That same evening Liam and Amarie walked out of the shop, where they were greeted by a smiling Sir Neville wearing civilian clothes. Seeing him without his armor felt mildly surreal to Liam, his mind constantly associating the young man with the [Knight] in plate armor and seeing him wearing trousers lined with felt, a long sleeved shirt and a heavy cloak to keep the cold at bay was… new. He looked like a completely different person.
“Good evening Liam, [Commander]!” he said cheerfully with a wave, causing people to turn their heads at the word [Commander]. Of course everyone and their parakeet (apparently there weren’t many dogs on Rodar. Or pets in general. They didn’t last long) knew who Amarie was and where she lived, but some people still found it hard to believe that someone who was basically a minor celebrity lived in such a… normal part of the city.
“I’m glad we didn’t have to ask Dame Giulia for help this time around,” he continued, a smirk making its appearance on his face now.
Liam chuckled: “Good evening to you too Sir Neville. And come on, she can’t be that bad. Right?”
For a single moment the young [Knight]’s expression was overtaken by a haunted look, as if he’d just seen the horrifying ghost of a monstrous ghoul appear behind Liam. Then he shook his head slightly, his smile returning.
“Trust me Liam, you don’t want to find out. It’s usually enough for her to look at you to convince you to do as she wants, and I had the displeasure of hearing her talk in an attempt to convince me. I know Airm when I see it: I live in it.”
Again, Liam was tempted to say something along the lines of ‘surely you’re exaggerating’, but thought better of it when Amarie put a placating hand on his shoulder.
“Good evening Neville. Let’s all drop the titles now, shall we? It’s winter, we’re all out of a job.”
That got a chuckle out of the [Knight]: “Sure we are. ‘Least the [King] pays us still, otherwise we’d be in dire straits.”
Because yes, apparently there were kingdoms out there who didn’t pay their military during the winter pauses from the fighting and wars, practically disbanding them until the arrival of spring, all to save up some money. Some would call it a very stupid tactic, and if we were on Earth I’d be prone to agreeing with the idea, but on
“So, where are we eating?” asked Liam.
“Oh, you’re going to love the place! It’s called ‘The Herbalist’s Nightmare’ and it’s awesome. They say their [Chef] is over Level 30!”
“...The Herbalist’s Nightmare?” he was thoroughly confused.
“Yes. A great name, am I right? Their dishes are all different types of meats prepared in the most outlandish ways imaginable and they all taste great!”
Amarie smiled, then, leaning in close to the young man, asked: “Who lost a bet and is forced to spend their life’s savings on this evening?”
Neville burst out into laughter: “Oh, that would be Sir Pollion. We made a bet on who would manage to convince Giulia to stay put among the ranks during the [King]’s entire speech; he got the short straw and lost. Also, it’s not his entire life’s savings, just the month’s stipend, and he said he had a lot of money saved up. He’ll be bringing his wife and kid there next week, got an appointment set up and everything.”
That brought a genuine and happy smile to Amarie’s lips, and an expression of incredulity to Liam’s face. Why he couldn’t have told you, but it just felt so… strange, to hear that one of the people he’d been traveling with, someone who risked their life on the daily fighting in wars, would have a family waiting home. It didn’t make sense, but then again, the human mind seldom does, and Sir Pollion had never given Liam the married man vibes, much less the dad ones.
“He’s too good a man for these wars,” said Amarie in thinly veiled sadness and resignation, “but he made his choice, and he’s good at what he does.”
“Amarie, with all due respect, if there’s someone in our unit who’s too good for these wars it’s you, and everyone in the unit would agree with me,” rebutted Neville with a slight glare.
“Maybe you’re right, but it’s all I’m good for.”
“Bullshit,” said the young man, motioning for the duo to follow him as he began walking, “You could’ve become a great [Musician], maybe even one on the same Level as the King in Yellow.”
At those words Liam froze up for a moment, staring at the young [Knight] in surprise: “Did you just say… King in Yellow?”
He turned around with a small smile: “Yes! So you weren’t born under a rock after all. Darn, I owe Yulus ten golds.”
Liam felt hesitant to ask, but he needed the clarification because he’d heard tales about the King in Yellow back home and he really wanted to hope that the one Neville was talking about wasn’t some kind of eldritch god.
“Erm, Neville, out of curiosity, who’s the King in Yellow?”
