"Yeaaaahhhh!!" Kale roared as he pumped another glass of beer into him, slamming it back down onto the table he was at. I stood by the side with Lilith, Tera and Sarah as we watched with disgust. The man was holding his own against some men from Ithryll who invited him to drink at this stand.
Ever since the Ithryll people finally entered the Prusha kingdom, it seemed everything was dialed up a notch in terms of noise and crowdedness. It was more rowdy and reckless as the Ithryllians(Should I even call them that?) yelled and made fights on the street of Prusha. Really, I'd compare them to a cousin who knows no bounds of decency at a family reunion…Hey, that's actually a little too specific for me.
"Wooaaah, look at this man chug that!" Roared one of the men at the table.
"You got the stomach of an Ithryll Man! I'm hoping for your future!" Another said.
Kale stood up from his chair, holding a mug in his hand as he readied a toast. This only made Tera palm her face.
"L-listen! L-look…I uh…we got-I'm the man! I got my beautiful girlfriend over there!" He pointed proudly at our direction, but it seemed his finger was pointed not at Tera, but Sarah. "I'm a freelance worker for King Lucian! I'm a Big boy!…got my big pants on…" The men stared at him, laughing and slapping his back.
"Yeah! Yeah, say it all with your chest!"
"Ah, you know with being a freelancer, I'm also a uh…Teacher! Fuc-Got a great student, she's perfect. Like a daughter to me…I don't consider myself a great father." Everyone seemed to die down immediately after that and realized that kale had gone somber. He slumped back into his chair and rested his head on the table, hands tightly held behind his head.
Lilith awkwardly looked at her mom, not sure how she was supposed to respond to that. Sarah only waved her hand dismissively, smiling at the events transpiring. Sarah seemed to enjoy watching people be drunk, well maybe except Derrick.
Though considering Kale's past and knowledge of his own child…I don't think this should be enjoyable, and Tera didn't like it either.
"Alright, enough is enough. Kale, you're done!" Tera said as she now tried to push her way towards Kale, but was stopped by one of the men at the table.
"Let the man cry." The man let out a sniffle. "It takes a real man to understand what he's feeling."
Tera frowned at the man, but pulled back from him. She stared at kale with intensity. What was she thinking now?
Tera stood there for a moment before letting out a long sigh, clicking her tongue. "I suppose I can wait until he manages to get back up." She turned around to glance at us. "Sarah, I will be here momentarily. I would assume you and the kids are bored, Kale will be here for some time and I can't leave him alone with…his new friends?" She looked back at the men at the table, who nodded. "Anyways, you should take them somewhere else. Perhaps you could find Edward? Coming to think of it, we haven't seen him since we left the Forest."
You know what, that didn't cross my mind as well. Where the hell was Edward? I remember he went with Kale and Lilith to look around, but I didn't see him when we arrived at the South Gate.
"Edward met a cool swordsman lady, she was like in all knights armor and stuff! I think she liked him!" Lilith said. "I think she was with the Sir Isaac guy!"
A chuckle came from the other side of us. From across this vendor we were at, that same bald man I saw at the gate stood there. At a closer glance, he didn't have a knight's armor. But what he did have was a very muscular body. Like really muscular, it puts kale to shame. Even with the man teal colored shirt, you can see the muscle underneath. Even in his green pants that he wore, his thighs and leg muscles rippled as he walked to us. He emanated an aura that made me quite on edge. It was like a jolly feeling he had, but underneath it was something else…something bigger.
Behind the man's back was his sword. His great sword I would say. A solid black color to it that reminded me of Lilith's shortsword. It vaguely reminded me of a final fantasy character's weapon…
"A-Admiral Furor!" The man who stood in the way of Tera stumbled on his words as he saluted the man.
But the bald man held his hand up, waving. "Haha…there is no need for that, soldier. This is a festive occasion. Ease up." He took a glance at Lilith and knelt down. "I believe your friend is with my colleague, Lady Sierra."
