After collapsing to the ground, the pain I felt was so great that I quickly passed out. I awoke expecting to be either in the street indicating I’ve been out for a little bit, or in a hospital ward indicating I’ve been out for quite awhile, turns out it was neither. I woke up to see that I was on a couch. I think the style of couch I’m laying on is a Chesterfield, at least that’s what this type of sofa is called in my old world. It’s one of those couches you see patients lay on whenever they talk to a psychiatrist. I always thought these couches were ugly. Taking my eyes off the couch I examine the room I’m in. There’s a large brown rug in the center with a fireplace to my right. To my left there’s a recliner chair that faces the fireplace and to my front there is a brown door. I must be in the living room of wherever I am. On the ceiling there is a light that’s off so the room is only illuminated by the fireplace. Whoever owns this place must be pretty rich, it would explain the bad taste when it comes to furniture. I move my body and it’s extremely sore. It’s uncomfortable but at least it’s not excruciating pain. Come to think of it, why am I not in excruciating pain? I touch my thigh and realize that I have stitches where the gash Ajax gave me once was. I touch my nose and realize that it’s not broken and has a bandage on it. My insides don’t feel right though, those still feel like mush. Better than before for sure, but still a bit mushy, I definitely got some internal damage in that last fight. I think I broke a rib or a dozen. I attempt to get off the couch but the best thing I can do is sit up. After getting up, I turned around to see that there’s a kitchen behind the couch and a stairway to the right of the kitchen. I hear the sound of footsteps descending said stairway. It’s a little figure so I thought it was Nerva but as the figure entered the living room proper and had its face illuminated by the fire I see that it’s a child, a boy to be exact. He has short red hair with emerald eyes. His clothes are strange, looking like he’s wearing a doctor’s coat. Appears to be about 12.

“Dad, the one in the living room’s awake!” the child calls upstairs.

“Ughhh where am I?” I ask.

“I wouldn’t talk if I were you. You’re still in recovery, and if you talk it’s going to slow down the healing potions we gave you. Also don’t move around too much, don’t want that wound on your leg to open” the boy lectures.

I’m not quite sure how to respond to this. I usually wouldn’t listen to whoever is giving me medical advice but this child seems to know what they’re talking about. I don’t know this child but I trust him more than Adam, that's for sure.

“Dad hurry up!” the boy calls upstairs again.

“I’m coming, I’m coming hold on” a voice bellows back.

I hear the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs, revealing a man who looks like the grown up version of the child. The only thing that makes him look different is the fact that he has glasses with thick black frames.

“I know you’re very confused, but please be assured you’re not in danger.” the man claims as he bypasses his son, gets in front of me and leans down so that we’re seeing each other face to face.

“I-”

“No, don't talk,” the man says, quickly cutting me off.

“I’m Dr. Nightingale, but you can call me Bruce. I was the head doctor of the Ravanna city hospital. You’re in my house right now, one of the few buildings that wasn’t destroyed when that monster took over. My son Tim and I are taking care of you and your friends, you all sustained injuries in your fight”

“Wait so-”

“No talking. Your friends are fine. They’re all upstairs in their respective rooms resting. I had to administer all of you some intense medical potions but luckily most of you were knocked out so you didn’t have to go through the horrible side effects. Except the one with the curly blond hair, he woke up after I gave him the medicine so he got to experience all of the effects, that poor boy.”

“He wouldn’t stop screaming. He eventually passed out again” the boy adds.

“H-”

“No talking!” the doctor and his son say in unison.

“Anyway all of your friends are going to make a full recovery, but you and your homeless friend are going to take the longest to heal because you two had the worst injuries. So now you’re caught up. Finally, thank you...for saving all of us” Dr. Nightingale concludes.

“You’re-”’

“NO TALKING!”

The man and his son go back upstairs, presumably to take care of everyone else. I feel surprisingly calm about all this. Sure it sucks that I’m beat up and my body is extremely sore but at the same time I’m glad I can just relax, it’s a lot better to heal up here than in a hospital ward that’s for sure. I lay back down onto the couch, take out one of my books and start reading when I hear a crash upstairs.