The young [Knight] raised an eyebrow: “Wait, so you didn’t know? Oh phew, I’m not gonna lose my money.”
“No, well, I mean, I heard some strange stories, really strange ones, like that he’s some kind of… god?”
A snort escaped both Amarie and Neville, which rapidly turned into a chuckle on the young man’s part: “A god you say? Well, he certainly plays like a god, but no, he’s just as human as you and me. Not Amarie here, she’s a halfblood. No offense, naturally.”
“None taken.”
“Anyways, no, he’s a man from Irevia, a great musician who made his name by turning his entire audiences into his orchestra sometimes, parts of his songs. That’s where he got his moniker as King. The yellow part came from his fondness of yellow things. Apparently he always dresses in yellow, or has something yellow on himself.”
Why did this world have to be so fucking strange?
“Anyways,” said Amarie, “you’re exaggerating Neville, there’s no way I could ever become that good.”
The young man gave her a dirty look: “Amarie, your music can make people see things, see their primordial aspects. It is beautiful, it is simple, it is completely different from the King’s music, and I swear that if you ever wanted to actually make use of your Class you’d probably reach his own Level in a few years.”
Levels and Time can make anything possible, remembered Liam. It was one of Sigmund’s favorite sentences.
They chatted like that for a few minutes until, finally, they reached a simple looking building. That is, simple for Earth designs: there was a window in place of the frontal wall, wood framing it all around, a clear display of wealth, especially on Rodar. Even more than that though were the words painted on said glass: ‘The Herbalist’s Nightmare’, all in a bright green that really felt at odds with the concept they were trying to communicate.
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“I didn’t know this place was here,” he whispered to Amarie.
“How much have you been getting out lately?”
Liam opened his mouth to answer that, then stopped, realizing that he had not been goin out of the workshop that much. At most he left to go get something to drink at the nearby bar, but that was the extent of his outings.
“Just as I thought. Dad managed to create a small world inside our home just so he would never really need to go out.”
And it was very subtle at that too. He hadn’t stopped to think about it once since his arrival at the workshop: between his lessons, his work and Amarie herself he’d just accepted that this was how these things would go.
Hesitating a moment Liam looked at his girlfriend (and oh my god wasn’t that a thought) and asked: “Amarie, does your father suffer from agoraphobia?”
She batted her eyes a couple times: “Ago-what?”
“Ah, yes, you probably don’t call it that. It’s… well, for lack of a better word it’s a mental illness that causes people to fear going outside their homes.”
At that Neville piped up: “Oh, you mean Dwarven Sky Syndrome, or DSS.”
“Errr… yes…?” it was more a question than a confirmation.
Amarie nodded: “Yes, he does suffer from that. He always has as far as I know, but when mum was alive… well, he was better. Since she died he went back to his old ways of life.”
Liam nodded but, before they could continue that line of conversation, a group of familiar people walked towards them: the remaining members of the unit of [Knights].
“Amarie, hello!” waved a cheerful Sir Pollion, “And Liam and Neville too! Pleasure to see yall again. Except for you Neville. We met this morning.”
A chuckle went up from the group.
Next was Dame Giulia, who simply nodded her head in greeting to each of them, giving everyone a sparkling smile that promised good natured mischief.
Afterwards Yulus greeted them… and that was more or less everyone he knew. The other [Knights] he hadn’t really spent much time talking to. Still, they all greeted him warmly.
Then in they went, where a smiling [Restaurant Owner] showed them to their private booth bringing them menus that were basically a cutting board with a paper menu somehow glued to it, which was a nice touch seeing how the whole menu could be described with the words ‘Meat, meat and more meat’.
“So, what do you suggest I take?” he asked as he read all the unfamiliar cuts of meat from many animals, some known, many very much unknown.
Immediately he was flooded with proposals and suggestions on what to eat and what drink to order to accompany his food and so much more, until he noticed the pained expression on Sir Pollion’s face and, upon looking at the prices on the menu, realized they were all suggesting the most expensive items they could get away with.
In the end he settled for a ragout of krimou meat with many different spices as his first dish, followed by a dragonspawn steak. Well, alright, it wasn’t the actual spawn of a dragon, mainly because dragons had long since gone into hiding. It was some kind of very big lizard that could be found on Aknos around the Arborges Mountains that could spit magma at people.
The meat, he found out, was extremely spicy.
He drank it all down with a local wine.
