After speaking with Pascal, I returned to my room to eat with Tasha and Flora. I brought up visiting other parts of Deimos to them, and it might be that Tasha was just so bored of everything so far, but she was very eager to go to the fighting bar. I made it clear that if we were to go, none of us would be fighting, but she still really wanted to go. I didn’t think Flora would like it as much, but I expected she would still want to tag along. Unexpectedly, she said that she would rather stay behind. She reasoned that she didn’t think she would find it to be a very pleasant place for her to go to, and I completely understood her. Honestly, I was even a bit impressed. It almost always felt like she was being dragged along, but for her to suggest that we split up, if only for just this one thing, seemed to be a big step for her. Maybe that time in Brennan actually did some real good for her mentality, as opposed to only shaking her up?

  “But, Flora, you’d just be here all by yourself?” Tasha began, “I mean…we can go somewhere else if you want.” And now Tasha is offering to be accommodating despite her earlier excitement? Are my two girls growing up now? Wait, I mean, no, just the one, and when I say growing up…forget it, I think everyone knows what I mean.

  “No, you don’t need to do something like that,” Flora said, waving her hands defensively like usual. “Please, you should go and have some fun.” Tasha glanced over at me, but I said nothing.

  “But, what are you going to do here by yourself?” Tasha asked. Personally, I thought Tasha’s tone and expression was showing too much concern. Yes, physically, and, not to be too rude, but maybe mentally as well, Flora was a lot weaker, but it’s not like she is a puppy or something. Heck, Flora is older than Tasha, something that Tasha seems to never recognize or acknowledge.

  “Oh, I thought I would just, um, do some training- um, I mean studying. You know, reading through my grandpa’s books.”

  “Don’t you already read through them a lot?” Tasha asked. I have definitely seen Flora reading the things that Hiram left her, but I don’t think I’d say she did it a lot. Well, I’m sure it would be fine to reread them anyways. Well, I guess now’s a good time to finally interject.

  “Tasha, if Flora wants to do something else, just leave her be,” I said, giving Flora a small nod of affirmation. “Besides, we might be here for another several days, so I’m sure we can do something else with Flora another day.” Tasha didn’t look too pleased about being outnumbered, as was the usual case whenever the three of us debated, but she relented easily enough.

  “Alright, fine. Is there anything we can bring back for you, though, Flora? Oh, maybe some poisonous ingredients? I’m sure this city has plenty of that.”

  “Tasha, that’s just…well, maybe. What do you think, Flora? I know we bought some stuff back in Ironshield, but their apothecaries didn’t have that wide of a selection. Is there something we can get for you now?”

  “Um…thanks, but you don’t need to do that. I still have plenty of ingredients.” Alright, I think that’s enough pestering now.

  “Okay, if you say so. But, we can all go together on another day if you want to check out any shops.” Flora nodded after thinking for a moment.

  When Tasha and I finally left the inn, we saw Pascal waiting outside next to a carriage. He told us that if we plan to travel outside of the shopping district, it would be better to take a carriage instead of walking. He also told us it was free for us to use before I could ask. Tasha and I got inside and the driver took us to the fighting bar, or Blake’s Bar, as it is called.

  Even if we would only briefly outside, I still had cloth over my face to avoid breathing in smoke and I told Tasha to do the same. When we exited the carriage, I was somewhat glad about my precautions. This part of Deimos was a complete contrast to the shopping district. The environment itself seemed to have a darker tint, most likely owing to its close proximity to the industrial area, and I could faintly see flakes of soot or ash floating about. The streets and buildings all appeared to have a thin layer of soot or grime and there wasn’t a cleanly dressed person anywhere in sight. As for the people who were walking about, they were all either armed (and mostly wearing leather armour or padded cloth), or were in ragged clothing as dirty as the sky above. Based on the smog that was visible even from outside of Deimos, it was obvious there would be places like this, but it was still a shocking sight.

