At first, the glassmaker had been skeptical about my plans, but after explaining to him about the wonders of measuring liquids by volume, and that I would soon become a guild employed alchemist, getting the chance to push the product, he started to agree.

All he had to do was to use the cubes I had myself crafted to fill his glassware and mark the lines. To show him the process, we made a couple of prototypes recycling some existing stuff he had already on the shelf.

Prototypes which were now in my possession. A flask and a test tube.

Finally! I had what I needed to brew that godforsaken potion!

Quest completed (Reinvent the metric system) +200 EXP

Brimming with excitement, swear words of joy started streaming along my humming as I walked down the streets illuminated by torches and magic lights.

My stomach started grumbling to remind me of my mortality.

Right, it’s quite late. I thought, staring at the full moon shining brightly on the sky.

Man, the Creator really lost the chance to add multiple moons to spice up the sk–

* BAM! *

The impact sent me sprawling against the cobblestones.

「Allen: The hell?!」

I yelled against the hooded figure, who was sporting a grayish tattered cape. The guy who had bumped me hesitated for a moment, turning to look in my direction. I tried to peer at the shadowed face but it was too dark to see.

I felt goosebumps. So cold.

「Allen: Look where you run, asshole!」

I muttered while checking if my precious glassware prototypes were safe. They were. I took a sigh of relief.

「Rude man: Are you a– tch!」

The rude man bolted away mid-sentence.

A lot of hurried footsteps were approaching, I turned my head to see what was going on. A bunch of city guards were shouting and pointing while hammering their feet against the ground.

「「Somebody stop him!」」

I scurried out of the way and watched as they ran after the hooded figure.

A criminal? I wondered what had just happened. And what had that guy tried to say?

Probably something insulting before trying to rob or kill me.

I rubbed my arms for warmth. Welp, I slowed him down for the guards. I did my civic duty. I congratulated myself.

I stole a last glance at their fading silhouettes and shrugged.

Food, I need food. My stomach sent another reminder and I resumed my march.

As I was passing next to a tavern, a booming familiar voice caught my attention. I slowed down and took a good look at the place.

The signpost said “The Sober Dwarf”.

I had some serious doubts about that. “The Drunken Dwarf” must have already been taken.

I decided to walk inside. Unsurprisingly, there were only dwarves there… and a strong smell of industrial level alcohol that made me feel dizzy.

「Yusdrolir: … eeend thesn *hic* we shhpout eet it. Blehshted shesnd *hic* ehmentalsh.」

My smile turned into a scowl.

There it was! Yusdrolir. Talking about what we swore to never talk about.

What a coincidence…

「Dwarf: Hahaha. Bullshit! You’re making up stories!」

Another dwarf slapped Yusdrolir’s shoulders.

「Allen: Ahem.」

I said, clearing my throat. Every dwarf turned to look at me, Yusdrolir included. My dwarven party member left his mouth hanging open, the lower jaw moving up and down incoherently.

I gave him a good passive-aggressive smile.

「Yusdrolir: Alle– Mother pishh *hic*.」

He uselessly tried to hide the tankard full of spirit. He looked, sounded and smelled drunk.

「Dwarf: Is there a problem?」

Asked the dwarf closest to Yusdrolir, while everyone else glared at me with narrowed eyes full hostility. Silence fell in the tavern.

Oh boy. You’re in the wrong neighborhood you lanky human. I froze on the spot, considering if walking into a dwarven tavern had been a mistake. Everyone looked so drunk. Drunkards and frail glassware didn’t play well together.

A few seconds later, the fact that there had been some tension between humanity and the other races resurfaced in mind. My smile remained frozen in my face like the light of a long-dead star.

「Yusdrolir: Ehhrrr… nahh hesh a *hic* freshnd.」

Thankfully, my party member defused the tension and the dwarves turned back their attention to their respective tankards.

Phew.

I sat down next to Yusdrolir and glared at him with my lips pressed. He looked away.

「Yusdrolir: Come onsh *hic* cansht deneh a dwarsh his alcohoshl.」

He grumbled in drunken language while staring down his tankard.

「Allen: It’s not that, idiot!」

I whispered.

「Allen: We had agreed to never tell that story!」

His eyes slowly went round.

