The tavern's particular clamor quickly filled the emptiness that had lingered in Luge's heart for so long.
It wasn't long before a bug shell the size of his head was set down in front of him. Inside, boiled-soft meat and a heap of assorted things he didn't recognize all soaked together in a soupy broth, and the smell was passable enough.
He didn't turn his nose up at the Bug-Shell Stew's looks. He tucked in happily with his spoon. Not long ago, after all, he'd only gotten a hot meal a few times. And his digestion was strong these days—he couldn't tell whether the shell was meant to be eaten too, or whether the shop intended it to serve as the plate.
Kaliu, sitting across from him, looked just as taken with everything, though he ate far more gracefully, spooning out one piece of each different thing in the stew and chewing slowly, as if savoring some unmatched delicacy.
Black Bug Wine was true to its name: a big cup of black water.
Luge didn't care much for it but drank it all, then took up another cup, Sour Mushroom Wine, sipping it slowly as he ate.
Creak.
The tavern door was pushed gently open.
Luge looked up with his cheeks bulging. He'd been sitting here a good while and had yet to see anyone open a door so softly; in a place like this, where all sorts rubbed shoulders, roughness was the norm.
"Even in the Abyss Den area, spellcasters aren't completely unseen. There are low-rank wild wizard apprentices in some mercenary bands, or people hiding from warrants put out by Earth Cave City's nobles. Most of them are wild wizard apprentices, of course—the nobles wouldn't dare provoke a real wizard," Kaliu said suddenly, chewing a chunk of meat from the stew.
Kaliu seemed very fond of the Black Bug Wine; he only tasted a little of the Sour Mushroom Wine before setting it aside.
Seeing this, Luge reached over, meaning to help finish it for him.
Just then a handsome youth walked into the tavern—this was the gentle door-pusher—with a red-haired beauty who looked a little older than him following behind.
The two looked around after entering, then sat down at the table next to Luge and Kaliu.
Noticing Luge turn his head to look at him, the tall, slender youth smiled and nodded in greeting as he took his seat.
The youth seemed to find everything novel, touching this and poking at that, while the beauty simply sat there ignoring him, only glancing back once when she felt Luge's eyes on her.
Luge put his head down and went on eating, and while he was at it, finally took Kaliu's Sour Mushroom Wine for himself.
He felt he should order another serving. The stew was a big portion, and it really was a mixed bag, but his appetite was bigger still, and it was more or less to his taste.
"Do you have any recommendations? Or you could leave me a menu and let me think it over..."
Luge faintly heard the voice from the next table and found the words somewhat familiar.
When he raised his head to call the waiter, he found the coarse-faced bruiser already standing at the next table, frowning as he turned to glance at him.
But he relaxed at once—the youth, too, was having his companion across the table pay the bill.
Soon Luge's second Bug-Shell Stew was brought over, and he kept eating; the shell from the first one he'd also bitten through and eaten.
The next table had ordered Bug-Shell Stew as well, and theirs came a little before Luge's second serving, but by the time Luge had finished the second, the youth had only managed a small bite, while the red-haired beauty had already finished hers.
"It's time we were going. Or would you rather stay for the show?" Kaliu said with a smile.
Holding his Sour Mushroom Wine, still a little under half full, Luge looked to the side—and sure enough, a good show was about to begin over there.
A few drunken fellows staggered over and bumped into the youth, then latched on to harass him, and amid their shouts another five or six popped up and surrounded the table. Two of them turned back and glared viciously at Luge, who was watching the fun, but Luge merely went on calmly sipping the last of his Sour Mushroom Wine.
Suddenly light flashed, and then came a scream.
Luge instinctively looked at Kaliu, who only twisted his mouth.
"Spellcasters aren't only wizards, you ignorant little kobold," Kaliu said.
Luge was taken aback for a moment; he realized his thinking had been bound by habit.
"Of course, if you go higher, only wizards remain, so what you thought wasn't wrong, either. The other paths of transcendence amount to no more than an ordinary first-ring formal wizard at their very peak—and it's hard for them even to reach that peak; some even need a wizard's help," Kaliu said with a laugh.
Luge looked toward the next table again. The burly men blocking his view had already gone down in a swath.
Two pink gems were glowing faintly as they circled the red-haired beauty, like a big one and a small one of a pair of cute flying insects—the big one two sizes larger than an ordinary person's eyeball, the small one only half the size of a fingernail.
Suddenly the small gem moved, drilling through the knee of a man who was trying to run; he fell with a scream.
"A spellcaster!"
"It's a spellcaster!"
As if only now catching on, someone in the tavern cried out in alarm, and then the whole room went quiet in an instant—so quiet that the sound of Luge smacking his lips as he sipped his wine could be heard clearly.
The red-haired woman shot Luge a glance, then left through the door with the silent handsome youth.
"Her path of transcendence is Gem Summoner. Not too common. She has to successfully contract a fairy gem of her own. People on this path are popular with mercenary bands and adventurers, since they generally have unusual treasure-hunting abilities, and over time they build up some ability to appraise treasures as well," Kaliu said, rising to his feet.
"The transcendent world is more interesting than you imagine. Seeing more of the different things out there is an indispensable step on a wizard's path of growth. Some fifth-rank apprentice wizards even set out on a journey of several years before their advancement; sometimes, without meaning to, they find their true path."
Even as he spoke, Kaliu was already walking out of the tavern.
Luge followed, thinking it over.
The two wandered here and there, and at last, on the edge of the town, spent five moon coins to get a small courtyard.
"This room is mine. Don't come bother me unless there's something. You can wander about as you like; when it's time to leave, I'll wait for you to go together."
With that, Kaliu slipped into the room and shut the door.
Luge looked at the closed door, then swept his gaze over the whole small courtyard, and suddenly grew excited.
Could this count as a home?
A temporary home—his first home in this world?
Though it didn't look as roomy as his big bedroom with three open sides, at least all four sides were sealed off.
He paced back and forth in the courtyard, set the broken gate upright again, and was just about to go into his own room for a look.
"Hey, big guy over there—"
A child's voice came.
Luge tilted his head to look; it came from the neighboring courtyard.
"Wow, you're really ugly. But I've seen uglier. There was a band of mercenaries whose captain got his face caved in—he had to eat from the side of his mouth. And a deputy captain with slit pupils and scales on his face..." The child, on tiptoe, showed only half his head above the wall as he spoke.
"Was there something you wanted?" Luge asked curiously.
"You two got cheated. This isn't a sturdy house. Out here in the Abyss Den, sturdy is the only standard. You look like outsiders, and they cheat outsiders on purpose—though they probably didn't see what you look like, or they definitely would have been scared off. And the ground stone here is no good either; some of the gaps are just patched up with crushed stone. Watch out for a burrowing worm suddenly coming up and swallowing you whole!" the child said earnestly.
He put on an exaggerated look of shock to play along, while in his heart he was thinking that his companion familiar, Little Clever Bug, had a snack coming.
Still, with so many ugly fellows wandering around here, Luge thought he might as well try letting Aisjin and Big Dumb Hum out.
Chapter 80