Meanwhile the conversation had moved through many different topics and, in the end, an emboldened and slightly tipsy Pollion asked this: “So tell me Amarie, did you finally manage to get a boyfriend? Or girlfriend. We don’t judge.”
Everyone at the table turned to look at the man as if he’d just stepped on bomb (everyone except for Giulia, who was smiling delightfully at that).
Amarie, on the other hand, just smirked and nodded: “Oh, I have Pollion. You can finally stop setting up dates for me.”
The man raised his hands to the skies, glass of wine still in hand, and shouted: “Fucking finally! Who’s the lucky guy?”
Again, Amarie smirked, before surreptitiously looking towards Liam, who was still calmly eating his steak and had, mistakenly, stopped paying attention to the conversation.
Everyone’s eyes at the table widened as they turned to stare at him with incredulity (except, for the umpteenth time, for Giulia, who looked amused and had a very knowing smile)
Finally, he noticed them and looked up from his plate.
“What?”
Nothing.
“Why are you all staring at me?”
Yulus turned towards Amarie: “Seriously? Him?”
She nodded.
Then the questions began.
And suddenly Liam was the center of attention.
----------------------------------------
The night was cold. Not a bad cold per se: he had good, thick, clothes on, enchanted with heating Spells in case of necessity, there was no wind and no humidity in the air to make the cold reach your bones and start freezing them.
Amarie was still inside, trying to convince Pollion to let her pay part of the bill because she felt guilty he’d been forced to pay it all: she was failing rather spectacularly in the face of a very drunk [Knight] who was refusing her proposals loudly. He’d snuck out to enjoy some peace.
The door behind him opened and, when Liam turned, he saw Neville walk out, hands in the pockets of his trousers, steps slightly unsteady from the wine he’d imbibed, which was nowhere near as much as Pollion luckily for him.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hey,” repeated the young [Knight].
And then they stood there in companionable silence.
There was no need for words, nor looks, nor anything in truth. They were just two men relaxing and thinking about their lives, about how they’d changed and how they were going to change in the future.
Out of the blue Neville spoke: “Tell me, Liam: what will you be doing next?”
He turned to look at the young man, who was actually older than him, and said a very intelligent thing: “Huh?”
The slightly tipsy [Knight] turned to look at him: “It’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you for a while. You created those ‘bombs’ we use in combat now. Don’t try to deny it, I saw the autographed bomb in Giulia’s tent. You’re working with a prestigious [Crafter] and, probably, trying to create something new, or something powerful, I don’t know. But what then?”
“...This is very out of the blue Neville, why are you asking? Is this the wine talking?”
The young man chuckled: “Maybe. Probably. The question remains: do you have a dream Liam? Something maybe impossible you wish you could do one day?”
Liam opened his mouth to answer, to say that yes, he had a dream like that, his gun… only to then close his mouth as he realized that wasn’t a dream. That was just a project. Oh, sure, it was his project and he was doing everything in his power to make it but… it felt possible. It didn’t feel like a dream.
He didn’t know it, he couldn’t, but he wasn’t like Alice and Isse. They both had their dreams: the former desired to become as great as her grandma had once been, maybe to even surpass her, to become the greatest occultist this world had ever seen; meanwhile Isse wished for a place to call home, truly home, a place with her soulmate and her sisters. An impossible dream that one, but that was why they were called dreams to begin with, right?
Liam though? He hadn’t been anyone special to begin with: just your normal, everyday guy, trying to make a life for himself, getting thrown into another world without even getting to choose his own Class, and from there just going with the flow.
So what was it that he desired?
“I don’t know Neville.”
The young man nodded: “Yeah, that happens often with driven people. They just look at their work, at the here and there, and never stop to think about the things that could be more.”
“I wouldn’t call myself driven, Neville.”
“I would, and you can’t change my opinion. Now, would you like to hear what’s my dream?”
Liam hesitated, then shrugged and nodded: “Sure.”
“I want to travel around the world. I want to see everything there is to be seen and then some more. I want to climb to the highest peak of the Tiurna Mountains, I want to visit Kraken’s Rest in the depths of the ocean; I want to see Aknos and the Tower Academy, Irevia and its beautiful cities, the jungles of Eva and the City of Temples, even the College. I want to see it all. That’s my dream.”
“...It’s a great dream Neville.”
“Thank you.”
There they stood.
And for the first time Liam thought about his very own impossible future.
Nothing came to mind.