After he had been lifted off his backside by a pair of goblins, one male and one female he had been ushered into one of their buildings which was larger than it appeared on the inside.

  There had been a few rooms inside and he had been half-pushed, half ushered into one before he could manage to talk to the young female goblin who had spoken to him.

  Judging from her attitude this was something that she had experienced previously, she was a little taller than the average goblin Jackie had seen, her dark hair was tied up at the back and she wore a vest covered in tools with plain utilitarian clothing.

  Her body held definite signs of muscle but it was her eyes that surprised Jackie the most, he had been a CEO of one of the largest companies on Belphus. He had grown into a position in authority where those working for the World Government and organisations and corporations had to take him seriously.

  In short, he had learned how to wield authority, this goblin was young, closer to his own present physical age but her red eyes and posture told him that she was a leader.

  His attempt to thank her and engage in conversation had resulted in a handwave dismissal and with a nod of her head towards the room as she walked back outside.

  The room itself altered the size of furniture and shifted to adjust his near exact height so he could sit comfortably at a chair next to a table. There was a curtained off area, a basic wooden bed with a single sheet and duvet folded for his use.

  Taking off his puff blue furred collar jacket, Jackie gave it a quick fold and dropped it onto the bottom of the bed. He’d wanted to sleep for a moment and see if all it this had been a fleeting dream and he’d wake up in his office but he was enjoying the sense of adventure he’d lost along the way of growing old.

  I should rest. But...my clothes aren’t exactly clean. At least choosing good quality clothing paid off. Those military style ankle boots were built to last. Heh. Tiger-striped t-shirt. I would have been too shy to wear this at my present physical age

  Leaving his boots and socks on Jackie knew that his body was beginning to ache but he didn’t want to let himself rest just yet. He needed to elf a little more time to digest his surroundings. He didn’t know exactly how [Gift of Tongues] worked on his mind and consciousness but he’d heard plenty of conversation when he’d been outside.

  Impressive. Don’t need technology to have new tricks. I could have done a little bit of magic when I needed to redesign my initial coffee houses. Instant recreation to suit the individual customer. Magic. Who knew?

  To him it would make sense if they needed to accommodate random visitors from different worlds. He had only met two gods of the continent of Odora and an Encampment of goblins.

  He’d be sure there’d be other fantasy species on this continent even if Jackie had only vaguely heard about them on movies back on Belphus.

  Custom reusable coffee pods, I’m ever back on Belphus I’ll float that idea. Would robots drink simulated coffee algorithms? All this interaction brings out my creative side. Just no Tourism Board involvement. There must be a strict reason for that.

  Jackie chose to explore the room he was inside after checking the door which had a basic sliding bolt lock for privacy. The room itself was minimal and pristine but he judged it was a reasonable size for the species he’d just had the pleasure of meeting.

  A rest. I need to use a toilet, water and something to clean up a little with. Appreciate the privacy though. Wait.

  There was a knock at the door and Jackie limped along to it as his body continued to ache. He slid the bolt back and pulled the door wide open.

  A pair of goblins opened the door, both bowed at him and were dressed in white clothing and plain leather sandals. He judged from the ornaments hanging from their ears and necks that they were in formal positions.

  The adult goblins were on average the height of teenagers at most on Belphus and the younger ones were even smaller. Their age wasn’t as young as the one who had led him into the room in the first place but a little older. If they’d been human, he would have placed them as late twenties.

  Could be [Gift of Tongues] is adaptable or it could be developed. Give me a cheat code for a business sense when meeting new cultures and species. I’ll keep it in mind.

  He wanted to speak to the pair as he realised he was blocking the doorway with one arm placed on the door frame. His height difference with them and adrenalin levels were still running a little high and Jackie didn’t want to accidentally active the second blessing given to him by the god of coffee Linas.

  Calm down Jackie. Breath in, breath out. You’re an old man in a young man’s body. Or something like that. Smile Jackie, imagine you’re in a confrontation with the board of directions back at Strikker Coffee. Breath. Relax. Smile

  His decades of experience meant that he was able to quickly regain his composure as he put a genuine smile on his face and stepped back from the door while adopting a relaxed pose.

  Jackie recognised the male one as the kind goblin who’d taken his blue fur collared puff jacket and even tried it on before it had been given back to him.

  He had short cropped hair, close to the scalp and a bland expression on his face. Both of his eyes were brown and he was a little on the thinner side.

  ‘Right. Thanks for holding my jacket. I’m Jackie. A guest here. Right. And the pair of you have come to my room to drop off things. Thanks.’ said Jackie.