「Yusdrolir: Oh… Ohhh… skragg– *hic*.」

His shoulders slumped and he averted his gaze.

「Yusdrolir: Shorry… Imma shcrew up *hic* I jusht…」

He started making an unintelligible ramble. I couldn’t make any of it.

Of course, I had expected his lips to be loose, just like I recognized his fighting prowess and absurd stamina.

「Allen: Shut up and use this.」

I said, laying on the counter the enchanted ring I had prepared and pushed it toward him. I had planned to give it to him this morning but he hadn’t been around.

He stared at the ring with confusion.

「Yusdrolir: Ehrr… Ya arn’t my type…」

He said apologetically.

Neither are you!

「Allen: It’s your blasted enchanted ring! Put it on already!」

I hissed, tapping my fingers on the wooden counter with irritation.

「Yusdrolir: I… Uhh… Thanksh *hic*」

He clumsily proceeded to put it on, a task that required several attempts. During which, I had the time to order a grilled steak and something to drink.

Yusdrolir was really wasted this evening. It reminded me of that time when we were sitting at the campfire just before the goblins attacked.

Fucking goblins.

『Allen: Finally, we can talk privately!』

I announced telepathically.

「Yusdrolir: Huh… howsh ye talken wishou*hic* yer moush?」

The dwarf asked while furrowing his forehead. Well, he was pretty drunk so I couldn’t fault him for not remembering about the telepathic abilities of my rings.

『Allen: The ring. Will yourself to speak through it.』

The drunken dwarf made a face of intense concentration and succeeded.

『Yusdrolir: Huh… Hello… Hear me?』

Surprisingly his thoughts weren’t drunken sounding. No, that actually was expected now that I thought of it. Nice, we could have a conversation.

『Allen: Now you’re a true member of the Wage Slaves…』

I sent telepathically, while I sipped from my tankard. I winced, feeling the alcohol burning my throat. Damn, this stuff is vile. And to think that was the lightest stuff they had.

『Yusdrolir: …』

The dwarf projected shameful silence before staring back at me.

『Yusdrolir: Whatcha doin’ here? Don’t you have… a woman… to celebrate with?』

A woman. I gritted my teeth.

『Allen: No. Love can wait until I’m an all-powerful wizard.』

I said, annoyed.

『Yusdrolir: Maybe… ’tis for the best.』

Yusdrolir took a long sip and cleaned his beard against his arm. Silence fell again.

Not really, we were in a dwarven tavern after all. Everyone was yelling, burping or laughing.

Anyway, I had thought about it long and hard since coming here. The conclusion was that I didn’t want to be saddled with a Mary Sue eager to be kidnapped and used as blackmail by evil villains. I’d rather avoid the drama and the clichés.

No, I wanted someone equal. A female Allen, preferably. Objectively the best choice, albeit unlikely.

I also considered brothels… Well, I sure as hell didn’t want to catch any damn otherworldly STD just for a few minutes of lust. I could just imagine the shame… Ellin looking disgusted and refusing to cure me, Grastel smirking and Namrick going round-eyed as I explain to him the whole bees-and-flowers business. Poor innocent Namrick, so obviously a virgin. I could tell.

I personally would wait until I had the misfortune to fall in love again. There was no need to lower myself to the level of a horny teenager. I was an adult after all.

Besides, I still had both my hands… no need to go look for trouble…

What a depressing thought…

…

No. NO! I WANT to get laid! I NEED to get laid! Where’s the closest brothel?! I’ll blow all my saving and fuck all night lo–

I shut down my inner dialog before I started questioning my earlier resolve and refocused my attention to the present.

『Allen: So… Do you really enjoy getting drunk like this?』

I asked, going straight to the point. Yusdrolir was barely holding himself together.

『Yusdrolir: No… Just want… to forget.』

We were approaching a touchy subject, but I felt there was a need to press on.

『Allen: Want to talk about it?』

I glanced at him. He was staring at his own reflection on the alcohol’s surface.

He took a deep sigh.

『Yusdrolir: Perhaps… Perhaps I can tell ya.』

I waited in silence.

『Yusdrolir: It’s… sodding Remembrance day!』

He clenched his fists, his face screwing up.

