Chase stepped into a lively tavern, as he held the door open for Poppy who had entered last.
The tavern was brimming with life as bards blasted their instruments at maximum volume, and adventurers danced and laughed under the dim yet cozy light of the tavern.
Chase stood by the door next to Poppy and Onyx, as they looked around in confusion.
"He should be here..."
Chase muttered, feeling as if no one had even noticed them enter the building.
A very attractive bartender with beach blonde hair walked up to the group with a bright smile.
"You guys will have to wait a few moments for a table to open up, unless you would like to sit at the bar."
"The bar please..."
Onyx responded before anyone could object.
"Follow me."
The bartender smiled as she led them to a handful of open stools in front of the bar.
Chase followed behind his party, as he continued to scan the room for a specific familiar face.
At one of the tables in the far corner of the room, Justin of House Pice was in an intense battle with an elderly man.
However, it was not the type of battle one would expect.
Justin placed down a single playing card with a mighty grin on his face.
The once general looked strangely at home in the tavern, as if he had grown up inside of it.
He wore a loose white T-shirt, and a pair of baggy leather pants.
His combed brown hair resting ruggedly on his normally helmet-covered head, and his body resting lazily in a booth.
Chase walked toward him, leaving behind his team as he neared the intense card matchup taking place with plenty of engaged spectators.
Walking over and standing beside the booth that Justin was sitting at, he grinned.
Justin looked up, and almost dropped his cards on the table.
"My gods! The boy lives!"
He yelled happily, pulling Chase into the booth next to him and throwing an arm around his shoulder.
"Listen here, I got this guy in the palm of my hands, if he plays anything that isn't a king I win the big prize..."
Justin whispered into his ear, as he snuggly tucked his cards underneath his palm.
Chase looked around, noticing that a boy around his age was standing beside the opposite booth, but it was an unsettling scene once his eyes focused on the bigger picture.
"Don't tell me..."
Justin's grin widened.
"Bingo..."
The boy that had chains wrapped around his shoeless ankles, and a muddied white shirt that was littered with holes, and a pair of pants that were so ruined that Chase couldn't even tell what material they were made of.
The boy had ragged black hair and chained up wrists, but his eyes were a strange mustard yellow color, and the expression on his face told Chase everything he needed to know.
'Gambling for a slave...'
He frowned, but knew that Justin was serious about winning this game.
Once he got a good look at Justin's opponent, he also realized that his friend needed to win this game.
The elder man had a cold look in his eyes, and a terrifying presence to his face, as if he had already done no good toward the slave that he was gambling away.
The fact that Justin was the only player who had money on the table, also told Chase that if the man could, he would have preferred to keep the slave chained up within the confines of his own dungeon.
Something about the boy's lifeless look told Chase that there was something more to this game then he had realized.
It was like Luna was nudging him in the shoulder from the lands of the gods as each card was slowly placed down.
Adventurers quieted down as the elder man placed down his last card which was a queen of spades.
Justin laughed, as every adventurer in the room lifted their eyebrows.
The bartender nodded toward Justin to place his last card, and the room erupted in cheers as he slammed his king of diamonds onto the center of the table.
The elder man quickly drew a dagger from underneath the table and shot towards Justin, but just before the dagger met the cocky man, Chase had already moved, slicing the man's hand off, as both the severed limb and the dagger flopped onto the table, followed by a constant stream of blood.
Justin quickly slid his coins back into a pouch and chuckled.
"It sure is good to beat a monster at his own game... Thanks friend, it appears we have a job to get too, so I will be taking this slave with me and my comrades."
Justin shrugged his shoulders, as the elder man looked as if he had fallen under a spell of shock, as he looked at his severed hand in confusion.
It was only after Chase and Justin had stood up and dragged the boy in chains with them, when the man screamed out in pain and started to thrash around in his seat.
"Where we heading?"
Justin asked, as his eyes locked onto the group of unique adventurers who were laughing and chatting freely at the bar.
"Heading toward a good night, after though.,.. We have a king to kill..."
Chase whispered with a grin on his own face.
"Sounds good..."
Justin said, then turned around to face the boy who was being dragged by his chain.
"Break these if you will captain..."
Justin asked, letting the chains fall to the ground.
The boy hesitantly held out his hands, and Chase, instead of breaking them with his dagger, walked closer to the boy, and wrapped his palm around the chain holding the boy's wrists together.
Then he locked eyes with the boy, as his hand started to melt the chains.
"What is your name?"
He asked, although he had a good feeling that he already knew.
The boy stuttered and hesitated but eventually cleared his throat.
"J-Jacob..."