dinner at the silver fox

Adam was full, and most of them had already left the canteen, but since there was still some time, Adam stayed seated for a moment. With his head propped on one arm, Adam looked at his dessert as if lost in thought. It was just a bunch of grapes, one by one, they began to float and gradually disappeared. For Adam, it was a riddle how such a little fairy could eat so much.

As Adam walked comfortably to the training ground, he could already see in the distance how Mika was pulling a large cart to the training ground. He was just about to wave at her when a roar stopped him.

"MR YOUNG! TOO LATE AGAIN!"

Only then, did Adam see that everyone was already doing push-ups.

Adam was punished by crouching, and balancing a pole on his lap while the others had to run laps. Every time the pole fell Adam had to do squats, which made balancing even more difficult. Every time the group passed him, he could see James grinning, he seemed to be walking slower on purpose. After what felt like an eternity, General Aslan finally ended the exercise and gathered everyone around the cart, that the cat girl had parked.

"This is the official weapon of the Beast Riders!" He reached into a wooden box on the cart and pulled out a sword.

It was a double-edged curved sword, with a long, finely decorated hilt and a handguard in the shape of a roaring lion.

"Wouldn't a longer weapon be better?" James couldn't help himself and had to ask.

"I was hoping someone would ask!" With a quick flick of his hand, he turned the knob, and the hilt became longer in a blink of an eye.

Adam's eyes were wide open and the other recruits also shared their astonishment, Adam had never seen anything like this. A sword that changes its size was interesting.

"Is that a Nagamaki, something like a Warbrand or a Stormscythe? Transforming into a war scythe, it is pretty cool!" Adam murmured, barely audible.

Adam had seen both types in a museum, but never thought he would ever use one.

"We will train with this weapon every day from today onwards. It's probably not your weapon of choice, as scythes take a lot of practice and you'll probably end up using your own weapon later anyway. But it is the official weapon of the Beast Riders. Grab one each, they're a gift from the king and then find a partner and practice. Use the short form! One attacks and the other defends and then switch! Don't worry, our healers will patch you up, so don't hold back." He said with a wide grin at the end.

"Since you were late, you will be my partner, Mister Young!" He finished his instructions with a menacing grin.

Adam sighed, but walked up to the general anyway, blade raised. With a simple gesture, he signaled Adam to attack. Adam ran towards the giant of a man and attacked as he had always done with Master Sofiel, but Aslan parried and blocked with minimal movement, as one would expect from someone of his standing. Adam had great problems wielding this weapon; the handle, which was far too long for a sword, was simply unusual. Just like General Aslan had said, he would probably use the sword Master Sofiel gave him and keep opponents at bay with the war scythe form.

Now it was Adam's turn to defend himself and he raised his weapon; he watched every little movement Aslan made, but it was all useless as he ran towards Adam. The brute force of the first blow knocked Adam off his feet and he landed on the ground. They fought each other a few more times and by the end, Adam felt like his arms were made of rubber. But the lesson didn't end there. Adam saw, that Mika and a red-haired fox woman had set up five targets at one end of the training ground.

"10 minutes break! Then everyone who can use magic gathers with me; the rest grab a bow and a quiver" Aslan yelled as he put his sword away.

Adam dropped exhausted to the ground when he saw John running towards him.

"HAHAHA, maybe you shouldn't be late anymore. But you did quite well!" John grinned and sat down next to Adam.

"Why is a general like you actually training us? Someone like you would be invaluable on the front line!" Adam said to Aslan, ignoring John's teasing.

"HAHAHAHA! I'll gladly accept your words of praise!" Aslan's laughter echoed around the entire square, catching the attention of the other recruits.

"Listen, kid, a general's job is to coordinate troops, not direct combat. You should be proud that I decided to train this class due to certain circumstances!" With these words, the general turned and left.

"Where did you learn to fight? Even from what I saw out of the corner of my eyes, I have to say you're really talented!" John said, patting Adam on the shoulder.

"Talented? The handle is giving me real problems!" Adam said and looked at the weapon.

"Well, it didn't go so well for me, I actually dropped it twice." John scratched his head.

Adam didn't know how much the limiter weakened his magic, so he decided to test it later when nobody would be around and tried his hand at a bow. A mistake, as it turned out because Adam could only land one hit out of ten arrows. John, on the other hand, hit nine times out of ten and even James hit the target seven times.

"Maybe you should try something else, commoner! Try being a stable boy hahaha!" Jason said with a derogatory look as he walked past Adam.

"He's not worth it!" John said, holding Adam back.

Adam really didn't want to put up with something like that, but he had to realize that John was right, it wouldn't lead to anything.

"Besides, we had to run penalty rounds because of you this morning, so we decided together that you invite us to The silver Fox!" Said the wolfman with a nasty grin.

"What is that supposed to be?"

"A restaurant that offers food that previous heroes are said to have brought to this world." Said Aldo, who had also just finished his exercises.

"How many heroes were there in this world? And that sounds really expensive!" asked Adam.

"Hmm, that's unknown, but there should have been many." Aldo touched his chin.

"Do not be such a wuss! We were late for breakfast, because of you!" said John who couldn't wait to eat there.

"And I thought you guys were too busy and nobody wanted to come except for Jean!" Adam crossed his arms in front of his chest.

Officially General Aslan had finished the classes, but most of them stayed. John and a black-haired young man dueled with swords while Jean and Aldo fired magic at the targets. Adam went to the room and wanted to rest a bit before he would go to the restaurant with the others. Actually, he just wanted to be shown the way to the temple, but since he got along well with his roommates and the penalty rounds were his fault, he thought to himself 'why not'.

"HIIIYAAAAA! Look, that's how you do it!" Liri grabbed a branch and performed a few sword strikes in the air.

