“Can I sit here?”

Jacob said the words tiredly and coughed awkwardly as he realized what he had just stepped into. It seemed like the now infamous Mash was on a date, and he was rudely interrupting it. While he did want to speak to the man, he didn’t think it would be appropriate to ruin his date. He looked over the two and grew a little annoyed.

Mash was remarkable in more ways than one. Jacob had felt his presence for a while now, and it was as pervasive and nasty as any he had ever seen. The man even looked off, with the weird scaley pattern on his skin, which only revealed itself when the light hit it the right way. The worst part yet was his eyes. Rather than black on white, his eyes were the opposite. It was such a small thing, but Jacob felt sweat run down his back when they locked gazes. Yeah, that was weird.

However, it wasn’t his appearance that made Jacob feel annoyed. It was his companion. The man, who didn’t look much older or better than Jacob himself, was on a date with someone impossibly beautiful. Her skin was tinged blue, which gave her an ephemeral beauty to rival and fairy, and she had a wonderfully intricate and alluring tattoo along one arm. He knew that some of that probably came from whatever class she had, but that knowledge didn’t stop the jealousy.

He reigned in his emotions, remembering his master’s teachings. Then he cursed his master for the many years of isolated training that he had gone through. Jacob watched as Mash, glanced at his companion for permission first. Jacob kept his face still as Mash spoke.

“Sure, and you can order something too, if you want.”

Mash’s voice wasn’t as deep as Jacob had expected. It was strange though, as if he was somehow speaking directly into his ears. Although, that might just be because of the guy’s domain. Jacob hadn’t seen a skill that invasive and was a little surprised at how comfortable everyone else was. Even his teammates hadn’t said much about it, though they weren’t as sensitive to auras.

The chair screeched as Jacob slowly dragged it out. He sat down and gently leaned his sword against the side of the seat. It was too long, and he had to keep one hand on it to stop it from sliding down. There was only one seat beside him, and his teammates both rushed to the seat. Rosa was more cunning than Nicholas and waited until the man tried to sit down. Then she yanked the chair out from under him, leaving him to fall on the ground while she secured a seat.

Jacob resisted the urge to smack both of them and looked at Mash and his companion’s faces. They were very obviously trying not to laugh.

“Sorry about them and thank you. I’m Jacob, and that’s Rose and Nicholas.”

Jacob pointed at the other two. Rosa was still gloating over her victory and laughing at Nicholas, but she spun around when she heard her name. She seemed to realize what she had done, and her face reddened slightly. She had begun showing more emotion recently. She brushed some of her red hair behind her ear before speaking.

“Sorry.”

She was never all that honest, but this was one of the fakest apologies ever. Mash traded a look with his companion before smiling. After a breath, the odd man spoke.

“Uh, right. I’m Mash, but I’m guessing you knew that. And what world are you from?”

“We are here because.”

Jacob cut off what he was about to say, and nearly sprang to his feet in alarm. The exhaustion from the trip and his general annoyance made him want to get straight to the fighting. That was gone now.

How did he know?

Jacob’s thoughts ran wild with the implications of that, but he pushed through to formulate a response. He swallowed, gulping down his rising concerns as he tried to change the subject.

“It doesn’t matter. We are here on a contract.”

Jacob felt like he was on edge, and that feeling only grew worse as Mash nodded as if he expected this. He had initially planned on ambushing Mash when an opportunity presented itself, thinking that he could just kill the man and be done with it. The contract had been more than a little vague. All it had was a name and a very short description based on mostly rumor.

It had been easy to learn some things, though the information had clearly been misguided. The most obvious being power. Jacob had been led to believe that Mash’s domain was merely a couple of dozen paces, instead, it was large enough to cover entire cities. Even the details of his appearance were blatantly wrong. His eyes, and his skin, were both just described incorrectly. He cursed the guild inwardly and paid attention to Mash’s response. However, it was his companion who spoke.

“I’m Lisa, and I was wondering what exactly the contract entails. If it was an assassination, I doubt you would have simply introduced yourself as you did. And if you can, could you tell us who exactly hired you?”

Her voice was melodious, joined to some rhythm that only she could hear. It reminded him of his mother, and he had to close his eyes to banish the image and the longing for his home that always came up in thoughts of his mother. He opened his mouth to reply when Mash spoke without letting him respond.

“Oh, and how does your world even know about me?”

Again, Jacob felt his skin crawl as his home was mentioned. Somehow, Mash knew that he wasn’t from this world. That fact didn’t seem to bother him, if anything it seemed to excite him. No that was putting it lightly. This felt more like the primal delight a starving beast felt when offered an easy meal. The hunger that radiated from Mash’s aura made Jacob shiver.

“It doesn’t. The contract was from another continent here. The adventurer’s guild has a bounty up too, though I’m not after that anymore.”

“Anymore?”