Then he told me his story.

Of how he had looked up to his father and how hard he had worked to pick up his craft after he was gone so soon.

Of when he was about to give it up but met a pretty dwarven lady who convinced him to keep going.

Of the happiest day in his life when he married her.

Of how he kept working hard to hone his blacksmithy skills in order to one day surpass his father and make his wife proud.

Of the day he had been summoned at the dwarven temple to receive official praise for one of his works from the high priest himself. He had walked into the temple halls full of anxiety and excitement. After years of hardships against the heavily competitive environment, his work had been finally recognized!

It was the first step to a better life, he would be able to raise a child and live comfortably. He felt like nothing could stop him now.

… And this is when tears started streaming down his cheeks.

That day he rushed back home to bring his wife the good news… Only to find her in bed with another dwarf.

The woman for which he had given it all. The one whom he vowed to never betray. At that moment he felt something break inside of him.

He told me of how in a fit of rage he trashed his home and destroyed his father’s shop, something he would deeply regret afterward.

Yusdrolir slammed his tankard on the table a couple of times, venting off his frustration and remained silent for a time.

He continued telling me of how he had started drowning his sorrow in alcohol, of how he decided to leave the town because everyone knew everyone else and he could no longer face his peers or hear them talk behind his back. He had lost everything that mattered. There was no longer a place for him there.

And that was how he became an adventurer, always drifting from town to town, piling up mistakes and disappointing his friends. Every time the regrets growing deeper and deeper.

「Yusdrolir: I… I dohnwana be liesh dish!」

He said with a growl full of desperation and slapped the tankard away, making it fall beyond the counter. The dwarven bartender scowled and picked it back up without saying a word.

The tankard was undamaged. Quality dwarvish craftsmanship.

「Yusdrolir: I… I… *sniff*」

Yusdrolir buried his face in his hands. Feeling a little sad for him, I squeezed his shoulder.

「Allen: Well, fuck that bitch!」

I said waving my tankard in the air. I guess I had gotten a little drunk in the meanwhile.

「Allen: Lemme tell you a secret.」

I said conspiratorially.

「Yusdrolir: A shecreet?」

Yusdrolir asked, lifting his brows and leaning closer. His breath made my nostrils burn but I continued.

「Allen: If you want to git gud at something you gotta do it for yourshelf. Screw the other shitters. Word.」

I nodded to myself, proud of having delivered a semi-coherent thought barely resembling a pearl of wisdom.

「Yusdrolir: Allhen?」

「Allen: Eh?」

「Yusdrolir: Thanksh.」

I gave him a thumbs-up and a wink. The dwarf broke up in a laugh.

We had a toast to lost loves and new beginnings, then he passed out over the counter. Drool coming out from his open mouth.

Thankfully Yusdrolir’s dwarven friend volunteered to bring him back to the inn where both of them were staying.

「Dwarf: A damn shame.」

He said as he loaded Yusdrolir on his shoulders, ready to leave the tavern.

「Allen: Hmm?」

I shot him an inquiring glance.

「Dwarf: Sorry, I haven’t introduced myself. I’m Kurmol… and you must be Allen. Yusdrolir told me about you and your party…」

As we stepped outside I felt a jolt as the cold air gave me back some clarity. A gentle reminder that it was winter.

「Kurmol: You know, Yus and I come from the same town. We weren’t friends back then, but I admired him. He was a good dwarf and blacksmith. It saddens me to see him like this.」

Kurmol shook his head sadly.

「Allen: He was betrayed by the one he loved. I guess that changes people…」

I said, absently staring into the night.

「Kurmol: So he told you… Good night and may AnDareth pave your path, human.」

「Allen: Likewise.」

And so we walked in our separate ways.

Looks like Yusdrolir wasn’t as shallow as he pretended to be. I thought. All that carefree demeanor he usually projected was just a facade to hide his pain.

Then a thought crossed my mind.

Could this be of those so-called “companion quests”? Perhaps I could try to get Yusdrolir back into blacksmithy.

Quest added (Yusdrolir the blacksmith)

Thanks, ring.

I walked past some kind of commotion, there were people amassed around something but I strode on without paying attention.

