I went back to the inn. The innkeeper welcomed me by saying he had kept my room available for my return. How thoughtful. I thanked him and dropped my loot and equipment inside, then I cleaned myself up properly. We had washed in a river just before coming back to Valarest, but a real bath with real soap was another thing.

I quickly dried myself with heat magic.

I knocked to the trio's door. Grastel came at the door to see who it was only to reveal my dumb grinning mug.

「Allen: Heya, guys.」

I said out loud.

「Grastel: Welcome back.」

Grastel grinned, letting me enter. I gave him a quick hug.

Namrick and Ellin were sitting at the table with some kind of tabletop game. Tabletops games, I hadn't played one in more than a decade.

They both stood up to receive their doses of hugs, which I promptly delivered.

「Ellin: Allen, you're back!」

Their smiling faces were a good change of scenery from the gloom and doom we had gotten used during the training.

「Namrick: How was the training?」

Namrick spoke the question. I sat down dramatically letting a heavy sigh.

「Allen: It was a never-ending nightmare. We started by crossing a portal to the Fire Lizard Den.」

I began, with a grave voice. Grastel brows shot up.

「Grastel: That far? Isn't that the place full of lava and fire lizards? You started your training there?!」

He asked with eyes wide open. I nodded.

「Allen: I know! It was one thing after the other, Vallachio barely left us any time to sleep!」

I began recounting the tales of our misadventures.

They better not complain about the lack of irrelevant details.

「Grastel: Really, it looks like you learned a few moves from Vallachio.」

Grastel grinned tossing the dice. We were playing a round of Verlikander, it was like a monopoly but with inns, dungeons and monsters. He moved his pawn four steps forward.

「Allen: Yeah, maybe. Honestly, I'd rather attack from a safe distance, hopefully when I get better at magic. Oh by the way, now I can freely attend the classes at no cost.」

It was my turn to roll. One. My pawn ended up in a mud pit, stuck for two turns. I scowled.

「Ellin: Nice, maybe we'll cross our paths at the Academy. I too am attending a couple of classes.」

She straightened up announcing her commitment.

「Allen: Very well... oh, look at what souvenirs I got from my travels.」

Since I was out of commision for few turns I put a pouch on the table, revealing its contents.

「Namrick: ... Seeds?」

They all stared at me with flat expressions, clearly nonplussed. I grinned.

「Allen: Yeah, seeds... of spices and stuff that I can use to cook! Although, I'll have to plant them somewhere first. There were a few things that looked similar to the ones from my homeland... I also brought these.」

I took out a few fire lizard tails.

「Allen: Fire lizard tails! What do you say, can they be used for anything?」

I asked wondering what kind of cool stuff I could do with it.

「Namrick: You should ask an alchemist, I think I heard fire lizards have fire resistance properties but that's all I know.」

Namrick said with a shrug. The others didn't proffer any more insight and merely shrugged in response. Well, they're kids, after all, I can't expect too much insightful knowledge.

I scratched my chin.

「Allen: Hmm, I'll ask the teachers at the Academy, I also still have that vial of troll blood. I wonder how long until I'll be able to use the special reagents. Alchemy is pretty difficult.」

And boring. Very boring.

「Ellin: It is... I wanted to learn it to craft magic potions, but I don't really understand it.」

She said with a pout and tossed her dice. It was a good roll so her smile was immediately recovered.

Hmmm, now that I have a makeshift computer with a working database, I might cheat and write an algorithm to do the hard part of alchemy for me. I need to expand on this, it was a good idea.

「Grastel: Your turn, Allen.」

Grastel passed me the dice and I rolled.

「Allen: Yes, I need to resume the alchemy class I was following. I think I can find a way to cheat and simplify the hard parts.」

I moved my pawn two steps forward and ended up on an "event" tile.

Namrick raised an eyebrow.

「Namrick: Trying to cheat on something as serious as that... what if you screw up and kill yourself in the process?」

Or others, was what he was thinking.

「Allen: By cheating, I mean making a system that calculates dosages, heating times and reminds me of the various steps. I don't trust my mind for any task related to calculations.」

I picked up one of the event cards.

Apparently, my pawn had been defeated by a Xankoli'hrater. I don't even know what the fuck that's supposed to be.

I scowled and moved back my pawn to the previous inn. Grastel grinned at me for the sake of being obnoxious. This game sucks.

「Namrick: And how do you think to do that?」

He asked and I obviously took out my silver cube and put on my smug face.

「Grastel: Allen's magic box of wonders... of course.」

Grastel rolled his eyes. Just you wait and see dear Grastel, you'll soon be begging for my otherworldly technology.

「Ellin: Did you add any new feature?」

Ellin asked expectantly.

「Allen: Not really. I only had the time to fix and improve what I had, but now the radar has a bigger range, consumes less mana and can warn me when new dots appear. That really saved us back there with the goblins.」

I put the silver cube away.

「Allen: I'll get back to it now that I don't have to bleed on the battlefield anymore. But let's stop talking about me, did anything happen while I was away?」

Ellin nodded, taking the initiative.

「Ellin: Yes, Edward told me that three people from his household staff were missing when the missive reached his father. That Torken must have somehow warned them before the messenger arrived.」

Se said with a hint of concern on her face.

