The whole gang was here. My phone had received their messages that they were coming. Now that everything was back to normal, we were going to have a celebratory lunch for completing our first high-class quest.
I held my breath and opened the door, just slightly enough for my head to stick out.
“Hey,” Wilt greeted.
“Hey,” I replied.
After a brief pause, he said, “May we come in?”
“Um, yeah, sure.” I swung the door wide open. Upon entering, they were astonished to see mounds of gift baskets and letters all over my apartment.
After we got back home, I’d been getting invites and gifts from different guilds for eight straight days. That was why I was a bit embarrassed about letting them in.
Li was staring at the basket of chocolates on top of my desk.
“Go ahead,” I told him. “Help yourselves.”
“Thank you.” He bowed before making a dash toward the chocolates.
“Don’t mind if I do.” Brock followed behind, so was Alex after giving me a nod.
“Hey, don’t eat too many sweets, okay?” Katie said. “We’re going to have lunch at Zhang Lang’s in an hour.”
Wilt picked up a few letters from a nearby stack, reading the addresses on the envelopes. “Argus, Megalodon, Blue Bucephalus… these are invitations to join their guilds.”
“Really?” Katie asked. “How come we don’t get any?”
“That’s because he took out an army of raiders all by himself,” Alex replied without glancing at us as she gobbled some chocolate balls.
“Wait, those are invites?” Brock said to his surprise. All our attention turned to him. “I’ve got a bunch of those since day one.” He chewed a piece of candy bar before swallowing. “I thought they were spam letters.”
After another glance at the surrounding gifts, I deduced that some guilds wanted to recruit him since he defeated hundreds of newcomers and an Asura.
“Duh,” Katie said. “How else are they going to send invitations to their recruits?”
“Internet.” Brock shrugged before taking another bite out of his candy bar.
Wilt turned toward me. “You still want to stay in this party? We’ve been through a lot out there.”
Katie shuddered, remembering our battle with the raiders. “Let’s never take another silver-class job ever again.”
We all responded with one firm nod, including Brock. Our battle with the raiders did give him some senses.
“So, you’re still with us?” Wilt asked me again.
“Yeah.” Brock unwrapped another candy bar without looking at us, not knowing the question was for me. “I’m not gonna be bribed that easily.”
“He wasn’t asking you, dunderhead,” Katie groaned with the tone of her voice sounding annoyed instead of the usual abrasiveness she had towards him.
“It’s okay, Katie,” Wilt said. “But all of you are staying, right?”
“Of course.” Katie grinned.
Alex and Li nodded in response while their mouths were full of chocolate.
“Sam?” Wilt called, waiting to hear my answer.
“S-sure.”
“Still friends?”
“…Yes, yes, we are.” A smile rose on my face, and everyone did the same as well. Seeing their smiles eased my heavy heart. Perhaps these were the friends I’d been looking for. Real friends, not like the people I knew back on Earth.
“Oh, I love this friendship you have here.”
“Thanks,” Katie said. “…Wait, who said that?” It wasn’t me, nor the rest of us. The voice was male, deep and jazzy, and the unknown accent sounded exotic.
“I did.” The voice was coming from the door. Upon turning around, there was a stranger with his arms crossed on his chest and his back resting against the doorframe. He was tall, slender, and dark-skinned, and he wore a navy-blue swallow-tailed coat, knee-length trousers, sandals, and a top hat. He was shirtless underneath, with lots and lots of necklaces of multicolored beads covering the entirety of his neck.
“Who’re you?” Wilt demanded.
The stranger bowed curtly. “Zeki of the Boston Tea Party Guild, at your service.” He pulled out a letter from his coat. “I’m here to deliver this to Mr. Sam Roche.”
Great, another one. “Thanks, you can put it right there, please.” I pointed at the chair beside the door.
Zeki scanned the mounds all over my apartment. He laughed in realization, “No, no, this isn’t an invitation to join the Boston Tea Party. This is an invitation to the par-tay.” He coated that last word in a singsong tone.
“You mean like party-party?” Katie said in clarification. “Like food, music, and stuff?”
“Food, music, and stuff, the Boston Tea Party offered the best of the best.”
“Would there be chocolate?” Li inquired.
“All twenty-eight flavors.”
The Shaolin agape to his astonishment. Alex snapped her fingers in front of his face a couple of times when his mouth began salivating.
“Hey, hey,” she exclaimed. “You’re a monk. Act like one.”
“Is this about me defeating those raiders days ago?” What other reason did he invite me? I’d been in this world for over a month.
“Yes, sir,” Zeki replied. “I’m not sure you have heard this, but you’re a hero in this city.”
