Cesar finished his shift at eight o'clock at night, at that time, because Summer was already arriving, there was still sun. The boy took the path that led to the right and when he reached the entrance of the two houses that were in that place, he tried to enter the one to the left of him, however, it was closed, which surprised the guard.
Cesar, went back to the fork, and then headed towards the town hall, the receptionist was locking the building, while the rest of the inhabitants filled the town square to go to their remaining homes, or in the case of some to go to the bar
"Maber, have you seen a five-foot-seven-something guy with short black hair?" Cesar asked, after approaching the town hall receptionist.
"You mean Morgja?" The woman asked to make sure it wasn't some other visitor entering the town that the guard had to find at all costs.
"Yes, he came for the job as guard. Has he succeeded?"
"That's why you should come to the town meetings, you should know that it was decided that a third guard would not be hired," the woman explained, after breathing hard because of the boy's ignorance of the issues that involved the whole town.
"Really? And I thought I was going to have a co-worker" exclaimed the boy, disappointed by the news.
"You already have Taley, and she at least doesn't leave her job unless it's necessary during her shift," the woman replied, giving him a piercing look that clearly berated him for his activities during his work hours.
"That's because... It doesn't matter, the point is that Taley completely ignores me, she just does her job and goes home, I'd like to at least have someone to go out for drinks with or talk to from time to time during the rounds.
"That is, neglecting your work," the woman said, reinterpreting what the boy meant.
"That's no..."
"What am I going to do with you?" She then exclaimed, interrupting Cesar, somewhat disappointed by the boy's behavior. "I'm not sure, but Morgja may be at the inn, I told him that on Sunday I'm going to try to get everyone to reconsider having a third guard and hire him".
"Really!? You're the best!"
Cesar gave the woman a kiss on the cheek, and then he quickly went towards the inn without waiting for the woman to discover anything back, in less than a minute, the boy had reached the entrance of the inn and arrived at in a hurry, upsetting a girl, who at the time was the receptionist.
The new receptionist was a young girl who had recently reached marriageable age, her light blue gaze was pure and innocent, similar to that of a child, her white hair was tied at the sides by two strips of cloth tied in a loop; In each of her ears was a moon-shaped earring and she was wearing a sleeveless black dress with a small opening on the chest and sleeves attached by small belts to her upper arm.
The new receptionist didn't say anything at first, but as soon as she saw that Cesar tried to enter the part of the inn, she got up and stood in front of the guard to stop him passing; when she was standing; Cesar was able to see better the clothes that the girl was wearing; her dress only covered up to the upper part of her thigh, and covering the rest of them she had stockings attached to the inside of her clothes by a couple of strips of cloth that probably were from a garter belt.
"Where do you think you are going?" asked the girl, frowning at Cesar's attempt to violate the rules of the premises.
"I'm going to see a friend, he's staying here," the guard replied, trying to get to the inn, even though the girl was trying to block him with her small body.
"There's only one guest today, and Wilna told me she's never seen him before, so I doubt he's your friend," the girl commented, continuing her insistence that the boy not pass, resisting as much as she could the little bit force Cesar was exerting in order to pass through it.
"Well, we've talked for five or ten minutes, but he's going to be the next town guard, so I'm sure we're going to be besties" he explained, passing, finally to the inn area and starting to climb the stairs as the girl led him on. follow to prevent you from disturbing your guest.
Cesar entered Morgja's room without knocking on the door, the boy was still asleep, so the guard called for him to try to wake him up, at which point the receptionist arrived to try and stop him, at that moment, the girl had given up on try to stop him using force, since it was useless, and she was trying with words, which Cesar ignored as he approached Morgja to try to wake him up from close range. Cesar was going to slap Morgja, but before he could touch him, Morgja woke up and grabbed his arm, then placed his left leg on the guard's neck and his right leg on Cesar's back, keeping the arm of Cesar among his legs; Before Cesar could say anything, Morgja placed his left hand under the guard's elbow and began to press down while his right hand pushed Cesar's forearm up.
"Stop, stop!" The guard yelled, because of the pain that Morgja was causing him. Though he had only heard him on the way to Town Hall, Morgja recognized Cesar's voice and stopped, letting go the guard's arm. "Man, you almost broke my arm," he exclaimed, moving it to try and ease the pain he still felt in his limb.
An uncomfortable silence invaded the room, Morgja was waiting for Cesar to say something, but in turn, Cesar was waiting to hear a comment from Morgja for having broken into his room while he was sleeping; On the other hand, the receptionist did not know if it would be good to get involved or not, for fear that her guest would be angry with her for having allowed what he considered a stranger to enter his room and try to wake him up by slapping him. . Finally, the receptionist approached the two boys, and she apologized to Morgja for letting Cesar wake him up.
