Bars were common across Astria. Every place named on the map had at least one nearby, be it not all of them functioned the same.

In a world where every season brings a rain of destruction, small hubs like these were a safe haven from the horrors of Downdraughts. Thus, it wasn’t unusual for villages to treat their bars as the main gathering points, where news would spread and holidays be celebrated.

One should not forget that while all this sounds positive, nothing is either black or white. Those victims of the Downdraughts’ terror could relive stress at these pubs, but not all of that consisted of simple chatter.

Alcohol was a common beverage in Astria. Alcoholism was also a common addiction thanks to that.

The rate of those suffering from alcohol addiction only grew with each season.

It very well could have been that booze destroyed more lives than a Downdraught. There were little to no statistics on that however, given that higher-ups simply didn’t care about discussing such “lowly” issues.

One of these many bars oozing from alcohol’s stench lay in the shadow of Rosenburg. It was part of a dirty street, that only a few have passed by. This place was way less popular than those you could find closer to the king’s palace, or anywhere outside the poor areas of town.

But today this bar seemed unusually lively. Those walking by the building noted how the windows trembled as someone yelled with a mighty voice. An argument resonated from inside, one party being drunker than the other, and the latter treating this squabble with extreme patience.

“Must be the police or some hero.” The passersby thought.

Those who placed their bets on a hero were soon to rejoice with success. The window burst open and a young boy flew through it.

“Kuhh!” He groaned as his slender body hit the ground.

Dust dirtied his admiral blue uniform and blonde hair, but the women around still had to cover their blushes. The boy’s skin was so delicate, so fresh of any festering or wounds that they were sure: this one must have been summoned from another world.

Without wasting any time, the boy stood up and ran back through the entrance, only to get launched out the window once more.

His body rolled across the dust, stopping only by the wall of the bar-facing house.

“Damn it!” He yelled, bashing his fist against the ground.

He quickly recollected himself and ran back inside the bar.

Close to the entrance stood a man unlike anything he has seen before. He bore the face of a lion and the posture of a human. He wore a dirty white shirt, seemingly knitted out a sack.

The lion stood on two legs, roughly above the two-meter mark. His muscles were well defined from a life-long physical work, though his pink-drunk face muddied his goliath display.

“Back for another punch?” Asked the lion while cracking the joints in his hands.

The boy raised his fists. He lowered himself into a fighting stance and readied for the brawl. By the way he held himself, it was clear he never got into a fistfight before or at least none that he had won.

When the outsiders saw the boy’s opponent, they thought that he had lost his mind. He had no chance of hurting this giant, much less defeating him.

Those outside did not know that this was much less about the boy’s masochism than him fighting for a good cause. When first entering the bar, he saw the lion berate a waitress and try forcing himself onto her soon after.

This was not something he could just watch without saying a word.

“As a hero of Astria, it is in my right to arrest you for the attempted violation of a woman!”

“Oh really?” The lion snickered. “Is that written in the law? Well, too bad, but I can’t read!”

“Not knowing the law does not make you immune to––“

Before the boy could have finished his sentence, the lion launched his fist into his core. The boy’s body flew straight out the window like a ball that had been kicked.

His body fell to the cobblestone road. He rolled through the dust, suffering many bruises along the way. When he finally stopped, a single tear of pain escaped his eyes as he held onto his chest.

The women around him noticed his tears. They screamed as they saw the boy’s bleeding wounds and immediately ran to flee the scene.

Only a small group remained, having just arrived before the bar.

“Oh hi, Stevie!” Waved the leader of this group as he approached the boy.

This man’s name was Suzuki. He wore the same black and grey clothes as when he was summoned, his two trusty blades still tied to his back in the shape of an ‘X’. Following him came Stoneman and Black Tea, both bearing a bored expression.

They’ve been on the hunt for the last two days, thanks to Suzuki. Since Stevie heard the rumor that a certain Grandmaster hero was returning to town, and revealed this information to him, Suzuki has been obsessively searching every nook and corner for this presumed man.

“He doesn’t know Gabriel’s dead and still wants to teach him a new technique? Hah, he’s in luck, I can stand in as his apprentice!”

This was Suzuki’s plan. If he can get to that high-ranking hero before he learns the truth, maybe he could learn a few new techniques to incorporate into his moveset.

Stevie arrived at this bar after being sent to search through the poorer areas of town for that hero.

Aiming to earn Suzuki’s respect, he accepted without any second thoughts.

Now that he lay in a pool of his tears and sweat, despite the pain throbbing in his chest, Stevie still refused to back down. Slowly recollecting himself, he stood up. Gritting his teeth and squeezing his fists, he charged back into the building while roaring ferociously.

