They made the course back to the surface in record time. They’d stayed underground for months now and couldn’t wait to bathe in the sunlight and take deep breaths of fresh air. Technically, they could’ve returned every now and then to the surface, but since it was a hassle to go back and forth all the time, they thought it was better to just wait until they could leave for good.

“Ah, sunlight! My eyes burn, but it feels good!” exclaimed Ben.

“I couldn’t agree more,” giggled Liza.

They all laughed with their eyes half closed, their tears flowing freely. The bright luminosity was too much for them who spent this long in the dark. Eliot took a deep breath and shouted.

“Let’s eat! Eat till we’re full! And food this time, not that terrible potion!”

“Agreed!” the others exclaimed while laughing.

“Food, it’s delicious~! Food, it’s so good! Meat is my favorite~”

While Eliot sang one of his nonsensical songs, cradling Boro’s cocoon to and fro on his arms like he was dancing, the others went about preparing the area for their meal. Fang Chu was separating the pans and cutlery, Liza was making the fire and Ben was rummaging through what they had left in stock.

The rations were all gone now. They only had Fang Chu’s potions and some food they’d set aside for their last meal. It was agreed that no one would make a deal with the devil to get them out, that’s why they’d prepared something like that. If it really came down to that however, would they be able to see it through? Nobody could tell, and they were glad they didn’t have to find out.

They ate a full meal while laughing and talking the whole time. Their empty bellies and lean faces recovered somewhat from the months of rationing food. When they were done, they cleaned up and walked towards the edge of the dome that previously blocked their path.

“Who wants to do the honours?” asked Liza.

“Me! Me! I’ll go!” exclaimed Eliot.

“Sure, go ahead.”

Eliot extended his arm forward and took a step. Then another. At one point he felt some resistance on his arm, but it was so weak that it didn’t compare with anything they’d seen before. He pushed forward. There was a pop sound and he soon found himself outside the limits of the dome. Everyone exchanged glances and knowing smiles. They were finally free.

For the track back through the forest, Fang Chu lent Eliot one her weapons and the young man took the lead. He’d too much energy to go around, so the others just let him do as he pleased. While he was leading the way, Liza was carrying Boro’s cocoon. The strange cocoon pulsed with a strong heartbeat and it was increasing in size at a noticeable rate.

They weren’t sure what part of the forest they were at, but it didn’t matter. The plan was simple. Walk in a straight line till they were out, then find their way back to Tolus. Every poor monster that managed to stumble upon their path had a terrible fate on the hands of the enthusiastic Eliot. A giant spider, a bear, a murdering vine. They weren’t strong enough like an ogre nor had plentiful numbers like a horde of kobolds to give the group any trouble. Fang Chu wanted to save a few to test Ben, but the monsters were always dead before she could speak up.

It took them many hours to exit the forest, but to them it felt like a short time. On the grassy plains they could finally see the broader world and after locating Kolmio Ridge, they adjusted their course and began the walk back to Tolus.

“Ah!” shouted Liza.

“What?”

“Did you see something?”

“What happened?”

“Our horses! We paid for a month, but how long did we stay in there? We lost our horses!”

“That’s what you’re worrying about? We can just buy new horses! We’re rich!” said Ben.

Though that was true, Liza still felt a bit down. Money was always tight for her, so it hadn’t sunk down yet that now they had more than enough to spare. She could only think mournfully about the horses they’d lost.

On the way back they were surprised to see a large group of corpses littering the vicinity of the city. Orcs, goblins and humans were all sprawled on the ground. Even an ogre had fallen near the city’s ramparts. A large group of people walked on that battlefield, gathering the corpses and taking any valuables they might find.

“Wow, what happened here? Why are there so many dead?” asked Ben.

“Look, there’s an ogre there!” exclaimed Eliot.

Seeing the signs of the conflict and looking at the clear fields, something clicked in Liza’s mind. She suddenly remembered one of the quests they thought about taking in the city eventually.

“No wonder they put on a quest asking for help to defend the town after the harvest. It seems they were victorious, but a lot of people were lost.”

“I’m impressed they were able to take down an ogre. I thought only Eliot could go toe to toe with one,” said Ben.

“Hehe,” Eliot gave a silly laugh and puffed his chest proudly.

“That’s the power of humans for you. Individually they might be weak, but if you put a bunch of them together and teach them proper tactics… they can go to accomplish great things,” said Fang Chu.

They passed by the workers, the scavengers, and the crows that went from one corpse to the other and entered the city. The mood inside the town was a strange one of subdued happiness. It was clear that the battle had finished at least a few days ago and they were victorious. As they approached the inn, Liza, Fang Chu and Ben let out a breath of air at the same time and spoke in unison.

