May continued in front of me and opened the door. She easily slipped inside while I had to duck through the frame. Luckily the doorway was wide so I didn't have to squeeze through too much. Once we were inside I was surprised to see a bunch of little people, each wearing an individual color and long pointy hats on their heads. They were at least half the size of me, counting the extra height that their hats gave them.
They were either eating at the counter, tables, or booths or dancing in the center of the room while the band played on the stage on the left. The music was very upbeat and the people looked like they were having the time of their lives as they danced synchronized dances to the music. 'I wonder why this is called the gnomes' tavern.' I thought sarcastically.
The moment we were noticed, the music and dancing stopped, and everyone turned to look at us with surprise on their faces. "CherryMay!!" Everyone shouted happily and May waved. "Hi everyone! Don't mind us, continue the fun!" The band then continued playing, and the noise in the tavern returned. May and I started walking to the back of the building, and on the way, May greeted all the gnomes warmly.
It seemed like they all knew her, which made me even more confused as to why they were happy to see her. I didn't question it, however, and followed her to the counter. The gnome bartender was wearing green clothes along with his hat and smiled at May as he cleaned a glass with a washcloth. "Would you two like something to eat?" May nodded. "Yes, please. We'd like some menus, oh, and a kid's menu please."
The bartender nodded and turned to retrieve what she asked. I crossed my arms and turned to her. "It's about time you admitted it." She laughed and shook her head. "Haha, no, the kid's menu isn't for me." I was about to ask why she wanted it then when the bartender came back with the menus. "Order whenever you're ready." He placed them on the counter and went to help another customer. May then picked up the child's menu and turned the back to me so I could see it.
I was speechless to see that there was a map on the back of it among the activities made to entertain children. "You've got to be kidding me." May laughed again and turned the menu over so she could look at it. "I told you the wizard told everyone where the stone of Sudre is. Apparently the impossible quest interested the advertising community. So boom. We have our adventure. And after that, it shows us how to fold the paper into a pirate hat!"
It pissed me off so much that I spent weeks ignoring the creatures in the forest because I thought they wouldn't know anything about the stone when everyone in fact did. And out of all of them to show me where it was, I was stuck with the most childish, annoying ray of sunshine in the entire world. She then folded the piece of paper in half twice and put it in her satchel. "I don't know about you but I'm hungry! Let's order something."
She looked at the adult menu for a second before turning to me. She had a nervous smile as she spoke. "I'm sorry this mission of yours isn't what you wanted it to be. I can tell that you don't like me very much, but I hope that'll change once we embrace our differences. I'd really like to be friends, Rin." I was caught off guard by the seriousness in her tone from never hearing it before and didn't respond.
I assumed that the only reason she wanted to be friends with me was because I was a human. She was very interested in me when we met because of that so I paid it no mind. It didn't matter anyway. As soon as I had the stone, I would get my freedom from her once and for all. 'Friends. Yeah, right. She probably only wants to get closer to me so she can get a share of the power.' I rolled my eyes and the bartender came back with some water glasses.
May's usual happiness returned, and she handed the menus back to him. "Thank you. Is it alright if we have two specials please?" He nodded, happily taking the menus from her. "Right away!" He stopped for a second as he saw me and looked at May. "You're friend sure isn't one to take his helmet off inside isn't he?" She leaned closer like I couldn't hear what they were saying. "Tell me about it. You should see how he eats. I think he's afraid of being called ugly..."
I crossed my arms. "I can hear you." The bartender left to put in the order, and May stood up while smiling. "Don't worry Rin. Everyone is beautiful on the inside. You shouldn't care about what people think of you." I then held up my thumb and pointer finger a millimeter apart. "I swear to the gods, I am this close to killing you."
After our order came and we ate, I was getting ready to leave when I noticed May looking fondly at all the dancing going on. She then turned to me. "Can we dance before we leave?" I was surprised that she asked such a thing. "No." She frowned. "But I love dancing! Don't you want to at least try to have some fun for once?" I shook my head. "Fun is a waste of time."
Right after I finished my sentence, a younger gnome came up to us and held his hand toward May nervously. "Um, w-would you like to dance with me May?" She smiled lovingly and took his hand. "Of course!" I watched as they made their way to the dance floor and sighed as I leaned against the counter. All I could think about was how much time we were losing because of this.
Before I became too impatient, the bartender started speaking to me. "You're a very lucky man to be traveling with CherryMay." I turned my head towards him, confused. "What? Why?" He shrugged and put the glass he was wiping away and started cleaning another one. "She is probably the most pure of heart of anyone in the forests. She travels everywhere in the land just to help people. Most would give everything they had to have what that fellow Damien has."
I rolled my eyes. "What's so great about a people pleaser?" The bartender raised an eyebrow at me and stopped cleaning. "There's a big difference between kindness and people-pleasing. Haven't you ever thought about settling down with someone as sweet and beautiful as May?" I became even more confused. "You think she's beautiful?" I turned my head again to look at her dancing with the gnomes and laughing brightly.
I realized that I'd never acknowledged her looks before, and started to see why someone could find her exceptional. I felt disgusted a second later as I remembered how annoying she was. I said nothing else and the bartender continued cleaning the glass. "It's not for everyone I suppose. But even being friends with someone like her would truly be a blessing to anyone."