The pub he entered immediately presented to Daz a never ending stream of scents. Strong alcohol on the breath of drunk men, sweat from some, that hardly ever took a bath, food, spices and a lot of them at that. While he was aware that his own body smell might not be the best, he still had to take a moment to endure all the strong odor. Sitting down on a small table in a corner he gradually became used to it.

A young barmaid, hardly older than seventeen approached his table. “Hello there. Can I bring you anything?” Happily grinning she waited for him to order. Daz was quickly taken ablaze by her self confidence. He had always been rather silent himself, talking to girls especially had been hard when he grew up. “Yes. Bring me something good with a lot of meat. And something to drink.” - “What do you want to drink? Beer? Wine? Water’s no good right now I’m afraid, the fresh ones always out quickly… Oh, and we have some pork goulash if you would like that?” Daz happily nodded. “Yes, I’d like to try that. Uhm. Beer I guess is fine. Do you have rooms free?”

The girl scribbled his answers on a small board with a stick that looked like a crayon. Magical it seemed. Daz did not want to be a country bumpkin so he just ignored his urge to ask questions about magic. “Sure thing, but let me warn you, some guests that stay here… well. They like to fuck loudly at night. Some prostitutes, but they pay well apparently.” Daz’s face turned a bit red and he had to clear his throat. “I-I see. That’s fine. If it’s not too expensive?”

The girl winked. “No, things are pretty cheap here, no worries. Room’s about 22 coppers a night, as long as you leave it clean. Aaand food will be 4 coppers for the gulash and 1 copper for a hump of beer. You wanna open a tab?” Daz was glad it wasn’t too expensive. He had brought some money from home, but he still wanted to help his family so giving it away for just some good night's sleep or great food was a no-no. He would even sleep outside if he had to! But what was a tab? “Tab?” - “Yeah, you pay a silver or two and can just eat and drink however much you want. We tell you when you are out of money. Then you have to pay again.”

Daz nodded friendly and handed her a silver coin. “Thanks.” As she was leaving he started to observe the room. Quite a few soldiers in shabby uniforms were sitting together on different tables. Mainly getting drunk, some had women with them that made Daz’s turn red again. They showed just… far too much. At some tables he was able to observe people playing with dice. They rolled them and they glowed magically. After each roll a little creature on the table moved and attacked. Or died. Depending on the luck, Daz guessed.

The game looked fun but he had no real reason to just walk over there and ask if he could join. He didn’t even know anyone. Aah, sometimes he wished everyone was hunted by direwolves so he could just join and help. Hopefully the military would help him get better at that. After a while the friendly barmaid appeared again and he handed her two coppers as a tip. Looking a lot happier she walked off again.

The next half hour Daz spent drinking this delicious beer he had tasted for the first time and the goulash, with some white bread he also never had before. Filling his belly and observing the young barmaid was a quite fun way to pass the time. Maybe the beer helped him think that. It made him kind of light headed. From time to time the girl appeared again, just to bring him something new, like a fillup or a cheap wine, that Daz did not really like. He still drank it all while staring at her ass, as she walked away.

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He wanted to feel the touch of a woman again too. When he was younger he had a brief relation with the widow of another farm. She had been lonely and his mother made him bring food. Which the widow somehow took as a chance to feel better. Without her Daz would have still been a utter fool, not knowing the joy of having a woman by one’s side. Sadly he would have to do a lot better for himself to find a wife.

A little later into the day, it had to be evening already, Daz noticed more and more guests started to appear. It gradually became more cramped in here and Daz wondered if he should just leave to his room and sleep a bit. He was drowsy after all. Or drunk. A bit. Suddenly, out of nowhere a man appeared and sat down in front of him. His table was for four so there was enough space, but Daz felt kind of invaded. “Sorry, do you mind? My legs are killing me. Had to march all day today.”

A soldier, quite hairy and really looking out of shape, but nonetheless wearing the royal colours on his clothes. “I will invite you to a drink, what do you want?” Daz just stared at the man trying to grasp for an answer. “Quite drunk eh? I will get you something good.” He stood up and Daz could have sworn it did not take longer than five seconds and the guy put a large cup in front of him while sipping a bear. “Applejuice. Will bring you back, trust me.”

A few sips later Daz felt quite a bit better. “Thanks.” - “No problem. By the way, where are you from? You don’t look like you are from around here?” Daz drank about half of his apple juice and tried to focus on the conversation more. “I am here for the officer trial’s. I want to join the army.” The guy raised an eyebrow. “Really? You do know, that these trials are mainly to beat up newcomers to force them into joining as normal recruits right? The amount of people picked hardly ever exceeds 1 out of a hundred.”

Daz’s jaw dropped. He had not expected this to be this extreme. Now he was quite nervous. “Really?” - “Really. Man, I still remember when i was whipped around. Sixteen years of service now.” He hammered on his torso. “And friends with all the officers too. Soon I will rise to be one myself.” Daz now really panicked. 16 years to be officer? How could he ever marry, not to speak support his parents? “Oh. I hope I can make it. I don’t want to fail. I need to get a good post to support my parents at home. They expect so much of me. Even gave all our savings to set myself up.”

Daz let his head sink to his hands. It was really horrible. “Don’t worry. You are the son of fortuna herself. You ran into ME of all people! I can help you.” The man grinned and slapped Daz’s shoulders. “Really?” Hopeful, his mood lightened up. “Yes. I will bribe some officers to give you a faaaaaar easier trial. They are all friends of me anyway. You just give me most of your money and I will set you up.”

The process of bribing military officers was not really something Daz was comfortable with, but the man seemed really friendly with other officers. Maybe this was just what he needed? A good salary would set him up for life too! “Please. Sir, please help me with that.” Daz quickly grabbed the sack of money out of his backpack and gave most of it to the stranger. “It’s not much, sixty five silver. Would that be enough?” The man frowned. “That’s a bit little. But don’t worry. I will use some of my savings for you. You can pay me back later. Two hundred silver total should be enough for that! Ha! We should celebrate!”

Soon the man was back with hard alcohol and they downed the very spicy and burning liquid together.

After a while the man was even so nice and brought him back to his room. He was so happy to have found a real friend.

Daz fell asleep, never knowing that he had just been scammed for all his money and that the guy had not even mentioned his name to him….