63 WinterHord (2) - Blue Harbor Village.

Firstly, good evening. Secondly, for those who will ask how many chapters this arc will have, counting the 3 chapters ahead in the (P)(A)(T), it should be about 5/6 more, meaning +8 chapters from here.

Of course, I'm trying to avoid dragging it out, as I want to move on to the next arc, which is a mission in another world. A world that I believe most readers have been hoping Devas would visit for some time.

That being said, time for a little self-promotion: Did you know I have a (P)(A)(T) now? Yes, I do! There are 3 chapters ahead in the Devas story and also 3 chapters in Hunter's story! (A story I'll resume posting here tomorrow!) All this for only 2 dollars!

Will I release a higher or lower tier in the future? Perhaps, but until then, it's just this.

(P)(A)(T)/CalleumArtori

[...]---[...]

"Is this the village?" I asked, looking at the village in the distance, near the beach.

It was a small village, from what I could see, both with my eyes and on the Minimap.

Quickly counting the people in the village, there were about a thousand, maybe less. The village was larger than Jille Village, but still tiny compared to the kingdom.

"That's the one. It's been a while since I've been here, but it still looks the same," Gilbert replied, just before pausing to sniff. "The smell is the same too. Fish and salt," he said with a hint of nostalgia.

"What a surprise, a fishing village near the sea smelling like fish and salt," Robyn said sarcastically, poking her father in the back.

"Trust me, daughter, it could smell much worse," he said, shrugging. "Never doubt the lack of hygiene a fishing village can have."

"I didn't know you changed professions and became a fisherman," Robyn sighed. "I'll stop picking up the glasses you leave around the house, found one with beer that's over six months old!"

"Gah! Slander. That beer was only two months old! And it was perfectly good for consumption. By the way, you threw away a good beer," Gilbert exclaimed, laughing at his daughter's disgusted face.

While father and daughter argued, Dylan approached me and said in a lower tone.

"Any orange dots?" He asked with tension in his voice. It seems like Jille had left some traumas.

"None, that was the first thing I checked." In fact, it was the first thing I checked when I arrived anywhere.

Dylan visibly relieved at my confirmation that no one in the village was being controlled.

"Shall we go then?" I asked, looking at the position of the Sun. "It's almost noon, let's eat and get back on the road." I said as I stored the Humvee in the inventory, making the owl look at me with an annoyed look for taking away her resting place.

Go find a tree or something, weird bird.

After my statement, Gilbert wasted no time in leading the way, walking ahead while pointing out locations in a general way, like a kind of tour guide.

While the four walked ahead, with Dylan paying attention to Gilbert's words, Robyn taking the utmost care not to get sandy and failing miserably, and Selina hopping lightly as if it were her first time out of the house in months, I slowed my pace, lagging a bit behind the others.

"Everything okay there, Millia?" I asked, looking at the slime that was in the pocket of my shirt. As for the Slime Staff, I was carrying it on my waist.

She seemed curious about the scenery, especially with the sea in the distance, as her body was turned in that direction. She didn't write, just shaped a hand and gave me a thumbs up before turning her attention back to the surroundings.

"I'll take that as a yes..." I said in a low voice.

I took advantage of the distance between our group and the village to read a bit of the stream chat.

[AdvocateOfGenderEquality]: So... Who thinks this village is going to be a bigger problem than it seems? Let's start a bet? +1 for yes, +2 for no. (Emote of a generic guy holding a sign that says +1)

[(MOD)GeniusBillionairePlayboy]: Normally I would vote yes, but in this case, I think all the trouble is saved for later, WinterHord. (Iron Man emote making a hologram with the number +2). By the way, DS, do you have that thing ready for use?...

[(MOD)RedHuntressLive]: +2 - Don't jinx it! Devas needs some rest, don't attract these things! (Little Red Riding Hood emote with a pout).

