Drinks and bottles flew across the bar as the chaos intensified, with Shin fighting four people at once, while he had a drink in his right hand.
The skills of a warrior were not easily diminished just because he was intoxicated.
Rather, his ferocity was enhanced as he head butted one of them, punched two of them before getting tackled by a man from the back.
But this was not the end, as he elbowed him in the face and stood up, turning around, his fist raised, ready to strike anyone.
That was when someone tapped his left shoulder, and he spun around, intending to backhand whoever was behind him.
But as his eyes landed on the man, he stopped half a centimetre from Raghav's face.
The entire tavern fell silent, as people who had climbed over each other, with empty bottles raised in their hands, got off each other when they saw Raghav stand there.
This was the most infamous man in the world as of now.
Right now, they were present in the same establishment as him.
Who was looking down at Shin with unreadable eyes.
However, his face was serious. This was not a situation Shin could get out of by using his humour.
To make matters worse, he slipped only to be caught by Raghav. Who immediately put him back on his feet and turned him around so he could face him.
Then Raghav moved his eyes to the bottle in Shin's hands. "Go and sit in the corner, we will leave soon."
Without protest, Shin began to walk towards a corner. "The bottle."
Raghav called out to him without looking in his direction as Shin froze before placing the bottle on a table and finding a chair in the corner, and sat in it.
"Are you the owner?" Raghav questioned, gesturing towards the man behind the counter.
"I am."
"I apologise for my friend's behaviour, this will never happen again, I give you my word."
"Don't mention it, this is a daily occurrence here at Daytime Drunkards, people come here to drown their frustration and pain only to release it on each other. Just take your friend and keep him away from places like these; these vices are bad, especially for good men like him."
Raghav followed the owner's gaze and saw Shin slumped down, with his head in his right hand and his left hand gripping the fabric of his pants.
"Thank you." He then walked towards Shin and swiped a piece of paper from underneath the bottle that Shin had placed on the table and patted Shin on the shoulder, lifting him.
"Alright, time to take you back."
Outside, Aurelia was waiting for Raghav, her eyes wandering around, scanning the people.
Across the road, there was a woman, looking at her. She and this woman met eyes a few times.
'Does she recognise who I am?'
Just as she was about to walk towards her, the door to the bar opened as Raghav stepped out holding Shin's right arm over his shoulder.
For one moment, Aurelia took her eyes off the woman, turning left towards Raghav.
Immediately, a mana arrow flew in front of her face; both she and Raghav saw the arrow slowly moving through the air.
Aurelia grabbed the arrow, and they turned towards the direction the arrow came from, and the woman who was there before was no longer there.
At the end of the arrow was a piece of paper, which Aurelia took off, showing it to Raghav.
Who simply held his piece of paper, showing it to her.
"Word spreads fast."
He nodded along with her words. "We should return to Eldrain and An."
.
.
.
.
They had split apart as Aurelia had gone out to gather the materials Shin was supposed to get.
While Raghav was carrying Shin on his back, walking through the city.
As Shin was finally starting to succumb to the influence of alcohol in his system.
"Raghav!"
"Yes, my friend?"
"I missed you…" "I missed you, too." "…I am sorry for this."
"For drinking?" "Hmmm." "Nothing we can do about the past, but since you feel guilty, try to quit while you feel the same. The longer you wait, the more hold it will have on you."
"I tried, but I failed; that was why I did not approach you sooner. I thought you would be angry at me. I have to tell you, since I came to Paneria, I also took up meat."
Sigh
Raghav tightened his hold on Shin, shaking him slightly. "Well, do you wish to leave it behind now or go to hell?"
"I do…"
For a moment, Raghav stayed quiet before he raised his eyebrows. "Which of the two do you wish to happen?"
"…"
"Shin, are you asleep?" Raghav gently cradled Shin. "NO! I do not want to go to hell. I want to quit doing this Immoral Act guiding me to Hell."
"Then, my friend, I promise you, I will take you down the right path, and I will not let you go, so make sure you do not let go."
"I won't."
"Good."
Currently in the deepest mine on the southern cliff, a worker was digging with his pickaxe.
He would swing it, then pull it loose and lift it over his head and strike down once more.
Repeating the process until a decent amount of rock fell apart.
Then he prepared to start again, and as his pickaxe struck the rock, a crack appeared in the wall and a blue glow emanated from within.
A smile spread across the man's dirt and sweat covered face as he turned towards the opening of the tunnel. "I found something!"
A tall, lean man with long black hair that reached down to his hips turned around, handing another man a clipboard.
His cold black eyes were observing the glow as he remained expressionless. He glanced back at the miner before returning his empty gaze to the glow. "Keep mining."
Back at the Inn.
Shin was laid on his bed by Raghav as Vrisht sat on the floor. "What happened to him?"
"He got drunk."
Vrisht snorted, shaking his head. "I knew it would happen soon enough; his hands were shaking last night."
"I know, I noticed as well. Look after him for me, will you?"
"You can count on me. I won't let him out of my sight."
"Thank you, Vrisht."
Raghav closed the door behind himself and moved over to the next door in the hallway.