「Namrick: Besides that, we heard about monster armies attacking neighboring kingdoms too. Things aren't looking so good on that front.」

Namrick stared down at the table, fiddling with the game pieces.

「Allen: I see. Vallachio did say something about a large scale conflict brewing up.」

I said. Possibly much later and far away from me.

「Grastel: So it seems. My grandfather fought in the last demon war... it wasn't pretty. Many people died pushing those bastards back. Is it gonna be like that again?」

We pondered in silence. Then I stood up.

「Allen: Well, I'm going to pay a visit to Corgas, Lena, and the others. We'll catch up later, see ya!」

「Grastel: Aren't you gonna finish the game?」

He asked me pointing to the board game. I looked at my unlucky pawn, I was losing pretty hard. I hated losing so I decided to give up before I started seething.

「Allen: Maybe another time. I'm not running anywhere, anyway. The last two months have been more than enough for me. See ya!」

I picked up my pouch.

「Ellin: Later!」

I waved goodbye to the guys and moved to my next target. Elaida's place.

It was late in the evening, she had to be back in her lodging.

I arrived and knocked on the door. I heard tiny footsteps drawing closer and it opened a little.

Lena's smiling face peeked from behind it.

「Lena: Uncle Allen!」

She jumped with excitement. Man, I wish I still had all the enthusiasm I had as a kid.

「Allen: Yep, it's me.」

I made a heroic pose.

「Elaida: Come in Allen!」

Elaida called out to me. I walked inside and gave a quick hug to the two of them.

「Allen: So, how are you two holding up?」

I looked at Elaida and the at Lena.

「Lena: Fiiiiine, did you kill the bad monsters?」

Her eyes almost sparkled with curiosity. I knelt down so we could talk face to face.

「Allen: We did. Our instructor made us walk through a portal full of fire lizards ready to turn us into ashes... and then he made us face many other terrible creatures!」

I gestured my hands dramatically.

「Lena: Woooooaah!」

Lena yelled open-mouthed. I took out a fire lizard tail from my pouch.

「Allen: But we prevailed. This is one of their tails, I heard it has magic properties!」

I surrendered the lizard tail to Lena. Her eyes sparkled with joy at the gift and scuttled away to secure her trophy. Heh, kids.

「Elaida: Thank you, Allen, for everything. The job you found me is going very well and Lena is doing well enough at school. I don't know how to repay you.」

She put her hands together in thanks.

「Allen: No need, I'm just repaying the kindness I received back then. Don't hesitate to ask if you need anything. By the way, I heard you were inventing new dishes last time I stopped at Corgas...」

Her eyes lit up.

「Elaida: Yes! I like experimenting with cooking.」

She puffed her chest out with a confident expression.

「Allen: That's good, Corgas is terrible at that. I had to coach him step by step on how to make pizza, he learned it alright. But experimenting...」

I shook my head, grinning at the thought. Corgas was just bad at coming up with new ideas. He had a preternatural gift to invent bad recipes.

「Elaida: Ahahah! That's true, creativity is his weakness, but once he gets how it's done, he's fine.」

She nodded slowly.

「Allen: Yeah. Maybe I'll teach you some of my recipes one of these days. Expanding the business is always good, maybe the day we can breach into the upper-class restaurant business is not too far.」

I just need to prevent Lord Rodenrouge from crippling my rise.

「Elaida: That would be great! Everyone has been telling me of your culinary prowess!」

She leaned forward with enthusiasm.

I raised a hand to stop her.

「Allen: Please, I'm just average, and I only enjoy it as a hobby. Cooking for work... it makes the fun fade away for me.」

Memories of the days I couldn't even look at a pizza without feeling nausea came back at me. Screw that, I'm gonna have others cook for me.

More small talk ensued then I said goodbye and walked to my restaurant. My stomach was growling for dinner.

People in the streets were talking about the coming war and the damages to the neighboring farms. Not very encouraging.

I reached the entrance and walked inside. Corgas saw me and gave me a big smile.

「Corgas: Allen! My friend, you're back!」

He moved toward me with open arms.

「Allen: I am, no more military training and instructors trying to get me killed!」

He gave me a bear hug. Which I countered with mana strength.

「Corgas: Elaida has invented some new dishes since your last visit, do you want to try them? I can vouch for the taste!」

He pushed me toward an empty table.

「Allen: Sure.」

I said taking my seat.

「Corgas: You have to tell me the tale of your training with Vallachio.」

He nodded and left.

When he came back with the meal he sat down with me, and I told him of all that happened during the death march we had to go through.

「Corgas: Woah, I never heard of a training so unforgiving.」

Corgas slowly shook his head and drank from his pitcher.

「Allen: Vallachio is not the kind of man to pull his punches, I guess the fact that the war is coming, made him push us harder.」

I said before taking another bite.

「Corgas: I see... another demon war, just now that everything was starting to go well.」

He shook his head sadly.

「Allen: Don't worry. With monsters like our archmages, the demons won't stand a chance!」

I said, making a dismissive gesture.

「Corgas: I hope you're right.」

He crossed his arms on the table, looking worried.

We kept chatting about this and that, then I left eager to sleep on a real bed. With a real roof on top of it.

I was back in the game.