Chapter Eight
Once inside, you can feel a bit of noise.
After all, it's a bar, and alcohol is a necessity regardless of social class; otherwise, we would be missing a very important form of entertainment.
There were quite a few people, at least several tables. After all, life is stressful these days, and having a drink here will prevent people from dying of depression.
Moreover, inexpensive wines won't be too much of a burden.
Yak led Lady to sit down at the table, ordered wine and some biscuits.
You can't buy better food here; these pancakes are all the food available.
At most, there are some side dishes to go with rice.
However, in a place like this, having this kind of food was enough to make one very happy. Yak ate it while feeling unwell, and drank wine to help him recover.
This is ale, but not a very good one. It's probably diluted with water, because the alcohol content isn't strong.
However, good beer is indeed incredibly expensive, and Yak isn't wealthy enough to have Muramasa beer for dinner.
A few people were scattered around the tavern, but the most eye-catching was a burly-looking fellow who was drinking heavily and even ordering meat. He must be someone with some skill.
However, Yak also took some meat. After all, it was a high-paying job. In places like this, merchants were basically walking on the edge of death. Naturally, dangerous things could earn them more money.
Lady remained silent. This guy hadn't said much before, and now he was even more taciturn.
Yak figured it was probably because they weren't familiar with each other yet. After all, he hadn't known this guy for very long. It would be a real headache if this guy acted like they'd known each other for ages.
At least we know for now that this girl won't cause any big trouble; she's just an ordinary girl.
“Sure.” The burly man next to him watched as Ark took the jerky from the tavern owner. “Looking at your outfit, you shouldn’t be in a tavern like this. You should be at a ball.”
“Heh, I have no way of getting a ticket to the ball. After all, I don’t have royal blood and I haven’t managed to pick up any royal girls.” Although his expression remained unchanged, Yak raised his glass to the burly man with a witty remark: “Clink glasses? I see you sitting here all alone.”
"Ha, of course I'm not as lucky as you to have such a beautiful girl with you." This answer pleased the guy, and he clinked his cup against Ark's, and the two of them drank it down at the same time.
But then he shrugged and said, "But it wasn't so bad that I had to come out alone."
"Of course, I saw your sword just now, you witcher?" Ark said casually, pressing down on Lady's shoulder to keep her from panicking.
The air suddenly became heavy. The guy looked a little surprised, but didn't show much reaction, watching as Ark stroked his beard.
"How did you figure that out?"
“There’s a mark I made on it, on the hilt. I remember selling it to a swordsman a while ago, but when I saw him again the second time, he said he’d resold it to a witcher.” Ark said casually, “But that guy doesn’t look like someone who’s going to be a swordsman. I don’t think he’s even memorized the Heart Sutra.”
"Ha! A merchant, huh?" the man laughed. "Indeed, I bought this from a swordsman. That swordsman certainly didn't seem like much, probably just doing this on a whim, but he did have a good eye. He bought a decent sword."
"That swordsman is now a musician, traveling between different cities on adventures, and he's found a team that you often run into on the road. He's a gatherer," Ark casually remarked.
Gatherers are a profession in this world. Their task is to collect resources from chaotic areas and then gather them for the arriving crowds. Occasionally, they will encounter battles, but these can usually be avoided.
If it can't be avoided, most people will die.
Lady took a deep breath to calm herself down, still thinking about what Ark had just said.
For monsters, witchers are practically their natural enemies, and this is true everywhere.
But if he were to talk to the Witcher, he wouldn't be afraid of himself...
Thump! Ark's identification was slammed onto the table.
“Um, I see you’re observing me.” Ark showed him the thing: “You’re right, I am indeed a monster, but don’t worry, I’m safe.”
"Oh, that explains why the heartbeat sounded so strange." The witcher paused for a moment, then shrugged helplessly.
Yak smiled and said that the small talk was over.
He sensed hostility from the very first question he asked himself.
He had been observing him since that time, and Ark was aware of his hostility. Because he was different from humans, possessing magic as his energy source, he could easily discern this after fighting monsters for a long time.
The reason I obediently reveal my identity at this time is because of this; that way, it won't have any other dangerous thoughts about me.
Witchers' main income comes from the core that condenses inside the bodies of dead monsters, as well as regular bounties. Monsters with safety certificates are protected, and hunting such monsters is against the rules.
So, while it might not like me, it won't hurt me either. I'll be staying in this city for a while, and if we have a conflict here, these next few days will be tough.
However, the relationship between the monster and the witcher was clearly not good enough to be joked about, so both sides stopped there with a bit of banter.
Every city has monsters with safety certificates, and there are probably quite a few of them. If they don't harm people, monsters are a good source of labor and can be of great help in the city.
Therefore, they don't mind using this creature as labor, or some monsters have integrated well into the population, such as a group called the Fire Goat. Because of its excellent breeding system, this monster has gradually stabilized, and there are very few unreasonable and destructive creatures.
"Want to play a game?" Suddenly, someone sat down next to Lady. It was a girl in a brown robe, and judging from her voice, she didn't seem very old.
Lady paused, then turned to look at the smiling child sitting in the chair.
The child looked a bit strange, with bandages wrapped around his head, as if he was injured. But the bandages were clean, seemingly just for decoration.
However, the child looks very pretty, and this bandage on her head doesn't look like a nice decoration at all.
Without waiting for Lady's reply, she took a deck of cards from the pocket of her robe, spread them out in her hand, and faced Lady.
