“Hey… Is that Kristine, acting all buddy-like with Emma? And is that an embracing hug? And now Kristine is ruffling up Emma’s hair?” Jamie was in disbelieve.

“Nah, you must be seeing things, before my girlfriend would act this affectionate with someone in public, she’d kill someone.” Dorian brushed his friend’s question of, without even looking in the direction Jamie pointed. He took another sip of his cold whiskey, encouraging their guest to do the same but Elliot politely refused.

“Wait, your girlfriend is a professional assassin. Isn’t killing people kind of like… her thing?” Jamie wouldn’t let go of his joke. Kristine and Emma were the kind of people who’d never get along. Kristine was a free spirit, doing whatever she wanted to, whenever she wanted to and Emma was someone who always needed to stay in control of the situation as well as the people around her.

Dorian sighed. He looked in the direction Jamie was pointing and to his surprise saw exactly what his friend had described. “…Huh. Well that’s interesting. The hell? Wait that’s really good! This means Emma approves of our relationship! I was really scared she didn’t, especially when she ran off after I complimented Kristina…”

Elliot looked at him with a puzzled look. “Wait, you mean the young girl with the brown hair and the ponytail? That’s who you were scared of?”

Both Jamie and Dorian answered him in unison. ““Oh, you have no idea.””

While she mostly showed them her angelic self, both knew about her other side and how scary she could become. They had experienced her angry self on more than one occasion but in actuality they were proud that she was this way, because it meant she’d be able to stand her ground once she’d be grown up.

“Well boys, it was nice drinking with you on this fine summer evening, as a nice breeze blew through the tavern. But now it is time for me to meet up with the others and find us a place to stay for the night because your tavern probably won’t have enough rooms for us.” Elliot handed Jamie a few gold coins to cover for the expenses of his classmates and got up to leave.

“Okay, first of all: Stop speaking like a poet on the brink of death and secondly, you can just stay at the apartment complex. Usually you’d rent a room for at least a month but if you tell Mister Bryce that we send you, he’ll make an exception and let you stay for only the night.” Jamie suggested and Elliot nodded.

“If we’d be able to only pay for one night, that’d be ideal. In that case I will make sure that we leave town tomorrow at noon, once again I am sorry that I couldn’t help you out with your request…” He left the two of them behind, now only the staff remained in the building.

“…Hey Jamie, I don’t feel like working today. The guests will start to arrive soon, do you think we could close the bar for tonight?” Dorian sounded beat down. He had really hoped they’d get a good result out of their negotiations. But instead they got a guarantee that their friends would get thrown into battle and that there was a chance that they’d be forced to fight too.

Jamie emptied his glass. “No, I also don’t feel like working today. I think I’ll go out and see where the evening takes me. I’ll tell the cook and waitresses as well as most of the maids that they can go for the day. A few maids will need to stay though to take care of the guests on the first floor, after all we are more than just a bar and restaurant, we are also an inn.”

Dorian nodded and his friend left to take care of everything. He stared in his glass and thought about what their next step should be. After a few minutes of solitude he decided that he should follow Jamie’s example and go outside to clear his head. He grabbed a bottle of whiskey and walked outside to the back of their tavern to lean on the stone wall.

“…Fuck.” He sighed. Of course he already knew that this outcome was inevitable but he at least tried to do something against it. “Fuck this war… Why must we be the ones to change its outcome?”

Ever since they were transported to this world, Jamie and he were aware of their responsibility. So many humans were suffering and they had decided to turn a blind eye to it. Why? Out of spite? Because of their nihilistic world view? At least that’s what they had always told everyone, including themselves.

But they both knew the real reason. They were cowards. What would happen if they fail? What if they aren’t strong enough, what if they underestimate an opponent? How many people would die if they’d make even one mistake? They knew what would happen, because of them, so many died during ‘the incident’, it was all their fault. It was exactly because their shortcomings had already killed so many people, that they swore to never get involved in such high stakes situations again.

