35 A Familiar Face

Ai giggled to herself while riding in a harness designed by, and attached to, Hoat'l.

'The wolfman is seriously called Rolf Kanin.' "Ha!" She blurted out loud, causing Hoat'l to stop and look back. "Ye alright lass?" He asked as Ai snickered. "Yeah yeah, I'm fine, just thought of something funny is all."

Hoat'l sighed and continued on towards the Sunken Oak Tavern. Ai had asked him to take her somewhere that she could get another tattoo, but due to her health, felt she wasn't ready to go out and about on her own just yet.

Hoat'l was tricked, yet again, with empty promises of a date with Amari in exchange for ferrying her around town in this embarrassing getup. There he was, a dwarf man, carrying around a human, taller than himself, on his back. 'What's a dwarf in love ta do.' He sighed to himself.

He walked up to a round building with a large oak tree growing from the center of the building, he had stopped to admire the sheer size of the tree before pushing the double doors open.

The interior was a little cramped, with tables and counters taking up most of the room, stairs led down into a lower level as the ground floor was held up by massive roots. One wouldn't be able to tell that this whole structure went below ground level by looking at it from outside, but in here, one could see where the tavern got its name.

The main bar counter was surrounding the tree itself in a circle, shelves lined with alcohol were nailed to the trunk of the tree and the ceiling around the base was wide open, heavy branches with leaves swayed just above. The whole place gave off a peace with a nature vibe. Even their house ale was brewed with sap from the tree that is said to induce hallucinations of peaceful wildlife.

Walking up to the main counter, Hoat'l smiled and waved at a beautiful, well-endowed woman with green hair and eyes. "Sherry-lass, lovely to see you." He said with a grin.

"Hoat'l! It's been at least a month! Where've you been? Cas has been worried sick about you!" The woman said as she poured a few glasses of ale for the other patrons around the counter. She had clearly been doing this for a while as she poured perfectly to the top of each glass without looking.

"Ahn, got me'self into a hot mess with an ol' friend. Ye remember that Barbarian Queen, righ'? Her and 'er sis came lookin' fer me fer a job I couldnae refuse. Speakin' o' which." Hoat'l turned around, revealing Ai sitting in the harness at his back, she smiled and waved. "Nice to meet you miss, I'm Ai."

"Pleasure is all mine, darlin'. So Amari, huh? Hadn't seen her since way back when I worked in Caladan proper. How is the cranky little woman? And did you two hook up yet?" Hoat'l turned away with a blush and coughed. "Well, erm. I been so focused on me work an'"

"Nope, his balls haven't dropped yet, I'm trying to help, but it's exhausting work playing matchmaker for a dwarf with no balls." Ai sighed.

"Oi! All ye done is make false promises so far, lass. Maybe I shoulda just let ye walk on yer own."

Ai coughed. "Well big sis might be impressed that you swallowed your pride and became this princess' pack mule, yeah?"

Hoat'l grumbled and turned back to face Sherry, whose face had turned bright red from forcing down laughter. "Anyways! Little lass here lost her 'ands in an accident on our mission, an' now we're lookin' for some'n'a'cn get her a system mark." Hoat'l explained as Ai clapped her hands together, making a metallic clunking sound.

"Oh you poor dear, I can't think of anyone off the top of my head, but I can get my little birds to look around town for someone like that. I can send one of my birds to come get you when I hear something if you'd like, handsome."

'Little birds? Like actual magical birds? Or spies? Hmmm... Sounds interesting, might have to ask later.'

"I'd greatly appreciate that, lass. I'll be seein' ye later." Hoat'l said with a smile as he tossed a couple of silvers into a pot sitting on the counter.

"Thanks for the generous tip, hon, see you around." Sherry said with a smile as she went back to serving the patrons.

Hoat'l started to make his way to the exit when a voice called out from a nearby table.

"Ai? Sweety is that you?" Ai looked over to find the source of the familiar, kind voice.

Sitting with a glass of beer in her hands at a table was a woman in blue robes and brunette hair, she smiled and stood up, waving at Ai.

"Lia?"

A muscular half-orc stood up from the same table and bowed his head with a smile on his face.

"And Damian! I'm glad you guys are ok!" Ai said with a smile as they approached Hoat'l and Ai.

"Same here kid. We thought something had happened to you." Damian spoke up and Lia immediately went on one of her doting rants.

"We were so scared when we woke up and you were gone!" "Oh and all the bodies! We had no idea what happened!" "Are you ok?" "Are you eating enough?" "You look a little pale sweety." "Do you need some coin for a meal?"

*CLANG*

Ai knocked her fists together, making a loud metallic banging sound. Lia finally shut up for a second in shock.

"Yes I am fine, my big sis rescued me, well, all of us. I'm eating plenty, thank you, and I've been feeling a little under the weather, hence why my mule is taking me around town." Ai said smuggly as Hoat'l let out a huff, deciding to stay quiet.

"Mule? Ah, well... I am glad you are ok, but..."

"What the hell happened to your hands!?!?!?" Lia had yelled out in shock.

"Aya! My precious, delicate ears! Watch the volume Lia, you'll scare my mule!" Hoat'l glared back at Ai as she gave him a gentle kick in the leg.

"Sorry, but seriously, what happened?" Lia said, almost in a whisper.

"Eh, got bored with 'em, decided to blow them up for fun." She said with a dead serious look on her face.

"EHHHHHHHH!?!?!?!?" Lia screeched out again, receiving angry glares from the patrons. Ai snickered.

"It was an accident, I decided to try a spell a bit too high level for me in the heat of battle and it back-fired, thankfully my loving big sis saved the day and made sure I didn't lose something else precious. Although I guess that wanna-be samurai helped a little too." Ai said with a hint of disdain in her voice.

"Wanna-be Samurai, you wouldn't happen to be talking about a man named Kenji would you?" Ai raised an eyebrow. "As a matter of fact, yes. Why, do you know him?"

"Ah, yes. If you know him, then you must have noticed that he is quite strange."

"To say the least, yes. He was reincarnated in this world from a different one."

"Correct, and well, that's because I summoned him."

Ai's eyes widened in shock, "Summoned him? How the hell did you manage that?"

Lia looked down with a blush, clicking her heels together. "Well, you see, a few years ago, I met a djinn, and made a pact with him, I was given one wish, so I wished to summon the man that would become the love of my life."

"WHAT THE FUCK!?!?!?"

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