The tavern was a three storey building that was surprisingly well maintained despite the location and clientele. It looked significantly better than the surrounding buildings. Like the owner had more money to throw around. More than you would be able to get from running a tavern in such a place.
The tavern doors swung open as Lucien stepped through. All eyes turned to him for a moment before returning to whatever they were focused on before. Lucien’s arrival did not cause a stir in the tavern except for at one table.
The two men from earlier, who were brooding over a bottle of ale after suffering a loss, were now stunned into silence. Their conversation halted and they began to sweat as they saw Lucien walking towards them. One of them touched his neck, while the other’s eyes darted around, looking for a chance to flee.
It took a moment for them to realise that they were on their home turf, and had no reason to be afraid of him. But anything they thought of was useless as he had already reached them by this point.
“What a surprise. I didn’t expect to see you two again,” Lucien said calmly, his hand hovering near his hip, reminding them of the sword he carried.
The two of them gulped, their eyes never leaving his sword. ”What do you want?” they asked nervously.
A few people around the tavern had noticed that something was going on here, but no one came over to help. Seeing the sword, they all decided it was none of their business.
Some of them even gloated at the pair’s troubles, chuckling over their drinks as they enjoyed the show that was going on in front of them.
Eyeing the people around the bar, he realised that these two weren’t well liked by the people here. That makes things easier. No need to worry about anyone stepping in.
“Take me to your boss,” he ordered calmly and unhurriedly, knowing that they would listen to him.
And they did.
Driven by their fear, they got up from their table, leaving their food and drinks behind as they made their way to the kitchen in the back.
Ignoring the odd stares of the kitchen staff, they took the stairs up to the third floor. The two of them were shaking like a leaf, while at the same time trying to figure out how to take down Lucien.
However, Lucien was so close that they couldn’t talk to each other. And anything they did think of was immediately shot down when they remembered how fast Lucien moved before. They were afraid that they would die instantly if they tried anything.
The third floor was exuded a quiet aura of simple practicality. It felt like a quiet study, isolated from the rowdiness of the tavern below.
Doors lined the hallways, leading to small offices dedicated to the higher-ups of the organisation. Reaching the end, the hallway opened up into a quiet reception area, where a woman was sitting behind a desk looking down at a thick book.
A perpetual scowl of annoyance donned her face, as her quill scratched across the parchment. She was so focused on her work that she didn’t notice them even when they were standing right at her desk.
Numbers... Lucien looked down at the book and was overwhelmed by a long list of numbers and names, neatly organised into columns. It’s a ledger.
The woman’s hands were constantly moving. She would grab small scraps of paper from a pile on her desk and transcribe the barely legible handwriting onto the ledger.
The task looked exhausting, but she managed to transfer all of the information over while still keeping everything neat and organised.
The two men were now standing at attention, patiently waiting for the woman to finish what she was doing and look up at them.
Huh, that’s interesting. Lucien noticed that they seemed to be more afraid of her than they were of him.
After a few minutes of waiting, the woman sighed and put down her quill. She looked up at them, her eyes taking note of everything of importance in just a few seconds before settling on John’s face.
“Out with it,” she said.
John flinched and forced a smile. “Yes Ms Ava. We brought someone to see the boss. Is she busy?”
“She is resting at the moment. Give me a good reason why I should allow you two dimwits to disturb her.” Her eyes lingered on Lucien’s sword, labelling him as a potential threat. She was already thinking of a reason to deny them and kick them out.
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John started sweating, his brain running at max capacity to try and come up with a good answer. “Well, um. Uh...” he sputtered.
Both Ms Ava and Lucien were moments away from clutching their faces in annoyance.
She decided to cut him off before he made even more of a fool of himself. “Stop wasting my time and go do your job.” She waved the ledger around. “Alex, John, I’ve noticed that you haven’t brought back any money today. Care to explain?”
No wonder they’re so scared of her. She’s in charge of all the money here. John continued sputtering, and Lucien decided to just put the poor man out of his misery. “That’s why I’m here. I want to pay of someone’s debt.”
“Oh? And who’s debt would that be?” She leant forward, putting on a professional smile. Her eyes twinkling at the mention of money.
“Susan Crouch. A young woman, lives not far from here in a rundown shack. Has a son named Sam. And I believe you loaned her a silver.” He reported all of the information he could think of so that he could be done with this.
Ava’s eyes dimmed after hearing it was only a silver, but it didn’t affect her professionalism at all. She started flicking through the ledger in search of Susan’s name. “There’s no need to disturb the boss. Once I’ve figured out how much she owes, you can just hand it over to me and I’ll sort it out.”
