Duncan slowly walked towards Wazsh’s bar and thought about today’s events.

“I really am incompetent when it comes to talking to the opposite sex,” he sighed as he remembered the events from the morning and a few moments ago.

“Well, I haven’t had a meaningful conversation with a woman since high school if those can even be called that.”

“Well, mother is a woman obviously but she does not count,” he continued walking and remembering his past.

Duncan was sent to the juvenile hall in high school where boys and girls were separated. He refused to return home after that and worked odd jobs after that. Having little money and a bad reputation, as somehow someone always spilled the beans, he was arrested for possession with intent to sell his interactions with the opposite sex were superficial at best. Co-workers ignored him when he tried approaching them, while customers showed no more interest than a cursory glance now and then.

He was not particularly handsome even before the events of his delinquency occurred but he was passable in appearance. Having no money to get good clothes and a decent haircut meant his attraction factor fell even lower. His confidence level which was never high to begin with dropped even lower and he was reduced to answering in monosyllables every time a woman would talk to him.

“Why the hell am I so nervous? Tomorrow I am just getting measured for my new clothes and then going to kill monster later. Seriously interacting with those two women scares me more than the monsters,” he thought, stopped walking, then pressed both hands on his forehead and pulled down in frustration.

“Thank god the first person I interacted here was not a woman or I would be dead by now,” he mumbled as he opened up the door to the bar.

“How did the mine go?” Wazsh yelled from behind the counter as soon as he walked in as Elland and Bolgar watched him with interest.

“It didn’t. I decided I need to prepare more. Good evening to you too…” Duncan responded.

“Good evening!” Elland replied before continuing, “I think that was a wise choice,” and Bolgar just nodded.

“I am going tomorrow. Do you have a long rope I could buy or borrow?” Duncan said after sighing.

Wazsh looked at his before he responded, “I do. You don’t have to go if you don’t want to. No one is forcing you.”

The other two nodded.

“I kind of have to go now,” Duncan told them followed by a pause.

“I made an appointment,” he disclosed followed by another pause.

“Give me a beer and some food,” Duncan replied in resignation as he sat at a table. The other two were by the bar, with Wazsh behind it.

Wazsh delivered his beer, looked at him in surprise, before he responded, “An appointment, with whom?”

“With Shaya the guard. She is an archer,” Duncan replied and drank some beer.

“Do you want venison steak or rat stew?” Wazsh said as he nodded.

“Well, at least you won’t be alone down there,” Bolgar added.

“Yeah. Venison steak please,” Duncan said with a sigh.

The other three looked between themselves before Wazsh asked, “You don’t seem happy about it. Why take her along?”

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“I didn’t know how to refuse, without offending them,” Duncan said as he held his forehead in frustration.

The other three snickered.

“You said them?” Elland asked as he picked up on the plural of Duncan’s answer.

“Yeah. There was another female guard there but only Shaya is coming along,” Duncan replied as he took a deep breath.

“Here, I made this today. I hope it’s to your liking,” Wazsh said as he put a venison steak in front of him.

Duncan ate with a melancholic expression as the other three snickered and whispered at the bar.

He ate a bit before he nodded and said, “It’s good.”

“I wonder what they did to him?” Bolgar asked smiling.

“They gave him an offer he could not refuse,” Wazsh said and laughed quietly keeping his head down below the counter while Elland rolled his eyes.

“I think it’s great he is meeting some other people except us. I was getting worried,” Elland said.

“Worried about what?” Bolgar asked.

“That he would ask me to accompany him into that filthy place.” Elland replied and shuddered at the thought.

“Yeah. I don’t want to go back there for at least some time either,” Bolgar replied.

“At least you are a dwarf. You like being underground,” Elland replied.

“Nah. That’s just a stereotype. We were forced to live underground in the past. We much prefer to live above ground though,” Bolgar retorted.

After Duncan ate, he motioned Wazsh and uttered, “I have some more dead animals for you. Can you stick them somewhere, since I need to clear my inventory of clutter for tomorrow?”

“Hmm. Let’s go to the garden. I don’t want to make a mess here or the kitchen. I am sure I have enough inventory space,” Wazsh replied and started walking.

Duncan followed him and they were soon on the grass in front of the vegetable beds. Soon all the dead animals were on the ground and Wazsh picked them up and examined them.

“Woah. Two Midnight Deer, three Golden ducks and a Red-beak eagle. Where did you get them from?” Wazsh asked in excitement.

“Demira and Shaya,” Duncan replied and sighed.

“Demira must be the other guard?” Wazsh asked.

“Yeah. I guess she is more of a muscle type. Are Horned rabbits and Silver badgers any good?” Duncan replied before asking.

“Both are good. Rabbits are like rats only have higher levels which makes them fuller of nanobots. The badgers are a bit chewy but they have a lot of sustenance since they are usually between level 15 and 25,” Wazsh whispered.

“So, we eat nanobots?” Duncan asked surprised.

Wazsh sighed in frustration before he answered, “Yes and no. Your body could not hold as much energy as it does without them. There would be a limit. As far as I know the nanobots remove that limit. So consequently, the meat of higher leveled animals or plants is more energy dense and has more nanobots.”

Duncan rubbed his face and replied, “OK. Whatever. So, I should buy the badger and the rabbits if I still have the chance?”

Wazsh emphatically nodded before replying, “Yeah, buy as much as your finances allow. I will buy these from you. How much were they?”

“2 silver coins,” Duncan replied.

“Hmmm. Those two women must like you. I thought it would be more. The Red-beak eagle alone is worth two,” Wazsh said before he gave him the money.

Duncan blushed before he retorted, “I think they just wanted to make a good impression so I would take Shaya with me tomorrow.”

“Makes sense,” Wazsh said as he looked at Duncan in pity then nodded before asking, “Do you want to watch me butcher these?”

Duncan cringed at the thought of watching all that gore again and replied, “Not tonight. Can you keep the eagle and at least one duck whole until I come back?”

“OK. Let’s get back!” Wazsh replied after he put away the animals and started walking towards the kitchen.

“Ladies and ehhh. Sorry, just Gentlemen!”

“Duncan here has provided us with some variety of meat again which we will start serving in the next couple of days,” Wazsh happily announced to the other two, who raised their glasses.

Bolgar came to Duncan and said, “I have copied the enchantment down from the sword. Take it maybe you can use it now.”

“You know how to enchant swords?” Duncan asked.

“No. But if I find someone who does he can copy it from that,” Bolgar replied before shrugging his wide shoulders.

Duncan looked at the long sword offered and remembered he got it from the Guardian skeleton. It felt significantly lighter in his hand as last time he held it.

“I will probably have no problems swinging it now. Thank you for remembering,” Duncan said. Bolgar nodded before he said good night and made his leave.

“Do you have enough potions?” Elland asked.

“Yeah. I think I have,” Duncan replied. Elland also said good night and left at that.

“Here. Take this rope,” Wazsh said as he produced a coil of rope from his inventory.

Duncan took it and stored it in his.

“Anything else you need, you let me know!” Wazsh said as Duncan nodded.

Wazsh walked into the kitchen to clean up the mess. Duncan followed after him in the kitchen and went upstairs afterwards. He did his routine and went to bed.

As the darkness tried to take him into Lalaland he remembered Maryka’s face, then Shaya and also Demira.

“Damn it. Why can’t they be orcs? I am sure I could talk to orc women without problems,” he thought.

“Ahh. Who am I kidding? I would probably get eaten alive by them.”