It had been an eventful day. I was tired and somewhat drunk.

When I finally got inside my room I passed out on the bed without even taking off my clothes.

I consciously slipped into a dream. I was in a maze of gray corridors.

I walked around randomly, working on keeping my concentration intact until I ended up in a big room full of empty desks.

These desks were even on the walls and ceiling, in complete disregard for gravity.

In the middle of a wall, there was an empty space as if there were meant to be something. But no, it was just an empty wall.

Whatever.

As I was about to astral project I felt a shivery sensation.

「Fooouuund you!」

A mocking spectral voice echoed in my dreamscape.

「Allen: Who is it?」

I asked, looking around at the empty room. At that moment, tendrils of black smoke seeped from the floor, weaving together to form a nightmarish image.

It gave off a feeling of wrongness. Somehow I could tell it was no part of my dreamscape.

Shit! Was it ExFeras? How had he found me? Questions flooded in my mind.

「Allen: Feras?!」

The nightmare’s head inclined at a neck-breaking angle.

「Feras: Ah, so you figured who I am. He’s clever…」

The spooky figure said with a hint of amusement.

「Allen: Leave me alone!」

I said, tossing the closest desk against the dark god. A useless move. The smoke tendrils dispersed and danced in the air before regaining their former shape.

「Feras: Leave you alone? But it’s you who calls upon me, human.」

The being smiled creepily beneath the ever-shifting dark smoke.

「Allen: Bullshit! I don’t want any god poking inside my head. My dreams are mine!」

I made the floor open up like a mouth and eat up the nightmare. All that remained was a mound of stretched floor tiles. I had honed my dream control during my lucid adventures.

That too proved to be ineffective. Vein-like things formed on the spot and started pulsing until another abomination with overstretched limbs sprouted from it.

「Feras: You surely aren’t expecting to beat the God of Nightmares from inside a dream, are you?」

He was right, but nor could he beat me from inside my fucking dream. I had long lost the ability to feel fear but he could annoy me by turning my dreams into tedious B movies. Not to speak that he was leaving his mark upon me, which would freak out all the other gods into making my life hell.

I had to try another way.

C’mon, Allen. You’ve trained for this.

I reached for my aura and tightened my spiritual skin. I immediately felt like something heavy had been lifted from my spirit.

The nightmarish creature stopped moving and slowly melted on the ground in a formless puddle.

「Allen: Huh, are you still there?」

I kicked the puddle with a foot.

No response.

Nothing.

I took a deep breath and smiled.

But my smile quickly faded. What to do now? Was it safe out there with an Evil God trying to violate my dream space? Probably not.

I decided against projecting, instead, I turned around and realized that in the previously blank space on the wall, a sky blue door had now appeared.

Looking at it, I felt goosebumps all over me. It was one of those doors.

Better to just get on with it.

My hand turned the pommel and a blinding light enveloped me.

The sun was shining brightly up in the sky. Summer vacations were coming to an end.

I doodled something on my notepad and looked up to the girl who was staring in the distance, her back turned to me.

“███?” I called out to her.

I should tell her.

“What’s wrong ███? You’re all silent today!” I complained. “We were supposed to work on our game. You’re in charge of the story, remember?”

The girl faced me. “Ally… there’s one thing I need to tell you.” She looked at me with a serious face.

What? What is it? I wondered, feeling uneasy.

“Hmm. W-What?” I stammered feeling the blood rushing to my face. Does she know?

“I…” She looked back at the distance. “My parents... are moving to another city far away.”

I stared speechless for a second as a sense of dread closed around my heart.

“What? Why? When?!” I asked surprised. And disappointed.

“Next month,” she said feebly. “We won’t be seeing each other anymore… Sorry.” She turned back and sat down on the grass. She looked sad.

“But… we can still call each other!” I said. “And my dad told me of this thing called Internet… You can use it to talk to people all over the world! We can still…” Be together. The words died down in my mouth.

“Right…” She said with a forced smile that quickly faded away. I felt our distance growing miles apart.

We both stared at the grass letting the silence grow.

I realized it was now too late to say what I wanted to say and cursed my cowardice.

She was going away. She would make new friends and forget about me.

I thought… I thought I had more time.

I felt my eyes water.