improve my performance, but right now we weren’t in bed, weren’t doing that— “B-Big Brother, put me down. This is embarrassing!” Never mind. They were just intrigued by how Aisha clung to my back. I put her down, and the staring stopped. The sign read Dappled Light Tavern. The tavern looked pretty standard, but the patrons coming in and out were a seedy crowd. Long ago, the scowl on the face of the man leaving now would have had me scared witless. Since coming to this world though, I’d grown tough. Now I could even walk, fearless, into a place like this. Honestly, the Ruquag Mercenary Band office in Sharia was more intimidating. Still, I didn’t like thinking about Zenith hanging around in a place like this. What the hell had Geese been thinking? I liked the guy, but if he’d gotten confused and tried to sell Zenith to a brothel or something, I’d never forgive him. I’d take both his arms. His legs too. “Welcome!” The barkeep’s spirited greeting carried over the general hubbub as we entered. The tavern might have looked shady from the outside, but once inside the atmosphere was friendly. I didn’t feel like an outsider here. The patrons weren’t all rough types, either. There were plenty of ordinary-looking adventurers too. I quickly scanned the faces in the room, then turned to the barkeep to— “And then this was the real clever bit: I said, ‘I reckon all three teleportation circles are traps, and there’s another path!’” I’d recognize that voice anywhere. In the back of the room, a monkey-faced man was throwing back drinks as he boasted to the young adventurers seated around him. His companions were a boy with spiked-up hair, another with long hair and a nose piercing, and a girl with slightly slanted eyes and hair dyed an unnatural color. He looked like, how should I put it…? Kind of an old poser.