The festival was finally beginning to wind down.
Solmere wasn't.
Families with younger children had begun drifting toward hotels, carriages, and portals. Merchants were covering booths. Performers packed instruments into cases while others stubbornly played one final song for anyone willing to listen. The endless stream of lanterns had slowed to an occasional glowing light rising toward the stars.
The restaurants?
Packed.
The taverns?
Packed.
The bars?
Apparently determined to continue the festival until sunrise.
Jax was fine with that.
Especially since a disturbing number of them belonged to him.
He walked through the streets with the Vixens, Lexi, and Pixelle, enjoying the cooler night air and the comfortable warmth spreading through his body.
His System had already tried to ruin that twice.
Alcohol, apparently, qualified as a toxin.
Technically, Jax couldn't argue with the logic.
Practically—
That was nonsense.
So he'd disabled the automatic toxin purge.
The System could protect him from poison tomorrow.
Tonight, Jax wanted to get drunk with his wives.
"Where are we going?" Bunny asked.
"The Neon Moon."
Bunny's ears perked.
"Food?"
"And drinks."
Her pace immediately increased.
Nyxian laughed. "You should have led with that."
They rounded the corner.
And stopped.
"Holy sh-," Jax said.
The line for the Neon Moon stretched down the street.
People stood three and four across, laughing and talking while employees moved along the line answering questions and occasionally letting groups inside as others left.
The line didn't seem to bother anyone.
The Neon Moon had started offering cheap appetizers to people waiting outside, provided they ordered drinks. Servers moved along the line with trays of food and mugs, turning what should have been an annoying wait into something resembling a street party.
The food barely made any money.
The drinks made plenty.
Merchant Jax approved.
Nyxian smiled.
"Popular place."
"Apparently."
Jax started walking toward the end of the line.
They made it approximately six steps.
"Mr. Darquebane!"
Jax turned.
One of the Neon Moon employees was hurrying toward them.
"Hey."
The young man looked at Jax.
Then toward the line.
Then back at Jax.
"What are you doing?"
Jax pointed.
"Getting in line."
The employee stared at him.
"No."
Jax blinked.
"No?"
"No."
The employee motioned toward the side of the building.
"Come with me."
"We can wait."
"No, you can't."
Nyxian immediately stepped forward.
"I like him."
Jax sighed.
They were escorted around the building toward a staff entrance.
Nyxian slipped her arm through Jax's.
"Oh, I love special treatment."
"I was fine waiting."
"Which is why you're terrible at being rich."
Jax looked at her.
Nyxian kissed his cheek.
"Don't ruin this for me."
The moment they entered the Neon Moon, Jax understood why the employee hadn't wanted him standing outside.
The place was insane.
Every table was full.
Servers threaded through crowds carrying trays above their heads. Drinks lined the bar faster than bartenders could pour them. The kitchen doors barely stopped moving.
Someone near the entrance spotted Bunny.
"That's Bunny!"
Another voice answered.
"Those are the Vixens!"
Then—
"JAX!"
Heads turned.
Dozens of them.
Then hundreds.
The room erupted.
Jax stopped.
"Oh, no."
Mugs rose into the air.
People cheered.
Someone started yelling Bunny's name.
Another table shouted for Llandra.
Nyxian immediately raised both arms like she'd personally won something.
Bunny waved enthusiastically.
Zee's face turned pink.
Llandra somehow managed to look dignified while being cheered by a room full of increasingly drunk people.
Pixelle flew above them and waved like royalty greeting her subjects.
Which, technically, she was.
Lexi covered her face.
Jax laughed.
For several minutes, getting to a table proved nearly impossible.
People wanted handshakes.
Toasts.
Stories.
One very drunk Dwarf wanted Jax to know that the new fried potato wedges were "the greatest contribution humanity had ever made to civilization."
Jax thanked him.
He wasn't entirely sure humanity deserved all the credit.
Eventually they reached a large table that had somehow been cleared for them.