Of course they knew that doing nothing would lead to this outcome either way, but at least they wouldn’t feel like the ones responsible for it. Yes, it was an incredibly selfish way of thinking and to cope with their own shortcomings they had started to simply ignore it all. Living in their own bubble, in this town where the war and the suffering were as far away as possible.

Dorian smiled sadly. “Kristina is on the front lines all the time… And I can’t count how many stories of the war I’ve heard from Adventurers and knights while working at the bar… Maybe… Just maybe we should…”

“NO!” His trail of thoughts got interrupted by Emma. She had been hiding just around the corner and had listened in to Dorian talking to himself. Tears had formed in the corner of her eyes and he glared at him in anger. “Please don’t! I-I… I don’t want you to fight too! I don’t want to lose you two as well…” She looked down to the ground in shame. After Dorian was finally thinking of doing the right thing she stopped him for selfish reasons. But Kristina was right, she should be honest with them, because who knew when they would be transported back to their own world.

“Emma…? Is everything okay? Why are you crying, did someone hurt you?” Dorian asked worried.

“Listen, I know that you don’t really want to stay in this world… I know that your old world was better and had more technology and living there was more comfortable and, and-”

“What are you talking about?” Dorian interrupted her. “Yes, my old world was more technologically advanced but you know what? It neither had Kristina or Diane or Scan in it. And most importantly, it didn’t have you in it. If I ever were to return to my home world, it wouldn’t be without you!” He said in a definite tone, he really meant what he said.

“…Really?” Emma rubbed the tears out of her eyes.

“Really. And I promise you that Jamie thinks the same way, please don’t worry. You are the most precious thing we have found in here and if we do something seemingly reckless, we do it for you. The three of us are a family now and nothing is ever going to change that.” Dorian smiled.

Dorian’s half shot eyes were supported by his dark eye bags, barely hiding behind his angular glasses. His cupper hair and his boring clothes were messy and his smile was as awkward as ever. Yet despite all these shortcomings, seeing him like that felt incredibly comforting to Emma, it felt like home.

“…” Emma didn’t say anything, but instead hugged him as tightly as she could. A bit surprised Dorian returned her hug and they both knew, that everything would be alright.

“Hey, even if we were to go and fight the demons, we’d take you with us. You don’t honestly think we’d leave you here with all those weirdos around, did you? No, you’d be safer on the front lines with us!” He smiled and they both laughed.

* * * * *

Jamie walked around the town, thinking about world peace. Not as a joke, he seriously considered what to do to achieve world peace. What he could do was simple: Kill the Demon Lord. But how? And why? And-? So much of this ‘plan’ was uncertain for him. He had no idea about demons or why they were at war with humans. He didn’t know where this Demon Lord was located at or how to kill him. Could you even kill him?

“Who is stupid enough to put their faith in these gods, who just throw some teenagers into another world, expecting them to save humanity? We are only 18 years old!!! I mean what the fuck?!” He groaned in pain. What were they supposed to do?

“Oh great one, tell us all of your secrets!”

Speak of the devil and he shall appear… God, these worshippers get more obnoxious each time I met them. At least I haven’t met any who worshipped Bianca yet.

“Guys, how many times have I told you that these gods are nothing but overrated Hookers with a stick up their asses?” Jamie angrily walked up to the crowd that had gathered in the middle of the street.

Maybe it was because this town was full of outsiders and lunatics, but every time Jamie met with the local church, they had another stupid thing they’d take as a sign from the gods. What were they worshipping now? A stupid rock, a stone figure or yet another messiah who was definitely a fraud? Only one way to find out. He fought his way to the front row where he saw the reason for their gathering.

“NEWTON?!?!” Jamie shouted in disbelieve. Indeed, their cat was quietly sleeping in the middle of the street on a soft pillow, with people giving him offerings and bowing down to him.

I know this town is called “Town of maniacs” but I never thought it would get this bad…

“Okay guys listen, this is just a c-” Before he could finish explaining to a crowd that didn’t listen to a word he was saying anyways, he got interrupted by an excited priest.

“Everyone! We finished the ceremonial hall for our lord!” Everyone got really excited and began to follow the man. Meanwhile four devoted followers carefully picked up the pillow Newton was sleeping on and transported him towards the local church.

