Broken Back tavern was almost completely full with patrons, Lucas managing to grab one of the last free tables when he entered, glad he was in early. After leaving Bruce’s office, he quickly tracked his friends and his plan of a night out was quickly accepted, everybody feeling the need to unwind a little bit.

“Well, I just hope this evening will not be cut short like the last one was” Lucas thought as his drinks arrived, giving him the reason to push the Rosenborg crashing their last night out from his mind. Instead, he focused on scanning the patrons, trying to see if someone had the potential to cause trouble, his arm resting on the hilt of his sword. The patrons talked loudly for the most part, some tables occupied by the quiet conversations, but no one seemed as an immediate danger, calming some of the Lucas’s nerves.

The door opened to reveal Maggie and Ted entering, closely followed by Margaret and Chen. They spotted Lucas and made their way towards him, avoiding the patrons currently in motion, either to dance to the tune the minstrel was playing or just in the process of refilling their drinks or going to the bathroom.

“Well, we hadn’t been to full tavern in a long time” Margaret said as she sat down, taking a drink from the server, Lucas ordering drinks as soon as they entered “looking good, boss. You should ditch the armor more often” she finished.

“You know, maybe I should. But with my track record, I would take an arrow to the knee pretty fast, and how will I still be an adventurer after that?” Lucas said, causing a slight chuckle. They quickly settled into the rhythm, small talk and jokes galore as the drinks kept on coming. As usual, Chen was the first to stand up from the table, going on to perform a magic show for some patrons, fleecing them in the process. The girls soon followed, eager to watch another magic show.

“You would think they would get tired seeing him do the same routine” Ted sighed, his voice betraying he was a little bit drunk.

“To be fair, he always does something different. Especially for bets” Lucas responded, felling a bit tipsy. He tried to stay focused while Ted’s drink induced tirade about the stupidity of people failing for Chen’s tricks, but his gaze was frequently landing on Maggie, Margaret’s words and his promise burning in his chest. Luckily, the healer was understanding for now and didn’t pressure Lucas further, trying not to stoke the flames of his inner battles further.

“We could all get killed” Lucas tried to reason, but even in his head that words rang hollow, the real reason for his hesitation painfully obvious but Lucas still wasn’t ready to admit it to himself. Instead, he scanned the female patrons, hoping a bit of flirting and, hopefully, a wild night would be enough to push this line of thoughts from his mind. Finding what looked a perfect candidate, he interrupted Ted, and went for it.

Approaching, Lucas evaluated what he was seeing. The woman was wearing an expensive looking dress, her neck adorned by the medallion which was just long enough to reach the edge of her cleavage, matching the length of her red hair. Porcelain skin and a small nose with protruding tip were alluring and Lucas called his best game face, approaching the red haired woman.

“Would you like a drink?” Lucas said smoothly and from that, the conversation branched out. While Lucas kept the fact he was the owner of Camp Hearth omitted, he spoke at great length about his adventures and achievements, drawing the young woman interest with a series of stories that may or may not be the truth. When she reciprocated, droning about her family, which Lucas could only barely deduce belonged to the infamous Families, he found himself losing interest, his gaze wandering towards the Maggie who was intently following the never ending show from Chen, Lucas guessing he had fleeced a few people by now.

“Focus, you have a shot at the noblewoman” Lucas chided himself internally, returning to the conversation with the young woman. They continued for must have been an hour, Lucas feeling the moment for sealing the deal approaching. Another ten minutes and the woman started subtly touching his hand and slightly leaning towards him.

“The fruit is ripe for the taking” Lucas thought, but he found himself unable to seal the deal, his instincts fighting tooth and nail. It was irrational and Lucas tried to force himself to take the final step but to no avail. He excused himself, making the woman slightly annoyed and quickly left, returning to his table feeling utterly defeated.

