Barmaid's secret

Days

After finally talking with Sigla I realized that I'm a tad late for for guard duty. I pick up my pace to the dungeons quickly entering the building.

"Good morning" a woman sitting behind a desk. A man stands nearby staring into nothingness clearly not wanting to be here.

"Good morning Dernali" I say hope to be let off the hook. As I pick an iron breastplate and strap it on I watch as Dernali writes on some papers before handing them to the man. He nods, puts the papers in a bag around him, and leaves. "What's that about" I questioned

Dernali sighs "Nothing really just some paperwork need for the Town Faire next month" she opens a green tinted bottle, pulls out a cup, and pour a brown liquid obviously a type of alcohol. Seeing my interest she pulls out another cup "want some" she shakes the bottle.

"No thanks I have to hurry for my routes"  I let out as I pick up the mace strap it to me "Oh and if you don't mind I'd like to have the day off 3 days from now" I ask

"Sure but why" she questions now interested in my life

Not sure how to answer "it's a secret" is all I say before leaving

"Good luck" she lets out before the door shuts behind me.

Making my rounds I think about how good it is that nothing really happens here. Continuing I see some women washing some clothes and gossiping as their children play around in a river.

Listening closely "No I hear that Marlka's daughter is a frog" one of the women says

"If that's true then I can let her near my eldest" another says adamantly as she folds some of the clothes and putting them in a basket "who knows what diseases she could have"

Not interested in this I continue I see the town streets have started to become busy as vendors shout at people to drum up business.

"HEY YOU SIR" one of the merchants shouts at me a little bored I entertain him and he'd to his stall. He pulls out a dagger in a sheath  "See this it came from the north see the engraving it sa masterpiece" he gives his speech he scratches his chin "I originally wanted to sell it for 4 silver but for you I'll sell it to you for 2 how about it" I gives a slimy grin

I wave my hand and shake my head "No I'm good" I tap at the mace and his grin turns sour

"Ah go away then" he says with and agitated tone and I do just that.

Continuing I catch a glimpse of Sigla entering Drenin's butchery . Knowing her she's probably buying meat for the tavern. I ponder the idea to help but I don't think that's a good idea now. Since I haven't been seen I just wonder off.

Eventually finding my way near the fields.
I watch as the farmers plant seeds in the fields one of them nearby decides to be friendly.

"Hard work isn't it" I nod at his words "right now we're planting carrots and other vegetables and when we harvest them they will be sold in a larger city" he continued

"Yeah but the good thing is you plant today and harvest a different day seems like those are the most difficult days for you" I responded

He nods back knowing I don't know much "You should try it it'll help build character"

"No I'm ok" I say before walking away before being roped into something.

Making my way back to town I see Lundgren I wave at him

"Anything new on your end" he asks with a slight bored expression

"No but I did hear some gossip if you want to know about that" I remark but he shakes his head at it "And how's yours going"

He sighs a bit before answering "well the Helnar twins are at it again as the stole some vegetables from an elderly women but since I was near I caught the quickly"

"Did you take them to the dungeon"

"No I made them give back the stuff and apologize to her before sending them off" he breathes deeply and gets a grin on his face "it's almost time to get off"

"Yeah what about it" I say knowing the answer

"Same thing we do almost every night head to Tipsy and drink" he laughs a bit believing I didn't know "but for that to happen we need to finish out routes"

"Then I'll see you at the dungeons then" I start walking off as Lundgren waves me off, after a few more stops I make it back to the dungeon seeing Lundgren already out of his breastplate. Three other guards take our place as I hand over my breastplate to one, another take the one Lundgren used, and the final guard straps on the unused one before leaving with Lundgren "Good luck" I say to my fellow guardsman

Stepping outside Ernval is waiting for us. "Took you bastards long enough I thought it might be witer when you'd get out"

"Yeah yeah" Lundgren brushes him off. As we all head to our favorite spot. Upon entering the tavern it's already crowded as usual but luckily our table is empty. Taking our seats after a while Sigla brings three tankards of ale.

"Any food you want to order as we just got a decent amount of meat from the local butcher today" she trys to make the sell

I think for a few seconds "How about a bowl of stew" I think about some meat but decide against it "I think that would be it for me"

"And how about you two" she looks at Lundgren and Ernval

Having come to the same conclusion "We'll just have the stew" as the two of them only want to drink

"I'll be right back then" Sigla walks off as graceful as ever.

As she goes Lundgren asks the same question Ernval said "So what happened between the two of you"

Still not sure how to answer that Ernval chimes in "It's nothing for us to know"

'Yeak but" before he could finish Sigla had come back with our orders silencing him

Noticing the change in moods she asks "Anything new today?"

The three of us think about it the first to speak was Lundgren "I helped a merchant and his daughter with directions to Metska"

"Oh that sounds nice" she entertained his words

"I didn't do anything particularly special" I say feeling a bit of disappointment for not being interesting

"There's nothing wrong with that" she says with a tone similar to what she said to Lundgren

"As for me I made about 50 nails and even did maintenance on some farm tools" Ernval speaks proudly

Sigla giggles "That's amazing" causing g Ernval to puff his chest out in satisfaction "time for me to get back to the other customers just ask if you need anything else" she rushes off taking care of more people.

After Sigla leaves we talk more about the day. After finishing the first ale we called for more, we did this for an hour or two before calling it a night. We place down some coins and head out seen off by Cranth eyeing us with suspicion. Reaching the town square I part from the two and stagger home. Upon making it I drink a little water, change clothes and fall asleep quickly.

This continued for the next two days with slight differences till the big day.