Chapter 5 : Chapter 5
Chapter 5: Honored Guests of the Tavern
As the number of townspeople gathering to watch the excitement dwindled, the number of customers inside the tavern steadily increased.
Wheatfield Town was not like Gerson City. It did not have so many things for entertainment and diversion.
Nor did the townspeople have as many amusements as those noble lords.
With only a single tavern in the whole town, this was the place where the men came to pass the time.
Dim yellow light filled the tavern, while the noise and clamor gradually grew more heated.
The Golden Traveler Tavern slowly returned to its usual atmosphere.
Joy also returned to Martie’s face as she continued mixing cup after cup of watered-down golden wheat ale.
All the customers here were regulars, and all of them came from the same town. Martie knew exactly who could hold their liquor, and who could tell whether their drink had been watered down.
So the amount of water in every cup was different.
Jiang Lin had asked her about it before.
Martie had only laughed and explained, “It’s for their own good. Drinking too much is bad for the body. I’m counting on making money from them for a long time yet. If they all drink themselves to death, how am I supposed to keep earning?”
Only she could come up with such a reason.
Sometimes Jiang Lin thought that if Martie had been able to cultivate, she probably would have accomplished something in Zhongzhou as well.
After all, clever people could thrive anywhere.
Whether in Zhongzhou or on the Atre Continent.
“What are you thinking about? Take the ale and jerky to Table Ten.” Martie tapped the counter, looking completely overwhelmed.
“I have no idea what’s going on today. They’re all drinking so much.”
Jiang Lin quickly delivered the drinks and food. By the time he returned to the counter, it was already piled high with cups again.
“Perhaps they’re happy because a knight has come to town,” Jiang Lin said as he lifted the cups from the counter and began carrying them to the various tables.
“Maybe. If that’s true, then I ought to thank them!”
Martie shrugged, her hands never stopping as she mixed golden wheat ale. Then she muttered under her breath,
“Heaven knows what they’re all so happy about.”
Within the noisy tavern, Jiang Lin continued to play the part of a proper worker with quiet diligence. He had already been living this sort of life for about a year now.
At times, it almost left him dazed.
After all, this was a world completely different from Zhongzhou.
Far from cultivation, and even farther from vengeance...
Yet the blood-soaked hatred engraved deep in his heart would always come crashing down on him in his dreams, again and again, just as he was beginning to grow accustomed to this life.
Every time he woke, he would be drenched in cold sweat.
Jiang Lin had increasingly begun to feel that the hope of revenge was growing ever more distant.
His former fellow disciples, his master, his senior and junior brothers, and the Patriarch who had always treated him like his own child—
all of them had placed their hopes on him.
But now, he could not even draw his own sword, and the chance to cultivate again seemed vanishingly slim.
And yet, even so, Jiang Lin had never given up on any opportunity.
Looking around at the lively tavern, Jiang Lin let out a long breath. Perhaps it was finally time to leave.
If he stayed here forever, he would never find a way to cultivate.
“Hey, hey, hey—”
Martie’s voice drifted over. Jiang Lin came back to himself and looked at her with a smile.
“What’s wrong with you today? You keep drifting off,” Martie said as she set a freshly mixed cup of golden wheat ale in front of him. “This is your reward. Don’t worry, this one isn’t watered down.”
Jiang Lin accepted the drink and smiled without speaking. Then he drained it in one go. The strong fumes of alcohol burned sharply down his throat, leaving him feeling much more refreshed.
Sure enough, golden wheat ale without water had a much richer taste.
After finishing the drink, Jiang Lin looked at her and said with unusual seriousness,
“Miss Martie, I’m leaving.”
Martie froze. Her eyes trembled slightly as she looked at him, and in the end she only nodded in silence.
It seemed she was trying to steady her emotions in the face of something so sudden.
“So... have you made up your mind?”
“Yes. I have.” Jiang Lin nodded and offered her a sincere smile. “Thank you for taking care of me, Miss Martie.”
“That hardly counts as taking care of you. You helped me plenty too, didn’t you?” Martie recovered her composure and waved her hand casually.
Jiang Lin could see the reluctance and disappointment in her eyes, but he said nothing more.
“I plan to leave first thing tomorrow morning.”
“Mm.” Martie nodded. It seemed as though she had found her smile again, and she looked at him with a gentle expression. But when she turned away, the disappointment in her eyes surfaced once more.
