Shortly after they finished their conversation, the waitress came back with a basket of bread sticks and a green bottle of bubbling liquid. She opened the bottle and poured its contents into two wine glasses that were already present on the table and left again to retrieve their order.

Nathaniel took up one of wine glasses and took a sip, a smile slowly creeped across his face and he relaxed into his chair. Ajax stared at his glass and then slowly drank it, the bubbles fizzled and popped in his mouth as if he was drinking sparkling cream soda.

Their meals arrived shortly after, and on Ajax’s plate was a strange six finned fish that was cut in two, with each side having three fins. It was served with a red rice that had sliced vegetables mixed within it and topped with red flakes. Nathaniel’s plate had nine slices of pink meat that was surrounded by a ring of light brown noodles. Around the noodles were a ring of caramel looking rice that had its own vegetables mixed in.

“This looks good.” Ajax said and was quick to eat a spoonful of the rice.

“Wait that is...!” exclaimed Nathaniel the moment he saw Ajax take up the rice but it was too late, “Oh no.”

Ajax looked over at Nathaniel while chewing, wondering why he was saying oh no, then suddenly, a burning sensation sparked within his mouth. It felt as if someone had lit a fire on his tongue mixed with burning hot peppers. He tried to refrain from shouting as not to make a scene but the longer he kept his mouth closed the worse it got. He watched Nathaniel laugh a little and then handed him his wine glass. He quickly took the glass and drank it dry, alleviating the flame in his mouth and soothed it.

“Sorry for laughing, I tried to say wait because scorshin rice is every hot when eaten in large amounts at once.” said Nathaniel, he used his fork to pick up one of the meat slices and ate it, “But you beat me to it.”

“I wish you talked faster.” Ajax panted while fanning his tongue, when he continued to eat he made sure to go slowly to avoid any other, mishaps.

“Since you aren’t accustomed to this world, you have a lot of food options to try.” Nathaniel giggled.

Despite Ajax’s best attempts, their spectacle did not go unnoticed, all around them murmuring could be heard, in addition to all the side glances they were receiving. Ajax sighed and lowered himself in his seat with a spoon in his mouth and his arms crossed but this only served to irritate Nathaniel.

“Ahem!” Nathaniel loudly exclaimed and the murmurings quickly stopped, “Honestly, some people need to focus on their own dates and mind their own business!”

“Don’t you know how shut them up.” Ajax laughed, “So did hear the word date there or was I mistaken?”

“What, no, don’t be silly, date as in them, they are all most likely on dates they should pay attention to.” he frantically replied with a nervous smile.

“Okay then, either way, it’s starting to get annoying, I am glad you warned me beforehand.” Ajax said.

“If you are so worried about how people will treat you once we part ways, then I am not opposed to just staying by your side.” he said, looking away from Ajax with a light blush.

“You’re something else.” Ajax replied with a smile and then nodded, “Wouldn’t that just be a hindrance to you too?”

“I am okay with it, I quite enjoy your company, plus it is not every day one meets a starling.” he replied and finished his meal.

“If it’s okay with you then I accept your proposal.” Ajax said and finished his own.

Nathaniel paid for their meals and they departed the restaurant to head back to the inn. Along the way Ajax noticed that the floating lights were all changing themselves to purple and lowering themselves closer to the ground.

“Why are they all turning purple?” Ajax asked

“That just means that it’s getting late into the night.” Nathaniel replied, “I should have asked earlier, what are your skills, I remember that you inherited a lot based on what I saw earlier.”

“There were some I couldn’t make out but I will tell you those I saw.” Ajax said, “Mist Duplication, Water Resistance, Frost Resistance, Heat Resistance, Avatar of Water, Black Ice Shot, Demonic Snow, Corrupted Ice Strike, Water Tornado, Aqua Slash, Water Bind, Aqua Shield, Destructive Torrent, Domain of Oceans, Gale Storm, Freeze Delta, Trident of Doom, Drowning Chains, Scolding Burst, Black Smoke, Dark Barrier, Flame Breath and Resilient Scales.”

“Wow, that is alot of skills for someone who just came to this world, you’re lucky.” Nathaniel said.

“Is it really that lucky?” he inquired and raised a brow.