Lilith swayed her head as he looked at her, almost like she was thinking before she blurted out. "Who are you?"
"Y-you don't know this legend?!" The same man who stood in the way yelled. "You're talking to a legend!"
"Yeah!" Almost every Ithryll man or woman who stood around the vendor roared.
Admiral Furor let out a chuckle again, he gestured the people to lower their voice with his hand before smiling at Lilith. She looked at him with interest, her amber eyes piercing the man's brown eyes.
"What they say is true, I am indeed a sort of legend in Ithryll. Or more correctly, this globe. I am one of the Great Eights." He explained.
One of the Great Eights?! Wait, holy shit! No wonder the man's aura was so majestic. I didn't expect myself to be in front of one of them.
"Judging by your expression, you know of me?" Admiral Furor glanced at me.
"I heard about the Great Eight, but never knew who they were. I was told that you guys helped beat dude name Verith." I answered. Furor nodded at my answer.
"Indeed, about….A Hundred or so years ago?"
Lilith's ears perked at that, and she looked at him even more confused. "So you're…like old?"
"Haha!" Admiral Furor laughed, slapping his knee. The metal clanging against each other was quite loud. "I wouldn't consider myself old, you see. I have a few more hundred years in me!"
You got to be fucking with me, this guy has a extremely long lifespan? Where the fuck does he come from?
Admiral Furor Stopped laughing and just smiled as he spoke. "I should make it quite simple for you. Being a Great Eight isn't as great as you think. Yes, I am quite powerful. In fact, when I was there aiding to defeat Verith. I almost split the world in half. The powers granted by the god of strength are held within me. I am considered by most to be a Blessed child."
"Woah!" Lilith expressed.
"Indeed, however…There are consequences to this. Starting with this hair loss of mine." He pointed at his head. Most people chuckled at his own deprecation, still he continued on. "Besides the light hearted joke, I cannot fight for long. And if I were to exhaust myself, it would take years to recover. It's why I've found seclusion in Ithryll as a bodyguard for sir Isaac, a friend of mine. I am able to recover in his kingdom."
Hm…Blessed child? Someone gifted with great powers at birth. Perhaps all the Great Eights are born like this? If that was the case, then aren't I technically a Blessed child?…No, the Duvul Trait seems to be more like a curse for those who are chosen. Then I'm a cursed child? Nah, I didn't get chosen to be Duval's reincarnation.
"Did you get the explanation you wanted, little girl?" Admiral Furor asked.
Lilith seemed in awe at what she was told. Her mouth opened with excitement. "Yeah!"
"Well then." Furor stood up, looking at Sarah and nodding his head. "Sorry to use this time up, I suppose you would be wanting to look for Lady Sierra if she indeed has your friend."
Sarah only shook her head, showing a stoic face. "No need for an apology, though it would be nice if you showed us where she went."
Furor stared at her, eyeing her up. At first I thought he was just figuring out what he should say, but then he started nodding as if pleased with something.
"Anything for someone like you." He finally spoke, taking a hold of Sarah's hand.
The old man is going for the widow!
At first, Sarah didn't respond to it. But as seconds went on, her face twisted in disgust as she proceeded to plank her hand away from him. Glaring at him. "Get your hands off me!" She snarled.
Furor took a moment to also react, as I'd assume he never had a woman react to him like that. His eyes widened, he smiled even more before laughing. "Haha! Forgive me, I didn't mean it like that."
What he said next caught me off guard.
"I am not into women the way you think."
Sarah's eyes widened, her mouth opening in confusion. "What?
"My own interests are within Men." Furor calmly said. And the Ithryll men roared and cheered at his response.
"Yes! Yes! Yes! Furor has no fear!" I heard them roar. "A man that represents us! No fear in showing themselves in battle!"
Furor once again chuckled. Now I'm seeing it as him being flattered by it. This was something I didn't expect, this was something that made me overthink multiple things he just said.