“Please send them in Ava.”
A voice drifted out from the room behind her as Ava was flipping through the ledger, causing her to stop. She looked back in uncertainty before turning to Lucien and the others, her smile not wavering at all. “It seems like the boss wants to see you.”
She got out of her seat, still holding the ledger and opened the door and gestured for them to go in first.
John and Alex looked like they really didn’t want to go in their, sweat dripping down their faces. But under the pressure from Ava’s stern gaze, they walked inside.
Lucien had no such worries, and walked in right behind them.
Ava followed up from the back, closing the door behind everyone and making John and Alex jump involuntarily.
Lucien ignored their antics and focused on the woman sitting on a leather chair in front of him. She looked around his age as far as he could tell. Probably in her mid-forties to early fifties, but it was hard to pin down her exact age.
While she was sitting in a rather luxurious office, her face was that of a commoner, Sunkissed and weatherbeaten. Wrinkles and cracked skin marked her face, as a long scar crossed diagonally across her left cheek, forming a canyon from the tip of her ear to the corner of her mouth.
Her face told the story of a tough and difficult life.
She had short, messy black hair that didn’t reach her ears. More scars marked her calloused hands and her arms. She was dressed simply in a loose white shirt and pants that allowed for easy manoeuvrability should the moment call for it.
She appeared calm and relaxed, but had an aura like everything was under her control. She looked up from a piece of paper on her desk, her eyes calmly moving from one person to the next, as if she could gleam everything about them from a single glance.
Without her needing to say anything, Ava stepped forward to tell her the situation, as well as to pass the ledger to her.
After taking a glance at the ledger, she turned to Lucien. “How may I address you?”
“Lucien. Lucien Rowe,” he said.
“Marilla. Any relation to the young woman?”
“None at all. Just a passerby,” he answered honestly.
She leant forward on the table, looking at him with interest. “That makes me curious. If you don’t know her, then why are you doing this?”
Lucien shrugged. “Just doing what I can to help.”
The others looked at him like he was an idiot, but Marilla did not. Her eyes remained calm and serene.
“Well, she loaned from us around four months ago. Accounting for interest, the total to be paid back would be one silver and ten copper coins,” she paused, looking back down at the ledger.
“It says here that she’s already paid seventy copper, so if you’ll just hand over forty copper than we can all be done with it.”
Lucien reached for his pouch to pull out the coins when he realised something was wrong. Wait a minute, that can’t be right. His mind shifted back to his conversation with Susan, trying to figure out where the problem was.
Then it clicked, and his eyes darted around the room suspiciously, his hand almost reaching for his sword out of reflex. She said that she’d already paid back five times the amount. Even if that isn’t exact, I don’t think she was lying.
“Is there a problem?” Marilla asked, noticing his reaction, her eyes going cold. “I don’t think kindly of people who waste my time.”
“There is a problem.” Lucien composed himself, feeling the tension rise in the room. “She’s already given your men more than enough money to pay back her debt.”
“That’s nonsense! The ledger clearly states that she still owes us forty copper.” Ava snapped.
“Calm down Ava,” Marilla said with a raised hand. Her eyes flickered over to John, who was considerably paler than he was when he first set foot in there. “Is that so Lucien? And how do you know this?”
“She told me. She said that she had already given around five silver to your men in total. Which is far more than enough,” he explained.
“And you believe her? She’s a poor woman in a desperate situation. It’s normal for her to lie about that,” Marilla chuckled at his foolishness while staring him directly in the eyes.
“I believe I’m a good judge of character.” Lucien didn’t shy away, staring right back at her calmly.
The room fell silent for a moment as the tension rose. The air felt thick and heavy like a battle was going to start. Ava moved to the door to cut Lucien off, while John moved to the door to flee at the first chance he could. Alex, however, was paralysed, and was still standing by Marilla’s desk by the time John had reached the door.
The atmosphere didn’t affect Lucien and Marilla at all. As if they could communicate with just their eyes, they both came to an understanding.
“Argh.” The tension was scattered by a guttural cry. A dagger was plunged into Alex’s hand and through the table, trapping him there.
John tried to run, but Ava was in the way. Before he could get around her, she was already pressing a dagger against his chest. If he took another step, then it would go directly into his heart.
“Now, I am a reasonable person,” Marilla said, her hand wriggling the dagger around, causing Alex to groan in pain. “Tell me what you’ve done with the money and I may let you live.”
Neither Alex nor John said anything, not believing her at all.
She turned to Lucien with a sigh. “Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I had a feeling that someone was getting a bit to big-headed, I just wasn’t sure who. I’ll make sure Susan gets her money back. You have my word.”