Thalia didn’t hide her happiness when I said I was taking the job, with a big smile on her face, she pulled out a feather and started writing in a piece of parchment… Oh gods, no, I can’t afford this expensive thing! Please stop!

She seemed completely oblivious to my inner panic though, as she started talking while writing, “I’ll send a letter to the king telling him who accepted his job. He should send an envoy after you before long, so please avoid leaving the city until then.” I nodded in response, “Well, that will be all for now, you have some free time, so why not check out the guild’s tavern?” Thalia just gave me a job and she’s already trying to suck my money away!? What’s up with this devil’s schemes!?

It was actually embarrassing to say it out loud though, so I fidgeted a little before replying in a low voice, “I… Don’t have the money to spend in a tavern…”

“Oh…” She sounds very disappointed… “Well, it doesn’t hurt to take a look, maybe something will strike your fancy. At the very least you should try getting to know your coworkers there.” Thalia is totally trying to make me spend what little I have left, isn’t she? People from the capital are scary…

Iris suddenly intervened, “Should we take a look then?” shouldn’t you be more worried about my current financial situation!? “It’s not like we have anything better to do right now.” Of course there is! We could… We could… I have no idea what people do in big cities.

“I suppose I could take a look… Don’t expect me to spend any money though!” I ended up answering.

“You have no need to, enjoy your stay.” Thalia said while waving her hand… Why can’t I bring myself to trust this phrase?

I sighed inwardly before turning to the side and going through the door that led to the tavern. Once I opened it, the merry shouts that came from it became a lot louder… Are those the heroes from this city? Shouldn’t they be working at this hour? Feels like this is a gathering of drunkards with nothing better to do.

After sighing again, I stepped inside and closed the door behind me… Surprisingly, the tavern looked pretty neat actually. It received proper illuminating through the windows that led outside and was far cleaner than what I expected it to be.

To my left there was a counter with an… Orc? Yes, an orc was tending to it, he was cleaning a beer mug while talking to a handful of clients sat across him. Unusual.

To the front there were a few tables with a dozen or so people in them, and to the right I could see a board with some wooden tablets on them, I guess those are the requests Thalia told me about?

Wait, so… All this noise is coming from roughly fifteen people? They’re certainly loud.

After staring for a while, I turned to Iris, “What do I do now?”

“Try talking to them of course!” As if! They’re drunk! This is dangerous!

“But I don’t know what to even say to them…” What do heroes even talk about in their free time…?

“Just talk about the weather or whatever,” Seriously? “You just need to stop being a loner and start making some friends!” That’s rude! I did have some friends back then… Like… Her… Let’s not think about that.

“It’s not like I need friends when I have you though…” She blushed in response, I love how cute Iris can be sometimes.

“I… Idiot! I can’t be here all the time, you know that!” I prefer to not think about that though…

“Yeah… I do know…” I looked downwards, unable to say anything else.

“Sorry…” Iris apologized, “But running from it won’t change the fact we can’t always be together.” You don’t need to hit me with the truth either…

We got silent… There was an awkward mood between us that made it hard to say anything else… Gods, I hate when this happens.

Suddenly, my thoughts were interrupted, “Hey, missy, for how long are you going to stay there? You’re blocking the passage.” The bartender shouted my way.

Passage…? I mean, I get that I’m near the door, but nobody came or left since I got here, so I’m not sure this really matters… I suppose I should apologize nonetheless, “Ah, sorry, I just didn’t know where to go…” I moved a bit to the side to get away from the door.

One of the patrons answered, “Where else? You’re in a tavern, sit in a table and drink, girl!” He was a blond man in shining armor that would probably pass for a knight… If he didn’t look completely drunk… No thanks.

“I’m… Too poor to spend in here…” I answered honestly.

He got up and approached me… No, get away! “Then get a job to fetch those coins! Can’t finish a day without a good drink at the tavern, right?!” First of all, the day just started. Second, no, I can finish the day just fine without drinking so much that I smell like a rotten onion.

I took a step back, but the wall was right behind me, so I couldn’t get any further… Meanwhile, Iris was giggling… How mean! I need help here!

The man got next to me and put his arm around my shoulder… Eeeek! Shoo! Get away! You stink! “Come on, let’s take a job, I’ll help you in your first one, what are you good at?” He started saying while walking towards the board with me in tow.

“I don’t need one, I already got one from Thalia! And I can’t read that board anyways!” I shrugged his arm off and took some distance… Then the whole tavern started laughing. What!? Why!?

One of the other patrons shouted, “You got dumped again, Froyd! By an illiterate girl no less!” Hey, that’s rude! Even if true!

As that went on, Iris flew to the top of my head and started patting my head while saying ‘there there’, which felt a bit relaxing… Though my tail started involuntarily wiggling, that was embarrassing, I hope nobody saw it.

