63 Inteiru Expota - Search (1/2)

After asking passersby, we learn that the Icy Tavern is at the heart of the city, the intersection of the four districts. That's where Humans, Elves, Dwarves, and the Xog intermingle. We'll finally be able to see the other races. I can't wait. Hina's excited too. Otherwise, her palms wouldn't be sweating. It could mean that she's nervous, but there's no reason to be.

”What're you excited more to see?” I ask. ”Xog or Dwarves? Personally, I wanna see the Xog. If they're as outlandish as what the books say.”

”I'd rather see a…Dwarf,” Hina mutters.

A Dwarf? That's so boring. It's almost as if she's…nervous. I smile before saying, ”What, the idea of meeting a Xog scares you?”

She turns her head toward me and exclaims, ”O-of course not!”

”Your face's red.”

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”It's cold,” she answers calmly.

”If you're that cold, your fingers wouldn't be sweating,” I say. Hina doesn't respond. She doesn't have an excuse for that, but the hand never lies. I don't see the big deal about Xog. From what we've read in the Academy, they can be the same size as us or as tall as a house. Some have a lot of hair, and some don't have hair at all. The description is contradicting a lot. But, when Viessa first revealed herself, it was just as the books described.

It makes me think that the books could all be right. But what kind of thing would it be like? Is Hina nervous because they could be anything?

”They can't be that scary,” I say. ”I mean…if Elves, Dwarves, and Humans are willing to live with them in the same city, how bad can they be?”

”I guess…” she answers with little energy.

'You wanted to be an Adventurer, but you're scared of this?”

”That's completely different, and I'm not scared. I'll admit I'm nervous, though.”

So, she's willing to admit that. It's basically the same thing, but I'll let it go. ”How's that any different?”

”You hunt monsters as an Adventurer. You walk into a zone filled with them expectin' to see them, and with the monster codex, you know what you're exactly walkin' into. No surprises. They're not very smart either. What's there to be scared about?”

I tighten my grip while thinking of that day. ”You haven't met a real monster.”

”And what's that?”

I remember it clearly. I answer, ”An Albino Flying Squirrel.”

”An Albino—” Hina breaks out in a cackle. ”Flyin' Squirrel!”

I try to stay calm, not letting her laughs get to me. She doesn't know the destructive power that it had. ”It wasn't an ordinary version of the Albino Flying Squirrel. It had red eyes.”

”Red, eyes!” she exclaims and continues laughing. Suddenly, she stops and says, ”Ow, you're hurtin' me.”

”Oh, sorry,” I apologize and let go of her hand. I clenched my hand on hers without realizing it.

”You look serious. I thought you were tryin' to be funny.”

”If it were a joke, Hiro might still be alive.”

”Hiro…the loud one that you mentioned died to a monster? It was to an Albino Flyin' Squirrel?”

”Yeah.”

”I'm sorry for laughin'…when it was your friend who died. I take everythin' back.”

”Nah, it's fine. Anyone would've laughed considering that they're normally E ranked monsters,” I say.

”What were you sayin' about red eyes?”

”I asked Moria about it. He said that those with red eyes are called Anomalies. Exceedingly rare and powerful. There's no record of anyone beating one.”

”Seriously?” she asks with widened eyes. ”You guys managed to escape it?”

I don't like the way this conversation is heading. I'd move it along elsewhere. I can't reveal my Void magic to her after all. ”Yeah, we got lucky. Hiro…took the fall for us.”

”That was very brave of him. I have a lot more respect for him now.”

”Yeah, well. So, there you have it. You never know when you'll meet an Anomaly, so you don't always know what you're walking into.”

”You're right. I was wrong about that. But… Anomalies are exceedingly rare. Those masked attackers are scary…why? They can think, learn from mistakes, and make decisions, unlike monsters. That's what makes them really scary. You never know what they're truly thinkin'. Where they could be watchin' you or huntin' you.”

”I guess I can agree with that, so how does that tie in with your nervousness with the Xog?” I ask.

