He raised the half-full mug to the sky, the raucous noise around the adventurer’s guild making him feel livelier than ever before. “...And that was when the wind picked up around her! She looked like she controlled the sky! For a moment I thought I was screwed, thinking some kind of wind god had taken over her body! Imagine it! A god in the back and a demon in the front! I was sure I’d be a stain on the floor.” The group laughed while Lidia remained silent next to him, her ears red as he described the story.

He’d decided to let her take most of the credit, so he had asked her what usually happened when an exorcism was completed. Luckily, it had been the same thing he’d had done, so there wasn’t really much truth to bend. Not that much of it was a lie to begin with. “The way she rose up in the air… The way her hair floated in the sky… It was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. I really am thankful for the experience.” The group went silent, looking at him and briefly at Lidia, who at that point couldn’t even look at him.

He laughed, nervously. Might have gone too far with the praise…

It was Jack, fortunately, who brought the life back to the conversation. “Bah! If you think that girl is impressive then you should see me in a fight! People say they can’t even find where I am before ten arrows get knocked into them!” Sadie gave him a deadpan look. “If he can’t see you, then it wouldn’t be that impressive, right?” Jack opened his mouth to argue, but nothing came. Elliot wouldn’t let the man just crash and burn like that, however.

He bent forward, his eyes, the only thing they could see, alight with curiosity. “Really? I’ve heard of those who move silently, but never one who could remain unseen mid-fight. How do you do it?” Jack, who went for the lifeline, had the biggest grin on his face. He reached over to grab Elliot by the neck in a brotherly way. “Why would I tell you when I can show you? Let’s head to the sparring hall as soon as we finish our drinks.”

Elliot laughed, rubbing the guy in the ribs. “Are you sure you can still go after everything you’ve had to drink? I won’t take it easy, you know?” When they had come here, the poor guy had done nothing but stay silent and drink as they recalled what had happened, eventually, after a couple of mugs of alcohol, he had slowly opened up to him.

If slowly meant they’d become best friends immediately.

What was to hate? Jack was funny, knew how to take a jab, was nice to look at. The whole package!

` ...maybe he’d had a bit too much to drink as well.

“You both might have had too much to drink, friends… we might have to limit your intake at this point…” Frederick said, anxiously. The knight had woken up soon after, and had headed back to the adventurer’s hall to look for them and vehemently apologize to both Lidia and him. Unfortunately, he’d caught them at the very moment he had started talking about the “Giant, demonic knight that had almost torn him in two.” So he had been quiet for most of the time.

Elliot had felt a bit awkward at first continuing the story, but a mug of whatever that warm, creamy alcohol was had given him his tongue back. It may have been a bit much, though. “Ah, let the boy’s drink, Freddy… It’s quite fun to see two who had started on quite bad terms act so endearing to each other.” Natasha said. Her eyes zeroed in on him, running a hand through her hair. “Especially when it had happened almost immediately.”

His eyes narrowed ever so slightly at her words. The others had told him elves were unusually brash when it came to speaking their minds, but that hadn’t meant he had to like it.

He’d spent way too much time concealing his words for the two of them to ever get along.

Still, she wasn’t out to get him, he was sure she’d tell him in her oh so angelic tone of hers, so he really didn’t see anything wrong with befriending her.

At least, not until she opened her mouth again. “So, Elliot. Your features, could it be your part elf? Or perhaps part of a demonic race? I’ve been curious about it since you first spoke.” Lidia flinched, but Elliot kept his cool despite feeling like the world was ending. “Elves. Though, despite that, it was only due to being raised by them. I’m human, for the most part. Though, I wouldn’t know, per say, since i was abandoned.”

He had been considering the backstory for a while now. The elf had the same tone of voice as his, and considering what the others said it was a common thing among them. The abandonment part of the story was mainly so they wouldn’t ask any more questions he couldn’t answer. Even the elf seemed to quiet down when she heard that. Sadie, bless her soul, didn’t. “Ah! That explains your… rudeness in the bridge earlier. I know from experience just how hard it is to break cultural norms around others…”

He fought the rising excitement in his stomach. He hadn’t even thought of that. “No, it's still my fault. Be it raised by elves or not I am still a man. I shouldn’t try to anger others.” He turned towards the man still strangling him by the neck as they tried to drink another mug without spilling it on themselves. “Though, sometimes I don’t know exactly what i’ve done wrong.”

Jack grinned, spilling some of the mug on his clothes.They were ruined goblin clothes but he still found himself looking at the stain with sadness. “Speaking of which, Lidia! You’ve seen the man’s face, right? Tell us what’s up with him.” Elliot saw Sadie turn to chastise him but Elliot put a hand out. He looked at Lidia, who was sweating. He definitely wanted to see this… “No, it’s okay… Might as well do it this way rather than have another moment like before.”

If it hadn’t been for the cold tone in his voice that would have come out as malicious as he could manage it. It came out sincere sounding, though, so the muscular girl sat down with a worried look. Satisfied, he turned to Lidia, making sure she’d notice he amusement in his eyes, “go on.” He could feel her stepping on his feet, which hurt more than he thought since she had been wearing shoes while he just had cloth wrapped around his feet.

