Chapter 4: Bar Games

The streets of Lescatie were bustling with a great deal people. The city itself was larger than expected and caused Joshua to drop his jaw in amazement. Lescatie's castle town had to be close to the size of New York City back in his world, there was no question about it. Everywhere you looked people were stopping at stalls or various shops to buy food and other goods. Vendors were calling out to people to drum up sales. The warm, sunny day truly made everything feel more alive. A gentle, late spring breeze blew on by, stirring a few leaves from the ground. The fresh air in the city was a far cry from the air back in Oxford, Michigan. It also felt better to not worry about the Covid-19 pandemic for once.

Joshua followed the group through crowded city streets all the while trying not to get separated from them. The houses and other buildings matched a typical fantasy or old English setting. There were armored guards at every street corner and everyone often gave Joshua strange glances wherever they went. Everyone was murmuring when they looked at him and sometimes pointed in his direction. Everyone's stares and murmurs didn't sit well in the back of Joshua's mind and made him feel on edge. Elt could see this and an idea formed in his head.

"Hey, Josh, how old are you?" Elt asked him with a smile.

Joshua was somewhat caught off guard by his question. It should be obvious he was mid-twenties at the very least. Nevertheless; he gave him an answer.

"Twenty-six." He replied calmly. "You know… this place ain't half bad. Sure people are lookin' at me weird but that ain't their fault. I'm a strange man in a strange land that I'm going to have to call home for a while." He said with a smile.

Sasha, Wilmarina, and Mersé laughed. Joshua was taking things in stride as they came to him with little trouble. Joshua seemed to be willing to cooperate despite, as he said, being in a "strange land". Things were off to a good start considering it had only been two hours so far. As they walked a woman's voice called out to Wilmarina.

"Wilma! Wilmarina! I've been looking all over for you!" The voice called out.

They looked to see a young woman with large breasts just like the others, no older than twenty-one, running up to them. She had short, blonde hair and dull yellow eyes, and fair skin. She wore a light blue long sleeve coat that left a small portion of her stomach exposed and had gold trim on the cuffs as well as cross-shaped cuff links. A long, dark blue skirt with a light blue cross pattern sewn into it covered her legs to just above her brown boots. A thick belt around her waist supported a large sword attached to the back of the belt.

Wilmarina gave her a big smile and a cheerful hug. She hadn't seen this woman in over four days. The two of them laughed happily as they released each other. It was then that the woman noticed Joshua. A glint entered her eyes as she became immediately intrigued by this man. She playfully poked his left shoulder with enthusiasm and interest and looked back at Wilmarina with a wide, happy grin.

"Do all the women around here have such large boobs?I really gotta behave myself now! The last thing I need is to be labeled a perv!" Joshua thought nervously.

The blonde-haired woman poked his stomach and circled him with a mystified glint in her eyes. Who was this stranger and where did he get these clothes? He looked slightly handsome despite looking a little disheveled. She wanted to know more about this man.

"Who is this? Where is he from?" The woman asked excitedly.

Joshua let out a nervous chuckle as he shyly scratched the back of his head in response. Mimil playfully rolled her eyes and Mersé let out a hearty laugh. Sasha let out a slight giggle and Wilmarina smiled happily as she answered her.

"This is Joshua, Luciana. He is the result of a successful summoning ritual performed by Lescatie's best mage, Mimil. He may look strange, but rest assured, he means no harm." She explained. "We were just heading off to grab some lunch. You're welcome to join us if you want?" She added.

Joshua gave Luciana a gentleman's hat tip and she beamed happily. She was all too curious about this stranger. She decided to tag along and get a decent meal. Joshua was becoming very popular very fast, so fast it was somewhat alarming to him. As they walked through the city Joshua felt all eyes on him at all times. The other six chatted away about various things like their duties and current errands, but Joshua paid them no mind. They soon came to what looked like a tavern and It looked like every other tavern Joshua had seen before. It wasn't very busy inside so they got lucky. A waitress sat the group at two large tables in the back against the far wall. Joshua set his backpack down next to his chair as the waitress handed out menus.

"What will we all be drinking today?" The waitress asked with a smile.

Elt and Mersé nodded at each other. The tavern gave them an opportunity for something too good to pass up. Joshua had an idea what the two of them would ask for and felt he, too, could use a bit of alcohol. Mimil, Sasha, and Wilmarina decided on fruit juice, but Elt, Luciana, and Mersé wanted ale. Joshua took an ale as he could use another drink to help steady his nerves. The waitress returned to the kitchen to fetch their drinks while Elt and Mersé had mischievous grins on their faces.

