esw c2 p 8 9 10

Part 8

At dusk, Aker rushed to the pub with Lynn and Loulou.

"Two beautiful ladies, I wonder if I would have the honor to drink with you?"

"Hey, don't teach kids bad things!"

"I'm not a kid!"

"I'm almost the same as Elder Brother, and I'm not a kid anymore..."

Gurley, who was drinking wine alone at the bar, suddenly became excited when he saw Aker coming in with Loulou and Lynn. Nia, who was supposed to be here, was not standing behind the counter.

Gurley immediately left his seat and walked in front of the two girls, took off the wide-brimmed leather hat, revealed a manly fortitudinous face, and politely invited them.

Lynn and Loulou were both scared and involuntarily stepped back by Gurley's sudden action. Aker could only step forward to avoid them being deceived by Gurley like him.

He originally thought Gurley was a more stable man. Although he acted like a gentleman, his motives were obviously impure.

"This uncle's name is Gurley. This is the man I told you about. The guy who broke the wine bottle and was forced to work to pay off his debt."

"Hey! Young man, did you really introduce me to them like that? At least I should be something like a 'reliable big brother', right?"

Gurley immediately grabbed Aker by the collar and picked him up on the spot and said.

"Image... pay attention to your image..."

Gurley then remembered that there were two beautiful young ladies around him, so he put Aker down in a pretended manner, and then continued his performance.

"Where is Miss Nia? Why is she not here?"

Aker looked around but still couldn't find the figure in the burgundy cheongsam.

"The lady boss knew that they would come over today, so she stayed in the room upstairs and never came out. I don't know what she is doing up there."

Gurley took a big gulp from his glass. Because Aker and Loulou's father also drank like this at home, also Loulou didn't have any reactions. Lynn was the same age as Aker, so she also wouldn't have any reaction.

"Curiosity killed the cat. Drunkard, do you want to come and see it?"

A hearty voice came from the stairwell. Nia was still wearing the wine-red cheongsam she dressed in the morning and slowly walked down the stairs.

"No, no," Gurley waved his hand quickly, "I don't want to know any things that I shouldn't know."

"This uncle is unexpectedly obedient in front of her."

Lynn approached Aker and whispered in his ear, she was slightly surprised.

"This is the so-called living under other people's roof, you have to listen to other people."

"Elder Brother, is she Elder sister Nia? She seems very strong, that uncle seems to be afraid of her."

"They are probably in that kind of relationship, you know."

Aker had personally seen Gurley being "oppressed" by Nia.

Nia returned to the counter and looked at Lynn and Loulou who were standing beside Aker. The two girls raised their shoulders in fear unconsciously.

"They are the two kids you mentioned?"

She glanced at Aker.

"Yes.  This is my friend Lynn, and the one next to her is Loulou, my younger sister. "

"Hello, please take care of my elder brother."

"I will take care of you all this time, just call me Elder Sister Nia!"

For some reason, Nia looked a little excited. Was she the kind of character who liked to take care of children?

"We will trouble you to take care of us, Elder Sister Nia."

Lynn called her "Elder Sister" according to Nia's request. Although Aker didn't know the exact age of Nia. It should be slightly older than Tara. He thought.

Were Loulou and Lynn too nervous? Aker couldn't help but think of their somewhat cautious attitude. But this was normal, and he was also nervous when he first came here to talk to Gurley.

Nia and Gurley were both very easy-going people, and Aker already knew this after interacting with them.

So now Aker didn't feel the tension he felt when he first met them. He put his hands on Lynn and Loulou's shoulders. Sure enough, their shoulders were a little stiff.

"Don't worry, I will be here to help during this time, so we can still meet every day."

After speaking, Aker approached Lynn's ear again...

"So you can feel nervous like this too."

Whispering in her ear like this.

Lynn's face immediately changed from nervousness to dissatisfaction, and then she turned her head back and raised her hand.

Pa!

Part 9

Nia took Lynn and Loulou to the second floor, while Aker's flushed cheeks were bulging, and Lynn's palm prints were still visible.