Jamie sighed. “Might as well see where this one ends up…” He joined the group of followers and walked into the church.

The insides had changed yet again. It seemed like each week the local church found some new symbol of the gods to worship and changed their whole place to match with their current icon. This time it was Newton and Jamie had to admit that it was very impressive what they had managed to do. The walls were filled with paintings of Newton and they handed out cat masks to everyone entering the church. They even made a statue representing Newton, complete with his bored look and three legs.

“You’ve got to admit, they are insane workers. Got to appreciate the effort…” Jamie mumbled as he threw the cat mask into the trash can.

“Everyone! Thank you for gathering here today. THIS…” He pointed at Newton who was put onto a pedestal, still sleeping. “…is a gift sent here by the gods! It represents a mighty beast from the heavens. It is what is known as… A CAT!” In amazement the crowd began to whisper. “Yes, indeed. These creatures are known for their free will and their majestic fur. They are the pets of the gods and this one in particular is even better than other cats! The prophecies always describe cats with four legs, this one however only has three! Don’t you see what this means? IT IS SO POWERFUL THAT IT ONLY NEEDS THREE LEGS!”

The crowd began to cheer and some even began to cry in joy. Jamie grinned, knowing how much bullshit the priest was talking. It probably wasn’t his intention to lie, he simply wanted the people to have some hope and for that he interpreted everything as a sign from the gods, smooth talking people into a sense of security. For that Jamie respected him, but he still wanted his cat back…

He was about to speak up, when the door closed with a loud bang. Everyone’s eyes wandered to the person standing in the doorway. It was a young woman, maybe nineteen years old, wearing a nun attire. But despite these unrevealing clothes, Jamie could tell that she was extremely beautiful. Just why did she have to be a nun?

Wait no, this isn’t a complete rejection. This simply means that conquering her is going to be a challenge. Well then, challenge accepted.

“How could you!?” She walked through the crowd which parted ways to create a corridor for her to walk through. She sounded angry and only stopped once she was directly in front of the priest. She was a head smaller than him, yet her eyes were burning with passion. Jamie liked what he saw and came a little closer.

“You can’t tell these people to worship some creature, no matter how adorable it is!” She explained furious. “That is in no way what the church is meant for! You should be ashamed of yourself, pray to the gods to atone for your sins!”

The priest, clearly overwhelmed by the situation was struggling to find any words. “W-well, it’s like that… Uh, so yeah well-”

Jamie walked up to the altar to help the man out. “Young lady, please calm yourself, this is the house of the gods.” Jamie smiled devilishly charming. “Perhaps this man here has made a misjudgement, but don’t you think there are better ways to tell him that?”

Seeing Jamie this close and being exposed to his charm she blushed. “W-well, maybe… Hey wait, why are you here? Are you one of the fools who worship this animal as well?!” As expected, her believes didn’t make it easy for Jamie.

“Oh no, you got it wrong. See, I am not wearing any mask like the others. I was just about to step in myself when you turned up milady.” He kissed her hand and bowed down.

“Oh you flatter me…” She blushed even more and turned her head away in embarrassment.

Good job me, you nearly got her where you want her…

“No, I am simply stating facts, you are very beautiful.” He smiled.

“S-stop…” She said, but her smile told him that his charm was working. Newton turned out to be a great wingman.

“Hey, how about we leave this place, I think the people here have learned their lesson. Our meeting here must have been fate, set up by the gods, don’t you think so?” He went in for the kill, she would say yes and once they were alone he could slowly chip away at her barrier.

“M-maybe you are right… O-okay… let’s go.”

Hook, line and sinker.

“JAMIE!!!!! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?!?!?!” Elliot shouted furiously.

“Oh… Fuck…” Jamie whispered as he watched Elliot stomp up to them.

“What the actual fuck do you think you are doing?!” Elliot grabbed Jamie’s tie and pulled him closer. He was actually really scary with the murderous intent in his eyes.

