Section 4. Forced to enjoy vacation

"Oh, beautiful morning, good morning, dear Aunt Susan."

Annan stood in the sun and bowed to greet Aunt Susan who was busy in the yard.

"Why did he talk like that?" Aunt Susan immediately questioned Martin who was with Annan, "What did you teach him?"

"I didn't teach you anything!"

Martin and Annan said: "None of us talk like that."

"Of course, my friend." Annan imitated the tone and words of the bard last night, "but I can't help but sigh: Aunt Susan, your beauty is like a rose with dew in the morning light."

"I told you that no one would do that—"

"Martin! We must respect Annan's family tradition!" Aunt Susan's glare made Martin shudder. He turned to Annan and became gentle again: "Dear Annan, just do what you like."

"Thank you, dear Aunt Susan."

Aunt Susan, in a good mood, went into the kitchen to heat up the pumpkin pie they brought back last night.

Annan didn't eat much of the pumpkin pie. He broke the brown bread and put it into the rice soup while asking, "Is the pumpkin pie that I got for free delicious?"

"Delicious! Very delicious!" Martin said loudly as he stuffed food into his mouth.

After breakfast, Annan and Martin, who had gradually become accustomed to physical work, continued to chop wood and sell it at the market.

Annan wanted to help Martin carry part of the load, but Martin refused, saying it was easy for him and boasting about his previous experience as a miner.

"When I was a miner, I used to carry a hundred pounds of ..."

As expected, the words were mixed with many terms that Annan had never heard of.

Arriving at the bustling market, Martin was selling firewood while Annan was wandering around, talking to the vendors to practice his spoken English.

"How much does the shirt cost?"

However, he only asked and never bought anything. Occasionally, he would point at words and ask what they meant, which attracted some strange looks.

Annan didn't care what these locals, who would have little contact with him in the future, thought of him. When he returned to Martin a short while later, he had sold all the firewood and was waiting for Annan to come back.

On the way back, they passed a library - it was incredible that there was a library in this remote town. Martin said that it was an old man who insisted on doing so, and there were almost no visitors.

Building a library is a beautiful vision, but doing so in a town where the literacy rate is less than 1% will only make the townspeople think "There is a library in my town!" and make passing caravans sigh "How can such a poor place have a library?"

Listening to Martin chattering beside him, Annan suddenly saw a familiar figure walking into the bookstore.

Their boss

Fast is a rough and strong man, with a rapier at his waist that he never leaves. He doesn't look like a man who likes to read.

Martin didn't see his boss, still staring at the young woman choosing clothes in the window of the clothing store across the street.

After returning to Aunt Susan's house, Annan's life did not change much in the next few days, except that he learned more and more common language from the bard.

Beginning with the gentle music of the bard, Annan began his seventh day of work.

There weren't many guests today, and the relative silence allowed the bard's voice to be heard clearly, save for Martin's muttering that "there's no food to take back today."

Fast leaned against the wooden pillar beside the counter, acting like both the boss and the guard. Annan, Martin and Evelyn huddled behind the counter, occasionally busying themselves when customers came or walked by.

"Annan."

Mr. Fast pushed a glass of juice to him and pointed to the lady sitting in the last seat: "Send it over."

Annan, ready to become a joke again, reluctantly picked up his glass and walked to the table, defending himself with fancy words: "Beautiful lady, I wish you a good night."

"Do you think I'm still a lady?" The teasing came as expected.

But Annan is really working hard these days.

"Your beauty and fair complexion are like..." Annan sorted out the words he had heard from the bard: "a flower bud that has not yet bloomed."

The lady chuckled frivolously, her full chest rippling, and Annan looked firmly into her narrow eyes.

As a reward for Annan's praise and for not glancing around, the lady took out a coin, which fell into Annan's hand both softly and hard at the same time.

A silver coin, worth a week's salary, gleamed in the light of the oil lamp.

There aren't many rich people in town.

Drunkards don't waste money on anything other than beer. So Annan soon realized that the "tips" promised by Mr. Fast were just a trap after he joined the company. Martin, who had worked here for almost half a year, received less than enough tips to buy a glass of rye.

"Your generosity is as pure as the lily."

There are no secrets in the tavern. Annan returned to the counter amid the sound of strange whistles.

Knock knock——

Mr. Fast knocked on the counter and looked around the tavern. The unruly guests shut up honestly. Then he reminded Annan in a low voice: "Listen, kid, I am your boss, and the lady of wine is your big boss."

"Did I do something wrong?" Annan thought his praise had gone beyond the rules.

"I mean..." Mr. Fast gave a meaningful smile, "If you really have the ability, why don't you try to be the wife of a big boss?"

Soon after, it was late at night and the soothing sound of piano filled the tavern.

"Evelyn, give me a glass of rye, please."

The wine lady had long since left, and Annan, as usual, consulted the bard over a glass of the cheapest beer.

But today Annan was not satisfied with this, he asked questions about magic.

"You want to be a magician?"

"certainly."

The bard looked at Annan. If Martin had asked him that, he would have asked him to get out long ago.

"If you want to become a magician, you must first test your qualifications. The price is one gold nar."

Generally speaking, one gold nar is stable at a ratio of one hundred silver coins and ten thousand copper coins.

Annan now has one silver coin and thirteen copper coins.

He is only 98.87% away from qualifying for the test.

…

At 12 o'clock midnight, the Morning Tavern closes.

Mr. Fast returned to Evelyn, who was wiping the counter with a rag, and began to pay Annan and Martin this week's salary: 1 silver coin and 70 copper coins. Evelyn's salary was 1 silver coin and 50 copper coins.

"Why does Evelyn make more than all of us combined?" Martin saw Evelyn's salary for the first time.

"I'll give you 50 copper coins and you'll give me 70 copper coins, okay? Why do you think those drunks wanted Evelyn to send them wine?"

Martin understood Mr. Fast's meaning faster than ever before.

After paying the salaries, Mr. Fast took off his rapier and threw it on the counter: "Put it away properly. You don't have to come tomorrow."

Martin and Evelyn were used to it.

"Boss, are you going into the city again?" Evelyn picked up the rapier and wiped the blade with the rag that had just been used to wipe the table.

"Well, come back in seven days." Fast threw the purse to the bard with a pleasant "rustling" sound.

"What bad luck! I can sense that there will be new changes to my profession soon," the bard complained.

Annan was unwilling to face the fact that he was temporarily unemployed when he needed money the most.