“Rise and shine newcomer!” The voice of a girl woke Ruby up. She was laying in her bed on the first floor of Dorian’s and Jamie’s tavern which was also her workplace. It had been three days since she started working as a waitress and slowly she got the hang of it. The only problem she had were the work times, the tavern only got busy once it turned dark, but at the same time she needed to get up early to clean up the mess left behind by the guests.

She looked up into the green eyes of the youngest worker of the tavern, a fourteen year old girl named Emma. She wore casual clothes and her brown hair was bound into a ponytail. Emma wasn’t actually working at the tavern. It was odd, while most people started working at the age of twelve, Dorian had strict limits when it came to the staff and one of them was that one must be of certain age, the only exceptions to that rule were Ruby and Emma. But because in his eyes they were too young to actually work, their worktimes were a lot shorter compared to the others. This was something Ruby felt really guilty about, especially when she couldn’t even handle a small fraction of the job of the others.

Ruby was an exception because of her relationship with Jamie and Dorian as the heroes, but Emma’s case was even more specific and way more tragic. Her mother died in labour and her father, who was a friend of Jamie had died during the ‘incident’ (whatever that was) and thus Dorian and Jamie took her in. The staff was her new family and her job was to take care of the small things, like waking up the staff members or occasionally helping Dorian with the paperwork. Jamie had told Ruby in secret that Emma isn’t forced to work but wants to do it because this way she feels like she won’t dishonour her family.

In some ways the two girls were similar but Emma couldn’t stand Ruby. Maybe she saw her as a rival or maybe the reason was something completely different. Either way she openly showed her dislike of Ruby. That was as long as Dorian and Jamie weren’t present. As soon as one of them entered the room she turned from a demon to an angel in the blink of an eye.

Emma pulled Ruby’s blanked away exposing her to the cold lingering in the room. Immediately Ruby was awake and ready to go. It may have been a cruel way to wake someone up, but it always worked like a charm.

Looks like she’s in her demon form again…

After Emma made sure Ruby was actually awake she left the room and Ruby began dressing up in the tavern’s work uniform. At first she felt uncomfortable with it, especially after Jamie had gone on a rant talking about how ‘the uniform of a maid is an important aspect of the tavern’s style’. But in the end she gave in to his constant begging and now she wore the uniform with pride, just like all the other girls working in this tavern. The actual name of it was ‘Golden Blood’ and by now the tavern had become a nationwide phenomenon. Still most people just called it ‘The Tavern’ because some adventurers who were too drunk to remember the actual name called it that when asked about the best place to drink. The name spread like a wildfire and Dorian decided to just roll with it for advertisements sake.

Ruby actually didn’t know the reasoning behind the real name they chose, Golden Blood. All she knew was that it had something to do with Dorian’s ‘plan’ but nothing more. She sighed knowing that whatever that ‘plan’ was, it probably wouldn’t involve killing the Demon Lord nicknamed Diablo.

Actually… Why am I sad? This is what I always wanted, going on adventures with trustworthy companions far away from my stuck up family. Looking at it that way, this is perfect!

But in reality she knew that this was far from perfect. She didn’t go on any adventures at all but instead cleaned up puke and spilled drinks. Trustworthy companions? She only knew the names of half the staff and Dorian and Jamie really couldn’t be called ‘Trustworthy’. Just Yesterday she saw how Jamie cheated in a game of poker and took everything from some poor guy, they were everything but trustworthy. The only good thing was that she got away from her family but if she wouldn’t actually start her quest of defeating the Demon Lord, this could all come to a halt pretty soon.

“Argh, what should I do?!” Ruby asked herself while sinking her head into her hands.

“How about you start by saying ‘I will do anything you ask of me master’.”

“I will do anything you ask of m- Hey what the hell!” Ruby looked into the face of a grinning Jamie, wearing a flower pyjama. He stood in her doorframe, repeatedly flipping up and catching a gold coin. He entered the room and sat down next to Ruby, laying his hand on her shoulder as if he was about to give some wise advice.

“Listen Ruby, I think I know why you are acting so weird.” His tone was calm and understanding, much to Ruby’s surprise.

