Chapter 13

I’m woken up when Wraine’s arm slams into my face. Even with my nose throbbing, it seems my eyes don’t want to open yet. I haven’t felt this tired in weeks. At least the bed is warm and it feels so comfortable that I don’t want to leave it ever again. This bed definitely deserves 9 copper even if it’s only for a night. What time is it? When we slept outside, we could tell what time it was solely based on the sun and how bright it was outside. How are you meant to tell from inside a building? The dark room I slept in last night isn’t dark anymore and there’s light filtering through the room from a fireplace near the room’s entrance. Once you pass that entrance, you should end up inside the inn’s hall where we drank last night. Dear gods, how much did we drink? It just felt like I was carried along with everyone else’s mood and couldn’t stop drinking. Every time I emptied a mug, someone handed me theirs and this just kept repeating without stopping. Looking over at Wraine still asleep, I feel as though I’ve rested enough and I’ve enjoyed this warmth long enough. I sit up and stretch my body, taking my time to enjoy the feeling. Looking around, there’s dozens of beds in this room besides ours and most of them are empty except for a few. The beds that are taken are filled with men and most of them are still asleep. Only a scant few, including me, have woken up and are groggily getting themselves dressed. It should still be early, but we need to get an early start today, our low funds worry me.

Taking a look at the bed I’m sitting on, Wraine and I slept on this white mattress last night. If either of us were any bigger in size, we wouldn’t have been able to sleep on the same bed. The white mattress feels soft to my hand and poking it feels firm to my finger. I wonder what this mattress is made of? Wraine told me his mattress in Misanth was stuffed with straw which wasn’t that different from my pile of straw in the barn. He said merchants used wool for their stuffing and nobles used bird feathers. Grabbing the mattress, I can tell that it isn’t straw, wool, or feathers. It feels more like grass. The same probably goes for our pillow as well, though it did feel quite pleasant to have something I could rest my head on while sleeping. Our bed covers are made from thick red linens. The mattress, pillow, and the covers are all on top of a wooden bed frame that looks pretty aged. Still, this was my first time sleeping in a bed and I’d really prefer not to sleep on the ground anymore but we’ll need funds to make that happen. Reaching under the bed, I put on my boots and I grab my sword and shield. I wonder how others keep their weapons safe from thieves. Standing up, I head into the inn’s hall and I see the innkeep from last night cleaning up the tables. Wait, that doesn’t make sense. If he cleans the tables every day like this, then how was there rotting food on the tables last night? On second glance, the innkeep isn’t actually cleaning up the tables, he’s only collecting the empty mugs. There are still some men here from last night, passed out on the benches. Even the stout man from last night, who I found out was named Chester, is still here. I thought he would go back home eventually since he has a son younger than us but evidently not. Seeing me, the innkeep continues his cleaning but he seems talkative this morning as he says, “There’s a well around the back. You can draw up some water for cleaning or drinking. Let me know if you want any food prepared.”

“Thanks. We were planning on dropping by the adventurers’ guild to get licenses for traveling today. Do you know where it is?”

“It’s on the main street right at the tunnel’s entrance. You can get there easily, step outside my inn and then head left following the road. It’ll be the last building on your left near the tunnel’s gaping entrance. Can’t miss it. Look at the wooden signs and the one with two swords crossed will be the one you’re looking for.”

“Thanks a lot. By the way, have you heard anything about peasant levies coming here from Vilnau? My brother went to Vilnau before Misanth was attacked to join up with the army recruiting there. Wraine and I were able to find a soldier making his way south but all he said was they were ambushed during their march and had to scatter.”

Sighing heavily, the innkeep stops his work for a moment to look at the sleeping Chester before saying, “No, can’t say that I’ve heard anything about scattered levies coming here. Although the town looks pretty big, we’re a pretty close community here and no scrap of gossip goes untold. If I haven’t heard anything yet that means they just haven’t been here yet. Don’t lose hope, they could be regrouping as we speak to make their way here or even to fight back. Chester over there has a son that joined up with a noble when he came through here raising his levies. That should be the same army that was recruiting in Vilnau your brother joined up with. Chester’s been coming here every night to drown his worries. Keep word of the levies being ambushed to yourself. I’ll tell the people who need to know about it first and see what they want to do with the information. How many coins do the both of you still have?”

“After paying for the bed and the two ales last night, we should still have 8 copper.” I didn’t know about Chester’s son at all. Last night he seemed like a happy, normal drunk. But apparently he’s been hiding his worries with ale here every night. I guess everyone has their own worries, everyone has their own stories they don’t want anyone else knowing. .

Grunting, the innkeep replies, “8 copper isn’t even enough for another night in one of my beds.”

