Bral leaned back in his chair with a satisfied sigh, slamming his mug onto the wooden table. Foam sloshed over the sides, but he didn't care. With a wide grin, he wiped his mouth with his sleeve and said, "Ahh… I remember it like it was yesterday. You know, back when Amukelo couldn't even talk to strangers."
He turned to Idin and Bao with mock seriousness, gesturing grandly toward Amukelo as if he was presenting some rare artifact. "You two should've seen him trying to speak to people for the first time. He basically stood behind them like a creep, staring with those dead serious eyes. Not saying a damn word. Just breathing. He scared more people than the monsters we were hunting!"
Amukelo frowned, his brow furrowing deeply. "That's not true," he grumbled, crossing his arms stubbornly.
But then Pao giggled, a mischievous twinkle in her eye. "It is…" she said between soft fits of laughter.
Amukelo turned to her with a betrayed expression, but she only giggled harder, trying and failing to hide her smile behind her hand.
Bao, seizing the moment, leaned forward and added, "Yeah, or when you couldn't kill that slime." She waggled her eyebrows teasingly.
Idin snorted into his drink and said, "That's different. He was new back then. Should I remind you who got scared of a pig and shot it dead on the spot?"
Bao's face turned bright red. She kicked him under the table, but Idin only flinched back, laughing. "What are you doing? Violent woman!"
Bral banged his fist on the table with laughter, causing a few heads to turn their way. "Ha! Now you feel what I've been feeling all this time, getting kicked and smacked for the smallest comments."
Idin rubbed his shin dramatically and said, "Come to think of it, she hasn't kicked you in a while, Bral."
Bral leaned forward with a grin that was more teasing than charming. "That's because," he said, giving Bao an exaggerated wink, "She realized her fealings."
Bao flushed bright red and looked away, pretending to inspect something on the wall. "Because you've been behaving…" she muttered under her breath.
Bral threw his arms up. "I'm not a dog! Stop acting like I need treats for good behavior!"
Everyone burst into laughter. Even Bao couldn't hold it in completely, though she tried very hard to glare at Bral.
Pao, wiping a tear from her eye, said, "You are all ridiculous."
Amukelo leaned forward, tapping the table thoughtfully. "I don't know… Should they really be talking about being ridiculous when someone here couldn't even handle their liquor?"
Pao's cheeks turned scarlet instantly. "Wha– What do you mean!?"
Bral perked up immediately, like a cat hearing a mouse. "Pao? Drinking? Never heard of it," he said, grinning from ear to ear.
Amukelo smirked and said, "Whoa... You should have seen her on our dat–" He coughed violently, flushing red, "–ekhem, meetings…"
Idin immediately facepalmed with a groan. "Meetings…? Oh, gods above, could you be any more awkward?"
Amukelo tried to keep a straight face, but the grin tugging at his lips betrayed him. "Every time she got drunk," he continued, "the place wasn't even an issue. She got so drunk once, she fell asleep face-first into her plate at a restaurant. I had to leave a massive tip to make up for the mess."
Pao let out a high-pitched squeak and buried her face in her hands. "Stop it…" she mumbled.
Bao folded her arms with a smirk and said in a mock-scolding voice, "Don't bully my little sister, you grown-up child. Getting all awkward over your little dates."
Then she tried to kick Amukelo under the table, but since she was seated a good distance away, her foot missed by a solid two feet.
Bral howled with laughter. "Haha! You're a little too short for that, Bao!"
Bao whirled on him, her glare sharp enough to cut steel. "Say that again, Bral," she said dangerously.
Bral immediately raised his hands defensively, grinning like an idiot. "Hey, hey! I'm just stating facts! It's not my fault gravity loves you more!"
The table erupted into complete chaos. Pao was hiding her face behind a mug to stifle her laughter, Idin was doubled over and thumping the table with his fist, Bral looked immensely pleased with himself, and Bao, while blushing furiously, was trying to reach across the table to throttle him.