[JiraiyaIsAnIdiot]: Given the boy's history of attracting trouble, I'll vote +1. (Emote of an old frog shrugging). Just be careful, you're much stronger now, but don't be reckless if something happens.

[YellowHuntressLive]: I'll vote +2... As much as I'd like to vote +1, I feel like Ruby will jump on me the moment I do that. I'd rather avoid messing up my hair. (Emote of a yellow bear with long, shiny blonde hair).

[WiseWizardGleam]: From my experience, saying some things ends up attracting them, so I'll leave my vote at +2 then. That being said, it's a very beautiful place, it's been a while since I've seen a beach like this. (Old wizard emote working on some papers)

[BestToadSannin]: +1 (Emote of a very busy toad writing quickly)

[YellowFlash]: +2 (Emote of a very busy yellow toad writing quickly)

[(MOD)Jarvis]: [Started a vote: Something will happen in the fishing village? - Troubles will happen in the village! (+1 to vote for this option) No troubles will happen in the village! (+2 to vote for this option)].

Seeing the vote Kazuma had started, I found out a few things. First, Jarvis was an excellent stream moderator since none of my other (MODS), not even me, remembered that this option to create a vote existed.

Second, my viewers didn't seem to like me very much, or at least they seemed to think I was some kind of trouble magnet. Which, frankly, I also had my doubts about. Since a few moments after the vote started, the option that troubles would happen took the lead.

Fortunately, moments later it seemed to even out, with both options being about halfway.

Five minutes later, after walking on a road of stone and sand, we reached the entrance of the village.

Gilbert nodded to one of the men sitting on a box beside the gates, and the man nodded back.

"That's it... No checks? Nothing?... They didn't even ask the reason for our visit. Isn't that kind of irresponsible?" Dylan asked as we passed through the village gates.

I stopped momentarily to read the name of the village on the sign above the gates. Blue Harbor Village. It was a simple name, but it was to be expected in a way.

"The right thing would be for this to happen, but it's a fishing village with less than a thousand people... It's not strange that everyone knows each other, travelers and foreigners will stand out, whether they like it or not..." I commented vaguely as I looked around.

The entire village seemed to be made of white wood, every shop, house, port, everything seemed to be made of this wood. The layout of the village was to some extent simple, linear, heading towards the sea, creating some branches that turned into ports.

"Most, if not all, small villages I visited were like this." Gilbert commented with a somewhat distant voice. "When it comes to villages like this, each one has its way of keeping an eye on visitors..." He said mysteriously.

"Yeah, this one seems to use little rascals..." I said looking to the side, where I had heard the footsteps of the children following us through the alleys of the village.

"You noticed then..." Gilbert murmured, looking in the same direction.

"Kind of impossible not to, to be honest." I commented.

My senses had become much sharper since I arrived in Terraria, even more so after I learned Sun Breathing.

The children following us might be sneaky, but that alone was far from enough to sneak around while trailing us. There was also the fact that I had the Minimap, making the task of ambushing me practically impossible.

I wasn't the only one to notice; in fact, everyone in the group had noticed for one reason or another.

Robyn, because of the white owl on her head. The owl seemed to notice the children's noise before lightly tapping Robyn's head and pointing to where the children were.

Selina had been watching everything since we left the Humvee with an attentive and curious look.

I didn't know when, but she had discovered our little pursuers, as she didn't seem surprised when I said someone was following us, and even before I looked in their direction, she was already looking.

As for Dylan, curiously, the guide had used that magic of his, which makes his eyes glow slightly blue, since we entered the village, within a five-second interval.

Dylan had told me it was an innate magic of his, something he had since birth, which was quite rare in Terraria.

The guide had said it was basically a heightened analytical magic at an absurd level.

The description he gave me was that this ability was basically a mental library, where he could pull all the information he had ever received in his entire life to use at any time.

Of course, there were some caveats, but still, it was more than an excellent ability, to the point that I had asked why the hell Dylan didn't use it more often. The answer was somewhat obvious but still something I hadn't thought of.