“WHERE THE FUCK AM I? WHO THE FUCK ARE Y’ALL!” I hear a voice upstairs yell.

“PLEASE CALM DOWN I’M A DOCTOR!” Dr. Nightingale yells.

“I DON’T BELIEVE YOU. WHY IS THERE A SMALLER YOU BEHIND YOU! YOU A MAD SCIENTIST!?”

“THAT’S MY SON!”

“I DON’T BELIEVE YOU BITCH! YOU AIN’T KILLING ME!”

I hear a bunch of stuff crashing now. I better step in before Nerva destroys this house.

“Nerva they’re alright! He really is a doctor!” I exclaim.

I see Nerva zoom down the stairs, with two fireballs in her hands ready to burn everything down.

“Quincy that you!?” she questions as I sit up on the couch.

“Yeah girl it’s me. Don’t worry we’re not in danger. That guy’s been healing us. Check your body, your wounds are bandaged up” I explain.

I take a look at Nerva and she has a huge bandage wrapped around her head like a headband. She also has bandages all over her hands. She starts to examine herself and slowly realizes that I’m right. Dr. Nightingale and his son come rushing down the stairs. His son has a pale of water in his hands prepared to put out any fire Nerva starts.

“Dad watch out! I think she has brain damage because of her head injury! It would explain her erratic behavior!” the son proposes.

“Nah this is how she usually acts” I state nonchalantly.

“Bitch I ain’t got brain damage, you got brain damage!” Nerva shoots back.

“Everybody just calm down!” Dr. Nightingale pleads.

After he said that I hear more footsteps coming down the stairs. It’s Warren slowly descending with his machete drawn.

“Ah!” the doctor and his son scream in terror because of the scary looking bearded man descending their stairs.

“Warren we’re in the care of a doctor and his son we’re ok!” I say to him.

Warren is now at the base of the stairs and scans everything. He sheathed his machete on his back.

“Alright. Sorry to scare you doctor.” Warren apologizes, quickly adjusting to the situation.

Suddenly we all hear the sound of someone tumbling down the stairs. We all look and see Adam about to crash into Warren but he steps to the side making Adam tumble until he hits a wall.

“Ow” Adam moans in pain.

“Adam!” Nerva says I think in an excited tone?

I look at her with a confused look. She notices and changes her demeanor.

“I mean damn you’re alive.” she curses.

I have no idea what that’s about, maybe Nerva really did sustain brain damage.

“Ow guys what’s going on?” Adam questions, slowly getting up.

“We’re in the care of a doctor. A good one too, my body feels a lot better than I think it should. Even my arm’s fixed” Warren details.

“Yes I’m Dr. Nightingale and this is my son. I was the head of the city hospital and you’re all in my home. Now I highly advise all of you go back to bed, none of you are in any condition to move around. And of course another one is now out of bed” the doctor laments looking at the stairs.

We all turn around and see Ice Cube walking down the stairs, the only one in our group to do so like a normal person. Like all of us, she’s bandaged up with her specifically having a huge bandage on her forehead. She notices Nerva and immediately runs over to her.

“No sis get the hell away from me I’m fine!” Nerva argues trying to push her sister away.

“...” Ice Cube responds.

“All my cuts are either stitched or bandaged up so I’m good.”

“...”

“No I don’t want a damn hug!”

Ice Cube immediately gives her a hug. Nerva tries her hardest to escape but it’s futile, the hug is inescapable.

“Aww that's cute” Adam remarks.

“BITCH I WILL END YOUR FUCKING LIFE HERE AND NOW!” Nerva threatens while still being hugged, her face all red out of embarrassment.

“Eep!” Adam yelps in fear, hiding behind Warren.

“No killing Adam, Nerva. At least not in the doctor’s house.” Warren orders.

“Dad these people are insane.” the son whispers to the doctor.

