Mid Afternoon - Early Spring : Springarrow City, Elynnor

Inside the city walls, Springarrow was quite pretty.

It seemed to be fairly small compared to Kaelallan's capital but it didn't fall behind in beauty at all, in fact it was a bit ahead of Kaelallan.

The city was incredibly clean and didn't even seem to have slums. -Maybe it's just because Kaelallan is a huge capital city that its slums were.. so rough..-

Another huge difference from Kaelallan though was the amount of greenery.

To my surprise, there were actually trees planted along the main road with some kind of greenery planted outside of each building.

The greenery mixed with the fresh air made strolling through town quite enjoyable.

Not long after I just started walking around though, I found the building I was looking for.

Next to the road was a large two story building with two signs. The bottom was a simple tavern logo with a mug, fork and knife, and the other had a bow and arrow in front of a leaf and flower, the same insignia that the knights wore.

-That must be it!-

As I walked up to the doors, I heard music, singing and people talking and laughing coming from inside.

A wave of nostalgia washed over me as I pushed open the doors.

The atmosphere reminded me of many memories that I thought I had forgotten from earth.

The air was full of the smell of delicious food and music that made me want to sing and tap my foot along.

"You seem new!" A man next to me tried to yell over the noise. "Do you need help with anything?" He was a large and muscular man that was covered in scars but he wore a bright smile.

"Do you know where to order food?"

"Of course! Feel free to pick a table and a pretty lady will come take your order!" His genuine happiness was contagious.

"Sweet! Do you have any food recommendations?" Looking around the room I saw several different foods on each table, and they all looked delicious.

"Ah, you need to try their 'Pirates Special'! It's a bit pricey but it comes with some heavenly meats, soups and booze!"

"Alright, I think I'll give it a try! Thanks for the recommendation!" My excitement to try some of the food was mounting.

"Any time!"

Walking towards the section with the tables, I found a table and sat down.

As I waited for a waitress to come out, I enjoyed the music and atmosphere.

Not long after, a muscular but beautiful woman came up to my table. "It's rare for such a beautiful man as you to come by~"

"Haha, I'm truly flattered."

"Well, what can I get for you this evening?"

"I heard that something called the pirate’s special was good, I'll go with that for now."

She paused with a look of shock for a moment before shifting back to her smile. "I dont normally say this, but that special is quite expensive.. I'd hate to see such a good lookin' man fall into debt here.." Her concern seemed genuine.

It was a common thing in this era for bars and taverns to not mention the bill of the food and drinks till after they were all finished, so they could catch more people in debt.

If the tabs were left unpaid for too long or the debt couldnt be cleared, then they would either be forced into slavery and sold or forced to work under the tavern in the black markets. Long story short, it was an easy way for bars and taverns to make more money as well as get more people to grow their power in the underworld. (in black markets)

"Money isn't an issue for me, but thank you for your concern." I gave her a warm smile seeing her concern.

Her cheeks immediately became a bit rosy. "Ho~ Well, I'll bring out your food, young lord." She winked as she gave an exaggerated bow.

As she walked away, the young man sitting behind me tapped me on my shoulder.

"Hm?" I glanced back and saw a young, blonde adventurer with donning white and gold armor.

"To think you managed to make the Pirate Queen flustered." He looked like a stereotypical isekai hero character, the type to get summoned to kill some demon lord and save a princess. A Prince Charming of sorts.

I managed to overlook his out of place looks though. "Who’s the Pirate Queen?" -The waitress?-

"Haha, you must be new in these parts. She's pretty famous around here for constantly breaking the hearts of guys that hit on her." He glanced over at her as she walked into the back room.

"Why is she called the Pirate Queen?"

He quickly turned back to me. "Her father is the leader of a massive pirate group around here known as 'The Skulls'. They're a ridiculously strong bunch with unimaginable strength and influence, but as long as you don't mess with them, they won't mess with you."

"Thanks for the warning. So how's life around here?"

We continued to talk for a while after that, about anything from some of his adventures to how it was to live in the cities around Elynnor.

From the sounds of his stories, Elynnor seemed to give its satellite cities tons of freedom when it came to their laws and regulations as Springarrow was not only the cleanest but was just simply the best to live it by far.

Springarrow was what he called 'an adventurer city' where nearly all of the population was adventurers as well. This made it so there weren't really anything that could truly be compared to the slums in other cities and capitals.

It was an amazing conversation and I learned quite a lot, but once the food came, I remembered why I was here.

-Oh.. my.. goodness..- The food had completely filled the table and looked absolutely divine.

"Wow, someone actually had the balls to order the Pirates special?" There was commotion around the tavern but I didn't pay attention to it.

I wasted no time and quickly dug into the food.

The good atmosphere, good music, and good food made for a wonderful experience. The alcohol was also not super strong and tasted sweet and fruity.

"Haahh.." I let out a satisfied breath as I finished off the mug of cooled alcohol. -Making it cold was a game changer..-

"Would you like a refill on that drink sir?" A man that looked like a waiter walked up.

"Sure!" I leaned back a bit to let him refill the drink. "Thanks!" As soon as I took a sip, I noticed the smell was vastly different and instead of tasting fruity sweetness, it was more sour.

It only took a second for me to realize what it was. -Poison..-

I paused my sip and scanned the room to notice the guy I thought was a waiter had sat down at a table and blended in with the crowd.

After a second of thinking what to do, I tilted up the glass and threw the alcohol down.

-It honestly doesn't even taste that bad.. the sourness is actually kinda nice..-

As I slammed down the empty mug, the man who gave me the refill wore a greedy smile.

As the day passed though, along with the food on my table his greedy smile steadily disappeared.

It was a great night, I struck up conversations with the people at neighboring tables and ended up talking to them until late in the night.

It was honestly a blast to just talk and have fun with everyone, some of them even turned out to be some big name adventurers as well.

"Well, I think it's time we get going." A beautiful elf woman I was talking to slowly picked up her dead-drunk boyfriend.

"Haha, no worries. It was good talking to you!" I gave a small wave as she walked out the door.

"Sir, would you li-" *Bonk* *Thud*

I smacked the 'waiter' in the head with my wooden mug, knocking him out as he offered me poisoned alcohol for the 7th time tonight. "How have you not noticed that not only alcohol, but also that weak ass poison does nothing to me.." I looked down at him with a look of disbelief.

-I guess I should thank him for the free drinks though..- I glanced over at Ilios who was by my feet. “Did you get enough to eat, Ilios?”

His tail was wagging as he gave me a light nod before he rolled over.

“Haha, good.” I leaned back in my chair with a look of satisfaction. -That was some good food..-