Barmaid's secret

Discovered

Stepping out of the tavern I think about what to do for the rest of the day I could go down to the river and still wash myself then my clothes, but instead, I go to the stalls at the town center and do some shopping. Rarely ever have time to shop so I make this an adventure, traveling to one stall.

From what I see of this stall they are selling furs not of any animals I'm familiar with "You like" A man picks up one for the furs showing me "Most of my furs come from a large island to the north right now there is only one town there the rest is all forest" he gestured with his hands

"No, I'm good," I tell him before he tries to go into a longer speech

"Ah," he understood what I meant "Then you go now" Caught off guard by the rudeness I no less take the chance to leave.

Feeling a tad hungry I start searching for stalls that sell food. As I look I come across one that sells dried and salted meats. Looking at all the preserved meats my stomach begins to growl as I think about the taste. The merchant smiles and offers me a piece of the jerky "Are you sure" I question as he continues shoving it in my face "Ok then" I take the piece, chomp down, and chew. I chew slowly savoring every morsel.

Finishing it I lay down 50 silver pieces "Give me as much as this can afford"

He gets excited "Yes right away" he places large slivers of dried meat on a piece of paper, once a decent amount is placed he folds the paper around it and hands it to me "Thank you for your business"

Not wanting to carry the food around as I look at the other stalls I just go home. As I walk I see some of the farmers still working in the fields, so I stand by and watch admiring the hard work they do. I think about Gulzin was he a farmer for all his life or did he ever think of anything else to be? Having stood there for about an hour watching I continue to head home.

Entering inside I place the meat on the table and clean up from mine and Sigla's fun time. I place the back by the door so that in the morning I can finally bathe myself and wash my clothes. With everything around looming better, I take the meat and place it into a pantry. I get changed back into my sleepwear, lay back down, and drift off thinking about what I did in this bed earlier.

Waking up I open the pantry, take one of the slivers of meat, and eat it for a morning meal.
Without changing I grab the basket full of my belongings and head to the river. I walk to find a good spot away from people. Making sure no one is around I strip down, grab the soap, and take my time getting to the cold water. Once I'm submerged I begin to wash myself, suds from the soap cover my body till I am satisfied I resubmerge myself causing the bubbles to go in all directions. Smelling better now I get out, dry off, and get dressed.

Now comes the more difficult part as I take a washboard from the basket and begin washing each piece of clothes. When everything is washed I put them back in the basket, bring them home, and put them on a thin rope outside to dry.

As I let my clothes dry I get dressed and decide to talk to Dernali about some of the things that transpired. With an idea to go off of, I head out.
When I get to the Dungeons I go in seeing the same sight as always in the morning a woman sitting at the desk "You're dedicated to your job aren't you?"

"Of course I am it's safer to work inside than out and it's respectable both of us know there are far worse things women can do for coin" saying all of this as she writes "How are things going since our last talk"

"Good I believe I talked to Sigla and Cranth and they both seem to accept my apology"

"That's good then so do you still need another day off"

"No this was good enough"

"Then you can start back first thing tomorrow as Lundgren has been complaining about not having you around"

She chuckles at this "Then I be going then" She nods her head as I leave. Now with nothing really to do till tomorrow, I can take my time looking around. As I wander through the stalls some sell only food, others glass bottles, there are ones that have different spices, and even some small weapons like daggers. Just like with the farmers, I feel envious.

"Been some time since I saw you" I turn to the voice and it's Lundgren he seems to be happier than usual.

"It has hasn't it," I say as I haven't seen him as I used to.

"Everything solved?" He questioned

"Yes, did you want to go to the tavern after your work"

"You should know what I'd say" Lundgren laughs "I'll see you later" He leaves me to continue the routes he's to cover during his duty.

After my small conversation with Lundgren, I go back home to deal with my clothes. I check each piece of clothing making sure they are dried thoroughly and once satisfied I take them off the line and fold them inside the house. Having nothing better to do till the time Lundgren gets done I change out into my casual clothes and pay a visit to Ernval.

Rather than interrupt his work I watch as he hammers away at some metal. He looks it over and hammers softly to make it look better. Once satisfied he puts down his tools and lets out a sigh of satisfaction. "You seem happy with yourself"

Looking over "Of course, I am a good anvil and a hammer is all I need to be happy"

"Well I'm glad it's easy for you then"

"So what did you come here for"

"I came to watch before going to the tavern"

He takes off his gloves and apron "Then let's go"

"Don't you have more work to do" I questioned

"Ale" he bellows out

Ah yes, ale is the only other thing he needs to be happy. Since Lundgren should figure we are at the tavern anyway we head off. As we sit in our usual spots but are one man short it seems lonely. Sigla looked perplexed but understood what was happening so she brought over some ale for us to brink as we waited.

An hour feels to have passed as we drink. "Hey keep your hands off me" We turn to see Sigla dealing with a grabby customer he seems to have liquid and food spilled on him "I said I'm sorry if you want compensation I'm sure the owner wouldn't mind"

"No there's no need for the owner," he says slurred from drinking "One hour with you would be all the compensation I need" Despite him being drunk his hand darts at Sigla touching her genitals. The man's face contorted from excitement to shook as Ernval tackled him to the ground.

As I trust Ernval I let him handle the man as I focus my attention on Sigla. I look at the man's face as he starts putting two and two together his face going from shook back to a grin as Lundgren shows up. After the explanation, he's led off to the dungeon by Ernval and Lundgren.

With another hour I spend some time with her as Cranth let her have the rest of the day off after hearing what happened. Once she was ok she told me " You need to go home and get some sleep since it's gotten late"

"If your ok then" she nods at my response and I comply. When I get home I feel frustrated and angry but the greatest feeling is unease, particularly about the man's smile. Pushing it out of my mind I try getting some sleep since I work tomorrow.