Road to the Crown

"That will be ducat and forty groshes"

After covering the remaining distance that separated our newly expanded group, the first thing I did after reaching the gates and bribing the gate guardian to let us in, was to go to the local stronghold and pass them the heads of the bandits.

While only two of them had a price for their lives, it still allowed me to reimburse the costs of the bribe, leaving an entire ducat for the family of the deceased from my group. Even if most of the nobles would be considered kind if they went out of their way to inform the family about their loss, I couldn't help but apply my own, future morals on this rotten reality.

Despite a late hour, the town was still pretty much alive. The constant mining of the salt made the entire regions of this huge settlement operate on stable shifts, with the central plaza of the city constantly housing multiple guests that spent their hard-earned money on various luxuries like beer, wine or even meat.

Since the distance from the castle to the Inn that my group picked to stay the night was rather close, I already left Helga with the other horses in the rented boxes of the stables beside our temporary housing. What other nobles would treat as an annoying walk on foot, I considered a chance to revel in the medievalistic feel of the city.

Given the chance to see it just a few years before its downfall would start caused by the worsening of the overall situation in the commonwealth, I slowly walked on the stones making up the central plaza. Everywhere around I could see lit torches, not only lighting up their immediate areas, but also creating as marvellous as a dramatic dance of the shadows on the ground.

After I got my share of those brick buildings and people dressed like in some sort of reconstruction event, I forced myself to go back to the inn. What should be a place where a tired traveller would take a rest to regain his energy before the adventures of the next day, was a location that was bound to bring me trouble.

"Look who has come! Don't be shy, come in!"

At the very moment, I opened the doors to the cosy building that the guardian happy with the bribe recommended to us, a barrage of sounds attacked my ears, with the already annoying voice of Al. From a single look at the table he and my other companions were sitting at, I could tell that his cup wasn't filled with wine nor beer.

"Calm the hell down. Do you really think that this is the right time for booze?"

Sitting down beside my men, I could only smile with relief when the remaining militia and the servants didn't show any hints of anxiety after the death of one of their friend. It seemed that I was the only one really caring about this fact in the open.

"It's always the right time for booze! Come on, Mike, don't spoil the fun, drink with us! Even the young lady is enjoying herself!"

With one shout after the other, Al continued to annoy other guests just as much if not even more than me. I was already used to his… the extensive form of expressing himself, but with all the amalgamation of various sounds that attacked me from all sides, his shouts acted like a direct hit to my mind.

Taking one of the knives that were lying haphazardly on the long table, I cut an honest dose of some bird in herbs, before placing it on top of a big loaf of the breed and biting in. As the warm juices flooded my mouth, filling it with the taste that one could endlessly look for in the modern world shop only to fail miserably.

Only after swallowing the big piece that I bit off my makeshift sandwich and flushing my throat with an honest gulp of beer - praise the innkeeper or the waitress that were attentive enough to bring a mug for me as soon as they saw me enter the premises - the meaning of the last part of Al's sentence hit my mind.

And while Eila looked like she was still far from starting to sign drunkard ballads while dancing half-naked on top of the table, her flushed cheeks and a strange glint in her eyes proved Al's words true. Her half-empty cup of transparent liquid did so as well.

"My lady, don't you think that drinking right now, when we will have to be on our guard for the next few days isn't the best idea?"

While I could accept my people drinking, after all, it was their lives at the stake as well and they were old enough to get used to this sort of treatment already, I didn't want this trio that joined our company to be just useless baggage! Even after making the deal with this girl, I openly hoped that her men would even if not follow the orders, then at least play along if any situation arises!

"You don't need to worry my lord, my head is tougher than any of your men would dare to believe! Also, I beg your pardon, but since we are already accomplices in the crime, I think it would be fit for us to call each other by the name!"

After we managed to come to an agreement, her previous confidence disappeared, replacing the lively and confident girl with a shy and composed one. Now, after she had a bit of booze, the alcohol either gave her the courage to overcome her shyness when her resolve couldn't do it anymore, or she started to slowly open up to me under the influence of this magical, transparent liquid.

"I can only agree with your second statement, my lady. Mike."

Passing my empty hand over the table, I expected her to say her name in exchange and shake it off as the official form of turning into a more direct way of referring each other, but to my slight surprise, Eila actually stood up, leaned over the table while showing just a little bit of her cleavage to me, and by blocking my arm with hers, she actually forced me to follow her actions!

With our arms crossed at the height of the elbow, her raised hand instantly got busy with the glass that she passed with her other arm as she looked at me meaningfully. Swept by her initiative, I couldn't help but accept a small glass from the thoughtful Elemo, and raise it to my mouth.

"Mike."

"Elia."

Saying our names, we both downed the entire container. As we were leaned towards each other, I was unable to ignore the warmth coming from her body along with her delicate fragrance. Despite being on the road for half of the day, she didn't stink of sweat but instead spread a thin aura of relaxation.

As the supposedly strong liquid flowed down my throat, I couldn't help but compare it to the vodka from modern times. Not only it warmed the body and tasted way better, I actually didn't even require anything to drink up after the long shot! Those pros most likely came with the fact that the alcohol content wasn't nearly as high as in the perfectly distilled wares of the future, but I could already tell how easy it would be to lose control while drinking this sort of booze!

"Thinking about it, you never explained what is the trouble that is plaguing you. Mind doing it right now? The sooner I will know, the more time I will have to figure out a way to solve it."

Even though I already had an idea about what was really going on, it wasn't like the struggles of a small nobility were recorded in the annals of national history. While there were only so many possibilities out there, I honestly doubted that she would be able to surprise me with anything.

"It's not really something that I would like to share in the open…"

With Eila's face turning sour at the mention of her troubles, she put away the cup and fixed her shirt. From the way she started slightly fidgeting, I could tell it wasn't something she was comfortable with speaking about.

"Okay then. Inviting you to my chamber would be improper, so how about the carriage? I don't think anyone could be as steeled as to bother waiting in ambush there."

That was something I came up with already. With all the blood cleared right after the fight and the cargo moved to the storage house of the inn, the stables seemed like a stinky but safe place to have a serious talk.

"So the carriage it is."

Standing up once again, Eila took the bottle of booze with her, as she made her way to the doors of the main hall, leading to the outside.

"Are you going?"