Once the pair had left the pub, the barman turned to us. He looked aggravated and for a moment I thought he was going to ask us to leave for our part in the disturbance.

“I’m sorry you had to deal with those two. I’ve banned both of them, but they keep coming in. Hopefully, they’ll think twice now.” He said while letting his bat hang at his side.

“It wasn’t your fault… I hope I didn’t cause too much of a scene.” I replied.

“Nope, I’m just glad that nothing was broken! Honestly those two are such a nuisance, I’m glad you dealt with them like that. I’m sure most of the regulars are too.”

The barman waived his hand in the direction of a couple of the nearby tables. The people sat there were murmuring in agreement with him and nodding their heads.

“I’m glad no one got hurt.”

“What are you all drinking? This round is on me.” The barman said beckoning us to the bar.

“Oh, we couldn’t…”

“Nonsense! I was too worried to get involved when they drew blades on you like that, but you dealt with them both. Let me thank you.”

“Sure…” I glanced at the girls who just shrugged at me. “Just a beer for me please.”

“Okay one beer, and what about you ladies?” He asked turning towards the girls.

“I’ll have a beer too please.” Replied Serin.

“Same here.” Answered Altria.

“I’ll have the same as them then.” Lillia said.

“Beer for me too please.” Replied Siofra.

“Okay, beers all round it is. Please go and take a seat, I’ll bring your drinks over in a moment.”

The barman hurried back to the bar, while we went and took the table near the window. It was where we had been heading to begin with before we were interrupted.

“Well, that was lucky!” Serin said as we all sat down.

“I know, I thought he was going to throw us all out.” I said in response.

“Yes, that could have happened, but you could have seriously hurt someone, or been injured yourself.”

“I know, I did hold back…”

“Yes, well you need to be careful. It’s frowned upon for an adventurer to fight with a civilian like that. You could have wound up in trouble.”

“That guy, he just got to me. His attitude and that look on his face.”

“I can understand that, and he did try to hit you first, so it wasn’t your fault. But you should be careful.”

“I will.”

“Thank you for standing up for me Theo.” Siofra said squeezing up close next to me. “But you do know I can look after myself?”

“I know, I’m sure if you had dealt with them, they would have ended up in a much worse state.”

“Yeah, Theo intervening like that probably saved us all a lot of trouble!” Lillia said agreeing with me.

“Hey, I can control myself.” Retorted Siofra.

The group laughed at her for a moment. Then while we were talking the barman returned with our drinks and laid them out on the table for us. I picked up my glass and gulped back a mouthful of the cold beer. Siofra was right, this was exactly what I needed. Despite the bit of hassle when we first walked in, I was glad we had come here.

“If you don’t mind me asking, are you all from the capital? I don’t think I’ve ever seen any of you in here before.” Asked the barman.

“Well, the four of us were from here originally, but it has been a long time since any of us lived here. Theo on the other hand wasn’t.” Serin explained to him.

“Oh, I see. Did you all come to see the summoning ritual today? It’s been quite busy here because of it.”

“Yes, that’s partly why we’re here. We witnessed it.”

“You mean you were inside the shrine?” He asked sounding a little surprised.

“We were.”

“I’m sorry, I had no idea that you were all so important. Forgive me, but I thought you were a wandering adventures party.”

“We are. We just happened to be invited. We were trying to keep a low profile, that was until Theo got involved with those two earlier.” Lillia tried to quiet the man’s sudden interest.

“Hmm, just ordinary adventurers, but you were invited to the ritual, hmm…” The man scratched his bald head in thought for a moment, until an idea seemingly popped into his head. “Don’t tell me, you’re here because of that thing that everybody’s been talking about. That thing about the one of the demon lord’s men being defeated?”

“Like I said, we’re trying to keep a low profile…” Lillia reiterated.

“I knew it!” He said loudly and excitedly.

“Please, I don’t mind you knowing, but could you at least keep it to yourself until we leave? I’d prefer to be able to drink in peace.”

“Sorry.” He apologised.

“Or maybe until we’ve left the capital? I’d like to be able to come here again.” Siofra suggested.

“Of course… Well, well, I should have known by how you dealt with those ruffians that you were a hero sir!”

All the girls turned their attention to me, along with the barman.

“He means you.” Altria put it bluntly.

“It was luck more than anything. I didn’t do anything special, and we were all lucky to get out of there… It would have been the same for any party that went in there, I’m sure.” I tried to explain.

“Modest too, definitely a hero. Who would have thought it? Coming to drink in my pub… Where are my manners? Thank you for what you did. We won’t be truly safe until the demon lord falls, but if one of theirs falls means we can all sleep a little easier at night.” He said holding out his hand to me apparently wanting me to shake it.

“Eh um, well, that is what we’re trying to do…” I said awkwardly while shaking his hand.

“The hero, well I never… I’ll leave you all in peace now. I expect you all want nothing more than a quiet drink.” He said leaving our table.

“Thanks…”

The man walked back to the bar with an excited look on his face. I was quite surprised to find out just how much that had meant to him.

“Well, that does it…” Lillia said a little dejectedly.

“Does what?” I asked not following her.

“I don’t think we’ll be able to drink in here again. We’ll be lucky if we can finish these in peace.”

“He won’t say anything.”

“I don’t think he can help it, look at him. He’s just dying to tell someone!”

I glanced over at the bar. I couldn’t deny what she was saying. It probably was just a matter of time until he said something to someone.

“You might be right.”

“We should probably quickly finish these and go and find somewhere else to eat.” Lillia suggested.

“Aww, but I like it in here.” Complained Siofra.

“So do I, but I was hoping that our faces wouldn't be recognised around town. At least until after we’ve seen the guild and been awarded the day after tomorrow. We should go before the word gets around to everyone else in here. If we don’t, we won’t be able to go anywhere in peace the whole time we’re here.”

“She has a point Siofra, we’ll have people bothering us everywhere we go when word gets out, including the guild.” Serin spoke up agreeing with Lillia.

“Okay I can see that being a pain.” Siofra said then slowly began draining her pint.

After the brief discussion we all got to work on finishing our drinks. I was still starting to get my head around the fact that it was considered such a big deal. But the reaction of the barman and from what I had heard from the girl back at the guild desk. I could guess how much interest we might gain if everyone knew it was us. It seemed sensible enough to avoid that for as long as was possible.

Once we had finished, we got up to leave and waved goodbye to the barman on our way out. We walked out into the street to look for somewhere else to eat. I half expected the two from earlier to be outside waiting for us, but they were nowhere to be seen. Hopefully, they realised that they would be no match for all of us. I was also half expecting another discussion about where to go to next, but once everyone was outside, Lillia took the lead.

“Come on, I know a good place a few streets down from here. It should be fairly quiet this time of day.”

No one seemed to be bothered enough to argue with Lillia making the choice for us. By now everyone was probably hungry enough just to go wherever was close enough. Lillia started walking down the street and the rest of the party followed her.