The front door is abruptly kicked open, nearly giving me a heart attack. It’s Akane with a bunch of potions in her arms.

“I have returned from my adventure.” she deadpans.

“Oh Akane you’ve returned. Please put the potions in the kitchen. Now I please urge everyone to return to their beds in order to heal.” the doctor advises.

“Akane you brought us here?” Warren asks, ignoring the doctor.

As she makes her way to the kitchen she says “Yes. After the battle the townspeople came out of hiding and saw the conditions you all were in so they told me to bring everyone to Dr. Nightingale. We’ve been taking care of you since. You all have been out for about five days”

“Well we can all move now so we should head back to Artry.” Warren declares.

“No no no no no no. You’re all staying here to heal. In fact, none of you should even be talking right now. Especially you, you got hurt the worst.” the doctor retorts.

“Sorry doctor, I know you mean well but we’re on a schedule. Thank you for everything you’ve done but we’re leaving.” Warren asserts.

“But Warren, we're all injured. The doctor’s right we should go back to bed.” Adam contends

“Ugh there’s also going to be a party to celebrate what you guys did happening next week.” the son mentions in an attempt to make us stay.

“Sorry kid, we’re not exactly party people” Warren dismisses.

“B-but I wanna go. It’ll be nice to do something fun for once.” Adam claims.

“We’d be wasting time”

“But we’ll be healing until then. Surely that’s not a waste.”

“Adam, I’m pretty sure most of us don’t even want to go. Nerva you wanna go to a party?” Warren asks Nerva who has gotten free from her sister’s grasp and is sitting in the recliner chair.

“I’ll only go if there’s a shitload of food” Nerva says as she extends the recliner all the way.

“Ugh there will be now” the son promises.

“Hell yeah I wanna go now” Nerva expresses excitedly.

“Alright then, Anastasia?” Warren asks her.

She looks at me then turns back to Warren, “...” she answers

“Ok that makes it three people who want to go. What about you Quincy?” Warren inquires.

“Hell nah” I react.

I look at Ice Cube and for some reason she starts pouting. What the heck did I do?

“Alright well it looks like most of us want to go so-”

“Wait. Aren’t you going to ask me?” Akane questions, emerging from the kitchen.

“Should I?”

“Yes. Ask me. I’m a part of your party now”

“But you already saved your parents. I’m surprised you stuck around after the battle to be honest. You have no reason to be here.”

“Not true. My parents and I won’t be safe until all of the reapers are defeated, especially Archer. I’m a part of this party until I know they’re all gone and the Man of Stone is defeated.”

“Hmm ok.” Warren relents.

“Now do it,” Akane insists.

“You know you can just tell me if you want to go”

“No you have to ask me first. Do it. Ask me.”

After rubbing his temples Warren eventually asks “Akane do you want to go to the party?”

Instead of answering right away Akane slowly walks across the room to a window. She dramatically opens it, stares out the window and as she flamboyantly flips her hair says “If you insist..nailed it”

“That was dope as shit” Nerva mumbles but it was loud so we all heard it.

“Oh she just recreated the end scene in the fifth volume of ultra hyper hero force five” Adam remarks.

Everyone else besides Nerva and Adam look at each other in confusion. Ultimately Warren says “Ok we’re staying. Everyone go back to their beds. Sorry for the chaos doctor” Warren apologizes, heading back upstairs with everyone following suit.

As everyone heads back upstairs I ask the doctor “Ugh hey doctor, I was wondering why am I on the couch instead of in a room?”

“We simply don’t have enough rooms. Sorry about that second hero you’ll be stuck down here for the time being.” Dr Nightingale informs.

“Hey dad is there anyway to make them stay even longer? We used the more advanced potions and spells but still they should stay here for a few more weeks” his son inquires.

“One of the things you learn when you become a doctor is that you can’t make people stay longer than they want to.You did a good job by mentioning the party. We just have to do the best we can with the time we have. By the way, keep that bucket son, I’m worried about the small girl’s mental state. I’m still afraid she’s gonna start a fire.”