  However, Tasha didn’t seem to care as much about that as I did, and just walked right to the bar, which was almost directly in front of the carriage. The bar was made of brick and looked neither cleaner nor dirtier than the buildings around it, but it was a fair bit larger. ‘Blake’s Bar’ was displayed on a nameplate right above its front door. On the sides of the doors were windows with iron bars over them. As I walked over to Tasha who was waiting by the front door, I thought about how there would be no way I would ever willingly enter such a place back home, and even here, I am only doing it because Tasha still wanted to go inside. It was almost as if she was taking some delight in how much worse this place looked than the shopping district.

  When I got closer to Tasha, she tried to open the door. There was no doorknob, so she tried to push it open, but that didn’t work. She then tried pushing harder, but it still didn’t budge. Without risking her trying a third time, possibly thinking that the door itself was some test of strength, I grabbed her arm and then knocked on the door. A couple seconds later, a slit on the door that was around my eye level opened up. I could see the brown eyes of a person on the other side. The eyes looked straight at me and then looked around, noticing Tasha to the side.

  “You looking to come inside?” a man’s gravelly voice asked.

  “Yes,” Tasha answered as I hesitated. The eyes looked between the both of us.

  “Are you two together?” he asked with some distaste in his tone.

  “Yes,” Tasha answered for us again. The eyes seemed to glare at me for a moment.

  “Yes, I am here with my daughter,” I replied, feeling the need to speak up. The eyes seemed to silently question me.

  “Two coppers. Each.”

  “There’s an entrance fee?” I asked.

  “Yes,” he replied with no elaboration.

  “...Alright.” I counted out four copper coins and showed them, but the eyes just continued to stare at me. “Where do I pay?” The eyes stared at me for a moment, before finally pulling away. A few seconds later, I saw a hand wave from the slit before settling somewhere out of sight. “Uh…”

  “Put the money through the door,” the disembodied voice demanded. I did as I was told and put the coins through the slit. I heard the coins clink together as they dropped onto his palm. Is he holding up his hand at eye level like me right now?

  “So…can we come in now?” I asked since the man said nothing after receiving the coins. In the corner of my eye, I could see Tasha looking at me with a somewhat befuddled expression.

  “Yes, but you can’t have any weapons on you inside.”

  “Wait, what?” Oh, there’s no way that can be true, right? I could even keep my weapons on me when I was at the inn.

  “It’s one more copper for each armed person.” I was about to start arguing with the hidden man, but I stopped myself. That wasn’t going to help at all.

  “Okay, fine.” I took out two more copper coins and put them through the slit. “Well?” I asked, a bit impatient when I didn’t receive an immediate response.

  “Both of you?” he asked.

  “Yes, both of us.” The eyes appeared again to look at the two of us again. Then, they disappeared again and after a moment, the door finally swung open. The two of us went inside and I immediately looked for the guy on the other side. He was a bald man around my height, but probably about thirty pounds heavier. His clothes were well-worn, but were otherwise relatively clean. By his side, there was also a stool, and next to the stool were a few wooden boxes. On top of one of the boxes, there was also a sheet of paper. As I tried to take a closer look, though, the man took a step in my direction. Not wanting to make matters any worse, I walked away, pulling Tasha along with me, as she looked eager to break my rule about not fighting.

  The bar was more spacious than I thought it would be, and was definitely the largest bar I have been inside so far. The bar was relatively dimly lit (with the natural light from the windows, candles on tables, and a few light stones acting as the light sources). lt was also unlike any bar I had ever seen before. In the center of the bar was a round pit with a few layers of steps that encircled it, similar to stands for a stadium, but on a much smaller scale. On the base level, there were about twenty wooden tables with wooden chairs, and at the other end of the bar was a large counter. Behind that counter was a person who I assumed was a bartender, based on the shelves of bottles behind the counter. Elsewhere in the bar, there were a handful of other patrons at the tables as well as a couple barmaids.

