The Great Maid

In this tavern we don’t receive many people, mostly beggars and others passing through to the city itself. On several occasions we have adventurers, some are more regular than others. Perhaps the ones that don’t show up found somewhere better or died, and my boss believes the latter. This place wasn’t all that fancy but had what you need. Chairs that held your weight, mead that went down formidably well, and when we were fancy, some wine that tasted like grapes mixed with mud. With respect our food, we were more than fine, our cook Lydia was a big burly woman that had enough of big city taverns with asshole people that thought that if the chicken didn’t have enough salt that meant you committed a crime, and he was entitled to hit you or slap off your clothing. She was quiet, but as you might expect very strong, and cooked a mean stew. I guess at one point in her life she was herself an adventurer, we don’t know for sure. Nobody had a problem with her, as if you wanted to fight the big ass woman that was about to feed you some real food after several days.

Richard, our boss, was the one in charge of the bar, an old man that has never touched a sword or altercation in his life but had the charisma of a bard. Maybe got tired of singing in taverns and figured owning one was more lucrative. Never heard him sing though. Maybe that’s why he became an owner, shitty vocalist. For everything else, they have me, the maid.

My life has only consisted of none other than being the daughter of a farmer and serving tables. I’ve only been to the city once or twice but I know for a fact that there are many more cities out there, more colorful, with interesting people, which for me seems more like a distant dream. I can barely read, only the words of the tavern’s menu, so my biggest excitement comes from travelers that stop here and start telling their stories from the land. I’d really like to go out and have adventures like them, getting to know the world, having weird encounters, fighting, whatever I want. I know it’s not as glamorous nor easy as it sounds, adventuring, but being a maid for the rest of my life is honestly not appealing to me.

Of all the people that pass through here, there’s one traveler that always comes here and haves a couple of drinks before hitting the city to complete bounties with the King, or some kind of quest. Many do, but he’s of the few that somehow always managed to come out alive. His name was Magni. Medium height, husky, a chunky beard and barely hair in his head. Does not speak a lot, but when he does, I find him funny. Don’t get me wrong, he’s dumb as a tree though, almost every weird story he has told me can be traced back to the same bases: either his curiousness got the better of him or not reading the room right. Apparently, once he fell into a river and got lost for two days, all because he thought he could jump to the other side, like he saw a centaur do. I thoroughly believe if this man wasn’t strong, he would’ve been dead within the first week of adventuring. I like him.

Today we needed to do a spice run, and because I don’t know the spices and we can’t afford to be without a cook, the boss was out. It was a heavy day for me, because now I needed to tend both the tables and the bar. Noticing I was the only one on the floor, a couple of good for nothing beggars tried their luck with me. At one point some travelling merchant had one too many drinks and tried to get physical. I tried stopping him, but he only held tighter. With one swift movement, I decided to put the bar at a loss and hit him in the face with a recently served pint. He got back.

“You wench. I will make sure not even yourself can recognize your face in the mirror” He screamed at me with blood coming from his head. Everyone else stopped having conversations and darted their looks to the loud hit coming from the front left.

Lydia heard the comment coming from the merchant and stopped cooking to come forth, with footsteps so heavy they could be heard creaking through the whole place. She gave a look to the merchant, and he stopped on his tracks.

“Why don’t you get back into the kitchen you big bitch? Not even the beggars would try to be with you, even if you paid THEM.” He said, deciding not even gods could kill him.

“I will give you One opportunity to stop all this and go.” She told him slowly and confidently.

“Or what? You’re just a good for nothing cook. The whorehouse has better meat.” He said back to her standing his ground, alone. Apparently, he was new around here.

With a deadly move, Lydia darted forth and slapped the man with the backhand. The merchant’s face showed signs of recoil as he dropped down. She grabbed him up and threw him out the tavern.

“Thank you, Lydia. I’m sorry you always had to deal with this type of thing. Wish I could help you.” I told her to dust my clothing.

“Hey, don’t sweat it. I understand the situation. Been there. Plus, the usuals love it” she said smiling while some of the drinkers laughed at the man, and other lowered their eyes in cowardice.