Dylan didn't have much mana, even though he trained practically his whole life to expand his mana and used various types of items for it, his mana capacity was still small.

There was also the reason that, when using the ability for too long, Dylan ended up getting a headache, and if he used it long enough, he could even faint.

"Shall we go to them and tell them we've noticed?" Robyn sang, stroking her white fox, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"No need, let them follow us. We just came to eat and then leave." I shrugged and resumed walking.

Even if for some reason these children tried to steal from us, it was practically impossible, and frankly, if they managed to, I would grab the child and invite them to join the group.

After a few minutes of walking, while discussing where we would eat or whether we would buy seafood to cook ourselves, an old man ran towards us, as if looking for something.

I could see that he had an alarmed look on his face, as if whatever he was looking for was dangerous. This look only seemed to calm down when he set eyes on our group, first on me, then on Gilbert, and then back to me again.

He seemed to be around Gilbert's age, a few years older or younger. He had a strong but lean appearance, a slightly bronzed complexion, and a sparse beard, along with grayish hair.

He wore coastal clothing, a gray hat, fisherman pants, and a light blue shirt, along with a green vest and sandals, everything looking worn and faded from the sun and sea breeze.

As much as I thought he would be much younger, I could still recognize him. The Angler, one of the NPCs in Terraria.

Interestingly, as it seemed to be forming a pattern, he knew someone from our group.

"Gilbert, is that you, old man?" The Angler said in a hesitant, hoarse voice, shifting his gaze from me to Gilbert.

Hesitation that Gilbert seemed to share, as upon hearing the man's voice, he grimaced and seemed unsure whether to pretend he hadn't heard and keep walking or respond.

I briefly glanced at the others in the group who seemed confused, including Robyn. Didn't she know the man? An old friend of Gilbert's, perhaps? He had said it had been a while since he came to this village, hadn't he?

Gilbert hesitated for a few more moments before taking a step forward and raising his hand, responding to the man.

"Simon, yes, it's me..." He said shortly, creating an awkward atmosphere.

After a few seconds of the two just staring at each other, I took a step forward.

"An acquaintance of yours?" I asked, looking out of the corner of my eye at the Angler, who seemed tense under my gaze and looked down, into the pocket of his vest, which trembled as if there was something inside. Fishing insects, perhaps?

"Do you want some privacy to talk?" I asked, looking at Gilbert, shifting my gaze away from the Angler.

"Dad, are you okay?" Robyn asked, putting her hand on the merchant's shoulder. She had a worried look on her face.

"I... I'm fine, daughter, just an old friend of mine." He sighed as he placed his hand on top of Robyn's hand and gave it a gentle reassuring squeeze before turning to me.

"I'll take you up on that offer. Go ahead and buy the food... I'll catch up with you later." Gilbert said with a determined face.

"Is it something serious?" I said, changing my posture to a slightly bowed one. "Do you need help with something?"

I wouldn't go around killing random people for conflicts I wasn't part of, but if Gilbert wanted help, I wouldn't mind being his "second fighter," of course, if necessary, since the old merchant knew how to take care of himself.

I'll just be careful not to kill anyone; if necessary, I would pull out my boxing gloves again to avoid fatalities.

Funny, the last time I got into a fight like this, outside of Terraria, was in high school, and I was the one with the "second fighter" helping me...

Gilbert seemed amused by my actions and smiled slightly, regaining some of his humor.

"No, but I appreciate the offer. It won't end in a fight; it's just two old men who have postponed a certain conversation for too long..." He said looking at the Angler, who seemed to agree, nodding his head.

"Too long?... It's more like thirty years..." The Angler murmured, looking at me out of the corner of his eye before turning and starting to walk away.

Gilbert followed him a moment later, signaling to Robyn that everything was okay. This seemed to partially calm the fox-woman, but still, she seemed worried.

"Well... Let's keep going." I said looking in the direction Gilbert and the Angler had gone one last time before turning around.