Everyone went upstairs leaving me alone. It looks like for the first time we all get to relax. The only downside is that I’m gonna be forced to socialize. Knowing us, something is going to go wrong during it but I’m used to it. Regardless, I’m happy I have time to read now. I take out the book I got a while back and begin to read, enjoying the calm setting.

For the first two days it felt like I was in heaven. Everyone was forced to be quiet so that we would heal faster and reading in front of a fireplace has always been a dream of mine. I always imagined that it would be relaxing and I was right. Nobody bothered me either because everyone was forced to stay in bed except when they needed to use the bathroom. I was basically left alone and couldn’t be happier. But then day three came. On day three Dr. Nightingale told everyone that we were allowed to move and talk. These two things combined to ruin my paradise. It got loud as soon as I heard him tell everyone upstairs, recreating an atmosphere I haven’t experienced since I was traveling on the airship. Given that I basically had no choice but to listen to what happened around me as I tried to read, I noticed some interesting developments. The first thing I found out was that Nerva and Akane getting along might be a horrible thing. Nerva finding Akane cool meant that Akane kept saying cringe dialogue in front of her and by proxy me. This usually happened in the living room where Akane would tell tales of her adventures to Nerva. I think the following conversation is the most cringy of these interactions. In this instance, Ice Cube and Nerva were on the couch next to me as I tried to read a book.

“There I was, standing in the valley as hundreds of soldiers approached me with their weapons drawn” Akane began.

“Holy shit” Nerva quietly says in awe.

“They stopped in front of me. Out from the crowd of soldiers the general revealed himself with his golden armor and golden battle axe. On top of his horse he warned ‘Swordsman you are outnumbered 300 to 1. Surrender now and you may live.’. I replied ‘300 to 1? Those aren’t good odds’. He said ‘Of course they aren’t. It’s suicide to attempt to fight’. I said ‘Good. It seems we are in agreement. It’s suicide for you all to fight me’”

“Then what happened!?” Nerva asks, filled with excitement.

“I attacked”

“Sis did you hear that she attacked!” Nerva yelled, violently shaking Ice Cube in excitement.

Letting go of Ice Cube she stares at Akane with her eyes all wide and asks “Did you live?”

“Yes” Akane answers deadpanly

“OHHH!!!!!!!” Nerva screams as she gets up and runs around the room like a five year old who just ate candy.

After calming down she sits back down on the couch with Ice Cube and I..

“Akane that story was fucking awesome! You’re so cool!” she compliments.

“...” Ice Cube interjects.

“No sis your stories are so damn boring. Hers are much better.”

“...”

“Because she’s cool and you’re...you”

Ice Cube is now eyeing Akane like she wants to kill her. I think she’s jealous that Nerva finds her cool. Then Akane did something which made Nerva love her for life.

“Do you want to hold my blade?” Akane asks her.

“FUCK YEAH!” Nerva reacts, jumping to her feet and eagerly grabbing her blade.

“...” Ice Cube warned.

“Yeah yeah I’m gonna be fine, stop worrying.” Nerva dismisses, performing some practice swings.

“I wouldn’t be worried about Nerva’s safety if I were you” I throw in as I flip a page of my book.

“Hey Adam! I wanna show you something!” Nerva yells, running her way up the stairs.

“Oh what is it Ner-AHH WHY DO YOU HAVE A SWORD! PLEASE DON’T KILL ME!” I hear Adam exclaim.

“Come here bitch I wanna try a move on you real quick!” Nerva shouts.

I hear a bunch of crashing and Adam screaming for his life.

“WARREN SAVE ME!” Adam begs as he runs down the stairs and dashes to the kitchen where Warren is drinking a glass of red wine with Dr. Nightingale. After making it to the kitchen Adam hides under the table as Nerva makes it down stairs.

“Nerva put the sword down,” Warren orders, taking a sip from his glass.

“Come on Warren I just wanted to try a move on him” Nerva whines.