Just as dusk came around, Magni arrived. When he usually got here, he was a little bit more than an hour, then he went on with his life. We chatted up a little bit, perhaps a story here and there, and nothing more. Today, however, stayed longer than usual. As the night started to fall, there were less and less people inside. I noticed he started to become talkative, to the point of me invertedly starting to drink with him.

“You’re dumb as an ox, you know that?” I said as I passed through him to clean a table up ahead. I just realized we were the only two here.

“Yeah? Says the maid that for some reason started to drink with an adventurer, knowing she can’t hold her liquor?” He called back, looking directly into my eyes.

“Drinking? I’m not drinking here sir. Stop spreading lies.” I answered smiling, losing my balance picking up empty cups. As I finished cleaning up and delivering cups, I was going to his table when Lydia held me by the arm back. “I’m about to go home. Do you want me to deal with him? We need to close.”

“Hey. Don’t worry about him. He’s nice and I think something’s wrong. He never stays long.” I answered managing my balance.

“Okay. Don’t be dumb please. I’ll stay a little longer” Lydia answered. “Let me cook something up from what is left of the day.”

I went to sit down in front of him, and we started to talk. Drink by drink, he opened up talking and making me laugh. Inside all I could think was how nervous my body felt talking to him so close for a longer time than usual. What could be troubling him so much? Why is he here right now? Why am I the one that must help him?

“This is the longest time you’ve been here ever. Why?” I couldn’t contain myself from asking.

“A man cannot enjoy the presence of a beautiful woman?” He answered quickly, like a swift cut to the cheek. I felt a warm tickling on my stomach.

“Well, I mean sure, but you can enjoy the presence of a beautiful woman while still having some thoughts that trouble you.” I told him while I took another swig of beer.

“That makes sense, but what if I don’t want to tell you? Will it kill you to not know why a man such as myself would be here?” I was wrong then?

We kept talking and drinking. Lydia passed through and left some pieces of chicken on the table and went away, leaving me with Magni drinking. Talking slowly became flirting, to the point I didn’t even recognize myself.

“Will you fill my cup with beer for me?” Magni said, leaving the cup empty once again. I lost count of the drinks we had already.

“Oh, I’ll give you something, you’ll be the one doing the filling though” This was the point I knew I was drunk beyond helping. I have never uttered a string of words like the ones this second. How did I even come up with that on the spot?

Luckily, it didn’t escalate any more than that. He just started laughing, then it gradually went away.

“Look. You’re a pretty woman. I like you but I just wanted to enjoy one last day on my terms.” he said, looking down with a smile on his face.

“Wh..what do you mean by that” Are you dying?” I answered trying to maintain my balance on the chairs. I said they held weight. But efficiently? That’s a whole another story apparently.

“… The truth is there’s this quest I took to find a pair of bracelets. As the legend goes, they were made long ago in a faraway land, deep into the east, where they have the power of making the life of the two users be shared, stronger than any singular person. If the king’s mage is correct, two people share a magical bond where life can be given or taken, strengthen or weaken. Usually, I look at things in a more positive light, but this one is different. I feel it. A real, nearly impossible success.” He explained.

I didn’t know what to say. So many times, I’ve heard him talking about adventures, dumb mistakes, gambling victories... this is the first time he’s been nervous around me. Didn’t think it was possible. “..I have got to say that I cannot really help you. I’ve never gotten farther than the city, much less fought. The cook is the one that have done so for me here all these years. Sounds like a very hard situation, and I wish I could do better to make your feelings get easier.” I added. He laughed a bit, took a big swig of the mug he had and slowly faded the smile. This man was staring death into the eyes and drank. “I’m sorry I bought the mood down. No worries. As always, I’ll do the best effort to make it back in one piece.”

I thought I’d bring up the mood a bit, taking as big of a swig as him, and got closer. “What I can do however, is offer some kind of motivation” My mouth continued.

“Yeah?” He laughed nervously, trying to also keep balance. “And what’s that?”

“Well, if you manage to not only get the bracelets but also bring me some kind of gift from this faraway land, I’ll be your personal adventuring maid” I added, while finally losing the battle with balance and falling over to the table.

He laughed, and then looked directly at my eyes. “Are you conscious enough to give me your word and shake my hand on it?”

“Oh, sure… pretty boy” I barely got up to shake his hand “It’s…a deal.” losing completely the war with drunkenness and falling asleep.