Food appeared almost immediately.
So did drinks.
Jax picked up his Pixie Mead.
His System tried once more to purge it.
He mentally told it to knock that off.
Then he drank.
Tonight, he was off duty.
Nyxian lasted perhaps four minutes.
Jax noticed her looking across the room.
He followed her gaze.
Several attractive women sat around a table in the corner, laughing together over drinks.
One noticed Nyxian looking.
Then another.
Nyxian smiled.
Jax knew that smile.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"Nyxian."
"I'm socializing."
"Uh-huh."
"I'm very social."
"That's what worries me."
Nyxian kissed him.
"I'll be back."
She slipped through the crowd.
Jax watched her approach the table.
"Hi."
The women looked up.
Nyxian gestured toward herself.
"You probably recognize me."
One of them laughed.
Nyxian smiled.
"I'm kind of a big deal."
More laughter.
She pointed toward an empty chair.
"Can I join your table?"
The women immediately made room.
Jax shook his head.
Of course they did.
"She's going to cause trouble," Zee said.
"Almost certainly."
THUNK.
Jax looked toward the other side of the Neon Moon.
A roar of cheers followed.
"WHAT WAS THAT?"
The crowd was too thick to see through.
Jax stood slightly, trying to look over several large Beastkin between him and whatever had happened.
Nothing.
He sat back down.
"Apparently somebody won something."
Llandra took another drink.
"Apparently."
Jax reached for his mug.
Then someone tapped him on the shoulder.
"Jax!"
He turned.
Stevan stood beside him, grinning.
"Stevan."
The Beastkin General Manager looked exhausted.
He also looked happier than Jax had ever seen him.
His shirt sleeves were rolled up. His hair was slightly disheveled. He had the unmistakable appearance of a man who had spent the last several hours solving fifty problems at once.
"How bad is it?" Jax asked.
Stevan laughed.
"Bad?"
He gestured around them.
"This is incredible."
"Looks busy."
"We're going to break last night's record."
Jax grinned.
"Already?"
"Actually, we broke it an hour ago."
Jax paused.
Stevan's grin widened.
"At this rate, we're going to beat our best week in three days."
"Seriously?"
"Seriously."
Jax looked around the room again.
Servers moving.
Bartenders pouring.
Kitchen running.
Customers eating, drinking, laughing.
Stevan leaned closer.
"If the rest of the festival stays anywhere close to this, by the end we'll make more profit than the Neon Moon made in an entire year under the Slave Guild."
That got Jax's attention.
"An entire year?"
"More."
Jax leaned back.
"Damn."
"Yeah."
Stevan looked around his restaurant.
There was pride in his face.
Not Jax's restaurant.
His.
Jax owned it.
But Stevan ran it.
And he was good at it.
A server hurried over.
"Stevan, kitchen says we're almost out of the marinated beef."
"Warehouse?"
"Already called."
"How long?"
"Ten minutes."
"Move two orders to the lamb special. Tell the tables we'll cover the difference if anyone complains."
"Got it."
She disappeared.
Stevan turned back.
Jax smiled.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"What?"
"You're doing a heck of a job."
Stevan stopped.
For just a moment, all the noise around them seemed irrelevant.
Then he smiled.
"Thank you."
THUNK.
The room erupted again.
"YES!"
Jax turned.
Still couldn't see.
Something tiny and pink shot above the crowd.
Pixelle.
Both fists were in the air.
Then she disappeared again.
Jax narrowed his eyes.
"What the hell is happening over there?"
Stevan looked.
"I've stopped asking questions tonight."
"Probably smart."
Stevan laughed.
Someone called his name from the bar.
"Coming!"
He looked back at Jax.
"Enjoy yourself."
"That's the plan."
Stevan disappeared into the crowd.
Jax sat back down.
Zee pushed another drink toward him.
"You need another."
Jax looked at her.
"You trying to get me drunk?"
"No."
Zee considered that.
"Maybe."