“The great Lucas the Seducer returned from the woman, tail between his legs. The stories I heard certainly seem like an exaggeration” Margaret said, arriving a moment later “or perhaps there is another maiden that his hearth covets?” she finished, casting a knowing look in the direction Lucas knew Maggie was.

“Fuck off” Lucas mumbled, the drunkenness slowly creeping in.

“You know, as much as you are capable in a fight, you are woefully unable to live outside of it” Margaret said “just clear the air already. There is no point in brooding if you never get the girl” she finished, prompting a laugh from Lucas. As soon as he opened his mouth to respond, she interrupted him again.

“I know what you are about to say and its bullshit. Nobody is getting killed if end up with Maggie. Look, you are adult and I will not speak further, but believe me, it will certainly be good for you and Maggie both” Margaret finished, getting up and going to the improvised dance floor, her intent to have fun this evening clear. Lucas sighed, well aware she was probably right.

“Okay, time’s up, let’s do this” he muttered, trying to motivate himself before getting up from his chair and making his way towards Maggie.

“How much people had he robbed this time?” Lucas asked, startling Maggie who didn’t notice him.

“At least twenty. Luckily, he is keeping it small after the last time” she responded, smiling at Lucas. They continued chatting about Chen’s antics and things in general, halting to applaud every time Chen won another bet. After some time passed, Lucas felt a surge of inspiration.

“You up for a dance?” he asked, extending his hand, trying to take his chance as the minstrel changed his tune to something slower instead of lively tunes he was playing until now.

“You and dancing? Since when?” Maggie said, laughing but taking Lucas’s hand.

“Since I’m in good company” he responded, fighting his urge to wink. God, that would be cheap. Arriving at the dance floor, they started weaving around the other dancers, Maggie doing it naturally and Lucas using his massive Agility to cover up for any misstep or clumsy move his made. His appreciation of the System grew and he made it know in his head, but once again the System gave him the cold shoulder, asshole that it was.

The slower tunes continued and so did the dance, Lucas starting to get slightly fatigued from all the attention he was investing in his every step. Maggie, on the other hand, was getting more and more in the zone, forcing Lucas to continue and just in the middle of some complex move Maggie initiated, the inevitable happened, Lucas’s leg got stuck and they went careening to the floor.

“Are you okay?” Lucas asked with worry, but his doubts were soon put to rest as he spotted the smile on the Maggie’s face. The moment was there, Lucas lost in that green eyes, but the moment passed as the laughter boomed somewhere from above them.

“You should have seen yourself” Ted said through laughter, now officially completely drunk as he picked up his sister and then taking Lucas’s hand and forcing him up. His cheeks burning, he muttered his thanks and moved with him back to the table, feeling the eyes of other patrons burning on his backs, bouts of laughter exploding from the spectators.

The rest of the evening quickly passed and as the number of patrons started dwindling down, the party went to their rooms, luckily for them just up the stairs. Before entering his room, Lucas took out five bottles filled with colorless liquid and gave each of his party members one.

“Drink this, it should alleviate the worst” he said, struggling for every word through his drunken stupor and then opened the bottle and gulped the liquid. Defying expectation, it was actually tasteless, a far cry from what Lucas had expected and moment after drinking it, he started feeling a little bit better. Bidding goodnight, he entered his room and collapsed into the bed, whole world spinning, but less with every passing second. After five minutes, the worst of his drunkenness had passed and he fell to sleep.

Lucas woke up to his whole body shaking, the source of it a hand on his back roughly pushing him. He opened his eyes and discovered Margaret standing next to his bed, a smile on her face as she shook him once again.

“Fun night, huh?” she said when she saw him turning to her “Let’s go to see Bruce, we are already late” she finished, leaving the room. Lucas groaned as his head exploded in pain, but he soldiered through it, putting his armor on quickly and finding his party in the middle of breakfast, their states similar to his. Joining them, he quickly dove into the food and after finishing it, they immediately got up and went to Bruce’s office.