But Jamie knew how to defend himself in this situation. “Whoa, hold on Elliot. You can’t curse in church! You are a role model to everyone here, you are the pope after all.” He smiled, watching as everyone began to excitedly rush up to Elliot trying to touch him and be blessed.

Elliot however didn’t care as he was still glaring at Jamie in anger. “Nuns. Are. Off. Limit. Do you understand?”

Jamie sighed, still not losing his cool. “Relax, of course I would never do something like that, I mean who do you think I am? I was simply helping this young girl out, enlightening these people about how they shouldn’t worship false idols.”

“T-That’s right sir, he simply wanted to help me. He had no ill intentions whatsoever! Why else would he be in here?” The nun who had already fallen for Jamie’s charms came to his help.

“See?” Jamie grinned confident. “I am only here to help these clueless people.”

“Oh really?” Elliot asked in a dead serious tone. He waved all his worshippers away and they followed his order immediately, stepping back from the trio.

“Yes, please believe him!” The nun begged.

“…You are certain it’s not because you wanted your cat back?” Elliot had played his trump card.

Now Jamie got nervous. “W-what are you talking about? Heh, you got the wildest fantasies.”

The nun got suspicious. “That’s not true, is it?” She asked him and Jamie reassured her that he had no idea about what that animal was.

“OH NEWTON!” Elliot shouted and the car slowly opened up its eyes. It yawned and the moment it saw Jamie, jumped in his arms.

For a moment everyone was silent. Then a slap echoed through the halls. Jamie sighed, he had played and he had lost. Maybe Newton wasn’t a good wingman after all…

“Disgusting pig!” The nun pouted, angry at herself for nearly falling for his tricks. Then she treated Jamie like air. “Sir, I am here on behalf of the church to escort you back home. We desperately need you back at the headquarters. Please prepare to leave this evening.”

“Alright, we were planning on leaving soon anyways.” He smiled at Jamie, clearly having won their little battle of wits. Outside the church Elliot said goodbye to Jamie and left him to continue wandering the streets alone.

* * * * *

“So how long did you plan on staying here?” Diane asked Ruby, who was sitting next to her on the coach. Until her classmates were gone, Ruby would crash at her place. Diane lived in one of the two apartment complexes designed by Jamie. The first one was big and meant to be only used for a short stay, in short for all the guests that came during parties or festivals. The second one was meant for the local residents of this town, thus it was much smaller, after all the town wasn't that big. They had about 600 residents from which 300 came and went due to war or other things. The town was founded for everyone who wanted a place to come back to where no one would ask too many questions about anything. That’s why so many “crazy” people moved here. Well crazy in societies mind…

“Ughhh, I don’t know!! Dorian told me that he’d have another meeting with Eliot tomorrow and depending on how that will go… ARGHH, I just don’t know what to do Diane! I really want to meet him and tell him about how I feel, but I just can’t find the courage to do so!” She let out a sigh and buried her face in a pillow. “When you speak to men, you always look so relaxed… What is your secret?”

Diane chuckled. “Secret? I don’t really have a secret, I just talk to them you know? Besides, isn’t there a huge difference between you talking to your crush and me talking to my fans? You need to gather up the courage to talk to him!”

“You are right. If I was able to survive working with Dorian and Jamie, then I’ll be able to survive this as well. Wish me luck!” Ruby stood up, took a deep breath and walked out the apartment.

“…I didn’t mean right now, but oh well.” Diane quickly followed her friend outside.

“Uhm Ruby, I don’t want to ruin your newfound resolve, but you do realize that you are still in your maid outfit?” Diane carefully asked.

“Who cares, I need to do this now! It is nearly evening and I want to do this before the lights gone!” Ruby walked down the stairs and exited the building. Standing on the main street, she decided to first walk right towards the tavern. Maybe some of her classmates were still there and if not she could ask Dorian where he had housed them.

On her way there she spotted Jamie sitting on the ground with a bottle of beer in his hands. Ruby wasn’t sure whether he was sleeping or lost in thought, thus she decided to walk past him. However her partner in crime had other plans.

“JAMIE JACKSON, what are you doing out here?!” Diane lightly kicked his side.

