Tian started eying his back curiously, “So what is with the strange sack on your back?” he asked.

 

Cain raised an eyebrow before laughing, he had completely forgotten he was wearing a backpack. “Well, I brought some gifts.” He said with a smile.

 

Seeing Tian’s eyes widen slightly Cain waved him over to one of the many table’s that are set up. He had to walk around several groups of beastkin as the gazebo slowly started filling up with people, but eventually they found an empty one.

 

Setting his backpack down he took out several bottles of alcohol, all of them expensive. He had some high end Jack Daniels, some Elijah Craig Bourbon, a Haku Vodka, and several other top-shelf liquors. He had bought so much since he figured he owed the man for his mistake of overestimating how much gold it would take to buy the food.

 

Tian looked at the bottles with wide eyes, “Cain…” he whispered, nervously picking up a Jack Daniels, “This… this is too much!” He said, “Even the bottle alone looks like it would be worth a gold coin, I've never even seen glass this clear before!”

 

Cain smiled slyly, “Not in my world. Even though these are pretty high end alcohols, I can probably buy around twenty five of those with a gold coin.” he said.

 

The chief's eyes widened, “T-that much!?” he asked, before holding out his hand and whispering to himself, raising and lowering his fingers. Cain looked at him curiously, wondering what he was doing. Suddenly the man looked up, “That's only four silver coins!” he shouted.

 

Cain shrugged, realizing he was counting with his fingers. He always forgot how much he took his education for granted, as most of these people can’t even count past ten. He was correct though, as it was one hundred silvers for every gold coin. It was the same for copper and silver, with one hundred coppers being one silver. When he first heard about the money system he was curious why the beastkin used the same currency as the humans, and Tian told him that everyone in the world uses the same coins. He wasn’t sure why exactly, but it was theorized that the Gods got together and decided to have all of their people use the same money system.

 

Focusing again, he started pulling the last bottle of liquor out of his backpack, “Yes, they are objectively cheap if you look at it that way, though I imagine they could sell for a couple gold coins each in this world.” he said, seeing Tian grin as he looked at the bottle, now much less nervous about the price. “Now this, on the other hand, is expensive.” He said, pulling out the best bottle he purchased; a Pappy Van Winkle 15 Year that was 107 Proof. “This was almost exactly one gold coin, but here I imagine it would go for a LOT more.” he said with a grin, pulling the bottle out of its sleeve.

 

Tian eyed it, curiously, “What makes it so expensive?” He asked,

 

Cain shrugged, “No clue,” he said with a grin, making Tian look at him incredulously, “I haven't had any expensive liquor in my life before, so I was curious what made them so much money, and when I got those gold coins I figured ‘why not’ and bought it.” He said, though it was technically his cousin that bought the liquors, as Cain was only nineteen.

 

Before Tian could respond a gravelly voice shouted in their direction, “HUMAN!”, looking at the source of the voice he saw the Wolf Clan Chief speed walking towards him with half a lobster in her hands, Charline hot on her tail. “Human!” she repeated as she stopped in front of him, “Why does your food taste so good?!” She asked, no, demanded with a glare. Charline caught up with her and looked at Cain apologetically.

 

Cain blinked, “Uh, there are many reasons.” he said, somewhat bewildered.

 

The woman grabbed him and shook him, and Cain was slightly disturbed at the realization that he couldn’t make her arms so much as twitch as he tried pushing her off “Tell me now! I demand it!” She yelled.

 

Before Cain could say anything Tian intercepted, pulling the woman off him effortlessly, “Enough” he said sternly, holding the woman up by the scruff of her pelt coat like some kind of kitten, “You will not harass my guest Grisel, do you understand?” He asked.

 

The woman looked at him in disbelief, “You're defending him?! He’s just a human! A human with the secret to make food good enough that it impresses the spirit of life!” she shouted.

 

Tian put the fiery woman back on the ground and crossed his arms, “Yes, he has been a very generous guest, and has done his utmost best to be respectful. He even brought gifts.” He said sternly, causing the wolf girl to scowl.