”Well, they can think like us too. They're people too…or I don't know. From some of the descriptions...I picture them as upright monsters. When I think of monsters that are capable of makin' decisions and thinkin' for themselves, that's what makes me a little nervous.”

Imagining a wolf walking upright on its hindlegs is a little intimidating. Especially when I think there could be an entire population of them walking in the streets. I reply, ”I get it.”

”Good. Can I borrow your hand? My hand's cold,” Hina says and holds out her next to mine. ”Try not to crush it this time.”

”Fine,” I respond and hold her hand. ”As long as you promise you won't cry if the Xog turns out to be a little scary.”

She squeezes her hand on mine instead. She smiles and says, ”Admit it, you're actually scared too. I did you a favor by askin' you to hold my hand, so you wouldn't have to ask awkwardly.”

You don't want to play this game with me. I gradually put more force into the grip on her hand.

”I'm sorry,” she utters quickly and relaxes her hand. I loosen mine too, applying enough to still hold on to it.

Heh. I get the last laugh. The buildings up ahead are painted blue instead of the red buildings in this area. That must be the central district.

Part of me wonders how long ago the races have been living together in this city. Since the other races have their separate entrances, they must have their unique districts too. Viessa said that other races could live here or do work nearly a decade ago. So, that should've been nine years ago or three Inteiru Expota's ago.

So, was Syrina built before or after the races came together? Considering that these districts separated clearly, I can only assume that the other districts are colored differently, too. Viessa didn't mention anything about the Inteiru Expota being new, so there must have been more Inteiru Expotas in the past held here. Did the Humans here live in the other districts before the other races moved in? And if they did, were they shoved all onto this side of the city? I feel like there's more than enough space, but I have so many questions.

While I'm still lost in thought, Hina raises her hand and shakes it while it's still locked with mine. ”Kai, look!”

I look toward where she's pulling my hand. A fat bearded kid is walking across from us. No, that has to be a Dwarf. No way a kid's face ages like that or grows beards. So, they're like Humans but smaller in height and a bit wider…

”He's small like the books say,” Hina says and then lets out a chuckle.

The Dwarf walks toward us and narrows his eyebrows. ”'Ey, lewk. 'Tis a fuckin' Human. Shut yer puss, ye fuckin' flat nugget. Ma tools be big enoof ter wreck havok in yer shed. De bewks dun tell ya dat. Call me smol agin an' Ay will make ye chew ma banger.”

I don't comprehend everything he said, but he definitely seems angry. Hina opens her mouth and lets out a few sounds but no words, so she probably didn't understand entirely either. Don't want him to get too close to her. I step in front to block him from her before things turn for the worst.

”Sir, I'm sorry. She didn't mean to offend you,” I say.

”Oi'm nae deaf. 'Tis a wee tew late fer dat,” he says. No one around us seems to care about what's happening, not even other Humans.

Wanting to defuse the situation quickly, I reach into my pocket to grab a handful of coins. I hold out my palm in front of me. It's only about ten silver coins, but that's over half of my weekly salary. ”Look, we're both new here and don't know anything. Take this and let us be on our way.”

He stares at me with the most menacing look for several seconds until he finally takes the coins from my palm responds, ”Fine.”

”Ward o' advice. Nivver call a Dwarf smol unless yer lewkin ter start a figh'. Fuckin' Humans…” he scoffs and walks away.

Hina and I stand in place for a while longer until he's far from us.

”Dwarves are scary…” Hina says. ”He was talkin' so fast I couldn't understand what he was sayin'. So they don't like bein' called sm...”

She looks around her before continuing in a whisper, ”Small.”

”Apparently not,” I answer. ”Let's hurry up.”

Glancing around, it's still mostly Humans around. We continue our way with the directions we got earlier, eventually reaching the Icy Tavern. While we saw more Dwarves and some Elves, we didn't see anything that could be a Xog.