  The goblins either still didn’t understand Jackie or were under instructions not talk, similar to how hotel staff cleaners would work on bedrooms without overly engaging guests.

  The female goblin had striking blue eyes and mid-length hair and was filled out more. She had a soft smile on her face which Jackie tried to ignore at the moment.

  Jackie didn’t consider them rude for not talking and in truth, he’d wanted a little more time to himself. His body might be young but his mind was that of an old man who wanted a little bit more quiet time to settle his thoughts a little.

  The pair retreated out of the room and the open doorway before bringing back him two large wooden mugs of warm water and a large folded piece of cloth. Neither of them had offered him food or drink but he wasn’t hungry or thirsty yet.

  Benefit of becoming a superhuman avatar then. Thirst and hunger affect the body less.

  With the tub of water, Jackie soaked the cloth in a little and left on the side. He’d prefer to clean himself up in his own space rather than than others do it for him.

  ‘So..could either of you show me the toilet inside this room? Or the version you have here? I’d appreciate it. If both of you are under instructions not to talk then no problem. I’m not here to cause issues for your people. Or you can ask that god of coffee Linas out there to compensate you with magic or something. We can work it out.’ said Jackie as the pair of goblins simply stood there by his doorway as though waiting.

  The male one had walked over to the curtained area inside the room to show a separate which consisted of a seated area with a bucket next to it. He then took a cup and filled it with water from the wooden tub before pouring it in.

  A small cloud of sweet smelling orange smoke appeared when the cup had been emptied. Then he had retreated out of the doorway leaving the female goblin standing attentively. She smiled in his direction and then turned her head away as quick as she could.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  ‘Did he forget something? Toilet paper. Is that a thing here? Sorry, I’m getting used to this place. My time in Odora. Magic toilet. Wow.’ said Jackie as he stood there in the room.

  Impressive. More of those blessings of the gods at work. A goblin encampment is a tidy, clean and organised place. Huh. Nice people. Except for the physical shock. I think I’d like a little privacy to use the magical orange smoke cleaning toilet though.

  A knock on the open door of the room drew Jackie’s attention the male goblin once more as he came in carrying a tied leather bag and a backpack on one shoulder.

  He loosened the tied bag and took the backpack off before before handing both items to Jackie with both hands and a bowed head.

  ‘Thank you. For this and my jacket.’ said Jackie.

  Looking inside the untied leather bag, Jackie saw all the gold jewellery he had handed out before including the item given to the goblin who had taken his blue fur collared coat.

  Given that neither of them were responding when he was talking he went with his instinct and played down his former CEO presence. His own personal assistant Daphne had been much the same until the end. She always stood there and only responded when he’d asked her to do so.

  Yeah. I’m not looking for a pair of servants. Hold on Jackie, you don’t know goblin culture in Odora. Leave it.

  Jackie nodded his thanks and put the backpack and leather bag on the table next to the bed. Then he removed the rest of the rings, necklaces and golden jewellery on his person and stuffed it into the bag.

  The male goblin bowed and left the room once more before he left and closed the door to the room behind him. Jackie was left with the female goblin inside the room still standing there with a soft smile on her face.

  ‘Avatar, would you need your clothing cleaned? We can prepare fresh attire if you wish. Or I can help to clean you. We have warm, hot or cold water as you prefer.’ said the female goblin as her eyes shone.

  The suggestive wink that the female goblin who had striking blue eyes and dark coloured mid-length hair gave Jackie an impression of what was to be expected or even suggested.

  He had been a handsome man in his youth and it had caused plenty of attention from both men and women when he had been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

  His complete lack of interest in romance for either gender was usually taken as an attempt to play it low key. His parents had been thrilled when they had been alive that he had chosen to adopt and become a dad and work on his steadily growing coffee business.

  Jackie wasn’t a sociopath without emotions, he had friends, close friends even but there was a limit for him which he had never wanted to cross. As a late teenager others had thought it would be a fun challenge to pair him up with someone.

  He’d given in a handful of times but the physical experience had been so off that enough rumours had spread about his lack of interest. Jackie decided to be firm but polite.

  ‘Thank you for the offer but I was literally old enough to be your grandfather not too long ago. I’m flattered truly but this isn’t the time. What’s your name? I’m Jackie. How about we start with sharing names? Too much? I bet if I was a woman then it would be you who left and your friend would have stayed here.’ said Jackie.

  He didn’t know if it was because he was a stranger to this world, the avatar of a god or he was just that darn handsome and fashionable and didn’t realise it.

