"What did that grumpy old dwarf want?" Earl asked as he looked back at Gregor leaving the tavern. It's been months since he has last seen Gregor here, so it came as quite a shock to spot him today.

"Who cares? Let's drink until we drop!" Big Oar replied as he plopped down at the counter. Roxanne was wearing a black dress today and like all the other outfits she wore, it was just as seductive. Without the bar keep around to serve them anymore, Roxanne was here more often. So it was nice being able to see her work.

"Yes, yes! Drink until our words are slurred." Carl agreed with Big Oar as he slapped the large man's back a few times.

"First rounds on me boys!" Carl added as he was excited today.

"You said it, don't take it back now! Roxanne, give us your best drink!" Big Oar roared.

Roxanne was on the other side of the counter talking to two other men, as she entertained them. One even tipped her an extra bronze tale which she found amusing. She wondered if it would be possible to get more out of him, but Big Oar ruined the mood.

"And that chicken stew!" Carl slid the last bit in.

Roxanne grabbed three mugs from underneath the counter, flipped them up, and began pouring the only alcohol she served. After all three mugs were full she picked them up and sat them down in front of the three men.

"Sorry boys, chicken stew's not on the menu today." Roxanne said while giving them a smile.

"What? No, that can't be. Check again." Carl urged.

Roxanne shook her head, she didn't need to check again. She's already done that when she took stock of her inventory. Eventually, she'd run out of ale too, but what she had on hand should last her a few days, maybe a week or two at most. She hoped. Hopefully, some trader would come to Evergreen soon, or else she'd be out of business.

While she was pretty, she couldn't survive on just her looks alone. At least, she couldn't if she didn't decide to sell herself. But, she had money saved up, so everything was fine.

"We're out Carl, you know how it's been lately. No traders have been passing through, and you three eat and drink enough to feed ten men!"

Carl looked upset at this, but he clicked his tongue and sipped on the ale he had in front of him.

"What's with him?" Roxanne asked Earl as she leaned forward a bit.

"Who knows, he's been like that all day. Even after working on his farm all morning, he's been cheery and won't say why." Earl replied as he took a sip of his drink as well.

All three of them owned their own farm, growing food for the city. It was hard work, but gave them a steady income. Better than being called to war by a long shot.

"Didn't you know? Carl shacked up with Betty last night." Big Oar grinned.

"Betty? Really?" Roxanne looked surprised to hear this. Even Earl was shocked by this news.

"You've been courting her for months, did she finally say yes?" Earl asked as he was the most excited for his friend.

Big Oar laughed. "Oh, she said something alright."

Carl shot him a look, wondering how Big Oar knew any of this. When this happened he was at home, there was no way Big Oar with his size could sneak in without Carl knowing about it.

"How do you know this? You spying on me?" Carl asked Big Oar.

"Don't need to, Betty came rushing to my house this morning and told Martha everything." Big Oar said with a slight chuckle.

Everyone knew that Betty and Martha were friends, have been since they were kids. So it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone present that Betty went and told Martha everything.

Yet, it did. Carl was wondering why Betty was gone when he woke up. He was fixing to have another passionate round with her, but she was nowhere to be seen. He was worried but he ended up spotting her walking down the street not even twenty minutes later.

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"She couldn't keep her mouth shut for one day?" Carl shook his head.

"I don't care about that, tell me, how'd you win her over? Didn't she say she'd rather eat chicken dung than be caught next to you? You didn't force yourself on her did you?" Earl asked a bit worried.

"No!" Carl instantly said.

"You know me better than that Earl, do I look like the kind of person to do that to our own women?"

Earl wanted to nod his head, but instead, he sipped his ale. It was better he did not answer that.

"Congratulations. I'm happy for you two." Roxanne said.

Betty was by no means the prettiest woman in town or even her district. But she had something going for her that Carl liked, so that was all that mattered.

Carl looked a bit embarrassed at this as he scratched the back of his head. "Thanks, Rox, I'll be sure to tell her."

Big Oar laughed again, causing all of them to look at him. He couldn't help himself, the entire situation was just too funny. "Go on, tell them how it happened."