Jax smiled.
"Are you drunk?"
"No."
She was.
Not extremely.
But enough.
Jax took the drink.
"Okay."
Across the table, Llandra laughed.
Jax looked at her.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"You two are terrible liars."
Zee frowned.
"I'm a healer."
"That has nothing to do with lying."
"I know."
She took another drink.
Jax laughed.
This was good.
Really good.
He couldn't remember the last time he'd simply sat somewhere without thinking about what needed to happen next.
No armies.
No politics.
No construction schedules.
No trade agreements.
No problems waiting for him to solve them.
Well—
There were always problems.
But tonight, other people were solving them.
And that was new.
A group near the bar suddenly started chanting.
"Speech!"
Jax ignored them.
"Speech!"
More voices joined.
"Oh, no."
Bunny's ears shot upright.
"SPEECH!"
"Bunny."
"SPEECH!"
Zee laughed.
Llandra smiled into her drink.
Then, from the other side of the room—
"SPEECH!"
Nyxian.
Jax stared toward the girls' table.
She raised her glass.
Traitor.
Within seconds, half the Neon Moon had joined in.
"SPEECH! SPEECH! SPEECH!"
Jax stood.
The room exploded.
He held up both hands.
"All right! All right!"
The chanting faded.
Jax looked around.
Hundreds of faces.
Human.
Beastkin.
Rabbitkin.
Dwarves.
Elves.
People from places that, not very long ago, had barely trusted one another.
Tonight they were sharing tables.
Buying each other drinks.
Laughing.
Making money.
Living.
Jax scratched the side of his face.
"I'm really not good at speeches."
Someone shouted:
"LIAR!"
The room laughed.
Jax pointed toward the voice.
"You're paying for your own drinks."
More laughter.
He smiled.
"People keep thanking me for what Solmere has become."
The room quieted.
"But look around."
Jax gestured toward the restaurant.
"I didn't cook your food tonight."
Bunny looked at the plates.
"Good thing."
Jax turned.
The room erupted.
"Bunny!"
"What?"
She shoved another piece of food into her mouth.
Jax shook his head.
"I didn't serve your drinks. I didn't decorate the streets. I didn't keep thousands of people moving through the portals. I didn't clean up after thousands of people who apparently don't know what a trash bin is."
That got another laugh.
"I didn't run the hotels. I didn't run the booths. I didn't keep this place operating while half the United Kingdoms apparently decided they wanted dinner at the same time."
He glanced at Stevan.
Stevan raised an empty mug from a table he was helping to clear off.
"You did."
Jax looked around the room.
"All of you."
A few people started cheering.
Jax raised his voice.
"Solmere was never built by chains."
The cheering faded.
"We were built by people."
Silence.
Just for a heartbeat.
Then the Neon Moon exploded.
Jax smiled.
He waited.
Raised his mug.
"And because of that—"
People quieted again.
"The next round of Fairy Cider or Pixie Mead is on me."
Absolute chaos.
People jumped to their feet.
Mugs slammed against tables.
Somebody screamed Jax's name.
Pixelle suddenly appeared six inches from his face.
"WAIT!"
Jax leaned backward.
"What?"
"My drink is free?"
"Everybody's drink is free."
Pixelle's eyes widened.
"But mine is extra free."
Jax stared at her.
"How?"
"Because you're paying for it."
"Pixelle, we're married."
"Yes."
"It's the same money. I'm paying for it."
Pixelle frowned.
"No."
"Pretty sure it is."
"You paid."
"With our money."
"But I didn't pay."
Jax stared.
Pixelle spread her tiny arms.
"FREE!"
From across the room, Nyxian yelled:
"GIRL MATH!"
Jax looked toward her.
"THAT ISN'T MATH!"
Nyxian raised her glass.
"THAT'S WHY IT'S GIRL MATH!"
Pixelle gasped.
She had learned something.
Jax immediately regretted everything.
Stevan arrived less than a minute later.
