Chapter 48: A brief period of introduction

"Oh, so it’s our Sammy’s nephew? Ah, he looks like such a sweetheart~!" An old grandma passing in the streets greeted the small boy as she was passing by the group who had been going around the town, introducing their new family member to the people.

"What? His parents have passed away... ah, such a tragedy." Some of the women who knew how it felt being alone in this world couldn’t help but hug the young boy.

They got on their knees, some of the stronger women like Miss Jasmin from the butcher shop even lifted the sweet boy.

They liked him because he looked cute, but his story was pretty tragic as well.

As they told the people of the town, the young boy was a distant nephew of Sammy the mage. Recently, his family passed away in a monster attack while he was able to survive when they hid him away in a small underground hole.

He was only found by the guards who came to assess the situation, and then he was sent here since Sammy was the only known relative he had left.

Now, he was going to live with them. And even though the town’s people did not know when he came here, they naturally accepted a new member of the people of their favourite inn.

He was a good boy and he was now going to live with them. So, it was important that he got along with everyone in the town.

"Hmm, brother drew?" Kaya, the young girl that stays around their inn, the same girl that got a new toy thanks to Andrew’s help a while ago, came to greet them as well.

"Hello, little one. Come here, let us introduce you to someone." Arcos was wearing the same disguise ring that the rest of them had to hide his appearance, but most of his appearance was the same.

His eyes were a normal green, and his distinct copper hair was dull brown. But even with that, he was a looker.

The young girl was blushing the moment she saw the young prince.

"Umm... hi." She was shy when Andrew and the others introduced him to her. But the boy was a good actor.

He quickly caught up with what she liked and started talking with her so naturally it almost seemed like they had been friends for years.

It’d be good for them to get closer.

The ladies had their own friend circles around the town, even Andrew did so it’d be a good thing if this one made friends as well.

"Oh, everyone, we are having a welcome party tonight as well!" Now that was an important announcement.

"What? You should have said that sooner, girl!" Miss Jem and the party of workers, their regular morning customers, were all happy when they heard the news.

It was inevitable that the news would spread all throughout the town, and when that happens, things will get pretty fun.

A party at Puzzles, their inn, was no small thing.

The food they make is already a speciality of this town and if they also give away all their delicacies for free, how would that not be a festival instead of a party?

They knew how to scale things anyways so, when the word got out that they were throwing a party, the entire town came together.

A venue was already prepared right outside of their inn as people from all around the town came together to help with preparations.

The various merchants and vendors around the town also chipped in and gave their goods for the party so now they had vegetables and meats for their party.

The booze that they made inside their house might not have been enough so the people from the other inns also came together to donate their barrels of ale and wine.

Now, with just a word, by the time the night came, the entire town had gathered around the Puzzles as music was spread with laughter and stories of olden times.

"Oh boy oh boy, I remember the day you lot came like yesterday! You were so young, knew nothing about inns and all. Hahaha, you do remember how much I helped you, right~?"

"Hey! If it weren’t for me and my connections, they wouldn’t even have started!"

"Are you all forgetting I basically made this inn for them?"

"The house was always there! It’s been there for as long as I’m here! Which means for as long as this town has been here!"

"Yes, GRANDMA! We know you’re a fossil!"

"You little!"

The people had gathered around the inn, inside and out. They were sitting on tables, on chairs, happily chatting about their old days, talking like it had been a decade since they had known these people.

Truthfully, Andrew and the group had spent years developing the relationship they have with these people.

They had engineered the relationships they had with each and every one of them. Even the people that did not like them as much as the others or doubted them did so because they wanted it to be like that.

It wasn’t a nice thing to do, but this wasn’t about them or the false relationship that they had with these people. It was about their mission and how dangerous all of it was for them.

"Do any of them know?" Watching from the upper floor of the inn, Arcos asked Sammy who was telling him stories about their old days in this town.

She knew they were wrong to trick these people. But, they weren’t good people. At the end of the day, they were killers, mercenaries and warlords.

"Look, you know how this works. Don’t be sorry for them. We wouldn’t want them to get harmed. And since we are here, since we live here, they won’t be hurt by evil. We may be living a lie here, but we wouldn’t want them to be ’used’ for us."

Sammy knew just how fucked up the world was. Arcos did not.

He had not seen fanatics burning hundreds of people, dozens of children, or thousands of creatures just for a demonic being to come to this world.

They had done things they did not want to, and they might end up doing the same shit to him.

"There was a girl before you came... we killed her." Sammy didn’t want to hide things from him. He was going to stay for longer.

He wasn’t a means to an end. This boy was a sword that Andrew needed for the end. He has a big part to play in the endgame, so he needs to be prepared.

He needed to learn.

And this party was just the start of that learning.