"It's okay," the boy answered, trying to make the girl see that he wasn't angry. "Well what did you want?" he asked, looking back at the guard.
"Since you're going to be the new town guard, I thought I could show you around the town and introduce you to the inhabitants, well, whoever I can, probably many of them are already in their homes," the guard explained, maintaining a smile that indicated that he had assumed that Morgja was going to be hired after their meeting in two days.
"You've said it before, but I thought it was an excuse to come here. Is it true that he's going to be a new town guard?" I thought it had been decided not to hire any more," the receptionist asked, confused by the difference between what she had understood at the last meeting the townspeople had had and what Cesar was saying.
"Yeah, well, Maber said he's going to try to convince everyone to hire him, so I'm sure we'll end up being co-workers and great friends," the guard replied, while he continued to smile. "Well, since we're here, I'll take the opportunity to introduce her," he said, looking at Morgja. "She is the prodigy of the town, she goes to a magic academy that is in a city two hours from here, it is not private but she is still very good, her name is Elfle, and she owns this inn, although she only works in the afternoons from Monday to Friday and on Saturdays and Sundays all day".
"So you're the smartest in town?" Morgja asked, trying to discover if that was why the guard called her the town's prodigy.
"What? No, well, it is true that I got honors in all my subjects, but the truth is that it is because I study a lot, although of course, if we base ourselves only on that, I suppose that it can be said that I am the most intelligent in town" the girl answered, puffing out her chest with pride, the truth was that the girl had a very high regard for her intelligence and in fact she did consider herself the most intelligent in town, although whenever someone mentioned that she was, she behaved in a humble way and sometimes even denied it.
"Although, now that Morgja is going to be part of the town, he'll probably take your title away, he's from the capital, so I'm sure he's very smart," the guard commented. Elfle immediately bristled at the comment and scowled at what she considered her new challenger for the title of most intelligent person.
"No way, I'm not smart, I only finished the studies for which the lackers are qualified, and I couldn't even pass the B" commented the boy, after feeling threatened by the way Elfle was looking at him.
"Ah, I see," the relieved girl exclaimed, feeling like the smartest person in the whole town again. "In that case, if you ever need help with something or have any questions, you can ask me".
"I'll keep that in mind," Morgja replied, rising to his feet. "Okay Cesar, come on".
Hearing that Morgja would go with him without complaint, the guard smiled broadly again and began to walk out of the room; Morgja followed him but before he could walk out the door Elfle grabbed his shirt sleeve stopping him.
"What's going on?"
"Wilna told me you're staying with food included, remember to stop by the tavern before ten o'clock, or else the chef will leave and I'll have to cook your dinner," Elfle replied, in a way that implied that for she was a pain to cook; The girl kept her eyes fixed on the ground, and she could see how her cheeks were slightly red.
"I'll keep that in mind," Morgja replied, causing Elfle to let go of his sleeve, finally letting him go with Cesar to see the rest of the town and meet its people. "What was that?" he asked, as soon as they left the inn, so that Elfle wouldn't hear that he hadn't understood half of what she had told him.
"You see, I'll put it this way, the last time Elfle cooked for someone that person ended in the hospital, I'm sure she knows her cooking is horrible and she doesn't want to force anyone to eat it, but she also doesn't want to let anyone that paid for it without dinner," the guard explained, walking toward the shop across the street from the inn. "Honestly, I think the best thing would be to ignore it completely, I mean, she has already been reporting the time at which the chef leaves, if people do not pay attention to her and do not arrive on time, it is his fault —he commented to then attacking the girl's decision to try to prepare food for those who couldn't make it in time for dinner.
'You might as well return the money and apologize,' Morgja suggested as an alternative to what Elfle was doing and Caesar saying he had to do.
"Sure, She could, but why would She do it? When you buy a ticket for the theater do you get your money back if you can't go? Well this is the same, the chef works from 7 to 10 in the morning, from 12 to 3 in the afternoon and from 7 to 10 at night for anyone who wants to eat, whether guests of the inn or customers of the tavern, you are the one who has to adapt to their schedules, not them to you, and if you're not capable, just don't ask for these services" explained the guard, defending his point of view and at the same time, leaving Morgja without arguments to defend his. "Anyway, we have arrived at what we call "The super store", it belongs to Reginleo, he is the richest person in the town, he lives in a huge mansion with his family to the Southwest of the town" explained the boy, pointing to the store, which with difference was the biggest in the whole town. "Here they sell anything that is not sold in the other stores, mainly to avoid interfering with the economic activities of the neighbors, in addition, not only can you buy the things that are in the store, it also has a special service that allows you to order things in concrete, that means, if you want something that is not in the store, you can order it and Reginleo will take care of bringing it to you, although of course, as it is a special service it costs more, but, without a doubt, it is much cheaper than going from city to city looking for it".
