It was then decided we would do much of nothing other than getting our affairs in order, except after deciding this, Patir sends Kassa ahead of us back to the inn and suggests we grab a drink. It’s still very early, I don’t know if any place would serve drink at such a time, but Patir guides me down a few smaller, curvy roads and we end up at what looks to be a very small bar. The counter takes up the entirety of the room and it only around 10 feet long, with 3 in front of it. There is a bell placed on the counter, which Patir rings.

A few minutes of intermittent ringing later, through a door behind the counter comes an older, slightly fat, slobby-looking man, dressed in clearly stained clothes.

“Let’s get 2 of the spicy brew you told me about last time.” Patir tells him. He scratches his cheek.

“What the hell are you doing this time of day?”

“No matter, just get us the drink.” Patir says and throw around 200 pekos on the counter. The slobby man sighs and walks out back, before swiftly returning with two mugs. The drink inside is completely opaque brown, almost looking like cocoa milk.

“Cheers!” Patir says and we drink. I cough a little as it gets down my throat. It tastes like somebody mixed a lot of pepper into whisky.

“Ah! Delicious!” Patir says. I take a few, smaller sips and I can see how it would grow on you.

“Yian, I wanted to talk to you about how we do things.” Patir started.

“Don’t get me wrong, you’re clearly in charge here. If we ever find ourselves in a moral conundrum, we will take your opinion as fact.” He takes another swig of the drink, complete with an ‘ahhh’ as we finished drinking.

“But you must also realize that you aren’t exactly… Smart. You are rash, naïve, impulsive, even if you have the heart in the right place, it will work to our disadvantage. Take for example your outburst today. That made us look completely available, but had they a need for us, and if we pretended to have other business to take care of, maybe we could have negotiated a higher fee.”

I think it makes sense, but something bothers me.

“You say that, but you have been making all of the decisions lately without any of our input. I don’t especially want to be in charge or anything, but when you make decisions for me, it bothers me a lot. Had I thought myself a leader, I could have taken the job yesterday and only informed you, but I came to you because I think all of our opinions matter.” I state my grief.

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“If you really think I was in charge, it makes more sense to give me counsel, not make my decisions for me.” Patir sloshes the remaining bit of drink around in the mug before downing the rest at the end of my argument.

“Yeah, you’re right. We will do that from now on.” Huh? That was unexpectedly easy. If this was all it took, I should have brought it up earlier.

“Thanks, man.” I say.

“No problem. And thank you too.” Patir responds.

When we get back, Big Mother greets us. I remember her trying to chase me off and brace for an undeserved scolding, but I am surprised.

“Show me the magic book.” She says.

“Huh? What, who told-“

“The girl did, who else? Now show me the magic book or I am not letting you back in!” This woman, sticking her nose into other’s business. And why did Yasia tell her?

“I am not showing you anything. I’ll see you, Kassa and Yasia at the Loffreq the day after tomorrow, then?” I ask Patir.

He merely nods. “Should I give her a scolding?” He asks, obviously referring to Yasia.

“Nah, I’ll take care of it myself when we have the time.” I don’t like the idea of somebody scolding somebody else on my behalf.

We separate and I end up leaving the city and just practicing magic with Dixy. My base experience with levitating around the room means I fairly quickly get proficient at flying around. However, the forces take up a huge amount of magic. While the thing about “cutting the earth’s tether” seems to cost me next to no mana, since I could use it all through the night without issue, creating the force propelling me to high speeds does. I wonder how efficient it is if I only get to high speeds and then travel.

My playtime eventually comes to an end. I had Dixy guide me back to the city just before it started to darken and I made it to the Loffreq in good time, as I still had to wait half an hour so for the others to appear.

Yasia looks very guilty, like a child who got caught breaking a vase. Guess she already understands her fault somewhat. When we are gathered, we enter the Loffreq and immediately the lady that has been our go-to so far appears and escorts us.

“You remember Kurat?” She asks us as we happen upon two guys waiting. I extend my hand to greet him, but he flinches as I do and I withdraw.

“Haha, to think I should see the invincible Kurat cower like this! You must really be something, kid!” The other guys laughs it up.

“And that is Benen” The lady explains. He is a fairly small guy, maybe around half a foot shorter than me. He has a face and head full of hair though.

“Pleased to meetcha!” He says and extends his hand, which I shake.

“They’ll be taking you to the rendezvous point.” The lady explain.

“Right, just follow us for a while. Our client should be all ready to go.”

Benen quickly leads the way and we follow.

“Uhm… I am sorry about the arm.” I say to Kurat.

“It’s…. No, I am sorry for being a coward.” He replies.

Benen laughs it up again. “Kurat here is sometimes called ‘Kurat the invincible’ because of his gift. Man never got hurt from anything, but it seems you taught him the meaning of fear.” He laughs while making me sound like a villain. I clearly remember that he invited it upon himself, though.

The sky grows darker as we approach the eastern gate, opposite the one we enter from more than two weeks ago.