“R-really?” She was still weary of him, but maybe she misjudged him? If he was observant enough to understand her internal struggle then maybe he will actually do something about it. And that would mean defeating the Demon Lord, which would mean-

“It’s that time of the month, isn’t it?” His words cut Ruby like a sharp blade.

“Huh?”

“Don’t worry, Dorian and I have experienced it before with other girls in the staff. If you aren’t feeling well you can take the day off and-”

“IT’S NOT THAT TIME OF THE MONTH!!!!” Ruby’s face was completely flustered and she screamed at the top of her lungs. She was loud enough that everyone inside and around could hear her and once she realized that she turned even more red.

“J-just leave the room. Please.” Her voice was quiet but firm.

“…Alright, but if it’s time, you just let me know.” He made an awkward finger gun movement and left her room again.

Ten minutes later Ruby was ready for work but before she could start she got summoned into Dorian’s office. It was located in the first floor at the end of the hallway, meaning it was pretty much right next to Ruby’s room.

Ruby took a deep breath before knocking on her employer’s door.

“Come in.”

“You wanted to see me?”

Dorian was sitting on a big wooden desk, writing down some notes. He hadn’t even looked up but instead just pointed to the chair in front of his desk.

Ruby sat down and waited for Dorian to say something but he simply continued writing down things. Ruby got interested and tried to take a peak but she understood nothing. The language was nothing she had ever seen before and the letters were also foreign to her. Additional to the writing were some sketches of hexagons and other geometrical forms and she wondered what all off this was for.

“Uhm… Dorian?”

“Aaaaand done!” He looked up from his paper with a happy face. Apparently he had finished whatever he was writing down.

“What is done?” Ruby asked out of courtesy but also because of curiosity.

“This is what you would call chemistry…” He pointed at the weird shapes. “…and this is what you would call absolute bullshit!” He pointed at the handwriting and his happy facade faded. “I have been working on it for so long but none of my theories fit the bill…” Frustrated he slammed his head on the table.

“Uh, there-there, it’s going to be okay?” She tried to comfort him but wasn’t really sure what the problem was in the first place.

“…Yeah, maybe an outside perspective will help!” Dorian’s face lighted up. “Okay listen, from my research I found out that one day in this world equals twenty four hours.”

“Yes, I already knew that though?” Ruby was confused, for her that was common knowledge.

“Indeed, but here’s the thing, one hour in this world equals one hour in my home world.”

“…so?”

“Ughh, listen up. A day is the time the planet needs to circle around itself once. That in itself is pretty special considering that the gravitational force on this planet is also 9.81 meters per second.”

“Okay, what does that mean?”

“Well I have found hundreds of those physical similarities. Isn’t that strange? In Isekai stories it’s always ‘I got transported to another world that is similar to earth!’ but in reality such a thing would be near impossible. How long a year is, a day, a month, the gravitational force, the temperature, the distance to the sun, all those have to fit you know? And to my absolute surprise it does in this world, but they aren’t just similar they are near identical.”

“…Okay, that is odd but what does that mean?” Ruby was still a bit confused about the direction Dorian was going with it.

“Yes, that’s the question! I had a bunch of theories but they are all highly unlikely. And thus I continue to search for an answer… If I knew what the reason for those similarities is, I could maybe continue working on the ‘plan’.” He had stood up in excitement and looked at the map of the kingdom he had hung up on the wall.

“…So why am I here?”

“Huh? Oh sorry I was lost in thought. Well before we come to that, please tell me your thoughts on what I just told you.” He looked at her with intense eyes demanding an answer.

“…Uh, maybe it is just a coincidence?” While Ruby was very intelligent when it came to battle tactics or economy, in science or magic she was never really good.

“…Sigh… Anyway the reason you are here.” Dorian had a disappointment in his voice that somehow hurt Ruby.

So you are just going to ignore my answer?

“I need to apologise for Jamie, he isn’t the most sensitive one when it comes to… delicate topics. Can you please forgive him?”

Over all the science talk from Dorian she had forgot all about the incident earlier. A bit embarrassed she answered him. “Sure, do not worry about it… Is that all?”

“No, actually I wanted to ask you something. Are you happy?” His tone was serious, he wanted an honest answer. At first Ruby was a bit reluctant but then she realized that if she told him the truth he might just give in.