“That girl’s counting on me.” He thought while rushing towards the lion.

The beast’s smirk grew larger and his large fangs showed. He raised his arm and moved each of his fingers one after another into the form of a fist.

“Fine then! If you want to die so bad, then I’ll give it to you!” Shouted the lion, before launching a devastating punch.

A gust of wind moved.

Stevie closed his eyes and waited for the pain from the lion’s attack to set in. To his surprise, the only thing he felt was his fist finally colliding with his opponent’s stomach.

“Did I hit him?” He opened his eyes in disbelief.

Something red fell between him and the lion’s stomach.

It was blood. When he looked up, the lion’s head was nowhere to be found. Instead, there was an open neck that spurted out a fountain of blood.

As the body finally realized it was dead, it began to fall forward and almost buried Stevie. But before that could have happened, Suzuki kicked the body away.

“Annoying.” Suzuki noted and put away his blade.

Stevie was speechless. Suzuki stepped in and beheaded the lion, instantly ending the fight.

He felt both shocked and disgusted. This was the first time he witnessed the death of a human, or for a better word, humanoid.

He could not look away from the corpse. The sight of it was too surreal.

When the realization finally set in, he turned around and stumbled to a corner of the room where no one could see as he threw up.

Stoneman and Black Tea entered the building. They gave a disinterested glance at the boy and the corpse, then went to take a seat.

Suzuki approached Stevie with a smile. He grabbed a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to the boy.

“Here.”

Stevie looked at the hankie and hesitated for a second. But regardless, he accepted.

“What’s wrong? Did the blood get into your mouth?” Asked Suzuki.

“No.”

Stevie stopped. After a moment, he looked Suzuki in the eye.

“Was there no other way?”

“What do you mean? No other way for what?”

“Stopping him. Was there really no other way to stop this opponent? I think we could have tried reasoning with him; maybe he was just too drunk to understand!”

Suzuki stared at him for a second, trying to understand his emotions. Then, he formed a friendly smile and patted Stevie’s head.

“You’re close to evolving your Sigil. Don’t be afraid, you’ll get stronger.”

With that, he turned around and went to sit down next to Black Tea. As if there wasn’t a pool of blood or a beheaded body next to them, Suzuki raised his hand and asked for a waitress.

“I’ll have a cup of tea!”

Stevie was frozen. His eyes darted back and forth from the corpse to Suzuki.

He wanted to do something. Be that cleaning up the mess or apologizing to the waitress.

He just did not know where to begin.

“W-We should inform the heroes’ guild!” Stevie muttered. “If we won’t, they might think we murdered someone!”

No answer.

His companions ignored him. They were too busy focusing on themselves.

The waitress stumbled out of the kitchen. She was a young brunette who would have looked beautiful if it wasn’t for the terror in her eyes.

As he brought out the tea, she tried to remain professional. After all, it was her saviors she was serving.

But as she looked at the corpse…

“I’ll take that from here.” Said Suzuki and grabbed the tea out of her hand.

Before the waitress would have even realized it, she went into a freefall upon seeing the corpse. For a moment, she almost passed out.

Thankfully, Suzuki stopped her fall.

“Thank you…” She muttered, stepping away from the hero.

“No worries! It’s my pleasure to help cuties such as you.”

Suzuki winked with a playful smile. However, the waitress did not find it all that appealing. She nodded respectfully, then quickly walked back to the safety of her kitchen.

Suzuki sat back in his chair with a satisfied smile. He left a distance between himself and the tea, and put his elbows on the table. He put his hands together, then closed his eyes and began to murmur.

Black Tea took note of that.

“What are you doing?” She asked, pointing at his hands.

“I’m praying. It’s a tradition to pray before every meal. I’m celebrating the grace of God by savoring his gift.”

“That’s stupid. Which one are you praying to?”

“The true one.”

Black Tea had more to ask, but she did not care enough to bother with any. Thus, this conversation came to an end.

Despite the run-down nature of the bar they were resting in, it was special. This one was part of the few privileged to bear a television device. It was a large brown box that hung in a corner above the bartender’s desk.

Stoneman was the first to notice that. Upon doing so, he burst out in an exclamation of joy.

“Yes!” He roared and ran to the device.

Due to their rarity and high cost, televisions were treated very carefully. Only the bar’s owner could turn on the device, as the wrong push of a button could have easily ruined the box.

Stoneman cared about none of that. He banged on the side of the large box until it was broken enough to turn on by force.

“Fun box work!” Stoneman rejoiced under the device.