As the crowd roared with cheers, Furor held his hand out again. "I would like to show you where Lady Sierra is. I assure you my presence won't let any harm happen."
Sarah was still trying to process what was said to her, still she held her hand up and shook hands with the man.
Furor smiled, looking at me and Lilith. "Great! Let us find your friend!"
***
We eventually landed in the part of the market district that Sura and Griffin once took me to. You know, the one where I beat those Desmond kids? I don't recall much of seeing them after that…
Anyways, we stood in front of a cafe named 'feline course'. It didn't seem particularly full, and it frankly smelled of…fish and meat.
"She told me that she would be visiting this place with that man. A cafe of sorts that had cats in them, quite exquisite!" Furor seemed enthusiastic about it.
Sarah got ahold of herself during our walk here, finally getting a chance to thank Furor and returning to her stoic expression. However, once Lilith started to question Furor about his…interest, Sarah scolded her for being disrespectful. Furor only laughed at it, taking it in stride.
"So who is this Lady Sierra? You never quite mentioned her besides her name." I asked, looking into the cafe. It's pretty standard in terms of cafes here in Prusha. All white and blue, though it was spaced out more with less tables and what I assumed was a makeshift scratching post along the left side of the building.
But just then, I could make out an armored figure sitting on the floor with a more skinny looking figure.
"Lady Sierra…Ah, a loyal guard for Sir issac. She's been with him since birth. Nursed the man and taught him everything that came to his mind. She was also a ferocious warrior, King ranked in north King style and Intermediate in Fire King style." Furor answered, looking close behind me. "Ah, There she is…Is that your friend there?"
With brown haired bundled up into a bun, I could see what I assumed was Lady Sierra in her knight's armor. Looked pretty standard fantasy in my eyes, its bulkiness on the shoulders made it stand out. She sat awkwardly next to Edward, who still had his babushka on. Edward was calmly petting one of the cats that got near him.
Edward…Dog person…dog person petting cats…
That phrase now echoed in my head as I looked into the cafe. Why the hell was Edward, a beast race person touching a cat? I would expect that he hated cats, but maybe not?
"Can we enter?" Sarah asked, promptly putting her hand on the cafe's door.
"By all means, you shouldn't be asking me this. I am the one following you." Furor made it quite obvious that he was just here for the ride.
Once we entered the cafe together, the smell of fish and meat overtook us as a cafe employee approached us all cheerfully. They donned some cat ears on their pink hair, adjusting their glasses as they looked up at Furor and Sarah. The employees had to go on their tippy toes to get closer.
"Nyah! Welcome to Feline Course! Owned by Gallien The Cat owner!" The employee chanted. They swayed their hips as they continued on. "How many are there today? Just you two?" The voice oddly familiar.
Sarah remained stoic, though I saw her eyes twitch at the employees' chant. However, Furor seemed very pleased with what he was witnessing, blushing at the employee.
"Oh…Very cute." He whispered before clearing his throat. "Ahem, we are not here to eat. We are here to see those two over there…and it's four people." He scooted to the side to show me and Lilith behind him.
I was only able to notice the pink hair and cat ears before I saw who it actually was.
"Nyah! two more peop-Oh." The employee's expression immediately switched to a deathly stare as she saw me. "Oh. Ah…" her glasses glinting as they seemingly dropped down.
"Oh?" Furor brushed his mustache. "Do you know these two?"
There was no answer from the employee. She just gave a deathly stare at me, tilting her head upward.
The only response Furor got that seemed like an answer to him was from Lilith, who smiled and pointed at the ears. "Sura!"
"Ah…hah…haaAAAAGGH!!!" Sura screamed in embarrassment. "W-Why are you two hereeee!!!"
Lilith seemed to ignore the girls scream and answered. "We're here to see a friend!"
An answer that seemed misunderstood to sura.
