Thanks to the pill Niku had given me, I regained some of my energy. I was still feeling sluggish, but I could at least move around and open my eyes. Betsy went along her day and pretended everything was fine as we rode, but our spiritual link told me she was still checking on my spirit. Niku had a hand on my forearm as we rode along and her head on my shoulder.

  We got to the bottom of the mountain pass, which the sect called their home. With the flat ground now away from the mountain ridge on the eastern side of the continent, I could finally make out the caravan not too far away. I perked up a little seeing them and nodded my head, asking if Betsy was ready to catch up to them. “Come on, girl, let’s do this.”

  Niku lifted her head and looked between me and Betsy. The ox’s horns sparked with bits of electricity. We came to a full stop so she could get ready, and I could feel her mana cycling through her body as she prepped herself.

  “Um, are you sure?” Niku looked between me and the ox still.

  I grinned and nodded. “Oh yeah, hang on.”

  “What about what happened to you back there?” She thumbed back up the mountain when I had my little episode of trying to expend more power than I had. Or well, that was my thought on what happened. It was the only thing that really made sense.

  I shrugged again and rubbed my stomach. “It’s not me that’s doing it; it’s Betsy. Also, the pill you gave me helped a lot.”

  She nodded, and I could feel her hands tightening on my arm for support. “Yeah, but.”

  I looked at her, looked her right in the eye with a smile and nodded my head. “It’s alright, I have you.”

  Her grip lessened a little, and I looked forward towards Betsy. I grinned and was just about to give the command to hit it when I noticed something in the woods at the base of the mountain range.

  “Hold up, Betsy,” I called and got a loud, annoyed bellow in response.

  “I know but I think it’s the Lily!” I pointed over to the more Tolkien-esque building off in the distance.

  This made Niku let go of me and sit up in her seat as she looked in the direction I was pointing in. She squinted and then shrugged. “It looks like an abandoned building?”

  I snorted and nodded. “Yeah, it does kinda, but it’s a nice place. Great food. We’ll get some lunch and then catch up?”

  I hadn’t even finished talking before Betsy started off towards the building. I could feel her anticipation as she plodded along. She wasn’t going full steam ahead, but she wasn’t exactly going slow either. I looked at the back of her head, and she charged along.

  “What the hell do they give to you?” I stared at the back of her head in astonishment. The ox genuinely felt like she was jonesing for a fix. She ignored me, and I thought about it. Betsy always did seem to be in a better mood after visiting the Lily. She also seemed to have more pep in her step for a few days. Maybe it was just a buff or something in a video game?

  Niku just looked at me curiously before she looked back out towards the ox and then the building. She didn’t see the magic yet, but she would. I was sure she would. It didn’t take us long to get to the rest area. Though this was the first time, it didn’t show itself right off the road. It was off in a field right at the tree line of the ridge of mountains that ran along the side of the continent. Then we rolled along the side of the inn and to the barn.

  “Ah, Master Maikeru, welcome back to The Lying Lily. Good to see you and Betsy again,” the boy welcomed us as we rode up the stone path to the barn.

  I blinked and looked at him. Did I know his name? I don’t remember learning it either time I was here before, so I stared at him and grinned. “Hey man, how’s it going?”

  I knew he was laying it on thick since I gave him such a large tip but now that I had been here three times and he took such good care of Betsy and I still didn’t know his name I was going to have to tip him huge again.

  “Niku, this is, uh…” I looked between her and the dark-haired, bright-eyed boy, who still had some baby fat on his face.

  Niku looked at me expectantly and smiled.

  “The name is Wallace, ma’am. It’s good to meet you. Let me be the first to welcome you to The Lying Lily,” the boy, Wallace apparently, said as he raised a hand to help Niku down from the wagon.

  I stared at the kid. Wallace, huh? Well, with the heavy Scottish or Scottish-like accent, it made sense.

  “Well, thank you, Wallace,” Niku said and took his hand and climbed down from the wagon.