  Well, it at least looked like we were in the right place. But, if I want some more information, I should probably ask the staff. I walked towards the counter, but was intercepted by a barmaid halfway there.

  “Hello, are you new here?” she asked with a professional smile. She had dark blonde hair and wore a large white apron over her clothes. However, what really stood out to me was how young she was. I couldn’t really tell from a distance, but after hearing her and seeing her up close, it was clear she was very young. She was a few inches shorter than Tasha, and the reason the apron looked so large was just because of how small she was.

  “Yes, we are new here. Is this the fighting place?” Tasha responded on my behalf when I didn’t immediately answer.

  “Yup, this is the place,” she answered. She tried to maintain her smile, but I could see it waver a bit for some reason.

  “Where is the fighting, then?” Tasha asked. It was a fair question. The pit in the center was clearly intended to be the arena, but it was absent of both fighters and spectators sitting in the stands waiting for one.

  “The fights don’t start until later in the day,” she answered. “The first fight will be in about two hours.” Two hours? I guess that explains how relatively empty the bar was at the moment. It also made sense since it was still relatively early in the day, but I could see Tasha wasn’t happy to receive this news.

  “What are we supposed to do for two hours, then? Is there anyone I could fight until then?” Tasha asked. Wow, already going back on me? Tasha shot me a quick look, which seemed to say, ‘Did you really think we would come to a fighting arena to only watch?’

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  “Fight? You?” the little barmaid asked, unsurprisingly surprised to hear Tasha’s words.

  “Well, my dad could fight, too, if he wants,” Tasha replied, casually pointing her thumb at me.

  “Tasha, you know what I said earlier,” I finally spoke in front of the little barmaid. The barmaid pointed at us back and forth with mounting excitement on her face.

  “Really? The two of you are a father and child mercenary pair?! Wow!” Tasha noticeably puffed up from the praise, her arms at her side.

  “Technically, we are not mercenaries,” I corrected.

  “But, we’re way stronger than mercenaries,” Tasha remarked.

  “That’s not entirely the case. It’s not as if we have fought every mercenary in Midgard.” Well, I’d like to downplay things, but I also wouldn’t want to arbitrarily lie. The little barmaid seemed to interpret my words in another way, though.

  “But, that means you have fought a lot of mercenaries, then?” she asked with intensifying curiosity. Tasha thought for a few seconds, her expression looking just a smidge bit haughty when she was ready to respond.

  “Mercenaries? Hmph! Forget about that! Bandits, soldiers, and even knights! We’ve beaten tons of them!” Tasha proudly declared. The little barmaid’s innocent face lit up even more, fully believing Tasha’s words. Well, not that they were lies, but I guess only a child even younger than Tasha would blindly believe them.

  “Oooh, what kind? Where? Were any of them famous?”

  “We fought some really strong people, so I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them were famous!” Tasha replied, giving a wide grin. I coughed in order to catch Tasha’s intention. I understood she was very happy to finally get the sort of attention that she probably felt she should have been receiving more often, but I needed to put a stop to it now. Some of the people we fought could be considered famous, but if word got out, there could be serious trouble.

  “Who?!” the little barmaid asked, positively brimming with anticipation. I coughed again, making sure Tasha looked at me this time. She narrowed her eyes a bit at me.

  “Well…” I wanted to believe Tasha knew to stay quiet, but just in case, I was going to cut her off. However, before I did, the other barmaid in the back called out.

  “Whitney! What’s going on?! Why are you just standing there with those two?”

  “Huh? Oh, ah right. No, nothing’s going on. Everything is fine, Clara,” Whitney explained to the other barmaid. She then turned back to face us, looking slightly embarrassed. Sorry, um, please take a seat wherever you like.”

  “Over here should be fine,” I said, drawing Tasha over to me.

  “What would you like to order?” Whitney asked after we seated ourselves.

