“Welcome Back,” Rina shouted.

“Aye, welcome back,” Su copied her, “ye be eatin’?”

Jason nodded. “Yeah. I’d like to talk when you get the time. I need some help with some stuff,” he said as reached behind him to bring Rina to his side. He patted her on the head. “The midget seems to be doing a good job.”

“Ye could say tha’,” Su smiled. “Tha’ table’s callin fer ye,” she pointed to a nearby table. “I’ll get ye set up,” she said as she went to prep a dish and check on the availability of Jason’s usual room. She returned shortly with a plate of stew and bread rolls, informed him that his room was available, but Jason declined to rent the room for the day for reasons they’d talk about later.

In the corner of the room, the Human man surrounded by Sil`phane women kept staring at Jason who hadn’t even looked to see if he knew the guy or not. If he had, he’d be surprised to find that it was another of his classmates. The guy cocked his head to the side as if he was trying to figure out who Jason was. When it clicked and he finally figured it out he jumped up and ran over to Jason. “Hey! Jay! You survived! I thought I’d never see any familiar faces again,” the guy exclaimed as he flew towards Jason. There was only one person that called him, “Jay,” and the thought that he couldn’t even get abducted to get away from him.

Jason turned slowly towards the man. It was indeed who he thought it was. As usual and amazingly the man looked immaculate. There was no signs of any strenuous work. His blond hair looked no different than when they were back on Earth. What’s more was that his clothes were clean and looked more valuable than most people in Gondaluke in this area of the town. He didn’t carry any weapons but his clothes showed off his muscular youthful body and that along with the general mysteriousness of Humans would be enough for most to give him his space, but that didn’t explain how he had built enough wealth to wear such clothes. Jason then realized something. He wasn’t wearing any ARMS, or was it that he was but it was a higher grade that looked different? He couldn’t have gotten very far without ARMS Jason thought.

“Chris, how did you afford those clothes?” he asked something he would never before think of asking someone, but Chris’ condition was just so odd from his new perspective that he couldn’t help asking. If Chris had some secret then perhaps he could use it to rescue Gael. Of course, that was his ultimate goal, not the money, and he was about to modify his question to explain the situation. He may not like Chris, but he wasn’t a bad guy. If he could help Jason believed he would, but Chris began to answer before Jason could change his question.

“Oh… uhhh. There were lots of bums that were with us. They were easy to trick out of their money. And then can you believe these people have never heard of a bank? They give me their money or they ask for loans and I get to take whatever I want for collateral. It’s great. I’ve got myself a house and a harem. Just look at them. It’s completely legal here to own slaves and you’d be amazed how many are willing to put themselves as collateral!” Chris excitedly told Jason what he had been up to while he had been on debris.

Jason realized that the reason he had been treating the Sil`phane women as pets was not because of culture, but because Chris was a twisted person who truly thought of them as pets. Rage built up inside Jason. He began to shake trying to resist the urge to beat Chris senseless.

“How bout you? You look a little banged up and more wild, but you seem to be doing good for yourself. Got yourself any of these cat girls?” Chris went on oblivious to Jason’s temper flaring. By the time he finished what he was saying he found himself the recipient of a blow across the face. He stumbled back and crashed into a table, reeling from Jason’s punch.

Those at that table quickly jumped up and out of the way of the man while the other patrons around the inn watched on. They, like Jason had earlier, thought that this behavior may be normal Human culture. There was visible annoyance seen on the faces of many of them, but they had been taught universally over the centuries that when there were new arrivals, never assume anything about the behavior. For all they knew this could just be some sort of expression of deep romantic love. Granted none of the known species had such a behavior, but Humans had plenty of weird and unique things about them. That’s what made them so interesting to most who took interest in these types of things. However, a few of the patrons shouted for them to at least take it outside like civilized people.

Chris struggled up to his feet, but Jason was already on him, grabbing him by the scruff of his neck. “You’re going to get out of here and never come back. Understand?” Jason’s voice was filled with cold rage. “I don’t want to hear of you even setting foot near this area of town,” he continued, “and if you do there will be a bounty on your head.” Jason moved Chris forcibly to the door, before tossing him out with enough force to lift him off his feet. He watched Chris tumble down the steps, tearing his clothes, and taking several injuries. When he got up his nose was bloody. He looked up at Jason with snarl. The Sil`phane women rushed past him to Chris’ side, supporting him.

