“Jamie, why don’t we meet up again sometime, I had a great time last week.” A girl in a barely covering dress seductively winked at Jamie who had just finished talking with Mister President about Dorian’s party.

He had hooked up with her last week, but when he was being honest he didn’t remember a thing. In his old world he had two girlfriends in total and only if you counted his grade school romance. In this place however, he was a complete womanizer. Sure, he was drunk almost every time he had slept with a girl, but it was still way better than his wildest dreams.

Did it hurt Jamie that the women only did it with him because of his newfound wealth and superior knowledge from another world? Maybe it did in the beginning but that feeling quickly left after he had a threesome with two beautiful women at once.

The only problem now was that his past lovers were beginning to become a bit clingy. Jamie was happy doing it with them but he wasn’t ready for anything serious. For the most time he simply avoided the girls and after a while he’d tell them the inevitable truth, that their relationship would never become serious. Jamie had lost count of how many slaps to the face he got because of that but to him it was a fair price.

“Oh hey! Monika was it? Sure let’s meet up sometime again, how about at the party later today?” He gave her a charming smile and she melted away.

Another reason he now was so popular with the other gender was his possession of an ability.

In this world there were generally speaking three kinds of magic: Abilities, which can be anything ranging from x-ray vision to the ability to regrow your index finger, the stronger an ability the better it was ranked. The rankings were done by the church and reached from D to S, Dorian’s and Jamie’s abilities would both be considered S. However strong abilities often have a drawback, something the two friends were painfully aware of. People with abilities are rare, according to Dorian’s research only one in five thousand people have one and they are said to be a blessing from the gods. That’s why people who possess strong abilities often become either S-rank adventurers, high ranking priests or nobles.

The second kind of magic was magical spells. The basic kind of magic spells like creating a small fire or a bit of water were something almost everyone could learn. But the more magic one wanted to learn, the more talented one must be. The sacred texts through which one could learn the spells were almost all kept hidden by the church and if one wanted to learn them the church must give permission first. Scan, who was a former priest himself before he got kicked out for his unethical experiments, had taught Dorian and Jamie some basic spells.

The last kind of magic had no name, it was just magic. It could best be compared with physics, it simply existed for everyone, but if you were really smart one could use it to gain an advantage. How Dorian put it: “A nuclear bomb only uses a nuclear fusion, something that existed way before it was weaponised”. That was how most of Scan’s inventions worked, with machines he absorbed the magic in the atmosphere and reused them however he seemed fit.

Having an ability was a gift by the gods, both fugitively and literally. While I disliked her attitude I can’t help but admit that Bianca did a wonderful thing giving me my ability. I am just lucky my drawbacks aren’t as devastating as Dorian’s…

…“…Jamie? Hey asshole, you have been staring into space again!” Diane’s lovely voice woke Jamie up from his daydream.

“Pour me some vodka honey…” His voice was melancholic as he laid his head down on the bar. Diane looked at him sceptically as she grabbed the requested liquor to pour it into a glass. Jamie however grabbed the bottle, ignoring the glass and began taking a big sip.

“Ahh that was necessary. Hey Diane, do you believe in love at first sight?” He asked her while staring at the bottle. Diane sighed and grabbed the leftover glass of vodka before she answered.

“I think humans can fall in love at first sight, but to your misfortune you aren’t a human but a sewer rat.” Once again her insult flew right over Jamie’s head.

He smiled and began explaining his out of the blue question. “Dorian told me that what he feels for Kristina might be love at first sight. But what if she doesn’t think of him that way? That she likes him is obvious but does she love him? And what is love anyway? Who am I to judge when I only have been in love once before?”

Diane stole his bottle of vodka. “You have clearly had enough for now. I think that is the first time you haven’t tried to ask me out while talking to me, something is definitely wrong.” She actually seemed a bit worried.

“Nah, I am fine. I was just reminiscing about the good old times back in our world. Anyway, now that you mentioned it, want to go to the party with me?” Jamie was back to his old self and had a stupid grin on his face.

Diane sighed. “Oh go and rot in hell Jamie.”

“That wasn’t a no so I’ll take it as a ‘perhaps’.” He said in a seductive voice. Diane rolled her eyes. She wanted to say something but before she could insult Jamie the door flung open and Dorian entered the empty tavern.

“Guys! How is the preparation going?!” Dorian was visibly stressed as he began to walk up to the bar.

“Relax, it’s been smooth sailing so far. I even got the permission of Mister President by the way you own me for that.” Jamie tried to calm his friend down but it didn’t seem to work.