"You're not paying for all of this."
"Yes, I am."
"You own the restaurant."
"I know."
"Then you're paying yourself."
"No. The restaurant is selling drinks. I'm buying them."
Stevan stared.
"Jax."
"I'm not announcing free drinks and then making your numbers eat the cost."
"You're the owner."
"And you're the General Manager."
Jax pulled out the money.
"Full price."
Stevan sighed.
"And this?"
"Enough to cover the tip."
"This is more than a normal tip."
"I know."
"A lot more."
"I know."
Stevan stared at him.
"You're tipping your own restaurant."
Jax shrugged.
"I'm tipping my employees."
Stevan shook his head.
"You are a very strange rich person."
"I've been told."
Stevan took the money.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."
Stevan turned.
"Stevan."
He looked back.
"I got my eye on you. You're doing fantastic."
Stevan straightened.
"Thank you."
He headed back toward the bar with a little more spring in his step.
Not long ago, he'd been a shift leader.
Now he was the General Manager of the busiest restaurant in Solmere—and Jax Darquebane had just told him he was doing fantastic.
Stevan had no intention of stopping there.
THUNK.
Jax spun around.
Another huge cheer.
"Okay. Seriously."
He stood.
This time he pushed through the crowd.
People moved enough for him to finally see the source.
"Oh."
Bunny sat at a table.
Her elbow rested on the wood.
Her hand was clasped around the hand of an enormous Beastkin adventurer.
A pile of coins sat nearby.
Pixelle hovered beside it.
The adventurer strained.
Bunny smiled.
"Ready?"
The man grunted.
"GO!"
THUNK.
His hand hit the table.
The surrounding crowd erupted.
"BUN-NY! BUN-NY! BUN-NY!"
Pixelle shot into the air.
"PAY UP!"
Jax stared.
Bunny noticed him.
"Hi!"
"How long has this been happening?"
Bunny thought about it.
"A while."
Jax looked at the pile of coins.
Then at Pixelle.
"Are you taking bets?"
Pixelle looked offended.
"No."
Jax pointed at the money.
"What is that?"
"Investments."
"You're betting on Bunny."
"She's never lost."
"That's not investing."
Pixelle put both hands protectively over the coins.
"Girl math."
Jax closed his eyes.
Across the room, Nyxian yelled:
"SHE'S LEARNING!"
Jax needed another drink.
By the time he returned to the table, Nyxian was whispering something to the women she'd befriended.
Jax reached for his mug.
One of the women looked at him.
Then another.
Then another.
Jax stopped.
Every woman at the table was looking at him.
Hungrily.
Nyxian slowly turned her head.
She smiled.
Jax's eyes narrowed.
He mouthed one word.
NO.
Collective disappointment swept across the table.
One woman actually pouted.
Nyxian sighed.
"He's such a traditionalist."
Jax nearly choked on his drink.
On the other side of the Neon Moon, a chair scraped hard against the floor.
An adventurer had gotten loud.
Very loud.
He wasn't a bad man.
He was simply drunk enough to have forgotten that being an adventurer didn't mean everyone else had to tolerate him acting like a jerk.
A server had squeezed past his chair and bumped him.
It should have ended there.
Instead, the adventurer decided she needed to hear exactly what he thought about it.
Loudly.
The first insult made his friends laugh.
The second didn't.
By the third, even they were telling him to let it go.
He didn't.
Then—
He noticed Bruce Ironhorn approaching.
The adventurer went quiet.
Most people did when seven feet and four inches of Minotaur walked directly toward them.
Bruce wasn't wearing armor.
He wasn't carrying his axe.
He wasn't working.
He had a mug in one hand and had clearly been enjoying himself with several former adventurers at another table.
None of that made him less intimidating.
The drunk adventurer swallowed.
Bruce stopped beside him.
Then smiled.
"Having a good night?"
The man hesitated.
"Yeah."
"Good."
Bruce put one enormous arm around his shoulders.