“From what I know, when someone is just summoned they only have like one or two, so yes you are lucky to have so much.” Nathaniel replied, “What is your level and rank as a demon?”

“Let me check.” he said, he drew the A rune over his wrist and showed the screen to Nathaniel, “My rank is still greater demon, and my level has increased to nineteen.”

“You’re stronger than me by just a little except in attack stats, seems I’m physically stronger than you.” Nathaniel jokingly said.

“No way!” he exclaimed in surprise, “You have to show me your stats, what even is your rank?”

“Humans don’t have ranks like monsters do.” Nathaniel replied, “We can get a profession and the proficiency rank will increase once we level up, however, our rank will always be human.”

They stopped walking for a moment and Ajax watched as Nathaniel drew the A rune over his own wrist. He extended his arm towards Ajax once the screen appeared and Ajax proceeded to reading his status. Ajax was astonished when it was revealed that he was level sixteen, only three levels lower than himself. Ajax reciprocated the gesture and displayed his own screen for the other to properly read.

“Guess we both have a long way to go!” Nathaniel laughed.

“Indeed we do!” Ajax laughed in response.

Their brief moment of laughter was interrupted when they heard painful groaning. When they looked in the direction it came from, across the street, they saw three demi-human children, each looked no older than nine, struggling to carry large sacks which were clearly too heavy for them.

The children were dragging the sacks towards a cart that was hooked up to a horse. Their bodies were covered in bruises and scratches which were not properly covered by their torn rags clearly made from the same material as the sacks they dragged. When one of the children, a young boy, tripped and dropped his sack, suddenly a rather well dressed man, accompanied by two larger muscular men, appeared out of the darkness.

They watched as the well-dressed man shouted at the boy and then told something to the other two men. The two men crowded the boy and started to repeatedly kick and punch him, and despite the boy’s crying and pleading, no one stopped to help him, not even a pair of guards that walked by. Ajax clenched his fist as he felt his anger and blood boil, especially when he saw one of the men turn and threaten the other two children.

“They’re his slaves it seems so the guards won’t do anything, but that doesn’t mean we have to follow.” said Nathaniel, he gently held Ajax’s fist and looked at him with a slight smile, “Go on, just don’t kill anyone or make too much of a scene.”

Ajax nodded and then flew into the air as Nathaniel cracked his knuckles and stepped over to them. When the man went to punch one of the other two children, Nathaniel intercepted the fist by catching it and crushed the man’s hand. Ajax, who was watching from above just gave a wow, especially when he saw the man drop to his knees in pain.

“He really is stronger than I thought, glad he didn’t show that when we fought.” Ajax said.

When the second man went to punch Nathaniel, he swept his leg and tripped him, causing the man to fall over. Ajax created a dark barrier that entrapped the two men and then landed beside Nathaniel.

“If you don’t mind, I much prefer you stop assaulting the children.” Ajax said in an intimidating tone.

“Who the hell do you think you are to interfere with my property!” The well dress man shouted and stomped towards them.

“Let’s see.” Ajax said with a smile, his shadow extended towards the man and an icicle spike appeared from the ground and stopped just shy of his neck, “I am the guy who can kill you without much effort if you don’t stop beating the kid.”

The man flinched at the sudden appearance of the spike at his neck and stepped backwards, eventually falling onto his butt. The man screamed and scampered away as fast as he could which made Ajax chuckle while watching, he looked rather pathetic for all his posturing before. While Ajax watched the man leave, Nathaniel brought the boy over to the other children and smiled at them in an attempt to calm them since they were clearly trembling.

“Don’t worry they won’t hurt you anymore.” Nathaniel said and examined the boy’s injuries.

“Are they okay Nathaniel?” Ajax asked and reached down at the boy, however, the boy swatted away his hand and hid behind the cart with the other two children, “Ouch, what the heck.”

“They are fine, but scared.” Nathaniel replied and stepped passed Ajax, he bent down before the children and smiled, “It’s okay, no need to be scared, Ajax is a friendly monster.”

Ajax felt off knowing that he had to, no, he needed Nathaniel for situations like these because he seemed to do nothing more than bring fright and unease. After a few minutes of speaking with the children, Nathaniel signaled him approach and he did so slowly as not to scare the children again. He gulped and watched as the children timidly approached him and even went to gently touch his wings, captivated by them.