Chapter 2 — Small lucky breaks! 

Petris had guided me to the tavern, where the rest of the members of his group were waiting for us. As I opened the door, a strong blue light almost blinded me, and my right hand reflexively covered my eyes.

"It burns!" cried Petris in pain, as he had not been able to react in time.

After a while, I got used to the lighting of the place, and unlike outside, inside you could feel a warm atmosphere.

Wow, it's those heat emitting lamps that Alexia told me so much about the other time

I thought as I approached the group, who greeted Petris and I quite energetically.

At home, I use candles or a fire to pass the winter heat, but I see that this tavern has very interesting things. The building was made of green bricks, had a dark floor and the windows were round with golden edges. Quite a peculiar decoration.

The people inside the restaurant were very well-equipped, as were Petris and his team waiting for us at the table.

Interrupting my thoughts, a girl of my height who had black hair and green eyes, stood up rushing to greet me gracefully.

"Nice to meet you! I'm Liria. Are you Mr. Isuke?"

"Yes, this is Isuke" Petris instantly answering for me as he kept scratching his eyes, I couldn't help but let out a sigh.

The other two people sitting at the table was a man who looked strong because of his large musculature. I also noticed that the girl who remained seated avoided looking at my face, and in her clutched tightly a golden feather.

Wow, for a team to get something like this, these guys must be experienced.

I thought internally as I sat at the table with Petris and Liria.

The other two did not take long to introduce themselves.

"I'm David and the girl you see next to me is my sister".

David seemed quite straightforward and, from the statement he gave, I guess I seemed quite surprised, as these siblings looked nothing alike. David had dark skin, rather short black hair that made him look army and brown eyes that contrasted with the white skin and golden eyes that his sister had.

The only thing they shared was the color of their hair. So, his sister spoke up:

"We are… step-siblings" the girl murmured quietly, so her brother repeated her words.

"Well, the correct term would be step-siblings, but I treat her as if she were my sister. Her name is Lya. I hope you remember it well, Isuke".

Unlike the excessive politeness shown by Liria and Petris, David seemed to be someone much more informal and direct. Looking for a moment to my right, it seemed that Petris was making several signs for his companion to control himself, but the truth…

I liked his attitude.

It was there that it was my moment to introduce myself. Placing my two hands on the table and in a fairly neutral tone, I spoke:

"I will introduce myself, regardless of what Alexia has told you about me". They all swallowed saliva and I continued: "I am Isuke. You don't need to call me or use things like sir, you or any other means to treat me as a superior. I don't think we have such a big age difference, so… I hope to work well with all of you".

The truth is that I wanted to clear up the big lie of the academy as soon as possible, but for the money I had been offered…

That could wait for later.

Of all of us, Petris seemed the most moved by my words. So, after taking a long breath, he raised his voice with considerable emotion.

"Good! We are all gathered here. While I understand why you can't tell us more details about your past… It doesn't matter! We understand you".

For a moment, and to my great surprise, I noticed how everyone nodded in unison at Petris' words.

Don't tell me they all seriously believed…

Preparing me for the worst. He continued with his speech.

"I will make an introduction of my entire group because that is the responsibility of a leader" Petris began to point out the members of his group as he named them. "Lidia is a magical swordsman capable of using two swords in combat! David is a great healer with vast knowledge that on more than one occasion has gotten us out of trouble! And… finally… Lya is the tank of our group".

What?

I froze at that comment.

How was it possible for such a girl to be the team's tank?

Uneasy with this doubt, it took me several seconds to ask:

"But that pen… Doesn't it belong to a conjurer?"

"It's mine" David answered me instantly.

"Then why did she…?"

"I gave it to her. My sister likes nice and delicate things. She will give it back to me when she wants to".

This was so strange to me that I thought it was a joke. First because of the excessive reward I was offered, and second because of the ridiculousness of the claim. The girl was the only one on the team who had casual light clothing, and there was no armor or shield anywhere that she could use to protect the others.

"Eh… excuse me. On occasions like this… I prefer to be dressed like this".