  Jackie simply shrugged his shoulders and rolled his neck a little. He needed to wash himself regardless so he took off his blue puff jacket and then his orange tiger stripe t-shirt to reveal his built and lean young top body.

  ‘I’m going to clean myself up. But I’ll do it by myself, tell you what, if I need help with washing areas I can’t reach then you and your friend who left can both help me. But I don’t think I will. You understand?’ said Jackie.

  His words had made the green face blush a deep red and she covered it with her hands as she took a single step back and half-faltered as she opened the door and then closed it behind her with a little more force than necessary.

  And that’s how you escape honeytraps. Or situations where you want some privacy. Clean first, magical toilet in a bit.

  Jackie walked over to the door and set the latch lock down once more to make sure that he wasn’t going to be disturbed. For a second he was tempted to put his ear to the door and see he could hear anyone outside but he’d long outgrown that habit.

  He touched a hand to his bare muscular stomach as he saw a dark bruise there, in spite of his subconscious taking control of his body and switching to a flying arm bar the old goblin Grucs had managed to inflict some damage.

  Damaged. Ah. Hurts. A good reminded that even a blessing or two from the gods of food and drink doesn’t make me a demi-god. I was pretty rude to the old guy though. I got lucky with that. I ever did that to my grandfather he would have dumped me in the jungle for a few days.

  In this case he was genuinely tired and the amount of energy dumped into him, the transformation into a young man, signing a contract with a god of food and drink, transported to a fantasy world and then thrown into a difficult situation had all taken their toll.

  After washing himself off and cleaning the wet cloth, Jackie put his orange tiger stripe t-shirt back on, he avoided touching the large bruise on his abdomen but had held the cold towel there for a time.

  He wasn’t certain but the swelling was going down and the bruise was reducing in size, a small amount but enough to be noticeable. One of the benefits of being the avatar of a god was the obvious physical boost. It made his task not entirely impossible to introduce coffee to an entire continent.

  Jackie had been half-expecting Linas to come into the building and offer his apologies but they had signed a contract and formed a link between them. Power shared went both ways, and if Jackie wasn’t comfortable then he smiled at the idea that the young god was experiencing the same amount of pain and fatigue that he was.

  If Jackie was lucky then the wannabe god of coffee would be in the same situation, being comforted and taken care of. They had a great deal to discuss and make clear. A real business partnership needed to follow a plan agreed on by both parties.

  The fact that he’d known almost nothing about something called the tutorial and half-worked his way around explaining anything before they had ended up in the village.

  Borrowed confidence and experience only goes so far. I need to take a different approach. I’m dealing with one my kids who didn’t get enough support. Imagine that. And I met his mum and all. Lady, you’re expecting too much from a stranger. He can call me Uncle Jackie at this rate.

  Considering it, Jackie cleaned up the mess he had made at the table he had been sitting at. He wiped down any excess water lying around and wrung the damp cloth over the wooden tub and left it hanging there.

  He hadn’t been disturbed and then went to the curtained area, making sure he pulled it back as he relieved himself. Then another knock came from the door.

  Jackie would have preferred time for a full bath or a shower but the room was minimal enough as it was. He tied up the bag with his gold jewellery inside and put his jacket inside.

  His skin was still wet from the water but having washed his face a little and his body he was fresher and more level headed from before. Business was a matter of hard work, connections, building and solving problems. And for all that he needed time to rest and think.

  ‘Coming. Give me a moment. Thank you.’ said Jackie as he injected a small amount of his former CEO authority into his voice.

  Jackie walked over to the door in the room after pulling the curtain back to its original place at the back to cover the magical toilet area and dusted his backside of any dirt it had accumulated when Grucs had knocked him down. The female goblin who had handed his blue fur collared puff jacket was giving instructions as she stood proudly in the doorway.

  Her head was turned away from Jackie as she snapped a series of brief commands he couldn't translate before she extended a green hand in a handshake gesture.

  ‘Welcome to Odora, Mr Imperial. You’ve met my grandfather Grucs. Call me Blisz, I’m the leader of this goblin encampment. We have an avatar tutorial to progress through and a young god to address. Between you and me he’s lacking a little but he’ll there with some help. Would you care for something to eat and drink? Or would you prefer…coffee?’

  ‘Welcome to the . Please confirm your destination to your chosen Seed world or Variant of the planet Belphus.

  All Visitors please register with your nearest available Tour Guide. The Tourism Board is Above All.’

  [This has been a sponsored message from . The drink of your lifetime.]

  Nicholas A. Ostheimer [Original Founder of the Tourism Board and Creator of Fictional Realities.]