"What a glutton you are!" Vizily stopped and, rummaging through his inventory, handed me a huge boiled potato. "Really the last one. Hang on, you'll eat your fill in an hour."
"Thank you!"
I grabbed the handout and sank my teeth into it. My body continued to change, and if they hadn't taken away the boar meat from me, I would have surely devoured it too, maybe even raw.
"Speaking of inventory: can you really shove in things of any size?"
"You bet!" Lynch turned to Vizily: "Remember Grogn?"
"How could I forget..." the old man grimaced. "Stinking butcher..."
"Anyway, I was very young," the big man began his story, ignoring Vizily's obvious displeasure with the topic, "and in the neighboring village lived a man... Crooked, squint-eyed... They called him Grogn. And he fancied a girl from our village. And not just any girl, but the most beautiful one: the daughter of a merchant who had accidentally settled with us. Grogn was of no use to her, and to get rid of him, she gave him a task, saying, 'Bring me the scarlet flower, then I'll be yours.'"
At this point in the story, I nearly choked on the remains of the potato and looked at Lynch in surprise. He didn't notice and continued enthusiastically.
"And the scarlet flower is this huge, fifteen-meter statue. It stood then in the Central City."
"In the capital?" I clarified.
"No," the big man waved his hand, "our capital is closer to the northwest, and the Central City stands right in the center of the empire... Anyway! So, this Grogn disappeared for a long five years. And, as it turned out, all this time he was slaughtering hobbits. Whole villages. The bastard was leveling up his inventory. Also robbed a lot of money. He returned, hired special people for a high price, and they cut down this flower at night. It started to fall, and Grogn was waiting for this and, touching it, hid it in his inventory... So, he comes to his chosen one, thankfully he had the sense to present the gift to her behind the fence..."
"This is the only good moment in this story," Vizily commented.
"Well, yes," Lynch chuckled. "Anyway, they went out to the forest and he took out the flower. It fell on him and crushed him to hell along with a large piece of the forest. Miraculously, it didn't fall on the last house."
The big man fell silent. And after a minute passed, I realized that the story had ended there. Damn, they have some entertainment here! And the moral, apparently, is that you should take everything in size? On the other hand, they answered my question. Inventory is purely weight. Dimensions and size don't matter.
"In armies, there are always storekeepers," Vizily, apparently understanding the direction of my thoughts, decided to add, "special people. They are left to finish off wounded enemies of other races. Their inventory grows, and they are very useful for quick raids with light gear. The strongest of them replace small convoys... Sometimes it's very useful to deliver a large catapult to the enemy's rear at height."
The more I learned about this world, the more I liked the system glitch that happened to me... Not that I was planning to cut people, but it seems that I'll have to now and then. And then the main thing is not to kill them immediately, but first to turn into a hobbit!
"And about high-born people leveling up their children?" I decided to take advantage of the talkative mood of my interlocutors and clarify as many nuances as possible. "If they have access to cursed places for money, they should be invincible, right?"
"Come on..." Vizily slapped his cheek, killing a mosquito that had landed there. "Have you seen many diligent, hardworking aristocratic children?"
"I've lost my memory..."
"You should know this on another level, in your gut," the old man laughed. "The sun rises every morning, water flows in the river, fire is hot, high-born children are spoiled, lazy assholes."
"Is it related to skills?" I guessed, remembering the night conversation.
"Exactly. There are, of course, exceptions, when the family really cares about its heritage and manages to convey to its offspring that name and honor are not empty words, but there are few of them. Mostly, as I've already said, those born with a golden spoon in their ass, little aristos are spoiled, arrogant, and greedy assholes. You can take them to cursed places as much as you want and let them stack up skills. But as soon as the mentors go out the door, instead of studying, they take out their little sprouts and start running after every skirt, drinking, and the like. And as a result: even if they meet some fighter of a lower level, with a smaller set of skills, they lose to him and die. And why? Because that one has experience of real battles and didn't sit on his ass, but leveled up skills!"
Having finished his long and uncharacteristically emotional speech, Vizily took a deep breath, scratched the back of his head, and fell silent.
"There'll be a thunderstorm tonight," Lynch interjected, feeling the awkwardness of the moment.
And indeed, the clouds in the sky were becoming heavier and darker, and the wind was blowing stronger at our backs.
A thunderstorm? As girls used to write in social networks in the old world: I love rain because you can hide your snot in it... Or tears? Doesn't matter... But I had never been caught in the rain in my life. And I really wanted to try...
==
This time it didn't work out, although it was close: the wind was already howling, and the clouds had become dark and were flying very low. There were three people standing at the gates, and judging by the sour faces with which they confirmed that everything was just starting in the tavern, they clearly wanted to be there too.
"Any instructions?" I whispered in Vizily's ear as we trudged along the dusty road.