”What took you so long?” Ada asks as we enter the tavern. She and her team are standing by the entrance. ”Where's the rest of the team?”

”We had to improvise,” Hina explains. ”The ministers wanted to explore the city.”

”What? They're not supposed to do that. It's General Nero's orders.”

”Yeah, we told them. But, they aren't fans of him so they don't wanna listen,” I say. ”Just the two of us for now.”

”Fine, let's get started then, ” Ada says and then turns to Aisha.

”Right. Let's move to the corner,” Aisha says and walks toward the corner farthest from everyone else inside the tavern. It's all Dwarves, so it's a good thing that we're moving away from them. Who knows what'll happen if they mishear one of us talking and have a misunderstanding. They're a bit loud, so it's doubtful that they'll hear us anyway. The rest of us follow her.

”Logistics. We're missing about half of us, so that decreases our odds of finding anything on the first day, the most important. Our team's completely free today, but I don't know about you guys,” Aisha says and turns toward Hina and me.

”I wouldn't count on it. There're eight of us here. We can split into pairs of two, and with the entire day ahead of us, I'm sure we'll find something,” I say.

”Groups of two…we talked about this. It covers more ground, but it's riskier. Especially since half of us here are less effective in close-quarters where we'd be likely to be investigating. We don't have much of a choice now, so I'll agree. On one condition, everyone's only to do light scouting and investigating. Don't go too deep by yourself. So regarding the sewers topic, you're only to look for the entrance. We'll reconvene here in two hours to see if anyone has found any leads. Then we'll go as a bigger team to investigate the noteworthy ones,” Aisha says.

”Sounds good,” I say. ”So, which pair's taking which district? If we wanna be efficient. There're five districts while there're only eight of us.”

I already know which three Hina doesn't want to be in.

”Actually…about that,” Aisha says. ”Someone recommended that we don't go into the Xog district.”

I knit my eyebrows. If the races are living together in the city, it would be weird that if we're not allowed in the other districts. The ministers wanted to explore the Elven district too. They should know whether or not that was possible before deciding that. I ask, ”What do you mean? It's not allowed?”

”It's allowed, but no one recommended it. It's not a highly regulated area, and it's not safe. Everywhere else is fine, though.”

”Who told you that?” I ask.” That sounds like the perfect place for the masked men to hide. They could've been the ones to tell everyone to keep out.”

”It's possible they're operating there, but I think we should avoid that area for now. We double-checked the information with practically everyone on the street. They all say the same thing. It's doubtful that everyone's working with the masked men,” Aisha says.

”Okay, well, that simplifies things. Four districts and four pairs,” I say. If we can't go to the Xog district, there's only one other district I would prefer. I'd better speak up before Hina takes the lead and makes it impossible for me to disagree. I smile. The same goes for her. ”We prefer to stray in the central district. Pearl's dying to see one of the Xog for herself. Shame that we're keeping the Xog district out of limits for now.”

Hina gives me a nasty look for a moment, but it transforms into a smile. We have to play the role of a happy couple in the end, or our cover is blown. I've figured out that I can control our actions more or less by having the first say. But she's probably realized that too. She says, ”You took the words right out of my mouth, Darling. That's why I love you. You always know what I want.”

I'm the only one who knows her smile is not an innocent one. But hey, we're convincing them that we're a true couple. They've been skeptical of us lately. I did her a favor by playing into both of our interests.

”We'll let you two stay here then. Ada will go with me to the Elven district, Melody go with Deniz to the Dwarven District, and Doris with Irwin in the Human district,” Aisha says. ”Remember to tread lightly. This is our first round of investigations. Anyone have concerns?”

No one speaks. Aisha turns toward Hina and me. ”Well, we'll see you back here in two hours.”

Hina and I nod. The six of them leave the tavern. Hina squeezes my hand and says, ”Darling, I think we need to have a discussion.”

”You don't wanna play this game with me again,” I say and clutch my hand tighter around hers. She stops trying to out squeeze my hand and frowns. ”Besides, with the number of times you've screwed with me, you deserve it. Also, I saved you from the Dwarf earlier.”