We were all surprised by that.
“M-m-me, a hero?” I stuttered.
Zeki sat in my chair near the doorway and explained, “Well, not only you saved a big shot but also the minor guilds and non-guild members they hired. I even have friends among them. On behalf of all the citizens of New Beginning City, we thank you, Mr. Roche.”
My cheeks glowed pink.
“To express our deepest gratitude, the Party King has invited you and your friends to come to our par-tay.” Again, he exaggerated that last word.
“I’m down,” Brock accepted.
“Wait,” Wilt said. “This isn’t some scheme to recruit Sam to your guild, right?”
He had a point there, but Zeki casually shrugged. “Then we’ll be in trouble with our invitees. Jormungand, Dragonheart, Golden Griff, Wolf Reign, lots of big names, and celebrities will be coming to the par-tay. We, the Boston Tea Party, are a neutral guild. And festivity is our specialty, you know.
“People from all over the continent are begging us to let them enter our little paradise, so everyone has to get along once they get in. Even long-time enemies become friends. Well, that is until the par-tay’s over.” He got up from the chair and offered the letter to Wilt. “What do you say? I heard you’re the leader of this bunch, interested?”
Wilt asked us, “What do you think?”
“Well,” Alex replied. “This is maybe a good alternative for our celebratory lunch.”
“Yeah,” Katie agreed, so was Li. “And we don’t have to spend a single dime. Or a chaff or whatever.”
“I’m still down,” Brock said.
After some thinking, I answered with a nod. As long as I was with my friends, it wouldn’t be too bad for me to go.
Now that the gang had approved, Wilt took the letter.
“Wonderful!” Zeki shot his hands in the air. “His Majesty is looking forward to meeting you all. Par-tay will be at the castle tomorrow night, as always.” Giving his farewell bow, he went straight for the door.
“Wait, what are we supposed to wear for the party?” Wilt asked as Zeki was about to take a step outside.
“Par-tay, Mr. Wallace, par-tay,” he corrected. “We’d like to stand out from whatever second-rate party guilds out there. As for what to wear, anything suits you.”
“Really?” Katie asked. “Nothing fancy or trendy?”
“As long as you don’t dress like a peacock.” He gave another bow before leaping out of the building.
Flabbergasted, we bolted outside, only to find him floating through the air in a direction toward Rad’s castle. Strange, I didn’t see him wearing a pair of winged shoes like Andromeda and the rainbow-haired girl.
By nighttime, we arrived at the Party King’s castle. The girls wore knee-length dresses, blue for Katie and white for Alex, though Katie tied her bushy hair into a bun. Wilt, Brock, and I sported coats and jeans while Li added a longer robe to his attire. According to the locals, Rad’s parties were the best of the best ever since the Boston Tea Party’s founding. Due to the power of Dionysus, he and his guild were in charge of every event in the city, including Christmas, giving them tremendous influence in the Great Blue Zone. From sundown to sunrise, “It’s a little paradise here in this world,” they said, and people would pay gold to get into one. Since our invitation was free, this was a better choice to celebrate completing our first high-class quest instead of eating in a pricey Chinese restaurant. We went to a Victorian-era department store this afternoon, finding a perfect outfit for each of us. The place had almost every piece of clothing from different timeli
“That was quite a show when you messed with those raiders,” Rad exclaimed. “I like the part where that truck rammed you — BOOM! Then, like Superman, you lifted the darn thing in the air and — SMASH!” he laughed hysterically. “The best part is — no one got recalled.” “Wait a minute, how did you know all this?” Wilt inquired. “You weren’t there when that happened.” Our leader was right. We all nodded to agree. “What are you talking about?” Rad asked. “It’s all trending on Viewcom. It got over ten thousand views.” A confused look crossed each of our faces. “Viewcom? The greatest thing on the internet since Quest. And the internet itself.” “My liege,” one of the girls reminded him, “these are newcomers.” “She’s right,” the other said. “Viewcom is only a week old. They haven’t yet been informed.” The Party King’s eyes widened before bursting into laughter, “Ah, silly me. That Chernobyl cocktail earlier ga
It had never crossed my mind that I would ever meet this girl again. On that first night, I was mesmerized when I first saw her soaring in front of the full moon. A teacher I once knew had said that we, boys, would sometimes do stupid things for a girl. I, for one, ran an entire section of a castle wall just to check her out. She was even more beautiful at a close distance; crystal-blue eyes, a heart-shaped face, and red freckles on cheeks resembled autumn leaves. Now that I got one last glimpse of her, it was time to leave. I did understand why my heart right now was hammering like crazy, but for me to go and talk to her was impossible for two reasons. One, I had zero experience in making the first move to woo a girl; I even stuttered when I got nervous. Two, by the looks from her sad eyes staring at the moons, something must’ve happened that made her unhappy. Deciding to leave her alone, I tiptoed my way back toward the entrance. “Hello.” As I whirled aroun
