"Time really fucking flies..."
Awnings dotted the beach in front of Yiren Tavern.
Watching the sea breeze blow toward her and the slightly slanting setting sun, Yileina sat on a small stool by the shore, wiped grease from a roasted lizard thigh, and wore an expression of comfort and satisfaction.
Not far away, Elf King Fugui gulped down beer by the barrel with the brothers from the Jungle Corps, competing to see who could drink more... This pathetic Agility-build loser had never won.
The owner of Yiren Tavern, standing behind the bar, had finally honestly faced his special hobby and put on a maid outfit designed by Teng Teng's Cabin alongside a group of pretty Moon Tribe girls.
What surprised everyone was that, while the hecklers had assumed it would be painfully ugly, this guy actually looked unexpectedly great in women's clothes.
Especially that time when a sailor who did not understand the situation had actually mistaken the owner for the proprietress, then joined several vicious-looking companions in putting on that tired old damsel-in-distress routine. The resulting joke had players drinking here laughing all the way from the game to the forums...
The war two thousand kilometers away and the war right nearby seemed not to exist. The peaceful evening breeze carried only the faint scent of the sea.
Old Na tossed the lizard bone she had finished gnawing to a stray cat that had somehow wandered here following some ship, then stretched and rose from her stool.
Elf King Fugui, already swaying drunkenly before night had even fallen, burped and called out to her while bracing himself against the table with both hands.
"Heading back this early?"
"Not early. It's almost time."
The words had barely left her mouth when the person who had just stood up tilted sideways,