“Okay okay… Oh, I need you to help build everything up outside! I got nine booths set up already but for a real festival we’ll need way more. I have also been negotiating with Josh about the stage and we have a theatre act a talent show, a practice battle tournament and for the big final we have Diane who’ll sing a song.” He paused for a second to breathe in and then immediately continued. “Speaking of the big final, Diane! What are you doing here drinking with Jamie?! You need to spare your voice, follow me, you can sleep in my bed till your big entrance.” He grabbed her hand and led her to the stairs.

“B-but I- Oh okay…” While hesitant at first, once she remembered that Jamie and Dorian had the by far softest beds in town she happily followed Dorian and once again Jamie was left alone.

As soon as Diane was out of his view he grabbed the bottle of vodka again. A few minutes later Dorian came out of the backroom of the bar better known as his laboratory. He let out a heavy sigh sat down on the other side of the counter and poured himself a glass of whiskey.

“Why must everything be so difficult?” He asked Jamie with a desperate voice.

“Well you were the one who was set on organizing a festival in under a day. I still don’t get why you do so much for her you have better options, women with more money and better looks would gladly spend a night with you. After all, for them you are ‘the inventor of alcohol’. I still think that’s a bullshit title by the way, you just improved alcohol and developed other sorts of drinks besides beer.” Dorian had stayed quiet while Jamie had been talking.

“Yeah, you’re probably right… Still, Kristina is just… I don’t know how to describe it.” Dorian laid his head on the bar.

Wow, he really is head over heels for her.

“Listen, what is wrong with you? Back in school you never showed any interest in any of the girls. I was even considering you being gay but then again you didn’t show any interest in any of the guys either. You being an asexual was also an option but at least you did have sexual interests in fictional girls. And now? Ever since we have been transported to this place you have changed. What happened to the man who didn’t care about other’s opinions? What happened to the man who could manipulate everyone if he wanted to? And please tell me, what happened to the asshole who was my best friend?” Jamie took another sip of alcohol.

That last part seemed to wake Dorian up because he finally began talking back. “What are you talking about you braindead monkey? I haven’t changed one bit, all that’s changed is our situation! But you are right, lately I really haven’t been myself. Having Ruby here and then the misunderstanding with Kristina really dragged me down but you know what? Not anymore! Tonight I’ll get together with Kristina and show the world that Dorian Wright is back to his old self!”

“That’s the spirit! Who managed to kill that poisonous giant scorpion?”

“That was me!”

“And who was it that blackmailed the king as well as the church to leave our town alone?”

“That was also me!”

“And who is it that is going to get laid tonight?”

“ME- hey wait a minute…”

Jamie and Dorian began to laugh. “Alright, now go and show her what you’re made of you idiot.”

“I don’t want to hear that coming from you but thanks for giving me a wake-up call. Alright, Jamie you will help out tonight at the bar, and make sure that you get everything right! Everyone will get one drink for free, after all it’s a festival and not a charity event.” With this last warning Jamie’s friend left the bar again and with a smile Jamie began preparing their stall for the festival.

* * * * *

“Oh hey, great to see you! Care for a drink? The first one is free!” Jamie greeted one of the many adventures that decided to come to the event today. Despite Dorian’s spontaneous decision to arrange a festival in just one day, lots of people after hearing about it immediately set out to attend to it. After all the parties organized by ‘The Tavern’ had already reached legendary status and if one had the chance to go to one, they should take it without hesitating.

Jamie had been greeting and pouring out drinks for the whole festival. He had built up some kind of drive in bar as his festival booth. Of course he had help but most of the work was on him, after all when it came to maintaining their business relationships, Dorian had put him in charge. Thus whenever someone important arrived he was the one who needed to make sure they were on friendly terms.

“Ah Jamie, long time no seen! How are the sales of my product going?” A Woman in an expensive white suit elegantly approached him. She was the unofficial landlord of the whole town. While the land the town was built on was owned by Torgga’s family, the whole Eisenfaust region was surrounded by the Baralot domain, meaning if war were to break out the Eisenfaust’s would lose without the shadow of a doubt. And the woman standing in front of him was the eldest daughter of said family, Annabelle Baralot.

“Miss Baralot! Always a pleasure to see you. How the sales are doing? They are as smooth as butter! No need to worry.” Jamie smiled as he lied to her face. Her ‘product’ was dolls and other toys for children, however the prizes she charged for them were way too much for normal families, the only ones who occasionally bought them were noblemen but that didn’t nearly cover their expenses. But for the sake of peace they needed to accept this, just as Jamie needed to accept this.

“I haven’t rented a room for tonight, but maybe I could just sleep in your bed, you know, continuing what we did last time.” She winked at him seductively and Jamie brought himself to show her another fake smile.

“Of course, my door is always open for you Lady Annabelle.” She gave him a kiss on the cheek and left his booth with her free drink.