 

Cain, seeing an opportunity to gain some favor with the angry woman, spoke up, “Ah, I was actually just showing Chief Tian here the gifts I brought if you two would like to join us.” He said, getting all three leaders' attention, “I have several expensive bottles of alcohol from my home, and you are more than welcome to take one. We were just about to try them.” he finished, seeing Charline perk up when he said expensive alcohol.

 

Grisel, still scowling, looked at the various bottles, “Expensive alcohol huh?” she scoffed, “Yeah right! You probably put some cheap booze in a nice looking bottle right?” she said, “You greedy humans would do anything to save a couple silver!” she spat. 

 

Before Cain could respond she grabbed a bottle of red wine and popped the top with her thumb. Tilting the bottle she started chugging it, however after a couple sips she paused with wide eyes. Removing the glass from her mouth she looked at it for a moment, before her eyes snapped to his, “Where… this is not cheap booze?” she said, almost talking to herself. 

 

Cain shook his head, “No, it’s not. My people have gotten really good at making alcohol, and that is some high quality wine that has been fermenting for about fifteen years.” He said with a slight grin, seeing Charline eye the bottle with great interest.

 

Grisel stared at him in confusion, “I have only had wine this good once in my life, and it was a gift from one of the greatest dwarven distillers around. This bottle could go for about fifty gold coins! Maybe even a hundred!” She said, genuine confusion warring with the anger building up in her, and Cain noticed Charline’s focus was now entirely on the bottle, “Why… why would you gift this to us?” she asked.

 

Cain smiled, “Well, Tian has helped me out a lot so far and I figured I owed him. Also, you are all powerful leaders in charge of some of the largest kingdoms in the land, so I figured you would be satisfied with nothing but the best.” He said.

 

The woman stared at him while Tian looked at her smugly, and at that moment Charline’s patience ran out. “Alright enough! Give me that damn bottle!” she said, snatching the wine from Grisel. The prickly woman scowled at the calico queen but let it slide.

 

Seeing the woman look around for a cup Cain smiled and pulled out a box from his backpack. Opening the box under the curious stares of the three leaders he took out some expensive whisky glasses from their padding. He had about five in total but only took out four.

 

They briefly admired the craftsmanship of the glass before Cain got their attention. He waved at Charline and grabbed the Pappy van winkle, “You can just keep that bottle and try it later. Right now I want to head to the main party so I want to try this first. It is some of the most expensive alcohol from my home and I want to try it. It is worth about ten times more than that wine.” He said with a cocky grin.

 

Charline's eyes widened before she grinned greedily, “Why thank you” the woman said as she waved over another cat person and handed him the bottle.

 

Nodding Cain popped the cork out and poured some in all four glasses. The three beastkin eagerly surrounded him and waited to be handed a cup. After giving them all a glass he took a sip of his own. Honestly it didn’t really taste that great, he wasn’t a fan of alcohol in the first place so this bottle was unfortunately wasted on him. He held back a grimace before looking at everyone else's reactions, all three seemed to enjoy it but Charline especially seemed to appreciate it.

 

Grisel sighed, “It is very good.” she said reluctantly, “But definitely not worth ten times more than that wine bottle, I honestly thought the wine tasted better.” She said. Tian grimaced at what she said, extremely glad that Cain didn’t take offense like most nobles would have. Although he did agree that it seemed overpriced he didn't say anything, as to do so was to basically say he wasted hundreds of gold coins.

 

Cain shrugged, “Yeah, I agree with you. Pretty underwhelming.” he said with a slight frown.

 

Charline however was staring at them all like they were crazy, “What is wrong with you people? That was the best alcohol I've ever had! The smoky flavor is just perfect!” she said.

 

Tian nodded, “It was the best alcohol i've ever had” He said honestly. Although him saying that didn’t account for a lot as he hasn’t had much alcohol in his life.

 

Cain shrugged, “Eh, it was definitely overpriced” he said, $2500 was way too much for this. 

 

Charline just scowled, “You people really have no appreciation for proper liquors do you?!” she said in annoyance.

 

Grisel shrugged, “What? You just drink it to get drunk, who cares if it tastes good.” She said.

 

Seeing the two start to argue, Cain looked over to Tian, “Well, I’m going to head to the main party. I have some things to take care of” he said.

