20 Slice Of Life In The Portsmouth City (2/2)
”Usual, huh?” Amara said as he gave Lance a big mug of beer.
Dima was serving a female adventurer who was looked very frustrated. Dima served her with such charisma and confidence to the point that you can ask yourself, is it the real Dima. He asked the female adventurer, ”What are you looking for?”
”Well, master, could you give me something strong?” The female adventurer asked him.
Dima made a cocktail the same as I did back in the day, which was a French 75. He gave it to the women after he put the same magic spell to the drink as Amara does, and she drank it and became a bit tipsy. Dima used this opportunity to asked her, ”Do you have any particular problem or want to share some stuff with me?”
”Well, I got a problem. Well, this about you know? Men,” The tipsy customer said.
”Hehe, I see, it's about love problem then. Well, you could give him some code or something you know. Man is relentless, you know?” Dima said as he poured a shot of whiskey to a glass, ”It's on the house,” he said as he gave her the whiskey.
”Thanks,” the female adventurer said. She put the glass on the table and said, ”You know? What if I fail?”
”Well, I don't hope for that, but if that happened. I'm here to hear your chatter all night long, my lady,” He said to the tipsy customer.
Meanwhile, Lance and Amara were sitting on a table near the window. They were having a steak dinner on top of a steel plate. Amara said as she looked at Dima, ”Dimitri is such a good bartender, he is famous both in men and women.”
Lance was surprised, ”Wow, really?”
”Yup,” Amara said as she put a piece of the steak inside her cute red beautiful lips. He wiped his mouth with a napkin then drank a glass of wine on the side. She indeed still had some nobility or her.
”How?” One word can ask thousand of questions. Lance drank the beer beside his steak plate.
”He is famous on the female customers because he is a smooth talker and a good advisor. He is also a very caring man and a good one too. But he is also famous among male adventurers because he is a very tough drinker. At one point, he had a face to face duel with another strong male adventurer. A lot of people were betting at the male adventurers, and the battle went for a long time until he put a jerry can with blue writing on it. He won fast after he put that drink,” Amara explained.
”What was the writing on the jerry can? I wasn't there on that day,” Lance asked Amara.
”I don't know about the details, but it was written in English. I think the writing was Ethanol 200 Proof,” Amara said as Lance was shocked as hell. Lance added his opinion after he drank the beer, ”You may not know, but that is the strongest drink you can ever drink.”
”You came here because you want some info, right? What do you want to ask?” Amara asked him.
”Well Amara, do you have any idea to multiply everyone's income by the factor of eight,” Lance asked as Amara was surprised in the same manner of Lance. Drinking her wine, ”Lance, you must understand that even doubling my income is pretty hard. Not to mention the amount of rubble and casualties that you made by your army. Even the building beside me was leveled to the ground. Well, it also is easier since I don't have that much competition nowadays,” Amara said.
”Ok, so what does this town are very fond of?” Lance asked Amara.
”This town? Well, you live here. You must know, right?” Amara said.
”Amara, You know that I always stay in my manor all day long,” Lance argued.
”Well, fishing, at least it was. Now, most of the earnings came from either the tourism or the agricultural sector,” Amara said.
”What kind of crops do this town plant? and how does this town attract tourists?” Lance asked.
”Well, wheat, most of the time. Some of the tourists were adventurers looking for a job in the guild,” Amara answered.
”Guild? How could I've never heard about that before?” Lance said.
”Well, you should sign yourself as an adventurer too. Many benefits you can get from there,” Amara said as she grabbed the dirty plates and mug while Lance left five silver coins before he left the bar.
He headed for the guild building, which was guarded by the guild mercenary. Although it was already late. The guild was still full of adventurers. The receptionist was a 20-ish white fox beastkin woman. Almost the same age as Melody, but a bit older.
”Hi there, how may I help you?” She asked Lance.
Lance replied, ”I want to apply for the guild.”
”Ok, please sign up on this form, and please did some quest so we can measure your ranks for the guild. There are multiple ranks in the guild from rank S to rank F, we will measure your level by the quest you take,” The receptionist explained as Lance fill the form with the ink pen that was stationed there.
The quest board was full of paper and a request from the requester. The paper had the rank of the quest and the minimal people requirements for the mission. Lance was looking for a quest that had any relation with merchant escort or something that will boost the economy of the city.
”Hey there, what are you looking for?” One of the male adventurers asked me. He was as tall as him, albeit a bit shorter and had brown hair and sword on his back. He was a little bit older than Dima.
”Well, an escort quest to be honest. Well, found one, shit, it takes two people for the escort,” Lance said as he grabbed the paper from the quest board. He grabbed the hand talkie from his hand and said, ”Commands here, I will go out for a while.”
”Well, if you don't mind, I can help you. The pay is good too, and we can split the gold coins,” He said.
In everyone's minds, nobody would accept help from an unknown stranger that came from out of nowhere and just offering their help with payment of splitting the reward in half. The case is way even more unreasonable if you have an army that can beat down any country in one strike, but the case with Lance was far too different. He is a rational idiot, he thinks about the risk and consequences but still took the dumb option.
”Ok, I agree, but where is your weapon?” The adventurer asked as his face was puzzled, looking at the unarmed Lance, which was unusual for that time.
”Well, it was repaired,” Lance lied to him as he brought a Glock on his hip with two magazines. Though the Glock was concealed well and nobody could see it.
”The weapon shop is not far from here, how about we get there first?” He asked Lance.
”Sure, but first of all, sorry to be rude but, what is your name?” Lance asked him.
”My name, well, my name is Hamid Gardner, nice to meet you,” Alan said as he shook Lance's hand as Lance asked another question to him. ”Well, nice to see you, Hamid, so do you know Amara?” He asked a question like a sudden freak.
”Amara? Well, she was killed, right? God bless her soul,” Hamid said as he took Lance to the weapon shop and took the paper from the board.
The weapon shop still opened at night. As they entered the weapon shop, they got greeted by a blacksmith, a really hairy blacksmith. The hair on his hands was so thick, what a really hard-working fellow. ”Hi there, Joseph, this acquaintance of mine needs some weapon,” Hamid said as he hugged the blacksmith.
Joseph, the blacksmith, was a weapon shop owner in this region. He sold a good quality weapon at a reasonable price. Most of the weapons there were blunt or sharp weapons, but no magic weapons since that stuff was more fitting for the nobility since the people that were taught about magic are them. A musket was still a rare weapon back there, so nobody sold it yet.
”Uncle, could you give me a sword and dagger?” Lance said hesitantly.
The blacksmith gave him a steel sword and a parrying dagger, the blade had already been sharpened and shining as hell. The price wasn't low either, about 90 silver coins. ”Don't you have to worry, this person is joking. Joseph, we don't have to fool this small child, right?” Hamid said to Joseph.
”Haha, yes, only for you, I will give it for forty silver coins. Sounds good, right?” Joseph said to Hamid.
”Ok, I will pay for it, and it will be cut from your payment, my little friend,” Joseph said as he gave the blacksmith a pouch of coins. ”Keep the change, ok,” Hamid said to the blacksmith. They got out of the weapon shop and got to the place where the merchant convoy was waiting.
The convoy consisted of three carriages lining up near the city gate, which was guarded by two guard dogs; two M1A2 Abrams MBTs. The merchant was well-armed for a merchant since some of them actually had a weapon on their back. The lantern was hanged on the carriage to enlighten the road.
”Well, Lance, the destination is the next town. It will take only two days. Let's work together,” Hamid said as he and Lance drove the carriages with the merchant as a passenger.