  “Honestly, we are not too hungry at the moment,” I answered for the both of us.

  “Okay. How about some drinks, then?” she asked.

  “We’re not looking to order any alcohol, either,” I replied.

  “...Um, so something without alcohol, then? We have lemonade. How about that?” I wasn’t really planning to order anything, but when was the last time I had some lemonade? Oh, but would it be the same as I would expect it to be?

  “What’s lemonade?” Tasha asked. Okay, now we have to get it. Besides, the Merchants’ Guild will reimburse us.

  “Yes, two lemonades, please.” Tasha looked at me, waiting for me to give an explanation. “You’ll find out when it comes.”

  “And is that all?” Whitney asked.

  “Yes, thank you.”

  “Alright, two lemonades.” Whitney left, and then I turned towards Tasha and leaned in closer.

  “Tasha, I get that you’re feeling pretty excited right now, but you need to remember that some of those fights…aren’t things that should be discussed with strangers,” I whispered to her.

  “Yes, I know, dad. And just to be clear, I wasn’t going to say anything to get us into trouble. Obviously.” I had some small doubts, but I let them go.

  “Alright, as long as you know. Now, what do you want to do? Do you want to stay and actually wait for the fights? And to be clear again, I don’t want you fighting in that arena. Also, in case you are actually wondering, it’s not because I’m worried you’re going to lose. It’s because I would rather stay low profile while we’re in this city. Meeting with the Merchants’ Guild was unavoidable, but after that matter is settled, we are going to move on from here.” Tasha made no attempt at hiding her annoyance.

  “I could make it look close,” Tasha suggested. “I know how to go easy on people, you know.”

  “Would that even be any fun for you?” I asked. Perhaps because of her Battle-Hardened lineage, she was always excited to fight and spar, but I would think that after realizing how strong she was compared to most people, she would start getting bored of…well, weaklings. Based on Tasha’s shift in expression, my thinking may have been correct.

  “Well, I wouldn’t know for sure without fighting them first. It’s…not very nice to think that way when fighting someone who’s taking it seriously. Also, there could be some really strong people coming here to fight.” I agreed with her in my head, but I obviously wasn’t just going to verbalize that.

  “Well, that would be all the more reason to not fight them. Remember, keep it low profile. If you want to keep bragging to that little girl, fine. But no actual demonstrations, and you should know better what details to leave out.” Tasha let out a long sigh, apparently finally relenting. I was going to say some, but Whitney came back just then with our two glasses of lemonade. I examined the yellow liquid, and it did look similar to what I remembered. I swilled it around and I thought I noticed it having a stronger lemon scent than I expected. Then, I took a sip. There was a slightly different, but at the same time strongly familiar sweet and citrus taste. For a second, I recalled a moment from my childhood, drinking my aunt’s homemade lemonade with my cousin.

  “Is it that good?” Tasha asked me, giving me a weird look. I looked back at her, a bit confused, and when I did, I felt my mouth move. Was I smiling? Just from sipping lemonade? I put my hand over my mouth, and straightened my expression.

  “I think it’s good. Try it.” Tasha looked at her glass, and then swilled it like me before taking a sip. Tasha’s lips sucked in slightly, probably never having drunk anything this sour before. I also thought the ratio of lemons and sugar may have favoured lemons more than what I expected.

  “Is everything fine?” Whitney asked, still standing right by our table. I looked at Tasha before answering.

  “Ah, yeah it's fine. It’s…good,” Tasha replied. I took another sip.

  “That’s great. I like it a lot, too,” Whitney remarked. I had been neglecting to bring it up before, but I really felt the need to question the child now.

  “So, Whitney, was it?” Whitney looked at me, briefly confused by how I knew her name without her introducing herself. However, she seemed to remember soon enough that the other barmaid called out to her.

  “Ah, yes, I’m Whitney.”

  “My name is Braith, and this is my daughter Tasha,” I introduced the two of us. Tasha smiled and nodded at Whitney.