 

The large man nodded, “Ok, but be careful. It has remained civil up here because I gave a warning to all the higherups about you, but the general population aside from the tiger clan doesn’t know about you and might not be too happy to see a human.”

 

Cain thanked Tian for the warning and started heading down the ramp.

 

-.-.-

 

Standing in the middle of the large island that was the village center Cain admired the old fashioned town. The island was surrounded by a large wall made of tree trunks, with several guard towers standing proudly around the edges, and the town itself had several homes and businesses set up, with a bunch of tree houses settled in the more regular sized trees that covered the land.

 

There were people everywhere and he was fascinated by how many different kinds of beastkin were here. There were people with wings and bird legs, snake people, reindeer antlers, and even a couple centaurs. He also noticed large bull people that stood at about seven feet tall. It was incredible how diverse it was, unfortunately most of the people were sending him wary looks, some even looked angry.

 

Luckily though most people were from the tiger clan and knew of him and they were a lot more friendly, so he figured now would be a great time to fulfill a promise. He had walked around and gathered a group of tiger clan members and he was about to make an announcement.

 

Standing on a table in front of them, he cups his hands in front of his mouth, “Hey ladies” he shouts into the crowd, seeing a bunch of the women look his way he continued, “I’m about to bring my best friend over and, well, he’s looking for a good time if you know what I mean.” he said with a wink, “I promise you that he will be able to provide you with food just like I brought whenever you want and he has access several other benefits as well! Like clean drinking water! Hot water for a bath! Perfume! and the most comfortable beds you have ever slept in!” he shouted, seeing several women perk up at this, especially the hot water and perfume part, “So show him some love!” He said with a grin. He saw several of the amazonian women smile hungrily. Turning away from them he hops off the table and teleports back to his world. 

 

Arriving in his dorm he sees Jordan jump up excitedly, “Your back” He said with a grin.

 

Cain grinned right back and nodded, “Yup, you ready to head over there?” He asked, picking up two backpack’s full of items.

 

Jordan nodded with a thumbs up, “Damn right! I can’t wait to see actual cat people!” he said with a grin.

 

Cain nodded with a shit eating grin. Putting his hand on his roommate’s shoulder he teleports them both to the village center. “Welcome to Doldor village!” He said to Jordan.

 

Looking around, his friend stared at everything in awe. “Holy shit.” he muttered, “Part of me didn’t believe you even with all the evidence, but actually being here really makes it set in.” he said.

 

Cain nodded and looked to the side, seeing a small group of women sending looks his way. Smiling like the Cheshire cat he put both hands on his roommates shoulders, “So, best friend.” he said, getting Jordans attention, “I may have hyped you up to a bunch of these women by saying you can provide them with perfume, food and hot water.” He said, pointing to a group of amazon beauties smiling flirtatiously.

 

Jordan stared at them with wide eyes for a moment before looking at him with tears in his eyes, “You bastard, I love you so much right now.” He said emotionally.

 

Cain just rolled his eyes, “Yeah yeah, don't mention it. Now take this, it's full of gifts for them.” He said, handing Jordan both backpacks he grabbed from his dorm. “It has thermoses full of food, perfume, and some other goodies I think they will like. Also, there is a walkie talkie in there, use it to contact me when you want to leave.”  he said.

 

Jordan grabbed the bags and stared at Cain seriously, “Thank you. I will never forget what you have done for me today.” he said, putting his hand on the blonde's shoulder in a show of brotherly love.

 

Cain laughed, “Alright alright, your welcome. Now go on and make your ancestors proud or whatever.” he said, shoving him towards the women. Jordan walked away with his hand on his heart and a big grin on his face.

 

Cain watched with amusement as one of the particularly tall women bent down to get face to face with his five foot five roommate. All of them dwarfed him and had muscles that put Jordan's to shame, however Cain had never seen the man look happier. Whatever the woman had said made Jordan's face turn red and all Cain could do was laugh as the group of about 5 women led his short king of a roommate away. He briefly wondered how it was that everyone actually spoke english but brushed it off, it didn’t really matter at the moment.

“Good luck brother” He said before turning away. ‘Now… where can I find Tali?’ he thought to himself.