“No” Warren said sternly.

“Just let me do it once, just one swing” Nerva beseeches.

“Nerva don’t make me get up from this chair and take the sword from you”

“Ugh fine.” Nerva relents coming back to the living room and hands the sword back to Akane.

“It’s not like I was actually going to kill him.” Nerva grumbles.

“Well now you got me disappointed” I comment as I flip another page.

“It’s ok. I still have this short blade I can give you” Akane reveals.

“No more giving Nerva weapons Akane!” Warren yells from the kitchen.

“Curses”

After that whole mess Akane and Nerva became quiet not knowing what to do. The peace didn’t last very long as Nerva decided to give Akane the highest honor she can bestow on anyone.

“Akane you so cool I think you’ve proved yourself to be a bad bitch. You are now truly a part of the bad bitches” Nerva congratulates.

Upon hearing this Akane’s face became full of worry.

“Have I made a mistake? What have I done to become a bad bitch? How do I become a good bitch?” Akane questions, worrying that she was given a title of shame.

“No no being a bad bitch is a good thing! It means you are a badass.” Nerva clarifies.

“I see. Everyone in your party has this title?”

“Not everyone. Adam doesn’t qualify” I answer.

“H-hey I’ve done cool things” Adam retorts, sticking his head out from under the kitchen table.

“No you haven’t!” I shoot back.

Ignoring Adam, Akane states “I have been given a great honor. I’m now Akane, the bad bitch blood samurai.”

“Triple B-S?” I say as I realize that her title could be shortened to that.

“Yes”

Thus was how Akane and Nerva became best friends. Other interesting developments included how I got to see Akane talk to other members of my party individually. With me she keeps making comic references then stares at me expecting me to understand what she said. She also keeps doing unnecessary movements like dramatically sitting down or posing in front of me in an attempt to make me say she’s cool but they only made me cringe more and more. With Warren she keeps trying to figure out his stoic nature. She would go to where Warren is, then just stare. Knowing her I think she’s studying him, trying to recreate his disposition. When she’s talking to Adam she would get into arguments about comics with him. No matter how the conversation goes it ends with Akane saying he has bad taste which is probably true. Finally with Ice Cube there’s not much to say because she stays away from Ice Cube. I don’t think Ice Cube likes her. Ice Cube is mostly likely still jealous of how Nerva finds her cool. I tried to explain to her that siblings usually never find each other cool but I don’t think she believed me. The only other notable thing worth mentioning is that Warren gets along well with Dr. Nightingale. They usually hang out in the kitchen where the doctor would give Warren some tips about how to not get hurt in future battles as they drink together. Oh and everyone gets along with his son Tim pretty well. I talked with him a few times about books he read so I know he’s got a good head on his shoulders. He wants to be a doctor when he grows up to be like his father. It’s nice to see a kid his age with ambition, he’s not out in the streets being a troublemaker, loitering in public places. Freaking loiterers man, don’t get me started on those blights of society. Anyway the three days went by pretty quickly and it was soon time to go to this celebration.

“Ok doctor so where is this celebration at?” Warren asks as everyone’s been gathered in the living room.

“It’s in the dining hall of our town hall, the same building where you began your fight against that tyrant. Don’t worry, the townsfolk have been working nonstop on repairs so it looks good as new. You’re all going to have a great time. But are you sure that you guys need to leave afterwards?” the doctor questions.

“Yeah doctor we’re going to have to leave. I know you want us to stay longer but we’ve stayed long enough. We promise to keep taking the healing potions as prescribed though so don’t worry about us too much” Warren vows on behalf of all of us.

“You all better.” Dr Nightingale warns as he leaves with us following behind.

It’s sunset when we leave and even still looking at the sun kind of hurts my eyes a bit. I haven’t been outside in about a week and a half so that’s to be expected. As we make our way to the town hall I look at the buildings and the doctor’s right, the buildings are under repair, with some of them being fully refurbished. The furniture and parts of the building that used to be scattered throughout the streets are also gone. But it appears that no one moved Ajax’s scythe. It’s ahead of all of us lying on the ground broken. The blade is a few feet away from the handle.