"H-how did you guys know I was here!? Did Griffin tell you!" Sura quickly grabbed me by the collar, angrily pulling me in and shaking me. "What did he say?! What did he sayyy?!? I told him this was a one time thing for his family!"
"W-w-what the hell are you t-talking about?! Stop shaking me! We didn't know a thing!" I said, trying to pull away from her.
Sura slowed down, still shaking me. Her expression changed to confusion as she looked at the other three.
"W-who…" she took another look at Furor, squinting before quickly letting go of me and backing off. "A-Admiral Furor?!"
"Pleasure seeing you, little cat girl." Furor waved in a jolly way.
"I-I am not a cat person!" Sura took off her cat ear. Pointing at herself. "I'm normal!"
"Haha…Forgive me, I am only giving you a hard time." Furor waved his hand gently. "Of course I noticed you weren't."
"I-I-you!" Sura grabbed her head in embarrassment. "Come on…"
At this point, I took notice of the two people looking at us. Edward and who I assumed was Lady Sierra. They looked at us with a smirk, Edward noticed I was looking at him and she waved awkwardly.
Sarah, who was still stoic, awkwardly cleared her throat. "Sura, correct?"
Sura looked up at Sarah, confused. "Yes? Who are you?" Sura looked closely at her, then her look darted to Lilith. I think she already figured out who Sarah was.
"My name is Sarah, Lilith's mother."
Sura's eyes widened, looking at Lilith. "Really?"
Lilith nodded, to which Sura collected herself and held her hand out to Sarah. That was a very quick recovery from what she was before.
"P-pleasure seeing a friend's mother." Sura awkwardly said. Sarah looked down at the hand and firmly grasped it and shook.
"Friend…I see."
"Hey, don't want a hand shake from one of the Great Eights?" Furor held his hand out to Sura.
Sura hesitated. "I…rather not get my hand crushed." Furor seemed to take that my heart, clutching his chest and looking up in defeat.
Hmm, perhaps another consequence to being one of the Great Eights?
"Ok…now that I've calm down. Tell me why you are here?" Sura looked at me now.
"I should be asking you that question? Why are you here?" I asked, sura cheeks reddened.
"Look, I'm sure you know Griffin was out with his family helping others. You know…Belark tradition or whatever."
"I recall that."
"Well, this cafe belongs to one of the Belark family's friends. They needed a couple people to help, Griffin is in the back and they needed someone to help in the front." Sura flusteredly said. "And I guess Griffin thought I'd be a good idea. But I hated it, I didn't want to be a part of this!"
There was a long pause after she said that.
"But…you're here. You still took the job." Lilith pointed out.
"Ah…" Sura's mouth was left open at that response, she then frantically grabbed her glasses and cleaned them. "I-uh-well-You see…hahaha…" I think she was trying to avoid talking now, did she just realize that she did join Griffin?
"Nyah, who's at the door? Miss Sura! Nyah!" Someone called from the back area of the cafe, there was a window of sorts. And out of it, popped a green haired boy, wearing cat ears as well. "Who's at the door. nya-ah…." He peered at me and Lilith. "Ah…ahah…excuse me…" he then quickly whisked away from the window, only for us to hear a scream of embarrassment. That was for sure Griffin.
As the screams continued in the back of the room, Furor laughed. He was enjoying what he had gotten into. "Hahaha! Oh, I am so glad I came to assist you three! Lady Sierra, aren't you also getting a laugh out of this?"
My focus went on the lady next to Edward, who stood up. Metals clanged and jingled as she stood tall. The woman's hair bun was messily made, still she was quite a beauty to look at even when she wore that armor. Her blue eyes stared at Furor, her smile made it obvious that she was getting some sort of laughter of this all.
"I was upset at first that you ended up coming here when I told you not to, I ended up enjoying what I saw. But seeing you have some acquaintances means something." Lady Sierra's voice was a lot lower than I expected, not that I minded. It gave off a very particular vibe that echoed someone who was mature and experienced.
