"Thanks, Morad."

Leon was probably in the top 50 worst people I've ever met, at least judging from what I've been told, a traitor, liar, and a general piece of shit.

"Well, now that we're done with that, you want to eat something."

But treachery pays well, after rushing his job application with the help of some good old capitalism, Leon turned to me with question marks in his expression.

"You're obviously loaded, so feed me."

"You can get free food from-"

"No! I want to go to that restaurant!"

A traditional-looking restaurant caught my attention, specifically a dish being served to two people sitting on the ground.

"Aren't we going to be late?"

"It's fine, it hasn't even been an hour, we can relax for a bit."

"I'm not sure..."

"I said it's fine."

I forcefully pushed him.

"Okay, just don't be so rough, I'm still hurt."

"That's the spirit!"

I looked at the menu outside, tagin, bestila, keskso, everything a man needs in life.

"Why are you just standing?"

"Sometimes life's too good!"

This country was so ridiculously similar to my old one that it made me suspicious. I heard Darija on the streets, some men and women were dressed in Kofatn and jellabat, and now the same food, but I had to make sure by ordering three large plates of keskso with extra meat, and hrissa on the side since Leon's a chicken.

"So gorgeous!"

Leon looked confused when I started bawling.

"I told you it's too hot."

"Those were manly sentimental tears."

"What's there to be sentimental about? It's couscous."

His way of pronouncing seemed a bit off, as if he were trying to get it wrong on purpose.

"Keskso."

"I thought you were from Maarfa. How's your pronunciation so good?"

Dumbass! I did my best to speak English exclusively, yet I made such an avoidable mistake.

"From Hayat, actually."

May told me that if I were asked, it's safer to say that, apparently, it's full of wildly different cultures and languages, so nobody would question it too much.

"My mom used to make it."

"I see."

Leon's smile seemed more relaxed, as if he were happy with my correction.

"This must be terrible in comparison, sorry."

Why is he apologizing?

"Well, she's dead, so it doesn't matter."

"What was she like? If you don't mind me asking."

Why is he asking? May said that it's easier to inherit another's contracts the more you know about them, or maybe he's trying to gain a psychological advantage.

"She was kind, the type of mom you'd hear about in stories, valiant, protective. It's a shame I turned out like this despite her and dad's guidance."

So I lied.

"Is your dad also..."

"Yeah"

Well, I wasn't 100% sure they were dead, but even if they're still kicking, my parents are dead to me.

"How did they die?"

He's definitely trying to get something out of me. Why is he asking something like that?

"S-Sorry I asked, that was rude of me."

"Don't worry about it."

Is he...? No. Why would he be interested in something like that?

"..."

And now he's as sheepish as a kid getting admonished by their parent. I guess I need to say something. In this kind of social situation, it's common to return the question. But is that applicable in this case?

"What about you?"

I said while stuffing my face, probably inappropriate, but I was still starving.

"They both died in a flood when I was 11."

What's the usual response for something like that?

"Sorry for your loss."

That's what I've seen in old movies. Judging from Leon's polite smile, it wasn't a bad response.

"It's fine, more than 20 years have gone by since then. When it comes to wounds like these, they heal rather than fester with time."

Wait, does that mean Leon's at least 31? I couldn't tell by looking at him, he's clean-shaven and thin as hell, I guess that makes him look a decade younger.

"S-Sorry, I'm not insinuating that you should feel the same way I do."

His habit of constant apologies started to grate on me.

"It's not that, I'm just looking around."

"Is this your first time staying in Tanja?"

"My first time in Rahma, actually."

"Really!"

He seemed oddly excited about that. Did I accidentally say something wrong?

"Yeah."

"Then I'll show you around since we have some time."

"Weren't you complaining about not having enough time?"

"You're right, I'm sorry."

Oh my God, you fucking octopus! Grow a backbone!

"But I'm already curious, we can walk around for an hour or two."

"Great!"

