Chapter 537: Alliance Celebration Party
Joshua had spent most of the day after the tournament sleeping in and relaxing well into the middle of the afternoon. After Amy's little stunt Joshua ended up being crowded by fans for the next hour signing autographs left and right. At first Amy was laughing up a storm at the situation that she had put Joshua into, but then she realized that she wasn't getting out of it scot free. Several people gathered around her as well forcing her to have to sign off on a lot of autographs as well before they were eventually able to make some excuses and teleport away to another area. Before leaving they both made sure to sign stuff for the rest of Jason's friends who were also excited to meet them.
Eventually they did get to meet up with their parents at the restaurant, but the moment some of the customer recognized Joshua and Amy they were once again stuck with another line of people wanting autographs. In the end they ended up getting take out and heading home for the night to avoid getting overwhelmed anymore. By the time Joshua actually got home, ate dinner, and washed up it was already well past midnight on a day where his mental exhaustion was absurd. When he finally did get some sleep he ended up sleeping through breakfast and all the way to almost noon the next day. Amy seemed to have been in a similar state, but their parents didn't bother waking either of them up opting to let them get some much needed sleep.
When Joshua finally woke up and got something to eat his mother was already off to check up on the hospital while his father made a visit to the dojo. Amy was actually still asleep so Joshua just made sure to make her a quick and easy meal for when she finally decided to get up. Joshua didn't bother to look at his stats or do any training for the day, instead he planned on spending the entire day resting up until the party later at night. It was a well-deserved rest that he spent watching a few crappy shows on television that got a chuckle out of him from how underwhelming some of the acting was. Eventually Amy got up and joined him as they both wasted the day away in laziness before it was finally time to go to the Alliance party.
The place that was reserved for the party was one of the larger clubs in the hub city that was owned by someone that had joined the alliance's support division. The club was rather spacious on the inside with a dance floor that was big enough for well over a hundred people to get on without being too crowded. There was even a booth for a DJ above the dance floor along with a stage for live performances or a sort of glamourous karaoke if anyone wanted to do such a thing. There were two floors to the club with the top floor being made of large rooms and an area railed off where you could look down at the dance floor area. While on the first floor there was a decent sized bar along with several booths for people to sit at.
By the time Joshua and Amy had reached the club many people from the alliance were already there along with some people outside of the Alliance that had been invited to the party. Joshua could already see some people that he knew the alliance would want to recruit from the tournament there at the party either sitting at booths talking with others or on the dance floor. The one that stood out the most was Thomas the beast tamer that was currently excitedly talking to Lily who didn't even seem to be trying to keep up with all the things he was rattling on about as she sipped at her drink while watching him chatter on and on. Vince's group was also there and Joshua even spotted Dmitry currently laughing while his father was glaring daggers at him while they both sat at the bar table with drinks in front of them.
It didn't take long for people to notice that Joshua had arrived and most of the crowd cheered for him before it broke out into chants of champion. Joshua did a couple of over the top bows before grinning and making his way over to the bar where he saw Dmitry and his father along with Aito and Adrian sitting not so far away. "I wasn't expecting you to show up." Joshua said as he looked at Dmitry who simply grinned back after taking a swig from his mug.
"Meh, parties aren't usually my thing, but I figured if you were here than your father might be as well. A good chance to catch up, no?" Dmitry said with a smile. Before Joshua could even respond his father jumped in to the conversation.
"To hell with that. This jack ass is just here to annoy me." His father said before kicking back another mug of beer. Joshua noticed that his father definitely was on the drunk side of things with how he swayed a bit after chugging the beer along with his current loud way of talking that was even more aggressive than usual.
"How did he end up getting drunk so fast?" Joshua asked as he looked towards Dmitry who seemed just fine after chugging another beer.
"This is what tends to happen when you challenge a Russian to a battle of drinks. He held his own for a little while." Dmitry said with a smile.
"Alright then, I'm going to have make sure he gets home without making too much of a fool of himself. Well unless I can find mom to deal with this." Joshua said with a sigh before turning his attention back to Dmitry. "Well if you're here then have you put any thought into joining the alliance?"
"Hmm, I'm too much of a free spirit for that. It's why I decided to be a mercenary in the first place and not try to lead a guild of my own." Dmitry responded before sitting up and turning to look at Joshua. "Don't get me wrong. I wouldn't mind coming to help out from time to time in a similar way to that illusionist mercenary that's busy on the dance floor right now, but I'll keep to the mercenary life for now."
Joshua turned to look at the Dance floor and could see Vince dancing with some girl he had never met before. Although it only lasted for so long as a couple of his team mates grabbed him by the arm and dragged him away. Joshua smiled at this before turning back to Dmitry. "Well the offer is always available."
"Good, well for now I shall leave you to your party. Oh and don't worry about your father I'll keep an eye on him." Dmitry said before ordering another drink. Joshua got up and was about to head over to where Aito and Adrian were having drinks, but he was caught by surprise when Lily grabbed his arm to grab his attention. She had an unusually nervous smile on her face as she kept glancing behind her. Joshua looked in that direction and could see Thomas looking around like a lost puppy.
"It seems like you've got a new fan." Joshua said with a chuckle getting an annoyed look from Lily. It was odd to see her so frustrated with the way she always seemed either happy go lucky or aloof to the things going on around her. "He can't be that bad can he?"
"It's like I'm dealing with my younger brother when he was busy questioning everything around him…it's tiring." Lily said with a sigh. Joshua could relate to that since he had gone through the same thing with Amy a long time ago. Apparently Thomas was a little bit more than just excited to talk with Lily about the different beast she had tamed. Joshua knew this was bound to happen, but he didn't think it would tire Lily out to this point.
"Well why don't we have a quick drink so you can have a break." Joshua suggested. Lily nodded and joined him at the bar ordering some kind of weird over the top drink with a twisty straw and an umbrella. Joshua just ordered a beer for himself as they sat down and relaxed for a bit. The quiet didn't last for long as Madalyn and Laura both made their way over and sat down on the other side of Joshua. Madalyn ordered a Margarita while Laura just asked to have the same thing as Madalyn. It was clear to Joshua that Laura didn't know all that much when it came to the different types of liquors.
"Now why is our so called champion just sitting at the bar drinking instead of enjoying the party?" Madalyn asked with a smirk.
"Never been the party type personally. I'd rather just sit back have a drink and watch all of the excitement." Joshua replied getting a nod from Laura which told him right away she was of the same belief. When the bar tender brought over the pair of margaritas for the two guild leaders Joshua wasn't surprised when Madalyn took a sip without batting an eye while Laura looked as if she was shocked by the taste of the margarita along with the strength of the alcohol.
"Well we can't have any of that now can we. This is a party to celebrate how well the alliance did in the tournament. The fact that you became the champion puts you in the spot light big boy and I'm going to make sure you enjoy every moment of it." Madalyn said with a grin as she stood up with her drink in hand and pulled Joshua off the bar stool. "I'll make sure he saves a dance for you two after I'm done with him." She said as she strode towards the dance floor while pulling Joshua along.
Lily just made sure she stayed with Laura while making herself seem as small as possible so Thomas wouldn't find her. Laura on the other hand was holding her head in pain after trying to drink her margarita too fast. At the same time both Adrian and Aito were observing the whole situation and Adrian couldn't help but shake his head. "You think he even realizes that he actually has some semblance of game." He said as he looked towards Aito.
Aito just finished taking a sip from his glass of coke and rum and simply said. "Not a chance.."