As soon as she was out of sight, Jamie sighed. Annabelle was indeed a woman with stunning beauty and spending a night with her was unforgettable. In theory Jamie should be happy about this development, but something just didn’t feel right it was as if there was a void in his chest. He took another sip of the special drink Dorian had mixed for him specifically for this evening.

“Don’t drink so much! It isn’t good for your health.” Emma who had been standing right next to him this whole time confiscated his glass. She looked like she was mad at him and for some reason that made him really happy.

“Oh come on, it’ll be a long night and I really need this stuff to get me through this.” He made some half serious attempts of getting his glass back but his young employee always put it out of reach.

“You are way too young to drink this much! It’s just not good, I don’t want to lose you okay!” He stopped for a second. Jamie saw Emma as something as his goddaughter and thus hearing her care this much about him really melted his heart away.

“Wait, who told you I was too young to drink? In this world the legal age to drink would be thirteen… And who said that it was bad for your health?!” Jamie was really curious from where she had heard those facts.

“…W-well, I may have been eavesdropping on a conversation you and Dorian had… And there you may have talked about how you think it was crazy that people start to drink at such a young age and…” She looked at the ground telling Jamie the truth.

But instead of being angry with her, he just laughed. “Well, you are right, I should really turn it down a few notches with the drinking. But when you tell me this, that means that you will also not start drinking until you are at least eighteen no wait, make that twenty.”

“Then I’d be older than you are right now!” Emma said in protest.

“Good point, you are allowed to drink once you are older than me.”

“That’s physically impossible! I would never be able to drink alcohol like this!”

Hearing those words Jamie smiled and proudly petted Emma’s head. “Exactly. And now please take care of those customers sweetie.”

Under protest Emma agreed and mumbled something like ‘this talk isn’t over yet’ but Jamie was just happy that his spirits were lifted.

Just in time for Ruby to appear right next to him. She looked excited as she made a gesture that he should come follow her. Jamie quickly gave their chef Shawn the job to oversee the booth and followed Ruby deeper into the festival.

Jamie hadn’t had the time to admire what the town had created in under one day but it was really impressive. There were game stalls where you tried to hit a target with a dart to win a price, food stalls with all kinds of dishes, ranging from things to eat on the go to half built restaurants.

“Damn, this is way more than what I expected.” He mumbled to himself as he followed Ruby through the massive crowd of people. They were getting closer to the main event of the festival, the huge stage where various acts were performed.

Currently the main act, Diane singing her new song was gathering all the attention. Even Jamie was impressed, she really had a beautiful voice. Despite the limited instruments of this world, her songs were so full of passion and gave one a feeling of freedom that it made Jamie feel comfortable inside.

“There, look!” Ruby pointed up to a small hill on the side of the stage. On top of which, Jamie could make out Dorian and Kristina standing under a tree, enjoying the performance.

“Looks like it was worth it, don’t you think so?” Ruby was right. Looking closer Jamie noticed that Kristina had one arm hooked with Dorian’s and was leaning her head on his shoulder.

“THANK YOU FOR COMING TONIGHT, YOU ARE A GREAT AUDIENCE!” Diane’s voice took Jamie’s attention away from the two lovers and back on stage.

“AND NOW FOR THE GREAT FINAL OF TONIGHT’S FESTIVAL, I PRESENT ‘FIREWORKS’!” Hearing this, everyone quieted down in anticipation, but for a while nothing happened.

Has something gone wrong?

Jamie began to worry, he knew that Dorian’s plan was to confess during the firework display, but if it didn’t work…

Then finally, the first one flew into the air and in front of the black night sky exploded into a number of colours, each one prettier than the other.

After a moment of realisation of what had happened, everyone began to cheer at the sight of possibly the first fireworks this world had ever seen and Jamie began to smile.

“Isn’t it beautiful Ruby? …Ruby?” But Ruby wasn’t staring at the fireworks, instead she looked up to the hill where Dorian and Kristina were.

“Come on, do it…” Ruby whispered, apparently she was rooting for the two of them to get together and Jamie could understand it, after all she had put a lot of effort into this festival.

As the two of them looked at the couple, finally they kissed and Ruby jumped up in excitement. “I don’t know what this magic of the festival is, but it really seems to work!”

Jamie smiled, happy that his friend had finally got what he had wished for. But then he remembered Lady Annabelle and what he would get to experience tonight and for some reason it felt like a void opened in his heart.

Looking at Dorian’s happiness, he wondered if he would he ever feel like this too someday.

Well, that lies in the future, for now I am happy that at least one of us will have a great night. And that would be me.

With a grin on his face he went to meet up with Lady Annabelle and experience an unforgettable night.