  “Oh, it’s nice to meet you. Um, Tasha and…Braith?” she responded, pointing to each of us in turn. “I said that back, right? I’ve never heard of names like that before.”

  “Yeah, I get that a lot.”

  “I don’t.” Yeah, we’ll see if you’ll still be saying that a year from now, Tasha.

  “Anyways, Whitney, have you been working in this bar for a long time?” I asked.

  “Um, just a bit under a year now.” Really?

  “If you don’t mind me asking, how old are you Whitney?”

  “Oh, I’m eleven. But, I’ll be turning twelve soon.” So, she’s been working since she was ten, then? Also, she turned out to be a bit older than I expected given her size. Although, I think Tasha is also a bit smaller than an average girl her age.

  “That makes me two years older than you, then,” Tasha remarked, looking more proud than she should be for doing such simple math.

  “Oh, how long have you been…uh, fighting? Sorry, you said you weren’t mercenaries, but what do the two of you do?” Whitney asked.

  “We are, uh-”

  “We’re travelers,” I interrupted Tasha. “It’s just that our travels have been a bit more engaging than is usual.”

  “Oh, and how long have you been traveling for? Is it just you two?”

  “Not for too long. Only a few months now. And we set it out just the two of us.”

  “What about Flora?” Tasha asked me. I didn’t feel it necessary to bring her up.

  “Flora?” Whitney asked.

  “Yeah, there is another girl who is traveling with us. Um, she didn’t want to come here with us, but we’re still together.” I considered whether I should cut in.

  “Yes, she is another companion of ours. However, Tasha, I don’t think she would want you to talk about her with people she has never met before.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry!” Whitney suddenly apologized. “I didn’t mean to pry.” I gave Tasha a look as if to say that she could learn some manners from Whitney. “Um, I should just go now. I was just really excited to hear some stories about someone who has been fighting at such a young age.”

  “No, it’s fine,” I began, seeing that both girls looked a bit disappointed now. “I just want to make sure my daughter can respect some boundaries. If she wants to tell you about herself, it’s fine. Although, I can also understand if you should be getting back to work as well.”

  “Oh, really? Then, can I ask you more questions?” Whitney asked, reinvigorated.

  “If you’re not busy,” I replied.

  “Oh, it’s fine. It’s almost empty right now, and, uh, I can make it up to Clara later.” She looked back at the other barmaid who was talking to the bartender at the moment. “It should be fine,” Whitney re-emphasized.

  “Oh, you should take a seat then,” Tasha suggested, riding the momentum shift. Surprisingly, Whitney quickly did so. Personally, I did like to see Tasha interacting more with children around her age. There was Flora, and the two of them did get along well, but the dynamic was quite different from this.

  “So, how did you learn how to fight, Tasha?”

  “Well…you could say I learned from my dad.” I understood the ambiguity to her reply.

  “I learned sword fighting from a friend, and Tasha learned from me.”

  “So, do you both use the same weapon?”

  “Yeah, we both use a shortsword,” Tasha answered.

  “Is it heavy for you,” Whitney asked.

  “Heavy? No, not at all,” Tasha replied, genuinely confused. Of course, I could understand how a (presumably human) child would wonder about the weight of a real weapon.

  “Tasha is stronger than most others her age.” I hoped that Tasha would not feel the need to elaborate that she was simply just a lot stronger than most people, in general.

  “Really? You must train a lot, then.”

  “Ah, well…yeah, I train plenty.” I wasn’t sure how serious Tasha was being. Did she really think her amount of training was ‘plenty’. Maybe it was, since it was enough to make her more skilled than me.

  “When did you start? I wanted to learn how to fight too, but they all say I am still too young.”

  “I think I was nine.”

  “What, nine?!” Whitney then looked at me.

  “To be fair, even at nine…I would say she was probably a lot stronger than you. No offense.” I don’t think my final words had the effect I had intended.