He kept his poker face the whole time, though. “...so, uh… Lidia?” Sadie said, inquisitively. The others went silent too, looking at the poor girl who was going to reveal everything. It was hilarious. “He… has a scar above his right eye and on his… cheeks. And his face is… a bit handsome, I guess. And he had these bright green eyes that turned a golden yellow in the sunshine… uh…You guys can see that already.”

The girl had looked down the entire time, clasping her hands together under the table. She was really bad at lying, but this came off as if she was unsure of what to say, so it didn’t seem too suspicious. He let her slowly fall into a deeper nervous wreck. In the meanwhile, he touched his face. So, his eyes were green, huh? They had been hazel in his past life. The others noticed him, Sadie and weirdly enough Jack looking as if they’d heard too much.

“If this is too much for us to hear we can stop, Elliot…” Jack said. He put a hand on his his shoulder consolingly, which confused Elliot. He nodded and gently put the hand back on the table, no need to have this man strangle him again. “It's quite alright. Enough about me, though. Let’s speak about you four, if you guys don’t mind. I’m interested in your stories.” The group became lively again, each turnin to each other and trying to figure out which story to tell.

Meanwhile, he moved closer to Lidia’s ear.

“What the hell did you tell them? They looked like you told them I had no face.” She crossed her arms defensively, turning away. “How was I supposed to know what to say!? You put me on the spot!” No… no way. His jaw dropped, “You… didn’t actually tell them i had no face, right?” She gave him an angry look. “No! Weren’t you listening!? I told them…that your mouth was… cut.” He raised an eyebrow. “Cut, how?”

Goddammit. She didn’t… “I told them… you didn’t have the right side of your cheek. That it looked torn off.” Ah… He had expected worse. That was honestly a good enough disfigurement to keep his face wrapped up without making him look like a complete monster. “Oh, that was actually pretty smart of you. Good job. I thought you made me have lesions or something, something just straight up gross.”

She looked at him weirdly, before sighing in relief. “Good. For a minute I thought I’d gone too far. So why did you touch your face? You made me look like I said too much.” He shrugged, looking at the people in front of him slowly becoming more angry as they tried to settle on a story to tell. It was lighthearted fun, but seeing these people who could probably all destroy him in an actual one-on-one combat in the same place calling each other insults…

It was a bit scary. “...What about I choose what to talk about? Like… I want to know how Sadie and Frederick became so strong.” If he could get muscle like that on this wiry body… Frederick opened his mouth with a grin, looking ready to boast until Jack cut in. “Aye, Frederick was always that size, but spells from his fancy family allow him to cultivate strength inside him. It makes him want to eat like crazy, though. Bastard could eat a horse in a day and ask for seconds if you let him…” The poor knight looked like he wanted to refute what was said, but couldn’t.

Sadie looked at jack with a bit of hesitance. “Um, Jack… Maybe don’t-” Jack soon pointed to Sadie. ”And Sadie? She’s a dwarf so it come with the property. Though she’s a bit taller than the normal dwarf runts. I tell her it’s cause she’s half human but that’s not how it works, apparently.” The girl looked down, and for a moment everyone was silent until Jack gasped, his eyes suddenly opening wide. “Ah, i was probably not s’posed t’say that… You’re fine with dwarves, right Elliot?”

Dwarves? Why wouldn’t he? Weren't they just short people? “I… Don’t see why I wouldn’t be. Sadie’s been nothing but kind to me, even when I was rude. Do… people see dwarves in a certain way?” The group went silent, before Sadie chuckled. “Of course people do… Dwarves and humans aren’t exactly in the best conditions at the moment. Do you really not know why?”

Elliot laughed nervously, once again aware of how little he knew about the world. He had to be vague. “Ah, I lived quite a… sheltered life before I left my family. For the past few months I’ve done nothing but travel.” That was good enough, right? Natasha came in from nowhere, saving his hide. “Ah, yes. You lived with elves before, did you not? It makes sense that you hadn’t heard about the human’s betrayal. Elves tend to not bother with other races' affairs.”

The table went silent at that. Even Lidia looked like she’d rather be elsewhere. The human betrayal… What could that have meant? Dammit… he wanted to know. He really, really wanted to know. ”...How about another story, Frederick? I know someone as big as yourself could take a dragon if he wanted to.” The knight flinched, before a grin appeared on his face. “No dragon, but I have fought a drake once.” The whole team groaned.

“You’ve told that story a million times, Frederick…” Lidia moaned. The proud knight puffed out his chest, “Never to the little hero, though. Sit back, Elliot. I’ll tell you about when I alone took on a scaled beast twice my size.” Sadie gasped, sarcastically. “Twice your size? How can anything get any bigger than you?” The knight ignored her snippet and continued. Elliot watched on as the big man told his tale. He wasn’t listening, but the way the knight moved made it seem like quite a grand battle.

The rest of the day went by pretty quickly, each member bragging about something they’d taken on on their own. He had just stayed silent, better not to make the whole atmosphere awkward again… He’d definitely try to find out what the “Human betrayal” was, or meant… Right after the night was over, though, and Jack finished his story of fighting a group of ogres.