Is this a trap? Then why did he give up on it so easily? He didn't guide the conversation this way either, so I'll just have to accept that he's genuine about this for some reason.

"Of course, you'll pay for everything."

"Y-yeah."

We bought two jellabat on the way, which was my idea of getting in the mood, and Leon led the way to a large, majestic-looking old palace. Calling the architecture sublime would feel like an understatement. Standing here, I felt like an ant in an empty pool. This place, still breathing, has lost its purpose. Now it was full of people looking around, artists portraying its various walls and sealings.

"It's amazing, isn't it?"

Leon seemed unreasonably proud, it made me want to disagree just to spite him, but even I couldn't deny the seductiveness that coated the palace's every crevice.

"It is, who originally lived in this place?"

"Almoravids, I think, maybe Yahya Ibn-"

"Before them, it was occupied by Rahma's core, the God of love, lust, and mercy."

The voice came from my right, an odd man with brown hair and black eyes, wearing a stainless white jellaba.

"Do I know you?" Leon responded.

"My name is Rashid. I suppose you're Maarifi?"

"Yeah, are you a guide here?"

"No, just an aspiring historian, Rahma's a special interest of mine."

"So what did you say about the God?"

I got curious despite myself.

"The God of mercy built Rahma 600 years ago; its early civilisation was nomadic tribes from what would later become the Hayat Republic. Almorabitun only formed 100 years into Rahma's history, but from letters addressed to her at the time, we can assume that the God of mercy lived in this very palace for some time before that."

"Woaw! Why don't they advertise that on the front door?"

He shrugged.

"The God of mercy denied any association with the palace."

"People just talk to her!"

He looked at Leon in confusion before seeming to realize something.

"He's from Hayat."

"Oh! I see how it is."

"YOU DO?!" I wanted to scream, but I had to take this chance and back off.

"So where will you two go next?"

"Hmm, we'll go eat, you're welcome to tag along, it's all on Noel over here."

I didn't have time to think about a more creative fake name.

"Are you serious? We just ate!"

"And I'm already starving again."

"Fine..."

"Hey, is it really okay if I come with you?"

Rashid seemed wary.

"Of course, you're welcome to join us." Leon assured.

"Thank you very much."

"We'll order some more keskso from that restaurant."

"We just ate there."

"So we know they're good, why change it up?"

"Fi-"

"I think it's important to change up where you eat, it allows you to explore new horizons and find things you didn't expect." Rashid interrupted.

"But what if the food sucks? I don't know the place, so it could turn out horrible."

"But it could also be a great experience, if the lack of knowledge is what scares you, I can remedy that issue by suggesting a place."

"But what if I don't like your taste?"

"Guys, it's just a restaurant."

"What do you think?" Rashid turned to Leon, trying to get a second opinion.

"Well, sometimes I feel like trying new things, but I have the urge to stick with what I know most of the time. I think that's how most people feel..."

"So what are you feeling now!" I was getting impatient.

"If you're that worried about it, why not just play rock-paper-scissors?"

"Alright!"

I accepted it easily, putting my right fist in my left palm to my right side, as if preparing a punch. Rashid, on the other hand, just put his right hand behind his head.

"First comes rock!"

Apparently, this gives good luck when playing rock-paper-scissors, not that it mattered, I lost.

"Best of three!"

Again.

"Best of five!"

And again.

"Best of seven?"

"We could stay here all day, the results won't change."

"Then we'll stay two days!"

No matter how closely I observed him, Rashid wasn't cheating, he even closed his eyes since our third game. Maybe he's just incredibly lucky, but I wasn't satisfied with leaving it at that. We'll keep playing until I figure out his pattern.

"Sorry to interrupt, but we can't stay here that long."

Leon was unfortunately right. I hated losing like this...

"Yeah, I got it."

But we couldn't stay out for too long.

"How did you predict all my moves anyway?"

Did he have a contract that allowed him to read my mind? Why would he use something like that in a game of rock-paper-scissors? Unless it only specifically works in rock-paper-scissors as a condition.

