=Should we tell our lord that the kaijin might go a bit off the handle and do something that wasn’t part of their original mission agenda?=
=You do realize reality doesn’t work that way, right?=
=It is, just...noticing something about history in general now...hmmm.=
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"Alright gents and lady. I have three mugs of Seafoam Broad Ciders, one Scorching Scorpion Kiss, one Moonlight Trip, one Blooddrunk Shark Bait and one Abyssal Black Ale for you guys," the serving wench said as she placed the ordered alcohol in front of their respective requester, "and here’s your Seafood Medley Pizza! Enjoy."
While the Zhen Clan heirs took the ordered food and drink with proper manners and smiles, deep down they were confused as fuck as to what they just ordered.
"So...why did we let Xiao Feng order this...’pizza’ thing...," Zhen Guo asked aloud as they stared at the flat bread covered in sauce, cheese and various bits of seafood.
"I don’t know," Zhen Xing answered while staring at his Scorching Scorpion Kiss, which looked like it was smoking, "I’m still trying to figure out what the fuck a cocktail is."
It should be noted that the Zhen Clan heirs were familiar with alcohol, it was just that they were more used to straight drinks like rice wine, whiskey and beer, not multiple different types of alcohol mixed together into something new.
Granted this experience was only new to six out of seven of the Zhen Clan heirs, but number seven wasn’t going to say shit about what he knew unless prompted.
"Huh? Xiao Liu, why’d you order something that...dark looking?," Zhen Tai asked as he compared how his cider looked in comparison to Zhen Liu’s ale.
Evidently, this was his prompt.
"Oh this? Just wanted to try something my master suggested to me."
"Yeah," Zhen Liu nodded, "he said that regardless of where you go in this world, you can always find a bar in a city, and that they’ll always have some type of dark brew on the menu. If all else fails, see if they got a dark brew. In his experience , he said this piece advice is good eight out to ten times.
"Eight? What about the other two times?"
"Than either they don’t have a dark brew on the menu, or they got wiped out by some vague enemy so there’s no point in drinking for the moment."
Despite the weird context for the advice, it was pretty solid.
It doesn’t matter where you go, you’ll find something familiar...at least, that’s what the heirs gleamed from the statement.
"Oh, by the way, my master also told me about pizza before, it’s usually pre-sliced so you can just grab an edge pull out a piece without tearing it to shreds."
During this brief exchange of information, Zhen Feng was busy trying to figure out how to eat the pizza they ordered.
A part of him assumed it was like eating a green onion pancake, but he noted the bread to be too thick for that. Once Zhen Liu told him what to do, he immediately dove in on the pizza and got himself a slice.
Zhen Liu couldn’t help but notice the look of bliss on his cousins’ face when they took their first bite of pizza, it was almost nostalgic.
"Goes great with the alcohol too."
"Huh...who knew seafood and cheese went well together?"
"Hold up," Zhen Yue interjected admist her cousins realizing alcohol and pizza taste amazing together, "Zhen Liu, why did you act all friendly with that Master Finnigan guy? I mean I’d get it if we were trying to cozy up with the Celestial Bronze Claw Pavilion, but the Wolfe Family had apparently thrown their lot with them after grandfather defeated their grand elder. I don’t mean to be bias, but-"
"You’re worried that since the Wolfe Family had a less than stellar reputation back home that anyone they decide to work for or who works for them still, probably have an equally questionable reputation, even if they’re one of the top sects in the kingdom, right?," Zhen Liu answered while drinking from his mug of ale.
"Uhhh, exactly that, yeah," Zhen Yue agreed. Zhen Liu took a drink in this moment for exactly two reasons.
Firstly, he actually did want to drink it because it had been a literal life time since he had a dark beer. The ale was bitter, a bit salty and a bit chocolatey.
In essence...it was like a Guinness but with a twist.
As for the second, he needed to set the mood for his answer, namely, casual understanding of how the universe and life works...sorta. He was actually just trying to phrase his answer in a way that sounded smart but didn’t know how to say it yet.
’Let’s start with a question and work from there.’
After finishing his first swig of his drink, Zhen Liu opened up the conversation with a very strange question.
"Alright guys, let me ask a question that is relevant to your own: is it easier to fool a friend or a foe?"
For dramatic effect, Zhen Liu released his hand from his mug and presented both of his palms up like he was providing physical examples for his conversation.
"Let’s say you need information about something, a big hunt or the location of a wandering ruin, would it be easier to ask someone if they’re a friend, who has reasons to trust you to be fair with the distribution of rewards, or an enemy, a foe, who has every reason to doubt and believe you’ll do them dirty?"
"It’s easier to trick a fri-oh, I get what he’s saying," Zhen Hai answered.
"I don’t, what is he talking about?," Zhen Tai asked in genuine confusion.
"He’s saying that, if you act friendly enough to someone, even if it’s someone you absolutely hate, you can probably trick them to suffering some ill-fate, right?," Zhen Xing guessed.
Zhen Liu had a funny look on his face at the question and proceeded to wiggle his hand in a manner to signal "sort of", before continuing.
"My master once told me during my time with him, that a smiling face and a warm voice can coax even the coldest hearts to spill their guts or do what you want," Zhen Liu lied.
"I was deliberately acting more friendly towards Master Finnigan because, if the Wolfe Family is planning to make a comeback or seek revenge upon, then we’ll have someone who may inform us about it before it happens, or even stop it from happening in the first place. You know, friends in high places and the like. But if I had acted aggressively, then they would have no reason to help us, hell, they might become more motivated to wipe us from the surface of the land. Get it?"
A friendly, amicable attitude can get one into more places than an aggressive, antagonistic one, especially in a world where people could literally punch mountains into nothingness or summon oceans on someone’s head.
’Huh...bards suddenly make more sense now as an adventuring class,’ Zhen Liu mused.
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"One, two...I think we have enough money to last us at least week maybe two," Jasper told Janice as he counted the silver coins left to them by the neon blue older sister that gave it to them.
"Do we have enough for more grilled fish?"
"I believe so...but only one more time."
After coming down from the elation of being able to eat a proper meal for the first time in a long time, Janice and Jasper both realized that they still had quite a few silver coins left, as well as some copper ones they got in exchange for the silver and the fish."
’We’ll either need to beg more or I need to find employment...but what kind of job can I even do at my age?," Jasper asked himself.
He was about nine years old while Janice herself was about four years old, so any employment prospect between the two of them wasn’t...good.
"Maybe I can get work on a-"
Across from their current position, tucked away between buildings, was a little wooden box with markings indicating that it was meant to hold fish. However, as the two stared at the box, they realized that it was actually holding a kitten!
One that peeked it’s head over the edge of the box and stared at the two children.