At an outpost deep within the beast glades there stood a tavern, which like in many taverns in the beast glades was a common place to find adventures trading information, resting up before continuing a quest or before diving into a dungeon, or celebrating after completing a dungeon or quest. Today was the same as any other day in the tavern, there was a band in the corner playing fun upbeat music, adventurers drank ale, ate food, traded information, and showed off the gold they had earned from selling items within the outpost.

Everyone was laughing and having a good time, when the doors swung open and Arthur and his friends walked in. They caught a few eyes, but for the most part nobody paid them much attention. Curtis was walking right beside Arthur, and shortly after entering he stopped as he waited to be seated. Arthur just ignored him and walked straight for an empty table large enough to seat everyone, seeing this Curtis started walking again.

"So there's no host or hostess?" Curtis asked, sounding a little embarrassed as he remembered the few fancy restaurants he had eaten in in the past while he and the others sat down

"Nope, we just seat ourselves. The only downside to that is if we were all to get up, anyone could come and take our table," Elijah answered.

"Have you ever had that problem?" Lilia asked.

"Only once, but after having a few words with him he left," Arthur replied with a smirk. The only time that ever happened was while he was Note, and all he had to do was just release some of his killing intent and the person took off running.

The group picked up some menus that were laying on the table as they waited for a waitress to come over. After a few minutes a young woman with long blonde hair and ocean blue eyes, wearing a skirt that stopped mid thigh and a low cut top that showed off her large bust, came to their table.

"Hello everyone, can I interest any of you in an ale?" She asked in a flirtatious tone, as she came up between Tess and Lilia and rested her elbows on the table, causing a very good view of her cleavage, which she was aiming right towards Curtis.

"Uhhhh, no thanks, we're all underage," Curtis replied, as he was seventeen and the closest to being able to drink alcohol legally. After getting an eye full of her cleavage he forced his eyes down to the menu so as to not be caught staring.

"Ok," she replied with a chuckle.

Everyone then gave food and non alcoholic drink orders and the girl was about to walk off when Arthur quickly spoke up. "Also we're going to need some rooms for the night, are you able to help with that?"

"The girl at the bar can help you with that," the waitress replied as she pointed to a brunette working at the bar, then walked off.

"I'll get us our rooms," Tess stated and got up and walked over to the bar.

As Tess waited to secure their rooms an older man walked up to her and began talking with her. Arthur didn't pay him too much attention, however still kept an eye on him. As talk at the table continued Arthur noticed the expression on Tess' face had changed to one of annoyance, and then angry as the man kept talking to her as she tried to reserve the rooms. Arthur's complete attention was on this man now, and when he finally saw the man's face plastered with a lewd expression, he had finally had enough. Unlike Arthur's previous world, this world did not have laws against adults having relationships with people under eighteen. It was frowned upon, but there was legally nothing wrong with it. However to Arthur there was plenty wrong with it, so to him this man deserved to be treated as a pediphile and punished. 

"Here are your drinks and silverware," the waitress said as she placed everything on the table.

"Excuse me, but I need a new fork," Arthur stated as he picked up his fork and pulled it back.

"And what's wrong with it?" The waitress asked with annoyance.

At that very moment Arthur released the fork as he threw it, lodging it almost in the middle man's back, just slightly to the left so that it didn't hit the man's spine. "There's a little blood on it," Arthur replied casually as the man cried in pain.

Tess quickly realized what had happened, and felt a bit happy for what Arthur did as she walked around the man who was proving to be unable to remove the fork from his back.

"I could have handled him," Tess told Arthur as she sat back down beside him.

"I know, but his actions were bothering me too," Arthur replied and took a sip of his tea.

Tess blushed from hearing this, and noticed Lilia, who had also heard Arthur's comment, and was smiling at her and giving an approving nod.

"Arthur, Elijah!" A female voice calls out a little later.

Everyone looked as they saw an attractive young woman with a little longer than shoulder length orange hair walking over to them with a smirk on her face.

"Samantha?" Arthur asked in surprise.

"Well of course, who else could I be," Samantha replied as she gave Arthur a hug, then moved to give Elijah one as well.

"It's good to see you again," Elijah said as he hugged her back.

"Good to see you're able to walk," Arthur commented as he looked down at her legs.

"Three days with an emitter, then at least a month learning to walk again. I was told it was a miracle for me to even be able to still use my legs," Samantha told them.

"I'm sorry, but for those of use who are out of the loop here, why wouldn't you have been able to use your legs?" Claire asked.

