Restart Again: Volume 2 by Adam Scott (hardest books to read txt) 📕

Palo rolled onto all fours before heaving himself upright on his knees. “Who do you think you are, bastard?” He pulled on a cord he wore around his neck and revealed a small leather tag, stamped bright blue with the Elta’sahn triangle sigil. “I’m a member of the Elta’sahn Company! When you attack one of us, you attack all of us! If you think I’m afraid of your threats, you’re wrong.”

“I don’t remember threatening you, Palo,” I said with a friendly smile. With a burst of mana, I leapt across from the porch to the ground next to him in a single jump, aiming my leading knee directly at his chest. The blow knocked him a few feet backwards into the dust and left him gasping desperately for air. I crossed the space between us and knelt down next to him.

“Here’s a threat for you. If I see you and your friends again, I’ll kill you, and anybody else you bring along, too,” I whispered into his ear. I reached out and yanked on the sigil laying on his chest, snapping the thin cord that secured it around his neck and shoving it into my pocket. “By the way, if you try to make yourself feel better by taking your impotence out on our friend Louis here, rest assured that I’ll find you. I won’t kill you for it, but you’ll wish that I had.” Palo stared up at me with panic in his eyes, though whether it was from the lack of breath or the threats, I couldn’t tell.

I clapped my hands together loudly as I stood up. “Okay, good talk! You interrupted a very nice evening for me and my friends, and it’s far past time I returned to it.” As I walked back to the inn, I nudged Palo’s foot with my own. “Don’t forget what we talked about!” I called out to him in a cheerful, singsong voice. Val gave me a small nod as I climbed the stairs, and we left the men behind as we reentered the building.

“You’re back!” Lia greeted us exuberantly from the bar. She held a different stein in her hand that, based on the beer sloshing over the edges as she swayed in place on her stool, was completely full. “I was just getting worried about you.” After a long swig from the stein, she let out a single, sharp laugh. “Not really. Those guys were dumb.”

I pursed my lips in an attempt to stop a smile from spreading across my face. “I think you’re drinking my drink.”

She shook her head back and forth vigorously, spilling more of the beer down over her hand. “No! You told me I could have it.”

“I told you that you could have my last one. That is clearly a different drink.”

Her eyes narrowed as she studied the stein. “I don’t think so,” she said after some quiet contemplation, her voice full of doubt. She took another long drink and swished the liquid around in her mouth. “It tastes the same.”

“Alright, you,” I chuckled, placing a hand on her shoulder, “we have important things to do tomorrow. I’m cutting you off for the night.”

“Awww,” Lia pouted loudly as she set the stein down on the bar. “I guess I’m pretty sleepy.”

“I bet you are.” I slid the stein far out of her reach before turning to Val. “Could you help her to her room?”

“It would be my pleasure,” she replied, the corner of her mouth ever so slightly curled in amusement. “Come, Lia. I will assist you on the trip upstairs.”

Lia made a grand gesture of waving away the offer of help. “I’m fiiiine, Vaaallll,” she said, loudly dragging out the words. She attempted to stand from her seat and fell directly into Val’s expectant arms, which caused her to giggle loudly. “Whoops!”

I shook my head and left the two to their arduous journey, crossing the room back to our mess of a table. Louis was mopping the various fluids that had been left on the hardwood floor, having already picked up the furniture and tankard shards. “Hey Louis, sorry about...all of this,” I said with an embarrassed laugh. “We generally aren’t this messy.”

Louis looked up from his task with a start, apparently startled by my sudden appearance. “Oh, please don’t worry about it, sir, it’s quite alright.” He paused as a sheepish grin appeared on his face. “It was nice to see Palo on the losing end of a fight, if I’m to be perfectly honest with you. But don’t tell him I said that!”

“He does seem like a handful,” I admitted. “I don’t think he’ll give you any trouble in the future, but if he does, you let me know, alright?”

“Of course, sir!” He finished cleaning the floor, then stood and watched me in awkward silence as I retrieved the untouched pitcher of water and an empty mug from the table. “Um, sir? If you don’t mind me asking, I’m wondering...why are you being so kind to me?”

I shrugged. “I just don’t like seeing people with power picking on the little guy, you know? You seem like a good kid, and Palo seems like an asshole. Besides, I didn’t really do anything.”

He nodded. “Yes, your friend is very...animated.”

“That’s a word for it, certainly.” We both shared a laugh. “Anyways, we’ll be out of your hair now. I hope the rest of your night is less eventful.” I gave him a parting smile before heading to the stairs.

“Thank you, sir! Enjoy your evening!” Louis called out after me. I climbed the first few stairs, then paused as I heard a commotion on the second floor.

Lia’s voice echoed from the hallway above me. “Wheeeee!” I took the stairs two at a time and popped around the corner just in time to see Lia riding on Val’s shoulders as they entered our bedroom. “Whoa, wait, I—” Her voice cut off as I heard a loud thump. I found her sprawled out sideways on