“Ouch! Can’t a man sleep out his hangover?!” Jamie rubbed his ribs and slowly struggled to get up.

Diane grabbed his arm and helped him out. “How do you look?! Come on, let’s get that dirt off of you… Honestly why are you sleeping outside at this hour? Your room is like a 100 meters away!”

“S-shut up, you’re not my wife!” He protested but was too drunk to actually resist her help.

Diane sighed and put his arm around her shoulder, supporting him while walking. Jamie meanwhile just followed along. “Honestly Diane, you’re, you’re just such a great girl… Y-you know that? Such a great, great girl… Way too nice for your own good… hehe…”

“Yeah, I know…” She growled while putting his sunglasses back in place.

Ruby was impressed. “Wow, after what he did to you, I didn’t expect you to be this nice to him.”

“Well yeah, it’s just that when I see him this down and helpless… I just need to help him you know? Also when he’s this vulnerable he’s just adorable… I could destroy him at any moment yet he just trusts me completely…” Her eyes began to look really scary, so Ruby quickly pulled her out of her dream.

“Okay, okay I get it! Let’s go please?”

Diane nodded and they walked the rest of the way to their workplace where a “Tavern closed for the day” sign awaited them. A bit confused they entered the empty building.

“Weird, this is the first time they took a day of since the opening day…” Diane muttered. “Hey sunny boy, what’s all this about? Huh?” She lightly slapped Jamie’s cheeks to get him to respond.

“…Sad that… plans didn’t… work…” His eyes were half shot, he was about to fall asleep any second now.

Diane sighed. “Take him for a second, please.” Ruby got a hold of him as Diane disappeared behind the counter. Ruby gently put Jamie, who had closed his eyes by now, on a chair. Just in time for Diane to hit him with a glass of ice-cold water.

Splash

“ARGHH! What the-! Where, what… who?” Jamie shook the water out his hair. “Uh, well I am awake now…” He rubbed his eyes and yawned.

“Where is everyone and why is the Tavern closed?” Diane gave him no time to recover and immediately requested answers.

Her ex-fiancé looked around and realized the situation he was in. “Oh, hey there… Uhm, we closed because we wanted the day of, who would have guessed?”

The death-glare of Diane didn’t shook him in the slightest. “There are only two guests right now and they should both be asleep because of some ‘crazy adventure’ they apparently went on. Most of the staff has the day off, except for Emma and Jane. But honestly I have no idea where they are, I also took the day off.”

“Okay, but where is Dorian? He should know about the Pope’s current location.” Diane was getting impatient.

“Uhm, no idea. If I guess correctly he’s behind the Tavern with a glass of whiskey. Shame about the whiskey, after all it has no effect on him…”

“Are you certain?” Ruby asked?

“Yeah I am! He says he drinks it for the taste but honestly the taste is only half the experience in my opinion, you see-” Jamie got interrupted.

“Not about the whiskey! About his whereabouts!” Ruby sighed.

“Sure, we can take a look if you like.” Jamie got up and led them behind the ‘Golden Blood’. Even on their way there they could hear Dorian’s and another person’s voice. “See, what did I tell you?”

They turned the corner and found what they had been looking for, in more sense than one. There was Dorian who had one arm lying around Emma’s shoulder and looked like a proud father, as well as the one they were really searching for, Elliot, persistently explaining something to him.

“…understand, this isn’t about you but I really have to-” Elliot stopped midsentence once he saw Ruby and her entourage. “…W-wait is that…?”

“Hey Elliot… It’s been awhile…” Ruby smiled at him, happy to finally meet her best friend again.

Diane and Jamie swiftly joined the father-daughter pair leaning on the wall and closely observed the two old friends but not before Jamie had quickly grabbed Dorian’s bottle of whiskey.

“Ruby… What are you wearing?” He stared at her maid outfit with all its frills in confusion.

Damn it, Diane was right! I really should have taken the time to change my clothes…

“I could ask you the same thing, why are wearing these… casual clothes?” Elliot wasn’t wearing the prestige school Uniform, nor his official church attire, instead he wore a normal shirt and a dark cloak.

