Cain walked through the portal and glanced around his surroundings, searching for the party in case some of them reserved a table. The bustling atmosphere of adventurers laughing and clanking mugs filled his ears, drowning the shouts of Veronica and Jared. Cain noticed the movements of their hands, his eyes locking onto their figures and his legs drifting towards them.

“Why is it so crowded right now?” Cain asked as he sat down. “Most of the adventurers came back from their quests. Some of them tried to squeeze in one before the invasion, others took a quest to have an excuse to not partake in it.” Jared explained while gesturing to his mug of beer. Cain converted his drink into Root Beer, then continued the conversation.

“Wasn’t the invasion a week ago? How come they’re just coming back now?” Cain persisted, still confused as to why the tavern wasn’t this crowded yesterday or the day before. “I heard most of them came back yesterday, but when they heard the invasion had already happened they just took care of their repairs and went to an inn.

“The rest may have been delayed by the monsters that were fleeing from the invasion. There’s usually quite a few weaker ones who come in waves during the invasion; most of them don’t touch A-rank though.” Victoria answered Cain as she walked up from behind him, taking her seat next to Veronica.

She says weaker ones as if she didn’t just promote to C-rank. I guess the power of the people in her family skewed her perspective on it a bit. Those B-ranks should be enough to bulldoze most of the adventurers. Come to think of it, I didn’t see any other demon wolves either. Cain analyzed what Victoria said as Jacob called over a waiter to take their order.

“How did the repairs go?” Jared asked Jacob once they got settled in. “The blacksmith said it’ll take a few days with all of the requests he just got from the returning adventurers. He recommended that I just buy new bracers since they were better off scrapped.” Jacob explained his situation while Victoria ordered a few drinks and food from the waiter that rushed over.

“Yeah… I’m surprised you could even get them off.” Jared commented then chugged his soda. ‘Hm? Jacob’s bracers were damaged?’ Cain questioned then scanned Jacob’s memories. Apparently, they were badly damaged in the fight against the drake mecha.

Huh… Guess I was too distracted with discovering and observing their mana techniques. Cain mused, then asked moments later. “Why don’t you just use a shield?” “A shield would be too heavy. There’s no guarantee I can keep aggro on the enemy we’re fighting so I need to be agile enough to respond to unexpected situations.

“Shields are usually only used when there’s more than one tank.” Jacob explained the nuances of his class, Cain transmuted the party’s refilled mugs into Root Beer as he spoke. “I see…” Cain muttered, his eyes glancing over to Victoria’s who looked at him at the same moment; she quickly averted her eyes the moment they met though.

—Group Chat: Cain, Dresil, Bob, and Rex— (8ms)

Rex: Dang… how did you even know she was going to look at you?

Cain: I didn’t, my instincts are just too high.

Cain: Dresil, can you put that warm leaf thing on the back of my neck again like you did during the duel?

Dresil: Understood, Master.

Rex: …nah, no way your instincts are just that high naturally.

Cain: :shrug: Don’t know what to tell you then

Rex: :ded:

--------------------------

[It looks like Natasha has told you everything that happened during our meeting. I’d prefer if you didn’t tell the party about my origins quite yet.] Cain transmitted to Victoria, startling her slightly. “Everything ok, Vicky?” Veronica asked when she noticed Victoria jump slightly. “Yeah… just thought I saw a spider.” Jared sucked in a breath, muttering, “makes sense.”

Ok. Victoria thought with the intention for Cain to hear it. Victoria didn’t know any telepathy techniques, not that the message would go through anyways due to Cain’s all-exclusive firewall. Cain recognized her thought as a test as well as a response, trying to bait him into accidentally confirming he can read minds. He just acted as if he didn’t know what Victoria thought and eyed the fleet of waiters bringing some food over.

“Oh, right. The Magic Tower mages should be coming around an hour after noon with a carriage. We notified them that you may be joining so there’s room if you want to tag along.” Victoria stated while tapping her mug of beer. Cain nodded while transmuting her drink into Root Beer, along with the rest of the party who eyed the soda.

“You planning on buying new bracers then?” Victoria asked Jacob once he put his mug down. “Probably. I’ve had those for quite a while after all. We have the money right?” He responded while serving himself some meat. Victoria nodded, muttering a “Yep.” as she filled her plate with a balanced meal.

Victoria also sneaked some vegetables and fruit onto Jared’s plate, which was primarily filled with meat. When he finally noticed, it was too late to put them back, so he hesitantly ate them under Victoria’s watchful eyes. Veronica noticed their somewhat flirtatious behavior and sneaked some glances at Cain.

She followed his line of sight towards a piece of steak; Cain and Veronica looked at each once more then had another fight for the steak with their forks. Victoria, Jared, and Jacob watched the show while eating the rest of the food.

At some point, Veronica and Cain started to fuse mana into their forks while clashing together. Splinters would occasionally spray outwards, yet before they could land on the food or near anyone, Cain turned them into mana with the aid of his Mana Zone.

Veronica and Cain clashed once more, the prongs of their forks interlocking with each other. Veronica tried to twist her fork to force Cain’s out of his hands, yet his sturdy grip caused her plan to backfire and shatter her fork.

Veronica retreated, her somber mood seemingly worsening the fork’s condition. Dresil spread some vines from Cain’s right sleeve, creating a new fork for Veronica as Cain turned the old one into mana; the old fork seemingly disappeared after Veronica set it down. The party continued to eat festively, the cheers and conversations of the other adventurers within the guild hall enhancing their mood.

Cain and Veronica’s forks met once again over a steak. Before they could turn it into another battle field, Victoria spoke up. “You guys should probably stop… fighting? Entagling? I don’t know the word, just… if you keep it up we’ll end up having to pay for the utensils you two break.” Cain and Veronica’s eyes met, the drowning background chatter seemed to fade away when Veronica looked into Cain’s eyes.

“Hm… Let’s do this then.” Cain put his fork back on his plate, his voice snapping Veronica out of her stupor. He put his right fist over his palm, entering the starting stance of rock, paper, scissors. Veronica mimicked Cain’s stance with a hint of curiosity surfacing on her face.

“We say rock, paper, scissors, then choose one of the three. Rock beats scissors, scissors beats paper, paper beats rock. Whoever wins gets the meat.” Cain explained the game to Veronica, showing her the hand signs as he spoke their names. Veronica mimicked his moves, then nodded her head when she understood the rules.

The two of them battled for the steak, with Cain choosing scissors and coming out as the victor. He took the fruits of his battle while comforting Veronica, “Maybe next time.” Victoria took mental notes of the new game, finding it an exceptionally easy way to solve disputes within the party and in general.

The party continued to eat while discussing various things needed for the trip to the Tower and their expectations for what would be inside. Jacob and Victoria spent the first few minutes discussing their options for his new piece of armor then joined in on the conversation. Like excited kids about to go on a field trip, they managed to drag out the conversation for most of their meal.

Once everyone finished their meal, they left the table for the waiters and waitresses to clean up. Cain created a portal to the inn, the sudden portal shocked many of the returning adventurers who were uninformed about Cain. Gossip replaced the cheers within the tavern as the party headed to their rooms.

The party dispersed into their rooms, bidding their farewells. Cain nearly plopped on the bed but was redirected by Dresil to follow through on his night routine, starting with his alien pod shower. He absent mindedly finished his routine, zoning in and out due to his sleepiness. When he finally hit the bed, he nearly fell asleep before he could establish the sound-proof magic circles.

With his hibernation, another day drew to close, yet many forces moved about during the night life of the city.