Jiang Lin said nothing further. The tavern remained noisy, and the customers were all thoroughly drunk, talking about the affairs of the wider world.
Most of it was the same old legends told over and over again, or else exaggerated retellings of those same stories, made grander and more outrageous so they could show off their supposed knowledge.
Just then, the tavern door was pushed open once more, and a tall figure clad in armor stepped inside.
At once, the previously boisterous tavern gradually fell silent.
The moment the drunkards saw Knight Kline, much of their drunken haze cleared.
The mercenary squad came in with Knight Kline, along with the servant who had brought them here.
Standing in the middle of the tavern, they seemed conspicuously out of place.
As soon as Jiang Lin saw them enter, he tightened his hood and slowly retreated toward the kitchen.
At the same time, he quietly observed the five of them.
“There’s no need to mind us. Please, everyone, carry on. Today, we are merely guests ourselves.”
Seeing this reaction, Knight Kline immediately smiled. He swept his gaze over the room, maintaining the bearing proper to a knight.
At that moment, all of them wore the faint flush of drink on their faces.
Perhaps they had finished the golden wheat ale sent over to the residence and had come here to drink their fill.
As for Mage Orr, who had earlier warned Knight Kline to be more restrained, his gaunt face was now tinged red as well, and that earlier caution had plainly been forgotten.
Hearing Knight Kline say this, the customers in the tavern relaxed considerably.
Of course, relaxed though they were, the drunkards no longer spoke as wildly as before.
After all, the dignity of a knight still inspired awe in them, not to mention the presence of a powerful and mysterious mage among them.
The atmosphere in the entire tavern took on a strange air, as though everyone were still holding themselves back.
Martie shrugged helplessly and stepped out from behind the counter. After glancing back at Jiang Lin, who was already standing by the kitchen, she walked over to Knight Kline’s table.
A calm smile returned to her face as she asked,
“Honored Sir Knight, what would you like to drink? Of course, it is already an honor for a commoner like me just to meet a knight. Everything tonight will be on the house.”
“Oh?” Knight Kline smiled, lightly tapping his fingers on the wooden table as he turned to size up Martie.
“No need. Payment should still be made where payment is due. That is part of a knight’s code.”
After thinking for a moment, Knight Kline added,
“Golden wheat ale, and some food will do. We had some of your tavern’s golden wheat ale earlier at my aunt’s place, and it was rather good. Unfortunately, there was too little of it, so we came here instead. We’re not disturbing anyone, are we?”
That last question was directed at the other customers in the tavern.
“Not at all, Sir Knight! Being able to drink with you is our honor!”
“That’s right, that’s right! We’re honored!”
Voices immediately rang out from the drunkards in the tavern.
At last, they truly relaxed. Knight Kline’s manner only made them admire knights even more.
Gradually, the tavern returned to its earlier atmosphere, and it became even livelier than before.
Some drunken men, emboldened by drink, staggered over to offer toasts to Knight Kline.
Kline and the others responded to them all, one by one.
As a result, even more drunkards crowded forward to toast them.
These moments would become stories they could tell for years to come. After all, how many people would ever have the good fortune to drink with a knight?
By now, Kline and the others seemed to have fully loosened up as well, laughing and making merry together with the drunkards.
Even Mage Orr had already been pressed into drinking several cups.
From beneath his black robe, his eyes occasionally drifted toward Martie as she busied herself behind the counter.
Martie, meanwhile, had become even busier. Although the knight had said there was no need for her to treat them, that did not mean she could truly bring herself to charge them.
For all she knew, she might not even be able to collect money from the drunkards either.
The moment she thought of that, Martie felt a burst of resentment. Muttering to herself, she kept preparing golden wheat ale and food without pause.
“I’ll mix the drinks,” Jiang Lin said then, stepping out of the kitchen. After observing Knight Kline’s table, it seemed that they were not paying any attention to this side.
“No, no. Hurry and pack your things instead. Will you even be able to get up tomorrow?” Martie huffed as she wiped up some spilled ale. She had already been in a bad mood, and seeing Jiang Lin only made her feel worse.
Jiang Lin could tell that something was wrong with her mood, so he took the cup from her hands and began mixing the golden wheat ale himself.
“You can just handle serving the drinks. Tomorrow’s matters can wait until tomorrow.”