“I want a bath!”

An order was put for a lavish meal, tidy rooms and baths for all. Eliot fought back saying he was fine without one, but to no avail. While they cleaned themselves from months of grime and fatigue, tables were set on the common room for their dinner. The other patrons watched with envy as what only could be described as a banquet (for the inn standards) was prepared for them.

Half an hour later, they all came down wearing a batch of fresh clothes, all borrowed from Fang Chu. Thankfully, she did have some unisex tunics and trousers the men could wear without feeling ashamed. They feasted to their hearts content and celebrated loudly.

The other patrons were already envious about the food and treatment they received from the owner, but they couldn’t get mad at the dazzling beauties nor at the dashing Eliot. Therefore, all the ill will was concentrated on the average looking Ben. He looked like any one of them, so how could he be dinning with such distinguished people? The stares felt like they could pierce the back of his head.

[That’s unfair people! Give some of that evil eye to Eliot too!]

Ben wasn’t the only one that was annoyed, as some of the drunkards would “whisper” crude and crass things about Fang Chu and Liza. Being already tipsy as they were, these drunkards were the only ones that thought they were being discreet, as anyone could hear their “whispers”. Fang Chu was frowning at their harassment, but she decided to let it go for the moment.

Later during their meal, a group of those harassing drunkards passed near their table, giving Fang Chu an opportunity for a small revenge. She extended her leg as they were about to walk past them, tripping them up. They fell face first into the floor. While everyone was confused about what happened, Fang Chu decided to pull and additional prank and covered her mouth with her hands while laughing.

“You shouldn’t do that, dear. That’s mean!” she said while looking at Ben.

“Uh?” Ben replied in confusion.

“Prepare for your first real combat. A bar brawl,” she whispered in a low voice.

“What?” Ben was stunned. He didn’t process what she said right away and was distracted by the commotion.

“You sunnav pig*hick*!”

Before Ben could make any sense of what was going on, one of the drunkards got up, grabbed him by his collar and headbutted his face. Eliot was about to get up and help his friend when Fang Chu interrupted him.

“Don’t, Eliot. This is Ben’s fight.”

The young man nodded in understanding. Ben’s head was still dizzy when he felt a hard punch connect to his side. He cursed out loud and stumbled sideways for a couple steps.

The drunkards kept throwing their fists haphazardly. The tables and chairs all around them made for a restricted area of movement and Ben was still a bit out of it due to the sucker punch, thus he ended up eating a few more blows.

“You sunnav *hick*, you’re just, just *hick* average looking!”

“Yeah, that there lady over there is too good for ya!”

At this point Ben finally recovered his senses. My first fight. A bar brawl. Damn, can’t you do things like a normal person? Having snapped out of it, he felt mad. What were all these bastards punching him for? It was Fang Chu that tripped them! And what about all these curses? It was clear they had it out for him from the start! Ben dropped low to dodge one of the attacks and clenched his fist.

“You blasted drunkards! If that’s how you want, take this! Shoryuken!”

He got up quickly and threw a hook towards the chin of one of them. Ben felt the pain on his fist indicating that the blow connected. The man’s eyes rolled on their sockets until only the white could be seen. He was down for the count.

The others cursed in an unintelligible manner and kept swinging their arms at him. This time however he was completely aware of their attacks and dodged them. He responded one of their blows with a palm strike and was surprised to see the man fall back a good distance before collapsing on top of another table. When he tried this technique on his party it never worked well like that.

To finish the last drunkard off, he landed a knee strike to the opponent’s stomach. The man barfed some of his alcohol back and fainted on the spot. Ben was draining the sweat off his face with his sleeve when he heard someone behind him saying I’m going to hit you. He knew what was going on immediately and a cold shiver ran through his body. He turned around and tried his best to block the incoming blow, but soon everything went dark.

“Wasn’t that too much?” asked Liza.

“I told him a bunch of times already, he needs to be aware of his surroundings. Besides, I even warned him before the attack. I’m just too good natured,” sighed Fang Chu as she held onto Ben to prevent him from falling to the ground.

Liza shook her head at Fang Chu’s unreasonable explanation. After watching Ben’s training for the past few months, it was easy to see why her students ended up requesting for a new instructor. When it came to training, Fang Chu had no mercy. Most surprising of all was that Ben managed to live through it.

All the other patrons watched the fight in silence until its conclusion. Many were confused when the lady struck her lover in the end, but they were glad he took some wallops. Eliot grabbed Ben from Fang Chu and put him over his shoulder, they were preparing to leave and go to sleep. At this moment, a dwarf that was sitting in a corner put his tankard down on the table with force and yelled.

“BAR FIGHT!!!”

Chaos ensued.