"Hey.. you up for another challenge?" Elt asked Joshua with a grin. Joshua knew where he might be going with this and decided to play along.

"A drinking game, right? Count me in but don't hate me if I'm carrying you home after this." Joshua replied, grinning madly. Mersé let out a hearty laugh at Josh's response.

"Haha! I'll have you know Elt and I do this quite often. He hasn't beaten me yet, but I'm itching to see how well you hold out." She said confidently. Joshua's grin widened. He might just actually enjoy this.

"I only got to have one drink before I got here and I'm still craving something sweet. Maybe victory will satisfy that?" Joshua replied with a confident grin. A mischievous smile began spreading across Luciana's face. She wanted in on the action.

"Count me in! I wanna see who comes out on top!" Luciana said with a confident grin.

Sasha let out an embarrassed sigh as Mimil rolled her eyes. Wilmarina grew concerned for Elt. She knew how Elt and Mersé drank at night after a hard day's training session with recruits. The waitress came back to take orders from the group and give them their drinks. They placed their orders and the drinking game began. After the four of them had two drinks each their lunch was brought out so they put their game on hold to eat. Wilmarina, Sasha, and Mimil were having salads while the drinking game table had some bread, meat, and potatoes.

"Hey, Josh! Can I see those books of yours, please?" Mimil asked kindly. Joshua opened his bag and dug out the books and passed them over.

The red encyclopedia caught her eye first and upon opening it, photos of muskets up to strange-looking firearms covered every page. Each firearm had an entry full of what looked like historical facts and manufacturing data. Wilmarina glanced over at the book and was surprised by the amount of detail for each entry. The firearms inside were different from the muskets used by some of the units of Lescatie. As the designs of the guns changed some grew short and had what looked like a curved metal bar sticking out the bottom while others had what looked like a telescope mounted to them. The big question was could Joshua make any of them. Wilmarina glanced over at him, watching him sip his ale, and proceeded to ask him some questions.

"Hey…Joshua, Do you know how to make any of these strange firearms?" She asked him.

Joshua looked up at her with a bit of confusion. He collected firearms yet never once tried to build one even from pre-existing parts. Disassembly for cleaning them wasn't exactly rocket science, yet still required an understanding of how the gun was put together to make it work after reassembly. He only had to repair a gun once with pre-existing parts and it ended up being a fairly easy job.

"Sorry…I'm not a gunsmith. I do know how to take apart several firearms and put them back together, though, and I have repaired one in the past. It ended up being easier than I initially thought as the broken part was easy to get to and switch out with a new one." He answered calmly and honestly.

Wilmarina was baffled by his answer. You'd think someone with his books would make a living from making guns or simply repairing them. This made her suspicious of his true abilities.

"Why do you own these books then?" She asked him, some confusion in her voice.

Wilmarina's question struck Joshua as coming out of nowhere. The answer was simple yet at the same time difficult for him. He didn't want to bring up Reiko at a time like this. He swallowed a quick swig of ale and then cleared his throat.

"They…were gifts from someone who was…rather special to me." He responded hesitantly.

This was the best he could manage to give her. He hoped it would suffice but it could lead to her asking who. He took a long drink of his ale before spearing some more meat with a knife. Wilmarina, Sasha, and Mimil looked at each other with confusion. Mimil then remembered when they were watching him in the crystal ball how he had looked at what looked like a small but very detailed painting of him and and woman.

"The woman in the small painting," She whispered to them, "That must be who he's referring to."

Mimil's words sank into Sasha and Wilmarina and feeling of guilt swept over the three of them. Joshua looked like he was tired and upset when they were observing him in that lonely space. Mimil hesitantly closed the encyclopedia and passed the books back to him. Joshua gave her a confused look but took them back anyway. Elt, Luciana, and Mersé had made it to four ales. Joshua was on five and only slightly buzzed.

"You…*hic*…you handle you-yourself well!" Mersé exclaimed happily with a drunken slur. Her face was flushed red just like Elt's and Luciana's.

Joshua grinned madly. He used to do games like this a lot with his friends when they played video games back in his world until they both joined the army. Joshua already had a job in a factory making car parts and various parts for heavy machinery and decided to stick with it when they left for active duty. It was his job that made him decide to pursue much higher education in a trade school and what led Reiko to give him the shop theory book.

"I hope so! After a long and hard night at work, a bottle or two often helped to wash away ten hours straight of being constantly on my feet and only three to four hours of sleep afterward" He replied happily.