"Your moves?"

He looked to me with question marks in his eyes.

"I just threw out whichever one I felt like."

He's definitely lying, but I figured out his rock-paper-scissors mind-reading tricks.

"So what's the place you wanna go to?"

"A nearby restaurant that makes the best rfissa in the entirety of the first platform."

"Not all of Rahma? That's disappointing."

"I find your standards troubling."

"I'm sorry for his behavior."

"I'm not."

I'm pretty sure he made apologizing into an Olympic sport at this point.

"No need."

"Let's go!'

We walked for about 15 minutes before reaching the restaurant.

"Beautiful!"

Leon mumbled, but I couldn't blame him. The beautifully decorated floor and ornate walls gave this place a succulent atmosphere, and the gorgeous chairs and tables made me hesitate for a bit before sitting down.

"What do you think?"

"Is it really okay to be here?"

"Why are you anxious now? I'm the one paying, so you don't need to worry about money."

"It's not that. I've never eaten at a place this luxurious before, it feels strange."

"Really?"

Leon seemed surprised.

"I mean, it's impressive, but not once-in-a-lifetime impressive."

Lucky bitch!

"I assume you're both fine with rfissa."

"That's why I came here."

"I won't take anything, I'm already full."

"You're still full after all that walking!?"

"How are you not? I feel like I won't need to eat for the next week."

"Weak!"

Any thoughts of Leon fled my mind the moment I got a whiff of the food on the table to our right.

"Rahma's the beeeest..."

That reminded me, I asked him to tag along so I could ask some questions about this country.

"Rashid, can Rahma move?"

I remember May saying something like that after we killed Nak.

"Hm... how did you hear that phrased?"

"I hope Rahma hasn't moved, I think."

He was in deep thought, as if I had asked him a complicated philosophical question.

"Rahma was originally built with the capability of changing its location, since it was much smaller at the time, and thus vulnerable to catastrophes, but it lost that function more than 150 years ago. In modern day, I hope Rahma hasn't moved is an expression used not to refer to its location, but its policies. It became a popular phrase after the 6-year revolution 70 years ago."

"That's when it got the nickname, the immovable."

Leon chimed in.

"That's incorrect."

Just to get shut down.

"That's an incorrect, widespread rumor; Rahma has been referred to as the immovable as far back as 50 A.R."

"..."

"You didn't need to do him like that, he won't speak again for the rest of his life."

"It earned the name after repelling a full-on invasion by the United Regions. General Karl Jones was among the first to call it thus in his letter to the president, justifying retreat: Rahma has proven immovable and impregnable. And his words have held true throughout history. Rahma has never lost a defensive battle."

"Really? Didn't you say it was small enough that a catastrophe would be a threat?"

The one that chased me was around the size of a small city, certainly big, but not enough to destroy something as big as Rahma, or maybe I just encountered one of the smaller ones.

"Where did you grow up?"

"A backwater village, more or less."

"Oh! Well, Rahma's design is wholly unique. When it was first built, all its platforms combined were roughly the size of the one we're on, but it grew to accommodate its citizens."

The way he phrased it was odd.

"It grew?"

"Yeah, whenever one becomes a Rahma citizen, they make a contract with the God of mercy, to never betray Rahma or divulge its secrets, and in return, it accepts and makes space for them."

"..."

That's insane! So that's the kind of power a God holds. I'd like to believe that he's lying, but Leon's acting like this is common knowledge.

"That's all thanks to that God?"

"The God of mercy." Leon corrected.

"That's insane!"

"Not particularly, especially compared to Hayat's God."

Leon chuckled after hearing that. I just smiled along, not knowing what he meant.

"It's finally here."

I took my plate before the waiter could put it on the table. I wasn't lying earlier, I'm almost always hungry, maybe it's because of the swords or my suit passively sucking out blood, probably both.

"But maan, that's a psychotic amount of power."