”I could've handled him myself.”

Liar. You looked like you were about to wet your pants. Admitted you were scared too.

”'Ey,” a Dwarf suddenly says behind us. This guy is a bit taller than the other guy and his beard braided. There's so much grime on his face that it looks like he hasn't bathed in weeks. It's obvious by his stench too. I want to get out of here. ”Ye juss gonnae stand dare er sit down an' order somethin'? Ye Humans always be rude usin' ma business fer meetin' an' nothin' else.”

Damn. We should've left with Aisha and the others when we had the chance. I have a feeling that it would be better to oblige than to walk away at this point. It might be insulting to them to refuse, or maybe we've already made a bad impression. It's not like they're going to chase us down and try to kill us, but this could be a good chance to learn more about them.

”Of course, we're sitting down to eat something,” I respond. I'm a bit hungry anyway. We haven't had anything to eat since we've arrived. Hina looks at me with a confused expression. I lead her to the nearest table and sit down.

”Dun be shy. Sit closer wiff de rest o' us. We dun bite,” he says and points with his hand to a table next to a group of Dwarves.

Reluctantly, I stand back up and sit down where he indicates. Hina follows my lead.

”So, wha' will ye have?” he asks. He asks that as if I know what's there to be offered.

”Just get me some soup if you have some,” I say, wanting to get it over with.

”Oh, Ay wou' nae recommend any food fer ya, sir. Ye knoo hoo it goes. Stick ter de drinks.”

I don't know what he means by that. Is he saying that I can't finish it? Seeing how Dwarves are a bit plumper than us, maybe the food portions are a lot bigger too. ”Whatever, just get me the soup. I'll eat anything you give me.”

”Sir, Ay dun think ye understand. Ye must be new 'round haur.”

The group of Dwarves next to us laugh. One of them exclaims, ”Boss, wha' be de big deal? Let deez Humans have dare soup.”

”Aye yai yai…two rock soups fer de Humans comin' roight up,” the server says and walks away.

Rock soups…? He's not being literal, right? Rocks aren't edible. Must be a metaphor for something else like how 'on the rocks' mean ice. They're named the 'Icy Tavern,' after all.

”What about my order? I didn't say I wanted soup…” Hina mutters and then whispers. ”What're we stickin' around for?”

I whisper back, ”Well, I was hungry. And you owed me some money for making that other Dwarf go away. I had to act fast before you decided to handle him yourself. Running away could have pissed them off resulting in them chasing you down.”

”Yo-you're right…” she mutters with widened eyes while looking down at the table. Good thing I acted fast. Seems like she was actually thinking about bolting. She's really easy to manipulate right now, though. Heh. I'll find her other weaknesses, so she'll never mess with me again.

”Bahaha!” multiple Dwarves laugh at the table next to us. They've been rowdy since we walked in here. What's so funny? ”Drink up, drink up! 'Tis a celebration!”

Another Dwarf chugs a stein. The entire group cheers him on and explode into laughter after he slams it back onto the table. Your usual antiques of a drunk crowd.

”Listen, ye may have beaten me dis time, but a new shipment o' Aerkins be comin' in. Ay will bet dat one o' them will finally beat ya,” one of them says.

”Nae way. Ye will have ter start trainin' one fer yerself if ye want a chance against me,” another answers. ”Ay dint get dis far by chance.”

”Bahaha! Ay know, Nazug. Oi'm givin' ya a heads up. Dis new shipment Ayve heard rumors abart be on an entirely different level. Ye best be prepared. Ay dun want ter see the current champion go down so easily.”

”Thanks fer de warnin', friend. Ayve got ter battle anoder challenger soon,” Nazug says and stands up from his seat. ”Ay will see ya later.”

”See ya later. May de spirit o' Achilles be wiff ya.”

Our server's walking toward us, holding onto two big bowls, one on top of each hand. What kind of soup is it going to be?