Chapter 38: Epilogue I

Astora ignores the crow, heading straight towards the door on the other end. She salutes the tired doorkeeper who looks at her with drowsy eyes and is impatiently waiting for his replacement as he keeps looking out of a small window, waiting for the sun to go down.

The heavy door creaks slightly as it opens, revealing a wide hall-like area filled with dining tables. Scanning the room, she notices not many seats are left — crowds of people enjoy themselves, consuming pitchers of ales and ciders, talking, laughing, and gorging on plates of oven-baked meat dumplings.

Every now and then, a server carrying another portion from what must be the kitchen tries weaving through the bustling establishment, mostly successfully.

Her gaze settles on a particular group of men standing close together with their elbows linked and a whole pitcher of beer in each of their hands. They are doing a silly dance in which, try as they may, they fail in alternating a synchronized kick while keeping the beer mostly in its containers for a gulp at the end of each round.

The surrounding tavern-goers watch them with gleeful laughter while cheering on.

At some point, they go out of sync so much that they make the whole group stumble and fall, causing an uproar from the audience.

Settling her gaze on a particular man from the group, Astora shakes her head and starts approaching him. She notices how he is past middle-age, looking much more athletic and well-kept than the rest of the patrons, with greying dark brown hair, an angular jawline and very narrow eyes.

He gives a flirtatious grin to one of the female waitresses in skimpy clothing assisting him to stand back up. She's wearing a tight-fitting short-sleeved black blouse — small enough to reveal her waist — with a corset that pushes her breasts out of the low cleavage. Around her waist is a skirt no longer than one hand with stretched-out fingers. On her legs are black, silk stockings, while her feet ride on a pair of shoes with moderate heels, but without tips, revealing her toes.

Shamelessly, and without much pause, he cups her ass and feels it up, causing the woman to let go of him with a yelp, but one of the more playful types.

The onlookers laugh in glee and after recouping herself, the waitress bends down again, letting the world see her undergarments. Turning sideways, she manages to pull him up to his unsteady feet, only managing to keep his balance because the woman is shouldering him.

As a reward, he moves his arm to her ass again and gropes it, this time without the woman retaliating. Unlike before, she looks at him with a blushing face and leans in closer to give him a peck on the cheek, causing people around them to cheer them on.

Upon witnessing this, Astora's facial expression turns sour and, with clenched fists, she speeds up only to be suddenly stopped in her tracks when a burly and towering man, the biggest in the entire bar, tumbles in her path and walks up to him with an angry jealous look.

Without saying anything he pulls a heavy punch, aiming for the grey-haired man's head. His target, looking drunk enough to fall over on his own, quickly leans into the woman's face, and to her surprise, presses his lips on hers in a sloppy kiss.

The burly man unexpectedly hits thin air, the momentum of his swing causing him to stumble and almost fall. Enraged, he turns around and goes for a hook, hoping to hit the drunk's solar plexus, but again, looking as if he wasn't aware, the old man dodges by swiveling the woman around as they start clumsily dancing.

The onlookers holler and scream in excitement, hoping to see more.

The burly man screams in frustration before deciding to tackle the drunk. At last, his target appears to notice him, and loses the grip on the waitress to steal her red cleaning cloth. Swaying on one foot, he holds it to his side by the corners in a theatrical gesture, as if taunting a bull. The crowd goes wild.

With the burly man closing in swiftly for a headbutt, the drunk unexpectedly jumps off of the nearest chair, legs stretched to his sides, letting the man's tackle go right below him.

The onlookers' excitement seems to have reached a high point, with some hollering, others clapping and whistling at the performance. With expectant cheers, they all eye the burly man who has stopped his tackle and turned around to face the drunk with a taunting expression.

However, everything halts when blood starts suddenly seeping out of the burly man's nose, and — with disoriented eyes — he drops to the floor with a thud of a big tree trunk. The room goes silent.

No one else would have guessed what happened, but to Astora's trained eye, she noticed how when the man was right below the drunk, three quick consecutive hits — faster than most eyes could see — struck his head from behind.

Chaos ensues as the server in skimpy clothing lets out a scream, this time with genuine horror, and everyone starts running around, some hurrying away, others rushing to grab plates of food left on the tables, some even breaking into a fight of their own.