“Oh this? Well, my conversation with Dorian was kind of supposed to be a secret… But what about you?!”

She nervously laughed. “W-well, I… I have a job now! You remember how I always told you that I was interested about a normal person’s life? Well… here I am!” She forced herself to an awkward smile as she died of embarrassment.

Elliot noticed her uncomfortable demeanour and stopped persuading the topic. “O-okay, but what are you doing in this- OH! It’s because of Dorian and Jamie! I honestly thought that you’d have eloped by now. I mean I knew that you were supposed to help them out but I figured once you’d meet them you would take the chance and begin a new life away from your mothers grasps. As he mentioned them, Elliot turned around to their onlookers and apologised. “I mean we had always dreamed of that, right?”

“No! I mean yes but… I could never abandon the people of this country in the face of a crisis. I am trying to get these “heroes” to help the country and that’s why I am working for them… for now at least.” She glared at her friends and Jamie raised his bottle to encourage her.

“Oh, I see. I guess we are both doing really important things to bring this war to an end, I’ve just been ordered back to have a last crisis meeting of the church. That’s why… I need to leave right now. The others will follow tomorrow morning…” Elliot looked down to the ground as he delivered the sad news he had just told Dorian.

“Anyway, I literally can’t spare another minute, my carriage is already awaiting me. It was nice meeting you again Ruby…” With his eyes still glued to the ground he left them with a sad expression on his face.

I can’t let it end this way!

Elliot was just a few meters away but Ruby still ran up to him. She gathered up all her courage and remembered Diane’s words. This was her only chance, who knew what would happen tomorrow or if there even was a tomorrow for them? “E-ELLIOT! I am in love with you!”

She had actually said it, the words she wanted to say for such a long time were finally uttered. A breeze went through Elliot’s hair as he slowly turned back to Ruby. He was blushing just as much as she and it seemed like time had slowed down for them. Her heartbeat was so loud that it drowned out all the ambient sounds of the evening as she awaited the fateful answer.

He stared in her eyes and she stared back at his. “I-I also love you Ruby. I am sorry I never had the courage to tell you and let it linger between us for so long, but I- Ruby why are you crying?”

Jamie sighed. “How can you be so dumb, OBVIOUSLY she’s happy that you return her feelings! It’s like talking with teenagers…”

Dorian looked at him. “You do realize we are only 2 to 3 years older and that they LITERALLY are teenagers, right? Who’s really the dumb one here…” Before a fight between them could break out, Emma shushed them both.

“Yes, he’s right.” Ruby genuinely smile she wiped the tears away. “I am incredibly happy Elliot!” Elliot couldn’t contain his happiness and a smile as big as Ruby’s appeared on his face.

A few seconds passed where they simply looked at each other. No word was spoken, yet they had an entire conversation with their eyes alone, they were in their own little world and it was paradise.

That was until a very drunk Jamie interrupted their togetherness. “KISS HER! You fucking church idiot who ruined my date with a nun…”

Everyone glared at him, then their gazes turned to Elliot and they awaited what he’d do next. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and slowly leaned forward.

As soon as their lips met, Jamie began to loudly cheer and the others joined in. Both Diane and Emma congratulated Ruby, meanwhile Jamie and Dorian both grinned as they teased Elliot and told him that “he’d need to take responsibility” and similar phrases.

Everyone was having a good time until Elliot suddenly realized that he was still under time pressure. “Oh gods! I-I am sorry, I really can’t stay.” He grabbed Ruby’s hands. “I am sorry to depart now, but I promise you that I will return as soon as I can.”

“When will that be?” She asked him in a sad tone.

“I don’t know yet… But until this war is over, we can’t enjoy this anyway. That’s why we will both do our best to put an end to this horrible battle for humankind.” He gave her a quick kiss on her forehead, then he ran off into the night.

“Wow, from hesitating to just going for it that fast, impressive.” Jamie took another sip of the bottle.

Ruby however ignored his sarcastic comment.

“We will both do our best to end this war…” She whispered to herself.