Where Aurelia was waiting for him, he gave her a nod as she knocked on the door, and An opened it partially.
"You're back."
"Hmmm." Raghav hummed in response, and An opened the door completely, stepping to the side. "Come in."
The two entered and saw Eldrain sitting on the bed, taking his shoes off. "Back already, how did it go?"
"I gave the order to retract the commission and told Count Adam to inform the King and the Duke; the rest lies in their hand now," Aurelia responded, taking a seat on the sofa.
"Eldrain, there is something I need you to do."
"What is it?"
A card was tossed at him by Raghav, and he turned it and saw the address of a factory on Melei Street.
"I need you to pick up a few items from this location, around fifty kilos of five types of rocks, ten kilos of each kind. I have paid fifteen silver coins in advance; you need to give them only ten more. After that, I need you to keep an eye on Shin the entire time. He is having trouble quitting his addiction, so keep an eye out for him."
Turning towards An, Raghav held out the piece of paper he received. "Take Aurelia with you to this location tonight. Aurelia and I received two locations from two different sources after I had inquired about any recent purchases of the raw ore for the materials that were used in the ring that Mark made."
"What makes these materials so special?" An questioned, as she read the location on the paper.
"These materials are currently unknown in this world, so they are treated as junk. So only someone from Earth or a different world should know about them."
"I take it you will be going to the other location?"
Raghav nodded, walking towards the door. "We need to chase down all the leads we have. Mark is a dangerous person; his actions have led to a war between Xalath and Istreid, and he has threatened the lives of everyone present within Marne. He holds the same level of priority to us as finding Crimson."
Thud
The door closed as Raghav left the room.
Eldrain plopped on the bed. "An, wake me up before the kid wakes up."
"I will."
She then turned towards Aurelia, leaning on the sofa. "So, how have things been going with Raghav?"
Aurelia looked up puckering her lips as she smiled. "As they should be."
"Don't just stop there, give me the details."
"Alright, so…"
Meanwhile, inside the warehouse next to the inn, where the carriages and wagons of the guests are stored.
Clank Clank Clank
Sounds of bubbles popping could be heard alongside the sound of metal hitting metal.
Some kids who were playing nearby came inside the warehouse, curious as to what was making such sounds.
They hid behind a long metal carriage and crawled underneath and saw the legs of a man standing over a table holding something stable with one hand and slamming a hammer into it with his other hand.
When he stopped, he lifted the red hot piece of metal and dipped it into a bucket of drum of water, as it released steam.
Then he moved towards the stone pot, which was floating in the air with a fire under it also floating in the air.
"Come out, kids, it is not safe to stay under a carriage. I was under a cow cart once, and a snake tried to bite me."
Stepping outside, the boy at the front asked the man. "What happened to it?"
"It died."
Raghav responded, looking at the boy, wearing black welding glasses.
Another boy came beside Raghav and looked at the table. "Are you an adventurer?"
"I am." "What are you making?" "A gift for my best friend."
The boy picked up the papers from the table, and they were drawings of components. The kid could not understand what it was, so he just read out the words before him. "Trigger, hammer, barrel. What is this?"
"These are components that I need to make. Once they are made, I will assemble them, and the gift will be complete."
Placing the papers back on the table, he looked at his work. "What rank are you?"
"Grand Master. Now move back a bit."
Raghav spoke as he grabbed the stone pot and poured it into many holes in a block of sand, inside a big square tray.
"You can't be a grand master; they don't exist."
"Yes, they are just stories."
Smiling, he looked at the kids and held out a closed palm towards them. "Stories are told from experience, even a made up story has some truth to it, something that inspired it. Now go and play, I have some work I need to do."
Surrounded by the kids, he opened his palm and within it were candies for them. The kids immediately grabbed them all and thanked Raghav before running out.
Watching the kids run away, Raghav shook his head slightly and began working on his creation once more.
.
.
.
.
Inside an alley, a small boy sat alone, crying.
"Mom…Dad, where are you?"
Lightning cracked overhead as he shivered, looking around.
"I am afraid. Mom."
Due to his fear and the constant lightning strikes, he failed to hear someone approach him.
The boy jolted back as he looked at the figure, a boy around his age, his face hidden in the shadows.
Even when the boy's mouth was not visible, he heard him. "Who are you?"
Before he could answer, he heard a voice call out to him. "SHIN!"
He looked around for who was calling him, but saw no one, which was when he heard the sound again. "Wake up!"
Pain ran through his stomach as he sat upright, holding his stomach and turned to his right and saw Eldrain standing there.
"Rise and shine, sleepyhead. Get off the bed, we have work to do."
Still hungover, Shin looked at Eldrain with one eye half closed and the other opened wide, and drool dripping from his mouth. "What?"
"Oh boy."
Eldrain remarked as he patted Shin on the back. "Let's get you sobered up first, then I will tell you the details."
Shaking his head, Shin stood up. "I am alright. Just need to wash my face."
Then he walked towards the bathroom, splashed some water on his face, and looked into the mirror, where he saw red eyes.
He sighed and walked out, patting his face dry. "Alright, let's roll."