Another Stupid Isekai

After waking up I did my usual routine of taking a bath, then eating in the cafeteria. For the first time in quite a long period, I felt happy.

Will joined me for a bowl of hot stew, as I was devouring mine.

- You have quite an appetite.

- I bet you are as much in love with warm meals as I am.

He smiled.

- I bet everybody who had to leave for more than two weeks is. By the way, did you talk with Hatta yet? I bet you didn\'t.

- I barely took a bath.

- A bath, huh? Luxurious, aren\'t we?

- Yes. We are. I much more prefer to not smell like thirty days in the woods in the same clothes, sweating all day long.

- Uh... Now you are making me disgusted.

- Fuck you will. You are just like me after sweating your ass off in the canyon.

- No, my friend. I\'m a handsome gentleman, and my sweat is like honey.

I laughed at him.

- I saw bricks that looked better than you.

- We do have nice bricks here, indeed. Anyway... What are your plans?

- I\'m gonna wait until Hatta and the rest will confirm the situation is under control, and they go back to the woods. I need more crystals. Way more. Plus I need to test my new powers.

- Then how about I join you?

Ki\'rei immediately popped up in my brain. For a second I wondered if maybe I should let them meet each other, that maybe I should at least share the secret with Will, but then I started thinking how she would react, and I really had no idea what she could do.

- Peter?

- Oh... Sorry... I was calculating, and if I share the score, then I will need to go one more time, so...

- You greedy asshole. Fine, then how about we hunt in the canyon after that?

- Definitely. I already miss you guys a lot. It\'s hard out there alone.

- I bet it is. No worries, Peter, I\'m just joking. You are the most generous person I know, and we would gladly all hunt together with you yet again.

- This time though, we are going inside that cave.

- Ok, but what about the boss? I won\'t let you charge at him.

- I\'m not gonna charge. I\'ll take it slowly.

- Good. Then let\'s start bugging Hatta.

We finished our food, and left the cafeteria, heading straight to our friend\'s office, but he wasn\'t there. From guards, we learned that he actually was already in Velvet Lotus. So we followed in his footsteps and soon found ourselves in Aisha\'s office.

He was there, in the middle of a discussion with her, but with our visit, they actually stopped talking.

- We are in the middle of discussing what to do - he informed us.

- It\'s not bad. They won\'t flip on us, and actually, Maia lost a lot in terms of her position - stated Aisha. - We can work with that. Although I would still prefer if you would take over, and kick Maia out, Peter.

- It\'s not about what you prefer. It\'s how I feel about it, and I feel bad. If we don\'t want another Mark in the city, then I need to stay the hell away from those people.

She smiled at me.

- You will never be like him, Peter. It took me some time to realize, but that\'s the truth. You cant be like Mark because that\'s not who you are.

- It\'s nice to hear you have this much confidence in me, but I don\'t share your opinion.

- It doesn\'t matter now anyway - Hatta pointed out. - What\'s done is done. We need to do our best to prevent any possibilities of conflict, and quietly deal with Maia.

- What do you mean by \'deal\'? - asked Aisha, raising an eyebrow.

- Prevent her from making a mess in the city. If you think I mean to harm her or do anything unethical to her, then no. I don\'t want her in a dungeon or hanging on a rope. I want her to not try and rail people up. We already know that she has the qualities of a leader.

- I have an idea of how to deal with the situation. I\'ll handle it - she said.

- What\'s the idea? - asked Will.

- A party.

- A party? - Hatta almost laughed at her.

- Yes. I know what you both - she looked at me and Will - did yesterday. It worked. And I think I know why. Those people want respect, and to be recognized for their hard work. They want to feel special. So, let\'s throw them a party. They will have free drinks, and I ask my girls to flirt with them a bit more. We could even repeat it once a month. Change the rules a bit, and include more people, so they would all mix up, and create a solid group, instead of a bunch of smaller ones.

- I like the idea - said Will. - I like it very much. We can advertise hard work this way, and make us spiral upwards, other than downwards.

- Hmm... Maybe this does have potential - said Hatta. - I will need to think about it though. Anyways... It seems we have found our solution, so I\'m going back to my work.

- Thank you then - Aisha stood up, and extended a hand towards him.

Hatta shook it and left.

- What about you two? - she asked looking at us.

Will shrugged his shoulders.

- Peter is going back to the woods probably tomorrow. I\'m gonna soon go to the canyon, so it\'s probably our last night together in the city. How about we do ourselves a little party?

Aisha smiled.

- I\'ll bring us some drinks. Have a seat.

Then she left, and we, following her words, sat on the couch.

- Isn\'t it nice when we can talk and work things out together, instead of doing a bunch of bullshit behind our backs? We should do it often - said Will.

I smiled at his words and nodded.. It did feel nice, and the problems seemed way less scary when we put our minds together into solving them.