"Ah yes, forgive me…These three were looking for that man. Your…friend? Lover? What is he?" Furor awkwardly said the last part.
"Yes." Lady Sierra said that bluntly. "I've taken interest in him." She then raised her arm and hung it around Edward, who nodded enthusiastically. "His stories and the way he talks makes me feel something."
Ah, she doesn't need to say that…also what the hell does Edward say that makes women feel something?
"I see…Alright, well these three were just worried about him." Furor seemed also uncomfortable with her words.
"Trust me when I say that your friend is quite safe with me." Sierra took a glance at me and Lilith. "Though I find it odd that Edward is friends with those younger than him."
"…Friends kids…Sort of an uncle." Edwards said. Lady Sierra then shivered at his words, it was like out of pleasure.
The sudden reaction she made immediately made the rest of us quite confused and bewildered. Even breaking Sarah's stoic expression, she looked confused and shocked at what she had just seen.
Furor was the first to say anything. Still bewildered, he spoke. "Ah…Lady Sierra, that was quite unprofessional of you."
"Forgive me, I just…can't get over his words." Lady Sierra was panting frantically for a moment before taking a deep breath and exhaling, calming herself. "But I am satisfied now."
"Yoooo…what is going on out here?" A voice came from the back area of the cafe, Griffin had passed through the doors to the back, looking at us in confusion. "First, my best friend pops in out of nowhere. Now I have a lady here, making a mess of herself! How the hell am I supposed to explain this to Gallien?"
And now everyone was here, except Derrick, Mary, Tera and Kale. What an odd turn of events.
After a brief moment of confusion, everyone then finally settled in at the Cafe. As much as Griffin wanted us to, I declined helping at the Cafe. Lilith declined as well, though she would accept it if given any other day. Which…I hope, I sincerely hope. Funnily enough, the cats here avoid Lilith. Most were either Hissing at her by her or outright running away at the sight of her. I'm wondering if it's just because she was a hybrid of a dragon, which I'm certain a cat would be terrified of. I had my fun time petting a cat on my lap. I didn't know its name, but I kept whispering 'taco' to it in English. Luckily no one knew what the hell I was saying.
Griffin and Sura then got back to working, realizing that if Tera saw them working here, they would quite literally disappear from the kingdom to avoid embarrassment. They did keep their distance away from us to not mingle in our conversation. I assume they thought it was a more personal conversation as Liliths mom was with us.
So now, we all sat down on the ground. Lady Sierra sat next to Admiral Furor while Edward sat across from her. Lilith and I sat close to Edward while Sarah decided to sit at one of the tables nearby.
Lady Sierra studied us, Furor talked to her about us and how he met us. Her eyes looked us up and down, specifically Lilith as she was still wearing her outfit from our sparring match. In fact, both of us were somewhat dirty from it. Little marks of brown from the ground were stuck to our clothes, I never really had the chance to use a water spell to clean ourselves. Still, Lady Sierra didn't seem to care. She was more focused on looking at the Shortsword Lilith had on her waist.
Furor must've noticed that I was thinking about this, as he waved his hand once more. "She's just seeing how skilled you two are. Sierra isn't only just a knight for Sir Issac, but a trainer for him."
Lady Sierra then focused on Lilith's eyes, the woman tilted her head which made it very weird to watch. Lilith seemed uncomfortable with how she was being looked at, shifting around and fidgeting. Lady Sierra looked at her for what felt like a lifetime before blinking and nodding, letting in a deep sigh and putting her hand in front of her mouth as she spoke. A smile creeping on her face.
"I'm curious about these two…please, enlighten us on where the two of you came from."
A/N: This volume is probably going to exceed my 25 chapters, but that's alright. I intended this chapter to be more on the funny side, but then I thought it'd stray too far from progressing the story. Anyways, hope you enjoy this chapter!