Eric didn't seem to want to elaborate so I left that topic alone and moved on to a different one.

"So how strong are you exactly?", I asked Eric, my anticipation clearly showing on my face.

Eric just looked at me and smiled for a while before responding.

"Let's just say I'm strong enough."

Strong enough? What kind of answer is that? That tells me nothing! Strong enough for what?!

"Strong enough forrrrr?"

"for whatever I need to be strong for.", Eric replied with a grin.

Alright, keep your secrets. Hmph. Eric's being such a tease. Guess I'll just enjoy myself. No use in pushing further.

"I see. Thank you for that elaboration", I said with a grin.

"No problem!", Eric replied, grinning back at me.

"So this is where you stay I imagine?"

"Yeah well, whenever I'm in Whitebridge I stay here."

That reminds me I gotta check on Pepper again soon. Uh, so many responsibilities.

"Interesting. I'd almost forgotten what it was like to have a place to come back to at the end of the day. Now I don't need to sleep so I just didn't see any reason to have a place to stay.", Eric said with a slightly nostalgic tone of voice.

That sounds kind of sad but I bet it's nice to not need to sleep. I wish I didn't need to sleep because it takes up about half of my whole life.

"Oh well I'm sure you could stay here if you ever wanted to.", I added with a smile.

Eric smiled back, "Thanks James but I have lots of work to do and even more people depending on me."

"I guess but make sure you take a break every now and then. I think you'll find that it'll actually improve the amount of work you get done. Even if you don't need to sleep your brain still isn't meant to run at 100% all the time."

"I suppose", Eric responded, his eyebrows scrunched up as he contemplated what I'd said.

Good, hopefully, he takes more breaks now because well he deserves it and it'll probably help him with his work overall.

I waited until Eric's eyes cleared and became focused on me again before speaking.

"So?"

"I see your point. I'll try it out."

"Great!"

Okay ummm new topic. Need a topic...

"So could I finally meet your companions now?", Eric asked, upon noticing that I was floundering for something to say.

"Ah yes of course! They can't talk sadly but they can understand stuff."

Eric looked a bit surprised but just nodded, "okay I can work with that."

"Good. This one is Dob and this one is Lob.", I said, gesturing to Dob and then Lob.

"Hmm. Quite interesting names. Well, it's a pleasure to meet you Dob and Lob.", Eric said, holding out a hand to both Dob and Lob.

Having observed me shaking hands before they both knew what to do and so they both reached out and shook the hand that they had each been offered while grinning and looking at Eric.

Eric looked surprised for a second but it immediately left his face as if it was never there. After he finished shaking the hands of Dob and Lob he looked at me with a gaze that seemed to hold a never-ending stream of questions that I could tell he wanted to bombard me with.

Did he somehow see past Dob and Lob's disguise? I mean I guess it wouldn't be that surprising... I'm just gonna act like nothing happened and hopefully, he just leaves it alone.

Suddenly my gaze locked on a familiar figure carrying plates of food toward us.

"Ah the food is here!", I said in a voice that sounded slightly too eager.

Ah saved by the food. Thanks, Stella!

Soon Stella reached the table and set down the plates of food.

"Dinner is served! Hope you all like it!", Stella said with a smile.

"Thanks, Stella!", I said immediately.

Dob and Lob then smiled at Stella in thanks.

"Yes thank you very much.", Eric said to Stella with a grin.

"You're all very welcome! Let me know if any of you need anything else. Anything at all!", Stella shot back.

"Okay. Thanks again!", I responded.

"Anytime."

Then Stella walked away to help some other patrons of the Big Keg inn who were yelling about getting refills while stumbling over their words.

Eric watched all of this with a serious look on his face, clearly ready to step in if things went sideways.

"Don't worry Eric. They may be rude but everyone has their boundaries. Besides, if they dare to do anything to Stella everyone else, including me, would step in and they'd never come back here again."

"True.", Eric said, looking placated.

"Now let's eat! Everything tastes better when it's hot!"

Although not too hot of course. Burning your mouth is never fun.

Then I took a bite of the food and closed my eyes in pure culinary pleasure.

Ah, I haven't had Stella's food in so long. It's still so good. It might tie with some of the other places I've been taste-wise but it seems to have some other quality to it.

After I'd finished savoring my first bite I decided to check on Eric. I looked over at his plate and saw that his meal seemed to be disappearing at an unnatural pace.

"Uh, Eric? It's not a race. You can savor each bite for as long as you want."

"Oh right. I kinda got caught up in it. Thanks for reminding me before I took down the whole thing!"

Eric then started eating at a slower pace. It was still faster than I was but it was now around normal eating speed.

Maybe he is savoring it longer and time runs slower for him or something? I don't know. I guess I'll just have to wait and see what it's like once I get to that level of power. While I don't know exactly where he is since he won't tell me I'm pretty sure it'll be pretty obvious once I can travel as fast as he can.