Rastel and the others had a good time when they went back to the smithery.
An eager Myra had come to greet them when they reached the main hall. She was still carrying Amba in her arms and was sucking down on some sweet.
Grandmaster Vulcan was busy at his table and didn't seem to notice them, Lolo on the other hand waved at them enthusiastically and walked over with his huge rock body.
"You dears must have had it rough. It doesn't matter now though, you are all safe here now. Come on little Vars, I have set up a grand meal in the third hall. Lead your friends there now would you and have a great time. You should take a bath afterward too, the hot water would do your weary bodies a lot of good."
The bal happily patted them on the back.
Vars looked embarrassed and quickly led them away from the motherly bal. They followed Vars through the seemingly endless corridors with Myra happily skipping behind them. Not long after, they reached a small hall that had a polished wooden table in the middle and was surrounded by a few chairs.
On the table was a wonderful spread of different types of food ranging from soups, meat, grains, drinks, fruits, and just a whole lot of other things Rastel couldn't even recognize. One thing for sure was that the food was too much for only just five people.
"Mealtime here is great as always" Baluu took a big sniff around the room as he settled down on the nearest chair and reached for a large pastry that was covered with white powder.
Myra's eyes glittered as she ran up to a chair just beside Baluu and picked one of the pastries too, happily taking a huge bite.
Rastel went around the table once as he inspected everything. Every gloss of oil, every scent of spice, every piece of grain, and even the drops of water on the laid on the array of chilled bottles were caught in his eyes.
He finished his inspection right where Vars and Roxanne still stood at the entrance, watching him quietly with weird expressions.
Facing Vars, he slowly lifted his hands and put them on his shoulders, and stared him in the eye. Vars was now looking uncomfortable and tried to shift away but Rastel's arms were firm.
"You....." Rastel drawled out the word.
"W-what is it?" Vars looked ready to run.
"You are my best friend now-NO! My brother! You are my brother now. Come on, call me brother. Let's solidify our relationship." He spoke solemnly.
Roxanne rolled her eyes as she walked past them and took a sit.
"Don't be so dramatic and come eat, if you keep wasting time like this, those two will finish all the food." She pointed at Baluu and Myra.
The two of them were going around sampling a bit of everything and giving it their approval.
"Hey, have you tasted this rock lily soup? Great stuff if you dip some of this yellow bread in it." Baluu graciously offered Myra a taste.
"This roasted fish tastes good too, here mister Baluu." She offered him something back.
"Try this pudding, old Lolo makes the best of them."
"This berry drink is very nice."
"Have you tasted some of this fried rice?"
"Have some roasted fish mister Baluu."
"Hey, you have given me that thing like 5 times now…."
"Have you tried the berr- "
"Yes"
Vars and Rastel eventually sat at the table and the group enjoyed a fulfilling meal. They talked and laughed as they ate the variety of food which they eventually washed down with the cold drinks.
The mood was nice and the joyous atmosphere had Rastel grinning from start to finish.
'This is nice.' He thought to himself as he watched them round the table.
Soon after, they finished eating and everyone had full stomachs.
Myra ate a lot of grilled fish and fell asleep halfway through still clutching Amba. Baluu offered to carry her to a room to sleep and only three of them were left in the small hall.
Rastel stood up with a stretch and patted his belly happily.
"Best meal I've had in a while."
Vars stood up also and offered them a bath.
"The bath is really good and relaxing. You haven't tried it yet have you?" he asked him.
Roxanne stood up quite eagerly also and chipped in.
"He's right you know, that bath is some amazing stuff."
Rastel remembered that when they had initially arrived, most of them had gone to take a bath but he had decided to log off instead. Now that he had the chance, he decided he might as well do so. He wasn't staying in Eadon forever anyway and would be leaving soon.
"Sure, let's go." He replied with a smile.
They took a few of the seemingly endless corridors and arrived at the bath. It was separated into two sections for males and females and was quite large.
Steam was continuously emitted from under the steel doors and a lot of hot pipes could be seen running in and out.
"See you guys when we get out." Roxanne waved them off and entered the women's section.
Rastel couldn't help trailing her movements and his imagination went wild for a second before he snapped back and followed Vars into the men's section.
The doors opened automatically to a large room that had plenty of small water outlets that were continuously running and a lot of spaces were built into the walls with some of them filled with large thick yellow towels. There was a double screen door on the other side that led to the baths.
Vars picked up two and passed one to Rastel. They took off their clothes and tied the towels around their waists, there was a picture of a hand holding an ingot on it which was the Vulcan insignia.
Vars's body was well-toned and his arms and legs looked muscular and were filled with sinew that ripped with power, as expected of a blacksmith.
Rastel, on the other hand, had a plain looking lean figure but he was sufficiently tall, his long tail peeked under his towel and his hair was laid roughly across his face.
They took a shower silently under the water outlets before leaving through the screen doors to the baths.
"Oh, impressive." Rastel sighed as he saw the bath.
There was a large pool filled with steamy water that had a natural environment built around it. It seemed sufficiently deep enough and there were rocks and all manner of weird plants and flowers around.
A few benches were also placed around for those who just wanted to sit and bathe in the steamy atmosphere.
