Chapter 330: Unexpected Reunion…

The woman’s gaze studied him for a moment then she said, “Bruce.”

Her voice was calm.

Bruce’s eyes widened.

The voice.

It took a moment longer than it should have.

The scar across her face changed her appearance. The rugged scarf obscured part of her features.

But the voice.

He knew that voice. Recognition flashed through his expression.

He looked at her again, more carefully this time.

And then.

“Jean Frost,” Bruce said slowly.

A faint smile touched his lips.

Jean held his gaze for a moment.

Then she gave a small nod.

“Likewise.”

Their hands met again, this time more firmly.

Bruce could feel the strength in her grip. It wasn’t the raw crushing force Brakk had used earlier, but a controlled strength, the kind that came from years of disciplined combat and countless battles fought with measured restraint rather than brute aggression. Her palm was calloused, the skin along her fingers roughened by weapon training. Someone who had survived the life of an adventurer long enough to let skill temper strength.

Jean released the handshake first.

She studied his face for a moment longer before exhaling quietly.

“Considering how strong you were back then,” she said, a faint sigh slipping into her voice, “it’s not exactly unexpected that you’d be this strong now.”

Duke’s eyes flicked between the two of them.

The air between them had shifted.

Subtly.

But unmistakably.

It wasn’t hostility.

It wasn’t even awkwardness.

It was the strange tension of two people who shared a past no one else in the room understood.

“You two know each other?” Duke asked, curiosity slipping into his voice as he folded his arms, his sharp gaze moving between them with growing interest.

Bruce sighed lightly.

“Yeah,” he said. “Something like that.”

Jean adjusted the scarf wrapped loosely around her head, fingers briefly tightening against the fabric as if grounding herself.

“I took my Adventurer Trial in Valkrin Kingdom,” she explained calmly. “I first met him during that.”

Her eyes drifted briefly toward Bruce again.

A brief look.

A quiet pause.

“It’s quite unexpected that I’d see him all the way here.”

For a moment, the table remained quiet. Several of the nearby adventurers had begun listening in openly now, curiosity gleaming in their eyes.

Then Jean suddenly clapped her hands once.

The sharp sound cut through the quiet tension like a blade through silk.

“Well,” she said briskly as she turned toward the guild counter, “this reunion needs alcohol.”

The reaction was immediate.

A few adventurers cheered.

“That’s the best idea anyone’s had tonight!”

“Now that’s a guild tradition I can support!”

Chairs scraped loudly against the wooden floor as several adventurers hurriedly began clearing space around one of the larger tables nearby. Someone shoved aside half empty mugs while another dragged a heavy chair into place with a screech of wood against stone.

The momentary tension dissolved almost instantly.

Within minutes Jean returned.

And she wasn’t alone.

Two guild assistants followed behind her, both struggling slightly as they carried a heavy wooden crate between them. The wood creaked ominously as they hauled it across the floor before finally setting it down onto the table with a dull thud that rattled the nearby glasses.

Jean stepped forward and flipped the lid open.

Inside.

Several dark glass bottles rested neatly in straw padding, their labels etched with faint silver script that shimmered faintly under the lantern light.

The moment Duke saw the label.

He froze.

Then a long, deeply nostalgic sigh escaped him.

“Aah… Ashen Gin.”

His voice carried the tone of someone greeting a long lost lover after years apart.

His eyes actually glimmered slightly.

“It’s been so long…”

One of the adventurers nearby burst into laughter.

“Of course you’d recognize it instantly, Guildmaster!”

He leaned back in his chair, raising his mug with exaggerated pride.

“Ashen Gin is one of the very few alcoholic drinks Awakeneds can actually enjoy. I heard it’s crafted from fermented sap of mutant trees mixed with extracts from mutant beasts.”

Another adventurer chimed in from the other side of the table.

“That stuff can affect even high ranked Awakeneds.”

Torren grinned broadly.

“And it tastes like burning lightning.”

Duke had already grabbed one of the bottles.

“Exactly.”

Jean began distributing small heavy glasses across the table, the thick crystal clinking softly as she placed them down one by one. Soon everyone seated around the table had one resting before them, the lantern light glinting faintly across their smooth rims.

She pulled the cork loose.

The moment the bottle opened.

The scent spread.

Sharp.

Smoky.

There was a deep earthy bitterness beneath it, something wild and primal that almost smelled like charred wood and distant storms.

Jean poured the dark amber liquid slowly into each glass.

The guild hall quieted slightly as the glasses filled.

Even the adventurers who weren’t part of the table leaned a little closer, curiosity tugging at them.

Duke lifted his own glass high.

“Well then,” he said cheerfully.

“To unexpected reunions.”

Glasses lifted all around the table.

“To unexpected reunions!”

They drank.

The first sip burned.

It hit the tongue like liquid fire before sliding down the throat with a slow spreading heat that bloomed through the chest like glowing embers.

Torren coughed almost immediately.

“Gods above!”

He slammed his fist against his chest, eyes watering as he struggled to breathe.

Kelvin wheezed beside him.

“That stuff just tried to punch my lungs!”

Lyra slammed her glass down onto the table and grinned widely, her eyes sparkling with reckless delight.

“Good liquor always fights back.”

Laughter rolled across the table.

Bruce lifted his glass again and took another sip.

The liquor was strong.

Extremely strong.

The warmth crawled slowly down his throat before spreading through his chest and limbs like a wave of molten heat.

Yet beyond the warmth.

Nothing.

No dizziness.

No haze.

No dulling of thought.

No loss of clarity.

His mind remained as calm and focused as ever.

Bruce quietly finished the glass.

Still nothing.

Across the table Duke was already pouring another round, his enthusiasm growing with every passing moment.

Jean raised her glass and downed the entire thing in a single smooth gulp.

The adventurers around them whistled loudly.

“Easy there!”

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