After meeting with Braun, Richard returned to the inn and became busy the whole day. The people attending the mayor’s auction were just a handful of rich and powerful people who would never stay at a cheap inn like Beer & Bear, the inn was already packed with people.

Rumors had spread wide and far about the auction so many people were visiting Sherry just for the fun of it in the hopes that they could witness something interesting. Due to a severe lack of entertainment methods, people flocked to anything that was even remotely more interesting than their daily lives.

Most of the general public’s daily lives revolved around working, eating, and sleeping. They were living for the sake of living a day more. This was also the reason why a lot of the men were addicted to gambling and alcohol. They had nothing else to do after they were done with farm work.

The poor youths with a more violent persuasion would either join some war or try their hand at becoming a hero. The reason why there were so many wars around the world was mostly because everyone was bored and had nothing to do. The rest were fought over Kings’ tiny egos being hurt for one reason or the other.

The king was bored and thought that since he had nothing to do, he might as well invade the neighboring country, and the subjects were bored and thought that joining the king’s army would be a more interesting life than tilling the soil. If there had been widespread entertainment facilities, most wars could have been avoided.

The people were so bored that a fight at the neighbor’s house could become a talking point for months until something new happened. So, it was natural that a large number of people flocked into Sherry.

But it wasn’t just the people seeking something interesting who had come into Sherry. Some groups of opportunists had also found their way into the town. The first group were of course the merchants. With a large number of people gathering in a small place, it was like a festival for the merchants.

The second group was the heroes and adventurers who were lured by the rumors about a new ancient ruin being found in Dingie Hills. It was an established fact that Dingie Hills had been home to many ancient civilizations and kingdoms. There had been successful excavations in the past too. But after a brief moment of excitement, people lost interest after getting no results.

Horatio’s team finding a new ruin was like a signal for a new generation of heroes and adventurers to venture into the Dingie Hills and find their adventures, fame, and riches. In the past few days, the number of people with weapons slung around their bodies had increased exponentially in Sherry.

The last group of opportunists were the shifty-eyed people who had blended into the town’s darkest alleys and corners seamlessly. If the merchants came to Sherry smelling a lot of money, the thieves had been attracted to Sherry by the smell of a large number of merchants gathering in the same place.

No matter the reason, Sherry had become livelier with new visitors from all walks of life entering the town at the same time. Although Willum’s inn was always busy, the new arrivals had made it even busier. Any new visitor would be recommended by the locals to try Willum’s food when they were in Sherry so, the business at the inn was going great. It was so good that both Willum and Richard had lost all power in their limbs after the day’s work was done.

“Whew, I made a month’s worth of money in a day but I don’t think I can do this again for tomorrow. My legs might give out if we have to repeat this tomorrow.” Willum sighed while massaging his sore legs. His legs were shaking out of weakness and he was barely able to grip the muscles in his legs with his shaking hands that had lost all their strength.

“I can’t do this Old Man. Isn’t this child abuse at this point? Even if you pay me extra like today, I won't do this tomorrow.” Richard spoke weakly from the floor. He didn’t even have the strength to get up so he had just lied down on the warm kitchen floor, the warmth was loosening the sore muscles.

“Since the auction is tomorrow, there might not be as many customers during the day. It will be fine… probably.” Willum muttered the last word under his breath.

“Hey old man, no matter if the auction happens or not, won't all those people need to eat? Instead of paying me extra, just hire two more servers temporarily. Why are you so stingy when you are making so much money?” Richard was speaking much more casually to Willum than he had done a few days ago or even a few hours ago. His tired mind wasn’t thinking about complicated things right now.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“Kheum.” Willum coughed in embarrassment at the young boy’s reprimand. “I’ll look for someone early tomorrow morning. Maybe we can hire a few young runners from the Runners guild for the day…”

Their conversation was cut short when the two heard the front door opening. Willum got up while groaning and gently kicked Richard on the side, “Get up. We have to close down and go to sleep to wake up early tomorrow. Who is coming in this late anyway? The inn is already full…”

When Willum walked out muttering to himself, he was startled. The guest wasn’t a ghost or a monster but the way he was dressed and the look in his eyes had momentarily shocked Willum. Dangerous… the word came to Willum’s mind.

