"And you know how he always looked at you sooo hard? From the beginning to the ... end." Slurred Jen, taking another hearty gulp from her tankard while Avan drank his ale as well.

The group, including the freed prisoners, had reached Tria smoothly and without further incident. The women had once again thanked everyone profusely and tearfully, especially Avan directly, and soon relatives and kin of the missing women had heard of the commotion at the city gate, while even the guard and some adventurers from the guild had cheered along.

Dani and Patris had then taken on the role of auditioning at the guild, reporting on the vampire dungeon and collecting the rewards. And the system reward that had already been handed out apparently by the system!

Adventurer

Name: Avan Leaf

Rank: Silver

Tokens: 350

Avan himself didn't know whether 350 of these tokens, which were only rewarded by system quests, was a lot or a little, but at least it was a currency that had been credited automatically and without his doing anything. As he sat there with Jen and they both drank, he thought back to the past few days, and in particular to last night's conclusion. About the bandits and the kidnapped people he had freed.

With a slight rumble, he put his ale mug back down on the round tavern table and glanced at the already slightly drunk young healer sitting to his right, who was also slightly lost in thought.

"You know, Jen. I think basically he naturally wanted the best for you all the time. He took his job of protecting you very seriously. And when an odd mage like me joined the group, he was right to be skeptical..."

Jen looked into her now empty ale jug, which she held with both hands, and a single tear could be seen streaming down her rosy cheeks.

She didn't answer right away, and she just nodded before looking up and glancing at the ceiling. "Yeah... He had always been like that..."

With a suddenly enthuistiastic look and glitter in her eyes, she turned and waved her empty mug at one of the barmaids, and less than a minute later was handed a new ale, filled to the brim and frothy.

A hearty draught later of the lightly sweetened brew and she raised the slightly spilling mug to Avan, toasting. "To Linowb! And the fact that we otherwise all came out in one piesh! And to youuu, de hero who made it poshible for all of us to escape in the firsht place!"

Avan lifted his ale and toasted his jug to hers with a serious nod.

Two mugs of ale and some silence later, Jen was also well drunk and slurring louder and getting louder in her stories, which brought some nasty looks from other tavern patrons or even lustful looks with ulterior motives from one or the other.

However, without her noticing it, and as soon as one of the merrymakers had taken just a few steps towards Jen to address her, some inexplicable things always happened. They suddenly stumbled without the person or their drinking buddies seeing anything responsible for it, their jug suddenly spilled over them, or sometimes a single deadly glance from Avan was enough to send an ice-cold shiver down their spine for many reasons.

"And shou knouw what the craziesht thing ish, Ayvaaaaaan? He hash been my gard since I wash very small! And poof, now he ish gone..." She spoke with a slurred melancholy at the end, her gaze sinking deep into the jug again while her upper body swayed slightly back and forth.

"Soooo many yearsh... And he hash even a family. A wife and a ten year old boy. Over there in Haipu. And now? Linowb ish gone, jusht like that, out of the blue. Jusht becaushe he had to accompany the little princesh on her shtubborn journey out of Haipu..." She slurred, but the last sentence was much quieter and almost a whisper, which Avan could still hear as clearly as if she had shouted.

*Princess...? Don't tell me...* He looked at her with a blank stare, as the puzzle pieces in his head slowly formed a complete picture and everything made sense somewhere. *Damn it.*

"Jen, you should be careful what you reveal about yourself when you're as drunk as you are now..." Avan whispered to her while pretending to take another sip of ale. He observed the reactions of the others sitting nearby thanks to his sphere of influence, and actually noticed a grin from a man almost at the other end of the room, sitting alone in the corner and drinking. He had never drawn attention to himself before, but right after Jen's last remark slipped out, his eyebrows had twitched and a satisfied brief grin had appeared as quickly as it disappeared. But all clearly enough for Avan to notice.

*Let's see what you're going to do...* Avan didn't let on that he had noticed anything, and set his jug down again. "Jen, I don't remember if I told you in the heat of the moment, with everything that had happened." He spoke to her more seriously, earning a questioning look from the red-cheeked young woman. "But I was able to take Linob's body and possessions with me, because I thought that you and his relatives would be able to say goodbye to him better that way..."

When she heard this, her expression cleared a bit, and a grateful smile flitted across her face. Surprised and wincing for a moment because Avan was so busy keeping an eye on everyone else in the tavern, he was caught off guard when Jen suddenly jumped on him and hugged him. "Thank you for everyyyy-thing..." she whispered in his ear, while something wet ran down the back of his robe. Avan saw and felt everything, and even without his sphere of influence, he noticed the slightest touch on his robe, as it was woven from his own mana.

A little apprehensive and uncomfortable at first, Avan returned her embrace, and after some hesitation, squeezed her a little tighter and stroked her back as she wept softly, finally letting the tears run.

Later that night...

Avan climbed out from under the sheets, while he glanced at the sleeping beauty next to him, and in the moonlight of the night, her flawless skin could be seen.

He had woken up because one of his crude and first inventions had struck. Avan had created a small rune construction next to his bed, which could be triggered by his forms in the hallway and would wake him up with a small gust of wind as soon as a certain person he had been waiting for appeared.

And a few minutes later, he slipped back into bed and gently snuggled up to the sleeping person at his side.