The thirty-year-old man stepped out into the crowd. He acted like he was very relaxed and familiar with the area as he fiddled with the five copper coins in his hand. The money was from selling the firewood he had collected before he killed a rider and a wyvern.
He looked indifferent even if that afternoon people were crowding while looking at some flyers posted by a soldier on a bulletin board.
Nothing special there, he thought. Except, for a few pieces of information about people disappearing with their riding animals recently, or the increasing need for prostitutes in the four living lands.
The man grinned. "And tomorrow," he muttered inaudibly, "there will be another picture there!" He laughed softly, almost silently.
His steps suddenly stopped, and a little girl of the age of nine appeared out of nowhere and seemed to deliberately block the man with a sharp gaze.
The man snorted, then said, "What do you want?" he asked with his hands on his hips and an air of nonchalance.
The little girl raised her right palm. The man frowned. The little girl got closer by waving her right hand in such a way.
"Damned!" The man snorted louder. "Why are there more and more beggars here lately? This sucks, really-really sucks!"
But the little girl seemed to ignore the man's complaints and annoyance, instead, she drew closer to him with her palms still facing out.
"Argh!" Even though he was annoyed, the man still gave a coin to the little girl. "Don't come near me again. Go far away, little tramp!"
The little girl smiled faintly as she looked at the single copper coin in her palm. She still stood in her position, then looked at the man who left her there and went to a shop that sold food.
The man approached another man who was the son of the tavern owner.
He patted the table in front of a man the same age as him and put the four coins he had on the table.
"What can I get with four coins?" he said. "Well, other than a cup of redbrew?"
The man in question chuckled as he nodded and folded his arms across his chest. Then he looked at the four coins in front of him, then at the arrogant man himself.
"Two slices of bacon," he replied. "Happy now?"
The arrogant man laughed silently, nodded, then pointed back, at an empty table.
"Just take it there, OK?"
The tavern owner's son chuckled. "Tell me, aren't you tired of being a firewood collector, Vir?"
The man named Vir only grinned while brushing aside, he immediately stepped towards an empty table.
The tavern owner's son smiled broadly and shook his head while picking up the four coins on the table in front of him.
Vir sat with his back against the wall, one leg raised on a long wooden bench, his gaze fixed on the people passing by, or on the people who were still crowding the notice board there.
He grinned again, and muttered, "You fools! Don't you guys have any other work, huh?"
"It's not like they don't have a job."
Vir turned, the tavern owner's son was already beside his table with a large cup of drink, and two slices of bacon on an earthenware plate.
He served the food and drink for Vir.
"Don't tell me—"
The tavern owner's son chuckled. "That's what I meant."
"Yeah, right!" Vir snorted, grabbed the wooden cup containing the red liquid, and gulped down enough of it to drip from the corners of his lips.
"No harm, right?"
"I'm not a soldier," replied Vir with lips and chin wet with red liquid. "Nor a rider."
The tavern owner's son just laughed.
"I'm just giving you a reason so you can earn better money than just being a firewood collector," he said and folded his arms back over his chest, looking Vir up and down. "You can apply to be a royal servant. You know, I heard that the Southern Kingdom needs many servants."
"What's so good about being a servant, huh?" Vir took another sip of the red drink with a frown. "Your life will be constrained, man. You have to do this, do that. Tch! All must follow the orders of others. That's really, really annoying!"
"You think so?"
"I like freedom, man. Wherever I go, I don't have to report or ask permission from one person to another. That is pathetic as hell! Being free as a flying bird, that's much better."
"Yea, yea… Whatever you said, man." The man was laughing while shaking his head, then he walked away from Vir to return behind his desk to serve two or three customers who had just entered his tavern.
"Become a servant, huh?" Vir muttered to himself and smirked. "Tch! Like hell, I won't do that!"
And when he was about to eat a slice of smoked meat, the corner of his eye caught a figure who suddenly stood beside him.
Vir stared, it was the same girl, the little girl who had been begging him for a coin.
"What else do you want, huh?" Vir snorted again with a scrunched-up face. "Tch, you little beggar, just stay away!" he said, ducking his body so that his face was closer to the little tramp's face. Then he whispered, "Or the people who were eating there will kick your ass. I just feel sorry for you. Now, off you go!"
After saying that, Vir put a slice of bacon into his mouth. While munching on his food, his gaze returned to the little girl who just stood still looking at him.
"My God," he said, pointing at the little girl. "You stubborn little bastard!"
Despite speaking harshly to the little girl, Vir actually gave her the last slice of bacon on a plate.
"Take it!" he said. "You make my appetite disappear, you annoying brat!"
From his standing position, the son of the tavern owner smiled broadly, watching Vir who gave his food to the little beggar. He shook his head again with a good thought about Vir, despite the rude and arrogant attitude of the man.
The little girl sat on the same bench as Vir, she had quite a hard time biting into the bacon.
"Hey, hey!" Vir protested a little with what the little girl was doing. "Who told you to sit near me, huh?"
Actually, he just doesn't want other visitors to yell at him or rough him up, it's that simple.
But the little girl didn't seem to care at all, and Vir could only growl, leaning his back against the wall again, and massaging his head.
"You damn little girl!"
The little girl glanced at Vir, then smiled broadly with her mouth full. Even her eyes were almost completely closed when she smiled like that.
"Tch!" Vir snorted again, reached for his wooden cup, and downed more of the red liquid.
The little girl watched Vir who took a sip of his drink, the red liquid rolled down his chin, down his neck, and wet his chest again.
"What are you looking at, huh?
Vir noticed the little girl's gaze, he let out a heavy and long sigh, then put the cup on the table.
"You damn little one, don't you hope!" he said, then glanced at the little girl out of the corner of his eye. "You are still too young to be able to enjoy this drink!"
The little girl grinned with a chuckle.
Vir frowned. "What are you laughing at? You damn little girl!"
"What's so good about redbrew?"
"Oh, you little bastard!" Vir grinned broadly as he stared intently at the dirty face in front of him. "Now you can talk, huh? And you little brat, don't you dare make fun of me!"