There were also a few smaller baths around which seemed a bit more private as they were hidden behind bushes and stuff, Rastel guessed that the grandmaster had probably built them with other intentions in mind.
They entered the main pool though and dipped their bodies in after taking off their towels. Rastel felt the hot water seep into his body and couldn't help but let out a relaxed moan.
'VR is some amazing stuff.' He thought to himself.
He found a rock sitting in the water and leaned his back against it to rest with his eyes closed. Vars was quietly swimming around by the side.
The atmosphere was very peaceful.
Rastel laid there for a few minutes and was very relaxed. He had just eaten a big meal so his eyes were heavy and his body was longing for sleep.
Just as he was about to drift off though, a tap on the shoulder woke him up.
"Hmm? What's the matter?" he murmured half-consciously.
He rubbed his eyes and saw Vars looking at him with a slightly nervous, slightly solemn face.
"Rastel, ca-can I ask you something?" he stuttered for a bit.
"Yeah, sure." He decided he could do with a chat to keep him up for a while. He was going to log off soon anyway.
"It might sound unusual but I want you to give me your honest answer no matter what." Vars seemed to pick up more confidence and his nervousness vanished.
"It's alright, I said we are brothers now. No need to be formal around me." Rastel chuckled a bit.
Vars kept quiet for a moment and Rastel waited for him to speak.
After a while, Vars opened his mouth and asked him.
"I just wanted to ask you again about what you said the time you took me and Baluu in from the storm." He spoke vaguely.
"What was that?" Rastel was now perplexed as this beating around the bush was not in his style.
"What exactly do you feel about halflings?" Vars looked him in the eye as he finally asked his question, the steely gaze in his eyes looked unwavering.
'What is this all about?' Rastel narrowed his eyes and thought to himself as he looked at Vars quizzically.
On one of the large rocks in the bath, a small drawing of a hand holding onto an ingot was present at an inconspicuous place, unless you were specifically looking for it, you wouldn't even know it was there.
And on both sides of the insignia, a pair of eyes had silently appeared watching the two of them discuss with a quiet gaze.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
BAM!
A large beast was sent flying with a punch and it crashed into a tree before slumping down, dead.
The battle to clear the berserk beasts outside the wall had just ended and there were only a few stragglers left to be taken care of.
The person that had just punched the beast bent down over its body and looked at it closely.
It was a human monk with tanned skin wearing a decent set of monk gear. His brown hair was cut really short leaving only a thin layer of hair and his brown eyes were very sharp.
His gear was themed in two main colours, yellow and blue, which gave off an unusual contrast but still wasn't as bad aesthetically as one would expect.
He stared hard at the beast before huffing with a slightly annoyed tone.
"This one doesn't have any horns."
"You could have easily known that without staring so hard. Are you really blind in-game too?" an amused voice answered him by the side.
An elven woman with dark brown hair and yellow eyes was looking at him with an amused smile. She was dressed in standard leather armor which also had a metal breastplate as the only piece of metal.
The armor hugged her body well though showing her slender fit figure and even the metal breastplate seemed to have been modified to fit her chest. By her waist laid two long and thin swords covered with speckles of blood.
Her armour was also themed with the colours yellow and blue.
The monk looked at her, then gazed at her swords before frowning.
"You should really learn to take good care of your blades. A day might come when you would need them to take good care of you."
The elf chuckled before taking them off and handing them to the man.
"I don't bother because I know I have you to take care of them for me, Balder."
The monk sighed but still collected them and with a wave of his hand, a piece of rag appeared which he used to clean off the specks of blood on the blades.
The elf just watched him with a slight smile before something suddenly seemed to take her attention. She looked to have spaced out for a few seconds and the monk called Balder noticed but didn't speak and just polished the blades.
By the time he was done, she seemed to have returned to her senses.
"What is it this time?" he said as he handed her back her swords.
"You wouldn't believe it. Apparently, someone has found out where Sleeping beauty is." The elf said seriously but her face still had a playful smile on it.
"Oh? And what does that have to do with us? I thought I heard that Hunter might be sent after him as part of the compensation for his brother's slip up?" Balder was unconcerned and started staring closely at another beast.
"That might have been the case previously but with the war coming up, there is no way that the guild leader will let go of his best soldier to find a random noob." The elf answered.
"Somebody who took down a quasi-commander can't be called a random noob, Helia. Or are you underestimating Waeser?" Balder turned to look at her.
Helia smiled.
"It is precisely because I am not underestimating Waeser that I'm going to say this, Waeser definitely underestimated him. The concept of levels can't be trashed so easily. Sleeping beauty is nothing more than a noob with an overpowered item." She sounded confident.
Balder thought for a bit before answering.
"Well anyway, it doesn't matter now. Why are they telling us about Sleeping beauty's location?" He asked with little interest.
"That's because Sleeping beauty is right here in Eadon." Helia said with narrowed eyes.
"And we are going to catch him?" Baldur turned back to look at her.
"Of course, or you are not confident?" she grinned cheekily at him.
"Humph! Just a noob, who is afraid?" he turned back to look at the beast.
"This one doesn't have horns too." He said after a while.
"Really? Should we get you glasses?"