Galaxy's First Ruler

"A shot of vodka."

"10 CMC."

"10? 10 fucking Common Mana Cores! Why not just rob me?"

"Taketh it or leave it, yeh bastard! Plenty of yeh roaches cometh and goeth all the time around here. And don't even bother showing me yeur faceth hidden under that fucking hat."

The man seated at the bar lifted his hat, anyway.

"Ye…"

The old man's eye went wide as he recognized the identity of the man sitting among the crowd of many drunk men. His wrinkled throat felt dry, and he forgot to breathe. The vodka in his hand shook as he poured half a cup, spilling some on the old but clean wooden bar.

Gulp! Gulppp!!!

With two big chugging sounds, the old man emptied the cup. His other hand went to his bald head and coursed through it, erasing any trace of sweat. Buried deep in his skull were his two whitish eyes. But despite the blurriness in them, they reflected a clear image of the man in front of him.

There was a thick blue beard on the man's sunburned face. His blue eyes and blue fair could have made him stand out if not for the shadow of his hat. And there was a horizontal scar just under his left eye with three old stitches over it.

Thwack!

The old man slammed the oversized shot glass, but in the overcrowded tavern, it caught no attention.

"Hah! So yeh haveth returned. Well… Very well. 3 CMC then, tch!"

The old man tsked and reluctantly served a glass of vodka to this strange but familiar customer.

"Come on, old man. Don't be like this! For the sake of times, huh?"

The man lifted the glass and made a gesture to toast. The old man couldn't help but raise his empty glass in reply. None had dared to refuse a toast from this man. Surely, the old man didn't want to be the first either.

Clink!

"From Death!"

"To Death!"

This was the only time that there was a reverential and pious look surfaced on the old man's face. Even the pride on the blue-haired man's face subsided a little. The old man took out another bottle from the shelf behind him. As he refilled the vodka shot, the man's words made his ears twitch with irritation.

"What's the fresh story around here? You know, it's been a long time since I resurfaced."

The old man took a deep breath and leaned forward. At this age, the old man had lost the hardness in his dick, but he was still proud of knowing many stories. Especially the ones that came from the other side of his world.

"There isn't any story."

"Ah! What? No 'Story'?"

The disbelief in the man's blue eyes was quite apparent. The old man was waiting for this exact expression. These expressions gave him excitement in his boring life. A smile struggled its way upon his face as he feebly said.

"Yes, no story. But 'Stories' Tomislav, I haveth stories."

Tomislav tipped his hat down on his face again and leaned forward too. The old man felt a sour breath mixed with the sweet smell of vodka. He was about to move backward when he saw Tomislav taking out a sizable chunk of rock wrapped in a piece of cloth.

The old man's hand went towards the eye-catchy thing and lifted it in his hand. He let his hand feel the weight and one of his old eyebrows went up in surprise.

"A Rareth Mana Core? This will be barely enough."

"Your greed will be the end of you, old man."

Tomislav took out two more similar cores and despite the disapproval on Old man's face, all three were soon moved away from the sight. The old man again leaned forward, but this time, the breath he smelled wasn't as sour as before.

"Haveth you heard of the Eldest Princess of Kingdom of Divine Beast?"

"Hmm? Do you mean General Eydis? Humph! Who hasn't heard of her? Isn't she the one who got promoted to the rank of General some 1 and half years ago?"

"Yes, that's her. She hadth spawned wings after becoming a General and started to flush out traffickers from the 1st Quadrant. I haveth heard that the Black Wolves ambushed her along with three fucking Dukes fromth the Hallowed Phantom."

"3 Dukes?"

The old man imagined Tomislav's raised eyebrows seeing his perked-up tanned ears.

"That isn't the endth of it, Tomislav."

"Hmm?

"Lt. General Boudicca, that niece of Queen, I heardth she was with her too. A few saidth that…"

"Oi, Oiii! Old man! Hiccup! Another glass here!"

The old man's sentence got cut off by a shout in the distance. Nothing pissed off this old man more than when someone broke his flow while telling a story.

"Fuckth Off! Yeh fucking rotches! Let Death claimth you in your next raid."

Spit came flying from the Old man's mouth. The few teeth were like a piece of jewelry in his mouth; shiny, but scarce. None took the old man's words to heart. These curses were quite normal in the Boneless Tavern.

Another skinny man with heavy eyebags came out from the door by the shelf behind the old man.

"Don't giveth a drop more to these rats!"

The old man shouted, looking at the skinny man, and took a deep breath. He looked at the tavern's old roof, trying to recall what he was saying.

"Boudicca, Niece, Eydis…"

The old man heard Tomislav's words and continued the story from where he had left it.

"A few saidth that they saw a shadow of a Golden Luan there. You knowth what that means, right?"

He winked at Tomislov, not caring that there was a brown hat between his and Tomislav's eyes.

"Golden Luan? How can that be possible? Isn't that family…"

"Shhh! Not here, Tomislav. Don't taketh that name here."

The old man clenched Tomislav's hand and let it go as suddenly as he had held it. He backed off as the narration was over and took a big gulp of vodka right from the bottle. But the next words of Tomislav almost made him choke on that drink.

"What about the third story?"

Cough! Cough!!!

"Thirdth? What nonsense are yeh talking abouth?"

"Old man, don't hide it from me. What's the story behind that strange Dungeon?"