The small black-and-white screen displayed heavy static at first. Stoneman gave it a few more smacks and the device caught signal, be it both the video and sound quality were very bad.

Currently, an ad was playing on the screen. It showed various cuts of action with three female individuals staring as stars.

“Team Dynamite to the rescue!” Echoed a narrator’s voice. “Tune in tonight for the world premiere event of three beautiful battle angels delving down the infamous insect pit that resides in the lost mines of Neustadt! Will our heroines overpower the ferocious forces-of-nature that terrorized the territory for so long? Tune in tonight at seven o’clock and see these beauties in action!”

On the screen was the trio of heroes that formed Team Dynamite. They were shown being in a mine and dealing with blighted zombies and rock monsters that walked on chicken legs.

While the ad was playing, Suzuki glanced up at the screen. He was not interested in what the television had to offer, but the bar was too blank to offer any other form of entertainment.

He gazed at the screen while sipping his tea, and as a certain frame appeared on screen, his heart skipped a beat. The tea spurted out of his mouth thanks to the shock, followed by him swiftly running to the device.

The television was bound to the ceiling. Suzuki tried to jump up and grab it, but he was too short. He rushed back to grab a chair, which he placed under the device and stood on.

Suzuki grabbed the device and tore it out of the wall. The cables came along with the box, still fueling it with image and sound.

“Come on, come on…” He muttered while pressing the buttons on the box.

Suddenly, the screen froze, then the ad was rewound. Suzuki turned and pressed a few more buttons until the screen displayed the exact scene that scared him so much.

On the screen were two individuals. One had his face covered by static, but the other could be seen, be that in very low quality.

“How…”

While Suzuki muttered to himself, the others approached him from behind.

“Who’s that?” Black Tea asked.

“It’s Gabriel!” Suzuki yelled. “That fucker’s alive somehow!”

Stevie stepped closer to the device. He leaned forward and squinted his eyes, but the man remained a low-quality blur.

“Are you sure?” He asked hesitantly. “I thought you had defeated him back in the forest.”

“Yes, and he’s alive somehow! I don’t know if he escaped somehow or someone came after him, but he’s still out there! That little…”

Suddenly, he stopped. His blood-red eyes widened and the anger in his voice died out.

He stared at the screen in disbelief while many thoughts ran through his mind.

“He’s alive.” He quietly repeated.

As the realization sank in, a small smile grew on his face. It was not that of joy or relief, but something far more unpredictable. Stevie could not read it.

“Alright!” Suzuki stood up. “Everyone, pack your belongings! What did that ad say, was this filmed in Neustadt? We’re going there! Our trip begins tomorrow!”

Stevie was utterly confused.

“B-But…” He muttered, unsure of what to say.

Suzuki did not wait for him to finish. He threw the television aside, then headed for the exit. He was whistling a joyful tune.

The rest lingered there for a while. They were either too confused or surprised to act, and now they also had to reschedule their whole week.

“That little trip to Neustadt is a two-day-long walk uphill.” Black Tea noted with anger in her voice.

She let out an upset “Hmph!”, then left the building without glancing back.

Stoneman followed shortly after, though he remained to give one last glance at the broken tv.

After he left, Stevie was the last to remain.

A storm brewed in his heart. He looked down at the corpse, then back to the broken tv. He felt guilt, but for what? He had done nothing bad, or had he?

Swallowing his emotions, he approached the bartender’s desk.

“E-Excuse me!” He raised his voice. “I’m… sorry about the mess! If that’s fine, I’d like to help by cleaning up the… stuff!”

The door connecting the bartender’s desk with the kitchen area remained locked. If there was someone in there, she was too scared to leave the safety of that room.

Stevie understood.

He reached into his pocket and put twenty gold, seven silver, and five bronze coins on the desk. Those were the rewards from his last adventure. It was also all of his cash.

“I’m sorry.” He whispered, then left the bar.

Not a soul remained in the bar. Yet, there was still sound.

While the television device slowly bled out of magic, it displayed the next broadcast after the Team Dynamite ad. It was barely visible from all the static bleeding in, but there was still sound.

“…In other news, ex-pro-hero Electra visited Neustadt yesterday in an attempt to win over officials and establish her own company of beginner heroes. Rumors say her negotiations were cut short after a violent explosion shook the streets due to a yet unknown source. Police are still investigating the matter. In the meantime, Electra has been gathering signatures in an attempt to win the popular votes. It seems her company is not without men, or women for that matter, as a newly summoned hero by the name of Son Pepon has been a huge part of the negotiation’s success. More on that at six’o tonight…”