Amukelo shook his head with a tired smile, leaning back in his chair. Despite the exhaustion pulling at his bones, he felt... happy. There was a warmth here that no hardship could dim.
The laughter still echoed around their table when Pao lowered her mug and stared into it, a faint nostalgic smile on her lips. Her voice, soft and almost melancholic, broke through the din. "But really… when you think about it," she said, "this is the last time we'll celebrate in this pub."
The words hung in the air like a soft mist, sinking into their hearts before any of them could react.
All of them stopped laughing. Even the playful glint in Bral's eye faded a little as they turned to look at her. Bao's face softened, her mouth pressing into a sad smile. She swirled her drink around absentmindedly and said, "Yeah… it was a nice place, wasn't it?"
Idin, uncomfortable with the sudden shift in mood, leaned back in his chair and scoffed, waving a hand dismissively. "Ahh, hey, hey! Don't get all emotional again, it's disgusting." He said it with a lopsided grin, but even he couldn't hide the slight tightness around his eyes.
Bral wiped an invisible tear from his eye dramatically. "Yeah, truly tragic," he said with mock sorrow. "All these amazing people we met thanks to this place. All the friendships we built…"
Bao rolled her eyes and shot him a sharp look, crossing her arms tightly across her chest. "You shouldn't talk about the people we met, of all people."
Bral looked at her with a fake, wounded expression. "What do you mean? Gloram was a good guy! Did you forget how he helped us when those thugs tried to shake us down at the association?"
Bao narrowed her eyes at him, lips thinning into a line. "Hmm… but at what cost?"
Bral threw up his hands. "He literally paid for us and gave you your money back!" he argued, as if stating the most obvious truth in the world.
Bao's face turned a slight shade of pink. She huffed, looking away as she muttered under her breath, "Will you shut up already…"
Bral leaned back in his chair with a triumphant grin. "Always here to make your mood better, princess."
Pao laughed quietly, her eyes warm despite the lingering sadness. Amukelo, still resting his chin on his hand, smiled faintly at the banter but said nothing, letting their voices wash over him.
As their conversation lingered between teasing and bittersweet memories, someone approached their table.
It was a young man dressed in worn but sturdy adventurer's clothes. He looked slightly nervous but determined as he spoke. "Congratulations on becoming a Silver Rank Seven guild," he said.
Before they could even answer, another voice chimed in from the side. "Yeah, it was your goal for quite a while, right? Honestly, you achieved it way faster than aanyone could predict "
Bral scratched the back of his head, laughing awkwardly. "Well… we just kept moving, I guess."
Bao gave a polite nod, while Idin offered a casual two-finger salute from his forehead. Pao just smiled warmly at them.
But the attention only grew. A small crowd started gathering around their table, murmuring and pointing.
One guy, probably a new adventurer judging by his wide-eyed enthusiasm, leaned in and pointed at Amukelo. "Hey, are you the one who got the Golden Rank?"
Amukelo instinctively leaned back, his awkwardness plain as day. "Ughh… yeah," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "By luck."
A ripple of disbelief and amazement ran through the gathered adventurers. Some murmured to each other. Some looked at him like he had grown a second head.
Then, cutting through the growing noise, a familiar voice rang out—steady, strong, and a little amused. "No one becomes a Golden Rank by luck."
All their heads snapped toward the voice. There, standing tall and confident, was Gloram.
Bral's face lit up like a festival bonfire. He shot to his feet and practically sprinted over, clapping Gloram's hand in a hearty high-five and pulling him into a one-armed hug. "Gloram! Brother! How have you been!?"
Gloram laughed deeply, returning the hug with a clap on Bral's back. "Not as good as you, brotha," he said with a broad grin. "I see you've achieved a major milestone."
Bral pulled back and said with a grin, "Yeah, somehow it all worked out."
As they spoke, more and more people crowded closer, trying to catch a glimpse of them, trying to catch a word or two. The pub buzzed with energy, the noise growing louder as more realized who they were.