As if reading my mind, Lya tried to calm my worries.

Petris and Lidia started laughing, apparently the two of them got along quite well.

"Easy, easy! Lya's behavior blows our minds, too".

"Don't mess with my sister" David said in a threatening tone to Petris, but Petris began to laugh even louder along with Lidia.

"Brother… I don't mind. As long as they're having fun… I think it's fun too".

It did not seem that the girl was lying, and her brother, like an obedient little dog, listened to his sister.

This group is fucking weird.

It was the only thought that popped into my head.

"Hey, Isuke".

Looking at who was calling my name, I noticed that Lya went from sitting with Petris to standing right next to me. It was so fast that I barely had time to react. Meanwhile, the other members were talking to each other about a topic I didn't pay much attention to.

"Yes?"

"Do you need new books?"

Puzzled by his question, I hesitated for several minutes about what to answer. Lidia, unlike her other companions, had certain behaviors similar to Petris, but she always had a rather elegant and refined aura. It was then that I came up with a rather simple answer.

"Of course! It's always interesting to read and learn something new. Why do you ask?"

Lidia let out a small laugh along with a smile as she murmured in my ear.

"You need to read. You are a book master, after all, aren't you?"

For various seconds I felt a shiver on my back, I had a feeling that someone from afar was watching me from the corner of my eye. I turned quickly to confirm, but all the people who were customers in the bar were busy with their business at their distinctive tables, and the tavern staff seemed relaxed in their staff area.

Everyone was in their world.

Could it be my imagination?

"Something happened?"

Lidia was quite curious about my reaction just now. The other members of our group, meanwhile, were still busy discussing irrelevant topics.

"I think someone heard what you said".

Although I wasn't confident if what, I felt, was true, in an attempt to deflect the subject of the conversation, I brought up that point.

"You passed".

"Huh?"

Standing up and taking my hand, Lidia tapped the table to get everyone's attention. To my surprise, it worked. Everyone fell silent and looked at her seriously.

"I'll be back in 15 minutes. Get everything ready. I will take Isuke to my house and give him the books he needs for this mission".

Everyone nodded and in a short time I left the tavern with her.

As surprised as I was, I always concentrated on keeping a fairly neutral face. It was there that, just a few steps outside the store, she pointed to the sky. Apparently, a white sword with golden edges was floating and pointing in the direction of the tavern.

"We asked the tavern's permission to do this. While we believe Alexia quite a bit, it never hurts to have extra confirmation. That thing you felt a few minutes ago was my sword pointing at you".

I was stunned at her words. She continued.

"You can rest easy. When I said, you were… that. I used a spell that prevents others from hearing what you and I said at the time. It's a bit complicated to use, so try to apply it briefly at the right time. I hope you don't mind".

"No, you can rest assured. I was expecting something like this".

It was a lie. I was so surprised that it was the only thing I could say naturally. Those words came out of my mouth without me realizing it.

Lidia laughed, and her sword flew right past her and then into its sheath. She looked pleased and asked in a rather soft tone to her sword:

"Alicia, what do you think?"

There was silence.

Puzzled, Lidia repeated her question, and it was there that her sword answered.

"All right…"

Apparently it was an ego sword and, unlike its owner, the sword responded to her in a rather low tone.

"Something wrong, Alicia?"

Seeing how her owner began to put on a serious face, the sword ego raised her tone of voice.

"Nothing happened!" the sword paused for a moment. "It was fine! I just… I ran out of comments!"

The smirk returned to Lidia's face, and I noticed the sword let out a sigh of relief.

"Don't you think it's great, Isuke?"

"… Yes".

Satisfied with her sword's opinion, for a person who appears to be refined, she is quite tender when she smiles like that.

A certain doubt was harvested within me.

Did I really feel the intentions of the sword on that occasion, or was it just luck?

Maybe Alexia used a spell on me to help me…

Thinking about that answer that came to me instantly, I put that matter to rest.

Now it was time to go to Lidia's house and do this job.