"Have you ever played Joker? It's a very simple game." She handed Lady a few cards, each with a strange pattern on one side and the same pattern on the other. One of the cards had a particularly eye-catching blue border on its front.
Lady thought for a moment and then shook her head slightly.
"Forget it, I'm not good at this kind of thing," she said softly. "Um..."
"You'll get used to it after a few tries," the girl said with a grin, seemingly not intending to give her a chance to refuse.
Before Lady could say anything more, the object had already been shoved into her hand.
It does look like a very simple game. Drawing jokers is a very common game that doesn't require complicated rules and can be played by beginners.
"This is my friend," the guy who had been chatting with Ark said casually, essentially introducing her.
"Heh, you said you didn't have any pretty girls with you, this is not bad," Yak joked.
After hesitating for a moment, Lady was indeed interested in this kind of thing, since she was a little bored here. Just as she was about to agree, Ark's arm suddenly touched her back.
If it were any other girl, she would have screamed by now, but Lady didn't understand much and didn't react normally.
Lady paused, staring at Ark's arm that stretched out over her back. It looked like he was about to grope her from behind, but instead, his hand gripped another person's hand, which held a dagger.
This is the girl's hand; she's actually holding a dagger. It looks like if Ark hadn't blocked it, it would already be stabbed into her body.
“Just play cards, don’t do these underhanded things,” Ark said softly. “This is a tavern, I don’t want to get kicked out.”
The girl looked at Yak, smiled helplessly, and slowly withdrew her hand.
She put the dagger back and retrieved her cards.
Yak looked at the deck of cards and frowned.
He knew what it was; this guy simply filled the spell with it using this method. This way, he could use the spell directly in the simplest way, greatly reducing the initial preparation time.
Moreover, he sensed malice; this guy harbored ill will towards Lady.
He patted Lady on the shoulder, and she turned her head somewhat fearfully, only to see Ark making a gesture to leave.
Lady has no safety permits; she's a monster that can be hunted. There are at least two monster hunters here, and she's in danger.
“It’s nighttime now, you shouldn’t be out here.” The girl still looked at Lady with a smile: “It’s dangerous outside.”
His little tricks were seen through, but he didn't seem to get angry or resort to force.
because......
The tavern owner had already pulled out a musket with an astonishing caliber from under the table.
"Please don't damage this place." The boss's voice was firm, but he had to be. If he wasn't firm, these guys might just tear the place down.
Lady quickly got off the chair, ready to leave.
“It seems your friend doesn’t like us.” Yak greeted the burly man. “Then we won’t bother her. She’s right, it is indeed very dangerous outside at this time of year. We should go back.”
After they finished speaking, the two of them got up at the same time to prepare. Lady walked in front, and Ark protected her behind her.
The people in the tavern noticed what was happening and clapped and laughed at the two guys.
Lady turned her head away in fear, her hand being gripped tightly by Ark.
"Don't be afraid," Yak said softly.
She didn't know when it started, but this guy also had a short knife tucked into his waistband. She didn't know when it had been there; Lady couldn't even remember if it had been there earlier.
He kept his hand on the sword hilt; his meaning was quite clear.
So everyone just smiled and didn't say anything else.
The two witchers smiled at their retreating figures, not in a mocking way, but just a light laugh.
After the two guys left, they started chatting.
“Nina, you shouldn’t have done that,” the burly man said casually as he drank his wine.
This must be the girl's name. She shrugged and didn't say anything more.
“That guy looks strange,” Nina said softly. “There are traces of sorcery on her, I can feel it. But I don’t remember where I heard about her before. If she keeps showing up in places like this, I’m sure it’ll get back to us soon. Hack, I think I should check some things.”
"Then you shouldn't have used a dagger."
“Let’s test the waters. At least we can confirm that the woman isn’t on guard, which would make her an easy target for a sneak attack.” Nina hesitated for a moment before saying, “But that man seems a bit troublesome. I didn’t see clearly how he grabbed my hand.”
“Really? I also feel this guy is difficult to deal with.” Hack paused and said, “But he has real identification.”
"I've never heard of it. Have you?"
“No, but from what he said, he’s met with a lot of people… I…” Suddenly, Hack’s voice trailed off.
"What's wrong?" Nina asked, startled.
"Do you remember what that guy looked like?" Huck said softly, downing his drink in one gulp.
After a long silence, Nina's expression slowly froze.
In those few short minutes, they had already forgotten what the guy looked like.
Actually, Ark is quite memorable, after all, the little expression on his head is very interesting, and his tuxedo is very eye-catching.
But now, when they try to recall it, they can't remember anything, only vaguely remembering that they had just seen a humanoid monster.
This isn't a normal rate of forgetting; someone must have used some underhanded tactics.
“Interesting.” Hack smiled helplessly. “That guy is kind of interesting.”
Nina shrugged: "It wasn't a curse, or rather, he hid the traces very well."
Huck pinched his chin and began to think.
I have indeed seen quite a few monsters, and killed even more of them.
But this guy's method of concealing himself is truly unprecedented. Is he so good at making people who have seen him forget what he looks like?
No wonder I've never heard of that guy.
“Contact that guy and find out his background first.” Hack gestured to Nina: “Try to avoid conflict, after all, we’re here for that matter.”
"I've definitely thought of everything you've thought of." The girl made a face at the guy and giggled.
The sound of thunder and lightning came from outside; a bolt from the blue was all too common here.
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