"Since the lady boss has snatched all the lovely ladies away, then we can only have a heart-to-heart conversation between two big men!"

"Sorry, I don't have that kind of hobby."

Aker resolutely refused, and Gurley could only take a big gulp of wine to relieve his sorrow.

After drinking the wine in the glass, Gurley's expression became serious when he put down the glass.

"You should know that there will be a lot of people in this kind of place at night?"

"Mhm," Aker nodded. "Pub is a place where all kinds of folks hang out."

"In other words, this is the place where information flows. The next thing I want to talk about is the gossip from those who came here to drink recently. A few days ago, a village in the south disappeared out of thin air. It disappeared in the literal sense. The place where the village originally existed has become an ordinary mountain forest, and there is no trace of human life at all. The village had very little interaction with the outside world. It is said that this was the news from a merchant who had interacted with them. If something like this really happened, it should be more than just ‘disappeared’ that simple..."

Aker immediately stood up.

"Is it the village behind the southern forest?"

The disappeared village described by Gurley sounded a lot like his village. Did the village disappear after only one week after they left home? It was too ridiculous.

"Calm down. The village that disappeared out of thin air is farther than your village, and it is close to the coastline. And didn't you just leave home for about a week? The village reportedly lost contact with the outside world a month ago."

Gurley explained to Aker patiently, which convinced him that the rumored village had no connection with their home.

Gurley poured the remaining wine into the glass again, and swirled the glass between his fingers.

"Then, now the Church has issued a wanted warrant."

"The Church?"

"Did you not know? The two powers of the Bice Empire are Augustus in the imperial capital and the Church in the Sanctuary. But those are not the points I want to say, I want to tell you who is wanted."

Why did Gurley talk about the wanted warrants for no reason? Aker didn't think it was just Gurley chatting casually.

"Does that warrant have anything to do with us?"

"It's not clear yet. The two people who are wanted are two girls, their hair colors are relatively bright. One of them is blond and the other is white hair. "

Aker's calm heart became nervous again because there was a girl with dazzling blond long hair beside him.

Was the girl wanted by the Church Lynn? Why? Aker couldn't understand the situation at all.

Gurley shook the anxious Aker and pushed a glass of wine in front of him.

"But after all, I only heard it from those drunkards. It may not be so accurate. The wanted order has not yet been sent to border towns like ours. However, if it is really a wanted order issued by the church, then the matter may be more complicated than it was said in the gossip."

"What makes you say this?"

"Don't worry about it now anyway! Come and drink!"

Aker held up the wine glass without even thinking about it. The cold liquid ran across his throat, and his head became sober.

He took a breath and put down the wine glass. Only then did he remember that he had just fallen into the same trap not long ago.

"Wait, don't tell me this is..."

"Haha! Have you discovered it?"

"Doesn't that mean my debt will get bigger?"

"Good brothers should share the joy and difficulties together!"

Aker didn't know what to say.

"And if you hide it well, you won't be discovered by the lady boss in a short time."

"This means that I will definitely be discovered, right!"

Aker completely lost his hope.

"Haha! Now, now, don't be that nervous."

Gurley smugly patted Aker on the back, as unreserved as he did when they first met.

"I'm even more nervous than I was just now!" Aker moved away from Gurley with a grievance. "However, thank you for telling me this."

"My pleasure, anyway, you will have plenty of opportunities to get all kinds of information you want here. And the longer the time, the more and more accurate this scattered information will be. Besides, if the blonde girl on the wanted warrant is really Miss Lynn, she must've already known about it. When it is time for her to tell you the truth, she will probably say it."

"Mhm."

Nevertheless, Aker was still worried about Lynn.

When they first met, she was penniless, drenched in water, and had a high fever. She even mistook him for someone else, showing such strong hostility.

Possessing that visually valuable golden long sword, she showed amazing combat power when fighting against the fire wolves.

Lynn was certainly not an ordinary girl. Just as Aker once told her, she must have many secrets that she didn't tell him. But Aker had already been mentally prepared.