“Well, not to sound ungrateful but I don’t think I am… It’s great that you gave me this job and take care of me, but that’s not what I want and it’s not what I came here for.” She looked at the ground with sadness in her eyes.

“…Mhhh. I see, thank you for your honesty. I’ll see what I can do about that…”

Really?! Oh my gods! It looks like he really is trying to help me!

“…Do you want to know if I am happy? Well I am not!” Ruby rejoiced too soon. “I was too late to my date with Kristina and even though I explained it to her, she is still avoiding me!” He let out a heavy sigh, this was really bothering him.

Ruby felt bad for Dorian, after all she was the reason he was late in the first place. Maybe she could do something to lift up his spirits?

“Can I do something to help you?” She asked.

“No, there’s nothing you can do, but thank you for the off- WAIT A SECOND! I have an idea! Huh? Don’t give me that disgusted look, it’s nothing perverted! I want you to invite everyone in town to a big party!” Dorian’s eyes were glowing of excitement.

“Uh, how will that help your relationship with Kristina?” Ruby asked confused.

“Well, doesn’t it always go like this in stories? The couple has problems and don’t talk to each other, but the magic of the festival brings them back together! It’s the perfect plan! This evening The ‘Golden Blood’ will hold an unforgettable party!” He was really confident in that so called ‘magic of the festival’. Ruby doubted that it would be so easy to fix their problems but she didn’t want to make Dorian even more depressed and thus she decided to roll with his plan.

“Alright, leave the invitations to me! You just make sure that your plan works, okay?” Ruby said. Dorian nodded in response and immediately got to work, writing down how much money he needed to spend to make his vision a reality.

* * * * *

Okay, now all that’s left is to invite Scan, Mister President and the guest of honour Kristina. It was hard to convince everyone to come especially after it was on such short notice but in the end Ruby was able to get a confirmation from everyone on her list. Luckily she didn’t have to take care of everyone in town, the more dangerous individuals were left to Jamie who immediately was on board with the idea of throwing a big party.

“Alright here goes nothing!” She took a deep breath and copied what Jamie did: Screaming as loud as she could.

“SCAN ARE YOU THERE!?!?!?” Just like last time she could hear rumbling from the tower and the shattering of glass, followed by loud cursing. Dark violet smoke escaped through the window followed by Scan screaming outside: “EVERYONE, STOP BREATHING!!!”

Maybe I shouldn’t have done that...

After a few minutes Scan was opening the door, violet liquid all over his coat. He looked more than annoyed but once he realized it was Ruby who had asked for him, his expression changed. It was as if he saw an opportunity that he couldn’t let go and Ruby felt a bit uncomfortable.

“Emerald! Great to see you, come in come in!” He smiled while the violet liquid began to slowly eat up his clothes.

“Uh actually my name is Ruby and I just wanted to ask you if-” But Scan interrupted her with a simple hand gesture.

“Ah who cares about your name, you want something from me? Well then you need to do something for me first.” He went inside the tower which suddenly gave off a dark and ominous aura. Hesitantly Ruby followed the crazy scientist.

Inside were a bunch of weird contraptions she had never seen before and while she was fascinated by them some of them looked like they could kill her at any moment.

“So, Dorian told me you are a scientist?” She tried starting a conversation but Scan just ignored her, instead he undressed in front of Ruby. Suddenly she had a really bad feeling about this, but this wasn’t the first time someone in this town had undressed in front of her, so maybe this time nothing would happen as well?

Scan now stood naked in front of a very embarrassed Ruby but he simply ignored her and walked up to a big metal box which was open at the top.

“Now behold, the disintegrator!” He threw his clothes, which were still being slowly destroyed by the acid, inside and then pressed a button on the outside.

Then hell was unleashed. A humongous sharp flame was shooting out of the box and the room temperature immediately rose up. While Ruby was looking scared and dumbfounded at the same time, Scan stood right in front of the flames, still naked, and looked as proud as one could be.

After the flames had calmed down, he grabbed a fresh lab coat, put it on and turned around to Ruby who could only think about the fact that Scan was wearing nothing but a lab coat.

“Now then, let us begin!” He smiled manically.