Jacob cut off what he was about to say as Mash interrupted him. That interruption and all the other little annoyances so far, made Jacob reply more angrily than he intended.

“Yes! Fucking anymore! I’m not dumb enough to try and kill you.”

Mash opened his mouth, and Jacob felt his blood grow hot. He would draw his sword if Mash interrupted him again. Mash must’ve noticed since he pretended to yawn instead of saying anything. Jacob took a quick breath and continued more steadily now.

“I would still like to fight you. Barring that, I would also like to learn of your abilities and goals.”

After a second of silence, Mash exchanged a look with Lisa. The woman gave a very subtle nod.

“Uh, right, let me get this straight. So, you want to fight me in order to learn about me. So that you can report that information to the guild, and let other people have a better chance at killing me. And you just expected me to agree to that?”

Jacob looked away, unable to meet Mash’s gaze after that. The way Mash had phrased his request made him seem like an idiot. It was just another thing that got under his skin. Jacob was older than Mash, that was something he knew for a fact, and yet here was bumbling about because of a difference in power. Jacob was disgusted with himself. When did he become such a coward? Was it the talks of his home that made him want to be more careful? Whatever it was he needed to stop.

“That’s it, so what? Are you of all people going to run away like a coward?”

Jacob decided it was time for some insults. If his life had taught him anything, it was that strength and ego tended to go hand in hand. A person as powerful as Mash would probably have an ego to match. He felt it too, the anger that began to radiate from his aura like a campfire did heat. He restrained the smile that crept onto his face as he felt the jab strike home. Nobody liked being called a coward and that was especially true for the powerful.

“Fine but let me speak to Lisa alone first.”

Jacob shrugged simply, ready to let him do whatever he wanted to prepare. Jacob wouldn’t back out now that he made the challenge, or he would end up seeming like a coward.

“Okay, we will wait outside.”

Lisa was quick to reject that suggestion.

“No, we can go outside. We offered you a meal and would be rude to back down now. You can fight Mash after you and your friends eat something.”

Jacob wanted to disagree but couldn’t bring himself to deny the beautiful woman. He nodded lamely while Nicholas, who had been looking for a chair, finally returned and said something.

“Oh, that’s perfect. I’m starving. Thanks.”

Rosa’s grunt of affirmation settled the matter. Mash and Lisa got up and slowly walked toward the exit. Jacob listened in as best he could and heard something interesting. Lisa was asking Mash something, and he was a little surprised by how clear her voice sounded.

“I don’t think he can go home. He felt sad whenever you mentioned his world. Perhaps, you could find a way to it?”

Jacob felt his heartbeat quicken, as he waited and tried to hear the answer. He leaned in his chair and nearly fell over, but he heard it.

“Maybe. I felt like-”

He didn’t hear the rest as the two got out of his range. Jacob nearly jumped from his seat to try and listen, but Nicholas rested a hand on his shoulder to stop.

“As fun as it is to stalk someone, eavesdropping on a couple is not a part of the job.”

“He’s right. And look at the menu. These seem good, and it sounded like they would pay.”

The ever-practical Rosa was scrutinizing the menu. Jacob leaned over her shoulder to look at it. This place had paper menus. That in itself was a show of wealth. The prices of the items reflected, and Jacob remembered just how empty their wallets were. They hadn’t been doing much outside of chasing Mash, and they spent most of their money on supplies for the trip.

After a few minutes into their meal, Jacob felt Mash’s aura vanish, and he sprang to his feet. He looked to his companions who were content with eating their meals.

“They’re leaving! We have to go.”

Jacob turned to leave, but Rosa grabbed his wrist and pulled him back.

“Sit down and eat. It was pretty obvious that they would run.”

Her voice was cool and collected. She took a sip of the expensive wine she had ordered. Jacob processed what she said and couldn’t restrain his voice.

“You knew!”

He shouted the words. Rosa snorted.

“Of course, I knew. You’re the idiot for letting them go. And they paid for our meals already so who cares?”

Jacob floundered trying to find the right words.

“I do, he might have a way to get me home!”

Rosa lifted her gaze from the table of food to glance at him. Nicholas spoke through a mouthful of food from her side.

“Wait, what? How, aren’t you from…you know.”

Nicholas was not very good at keeping secrets, and even his best efforts to avoid the subject sounded suspicious.

“Yes, and he knew that. He has a known ability to travel into dungeons, so maybe he can make portals to other places. There’s also the teleporter in his group.”

Jacob wanted to run out of the build and seek out Mash, but his teammates didn’t seem as eager. They may not have felt Mash’s aura, but they had been affected by him before, and they were afraid. Nicholas beamed, smiling so widely that Jacob could see some food stuck in his teeth.

“That’s great. We’ve finally got a lead. But we can follow it after eating. This stuff is really good, and they left us a lot of money to use.”

That caught Jacob’s attention.

“Wait, how much are we talking about here?”