Chapter 71: Chapter Sixty-Five – Tavern Talks

“Hey do my coins look weird to you?” I asked Neige as we walked to the market square, fishing a handful of coins from my purse. 

“Why would they look weird? Are you a foreigner?” 

“It’s complicated, just look at them please.” 

“They look fine?” 

“Wonderful,” I smiled. “Then food and drink is on me.” 

“You’re awfully friendly for being Lady Ladnier’s younger sister. It’s making my head hurt just thinking about it.” 

“Maybe there is something I want from you,” I replied with a mischievous grin. “You do happen to have a skill set I haven’t seen before.” 

“And that is?” 

“Wyvern taming. I didn’t know such a thing was possible, let alone that there was a class for it. I was thinking I could make use of your skills for a little project of mine.” 

“There are limits to what I can do,” Neige said glaring at me as if I was thinking something sinister. “I can’t make two wyverns fight one another to the death. Nor can I make a wyvern copulate with a person, even if I could it would just kill the perverted bastard who requested it.”

“I,” I stopped dead in my tracks and stared at Neige. “Have people actually asked you to do that?” 

“Yeah, more often than you’d think possible.” 

“Wow,” I sighed and shook my head. “People are gross. No, the only thing I care about is how fast your wyverns can fly.”

“Relative to what?” 

“A dragon.” 

Grabbing my hand, Neige pulled me into a tavern, guiding me to a corner table. 

“What’s this about.” 

“I suddenly needed a drink,” Neige chuckled before narrowing her gaze on me. “Why do you need to outrun a dragon?” 

“A little fruit I want to get my hands on grows at the foot of a mountain far from here. It’s sort of a no man’s land, because a dragon has claimed the area for herself. Or at least she’d claimed it last I heard.” 

“And you want to swoop in, snatch as much of this fruit as possible, and fly out, before the dragon catches you?” 

“That’s the plan. Well… that’s the idea that came to mind after I saw your tamer class.” 

“Are you out of your mind,” Neige began only to stop as a barmaid approached us. 

“What can I get you cuties today?” 

“Dark Ale, two of them,” Neige replied. 

“I’d actually prefer wine, I’m not a big fan of ale.” 

“Then order wine, the ales are for me.” 

“You’re the type who doesn’t hold back when you’re spending someone else’s money huh?” I sighed. “Wine, whatever’s sweetest.” 

After I paid for our drinks Neige and I made small talk until the barmaid returned. Only once our drinks were before us and she’d left did Neige return to the topic at hand. “I already told you I was the last of my kind, and now I’ve learned you’re the sole member of your own. We cannot risk our deaths over a fruit.” 

“So you’re saying that you’re not confident your wyvern can outrun a dragon?” 

“Anyone who is confident about anything when dragons are involved is a fool.” 

“It is possible that she won’t even notice us, or that she’s moved on to a different area. I’m not looking to antagonize the dragon, I’m simply looking to collect some coffee and come home.” 

You are reading story Reborn as a Basic Barista at novel35.com

“What if you end up antagonizing the dragon anyway? What fail safe do you have in place  to protect us from guaranteed death?” 

“I could ask Otrea to provide us with something. She’s got a lot of magical relics in her collection, something has to work as a dragon deterrent.” 

“You said she’d locked herself in her lab.” 

“Her maid Corrynthia still goes in there to deliver food and stuff. It isn’t like it would be impossible for me to enter, it’s just rude.” 

Neige took a hearty swig of her ale and sighed. “Have this friend of yours agree to be reborn as a snow elf, and I’ll fly you to get your fruit. She can’t come with us, of course. It does me no good if she is reborn as one of my kind only to risk her life alongside me.”

“What if she refuses? Is there another way I could convince you?”

“The only goal I have in life is to ensure that my people live on. If you’ll help me with this, I’ll help you with your foolishness.”

“Deal.” 

The two of us sat in silence for a bit, sipping at our alcohol. Until Neige spoke up again. “Could you could spare some money so I could get an inn? I wasn’t lying when I said I was broke. I don’t have anywhere to go while you make good on your half of our deal.” 

“Why not stay at the manor with me?” 

“Are you really allowed to make that offer?” 

“I haven’t been told explicitly that I can,” I giggled taking another sip of my wine. “But I also haven’t been told that I can’t.” 

“Yeah and what if your big mean older sister finds me in her house? I don’t want to find myself chained naked to a tree in her garden.” 

“I’ll warn her that you’re there. I plan to go see Otrea as soon as possible to see if it’s possible to speak with Karolina’s soul.”

“You said that before,” Neige locked eyes with me. “What do you mean with her soul? Is her original body already destroyed, how did you keep her from traveling to the afterlife?” 

“I can’t really answer the second half of your question, but as for the first, yes she is presently a soul orb. Her former body has been reduced to ash.” 

“That isn’t… normal for your friends, is it?” 

“She’s the first of my friends to die, so far.” 

“So far? I don’t like the sound of that,” Neige said downing her ales. “I don’t like it one bit.” 

“Not like I can predict the future.” 

“Guess that is true. Well are you finished? We should probably head back to your sister’s manor, start getting all this out of the way.” 

“Yeah,” I finished off my wine. “Speaking of, where is your wyvern currently?” 

“Right here,” Neige raised her hand and shook it so her bracelet jangled around. “Kinda. This bracelet is tied to a collar around my wyvern’s neck. It gives me the ability to summon her, as long as she doesn’t stray too far from me. So, I left her in the forests not far from here.” 

“Can that be used to summon people too?” 

“I ugh, I don’t know,” Neige frowned. “The craftsmen in my village made this, now that they’re gone its secrets are lost. I wouldn’t want to risk breaking it just to test a weird theory.” 

“I understand. There goes the dream of being able to summon my girlfriends whenever I want them. No cuddles on demand for me.” 

“You’re a strange girl Bernice.” 

“I blame my mothers.”