"They don't need to know that." Carl said as he wanted Big Oar to back down. It did not help that the man knew the entire story already. He hoped to keep this one close to his heart.

"No, let them know how you got her drunk. Poor woman came crying to my Martha this morning, saying how she woke up next to an orc." Big Oar laughed as he spoke, as he could only picture Betty's face.

Carl facepalmed, as he couldn't believe that Big Oar went and spilled everything.

"Wait, so you aren't together?" Roxanne asked as she feigned surprise.

Earl nodded as that made much more sense.

"Leave me alone! Why'd you have to go and ruin the mood?" Carl asked Big Oar. The big man just couldn't keep his mouth shut. He was in such a happy mood too, after he got laid with the woman he's been after for the last half a year. If only they knew how much work it took him to even get her to go to the tavern with him.

"Let's talk about something else." Carl urged as he began thinking of topics in his head. "What about your slave Roxanne? What happened to him?"

Roxanne sighed.

"He went and saved enough tales to buy his freedom. I don't know where he got the money, but it happened. Still doesn't make sense to me." She said.

Carl raised his eyebrow at that. "Maybe he stole money from that kid."

"How would he do that Carl? Slaves can't steal, think about it." Earl commented.

Roxanne thought about it, and that would make sense. A lot of sense actually. If he managed to steal money from someone, then he'd have enough to buy his own freedom. That means her math wasn't truly wrong, it's just that something occurred, and that slave of hers found a chance to buy his own freedom.

"It makes sense though." Roxanne told them.

"It would yeah, that kid did come yelling at me telling me I stole what was his and all that." Big Oar added as he set his mug down on the table. "Had to knock him out to get him to shut up."

"When did this happen?" Roxanne asked.

"I don't know, a couple months ago. A few days after he challenged me to a drinking match. Haha, good times." Big Oar wished someone else approached him like that kid did. Nothing beats free ale.

The slave she owned also managed to buy his freedom two days after that evening. She did not think much of it, since he was unable to steal. Everyone knew it, and none of her other customers complained about having lost money when he asked him to toss them out.

But, hearing this news, it made a lot more sense. This was a problem, if he found a way to steal money then what was stopping the other slaves from doing the same? She'd have to check on her items at home to make sure the last slave she owned didn't steal anything of hers. Not that the girl would have anything to do with it.

"Nothing happened then though, did it? I mean, Evergreen's been the same for a while now, and there aren't really any new faces in town." Earl said.

His words were true, as the amount of travelers coming here has decreased lately.

"Ah! There is one person that's new that I know of." Roxanne said, but found it unlikely to have anything to do with her slave.

"Yeah? Is it a woman?" Carl asked. Now that news of him and Betty was out there, it was best to move on to find a new woman.

"No, I don't know what he is. A blacksmith maybe, he said he wanted to forge a sword for Lord Kirk."

"A new blacksmith in town? Wonder if he'll charge as much as the others." Earl wondered out loud.

"I don't know, you could ask him. He was thinking of getting a Verlpax I think, so you might run into him somewhere in the southern part of the city." Roxanne told them.

"What's it matter to us? All these dwarven smiths are the same, bunch of bastards can rot for all I care." Carl spat on the ground.

Roxanne looked unfazed by this. There was a history between the dwarven folk and the humans. As most of the mines were occupied by dwarves, and they refused to let humans work in the mines. There were even some small skirmishes in the past, but that was a long time ago.

While some humans disliked them, everyone wasn't the same. Draves still owned most of the mines, but by this point, humans were used to it. And dwarven smiths made up the majority of all smiths on the continent.

"He's not a dwarf, he's a human. Gregor called him Richard."

"A human smith hanging around a dwarf? I thought they had bad blood between them?" Earl asked.

"Could just be his underling." Carl added.

Earl shook his head. "Didn't you hear her? She said he was going to forge a sword for Lord Kirk. Do you think any apprentice would have that right? Do you think Gregor would let someone under him attempt to do that? Would an apprentice even own a workshop?"

Big Oar slapped his hand on the counter. "You're both missing the point! If he has money to buy a Verlpax, don't you know what that means?"