“Out of this city,” Marseille said. “Out there. See the world. Go on adventures.” I lost a word for a moment there. “W-w-what makes you say that?” She chuckled, “You didn’t come out here just to get some fresh air.” My cheeks pinked to my embarrassment, then reddened when she flew close to me again. “Call it a woman’s intuition, but I think you and I are pretty much alike.” “Alike? H-how?” Marseille jumped back on the merlon, gazing at the city again. “Here we are, standing alone in the middle of the night, looking beyond this city, beyond those mountains, wondering what’s out there.” She shrugged her shoulders. “Sure, there are many dangers in the Yellow Zone, but there are other Blue Zones and wonderful places as well. Sometimes I wish I could go out there and visit them all.” “And leave all your problems behind,” I agreed with a sigh. She nodded. “But something weighing us down that we couldn’t.” I knew the a
There was no point in lying to my friends anymore. “Yeah, but I never told anyone about it,” I admitted. “Who’s Hercules?” the Shaolin asked. “I’ll tell you about it when we get home,” Wilt replied before turning his attention to their leader. “You must be a Jormungand commander.” “What makes you think that, newbie?” Wilt turned his glare toward Del Rio. “We’ve already acquainted with the lieutenant during their last caravan run. And this guy —” He then turned to the biggest person in their group, a towering Indian, about a head taller than Li, wearing formal clothes from his homeland. “I’ve heard some gossip here that you’re famous. Captain Madhur, I presumed?” The towering captain bowed to greet our leader out of courtesy. “So seeing you leading this group with a ranked captain like him,” Wilt continued explaining. “I’d say that makes you their superior officer. And the way you stand there like a posh with an English accent and fancy
It was late in the morning. There was a knock on my door. “Sam, sweetie, it’s us,” Katie said in a motherly tone. “Please open the door.” “Go away.” I was sobbing on my bed, curling up like a cooked shrimp while wrapping myself in my blanket. I heard Li’s voice said that they thought I might be okay in the morning, but last night was beyond embarrassing; I couldn’t bear to go out in public again. I was hoping to wait out inside my apartment for weeks until everyone forgot the whole thing. “Come on, Sam,” Katie exclaimed. “We all know that was a fruit punch spilled in your pants.” “That wasn’t pee?” Brock said. There was a brief pause before Katie threw him a flurry of scolding words. “Sam, open up.” Wilt banged the door. “Please, I don’t want to talk right now!” They didn’t leave, and they’ve been hounding for twenty minutes. Sounding impatient, Wilt ordered, “Brock, break the door.” “If you say so,” he agreed in a sing
Along the road, starstruck eyes followed us from the sidewalks and from the vehicles that got close. Zeki pressed a remote, which automatically shut all the window curtains. It was strange that a modern feature was included in a unicorn-drawn carriage. It might be one of the Party King’s eccentricities. “Sorry,” Zeki apologized. “It’s not every day that my king gets to go out in public. Unless they’re holidays.” “What can I say? I am a celebrity.” Rad relaxed on his cushion. “No one can throw parties better than me, the Party King.” He sat beside Zeki with Shandao and Shaozong. Each of them sat beside the doors with their arms crossed and their faces scowled. We were on the opposite side with a table at the center, with snacks and drinks on top. Our cushion was large enough to fit six people. Perhaps seven since Li was twice the size of a regular teenager. “I heard that Wilt’s a sword brave,” Alex asked. “Care to elaborate?” “You should ask him yourse
“Again, Li?” Wilt sighed. “Can’t you take a break from eating?” We were in the forum today, taking a day-long break after we finished another iron-class quest. During the past couple of weeks, our party went back to doing odd jobs and part-time. “But, I’ve never eaten this one before.” The Shaolin bought his seventh food from a nearby street vendor. This time, it was chips and fondue. Even though the big guy ate a lot, he was happy to share his snack with us. “Tastes like any regular fondue.” Alex tried a piece. “Guys, about our flag….” Brock began, lending our ears to him willingly, unlike before. To our surprise, Brock worked twice harder than any of us, not like in our early days. It was King Rad’s new proposition on why the jock was doing this when he told us about Sweet Haven. Located in the northernmost Sleeping King Forest, the City of Sweet Haven was the only settlement in this world having an actual government. It was a sort of republ