The man stiffened.
Bruce wasn't squeezing.
He didn't need to.
"Friend, I think your night's about done."
The adventurer glanced at his friends.
Bruce gently turned him back.
"No need to make this difficult."
"I'm not—"
Bruce pointed across the room.
"You see that little blue-haired Rabbitkin?"
The man looked.
Bunny was sitting at the arm-wrestling table.
Another large adventurer stepped up.
The crowd gathered.
The match started.
THUNK.
The crowd roared.
The drunk man stared.
Bruce nodded toward her.
"That's Bunny."
"I know who Bunny is."
"Excellent. Saves time."
Bruce gave his shoulder a friendly pat.
"So here's what we're gonna do. You're going to apologize to the server. You're going to tip the staff generously for making their night harder."
The man nodded slowly.
"And then you're going to take yourself outside."
Bruce smiled.
"Or I'll send Bunny over to take you outside."
The man looked at Bunny again.
Bunny noticed them staring.
She smiled.
And waved.
The adventurer immediately waved back.
"I'm going outside."
Bruce grinned.
"That's a great decision on your part."
The tension broke.
Even the man's friends laughed.
The adventurer found the server.
"I'm sorry."
She looked at him.
"I was out of line."
"Yes, you were."
He nodded.
"Yeah."
He put several coins on her tray.
One of his friends added more.
Then the other.
Bruce looked at the pile.
"That's better."
The adventurer hesitated.
"Am I banned?"
Bruce looked genuinely confused.
"Why?"
"I was an ass."
"Yep."
The man waited.
Bruce took a drink.
"So don't be an ass next time."
The adventurer blinked.
"That's it?"
"Go home. Sleep it off. Come back another day with better manners."
The man nodded.
"I can do that."
Bruce slapped him on the back.
"Then we're good."
The three adventurers left peacefully.
The server collected the generous tip.
Bruce returned to his table.
And somehow—
Nobody had hard feelings.
Jax had watched most of it.
He smiled.
He'd almost gotten up when the disturbance started.
He hadn't needed to.
Earlier, someone had mentioned that one of the portal exits was backing up.
Jax had started to ask what they needed.
Nothing.
Lexi's overflow plan had already been activated.
Then the Neon Moon nearly ran out of beef.
Stevan had handled it before Jax knew there was a problem.
Now a drunk adventurer had gotten rowdy.
Bruce handled it.
Jax slowly sat back.
Nyxian had returned from her girls' table and slid into the seat beside him.
She leaned against his shoulder.
"You know you're allowed to stop working, right?"
"I wasn't working."
"You kept standing up."
"I was looking."
"You've been looking all night."
Jax glanced around.
Stevan was directing staff near the kitchen.
Bruce was laughing with his friends again.
Somewhere beyond the walls, thousands of people were moving through a festival that had required months of planning.
And it was working.
"They don't need me."
Llandra heard him.
She looked across the table.
"Isn't that what you wanted?"
Jax considered that.
Then smiled.
"Yeah."
It was.
"Jax."
He turned.
Soren Nightclaw stood beside him.
Jax blinked.
He hadn't seen him approach.
"Soren."
"Soren!" Bunny yelled from across the room.
Soren lifted a hand in acknowledgment.
Jax looked toward the entrance.
Even this late, people were still waiting outside.
He looked back at Soren.
"How long did you wait in line to get in here?"
Soren looked at him.
"I don't wait in lines, Jax."
Jax stared at him for a moment.
Then slowly nodded.
Respect.
Fair enough.
Soren leaned slightly closer.
"Everything from earlier is handled."
The humor faded slightly from Jax's face.
"Everything?"
"Everything."
"Anything I need to know?"
"Yes."
Jax waited.
Soren glanced around the packed Neon Moon.
"Tomorrow."
Jax studied him.
Then nodded.
"Tomorrow."
That was enough.
Jax trusted him.
Soren stepped away.
Jax watched.