“Ooooooh!” Nerva voices, eagerly running to it and attempts to pick it up the handle.

She tries again and again to pick it up but the thing is literally double her height so the best she can do is drag the handle on the ground.

“Nerva what are you doing?” Warren inquires.

“I wanna fix the scythe and keep it! It’ll be so damn cool to run around with a scythe!” Nerva says, making her way over to the blade.

“B-but even if you do fix it, wouldn’t it be too big for you? It’s twice your size” Adam points out.

“That won’t stop me! It’ll just make really wide swings and it’ll be dope as shit!” Nerva claims, picking up the blade with her left hand while her right drags the handle.

As she comes back to us Ice Cube goes up to her, takes both ends of the scythe and throws it to the side.

“Sis what the fuck!” Nerva banes angrily.

“...” Ice Cube lectures

“I won’t hurt myself, I'm not a damn baby!”

“Yeah if she’s going to hurt anyone it’ll be Adam so I say give it to her” I argue

“What?! No, don't do that. Why do you always want to harm me with bladed weapons?” Adam quizzes.

“I just want to try dope moves on you! Don’t be a damn coward” Nerva rebuts.

“I approve of Nerva’s actions. It’ll make her deadlier...plus I always found that scythe to be cool” Akane adds.

“Alright everyone stop yelling. Nerva, Adam’s right if you get that thing fixed it’ll be too big for you. But I’m not against the idea of you having it. I’ll let you only take the blade and have it fitted with a handle that’s more your size. Might have to make the blade smaller too.” Warren declares.

“Fuck yeah!” Nerva responds full of hype.

“But.. you can’t attack Adam with it. No ‘trying out moves’ on him.” Warren continues.

“...Damn. Alright fine I promise not to attack Adam with it.” Nerva pledges.

“Alright then get the blade” Warren commands.

“Hell yeah! Akane can you imagine how cool it’ll be?, I’m gonna have my own scythe and it’s gonna be dope! I’m gonna set the blade on fire when I kill motherfuckers!” Nerva says forgetting her disappointment over not being able to harm Adam.

“It’ll be a very impressive weapon indeed..and that’s the coolest thing I ever heard” Akane concurs.

Nerva proceeds to take the blade and puts it in a pocket that I did not know her outfit had. We make our way to the town hall which has truly been refurbished. It’s not only fixed but looks brand new as there is a fresh coat of paint on it, I don’t even think all of the paint has dried. But the most surprising thing is that there’s a crowd out front that’s applauding us as we make our way towards the front door.

“What’s with all the people?” I ask Dr. Nightingale.

“You’ve never had a crowd show up to cheer for you before? This is a celebration for you all saving us so of course people would congregate..” the doctor wonders

“No that’s never happened before. This is weird. Guys I want to leave I didn’t expect this to happen” I beg since I didn’t expect us to be the center of attention.

“You guys can’t leave yet you all just got here” the doctor mentions.

“Yeah besides I want to eat the food. PEOPLE I HAVE FOR COME FOR YOUR FOOD!” Nerva yells to the crowd of about 100 people, moving her way into the building.

“Ugh hi everyone. Hi there, excuse me” Adam greets as he awkwardly makes his way past people.

“This praise. This is what it must be like to be a true hero” Akane says, making me cringe as she makes her way inside.

“Don’t worry Quincy, let's just get in, eat, and get out” Warren comments, comforting me with the fact that he doesn’t want to be here either.

The only person who hasn’t made their way past the crowd to go inside the building is Ice Cube. She’s next to me as she writes something in her notebook.

I am used to such social occasions. Worry not, this will be an enjoyable evening. I’ll make sure my sister doesn’t ruin it by setting the venue aflame.

Ice Cube goes ahead of me making her way inside. I sigh and try to make my way in.

“Wow is that the second hero? The rumour is true, he truly is the one of blackness” I hear someone in the crowd say.