What are the parameters of a contract like that? Assuming they even abide by the same rules, but asking them might be risky, so I'll bother May about it later.

"Gods are."

I was waiting for a continuation, but it didn't come. Is that some religious shit? Speaking of religion, are there even multiple religions when Gods unequivically, provably exist? If that's the case, why is Rahma the way it is? Morocco's language and culture are deeply intertwined with Islam. Well, no point thinking about it, it wouldn't help even if I figured out something like that.

"It makes me envious, you know, with that amount of power, anything's possible."

"Is it?" Rashid responded.

Unlike me, his way of eating was neat and organized.

"Why not? I could just do what I want and beat up anyone who tries to stop me."

"If you were the only God, sure."

Leon joined the conversation.

"But considering there are seven, every God is contained within their country; otherwise, they're vulnerable to other Gods swooping in to destroy everything they've built."

"Then don't tie yourself down with something as big as a country."

"He's definitely from Hayat," Rashid said with a chuckle. "But more importantly," He continued. "I don't think the power they have is necessarily a good thing. The more power they have, the bigger the gap between them and normal people, and add to that the fact that they rarely meet one another, it'd make it harder to empathize with everyone around them, so I don't think we should envy the Gods, but instead pity them, for at least we're weak enough to do so."

Seems I wasn't the only part-time poet.

"That's an interesting way to see it." Leon seemed impressed.

"I don't think I'll pity them as long as they can still break all my joints in 5 seconds."

Rashid smiled before getting up.

"That's the way I see it."

"You going already?"

"Yes, it's been fun talking to you two."

He put 200 DH on the table, which seemed to shock Leon more than it should. 200 shouldn't be enough to even pay half the tab.

"That's too much, it's just 20, so let me take care of it, I already said I would."

20! Somehow, that's the most shocking thing I've witnessed in this world.

"Don't worry about it."

His eyes suddenly lit up, as if he had just remembered something.

"What's your name?"

I haven't settled on a good fake name, but now that I've been put on the spot, I threw out the first one that came to mind.

"Gabriell."

"Huh, cool name."

"Thanks."

"Well, goodbye, Mister Gabriel, Mister Leon."

It took me a good 5 minutes to realise what he said, in my defence, I was eating.

"Did you already know him?"

"No, I think he somehow unraveled your ingenious trickery."

"Oh shut up, like your gang got better names."

"You're right, sorry."

That's it!

"Why do you only treat me like that? You were acting normal with Rashid. Why are you always apologizing to me?"

"Because Rashid..."

His expression turned solemn, the same pathetic expression as when we were talking about the tonfa woman.

"Doesn't know how horrible a person I am. It's not like I'm trying to treat you differently, it's just how I am."

"So because you betrayed us, almost got me killed, and we could still die because of your actions?"

"..."

There are two types of garbage in the world: people who refuse to pay their debts and those who deny them altogether. Despite what might have happened in his past, when it came to us, Leon was neither, he was risking his life and livelihood to help us.

"I'm not gonna tell you that you're a good person or anything like that, I'm not the person to deliver a judgment like that, but..."

I stuck my thumb out and pointed at myself.

"Don't you dare look down on me, I'm the biggest success humanity ever made, so it's just disgusting when you apologize to me!"

"I-I didn't m-"

"It doesn't matter, I still take deep offence to it, so don't apologise or I'll cut off your legs and force you to march!"

"Hohehehe!"

Leon burst out in weird laughter for a good few minutes before finally wiping the tears out of his eyes.

"You certainly have a unique way of motivating a guy."

"I'm just saying what I think."

"Right."

He relaxed his stiff shoulders, and even though his expression was still pathetic, it was much better than before

"Let's go, we're gonna be late."

"Yeah, maybe we shouldn't go out with every guy we meet for an hour."

"You're right, I'll get a woman next time, we'll eat like kings."

"...Thank you, Jack."

"You'll thank me plenty fool, a whole job's worth."

That was the end of our impromptu, revelation-heavy, surprise-filled date.