Defeating that dead angel was a tough battle. It took Taneva and the Cursed Children many hours to defeat it in a continuous battle. It was a grueling fight that significantly changed the landscape of the jagged mountain range. A battle where mortals had no place in. It took Taneva everything he had to win the battle. That dead angel was just extremely durable, that it even survived Taneva's ultimate spell. It was utterly ridiculous.

But in the end, they won against it. Many times, they suffered heavy damage that essentially decimated their bodies. Only saved by their immortality. Although, Taneva was quite disappointed that the angel couldn't kill him.

After defeating the angel, they started heading to the capital city of this island, where they set to meet with the team. At least for certainty with Hartwin and Velar. With that said, it was just Taneva who walked alone on the ground. Even though they fought together, he was not really in a friendly relationship with Heneis and Galik. That was fine, not like he was looking for their company. Taneva had always been a lone wanderer.

Going to the city was pretty easy. The monsters were never strong enough to defeat him, anyway. As long as no new dead angel appeared, he would be completely fine. Well, he was not with Estelia, so he should be absolutely fine. The dead angel they faced definitely sensed Estelia's presence. That could explain how it found them and mostly focused its attention on her.

Thankfully, it was now over.

Days later, he finally arrived in the capital city. Taneva placed his hands on his hips, looking up at the wall. "Wow, they have changed tremendously. I wonder if the liquor here is any different."

Enough of that cactus stuff.

This was one of the wonders of time, the changes to places. He could see whether a place upgrades, or degrades. And he was actually quite surprised that they improved this much. Last time he was here, everyone was in a terrible state of life. People had little to eat, and not much protection from monsters compared to this. Everyone was even more disorderly and horrible. Taneva almost pitied the poor people. However, he just let them be. He was only present to observe, not change things. And he was not interested in doing it, anyway. He was not some sort of hero.

Besides, they were the results of their own making. Well, mostly anyway.

He easily got through the gates. Just like the last city, it would seem they were not too strict about security for entry. Well, if you had a city of warriors, you typically don't have to worry about any troublesome outsiders.

Taneva casually looked around.

There's a lot more people. And they look way better.

He wondered just what kind of leader this island had. It would seem he cared enough to improve this city.

Taneva walked down the street before turning towards a secluded alley. There were a group of people there. They appeared to be sniffing some sort of sap on a wooden cup. One person inhaled strongly from the sap, and he jerked back, his eyes rolling.

"Ah! That feels good…"

Drug addicts. Taneva had seen that sort of thing last time he was here, same type of drug. He felt a bit surprised they had not gotten rid of it yet.

The group jerked and twitched before they noticed Taneva. All of them looked terrible, their eyes were sunken and dark, skin dry as a leaf, and they were thin as bone.

"Hey, l-look at that…" one guy said to another.

"Y-You t-think he has some m-money."

"... I-I could use some money. I-I l-lost it all." He rubbed his nose like a freak.

"Alright, let's g-go."

The group slowly walked towards Taneva, the latter smiling and shaking his head. It was a bother to move, so he decided to just drive them away this time. Besides, it would be more troublesome to kill people in a big city such as this. That might bring more trouble.

"H-Hey you!" one addict shouted as he pulled out a knife. "Give us all your coins!"

The group started to surround him, a couple more of them holding more knives.

"Don't do a-anything stupid!"

Taneva chuckled. "Look at you. Your brains must be a dry mess."

"S-Shut up and do what we say!"

"T-That's right!"

Taneva sighed. "Go ahead, stab me."

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"W-What?"

"I'm not giving you anything."

"O-Oh fuck you!" One guy charged and stabbed Taneva in the belly. "Hah! That's what y-you get!"

Taneva punched the man in the face, pushing him down to the floor. The group froze for a moment, shocked at how quickly it happened. Once the junkies snapped out of it, they charged at him, but he easily dodged all their attacks before kicking and punching them down. They were incredibly weak, like smashing a twig around. They should have used their time becoming a warrior than this.

The group sprawled to the ground, groaning in pain.

"You better all leave before I kill you all." He kicked one guy in the stomach. "Go."

The men stood up while clutching their aching bodies and started rushing away from the area. Taneva shook his head before whistling. A moment later, a couple of fog descended in front of him before turning into humans.

"You two can fly. It's best that you search for our crew. That includes Hartwin and Velar, not just Estelia."

"What about you?" Heneis asked. "What are you going to do?"

"You see that bar across the street? I'll be there."

Heneis frowned. "Are you seriously going to do nothing but get drunk?"

"What do you want me to do? Walk and run around? You know how big this place is!"

"That's not really my point…"

Taneva was basically saying they do all the work, while he would just chill around.

"You're just being scummy, wanderer." Galik scoffed.

"Hey now, you're the ones that have a bigger stake here. So, work hard, you two!"