Ok now I’m annoyed. I make my way inside and am led to the dining hall. It’s in a room I’ve never been in as instead of going upstairs, I’m led into a hallway on the first floor, then to two large brown doors. I open the doors to see a fancy sight. It’s a huge dining hall that reminds me of the one at Harvard or some other Ivy league university. There are large glass pane windows and there are long tables placed throughout. I also see tables with a bunch of food on it, ah snap it’s a buffet. Ok this isn’t as bad as I thought it’d be. I see in the back corner a table that must be reserved for us as it’s empty and has name tags on the seats. In the very back there is a podium that overlooks everything. The first party member I see is Nerva who has taken over one of the buffet tables by eating everything on it. I don’t even think she’s going to get a plate, she’s just going to eat everything at the table. Ok now I see Ice Cube try to pull her away from it. I start to make our way to our table and find my other party members. Warren’s drinking already with Dr. Nightingale and I think the old mayor at a bar that’s located to the right side of the room.They’re all sitting in stools drinking champagne. Adam and Akane are at a different buffet table so I approach them instead of the table. I forgot to mention that this place is packed with people so I’m willing to socialize with them in order to avoid eating alone, looking weird.

“Wait so why can’t I grab this mutton?” Adam questions, staring at the meat on the buffet table.

“It could be poisonous. Just like what happened in volume 3 of The Journey of the Flower Tribe” she explains.

“But who would want to poison us?”

“We have many enemies. There could be a spy amongst the people.”

“Yeah Adam you should eat it to make sure it’s not poisoned” I say appearing next to them.

“N-no I’m not doing that! Geez now I’m scared” Adam admits.

Suddenly Nerva is next to us, probably because Ice Cube told her to not eat all the food at the other table.

“Huh what we worried about?” she asks, taking a bite out of the mutton. This girl just picked up the whole thing.

“Hey Nerva you feel like dying since you ate that mutton?” I question.

“Hmmm nah I don’t think so. Wait hold on….. Nah it was just gas” Nerva discloses.

“Well I guess we’re good” I state as I make my plate.

Everyone makes their way back to the table and I expected everyone to leave us alone to eat in peace but nope. Instead I had people constantly come up to me.

“Hey my name is Frank I’m a local farmer here and I just came to say you did a good thing. Thank you for what you did. That asshole made our lives a living hell” a man in a straw hat reveals to me, shaking my hand.

“Ugh no problem it was a pleasure” I warily replied, not used to receiving praise.

Stuff like that kept happening throughout the rest of the dinner. People would come up to us and give their thanks. They went up to everybody excluding Nerva, I think her violently eating food at a buffet table made people stay away. This must be what Will goes through all the time. He’s the first hero so I’m sure people thank him for what he’s done so far. Wait I forgot his party blows up everything whenever they do anything so maybe they don’t. Anyway this thing isn’t going as badly as I expected. It’s strange, I think this is the first time I got to talk to average people who live in this world, not a shopkeeper, adventurer, or government official. These are just normal people. I got invested as I listened to their stories. Fathers and mothers came up to me giving thanks. Others told me they were at peace knowing that we stopped the man who killed their loved ones. Wait, am I caring about people now? Oh no I gotta stop that, that’s not like me. Caring about people is not my thing, that’s more Will’s. Overall I was having a good time until I saw the reinstated mayor go up to the podium.

“My friends, we have all gathered here today to express our thanks for the One of Blackness and his party in freeing us from that most vile fiend whose name I dare not utter. I know that our town is unique in its loyalty to lord Creon, though he may not be a perfect leader we all stood by him because we knew he was doing his best to alleviate the problems which ail us. Our fellow citizens viewed things differently. They decided to harm us by sending a monster. They thought they could break our spirits, but we proved them wrong.” the mayor spoke.

The mayor continued to give his speech and I’m not gonna lie I got invested, I’m a sucker for speeches. But then the bad part came.