"Oh sorry everyone," Arthur apologized. "This is Samantha Tempest, she's one of the other survivors from Dire Tombs. Her legs were actually shattered by the elderwood guardian, but clearly she had an amazing emitter fix her up."

Samantha pulled up a chair and joined the young group. Eventually food arrived and everyone ate as they recalled their first dungeon together. This continued for a little while, and during this time someone else entered the tavern, and everyone became quiet. A man walked in wearing a long black cloak, a sword attached to his hip, and a white and black mask on his face.

"You've got to be kidding me," Arthur thought to himself as the man walking in looked very much like him when he went by Note. Many of the people inside appeared to be nervous, while several of the waitresses looked like they were ready to jump in bed with him. However, Arthur and his friend just shook their heads at the imposter and went back to eating their meal. The fake Note saw this and walked over.

"Clearly you children have no clue who I am," the fake note stated as he arrived.

"Of course not, you're wearing a mask," Kathyln replied calmly without looking at him.

"Funny little girl," the man said with annoyance in his voice. "My name is Note, better known as the masked swordsman."

Lilia was heard struggling to contain her laughter. "That's funny."

"Excuse me? I've single handedly killed an elderwood guardian," the man replied angrily.

"No you didn't," Tess replied.

"You're an imposter," Claire added.

"You look more like a pitiful noble with no talent trying to make yourself seem big," Feyrith commented.

"Oh really," the man said angrily with a threatening tone. "Would you care to put that to the test?"

The group got quiet and looked at one another, then looked to Arthur, who looked completely disinterested in the man who was using his name as he continued to eat his steak.

"Alright then," Curtis said as he stood up. "I'll put you to the test."

"Are you sure about that Prince Glayder? Unlike in the palace, I won't hold back to preserve your humility," the man asked mockingly.

"I haven't faced off against anyone who isn't afraid to beat me in a duel in years. Now let's go outside and do this," Curtis replied as he left the table.

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In a grassy area out back behind the tavern Curtis stood with both swords drawn as the Note imposter stood a few feet away with his sword also drawn. There was a patio that wrapped around the back of the tavern, and it was filled with adventures eager to see the former prince and the man they all thought was Note clash.

"Hey Arthur, why is it that Curtis is the one getting rid of this imposter and not you?" Feyrith asked.

"Because I don't care if he uses that name, it's not like I was ever going to use it again," Arthur replied.

"Why is that?" Lilia asked.

"A couple reasons, one being that the Wykes family put out a reward for the identity of Note," Arthur replied casually.

"What did y- I mean, Note do to make an enemy of the Wykes family?" Lilia asked.

"He may have almost severed Lucas Wykes ear off after he attacked everyone in Dire Tombs and left them for dead," Arthur replied innocently.

"Oh yeah I remember that, the look oh Lucas' face was priceless," Elijah commented with a satisfied smile. "Good times."

"You have interesting taste in good times," Feyrith replied to Elijah.

"I was referring to Lucas being afraid Note was going to kill him. If it wasn't for his family's standing and the threat they posed, I'm confident Note's sword wouldn't have just cut his ear," Elijah clarified.

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"This is your last chance to back out your majesty," the fake Note taunted Curtis.

"First, I'm not a prince anymore so quit with the whole majesty thing. Second, this is your last second to come clean, because it's already too late for you to back down and preserve your lie," Curtis replied.

"Tell me, what makes you so confident that I'm lying?" The fake note asked.

"Simple, I've dueled the real Note before, several times in fact." The fake Note's body stiffened. "With his help my sword skills have improved drastically, so I feel that, even though he doesn't seem to care about you tarnishing his good name, I need to expose you as the fraud you are." The fake Note then appeared that he was about to put his sword away. "And don't forget, you can't back down now, if you do, it's just like you confirming everything I said is true," Curtis said the final part with a smug grin as now the imposter didn't have a choice but to fight him.

Clearly angered, the fake Note pulled his sword back as he lunged at Curtis. Curtis raised his right sword to block, while he swung at his opponent with his left. The fake Note sloppily dodged, making it easy for Curtis to move in to try and take the advantage. However it was a trick and the fake Note instantly regained his footing and delivered a powerful strike, which Curtis narrowly dodged. The fake note then continued with a series of quick powerful strikes that kept pushing Curtis back. Curtis couldn't help but admit that this swordsman did have some talent, but he would have to incase of instances like this one.

Curtis kept on the defense for a little while, occasionally striking back as he studied his opponents movements. Since their first night in the beast glades, Curtis had been applying Arthur's fishing lesson to combat and was trying to better anticipate his opponents' moves. It didn't take Curtis long to see the pattern in his opponents attacks, so defending became even easier for him, and soon he was ready to end this duel.