As if unperturbed by the commotion, the drunk man pulls himself up from the floor, his right foot slipping before it properly rests on the floor, and walks up to the bar to gesture for more beer.

Astora closes in on him with steady, unwavering motions, walking in zigzag to step over the toppled furniture, strafing away from a group of rowdy drunkards to let them collapse on the floor together, and ducking to dodge a flying pitcher, then sits on the empty seat next to him.

「Having fun, are we?」 she asks.

The drunk looks at her disoriented for a minute before his eyes show signs of focus.

「Oh, Astora, you're back? ｟hic｠ Dammit, I thought some enticsssing damsel had come to my side, but... it's just you,」 he blurts out with a sour look and takes a swig of his jug of beer.

「Master Kharan, I am more than enticing, in fact, I would consider myself to be quite the catch,」 Astora responds, peering down at the drunk with a smug look.

「Baahhh ｟hic｠ too young, I want a woman with some... girth,」 he gestures, flailing his hand in the air, 「chubby stomach, something I can grab on, ya hear me?」 he laments, as if begging to Goddess.

「But... There's plenty to grab on me!」 without backing down, Astora pushes out her chest and she looks at him with a serious expression.

Behind them, the ensuing fight takes on a new level of aggression when a chair flies across the room, toppling over another sizeable patron. Master Kharan leers at her, scanning her body from top to toe before shaking his head.

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「Nah, won't do. Drink some more beers, get that belly... bulging out a bit more, then we can talk. You're too slender and pretty.」

「Master Kharan...」

Astora looks down at the counter with a genuinely sad expression. When a waiter arrives with two more big jugs, she quickly pulls one from his grasp before starting to down it, but after a couple of gulps, she widens her eyes and spits out the beer to the side as if it was poison.

At the same time, a guard enters the room and, assisted by another guard who joins him after a brief pause, starts methodically pacifying the fighting guests.

「Ghahahahahaha,」 Master Kharan laughs with his face turned towards the ceiling in a drunken daze. Astora can only look at him in embarrassment with a small blush on her face while wiping her mouth.

After downing his jug and hers in one go, as if demonstrating how it should be done, his head starts swaying.

He props it up with his arms, elbows on the counter, before suddenly putting on a solemn look, making his previous drunken state all look like an act.

「So? How did you fare?」 he blurts out.

Astora puts her hand on the table, tilts her head, and, with a soft smile, she says, 「I convinced him to increase the size.」

Pleased, Master Kharan smirks.

「That's some really good news, little Astora. These people have... seemingly...」 he pauses to collect his thought, 「overnight forgotten that Xalvari was part of the hero's party... A search party of only ten or twenty? What was that fool thinking?」

Astora shuffles in her seat, scuttling a tiny bit closer.

「Funny, that's the same thing the hero told my father. Xalvari... he...」 her voice tapers off. With a shake of her head, she clears her thoughts and faces him with a steadfast look.

「Master Kharan, I have a request.」

The old man glances sideways at her with unusually keen eyes, studying her for a bit before responding, 「What is it?」

「Let me jo—」

「No.」

Immediately, Master Kharan turns his face away from her. Astora bites her lip and rests her hand on his shoulder.

「You can't refuse, I already got my father's approval... Please, I want to join you!」

「Look, little Astora, you're plenty strong, but you've got no experience,」 he answers frankly, looking away, 「The place we're going to eats up people like you for breakfast. Unlike Elena, you weren't part of Hero's party,」 he says with a sigh while cleaning his ear with his little finger.

「That's not fair! How will I ever get experience if I'm held down here like some doll whose only function is to look pretty at duels? Besides...」

「Besides what?」

The brawl in the background quiets down with the last rowdy patron crying out when a guard twists his arm around. Astora leans in closer with a blush on her face and rests her whole upper body on top of his back and shoulder, embracing him.

「I want to spend some time with you...」

Master Kharan lets out another exhale, this time letting his head drop on the counter, forehead and nose squished against the surface, eyes staring at it.

「Will you ever take no for an answer?」 he speaks resignedly into the oiled wooden surface.

Astora nuzzles her head into his neck before replying with a cute 「no」 and a content smile spreading on her face.

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