Not long after leaving the church Liora had led Noah and Caina through Redle, bringing them to a relatively modern—for the medieval esque word that was Morea—tavern and bought for themselves two rooms for that night.
The tavern itself was quite large when compared the Banshee's Bellow back in Alder. Taking up a full two stories and fitted quite well with the wooden, rustic feeling that most the village held. Though it had on its lowest floor rough brickwork for walls that kept the warmth of the fireplace nestled comfortably around the building.
"God I wish I'd found this place first," Caina said the moment they entered the place bustling with mostly women and the odd elderly man or mercenary.
'It is still weird thinking all the men are at war.' Noah mused catching a few curt glances from the chattering women and a few envious glares from the healthy young merc's as he'd walked in with two beautiful women.
Scratching at the back of his neck, Noah and the girls walked deeper into the tavern, arriving by the bar where a tall, orc of a man was stood polishing tankards. The man seemed to be quite young compared to the other men around, more within the range of the merc's dotted about. He had a thick beard and moustache that twirled at the ends but most noticeably was the large scar taking over the right side of his head and the dark eyepatch over his eye.
Tilting a cold, hallowed eye up from his tankard to scan over the three newcomers. First landing on Noah sending powerful jolts of fear coursing through him as the man's eyes portrayed something Noah wished he would never encounter in another man.
Desire.
When moving onto Caina the orc's gaze softened to a kinder tone and when moving onto Liora he paused completely. Eye widening in disbelief before his lips curled up into a toothy grin.
Slamming down his tankard as Liora's expression also brightened, he bellowed, "Liora! Damn is it good to see you!" he leaned onto the bar right as she and her followers arrived by it. "How are you doing sister?"
'Sister?' Noah thought.
Liora chuckled but soon fell into a solemn frown, "I've been better. The last few days have been a bit of struggle, but I'm okay for now." She reached for her dully aching arm and gently squeezed it. Flinching at the pain.
The man noted her pain and frowned, "what's wrong, are you hurt?"
Loosening her grip and pulling her hand away, she lowered her head avoiding the man's sharp eyes. "A bit. I did something really stupid Haggar." Liora tightened her grip on her arm, ignoring the pounding pain as the now named Haggar's expression turned worried, "I'm just lucky Noah was there to save me when it happened."
Haggar's eye turned half lidded and looked to the only male of the three, locking with Noah's emerald's and spoke directly to him. "You're Noah I'm guessing?" barely waiting for Noah to even make a noise of confirmation as he didn't need it to know it, "I don't know what Liora did and I'm not sure I want to, but whatever it was, thank you for keeping her alive."
"No problem," Noah replied trembling as the man's gaze turned more fervent, 'keep your attention on her you gorilla. I do not swing that way,' he uttered not a word, fearful that angering the man may lead to him being ripped in half, or worse.
"Right, I should probably introduce everyone," Liora turned halfway and began the introduction. "Haggar, this is Noah, he's staying at the farm for a while."
"Good to meet you," Haggar licked his lips like a predator ready to pounce.
"Uh, ri-right back at ya." Noah's inched away from the bar, putting Caina between himself and the unabashedly 'hunting' older man.
Moving a hand to Caina, Liora introduced her, "and this is Caina. She's the healer from Alder. She fixed me up proper and was accidentally engaged to Noah yesterday."
Haggar paused, eye blinking between Noah and Caina with a hint of sorrow that his flower's already been plucked. "Well now, only way I know you healers ever get engaged is with those penis toys you all seem infatuated by."
"We are not infatuated by 'penis toys,' they're meant to be gifts of love with Ascleminia's blessing molded to connect her children with their loved ones even over long distances," Caina huffed a slight redness to her cheeks.
"Yeah, I'm sure you all ain't just fond of diddling something because you're bored and stressed out."
Caina visibly flinched at the sheer accuracy of Haggar's jab.
"Anywho, Name's Haggar. Liora's unrelated brother. We've known eachother since my ma killed her pa and her pa killed my pa."
A unison of four eyes blinked. "I'm sorry, what?" and two voices spoke as one.
"Long story short, my dad was a soldier for the royal family and while escorting the then princess Fayne Morea, Haggar's dad who was the leader of a bandit tribe decided to attack the carriage but died while fighting my father. Years later, Haggar's mom found out my dad was still alive and ended up killing him after seducing him into cheating on my mom. When mom got home she found Haggar's mom covered in blood and mom, being who she was, decided not to turn her into the guard and ended up basically adopting her and Haggar into our family. That was when we were, oh, I don't know, five?"
"I was ten, you were five. You clung to me like a slime to rotting flesh."
'That is not a pleasant idiom,' Noah though but quickly got himself back on track. "Why would your mother just adopt the person who killed her husband?"
"Oh my dad was cheating on her with half the maid staff and was repeatedly heading into the stables to have sex with the centaurs which lead him into heading to the church to get himself cleansed and would repeatedly do that about five days a week when he wasn't being sent out to deal with some monster or bandit camp." Liora said in one lengthy, unbroken sentence.
Noah had seen the meme back on his homeworld, the blinking white guy one with the guy who took a double take. Because Noah felt exactly like that meme at the moment.
"Ignoring the infidelity," which he was still getting conflicting vibes about considering how nonchalantly Liora took her own husband yearning to sleep with a wolfgirl, "I thought Artemia frowned on having… sex, with monsters?" he was still getting used to the openness of this world but was slowly coming to accept it and absorb their nonchalance.
"Oh, she does. Father was disavowed by the church, grandma, granpa, uncle, auntie and just about anyone you can think of."
"And he still did it? Wouldn't that look bad for a soldier of the royal family?"
"It did. He was disavowed by them as well. So he never got a title higher than Baron."
It took a bit of processing for Noah to thoroughly process everything before his mind ticked and skidded to a halt, "wait, your dad's a baron? So doesn't that make you a noble?"
She shrugged, "Not really. Mom took over the title after dad died. When she die's it'll be annulled and moms territory will be granted to a new baron."
"Then…" a thought fizzed past, "couldn't you ask for her help to keep the farm?"
Liora snorted and shook her head, "heaven's no. When I married Harv mom basically kicked me out of the family, told me to 'return when you gotten your head out of your ass and leave that fool of a man'."
"But Harv's… gone, now. So, doesn't that mean you could go back to her and ask for her help?"
Liora paused, both physically and mentally. He wasn't wrong, but there was still something, a feeling that doing so was wrong.
"I… didn't think about that," Liora mumbled, a speak of hope rising in her eyes that was quickly doused, "but… knowing her, she'll want something in return."
"Her daughter coming home isn't enough?"
"Good god no," Haggar chortled, "Ms. Ginsberg ain't that type of woman. She loves Liora, but she ain't an angel. Unless that lands got some type of worth to it, she ain't going to do anything but watch on the sidelines."
Liora's expression darkened and Haggar pulled out a bottle of red liquid from behind the counter, swiftly pouring it out into four flaggon's.
"That bring's me onto something else," Haggar looked to Liora, pushing the flagon across the heavy mahogany bar towards the three, "the hells happening to the farm?"