They waved at them so Joseph jumped down from the horses and walked up to the guards.

"Sorry, mate! No trespassing. If ya want to get through, ya have to wait 'till tomorrow."

"Is there a special reason for it?"

"It just the rules. No trespassing after 4 o'clock."

"I see. In that case, could you recommend a tavern we could stay at?"

The guard smiled at him brightly.

"Of course mate! There is a tavern at the end of this road."

He pointed towards his right. The street led straight to a tavern.

"It's called the Legless Horse. You can get good drinks and comfortable beds there."

"Thank you, sir. Have a nice day."

"Same!"

Joseph climbed back up.

"Seems like we have to wait until tomorrow."

Arborus shrugged.

"I'm tired anyway."

Catherine drove the horses up to the tavern. It was an enormous two-story high building with a stable at the side.

They paid the stable boy a few coins and left the horses there, then headed inside.

The main room of the tavern was big enough for at least 30 tables set up in a strange pattern, where the middle ones were on a lower floor and some of them were close to a bonfire in the middle of the whole building. The fire was strange because it had no fuel in it and it had no smoke, but they felt the warmth of it as soon as they stepped into the building.

The whole room was filled with patrons drinking and speaking. There was all kind of people there. Traders, soldiers, travelers, farmers, etc.

On the right side of the room, there was a stage, where five people were performing pleasant music.

The group walked up to the bar on the other side of the room and sit down. On the wall behind the bar, there were countless barrels and bottles filled with drinks.

The four dwarf serving people from behind it were all busy filling up different drinks. After a while, one of them put a paper in front of the party, which had different drinks on it and writing on top.

>Please choose your drinks and foods then write the number of the needed amount on the right side next to it. Thank you!

Joseph was surprised by the whole place. None of the taverns and inns where he was yet were like this. As he looked at the other two he saw that they were just as impressed as he.

They wrote down the drinks they wanted and after a while, one of the dwarfs serving the drinks came up and gave them the drinks and foods, without looking at the paper.

As Joseph looked at it again, the paper was empty once again. He turned it around and saw another writing. It was about the rooms they could rent for the night. It had the same system on the other side.

After a few hours, they finished drinking and eating they paid one of the bartenders when he got the time and finally, they went to sleep.

In the morning an explosion shook awake everyone. As they looked outside the window they saw a giant black cloud to the north and a giant black spot on the ground somewhat far away from the city.

The bells in the city started to ring in synch.