Elt grew curious. What kind of job has a man on his feet for that long with little to no rest? Joshua had to be bluffing because no man he knew could pull off such a feat. If he could, then he was superhuman and may have more strength than he initially let on.

"What did you do for a living?" Elt asked him curiously.

"I make parts for cars, or what you all would call a horseless carriage, as well as parts for large and heavy machinery for seven years straight. Not many people can handle the 4:30 P.M. to 3:00 A.M. shift we ended up working almost every night and I saw many a man leave after only working three hours into the shift. I was also one of the only workers able to bounce between the welding, shipping, and stamping departments at work with no issue." Joshua replied with a smirk.

Everyone's jaw dropped in amazement. Joshua had come off as strong after getting up with little effort after getting smashed over the head with his table earlier but this was something else. Just what was keeping him going? Some kind of magic? An endurance potion? No one in all of Lescatie could pull all that off otherwise. Luciana was more bewildered than confused and poked his left arm.

"Hey, How much can you lift?" She asked him excitedly. A wide grin spread across Joshua's face at her question.

"Two-hundred and forty-five pounds." He replied happily. Joshua was skinny, but he was also naturally strong and well built for his size.

Mersé grinned and gave off a slight chuckle. Joshua could potentially make a decent knight with his strength and just a little training. He also was a skilled marksman so he could potentially teach others how to hit their mark if given a rifled musket. She wanted to see if he was bluffing, so she planted her right elbow on the table.

"Let's see just how *hic* strong you really are, tough guy?" She teased as she held out her hand. Elt and Luciana tapped out leaving only Mersé and Joshua left to finish the drinking game. Joshua smirked as he placed his right elbow on the table. He was strong but Mersé looked much stronger.

"Okay…but whoever wins this wins the drinking game," Joshua said with a confident smile.

Mersé liked his spirit. Elt and Luciana gave each other a worried look. Mersé was known around Lescatie for her strength and being skilled in the art of war. Recruits were often worn down by her during training to the point they could barely move afterward. Elt was often chosen as her sparring partner for demonstrations and even he was worn down late into the night when the two of them would go out to drink after training. Her subordinates did adore her, however, and were fiercely loyal to her. It may have been due to the way she would push her breasts up against them when showing them what motions to go through, but she was, nonetheless, very popular among them. Joshua and Mersé grabbed each other's hands and squeezed tight.

No matter how hard one pushed, the other didn't budge an inch. Mersé grinned while Joshua took a deep breath and held a poker face. Their hands twitched every now and again but never gave. The other patrons began to take notice and watched with anticipation with some beginning to place bets. Some chuckled at Joshua thinking he didn't stand a chance.

"Mersé! Show this scrawny boy his place!" A male patron cheered.

"I don't know….he looks like he's holding his own, and against Mersé of all people…." another mumbled.

Mersé let out an amused laugh as Joshua was surely strong as he claimed. His brow was furrowed as he focused all his strength into his right arm and hand. Merse' squeezed harder but Joshua didn't flinch. He held on like his life depended on it.

"I gotta hand it to you, Mr. Gehrke, you weren't spouting nonsense!" Mersé said jokingly.

"I don't like lying, and even though we both might be toasted, I have to give you credit since you're giving me a run for my money!" Joshua responded as a smirk spread across his face.

Mersé laughed at his honesty. This would end up being her undoing as Joshua felt her tension loosen. He took the opportunity to put one last bit of force into pushing her arm down onto the table. The room fell dead silent and Joshua released his grip on Mersé's hand. Mersé looked at him with astonishment before a soft smile spread across her face. Sasha, Wilmarina, and Mimil were genuinely surprised as Joshua held his hand out to shake Mersé's.

"Hey…good game. You almost had me." He said politely.

The sounds of cheers erupted as Mersé shook his hand. Some patrons grumbled as they handed money to those next to them. Joshua rubbed his right elbow that was sore from pressing so hard up against the table. Sasha, Wilmarina, and Mimil clapped for him as Elt and Luciana's jaws dropped in amazement. There was no doubting it now; Joshua was going to be the talk of the town for a while. Joshua's thoughts again became filled with questions of why the name Lescatie sounded familiar, but then another thought entered his mind: he felt he remembered having a drink like this with a man and that the two of them had an arm-wrestling match just like now and that he won back then, too, but it confused him deep down as he had never felt déjà vu like this before. Once again he didn't let his confusion show and simply brushed the thoughts away.