Or tried to.
Soren slipped between two tables.
A server carrying drinks crossed in front of him.
Jax caught sight of one ear for half a second.
Then nothing.
There.
Between two Beastkin.
Gone.
Jax's eyes narrowed.
He had Perception high enough to notice things most people couldn't imagine noticing.
Yet Soren moved through the packed restaurant with the instincts of a man who had spent his entire life learning where people looked—
And where they didn't.
Jax caught him once more near the bar.
Then—
Gone.
Jax smiled.
Damn.
The old spymaster was good.
THUNK.
"BUN-NY! BUN-NY! BUN-NY!"
Jax looked across the room.
Pixelle was standing on the pile of coins now.
"PAY UP!"
Jax laughed.
Back to the important things.
The night kept going.
Jax drank.
Probably too much.
Bunny eventually abandoned arm wrestling when someone brought out another platter of food.
Pixelle guarded her winnings like a tiny dragon protecting a hoard.
Zee continued insisting she wasn't drunk.
She was.
Llandra laughed more that night than Jax could remember hearing in a long time.
Nyxian somehow acquired three new female friends and at least two promises to meet again before the festival ended.
Bruce bought another round for his table.
Stevan never stopped moving.
Every so often someone came over to thank Jax.
For the festival.
For the jobs.
For the businesses.
For the portals.
For Solmere.
One older Beastkin eventually approached alone.
He held a drink in one hand.
"Jax Darquebane?"
"That's me."
"I've lived here forty-three years."
Jax smiled.
"That's a long time."
The man looked around.
"Never seen anything like tonight."
"The festival?"
The man shook his head.
"Solmere."
Jax's smile softened.
The man raised his mug.
"Thank you."
Jax looked around too.
At Stevan.
At the servers.
At Bunny surrounded by new friends.
At Pixelle counting money she apparently hadn't technically spent.
At Bruce.
At Zee.
At Nyxian.
At Llandra.
At hundreds of people who had made this night happen.
"You should thank them."
The older man followed his gaze.
Then smiled.
"I will."
He walked away.
Jax sat quietly for a moment.
Then Llandra laughed.
He looked at her.
Bunny had said something he hadn't heard.
Then Llandra laughed again.
Jax looked at her.
Whatever it was, Llandra apparently found it hilarious.
The normally composed Elven Princess was well past pleasantly buzzed at this point. She was laughing too loudly, drinking too freely, and—for once—not worrying about anything.
Safe.
Happy.
Oblivious.
Jax smiled.
Good.
There was a strange thing the employees of Jax Darquebane's businesses had begun to learn.
They were always nervous when he arrived.
The owner was here.
People checked uniforms.
Managers checked numbers twice.
Cooks inspected plates they'd already inspected.
Servers suddenly remembered seventeen things they might have forgotten.
But then Jax talked to them.
He listened.
He asked questions.
He praised good ideas.
Sometimes he changed things.
Sometimes they changed his ideas.
And somehow, by the time Jax Darquebane walked back out the door—
People usually felt better about their work.
And they almost always had more money than before he'd arrived.
Tonight was no different.
Except Jax wasn't ready to leave yet.
He ordered another drink.
The familiar warmth spread through him.
No System intervention.
No toxin purge.
No responsibility demanding he become instantly sober.
If something truly required him, he could fix that in seconds.
Tonight—
Nothing did.
That might have been the greatest achievement of all.
Outside, the festival continued winding down.
Inside, Solmere kept celebrating.
The Slave Guild had once controlled the city through money, intimidation, contracts, and fear.
Without it, Solmere hadn't collapsed.
It hadn't merely survived.
It had surpassed it.
More visitors.
More businesses.
More trade.
More laughter.
More freedom.
And Jax finally understood something.
He wasn't holding Solmere up anymore.
He was sitting in a crowded restaurant, getting drunk with his wives while Solmere held itself up.
For this one night—
Solmere stood on its own.
And it was magnificent.