  “That’s not fair at all,” Whitney grumbled.

  “Anyways, Whitney,” I began, “Why are you so interested in fighting anyways? Is it because you work at this bar?”

  “Oh, no, I’ve admired fighters even before I started working here.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Huh?” Whitney looked incredulous, as if such a thing was common sense. “Because if you can fight well, that means you are strong! The kind of strong that really matters! I’ve seen a lot of big guys with a lot of muscle on them, but it takes a real fighter to be really strong! When you’re really strong, even if you are much smaller, you can win, and that’s what matters!” As enthusiastic as Whitney was, I didn’t really feel like my question was sufficiently answered.

  “Yeah, I know exactly what you mean!” Tasha exclaimed. Well, maybe it’s just me.

  “Right?! Especially when you hear about some of the incredible fights and battles from the past. Do you know about the mercenaries from the War of the Nines, Tasha?” Whitney asked.

  “Oh…uh, not really.”

  “That’s fine, I can tell you about them!” Whitney began, not disheartened at all about the response. “There’s a lot of them, but if we’re talking about the most famous ones, it has to be the Reapers!” My face stiffened slightly. The Reapers again. I barely knew anything about them, but if they’re all like Jack Free…

  “Oh, Whitney! Did you make some new friends?” A voice called out from behind us. I turned around and saw a young man wearing a black cloak over his leather armour walking towards us, probably having just entered the bar.

  “Brian! You’re here really early today.”

  “Ah, well, I was supposed to escort someone outside the city today, but they suddenly cancelled. I still got paid a bit though, so I figured I’d come here to look at the fighters list early. Maybe I’ll actually win some more bets that way!” Brian spoke jovially and clearly seemed to be a regular at this bar. “Clara, could you show me the list?” Brian called out to the barmaid at the back who just dismissively waved at him. “Okay, maybe later.” He walked up to our table and looked at me and Tasha, still wearing a friendly smile.

  “Newcomers?” he asked. “Oh, or maybe new hires?”

  “We’re just customers,” I answered for the both of us. Brian examined our drinks, and then smiled a bit wider.

  “Alright. Well, you’ve already heard, but the name’s Brian. I’m a regular mercenary from Deimos.” He offered me his hand.

  “My name is Braith.” I shook his hand.

  “And my name is Tasha,” Tasha introduced herself while I shook Brian’s hand.

  “Nice to meet you both,” Brian responded, offering his hand to Tasha as well. “Hmmm, those are quite the names, though. Don’t think I’ve heard of names like that before,” he remarked as Tasha shook his hand.

  “Yeah, I get that a lot,” I said. Tasha made no comment. He looked at me a bit longer, and then his smile slowly started to shrink.

  “Actually, I think…I think you look familiar.” He looked back and forth between me and Tasha as his expression became more pensive. “Yeah, I think I’ve seen you before.” I stared back, seeing if I recognized him from somewhere. He had black hair and looked to be either around my age or a bit younger. I also noticed that he didn’t have a weapon on him, but other than that, he didn’t register in my memories at all.

  “I think you might be mistaken. I don’t recognize you at all.”

  “No, no, I think I’ve almost got it. I’ve definitely seen you before.”

  “Maybe you just saw someone who looks like me? I imagine there’s a lot of men out there who look similar.”

  “Well, that could be it…but, no. I recognize you and your daughter.” I almost reflexively reached for my weapon when he emphasized that last part. Calm down, Braith. He could be mistaken. And even if he isn’t, just because a mercenary knows you and Tasha from somewhere, this doesn’t mean this is trouble.

  “Well, perhaps we crossed paths once in our travels.” I wasn’t about to suggest that he mistakenly saw another armed pair of father and daughter traveling together. He stared at the two of us for another moment, silence building up in the air.

  “Oh, I remember now,” he said with actual seriousness in his tone. Any semblance of his former smile was also now gone.