“You’re making a mistake, Jay. You’ll regret this later. I don’t even know what your deal is,” he said as the women helped him down the street. It was obvious that various bones of his had been broken or sprained from the limp that he now had.

Jason went back in the inn and looked around seeing that he had disrupted the goings on. “Sorry about the mess. Just a difference of opinion. No need to worry. Everything has been dealt with.” He started cleaning up the table he knocked over with the help of Rina and the patrons that were sitting there. They quickly tidied up the area and got them new dishes and rounds of alcohol that Jason paid for. Afterward, he returned to his seat at the bar. Su-Sheh was there giving him a look.

“Ye best not make breakin me pub a habit,” she scolded.

“My bad. My bad,” Jason meekly apologized, “I’m sure you can understand. I couldn’t help myself and I don’t want that type of person anywhere near Rina.”

Su took his apology and went back to her business. Rina didn’t quite know why Jason had gotten so angry nor why he didn’t what that guy around her, but she figured that if he didn’t want someone around her it was probably for a good reason. She hadn’t known Jason long or all that well, but she had decided that if anyone was a good guy it was probably him. After she checked in on him she went back to running around the inn trying to take orders and deliver the food coming from the back. Jason ate his food that Su had brought out to him before all this began. The stew seemed to have pork in it. It had been a while since he had eaten any pork, but however they cooked it the flavor really came to the fore and made him remember why it was such a staple food on Earth. They were trying some of the new flavors that Humans had brought with him. It seemed to him that the Tik’rs’ inn was becoming a place where the locals could get a taste of Human culture and it was getting popular because of that. The rolls, on the other hand, tasted like some sort of bland paper. He couldn’t bare to eat them alone, but when used to sop up the stew they became passable, just barely, enough to get through. This gave him an idea.

Jason spent the rest of the day just sitting at the bar waiting for it to calm down enough so that he could drag Su and Awlrek away to have that talk with him. The contents of which had changed since earlier slightly but overall, mostly the same. From time to time he’d chat with Rina and the various patrons. Several approached him and asked to feel his face. They were still curious about shaving. It was amazing that such a dull topic could provide so much discussion when the topic was nearly completely foreign to those involved. They questioned how it felt, why Humans did it, and what were the styles and social customs. Some of the details they thought he was making up while other things they seemed to be more intent on knowing about so that they could experiment. At times he had a hard time keep a straight face imagining what some of them had in mind to do. Other times he winced at the mere idea of what they were proposing to do. Most of them had fur all over and he didn’t want to imagine that torture that they’d have to endure to do a full body wax.

Eventually the day came to an end. Most of the patrons left and it came time to clean up and close up the kitchen. Those staying at inn made their arrangements and went to their rooms while those who weren’t were either too drunk to find their way home alone or finishing off the last of their meal. When all the chores were finally done the Tick’rs came out front and joined Jason and Rina at a table, ignoring the few patrons still hanging about the dining room. They were curious about what Jason had to discuss. The last few times he stopped in it was just that, checking in with Rina, getting a bite to eat, informing them of what was going on and leaving again. This time he specifically wanted to talk to them so they got the impression that it was serious.

When Jason started explaining that he needed to sell a bunch of goods and didn’t quite know how to go about doing it. They Tik’rs looked at each other and then laughed. If that was all that he needed then they could help him easily. They had to shop at the market fairly often and were friends with several of the shopkeepers. They could set something up for him and it would give them a chance to teach Rina some things about business so that she could expand her abilities to help them in the future. If he left the stuff he wanted to sell with them they’d sell everything for him and hang onto the money till the next time they saw him or leave it with Rina. It didn’t take long to discuss all the arrangements and transfer the goods to where they wanted him to leave the goods. It seemed like such a waste to have waited all this time now, but it gave him a chance to catch up with Rina and some of the town people. However, it was late and he needed to rent a room out which reminded him of the idea he had. He offered the Tik’rs all the crop he had gathered from the Goblins in exchange for buying out the room permanently. After seeing how much he had and his commentary on the bread they agreed believing that the crops would definitely bring in even more business. Even if it wouldn’t Jason was becoming an adventurer capable of bringing a lot of wealth to their door. It was best to build up their relationship as much as they could, and they had already started viewing Rina and Jason as part of their family.