The door creaked open and there stood a ma, about half-head shorter than Rando, with black hair and thick beard. His green, dull-eyes were sunken. Either from stress or lack of sleep.

"Bastion, come in. Had your dinner yet? We still have plenty of meat right here," Rando offered.

"Thanks, I'll have some." The middle-aged man walked in and noticed us. He regarded us with distant eyes before turning back to Rando, "Adventurers?"

"Yeah. They're new."

"I see." He took a seat around the table. Rando served up a plate for Bastion. He accepted it and nodded to us, before starting to eat.

"It's good," he said mid-chew.

"Glad to hear that. The meat's from them," Rando said.

"Good meat. Thanks," he turned to us.

"Sure, no problem."

Rando went to his office and came out with a bottle. He put the liquor on the table and went to kitchen to ruffle along his cupboards. He returned with four cups, uncorking the bottle and poured it. Me and Lia accepted a cup each. Rando put a cup beside the still eating Bastion and poured some for himself. I saw Lia studying the contents with curiosity. She took a sniff and scrunched up her nose. "So this is what they call a liquor," she whispered to herself.

I chucked at the sight and said, "You're too young to drink. It's okay if you don't like the smell of it, you don't have to force yourself to drink."

Based on the way Rando just poured a gla.s.s for Lia nonchalantly, it would seem that the concept of a minimum drinking age doesn't exist in here. Either that, or Rando is just plain insensitive.

"I'm just smelling it, it's not that I'm going to drink it!" she said guiltily.

"Oh, sorry for pouring you a cup. I forgot to ask whether you drink," Rando said.

"It's fine," Lia said, staring intently at her cup. She reluctantly put down her cup and avoided looking at it.

I noticed that even while the middle-aged man was still eating, he occasionally glanced at Lia.

After Bastion finished, Rando turned to him and ask, "So how's the search?"

Bastion did not replied for a while, his mood seemed to dampen after hearing the question, but eventually he answered, "The usual. Still no sign at all." He sighed, looking in the distance forlornly, then lifted his cup and took a drink.

"I see," Rando said, looking glum himself. He took a drink and refilled both his and Bastion's cup. I took a drink and he refilled mine too. Having nothing else to do for now, we decided to enjoy a moment of respite in Rando's cozy house. That was until a few drinks later, after I saw Lia's expression looking uncomfortable. Looks like she finally caught the middle-aged man glancing at her from time to time. At first, I thought it was only my imagination, but now… I decided to rescue her from the old creep. I stood up and said my thanks to Rando. I gave a meaningful look at Lia and she did the same.

"Goodnight then, stay safe," Rando said, standing up to walk us out.

As we followed him to the door, without warning, the middle-aged man suddenly began to sob. Me and Lia turned around in surprise.

"Don't worry, it'll usually last for about 15 minutes or so. He'll calm down after that," Rando a.s.sured.

We turned to Rando, expecting an explanation. He sigh, "I should quit my job and become a storyteller instead.

"Bastion here is a good friend of mine. Three years ago, his daughter went missing in the forest. There was a search party for the first few weeks but they eventually gave up and returned to their daily lives. Which made Bastion furious and decided to post a request at the Adventurer's Guild, offering his entire wealth as reward. There were plenty adventurers who came here at first, but none of them managed to find her and the request was eventually ignored despite its enormous reward. Ever since, he's been venturing into the woods everyday, trying to find any clues regarding her disappearance."

"That explains why he's been stealing glances at her."

"Yeah, Diana should've been the same age as Liarelle now if she hadn't gone missing in the first place."

"I see. Thanks for telling us about it."

"Sure."

"Guess we'll heading back for now."

"Sure. Be careful, you two"

"Thanks, Rando."

"Veluri be with you."

We made our way back to the inn. Today had been a long day; dealing with pigs, having a nice barbeque, and listening to tragic stories. As such, we weren't really in the mood for lessons today and headed to bed early. Under the effects of the alcohol, I laid down for a while before effortlessly falling into a deep sleep.