"You said you wanted to eat shrimp, right, Robyn?" I asked, pulling the redhead out of her thoughts, and she nodded slowly in agreement.

"Great! Let's keep going, I'm sure I saw a place that sells fried shrimp, let's go there." I said raising my voice slightly and starting to walk.

This seemed to cheer Robyn up a bit more, but even so, she seemed to hesitate, looking where her father had gone. Selina was the one who helped her, putting her hand on her shoulders and guiding her.

"Can you tell me their coordinates?" Dylan asked quietly, taking advantage of Selina and Robyn being distracted.

I briefly looked at the Minimap before nodding in agreement. Dylan nodded back and spoke one last time before continuing to walk.

"Great, I'll just need to climb somewhere high then, in case something happens, just point me in the direction the old man went..." He murmured in a low tone, his eyes glowing slightly blue.

It seems I wasn't the only one concerned about the old merchant besides Robyn...

Well... Let's get the food first, it's been a while since I've had anything from the sea, and the fish and shrimp I have in the inventory are frozen, which takes away some of the flavor.

I just needed to ask Gilbert something when he came back... Why the hell is this village called Blue Harbor when basically everything is made of white wood?

[…]

POV: Gilbert Jheut.

"I didn't know you had moved back to Blue Harbor," I commented with a deep tone as I walked behind Simon.

"It happened a few years ago; I decided to return to the cradle, so to speak..." He replied with some hesitation. "And you, you didn't answer your EcoMirror last month..." He said without finishing the question. Did something happen?

"I had some issues; my caravan was robbed, and I kind of stayed out of society for a few months..." I replied without giving the real reason.

Although Simon and I had been estranged for a long time, every year he called me on the anniversary of our mother's death, the owner of the orphanage that took us in.

We didn't talk; we just drank for a few hours, listening to the sound of each other's drinks and ended the call.

This year, unfortunately or fortunately, I really couldn't say, that didn't happen because I was kind of enslaved by the Goblins.

"Well... You seem fine, so I suppose it wasn't anything serious..." He sighed, stopping when we reached the pier. Simon sat on a box, pointing to another one for me to sit.

I looked around for a few moments, recognizing the place. This was where we used to fish as children. I sighed, slightly nostalgic, and sat on the box in front of him.

We were silent for a few seconds before Simon was the first to reignite the conversation.

"Was that your daughter? The fox girl, I mean." He asked.

"Robyn, yes, my little girl..." I replied, wanting to let the conversation die and return to the group, eat, and leave, but I was old, the resentment I held against Simon, frankly, had disappeared years ago...

I'll be the older brother here, as always...

"... And you, do you have a family? A son or daughter?" I asked after a few moments. He seemed surprised for a few seconds before answering.

"A son, Gallius..." He chuckled to himself before continuing. "He's a merchant like you, a traveling merchant. He passed by here about a week and a half ago before leaving yesterday for a short trip." He said with a slight smile on his face.

A merchant... How ironic... Still, he didn't seem annoyed that his son followed my profession...

"Curious why I don't seem bothered by my kid having the same profession as you?" Simon asked, laughing slightly when I nodded in agreement.

"I'm old, Gilbert, I think you've noticed..." He said, pointing to himself before looking at me and continuing. "Well, both of us are, I guess." He sighed before continuing.

"I no longer have the desire to be angry, bitter in my old age..." He said in a lowered voice. "Jessica died ten years ago, but I think you already know that..." It was a statement, not a question.

"Yes, even though we didn't talk, I still received some news about her..." As much as I resented both of them, I still ended up reading the letters and replying to some.

When the letters stopped, it wasn't hard to figure out why...

Funny, she never mentioned having a child; maybe she thought I would get angry? Upset?... Frankly, I wouldn't blame her if she had those thoughts.

We spent a few minutes in silence before Simon spoke again.

"Back in action?" He asked. "Some important mission, it seems, for you to be accompanying two noble brats. What are they? Sons of a Count? A Marquis, maybe even a Duke?..." Miserable fisherman, always perceptive.