“And now I would like the second hero to give a few words,” the mayor says, stepping away from the podium.

Everyone in the dining hall directed their attention towards me as I ate my food.

“....oh no” I mutter.

“It’s ok Quincy you got this” Adam whispers to me.

“Do not worry, this happens in comics all the time. The hero always gives a rousing speech to the populace” Akane tells me I think in an attempt to make me feel better.

I get up and slowly make my way to the podium wanting to die after taking each step. God dang it why is this happening? I already didn’t want to socialize now I’m giving an impromptu speech. This is the worst timeline. I stepped up to the podium to look at everyone in the dining hall. An awkward silence fills the room.

“WOOO FUCK YEAH QUINCY!” Nerva cheers, breaking the awkward silence.

Nerva is at one of the buffet tables so she said it with a bunch of food in her mouth.

“Ugghhhhhhhhh” I begin.

I have no idea what to say. Ok there’s two ways to go about this. I can either give a speech I memorized from reading (I did read every US president’s inaugural address but I don’t think those speeches are applicable) or I can bs my way through this. Guess I gotta do the latter.

“A week and a half ago my party and I killed the reaper and tyrant known as Ajax in a daring assault to liberate the people of Ravenna. He was a bad hombre. He terrorized the populace as he carried out the orders of that vile terrorist known as the Man of Stone. I’m glad that my party and I surrounded him as he was whimpering and crying and screaming all the way. The thug who tried so hard to intimidate others spent his last moments in utter fear, in total panic and dread, terrified of the forces that bared down on him. Ajax was vicious and violent and he died in a vicious and violent way, as a coward, running and crying. He died like a dog, he died like a coward. He died like a bitch with his microdick. I now have a message for the Man of Stone. You got no money, you got no friends, you should just kill yourself. You better get your pasty white ass out of Ayana cause Ayana is my hood now. You step up in here, your ass gonna get clapped. Thank you all. May we make Westphalia great again!” I conclude.

The dining hall was silent. I just sat there expecting to get booed at but I started to hear someone clap. Then another. Then another. It started to spread until the entire room erupted in a loud applause. I really hope this speech doesn’t spread beyond this town via print. I already know Will is gonna be confused if he ever reads it. I also hope I don’t become popular because of this or else I’m gonna have less time to read. I wave to everyone as I make my way back to my table. The rest of the dinner went well besides even more people coming up to me so no one in my party could talk to me about the weird speech I just gave. After the dinner we all left and our party made our way to Warren’s car prepared to get out of here. We were all followed by a crowd cheering at us.

“Well doctor thank you for everything. You take care” Warren says as he shakes Dr. Nightingale’s hand.

“No problem, it was my pleasure. You all stay safe.” the doctor replies.

“Wait, are we gonna have enough room? Akane wasn’t with us before” Adam points out.

“Yeah that’s a good point. Akane how did you get here?” I ask her.

“I ran. I used 3% of my power to get here. The place my parents are staying at isn’t too far from here so it didn’t take me long to travel.” Akane answers.

“W-we can’t make Akane run back. But we don’t have any room in the car” Adam calls attention to.

“Nah bitch we do. You staying in the trunk” Nerva declares nonchalantly.

“W-wait what?”

“Yeah that’s a good plan. Adam you stay in the trunk. Akane will take your spot” I concur.

“Y-you guys can’t be serious about this!”

“Don’t worry Adam we’ll give you some air holes. Akane!”

I point at the trunk indicating for her to make some air holes with her sword.

“No we are not! No one’s damaging my car. We’re just gonna leave the trunk open and not drive too fast.” Warren states firmly.

“So I’m not using my blade?” Akane questions already having her sword drawn.

“No. Now everyone say goodbye to the people and get in the car.” Warren orders.

We all whirl around and say goodbye to the people we liberated and got in. As we started our way back to Artry I realized that our trip to Ravenna was mostly awful but it had its fair share of good moments. I have a lot to fill Will in on when we get back. I wonder what he’s been up to since I left Artry a week and a half ago.