As for the guy in question, Froyd I guess, he seemed pretty dejected and slumped down in a chair before shouting, “Pierre, another beer!” To which the bartender Orc nodded and started pouring beer on a mug… Pierre? The orc’s name is Pierre!? Talk about unusual…

Suddenly, a voice came from the side, “Don’t think too badly of him, Froyd is just bad with approaching women, but he is a good guy if you look really deep down.” Whoa!? I jumped to the side, since when was a guy right next to me!? He laughed, “Sorry sorry, didn’t mean to surprise you, name’s Lute, yours?”

Lute had slightly long black hair and wore a dark brown cloak that seemed to mesh with the surroundings really well, he looked like the kind of shady person you’d see in an alley and run away from as quickly as possible. “Aria.” I answered plainly.

Before I noticed it, he was holding my hand and… Kissed its back!? What’s wrong with you!? “Such a lovely name you have, my lady, if it doesn’t bother you, could you give me the pleasure of treating you to a drink?”

I could feel Iris getting hotter while on the top of my head, I bet she is burning red right now, even more than normal… Which is super cute, jealous Iris is also lovely.

That said, this guy was disgusting me, so I moved my hand away from his and slapped him with the very back that he kissed, “No thanks, I’m engaged already.”

He looked at me with an expression that mixed surprise and… Anger. Oh dear gods, I’m so going to regret this…

However, Iris seemed to be panicking as she flew to the front of my face and started shouting, “Wa-wa-wa-wait a moment! Engaged!? Since when?! To whom!?” Aaaawn, she is so lovely, I wanna kiss her right now…

“To you, of course!” I answered earnestly, to which she blushed heavily.

“I-I-I… I can’t simply accept that… A-and you didn’t even make a formal proposal! When did we get engaged in the first place!?” She staggering like that just makes me more and more in love though.

I held her tiny hands before continuing, “That’s not a problem! I can propose right now, please marry me, Iris!”

She looked downwards before saying in a very small tone, “I can’t…” Ah, I messed up. “You know that I…” Iris couldn’t finish though, for a very loud laughter echoed from the counter, surprising us both.

The orc there was cackling to his heart’s content while hitting his hand in the counter so strongly that it made me wonder if it wouldn’t break the wood… Scary. “Tough luck Lute, the girl is a lesbian!” He shouted loudly while laughing, the guy in front of us seemed to get red as he was being made fun of apparently.

In all honesty, I completely forgot about their existence while flirting with Iris, so I actually feel a bit bad for him… Just a small bit. Luckily enough though, the anger seemed to have faded from his face after this.

Lute sat down next to Froyd and also ordered some beer, which Pierre happily served while still laughing… Okay, that really did make me feel bad.

I ended up sitting in front of them and said, “Sorry for acting like that…” Iris on the other hand sat on my shoulder and looked to the sides… I really did go too far this time, I’ll have to apologize later.

Froyd answered, “No, it was my fault for approaching you without asking first, I’m the sorry one.” I was actually talking to Lute, but I’ll accept the apology.

Lute seemed to agree as he also apologized, then asked, “So, I guess you’re a new hero? It’s rare to have women joining this kind of profession, what made you come here?” Not that I didn’t notice it before, but there were indeed only guys in the tavern right now… I thought it was because the girls were actually working… Hearing there weren’t many around was a bit depressing.

“I just wished for a change of pace…” I answered vaguely.

Froyd, in response, shouted, “A change of pace?! Becoming a hero is a change of pace!?” Oh gods, this seems troublesome… Or so I thought, until he started laughing, “You must be incredible to think like that! Just how many dragons did you kill to get this kind of confidence?!”

Uhn… Dragons? Does he have a problem in his head or something…? Oh, right, according to what Thalia said all those people are actually monsters that defy common sense, so his standards must be completely bonkers… Better fix that. “Actually, I kind of joined by mistake…” I meekly answered.

“By… Mistake?” Lute asked curiously… Don’t get me this confused stare, it’s embarrassing.

I hesitated a bit to answer, “Uhn… Yeah, I thought this was a different kind of place, and I didn’t have the money to register anywhere else, so… I’m now working here I guess?”

Froyd spit his beer… Gross. “Wait, what!? Didn’t you say you got a job though, what was it then!?”

I’m more surprised he is believing me instead of thinking I just said that to get away from him. Nonetheless, I started answering, “That was…” though I stopped right away. I mean, am I even allowed to speak of it? It did involve the king after all, so maybe it was a confidential thing…

While I pondered on that, a man in armor came from the door with a piece of parchment in hand and shouted, “Is there a mage named Aria in here?” Oh, great, now what?