Without hearing more complaints from the two, Taneva quickly left the alley and headed straight to the bar. He swung open the double doors, and shady looking people quickly directed their glares at him. Taneva smirked as he casually walked towards the counter.

He stared back at the men who were drinking at their own tables. Casually sitting down by the counter, he tapped on the wooden surface and gestured for the barkeeper.

"Hey, give me your best liquor."

The barkeeper narrowed his eyes, seemingly suspicious about the newcomer. "You even have money, roach?"

"What matters is the material, right?" He put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a silver coin, putting it on the table. "Yes, I have plenty of money."

"Hmmm." The barkeeper grabbed a bottle of liquor and handed it out to Taneva. "Here." He picked up the coin.

"Oh? What is this?" Taneva picked up the bottle.

"Just from crushed fruits, from what I heard. And why would it matter? It's beer, just drink it."

Taneva grinned. "I am, you could call, a connoisseur for these kinds of things. So I become curious about whichever hole you pulled this bottle out of."

"Look, I don't ask questions about how they're made. I just know they're good."

"Hm, fair enough." He pulled out the cork. "Fancy." Common bottles mostly used stainless metal as a cap with a wire that held it around the tip. So, indeed, using some sort of wood like a cork was fancy here. He drank the liquor. "A bit sweet. I like this. Finally made something good, huh?"

The barkeeper frowned before walking away and started cleaning stuff.

***

Several hours later, Taneva had drunk several bottles. He was already quite drunk after the continuous liquor bottle consumption. But as he had been drinking for a long, long time, the effect on him was not too terrible that he would start fumbling around.

"Holy shit, you're crazy. How are you still awake?" The barkeeper was flabbergasted to see him.

"Heh. I've been drinking for most of my life."

"You better not vomit on the counter."

"I won't, don't worry…" Taneva chuckled.

It was then that a couple of men came into the bar. They looked around until they saw Taneva.

"There he is." Hartwin approached and patted Taneva's back. "My idea from before really is right. You'd be somewhere where there's alcohol."

Taneva turned his gaze towards them and grinned. "Oh, Hartwin and Velar. Nice to see you two still alive."

"We got a few close calls."

The two of them sat down beside Taneva, and they asked for some liquor.

"How did you guys find me?" Taneva asked.

"The Cursed Children," Velar answered as he drank a bit from the cup. "They saw Hartwin perform."

"Perform?"

"Yeah." Hartwin nodded. "Considering that I didn't have my lute, I have to tell some stories in public. All so that you'd notice me somehow. But I told you Velar: Taneva would be in a bar somewhere."

"Hm." Velar grunted.

"We've been here for three days, by the way. Did you guys just arrive?"

"Yeah."

"And the angel?"

"It's dead, we've defeated it. We don't have to worry about it anymore. Was a tough battle though."

"I can imagine."

"Where did your lute go, anyway? Did you lose it?"

"... I had it somewhere for the meantime. It's safe."

"Huh." Taneva squinted his eyes at him.

"Have you found the princess?" Velar asked Taneva.

Taneva raised an eyebrow. "You haven't? She's not here?"

"I take it you haven't found her yet?" Hartwin drank his liquor. "We tried checking up on whatever places have lodgings, but they say they didn't see anyone like her."

"Huh, so she could not have arrived yet. Well, she did take the rough road. So something like this is not surprising."

"Her taking the rough road is exactly what is worrying me…" Velar said, lowering his head.

Taneva snorted. "No point in worrying. She is fated to go somewhere else. She won't die or anything. Although, that doesn't mean she won't go through some hardship."

"Well, at least we can relax for a little," Hartwin said. "The Cursed Children should be doing their best to search around the city for her."

"Indeed." Velar nodded. "In any case, this is enough drinking, Taneva. Let's go."

"You drink like an animal," Hartwin winced. "I'm surprised you haven't started a fight yet."

"I already did have a fight."

"Really? The place looks fine."

"Yeah, well, for the barkeeper's sake, I didn't damage anything. So I just threw them out the door."

The barkeeper scoffed angrily. "Lucky you pay good, else I'd have you leave already."

"Hehehe. Thanks for the kind consideration, good sir." He raised his bottle at him.

The barkeeper merely shook his head.

A moment later, after they drank all the liquor they had, they left the bar.

"So, what are we going to do now?" Hartwin asked.

"Wait for the princess, of course. And we can drink everything we can!" Taneva raised his hand as they walked down the street.

"We should keep it in moderation," Velar said.

"Well, whatever you say."

"I would pretty much want to hear what happened during the fight with the angel," Hartwin said. "The details and all."

"Sure, sure. I'll tell you right now."

Hartwin wryly smiled. "Perhaps if you're sober. I want an unblemished story."

"Oh, come on, I'm fine." He may say so, but he was acting wobbly, and he was slightly slurring his words. He may be used to alcohol, but at the moment, his mind was already clouded with it. "That angel was insane."

"Right, right. How about we get to our lodging first?"

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