The guest was dressed completely in black with a hood covering half his face. In the dim light of the candles, the guest’s face looked ghostly pale. If it wasn’t for the blood seeping from the rough bandage on the man’s hand, Willum would have thought that it was a ghost or maybe Death himself.

“He-hello guest. How can I help you? We don’t have any rooms available for the day if that is what you are looking for. But we will try to accommodate any other requests as much as possible.” Willum composed himself and spoke with a forced smile. He wanted to send the man away immediately but he was too scared to say that out loud. The aura coming off of that man was scary.

“Hmm… I heard that the stew from this place is very delicious. It was highly recommended by someone I knew so I thought I should try it at least once before leaving. But it looks like you are closing?” The man had spoken in a calm and polite tone. There wasn’t anything improper about the way he spoke.

But to Willum’s ears, it sounded like a threat. The man’s cold voice sounded sharp like the cleaver he used daily made Willum think that the man was angry. His mind interpreted the words as ‘I heard you sold good food and came here but you dare to close before I get to eat?’

“No, no. We were just waiting to serve the last customer for the day before closing. Why don’t you sit down? I will immediately bring out our famous stew and bread.” Willum hurried back to the kitchen.

Richard was still in the same position as earlier. He didn’t even lift his head or move his eyes away from the dark ceiling while speaking, “Did you send them away? They probably won’t find any vacant rooms in the entire town tonight.”

Willum ignored Richard and began heating the leftover pot of stew reserved for their dinner. Richard finally stood up while moaning in pain and complaining. “Ah, my back! I’ll only get some strength back after filling up my stomach. How can you work at an inn and go hungry the entire day?”

Willum turned to Richard in a panic and whispered urgently, “Hey! Keep it down. This is for the guest outside. We will have to make do with bread tonight.”

“What? Eupeip!” Richard was trying to protest but Willum moved very fast and covered the boy’s mouth. “I told you to keep it down! The guest looks very dangerous. Let’s just serve him the food and send him away. I don’t want to get hurt or die for a bowl of stew.”

Richard was quick to understand the seriousness of the situation after seeing the fear in Willum’s eyes. He nodded to signal that he understood. Only then, did Willum release his hand covering Richard’s mouth.

Willum heated the stew and some bread quickly and prepared to take the food out by himself. “You stay back here. I’ll come back quickly after serving the guest.” Although his voice was calm, Richard could see the concern in Willum’s eyes. He was serving the dangerous guest instead of sending Richard out.

Richard was moved a little by the consideration the old man showed him. They had only known each other for a few days but Willum had always been kind to him even if his words were harsh and blunt.

Calming down his turbulent emotions and his shaky eyes, Richard stood up, “Let's go together!”

The reaction from Willum was unexpected though. Instead of the warm reply that Richard was expecting, he only felt the stinging pain in the back of his head where Willum had hit him. “This brat! We aren’t going to a battlefield. What ‘let’s go together’? I’m serving the guest myself out of fear that you will anger him out of inexperience.”

Leaving behind the dumbfounded kid, Willum went out with the bread and the soup. “This is our famous bear stew and bread. Please enjoy, guest. You can call for me if you need anything else.”

The man gave a simple nod and Willum walked back with a forced smile. He saw Richard’s head peeking from the kitchen door. He was looking at Willum and the man with wary eyes. Willum quickly pulled Richard back into the kitchen.

“Why can’t you just sit still? It is things like…” Willum’s nagging was cut short by the sound of something heavy falling on the ground with a thud. It sounded like a sack of potatoes was roughly thrown on the floor. But somehow, that simple sound felt very ominous to both Willum and Richard.

When the two heads peeked out, what they saw wasn’t the man sitting at the table, eating the stew and bread. The man was lying on the floor with one of his hands still clutching a piece of bread. Although he was shocked, Willum quickly ran to the man’s side and tried shaking him awake, “Sir! Sir!”

When that didn’t work, he tried to check if he was breathing by placing a finger under the man’s nose. After waiting a few seconds, Willum’s face turned pale. A man had just died in his inn while eating the food that he had made.