  She obviously didn’t need the help, but she took it and smiled down at him before she looked up at me. I just grinned like an idiot and laughed a bit when she winked at me.

  “So, what’s a charming lady like you riding around with a fella like Maikeru here? You decided to slum it for some cheap transport?” Wallace looked up at me with a bit of menace in his eyes.

  I frowned at him and climbed down and then went and stood beside Betsy and patted her on the head. “Thank you. Make sure you take good care of Betsy here, alright?”

  I looked at Niku, who was staring at me when Wallace basically asked if we were an item, and I don’t think I was to try to figure that out with a trouble-making teenager leering at us. Niku smiled and then walked away down the cobbled stone path through the overgrown brush and hedges.

  “She’s a uh… friend, Wallace. Be cool, man,” I chastised him.

  He just grinned and nodded his head before he walked to Betsy and patted her. “How’s my favorite ox companion doing, eh? Glad to be rid of the master, huh?”

  I frowned at him again before I walked away to catch up with Niku. That little shit. When I caught up to Niku, I grinned down at her, and she just looked up at me with a soft smile.

  “The place looks like a mess, but it’s nice. I like it,” I told her, and she nodded.

  “So, a friend, huh?” Niku asked as we happened upon the little fire area and tree stump and log where I first met Minoru.

  I stopped dead in my tracks and stared at her.. She didn’t stop walking and just kept advancing towards the door and walked in. As soon as she opened the door, I heard Declan’s voice yell out. “Oi, welcome to The Lying Lily! Oh, a new face, how do you do?”

  Then I stepped in behind Niku and grinned over at Declan. The man was dressed in his usual conservative dressed up tones and the brown bowler hat. He looked like he belonged down in the Five Points. Er, wait. Those guys were Irish? I don’t know. He did have fiery red hair under the hat though. The point is that the man dressed as if he were a proper gentleman. Even the black vest he wore under the brown leather jacket was nice.

  “And a not so new face, how goes it, Maikeru?” he finished.

  I grinned and closed the door after me, and Niku walked through. She looked around the tavern while I went right to the corner of the bar that was situated near the entrance. “Hey Declan, how’s it going?”

  The tavern was more populated than it had been the last time. I figured it was the lunch rush for the Lily. I guess it was hit or miss when it was busy. Of the two times I had been here previously, one time was dead, and the other looked like a packed nightclub from back home. That was the night I had first met Minoru, the skeleton god of wind. It took me a long time to realize that the meeting had actually happened, and I still am not sure. The memory of it was hazy and dream-like, but I kept cementing the things I knew I remembered in my memory and just told myself it was real.

  The place was packed with its usual ragtag assortment of various sorts from various parts of myth and fantasy. A dwarf and an elf were sitting at a table with, I think it was a gnome, and a human-looking female. There was the beggar guy from last time and then various other people. The only one who really stuck out was a lady knight who was wearing deep pink armor. It was heavy, and she almost looked like the lady tank from Heroes of the Storm but with pink armor.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  Declan had stepped away after he gave a mug of his ale to someone to welcome Niku and I at the door. “It’s going well, mate. Bring a friend, huh?”

  The bartender knocked me out of my musings and my staring at the lady knight. I blinked and turned my head. “Huh? Oh yeah, this is Niku.”

  “And yes, I’m just a friend,” Niku added and glared up at me before she wandered off to look around the tavern.

  I raised my eyebrows at Declan, and the man just laughed at me.

  “Oh, you’re in trouble, lad.”

  I frowned, then looked and saw where Niku was going. She happened to find the last open table and sat while she looked around. I just looked back at Declan, who was grinning at me.

  “Go have a seat. I’ll bring ya some food,” he knocked on the bar counter.

  “Make it, I don’t know, something local for her?” I was lost on what to order, but the man just nodded, and when I went to go, add my beer order, he raised a finger to stop me.

  “Aye, and some ale. No worries.” He knocked on the bar and then walked off towards the back, behind the bar, into the kitchen.

