“Come on, love, just tell us how to get our hands on those heating rocks. We’re really to pay.” Three towering figures stood above a server, almost cornering her.

“I’m sorry, but it’s a town secret. I just recently moved here, and even I don’t know how to make or even get them.”

“Come on, you’re just being a bit shy. With a bit of confidence,” One of the thugs pulled out a large, serrated knife. “I’m sure we can have an excellent discussion about how to get these stones.”

“Excuse me.” A young adult’s voice came from behind the thugs. Turning around, the harassers saw a young man, holding a small tray with a black apron. “Our dear employee needs to keep working, and it seems you guys are taking too much of her time.” His eyes caught the blade, which the thug tried his best to hide. The young man in return, tried to hide his own smile.

“Beat it, we need to have a private conversation with this one.”

“And that depends on what she wants.”

“What I want.” The server spoke up. “Is to get back to work, with everyone calming down. We don’t want to make a scene. Right, Doyun?”

He knew she was referring to the frequent fights happening throughout the month at the Ranger’s Trove. Most of the fights had been instigated by other unruly guests, emphasis on most, due to Doyun’s involvement, and at times, manipulating the events to lead to his favor.

“Work can happen later, right now, it seems these fine people want to have a conversation,” Doyun said. “Please, share, I’d be glad to listen.”

He watched in excitement eager for their reactions. From the moment the group stepped into the tavern, Doyun recognized all the signs of an explosive party: large threatening weapons, more for intimidation than practicality, lots of booze sitting at their table, and their eyes, glancing towards people who might present a threat. Fortunately for him, he appeared as a scrawny kid, who barely made it through childhood.

From the trio, a leader emerged as she stood in front of Doyun with a menacing stare. “Private” She pulled out a thinner blade and pressed it to his chest. “Means, private. Now leave, unless you don’t mind getting some blood on your apron.”

His eyes glanced toward the server. She let out a quiet groan, knowing what was to come.

“That’s a nice blade you have. Mind if I,”

Before the leader could react, he reached for the knife and snapped the blade in two. Seeing the panic in their eyes, the two thugs reached for their weapons, while the leader stood stunned. He simply waited, wanting a more even fight. However, the server planned otherwise. She grabbed one of the thug’s head and smashed it at a nearby table. With one down and a stunned leader, the third figure became lost, unsure of who to attack. Doyun grew impatient, thinking about simply ending the fight now until a loud voice stopped them.

“Enough with the violence already.” A sensibly aged woman stepped down from the balcony area. “I don’t know why we’re attracting such guests, but I’m getting quite annoyed by it.”

Seeing the opportunity, the leader of the group hid the knife, putting on a very hurt tone. “I don’t know what happened. One of your servers threatened us when we were asking a harmless question, and out of defense we needed to – ”

The woman touched the leader’s forehead with the barrel of a gun. “I’m not fond of liars.” She looked at the server. “You okay, Lynn?”

The server nodded, and the woman ignored Doyun. “Do you want to say anything before I insist the guest leaves?”

“No, Miss Wren.”

“Good, I might have something to add.” Miss Wren cocked the gun, watching the leader squirm, while the two thugs watched in despair. Lethal seconds passed, as Miss Wren wondered how far she could get away with it. Unfortunately, the annoying part of aging was her sense of bothersome wisdom.

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“You may go.” She lowered the gun, letting the leader and thugs run out the door. “And please tell others of your lovely time at the Ranger’s Trove. The regulars at the tavern simply laughed off the chaos, while the normal travelers had already fled to their rooms.

While Doyun thought he got away. “Doyun!” Miss Wren yelled. “Office.” She stormed off first, leaving him frantic about another lecture. Trying to stall, he tried to help Lynn clear off the shattered table and glass.

“You’re not getting away that easily. Your Mum says to go up, and your shallow, goody act ain’t going to cut it.”

He gasped. “Like I would leave you to clean up my mess.”

“Just go up now.”

Not wanting to push her, he flew up the stairs, ready for his punishment. Going through the hall, he saw a tall guard standing over Miss Wren’s office.

“Finley, as a heads up, is she mad?”

  The guard stood quiet. He only offered a morbid glance. His look ignited several chilling spikes, erupting through his spine.

  “I see. Thanks.” He eeked those words and stood for a moment to watch the door. Taking one final breath, he opened the door.

He grew too familiar with the office. Aside from his more recent trips to this room, he had watched Miss Wren growing up rush out hastily written forms and recorrecting miscalculated records. If he wasn’t out playing in the fields with Minerva and the Frost Yaks, he had stayed in the room, under the careful eye of his caretaker. Instead of fond memories of old times when a young Miss Wren would try to avoid work to spend time with him, he dreaded the room, as it was only her yelling at him. Standing over the familiar oak desk, covered with papers written in different languages and sigils. While watching Miss Wren ignore him for a moment to build up the tension, he studied the scripts, unable to read them, because he didn’t really pay attention when she tried to teach him to read it when he was younger. If he had, he would’ve found out that the reports talked about awful attacks, targeting parties transporting stocks and items for the tavern.

“Do you like this room?” Miss Wren asked.

“Definitely not, it’s pretty, but I’d rather be out working on the main floor. So, if you don’t mind.”

She slammed her fist on the table. A large crack splintered the fine wood. He shut up, fearful of saying anything else, as she waved her hand, and the wood obeyed, reforming itself back to its original state. Behind him, Finley closed the door. No way out now.

“Are you going to stand or sit?” The woman spoke from her desk. She scribbled the last detail in a binder, and slid it all away, giving her sole attention to Doyun. “I don’t care which, but you should make up your mind.”

He wanted to ask whether it would take long, but he sat down, knowing when to shut his mouth.

“How was work? Anything to report?”

Unsure if she was testing him or going on a new tactic to yell at him, he carefully selected words in his mind as he tried not to push anything that might cause trouble. “It’s going good.”

He lied. Less people are visiting the place. Not only due to the lack of travelers from other places but also the regulars of the town, getting annoyed by the frequent bar fights. However, she should already know, and he began regretting what he said.

“Okay then, you may go.” She grabbed a nearby binder and began writing notes.

“What? That’s it. No, stop the fights, you’re scaring the customers.”

“From what I could see, they were being asses and deserved it. While I do want you to stop fighting, but we’ve had this conversation so many times, I just simply gave up.”

He was glad he wasn’t in trouble, but those last words stung deep, Still, he didn’t want to show that he was hurt. “Man, you scared me for a second. I was terrified of what was coming at me. It’s not funny.

  “Well, when you get to be a parent, you can do this to your own kids. It’s fun. Relieves enough stress from the meeting.”

“Okay, cool, cool. I can go?”

She nodded.

He nodded back and began walking out before something changed.

“Oh, one thing.” He froze from hearing her voice, gritting for anything that might come.

Miss Wren pulled out a green folder, and scanning through them she said, “I saw your name scheduled for the night shift, and I was wondering if I could squeeze in a trainee to work with you.”

  He quietly sighed with relief. “That’s fine. With who?”

  She pulled out a sheet and handed it to him.

  “You’re joking?”

  “Got approved this morning and wanted to start as soon as possible. I couldn’t convince otherwise, so I thought I’d send someone I fully trust. Plus, aside from today, you owe me” She wriggled her fingers, imagining a fake counting. “a lot of favors.”

He hated it but had nothing more to say. “Will do.”

She gave him a thumbs-up, as he walked out the door.

“Your meetings over?” Finley’s deep voice surprised Doyun at the door.

“Whoa, yeah, she’s free.”

He nodded, heading inside. As Doyun left to dread the night shift, Finley went in to talk about the missing people from the previous night shift.