Chapter 47 - Master Never Asked

The next morning, Ryan headed down to the local tavern outside of the royal palace. As he walked through the town, he noticed the atmosphere had changed. The demons weren't particularly happy and giddy when he first arrived. Their circumstances were still shit. But now, with the impending war marching toward them, it was worse. Most of the demons were boarding up windows, packing what belongings they had to head toward the caves underneath the city.

Ryan walked into the tavern and took a seat. The barmaid took his order. Two eggs, boar sausage, some jerky, and a pint of mead.

"Fido."

Ryan sat with his head propped up by his one good arm on the table.

"This fucking dog, I swear. FIDO!"

"Yes... yes, Master."

"Where are you guys?"

"On our way back."

"Did you find anything about what the Beastkin were saying?"

"We did, Master."

"Good. The Beastkin are marching toward the capital. You two need to get back as soon as possible."

"We know, Master. We've been tracking them. Thirty-Seven has just knocked down quite a few large trees. It should delay the beasts for half a day. We are on our way back now."

"Okay, be careful. Tell her not to engage in any manner whatsoever unless y'all's lives are in danger."

Silence sat for a moment.

"Fido, did you hear me?"

"Well, it's too late for that, Master. She, uh... has been taking out scouts along the way the entire time."

Ryan rubbed his eyes. "Goodness. Tell her to just get back here."

"Yes, Master."

Ryan cut the connection to Fido off. He snapped his fingers, and Veyra appeared standing across from Ryan.

"Take a seat."

"Very well, Master."

The barmaid appeared with Ryan's mead. "Oh, my apologies. I assumed you were eating alone. Had I known, I would've waited to take your order."

"No worries, it's not your fault. Veyra, would you like to order?"

Veyra looked at the barmaid. "I wouldn't mind some mead as well."

The barmaid set Ryan's pint down and nodded. "Right away."

"May I ask why I am here right now, Master?"

"First, drop the Master stuff. It's exhausting."

Veyra nodded. "Very well. So what am I doing out here, Ryan?"

"I wanted to talk to you."

"About? Do you need me to escort Thirty-Seven and Fido? Maybe assassinate the First Elder of Narethis?"

Ryan took a sip of his mead. "No, but, um... you know, I kind of turned you into what you are now without your permission. And I am aware of the situation that killed you. So I wanted to know how you felt about being turned into a shadow, and if you want revenge on those fuckers who abandoned you. Your old adventurer team."

Veyra reached over, grabbed Ryan's pint, and slammed it back. She finished it off and sighed as she slammed the wooden cup down on the table.

"When it comes to revenge, yes. I want to find them and let them feel the exact way I did in that moment. As for you making me a shadow, I am grateful because it has given me a second chance at life, but..."

"Yeah, the but is what I was afraid of."

"It is not a bad but, just a weird but. I am tied to you, at your beck and call. Though, it isn't half bad. You do not abuse the fact that we are basically your slaves. You care about our well-being. You speak to us like we are still among the living, which is more than I can say for people when I was alive." Veyra's gaze moved past Ryan as she stared at the wall for a moment. "I do not regret it, and if you can help me get my revenge, well, I would be grateful."

Ryan started to smile slowly, then he snapped his fingers. Bubba and Meatloaf appeared and took seats beside Veyra. Thimble took her throne atop Ryan's head.

The barmaid appeared again with a pint of mead for Veyra. She sighed loudly. "Are there any more coming that I need to be aware of?"

Ryan laughed. "There aren't."

"Meatloaf want mead."

Bubba threw up his finger to ask for one as well.

"And for the little one?"

Ryan felt Thimble crash her foot into his head.

"You must be talking about one of them! I am not little! But yes, I would like a mead as well."

Ryan tossed the barmaid a bag of coins. "Just keep 'em coming all around until I say otherwise."

"This is too much, sir."

"Then keep the rest for yourself."

The barmaid nodded, placed Veyra's mead in front of her, and ran off to fetch the rest.

"Can you guys even get drunk? I assume you don't need to eat because, well, I've yet to feed any of you."

"We don't need to eat. Doesn't mean we can't, Master." Bubba slammed his fists on the table. "I would love some of that boar sausage."

"Meatloaf never drunk. Meatloaf high tolerance."

"So you all can get drunk?"

Thimble leaned over until Ryan could see her dangling in front of his eyes while she held on to his hair. "We can get drunk. We just don't need food or sleep anymore since becoming your shadows. Other than that, nothing else has changed."

"Well, I'm sorry it took me this long to ask. Since I have nothing to do today, let's get good and drunk."

The five of them sat for the next couple of hours, drinking and eating to their hearts' content. Ryan began to learn more about each of them and who they were before they were killed and became Ryan's shadows.

Meatloaf chugged his pint of mead and yelled for another to the barmaid.

"Meatloaf was proud ogre. Strongest ogre."

"I was king of the orcs back in my homeland."

"Wait, homeland? I killed you in a dungeon, though."

"You did, but I wasn't born in that dungeon." Bubba took a bite of the sausage. "The dungeons are what precedes an even greater evil."

Ryan flinched backward in his seat. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Bubba took a deep breath. "We had dungeons in my homeworld as well. Then one day, towers fell from the sky. That was the beginning of the end for us. Once my world fell, we became slaves and were shoved into dungeons to prepare world after world for the towers."

"What? No way." Ryan's hand squeezed his temple hard. There weren't dungeons on Earth, though? Ryan thought to himself.

"Meatloaf, did the same thing happen to you?"

Meatloaf shrugged his shoulders. "Meatloaf think so, but Meatloaf don't care. Meatloaf enjoy being shadow. Master treat Meatloaf good."

Ryan turned his eyes upward. "Thimble?"

"It was the same for us. My world was full of fairies. Only a few of us knew magic. The ones who did, like myself, were priestesses of the Tree of Life, so we only knew healing spells. It was a peaceful planet. No wars, no discord, until the dungeons appeared, and then the towers a few cycles later."

"HOLY SHIT, GUYS." Ryan slammed his fist on the table. "WHY DIDN'T YOU GUYS EVER TELL ME THIS?"

Meatloaf grabbed Ryan's pint of mead and chugged it. "Master never asked."

Ryan chuckled. "Yeah, I guess I didn't. Sorry, I just never thought about how deep this all went. I looked at you guys as NPCs that I had to defeat, like I was playing an RPG."

"NPC? RPG? What are you talking about?" Veyra leaned forward.

"I tell ya what. You all make it through this war alive, and once it's over, we'll get good and drunk again, and I'll tell ya some secrets of my life before all this. How about that?"

Everyone nodded as they continued to drink and chat about their homeworlds, their past lives. Ryan sat back and smiled the entire time. These shadows now felt more like his team from his past life. Drinking before a mission, talking about their lives, their goals, their dreams, and just living in the moment.

Ryan thought to himself. "I am going to protect this at all costs."