"Why do you think the two of them are high-ranking nobles' children?" I asked, confirming that they were nobles.

It wasn't hard to figure that out,

actually; the way the machine girl and the Oakwood boy acted was very different.

The way they walked, talked, even the aura around them was different; it took a good eye to instantly recognize that they weren't commoners.

But guessing that they were high-ranking nobles' children was something I didn't know how Simon had guessed...

"It's easy to see the difference between those two and your daughter..." He began to explain. "You've always had talent; you must have done well and made good money. It's not surprising that your daughter has that air of wealth, but still, it's very different from those two..."

"And me? As you said, I made good money, don't I have that noble air?" I asked.

He stared at me for about ten seconds before we both couldn't hold it anymore and burst into laughter.

"I see your humor is still the same, a joker, as always..." He said as he caught his breath.

I laughed for a few more seconds while holding my stomach before finally speaking. "Still, just that wouldn't be enough for you to assert it with such certainty... What made you so sure?" I asked, already imagining the reason.

"True, true... But what else would they be if not children of a high-ranking noble when they were being accompanied by that monster?" Simon asked rhetorically as he pulled something out of his vest pocket, an earring.

The earring had a simple appearance, resembling a fishhook, and at its end, hanging, there was a small water-green fish made of metal.

"I thought you had lost this thing..." I murmured.

Simon had found this earring years ago in a treasure chest he accidentally fished in the sea.

It was an ancient artifact; we researched in some places, even in the kingdom's library, but never found any information about this earring or anything similar to it.

When I saw him without it on his ear, I thought he might have lost it, as I was sure he wouldn't sell this earring for anything.

"I didn't lose it, just stopped wearing it on my ear all the time; I only put it on when I go fishing..." He explained, holding the earring in his hand.

When he did that, I noticed that the eye of the small metal fish on the earring was glowing in a purple color, and the earring also trembled slightly.

"Simon... It may have been a long time, but isn't it bad for this thing's eye to be this color?" I asked, getting up quickly.

One of the things that made this little earring so valuable and useful was that it could detect the danger in the area, changing color as it became more dangerous and trembling more when it was closer to that danger, whatever it was.

This little thing was part of the reason why Simon and I managed to survive in our adolescence, that and my instincts, along with my cunning, which got us out of various tight spots.

"Don't worry, it's nothing; look..." Simon said, moving the earring toward the city, causing its tremor to increase slightly.

"I almost had a heart attack when I felt the earring tremble so much, especially since I was in the middle of the city..." He said, putting the earring back in his pocket.

"I thought the city was being attacked by some monster; I ran as fast as I could to see if I could help... Imagine my surprise when I found out that the monster was your friend..." He murmured.

"Devas?... Actually, I can see that..." I said in a low voice.

Although purple, as far as I remembered, was not the color that represented the most danger, it was still one of the most dangerous... Well, the danger in this case was more subjective than anything else.

Was Devas dangerous? Yes, quite actually, but only to his enemies.

It was incredible how the same guy I had seen destroy an entire army of goblins while looking like a blood-covered demon was the same guy who had asked everyone in the group if it was okay to come to the beach or not.

He had even asked if anyone was allergic to anything and even asked that little slime if it was okay for her to get close to the sea, if nothing bad would happen.

The discrepancy was really funny... Even funnier was that just by existing, Devas almost gave Simon a heart attack... And he had no idea he had done that...

"Are you amused by something? Wouldn't it be my misfortune, would it?" Simon asked, pointing at me, who was holding back laughter.

"Yes, it's actually hilarious." I didn't deny it, finally starting to laugh.

Simon just sighed, but I could see that he had a slight smile on his face. After a few seconds, when I stopped laughing, Simon spoke again.

"With that guy on your team, I guess your final destination is WinterHord?" Simon asked, shifting his gaze to the sea.

