked Bonetta.

“Yeah, I’m able to inflict it via one of my sickles,” answered Alice, showing Bonetta her black sickle.

Bonetta took a long look at the sickle. Alice had already identified that look as the look people made when using the identify skill.

“You gotta be careful with those, you may get inflicted with necrotic wound yourself!”

“Oh no worries I can always cure it with one of my spells.”

“You can cure death affinity afflictions?!” said Bonetta with wide eyes.

“Actually,” interjected Grimmy, “you are now immune to necrotic wound and all other death affinity skills and spells.”

“Are you now?” said Bonetta, her interest in Alice growing.

“Am I? That’s cool!” continued Alice.

“Yes, the death boon you received makes it so.”

“Sphhhlt, you have a boon… from death!” said Bonetta after spitting out her Sour Pearl on the counter. Bonetta started looking around to see if someone had heard them. “You might want to keep that to yourself, the god of death is not very popular around here.”

“Yeah… I have been told he rubs people the wrong way,” said Alice, remembering her conversation with Joe.

“Yeah, people have been imprisoned or even killed from being associated with the god of death or his followers.”

“Oh really?... Should I be worried? Are you going to kill me?” asked Alice with worry in her voice.

“Nah… I do not judge based on the boons you have, plus I like you, you seem like a good person, and that crotch kick was amazing to watch.” Bonetta smiled.

“Good to hear. I like you too,” said Alice with relief on her voice.

“Well, sorry to interrupt the beautiful beginning of, what seems to be, a fruitful and long-lasting friendship, but it is getting late, Alice. We need to go back to our room at Green Luna, have some dinner and go to sleep. Tomorrow is going to be full of activities,” said Grimmy.