Curtis blocked another strike with his left sword, as he thrust his right sword right for the imposter's face. The fake Note moved his head to dodge, but by this point Curtis had already let go of the sword as his fist continued. Curtis's right fist slammed right into the fake Note's mask and shattered it as his feet left the ground. The imposter landed on his back hard wincing in pain from his head bouncing off the ground, and when he looked back up, he saw Curtis standing above him with a sword pointed right at his face. The man was probably in his thirties and not very good looking, with long auburn hair that was graying at the roots, brown eyes, and thanks to Curtis, a trickle of blood coming from his nose.

"I win, and you've been exposed," Curtis said as he sheathed his swords and began to walk away. As he did his friends cheered and waved, and he waved back, a little harder when he saw Lilia waving.

The fake Note stood back up and glared at Curtis for humiliating him, then charged at him with the intention to strike him down. People screamed to Curtis for him to turn around, and as he did a small tornado formed underneath the imposter and threw him up into the air. He crashed down with a thud at the feet of an old man, presumably the creator of the tornado.

"I'll only say this once. I don't tolerate sneak attacks after a duel is over, and no bleedin on me grass," the old man called out. He looked very fit, which was surprising for someone who looked so old, he had a long grey beard that reached his chest and messy long grey hair that was held back in a loose ponytail. He was wearing plan brown pants, a plaid button down sleeveless shirt that was left wide open, and a spear in his right hand that was stuck into the ground. "Blood attracts these annoying little bugger mana beasts that'll make a home in me Tavern and eat all me food." The old man then pulled his spear out of the ground and stepped over the imposter and to Curtis. "Yee alright kid?"

"I'm fine, thank you," Curtis replied. The old man nodded then continued walking.

"Hey Samantha, who is that?" Art asked.

"That's Pasta Bloom, he founded this outpost. Although now he just owns the tavern," Samantha replied.

"Pasta Bloom? What an unusual name," Art replied.

"Well don't make jokes, he's unbelievably strong. I remember passing through this outpost when I first became an adventurer and a pack of razor wolves came and were attacking. They were incredibly strong and fast and no one could land a hit, except him. And his hits were all instant kills," Samantha explained.

Everyone looked in amazement at the old man as he walked onto a stone pad and released an elephant like mana beast that was the size of a modest house from his dimensional ring, as a group of men and woman came out the back door of the tavern with several knives and other tools to skin and butcher the large mana beast.

"What is that?" Tess asked.

"I think that's a mountain elephant. They're easily an S class mana beast that live high up in the grand mountains. The pelt alone is worth almost a thousand gold," Claire replied in amazement.

"That's right," one of the waitresses chimed in. "Pasta hunts rare mana beasts and sells the useful parts. After the pelts have been dried it'll be cut into smaller pieces and sold as blankets for a little less than one hundred gold each."

"One hundred gold!?" Elijah questioned in shock.

"Mountain Elephant fur is the very best at keeping you warm, which comes in handy during the winter months. The gold he'll get from selling everything off that mana beast, except for the meat, will be half of what this outpost earns in a year," the waitress added.

"Why not the meat?" Kathyln asked.

"The meat stays here. Come tomorrow morning that meat will already have been cut up and will be for sale at the butcher shop, or will be out drying into jerky to be put into ration packs for adventures," the waitress explained.

"Why not sell it in cities like Xyrus? Rare meats like that would fetch a fortune," Curtis asked as he walked up.

"Pasta doesn't like the nobles very much. So everything goes to adventurer outposts like this one. We could actually make more if he did sell to the cities, but he refuses to give them anything but his taxes, and that's just so they'll leave him alone," the waitress replied as she shook her head.

"Oy Val!" Pasta yelled out. "Has me special brew finished yet?"

"It's at the bar waiting for you!" The waitress now identified as Val yelled back. Pasta nodded and walked inside.

"Well if you'll excuse me, if someone doesn't babysit him that bottle will be empty before dinner," Val said and headed back inside.

"Anyway," Lilia said as she turned to Curtis. "That was a great duel, congratulations on winning," Lila praised with a blush on her cheeks.

"Yes, very good. Did you recognize who it was under the mask?" Kathyln asked.

"No, but now people have seen his face and I beat him. If nothing else he won't be able to pass himself off as Note anymore since people will question if he's a fraud," Curtis replied.

"You know you didn't have to do that," Arthur said. "I had no intention of ever using that name again."

"Maybe so, but he was bothering me too. I don't like the idea of someone taking credit for someone else's hard work."