  I said my thanks and went off to sit with Niku. She was still looking around at all the various species and different people in the rest area. I could see the excitement in her eyes as she danced around, and I grinned a little, glad she could see this and actually understand most of it, unlike my first time. I was still new to this entire world, and everything was just thrown at me so quickly.

  “He’s gonna bring some food out for us,” I told her.

  She nodded and said thank you ever so politely, but she never looked at me. I furrowed my brow and looked at her. “Did I do something wrong?”

  This made her look at me. It was kind of scary how fast she turned her head and looked right into my eyes. She had what might have been the most serious expression I’ve ever seen on her, and I felt like I was getting that stare that husbands talked about. The one that shriveled their testicles.

  “Uh…” I strangled out.

  “No, you did nothing wrong. If we’re friends, then we’re friends. There’s nothing wrong with that. You can go back to ogling the girl from the Northern Reaches now if you’d like,” Niku said coldly before she looked away and back out at the bar. She easily went back to inspecting the various kinds of people in the area.

  I furrowed my brow and then closed my eyes. I’m an idiot. Of course, that’s why she was upset. “Niku, no, I just didn’t want to presume anything. Wait… ogling the girl? I wasn’t. Her armor caught my eye. I’ve never seen pink armor before.”

  So, Niku had some jealousy in her, huh? I grinned a little stupidly at her. She stared at me, still with coldness in her eyes. “Didn’t want to assume? Maikeru, we’ve been together…”

  I held up a hand to stop her and closed my eyes. “Niku, I know. Just, girls where I come from… You can’t assume things like that without talking to them normally.”

  I think? That’s what I’ve gathered, anyway. I didn’t know. My job didn’t leave a lot of room for romance. Ugh. Then, just when I thought it wouldn’t get any worse, Declan came walking over to the table.

  “Oi, Maikeru. I forgot to tell you, I got a lad working in the kitchen from your world. His name is Adrian and, like your truck turned into an ox, his knife turned into a fuckin’ tiger.” Declan set the mugs of ale down on the table and looked at me with a wide grin.

  Niku’s eyes went wide, and she stared at me. My head hit the table.

  “What, what is it? Something I said? You're in deeper trouble?” Declan asked.

  All I could do was groan.

  I could feel Niku staring a hole in the side of my head before she turned back to Declan. “He’s what?”

  “Oh my. Uh, I think I hear my chef callin’ me from the back. I gotta go see what he needs. He’s still new, ya see, and not used to havin’ a fuckin’ tiger.”

  I watched Declan’s boots back up as he jumbled his words all together, making excuses before the man practically ran away from us. Then I could once more feel Niku’s eyes staring at the back of my head.

  “I guess it does make sense,” Niku said thoughtfully. “No wonder you know about the guns, and everything else. Plus, you are a bit…”

  I lifted my head and stared at her. “I’m a bit what?” I asked in mock anger but was grinning.

  “Weird,” she said flatly.

  I frowned and grabbed my mug of ale, taking a long pull before I set it back down. “I’m not weird.”

  Niku frowned, and I kinda just traced my fingers on the table nervously. “Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t know how to tell you. You’re only the second person who knows unless you’re counting gods. I didn’t tell him, though.”

  Niku breathed in deep, closed her eyes, nodded and we launched into it. I told her everything. We talked for hours and only really stopped when this British guy named Adrian brought out a large sushi boat for us. I had talked to him for a few minutes, just simple pleasantries but nothing major. He was from England and was a successful chef who owned a restaurant when he saw some weird lightning and wound up here.

  He looked about like a chef too, kind of degenerate with dark spiked hair and lanky. He was well dressed, though, in a black chef’s coat and houndstooth pants. I thanked him for the food and asked if he could get Declan to bring us another round, but I didn’t want to leave the conversation with Niku too long. He understood and nodded, and we both just remarked how it was nice to see someone from home. I let him know I had met a few others, and he had seemed in awe of it. Eventually he left, and I found Niku digging into the sushi.

  “You know, I told Declan to get us something you’d like, but I don’t think I’ve come across sushi since I’ve been here?” I asked because, obviously, eating raw fish wasn’t something I was going to get a ton of while I was on the road, but even when Nakayasu dined me, he didn’t serve anything like that.