"It's the biggest news of this past week, isn't it?" I asked back, not confirming anything.

"True, true..." He sang. "My son, Gallius, he was in WinterHord, just before this storm started..." He said with a vague, I dare say fearful, voice.

"I thank the spirits every day that he left there before it started..." He murmured.

I didn't know if he intended for me to hear that or not, so I didn't say anything.

"I know we've been at odds for a long time, but do you want to hear advice from your old friend here?" Simon asked, looking at me.

"I've never been against receiving good advice." I affirmed. "And I can't speak for you... But I'm too old to hold grudges about something that happened more than thirty years ago..." I said, extending a branch to Simon.

A branch he grabbed.

"I understand... I'm also too old to hold grudges..." He said with a relieved smile before getting serious.

"Don't go to WinterHord; that's my advice." He said without hesitation.

Before I could ask why, he continued.

"I said Gallius was in WinterHord just before this storm started, didn't I?" He asked rhetorically, nevertheless, I nodded in agreement.

"What I didn't mention is that whenever he goes on his trips, I give him the Angler Earring to know if there's something dangerous nearby." Angler Earring? Does he really still use that crappy name for the earring?

I must have shown something on my face because he briefly said before continuing, "Yes, I still use that name; I'm a fisherman, the earring has a fish, what better name?" He said playfully.

"The only reason I have the earring now is that I got drunk on the night my idiot son left, and he thought it was a good idea to go out without grabbing the earring." Simon shook his head before continuing.

"My son said that just before the storm started, when he was already far from the city, the earring glowed before starting to tremble..." He said seriously.

"Remember when we both set the colors for the earring to glow?" He asked, taking the earring out of his pocket.

"Yes, you wanted to put everything in shades of green, a crappy idea." I affirmed, making Simon laugh.

"Still remember the order?" He asked after a few moments.

"Vaguely." I affirmed. It had been a while since I thought about it; I just remembered that purple was one of the last.

Simon took a toothpick from the back pocket of his pants and opened a compartment of the earring before starting to poke it with the toothpick, making the color of the fish's eyes change.

"Green, the least dangerous color," he said. "This color practically appears every day when I'm fishing; any big fish or shark activates this thing."

He then started changing the colors quickly: Yellow, Orange, Blue, Pink, Purple...

"In the times when we were contractors, the highest color we saw was a Blue color, that time we encountered a mountain troll." He recalled, leaving the color in purple.

"Your friend there, the one who almost gave me a heart attack, is two colors worse than that troll who killed an entire squad of steel-ranked contractors before being killed by the royal mage." He commented.

"And you wanted to join that mission, saying that since it was the two of us who found him, we were entitled to a share of the profit." I said with nostalgia in my voice.

"I was kind of dumb; luckily, I had you and this earring to save me." He said, swinging the earring with a smile on his face.

"The color that my son said the earring turned into was this same color..." He said, pointing to the purple eyes of the fish.

"Just before the storm started, you said?" I asked, looking at the earring.

Could Devas be right? Was the storm alive?... That... wasn't good...

Even though the earring shone in the same color for both Devas and the storm, Devas was just one person, and he was less than two meters tall, the storm encompassed an entire city...

"Yes, just before the storm started, and the earring trembled more when pointed in the direction of the storm..." Simon affirmed. "Gallius said it was as if the storm carried more than just cold and snow; it was as if it carried grievances, resentments... insanity..."

"I don't know what you guys intend to do there..." Simon said, looking at the city where the rest of the group was. "But my recommendation is, go back home, let this sort itself out or let the kingdom send someone to handle it." That was the problem, old fisherman...

We were the ones the kingdom sent to handle this problem... Well, in parts, our mission was to rescue the Oakwood boy's sister, in case we happened to solve this problem, it was a bonus.

"We can't." I said, practically confirming that we were going to WinterHord. "It involves family." I affirmed, making Simon frown.