Of course, she only did that to tease Adam, but Adam had to laugh at the little warrior. Adam wanted to enjoy the show a little longer, but then the door flew open and John entered the room.

"Are you coming now? We'll go to the temple quickly, and then we'll hurry and eat at The Silver Fox! And don't forget that you're paying!" John walked to the end of the room and pulled out a bag from his chest.

"Would you like to pay for it yourself?" Adam pointed to the bag.

"You wish. Maybe I'll get some food and drink; you never know when we're going to need it. Half a horse should fit in here! Oh yes, the others are already waiting downstairs." With these words, John left the room again.

It's amazing how reluctant fairies are to show themselves to others, the moment the door opened, Liri was gone.

About fifteen minutes later, the group followed Jean across town to a huge temple. Adam was amazed when he noticed how similar the huge statue in front of the temple resembled his mother. They had even copied her gold jewelry perfectly.

In the temple, there was absolute silence even though so many people were there. It seemed that the temple consisted only of this great hall, the ceiling of which was supported by four huge golden pillars. Gold-edged pictures hung on the walls, and upon closer inspection, there were people in modern clothing.

"These are heroes! OH, look, that's Kuroba Hideyoshi! He helped defeat the demon beasts and taught the dwarves to forge katanas. And this is...!" Jean continued to enthusiastically name the heroes and recount their deeds.

"You seem to be very interested in the heroes." Someone resembling a priest interrupted Jean.

At the end of the hall was a huge statue of the goddess seated on a throne, and Adam sat on the floor in front of her.

"Did you miss me already? I didn't think that you would visit a temple on the first day." The voice of the goddess sounded in his head.

"Ah, it works! I just wanted to tell you that I've arrived and joined the army."

"Of course, I didn't miss that."

"Mom, why have so many heroes been summoned here? And how long do I have to stay in this world? You didn't tell me that." Adam had to ask curiously.

"I did tell you! You can ignore the heroes thing, there are a lot of people who dream of something like that and this wish sometimes comes true. You have to stay as long as it takes, my little lamb. You wanted to be a god." The goddess answered.

„So i just wait here and that's it?" Adam asked.

„As i told you, Sofiel and Amael's training made you strong, but in order to rise to a god you must first be weakened and then regain strength through your own efforts. Just imagine you are a vessel filled with rocks, the limiter has ground up those rocks and the vessel is now only half full. But now it is up to you alone to fill in the rest." The soft voice of the goddess explained.

"Just getting stronger? And poof, I'm a god? That wasn't everything, was it?" Adam didn't quite understand, just getting stronger would be too easy. Not even Amael told him that. Then he could have become a god in his previous life with the help of the system much more easily.

"All in its own time, little lamb. When you were little I gave you my milk to drink, it restructured your body and gave it a nudge in the right direction. The hell curse that weighs on you is also very helpful. Everything else comes later, take your time and enjoy life in this world, maybe you would prefer to live as a human being after all."

"Why do you want me to live as a human so badly? I will become a god, that's for sure! Wait, what curse?" Adam said, determined.

But there was no more answer. This was something Adam absolutely disliked! For gods and angels, time doesn't matter and therefore his mother would simply continue the conversation another time at this point.

He had no choice but to leave the temple. His roommates were already waiting for him outside, chatting excitedly.

"Maybe because the hero is going to be summoned soon?" Jean said excitedly.

"No, I think she recognized my ability! Haha!" John almost yelled, tensed, and showed off his muscles.

"Hey, what are you talking about?" asked Adam, who heard the conversation as he came out of the temple.

"Didn't you hear?" John asked in a loud voice.

"Or rather felt it." Aldo corrected.

"The goddess! She smiled down at us! My heart suddenly felt warm!" explained Jean, who found it difficult to hide her excitement.

„And i also suddenly had this warm feeling in my chest!" John added.

They talked about nothing else the entire way to The Silver Fox, even when John and Adam bought something from a couple of stalls in between.

'If you would know that the goddess is paying for dinner tonight! She overdid the pocket money anyway!' Thought Adam, remembering how abnormally many gold coins were in the bag inside his bracelet.

The restaurant was full and the group was lucky, that a table had just become available. It didn't take long, and a red-haired fox woman placed 4 menus on the table.

3 pretty young women with plates and jugs ran around between the tables. A blond elf, a tiger woman with blond and black hair, and the fox woman who also brought them the menus. Adam couldn't believe his eyes when he saw the menu; there really were dishes from his world and some he didn't recognize. Adam couldn't make up his mind and scanned the menu over and over again. But then suddenly the fox woman was standing next to him and everyone was just waiting for him; he just pointed to a random dish and ordered a beer with it.

While they were waiting for food, the group talked about training and beasts.

"Say, Adam, what did you think of the entrance exam?" Aldo suddenly asked.

'Entrance exam? But there wasn't one!' And then it hit him. His mother must have had her hands in it.

"Ahm..., yes, that was quite difficult!" Adam answered uncertainly.

"YES! On the writing part, I thought I'd failed completely!" Luckily, John caught everyone's attention.

"That was easy! Any child would have known the answers!" Aldo teased him.

While Jean tried to mediate, Adam tried to pick up some information in case he was asked again.

After a few minutes, the fox woman came back to the table and brought the food. Aldo had ramen, Jean had pizza, John had a large steak, and Adam had a burger. The scent that rose into his nose brought back memories. For dessert, to Adam's astonishment, everyone had a plate of baklava. Adam had never eaten anything like this before, but it tasted incredibly sweet. Even the naughty, invisible little fairy had snatched 3 pieces.

After getting back to their room, they quickly went to sleep as they came back later than they thought.