  Niku waved her chopsticks around and swallowed something that looked like tuna on a bed of rice. “We have it, you just don’t see it that often. It’s usually for the nobility and the wealthy . I’ve only ever been able to try it once, and this is so much better than what I had.” She waved her chopsticks around at the large display of fish and grabbed another piece of the tuna roll.

  I laughed and dove in. She still asked me questions, and I described everything about my homeworld. The part she really got hung up on was that Betsy used not to be an ox.

  “Yeah, she was my truck. Which is a huge gas-powered machine that could pull around eighty thousand pounds,” I explained this to her after I washed down the rest of my mug of ale.

  Niku’s eyes went wide at the number. “Eighty… That must be why Betsy is so powerful, and why you.”

  I nodded along and then realized she was staring at my stomach. Well, probably not my stomach, but at my core. “No wonder Hisai is so interested in you and you have such a weird cultivation path.”

  I laughed and shrugged. “Come on, I’m not that weird.”

  “Maikeru, wait, is that even your name?” Niku blinked at me.

  I stared at her. “Kind of? I introduced myself with my real name when we first met, when I crashed, but you guys just called me Maikeru.”

  She looked at me expectantly, and I looked around the tavern. It had emptied out quite a bit while we had talked. There were still a few people. I even think I might have seen Minoru sitting at the bar counter. Hunched over and speaking to a woman who looked like a traditional geisha in white face paint, who wore dark robes that seemed to have shimmering pieces on them.

  “Michael,” I said it slowly when I looked back at her, and it actually came out like my real name. I blinked and stared at Niku. Maybe because of the magic of this place?

  Niku smiled at me and nodded. “Michael, it’s a strong name and sounds like Maikeru, sort of. Must be 9why…” she trailed off, and I could see she was thinking about the magic or the workings of the god that brought me here that was behind it all.

  Declan had brought us each more drinks, but instead of the ale it was a tall ceramic bottle and two small glasses. “Some sake for ya. I figure it’ll go better with the sushi. It’s stayin’ cold, right? Not getting warm. You guys have been working on it for a while. Adrian really fed ya.”

  We nodded and said it was fine. Niku said she had seen the rune inscriptions on the wood and had explained to me what they were. She wasn’t a rune maker herself, but knew some basics.

  “Finally, it’s getting a bit late, and if we were going to get a dinner crowd, they would have come by now.” Declan set an old timey large key on the table and slid it over to me.

  It had a tag hanging from it with the number ‘32.’ When I looked up at him questioningly, he smiled and explained.

  “No point in going out. It’ll be dark soon, and Wallace has taken a liking to that ox of yours, plus apparently Betsy seems happy as hell not to have to work for a night. Have a room on me,” he explained and winked at me.

  When I had started to explain to him that I would need another room, or to sleep out in my wagon, Niku reached and squeezed my knee, which promptly made me shut up.

  “What’s that, lad?” Declan turned towards us with a raised brow.

  “Oh, uh, nothing. Sorry Declan. Thanks for the room,” I smiled. He just nodded and then turned and left us alone.

  I looked over at Niku, who immediately let go of my knee with a raised brow. She just put another piece of sushi in her mouth and ignored my curious look. Man, I wasn’t trying to break the rules her boss set on the first night. Or her father. God dammit.

  Niku just scooted a little closer to me, and we finished eating and drinking until the moon was full in the sky, and we both went to bed in the single room with a single large bed.

  I’ll have you know, I was a complete gentleman. Nothing happened between us, and we were wearing clothes the entire time. Albeit they were thin bed clothing and there might have been.. Look, don’t worry about it. The point is Niku’s virtue wasn’t sullied, and we had a good night together where she slept in my arms.

  So, uh, I guess this officially means Niku is my girlfriend now?

  It'll be finished posting May 4th. I hope you guys enjoy it.

  I need a break from Michael and this world so I'm going to be writing another novella. :)

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