“We’ll try to get some more coins before nightfall. We were planning on finding some work today or maybe even doing some adventurer work to earn a bit before we set off.”

“Not with 8 copper you’re not. Registering at the adventurers’ guild and getting your licenses will cost you 5 silver per person.”

“Five silver!? That’s more than the swords we bought from Kapri yesterday.”

“Ehh, that’s how it is with the adventurers. Tell you what, this information you brought in about the levies being ambushed should be pretty relevant with what’s going on up north. Head on over to the guild and tell whoever’s at the front desk Ingwulf the inkeep sent you. Tell them to waive your registration fees and to take it up with me. Not like I’ll be paying them though.”

“Really? Thanks Ingwulf. I’ll go wake Wraine up right now and we’ll head over immediately. We might be able to earn enough to stay here for another night.” Grunting in reply, Ingwulf stops talking and brings all the empty mugs over to a wood basin filled with water behind the wall of barrels. Heading back into the sleeping room, I woke Wraine by shaking him before making him grab his stuff. Once he’s finished, we head out the door on the furthest side of the sleeping room that I didn’t notice before. The door leads to the backside of the inn and right in front of us is a stone well surrounded on all sides by the backsides of various buildings. It seems like we’re the first ones here and judging by the early dawn light, it makes sense. I don’t know how to use the well or the bucket and rope attached to it but Wraine manages to teach me even through his nausea. He tells me this is the result from heavy drinking the night prior: a hangover. He’s more surprised how I’m completely fine. I guess I’m just a better drinker than he is. While we’re washing up and drinking our fill, I tell him about everything I talked about with the innkeep and once he hears that we won’t have to pay 10 silver for registration, he completely forgets about his hangover and pulls me by the arm toward the guild. Walking through the small opening between the buildings, we step onto the town’s main street which is still quite deserted. There are people milling about here and there, preparing for the busy day. The crisp early morning breeze feels piercing as we’re walking down the road but the quiet street creates a peaceful atmosphere that takes my mind off the biting cold.

Before I know it, we’re right in front of the enormous undermountain tunnel, the Basteb King’s Road. Oddly enough, when we were far away, the tunnel looked like a gigantic black maw in the side of the mountain and now that we’re actually here, it looks like a well lit, finely constructed tunnel. As far into the tunnel as we can see, there’s still the same stone pavement that covers the ground inside the town. They couldn’t have paved the entirety of the tunnel, could they? If they did, that’s not just excessive, that’s grandiose. From where we’re standing, I can see pretty far into the tunnel and I can see stone columns interspersed on both sides pretty evenly. Even the torches hanging on the walls seem distributed pretty evenly. How do they do this? How do they keep the torches lit even now during the early morning? Do they really have people frequently walking back and forth through this tunnel just to change out the torches? How fucking wealthy is this town? The tunnel itself seems wide enough that it could fit half a dozen horses lined up sideways without an issue. You could probably fit three entire wagons in this tunnel side by side and still have some room to spare. Who in their right mind would build such a splendorous tunnel let alone having it go through an entire mountain as well? Only three words come to mind as I’m utterly dumbfounded by what I’m seeing: Oswald the Benevolent.

Wraine on the other hand isn’t as flabbergasted by the tunnel as I am and hurriedly pushes me into the building with a wooden sign showing two crossed swords. Once inside, the smell of ale immediately assaults my nostrils and I’m pleasantly reminded of our first night of drinking. The adventurers’ guild coincidentally enough looks pretty similar to Ingwulf’s inn. The main room you enter right off the street is enormous and instead of seeing a ceiling right above you, it opens up into empty space giving the room an incredibly grand impression. But instead of two very long tables, there’s about four or five round tables on each side of the room. Just like at the inn, most of the tables are messy and covered with empty mugs while the patrons who emptied them lay their heads on the table, dead asleep. There’s a fireplace along the right wall that keeps the drunks nice and warm while shining enough light to keep this huge room well lit. There’s a massive wooden board hanging on the left wall with hundreds of slips of paper messily pinned to it. If I’m not mistaken, then this is the famous request board that’s inside of every adventurers’ guild that the children in Abermock loved to talk about. Seeing it in person as opposed to just hearing about it is pretty exciting. To even grab the highest slip of paper, Wraine and I would need to stand on each other’s shoulders. How are you supposed to grab those requests normally? The middle of the room is kept clear and there’s a direct path to a long wooden counter in front of us. There’s only one person working there right now, an elderly man with white hair and a white mustache, but I can see six distinct sections in the counter which could let up to six people work there at the same time. Walking up to the counter with the old man, he has a gentle smile on his face as he waits for us to speak.