"That Reginleo guy seems like quite a merchant," Morgja exclaimed, somewhat surprised by how well Reginleo had set up his business in that town.
"Of course he is, he has even been able to do business with the Nera and the Próvato".
"Really?" The boy asked, his expression completely changing to one of disappointment. "And he still does business with them?"
"No, he did business with them once, and it was enough for him not to want to do it anymore, he said something about how it wasn't worth doing business with people who are blinded by fame and money, we all thought it was stupid, but it's his life and he and his family are the only ones who have a say in that matter" commented the guard, making Morgja's expression return to what it was.
Morgja did not comment on it, and entered the store to check if the owner was attending it at that time, so that he could meet him in person, however, in his place was a girl with green eyes and brown hair tied in a ponytail; the girl, was wearing a white T-shirt and work overalls that had a skirt instead of legs; at that moment, the girl was placing small bags with seeds on a shelf that she barely reached with her height, taking her skirt to the limit of almost exposing what was below it. After seeing her, Cesar immediately went to talk to her, completely forgetting that at that moment he was acting as a guide.
"Hello Jachell, how are you?" the guard asked, leaning on the shelf that was right next to the one the girl was tidying up.
"Busy, you may be done with work, but I'm still at it," the girl replied sullenly, finally placing the last of the seed packets on the shelf.
Cesar followed the girl to the counter, and leaned on it, starting to talk to her, while he did, Morgja dedicated himself to looking at the store; the counter was right at the back of the store and could be seen directly from the entrance, to the right were several empty shelves, next to one that had a couple of books left; The boy was not sure, but he concluded that in that town one of the greatest forms of entertainment was reading, something very different from the capital, where there were only two types of people who read, those who wanted to show off their culture before the others, and the students with no friends, it didn't matter what class they were in. To the left of him were the products such as seeds and animal feed, after seeing the scarce variety of merchandise in the place, the boy had ceased to understand how Reginleo had managed to become the richest man in town.
"Do you only sell books, seeds and animal feed?" Morgja asked, approaching the counter and drawing the attention of the girl, who until then had been frowning at Cesar's insistence on speaking with her.
"N-No, we also get things by order. Do-Do you need something specific?" the girl asked, a little nervous about having to interact with a stranger.
"No, I was just wondering how the owner could be the richest in town, apart from the books I don't see anything that could give him a great benefit," answered the boy, looking around, and seeing that behind the counter the girl had different types of sweets and trinkets for the children, which still did not make a difference in the money that the owner got.
"W-well, you see, the store is what gives him the least money, he has it co-as a location point, l-what really gives him money, are the orders, and the exports, all-all the vendors in town are his suppliers, I think they have something like a 40% agreement for him and 60% for them, it seems little, but you have to keep in mind that while they only earn money from the products they give him, the owner earns it from all products in general, which amounts to twice what the rest earn, not to mention that they don't get the same money for exporting a dozen swords as for exporting a dozen lettuces," answered the girl, calming down as he was talking, until he could address Morgja normally.
"I understand, well, Cesar, are we going to the next place?" the boy asked, moving away from the counter and waiting for the guard to give him an answer.
"What? Already? But we just got here, and I'm pretty sure all the stores are closed right now, and besides, I haven't introduced her to you yet," Cesar commented, trying to stay in the store as long as possible and keep trying to talk to Jachell.
"If all the shops are closed, what was the point of going to wake me up to act as a guide and introduce myself to everyone?" the boy asked, annoyed by the answer the guard had just given him. Before Cesar could reply, Morgja sighed heavily, and went back to the counter so the guard could introduce the girl to him. "Come on, make the introductions".
"This is Jachell, the manager, she manages this store, she takes people's orders and informs Reginleo of what they have in stock, what they need to get, and has the store ever sold different things thanks to her recommendations, the problem is that it was so successful that everyone in the town bought these products and it had to stop being sold because everyone who wanted it already had it" explained the boy. "He is Morgja and he is going to be the..."
Before Cesar finished making the introductions, he began to hear a bell in the distance, alerting the boy and causing him to quickly leave the place with a serious expression on his face and without giving any explanation.
"What's happening?" Morgja asked, not quite understanding what was happening at the time.
"Monsters, and it seems pretty serious, otherwise Taley wouldn't ring the bell to warn that it's dangerous to go outside and ask Cesar for help," the girl explained.