Chapter 131: The Bar (1/2)
The gangs of Ashmelion followed a very simple and crude way of life.
For them, humans decided right and wrong not according to legal standards but according to their own subjective morality.
As long as you were strong enough, anything you did was an act of the law.
To most gang members of the Quads, the criteria for whether they should deal with a person wasn't whether or not they had the right to do so but whether or not they felt like that person deserved to die.
That judgment of being deserving of death was naturally defined by themselves based on publicly accepted ceremonial etiquette among the gangs of Ashmelion.
This was a universally accepted fact in the entire city and even if you didn't want to accept it. What could you do? An ordinary citizen wouldn't dare to change the status quo but it didn't mean that they weren't unresigned.
Of course, they had their grievances.
These gangs were just too domineering.
But since they were powerless to do anything about it, so why not just embrace it?
Thus, the gangs became an important part of Ashmelion's social ecosystem.
But that didn't mean that they weren't scums that the Joselian Kingdom absolutely abhorred. If given the chance, the Kingdom would definitely crush these gangs beneath the soles of their shoes.
Calvin seemed to be in a daze as he stumbled about in the streets of the Northern Borough. His movements were erratic and his knees seemed to be made out of jelly as they wobbled to and fro.
Bruce and Ashlynn furrowed their eyebrows, was he drunk?
”He's feigning drunkness... Interesting... I wonder why he is doing that?”
Bruce instantly saw through Calvin's act.
Ashlynn heard what Bruce had said and a smirk appeared on her face, ”What's the fastest way to blend yourself in the crowd of people belonging to the Northern Borough?”
”What's with the sudden question?” Bruce frowned.
”Don't be a buzzkill, just answer me.”
”Well, I guess... To wear those black coats and act like a shady individual?”
Bruce stared at Ashlynn in doubt.
Ashlynn shook her head, ”Nope... It's to act like a drunkard!”
”Act like a drunkard?”
Bruce thought for a moment before enlightenment finally dawned upon him, ”I see what you did there...”
”Clean water is generally scarce in Ashmelion. So that they won't catch any disease...”
”These people from the Northern Borough decided to drink alcohol instead... That way, any impurities from the water would be purged by the alcohol. But this also meant that they would seem eternally drunk...”
”Their gaits are unnatural and similar to what Calvin is doing right now...” Bruce repeatedly nodded his head, but he suddenly let out a sigh, ”Does this mean that even kids are treating alcohol as their water and are slowly becoming the next generation drunkards?”
Ashlynn bitterly smiled, ”There's nothing that we can really do about that... Well, anyway. Let's go ahead and follow that guy before we lose him. I'm quite interested as to what is his next course of action.”
”All right.” Bruce nodded and the two of them continued to follow Calvin from behind. The only difference was that Ashlynn shamelessly stuck her body close to Bruce and acted like a strumpet.
Bruce furiously blushed.
He was a young man on his prime, yet he still hadn't tasted a woman.
The matured womanly fragrance of Ashlynn assaulted his nose making him feel dizzy.
But remembering the fact that one of them might be in trouble made him understand that this wasn't the time to act like an innocent boy. He steeled his resolve and gulped a mouthful of saliva before he got into the act.
The Northern Borough was a rough part of Ashmelion indeed.
Ashlynn had to act like a strumpet if she didn't want to be harassed due to her beauty.
Even though most men still turned their necks towards him, there existed a certain concept among the men appropriately named as the ”Brotherly code”.
Ashlynn had a vague idea regarding this concept, so she took advantage of it and it became the reason why their journey on following Calvin was relatively smooth sailing.
They discovered that Calvin had entered a bar.
Ashlynn and Bruce glanced at each other.
The former was supposed to be a strumpet, so the two of them couldn't possibly enter a bar when they were already acting as drunkards. If they do, they might be kicked out of the bar.
However, this realization also puzzled the two.
Calvin was similarly acting like a drunkard as them, yet he managed to enter the bar without any problems. But when Ashlynn and Bruce tried to enter the bar, they have been barred entry with the guards stating that they should be going to an inn and have fun there instead of going to another bar with how drunk they look.
Unable to follow Calvin inside the bar...
The two decided to remain outside and wait for him to go out.
The inside of the bar was something that one would expect from a bar in the 1400s century Earth. It was rowdy, smelly and people were generally rough. The looks of the women were garbage, though their bodies were gorgeous, except that one couldn't rate them first-rate.
Calvin approached the bar and sat there.
He sat there for a very long time.
He didn't order anything.
Eventually, a strumpet approached him from behind and tried to seduce him into giving her some money but Calvin remained unresponsive.
The bartender who had been observing Calvin furrowed his eyebrows.
He had no recollection whatsoever about Calvin but from the look on Calvin's face.
He seemed to be looking for someone.
He approached Calvin and said, ”We don't die, we multiply.”
”Huh?” Calvin stared at the bartender in confusion.
Once the bartender saw that Calvin was indeed genuinely confused. He said, ”It seems that you're not a gang member... In that case, then this wouldn't be so complicated. Who are you looking for?”
Calvin smiled, ”I'm looking for a frequent customer of this place. The guy charges five joselian pesos a week for rentals, but instead of saving those coins, he uses them to flirt with these women and drink in this place. Just leave me alone, I think he'll be here soon.”
The bartender scrunched his eyebrows, ”I seem to have an idea as to who are you looking for. May I ask, are you someone whose name starts with the letter C?”
Calvin was pleasantly surprised, ”Do you know who I am?”
”Just answer me.” The bartender said, ”I'll tell you everything if you're indeed that man whose name starts with C.”
”I am!” Calvin almost immediately replied, ”Full name, Calvin.”
”Calvin...” The bartender fell into deep contemplation, ”Ah! You're indeed that man that he's looking for in the past few days. All right, come with me. I'll bring you to him.”
The bartender brought Calvin into the second floor of the bar.
When Calvin and the bartender walked into the staircase, some drunkards who had been playing with the trumpets glanced at Calvin with cold looks on their faces. But that look on their face disappeared at the very next moment, it was as if it didn't even appear in the first place.
Calvin was brought into a room.
The bartender was about to knock onto the wooden door when feminine moans along with rough breathing suddenly rang from behind the door.
Calvin made a sidelong glance at the bartender and the latter noticed what Calvin was trying to imply. Calvin was saying with his eyes that it was better for him to leave this to him.
After all, he was just a bartender doing his job.
He didn't need to be involved in things that were detrimental to him.
The bartender nodded gratefully at Calvin before he returned to the first floor.
Calvin was now alone on the second floor of the bar and he directly kicked open the door in front of him.
”Ah!”
”What the fuck?!”
Inside, the intertwined figures of a man and a woman were revealed. The strumpet subconsciously covered her body out of shame while the man who couldn't help but curse out of surprise revealed a look of shock on his face.
Calvin didn't say anything.