The waitress came out with our food and water. It smelled perfect. Maybe it was partially the hunger talking but I whole-heartedly believe it would still smell delicious no matter my appetite.
I dug into my food and it tasted just as good as it smelled. The Billings Tavern knew how to get their food right. " You enjoying it there?" Georgis asked.
I looked at him, saying, "Yes, I believe this food to be exceptional."
"Indeed it is," Georgis said biting into his turkey leg.
We quickly devoured the food leaving nothing left on our plates. When we were finished, the waitress came back out to take payment. She was a big burly woman with maroon hair tied up on her head. I estimated her to be nearly seven feet tall.
"Your food will be 5 shillings," she told us.
"Alright," Georgis said handing her what looked like bronze-colored pebbles.
"Thank you," she said before turning to another table.
After she left us we were about to head out when Georgis suddenly said, "Before we leave let me introduce you to two blacksmiths who are my friends around here."
"Alright," I said curious to see new people in this strange world.
We shuffled over to another round table near the tavern's back left corner. "Hello John and Aaron," Georgis greeted them happily.
"Hello Georgis," John said looking up from his card game.
John was around the same height and age as Georgis with long, straight white hair and a smile that showed off all his yellowing teeth. He wore a short-sleeved shirt showing off impressive muscles.
"How are you doing Georgis?" asked Aaron. Aaron was younger than John and Georgis with short trimmed brown hair and eyes that seemed to give off a soft glow. His expression was calm and reserved. He also wore a short-sleeved shirt with lean but toned muscles.
"I am doing quite well," Georgis answered him with a smile.
"Good, good," Aaron said with a hearty grin.
"But, good sirs, I did not come to talk about me. I came to talk about him," he said pointing at me standing behind him. "He has come to work for me for a short time."
"Hello," I replied while waving at them. I tried to put on a friendly expression, but I don't know if it was very successful.
"Hello," John greeted.
"How is it going?" Aaron said.
"I am doing fine," I answered to the question. Observing the two men they seemed friendly and very personable. These people seem like they are effortless to get along with.
"So, you are going to do farm work?" Aaron questioned.
"Yes, yes I am," I replied a little uncomfortable with making small talk but still able to do it. For some reason speaking with Georgis felt natural but speaking to these two men in a group felt awkward. Also, I was so unused to it after barely speaking to others casually like this in over a year.
"Well that is good," Aaron said, "So where are you from?"
"I am from a kingdom very far away from here named Ledin," I responded with vigor wanting almost to show a sense of pride in this nation that didn't exist.
"Hmmm, never heard of it," Aaron said stroking his chin.
"No one around here has," I explained. "It is because it is geographically unknown to Melalova."
"That is very interesting," John said jumping in. "How did you get here?"
"I woke up in an apple field very close to this town after going to bed in my cottage in Ledin," I explained to them using my fake tale.
"Well that is indeed quite a strange event, umm what is your name?" John asked.
"Ken," I replied answering his question.
"Well, Ken it is very nice to meet you," John said extending his hand.
"Likewise," I shared shaking it. Aaron also extended his hand so I shook his as well.
With our conversation finished they both turned back to their card game. I saw the look of fear on John's face and the calm face that Aaron was upholding. However, I could sense John was making a deceptive face to deceive Aaron that he had a bad hand. Aaron was putting up a normal poker face but clearly had something nice. Based on these observations I believed John was going to be the winner with a spectacular hand. He wanted to conceal how amazing his hand was to such a great degree he was purposefully flashing a slight grimace as if he couldn't uphold a poker face.
Aaron laid out his hand, "full house," he shouted folding his arms and putting on a smug look. I thought a full house was very impressive but not enough to win. John slowly put on a sly grin dropping his hand.
"Four of a kind," John shouted. He laughed looking at Aaron's confused expression and reveled in the glory of his win.
"But how?" Aaron questioned scratching his head.
"It is because you are playing against a master of cards. I have more years of experience than you have been alive," John explained.
Aaron shook his head and said "I suppose I was completely played this round. You got me with a fake face. I thought you were trying not to grimace but you were doing it on purpose."
"You'll learn one day and then maybe you will beat me," John said slowly breaking out into a toothy grin.
"Yeah yeah," Aaron said a little disappointed but determined to win sometime in the near future.
I saw the scene play out exactly as I imagined it. It was quite entertaining to watch.
"Well, we will be heading out," Georgis said turning to leave.
"Goodbye," both of them said in unison.
I put my hand up to give a little wave at them while turning around and walking out. As me and Georgis exited the building and got hit with the evening breeze. I couldn't help but feel more and more interested in just all the secrets of this world.
Feeling stuffed enough to roll back to the place I will be staying I asked, "Does Billings have a library?"
"Yes, indeed it does," Georgis answered me.
I was glad the town had a library. I made a note to myself that I would go read up about this world tomorrow.
We finally arrived at Georgis's property after about 5 minutes of walking. It had a nice wooden fence around it with a cobblestone path that split into two. One path led to a nice main house while the other led to a small shack farther down from the entrance. The property was shaped in a rectangle-like shape with one large tree in the back right corner of the property. The rest of the property was smooth grasslands.
Looking at the main house itself it had a nice wooden circular build with a thatched roof and three windows spaced out in the front. There was one window on the right side of the door, one window on the left side of the door, and one window right above the door. I imagined the building to have a circumference of sixty feet and be a very comfortable living space.
When I finished looking at the original house I turned my attention down to where the path veered off and examined the shack I would sleep in. It looked identical to the main house but was simply smaller. I wanted to say it was maybe about half the size of the main house or slightly bigger than half.
"You will be sleeping in the smaller shack," Georgis told me.
"It looks cozy," I replied. We started down the path and made our way to the small shack. While he unlocked the door I had time to stand still and feel the night air. It was chillier than when we first made our way into Billings.
Click, the sound of the door unlocking rang in the night air.
"Alright, you are all set," Georgis said opening the door.
"Thank you," I told him walking inside the shack.
Looking around it had a main room with furniture and a door leading off to the bedroom on the right side wall. The walls had a nice pale color. On the far wall in the back, a large pair of antlers were hanging.
"Those antlers belonged to an org," Georgis said.
"An org huh?" I replied. Learning from past mistakes I hid my surprise and confusion about what an org is. I simply thought to myself that it was a creature native to this world and nonexistent on my own as many other creatures probably are.
"The bedroom is the room over. Now I will leave you be so you can rest up for the night," Georgis said. When he finished speaking he turned around, walked out, and shut the door behind him.
When Georgis left I decided to walk into the bedroom. It was a standard room with a bed and a nightstand next to it. Sitting on top of the nightstand lighting the room was two candles. The nightstand looked old with one large drawer in it. A door was on the left side wall of the room. I imagined it led to a closet of some sort.
Well, in any case, I was extremely tired from all the crazy events that happened to me. I decided to leave clothes, hygiene, and other such small problems for the me of tomorrow and conked out on the bed.