Ignoring the fact that this was a mission from the Duchess to save her daughter, this daughter was Dylan's sister, our Oakwood boy. We couldn't just let it go...

"I knew it was going to be something like this. You always had a special talent for getting into trouble..." Simon murmured before saying, "Take this." And throwing the earring in my direction.

I caught it easily, but before I could ask the reason for such an act, Simon stood up and put his hand on my shoulder.

"Take it with you, it should help..." He said with a determined face. "Let's have some beers when you come back, okay?" He asked.

I looked at the earring for a moment before getting up.

"Like the old times?" I asked, extending my hand to him.

"Like the old times." He affirmed, accepting my handshake.

After connecting my new EcoMirror with Simon's EcoMirror, I bid farewell to my old friend and returned to the city.

I didn't know if the Angler Earring... What a crappy name. I didn't know if this earring would be useful since if it was really the storm that was alive, it wouldn't make a difference whether I had it or not, as everything in the area would be dangerous.

But still, it was an extra tool to keep everyone in the group alive...

"Well... Let's eat and hit the road again..." I murmured, calling Devas with my EcoMirror to find out where they were.

Even though I had had breakfast, I was already getting hungry... What time was it again?

POV: Devas Asura.

"Gilbert! Took you long, anything happened?" I asked, waving to the old merchant walking towards us. Was that a fish earring in his ear?...

That wasn't one of the game accessories, or am I going crazy?

"Nothing, just talked and settled some matters... I'll tell you later if you want to know." He sang as he sat down. He must have noticed I looked at the earring since he commented after sitting.

"The earring is something borrowed from an... old friend, so to speak, should help us. I'll explain when the rest of the group is here." He said, pointing to the table, where only he and I were.

"So, why did you decide to eat at this restaurant?" He asked, looking at the menu. "Nevermind, I figured out the reason." He said, looking at the part of the menu that had fried shrimp.

I laughed as I leaned back in the chair.

"We bought some fish and seafood before coming here, so we can eat them later." I commented. Time in the static VoidBag, well, most of the time.

So the fish and the rest of the food we bought would still be fresh, even if we decided to eat them a week from now.

"Hmm... Good idea. I have a fish stew recipe that is delicious..." Gilbert murmured before asking. "And the rest of the group, where are they?"

"Dylan went to the bathroom." I pointed to the restaurant's bathroom. "Robyn is over there at the counter, ordering our food." I pointed to the fox woman and her two white animals.

I just hope she remembers to order more than just shrimp...

"As for Selina, she's over there, buying some weird fish juice." I pointed to the stand next to the restaurant, where the Steampunker was.

I shudder just thinking about the taste of that drink... Ugh!...

"Huh? Fish juice?... It's been a while since I had one of those; I'll order one too." Gilbert said as he stood up and rushed to the stand where Selina was buying juice. "Be right back." He said as he left.

Was I the only normal one here?...

"Millia, didn't you say that salt makes your gel bubbly?... You know that fish and shrimp have salt, right?" I asked the slime that was still in the pocket of my shirt.

Millia put only a part of her body out of the pocket and wrote: "I know! But it's only if I eat too much salt that I get sick, and if I drink water while eating the fish, everything will be fine! :D."

"Fair enough..." I sang as I picked up my phone.

It was two in the afternoon. After eating, we still had plenty of sunlight ahead, that is, of course, if I were only driving during the day.

"I'm back, anything happened?" Dylan asked as he sat down.

"Gilbert came back and went to buy fish juice with his cousin." I pointed to the stand next door.

Dylan made a disgusted face with that information.

"Fish juice?..." He muttered.

I'm glad I wasn't the only one who found that weird...

[...]---[...]

Well, straight to the chapter, I'll be brief.

We had some important information in this chapter, Dylan's ability, some things about Gilbert's lore, (which will be useful in the future). The fisherman's toast and some other minor things that I'll let you discover.

Well, that's it, good night everyone, happy reading!

PS: What do you think happened between Gilbert and Simon?