The reason why he was still worried about her was that the two have not formed a relationship that could rely on each other.

If they really faced an unexpectedly harsh reality, what should they do? …………

Part 10

As night fell, the bustling feeling gradually replaced the languid feeling during the day, and filled the not-so-big pub in a blink of an eye.

Originally, Lynn and Loulou wanted to come downstairs to help, but Aker took into account the news that Gurley had told him, so he decided not to let Lynn appear outside for the time being. It was also a good choice for Loulou to stay with Lynn.

Although Loulou still felt that she should help Aker, Lynn seemed to understand Aker's intention and agreed to his request. Then she hugged Loulou, who was not happy about the decision and didn't let go of her until Aker disappeared from the eyes of the two.

"Elder Sister Lynn, why don't you persist? As long as you persist, my elder brother will definitely compromise! "

Loulou's face was full of unhappiness. But Aker had left the second floor now, it was not so convenient to catch up to him again.

"Loulou, think about it. First of all, we have never helped in a pub before, and there may be people in this place who have strange ideas about girls at our age. If it is not handled well, it may develop into conflicts. That would only cause trouble for that guy, right? Rather than causing trouble to him, wouldn't it be better for us to stay here and wait for him to come back?"

"We won't cause trouble..."

Although saying so, Loulou, who was very clear in her heart, finally chose to compromise.

And Lynn no longer looked at Loulou in her arms but looked thoughtfully at the door of the room where Aker's figure had just disappeared.

…………

The number of guests in the pub has gradually increased, and perhaps it will be a full house tonight.

Although there were only three people, Nia, Gurley, and Aker, no customers complained. Nia was making drinks behind the counter while chatting and laughing with the men sitting at the counter. Aker and Gurley delivered the orders of the guests to their table.

"If you want to get more information, you can walk back and forth between guests. Sometimes you will have unexpected gains."

Gurley said softly beside Aker and then walked towards one of the ladies.

Aker sent orders according to the number on the table.

Most of the guests here just come to chat to kill time, and the topics they talked about were naturally trivial matters.

Even until the end of business tonight, Aker didn't get any valuable information.

"This is normal. This is not the intelligence department of the empire, this kind of thing can only rely on luck."

Gurley sat at the counter. The excitement hasn't dissipated from his face. It seemed that he succeeded in hooking up the seemingly rich lady.

Aker sat next to him, staring at the neatly arranged wine barrels behind the counter.

"Hey, you two. We are ready to clean and close the shop. Why are you sitting here idle?"

Gurley obediently obeyed Nia's command and left his seat to clean the hall. Aker was just about to get up, but Nia noticed that he seemed to be worried about something.

"Wait a minute, little brother," Nia stopped Aker. Aker turned around in confusion, "Are you thinking about that blond little sister?"

"Eh? How do you know..."

"Boys, only when they think about girls, do they show that look."

"I didn't show any strange look, right?..."

Aker turned his face away. This was just to hide the embarrassment that Nia saw through him completely.

"If you have any questions you want to ask her, can't you take the initiative to talk to her?" Gurley interrupted while wiping the table. "If you are friends, and if it is not something that must be concealed, there should be no problem telling you, right?"

"Uh-huh, Uh-huh."

Nia was also encouraging Aker on the side, but it was obviously for some other purpose.

Aker didn't answer immediately but looked at the stairwell leading to the second floor.

If Lynn was really the girl wanted by the church, what should he do? Should he hand her over to the church, or protect her from the hands of the church?

What was the right thing to do? Or what did he want to do?

Aker didn't know yet.

"By the way, there is only one bathroom here. Let me take the two girls to take a bath first."

"Mhm. Thank you, elder sister Nia. "

"You are really polite, even I also start to have interests in you."

Gurley pushed Aker's waist with his elbow, causing Aker to reflexively move away from Gurley a few steps.

"Why do the words you said sound so creepy..."

"Oh? But I am serious!"

“……”

It was late at night, and the two still hadn't finished cleaning the pub.

next 

previous