"Rest, have fun, eat a lot! You've earned it!" he patted me on the shoulder. "I've already told them that you've lost your memory, so you can feel free to ask any stupid questions. People love fools and simpletons."
And he's right! Amnesia is convenient.
We ascended the porch of the tavern, from which shouts and laughter were heard. Lynch opened the door and let Vizily go first, then me. I took a deep breath, cast aside all doubts, and went to have fun.
"Here they are!" as soon as we crossed the threshold, the voice of the establishment's owner, Vilsh, rang out.
"We've been waiting only for you!"
Greetings came from all sides, and we were immediately directed to the table farthest from the entrance. By the way, the one we accidentally broke two days ago had already been replaced, and there were three of them again. And they were literally bursting with an abundance of various delicacies and drinks. If someone had tried to talk to me now, I wouldn't have been able to answer because of the saliva that had flooded in.
It seemed that the whole village was present, except for those unfortunate ones who were on guard, the very decrepit, and those who were sitting with children. About thirty people of different ages, of whom I was most interested in five: the owner's daughter Sini, present today as a guest, and four other young, seemingly single girls.
The birthday boy himself, vaguely familiar after the battle with the wolves, sat at the head of the central table.
"Let's drink!"
Someone proclaimed the toast universal for all worlds, and the sound of chairs being pushed back was heard. The idea was enthusiastically supported. There were two drinks to choose from: something transparent in small glasses and the already familiar beer in large mugs. For a number of reasons, I chose the latter and, clinking glasses with my neighbors, took several sips.
My stomach sensed prey and rebelled, reminding me that the potato it had recently received was now, for it, like a pellet for an elephant. Who am I to resist base instincts? Besides, the body objectively needs it. I plopped down on the creaking chair, grabbed half of a golden-crusted chicken from a platter, and sank my teeth into it.
For the next five minutes, I was deaf and mute, consuming everything my hand could reach. Sometimes it seemed that the food was already approaching my throat, but as soon as I took a breath and leaned back in my chair, it literally fell through, making room.
"Try this!" a gentle girl's voice sounded from behind my shoulder, and I saw one of Sini's friends. Also dark-haired, but with an even bigger bust. Too big: from this angle, I couldn't even fully see the girl's face behind it.
The brunette was holding out a large platter with what looked like a blueberry pie, judging by the color of the filling. At first, I didn't understand why I was getting such special treatment, but then I saw that all the girls were participating in serving this dish.
"With pleasure!" I replied and took the biggest piece. My stomach gurgled contentedly and made additional room.
"My name is Katie," the girl smiled sweetly.
"Ilya," I smiled back.
"See you later!"
The girl turned abruptly, causing her short light skirt to fly up, almost revealing too much.
Nice legs, but nowhere near the reaction that Sini had caused in me two days ago. Automatically, I glanced at the tavern owner's daughter, and it turned out that she was looking at me. I smiled, and she turned away, embarrassed.
Well then. It seems that my local appearance is at least not repulsive. That's good. Of course, such attention might be a result of new faces rarely appearing in this backwater, but what difference does it make to me? The main thing for me is... What is the main thing for me specifically this evening? First of all, information and raising loyalty in the place where I'll have to live for some time.
What else? Sex?
Yes, undoubtedly, it's important. But I somehow didn't clarify with Vizily the nuances of local moral orders and values. Who knows, maybe the death of Vilsh's nephew at the hands of the pockmarked one is somehow connected with the violation of these very orders... Now I'll hook up with Sini, and then they'll issue a quest in the village for me too. Five silver pieces for a dead one, a gold piece for a live one. Or vice versa...
But who cares! I grinned and started on the pie Katie had brought.
Toasts were frequent, and unlike me, the locals didn't sip their beer slowly, but methodically downed the clear drink, as a result of which they quickly and confidently got drunk.
Lynch's place had long been empty: the big man was walking around the hall and drinking with everyone in turn. Funny. Having emerged from Vizily's shadow, he blossomed and turned out to be the life of the party. Everyone was glad to see him and eagerly chatted with him.
The old man himself was also drinking, but without fanaticism. He didn't get up from his place, preferring to talk with those who sat nearby.
Over the next two hours, I learned some useful things: that Vizily is a cool guy and if I want to achieve something in life, I should listen to him; that a month ago Svara's girlfriend left him and went off with a guy from the neighboring village; that monsters from the Sea Forest are becoming more active, making regular game scarcer and hunting worse; that only Vizily and Ludin can hit a target from thirty meters with a bow in the whole village; that Sini is unapproachable and possibly into girls...
Meanwhile, the degree of fun (intoxication) reached its maximum. I had to ask my talking neighbor to repeat himself, and I had to shout myself. And then a landmark event occurred: Vizily disappeared somewhere, and this served as a trigger mechanism. As if the protective dome shielding me from the external environment had disappeared.