The training ground was a place were the Empire's Military squadron that was deployed here for emergency, trained. Or at least, that was how it was supposed to be, but the only thing Keith saw was an empty ground.
Not knowing what to do, he turned to look at the guard who was standing at the entrance of the training grounds.
"Excuse me, why is the ground empty? I thought that the soldiers were supposed to be training here."
"Oh that. Today is one of their birthdays so they went to party. They'll be at a maiden's pub if you wish to meet someone."
Seeing that he got all the information he needed without having to ask much, he thanked the man and left to look for the pub. He asked the locals for directions and it took him some time to find the pub.
'.... so it's that kind of pub.' he mused internally as he walked in and saw approximately 20 men talking loudly while some of them touched the waitresses at inappropriate places. The waitresses themselves did not mind, as this was a place that encouraged such behavior.
If they got a client, then it was an easy 1 to 3 Zen in their pockets.
Keith didn't pay any attention to the waitresses as he had other goals; to find a man who had an extremely good physique or someone who had awakened.
As he walked towards an empty chair, his mind was on full gear as he tried to make up a way in which he could get information on every single soldier who was in this pub.
For physique, his eyes were enough. But if he wished to know about their awakening, then he needed more than his eyes to come to a conclusion.
As a waitress passed by, he signaled to her by raising his hand, showing that he had something to order. Seeing her come to him with a glowing smile on her face, Keith smiled back and said, "Can I get a bottle of gin please?"
"Just one, sir?" she asked with a stiff smile on her face.
Seeing her expression change, Keith couldn't help but sigh internally. Gin was the cheapest alcohol available in the empire, and ordering something like that in a pub such as this, only meant one thing; Not a potential client to sell prostitution services to.
"How much does one cost?" he asked her a question in return, instead of answering.
She took a second to stare at him and then her expression changed even further, "You'll get five bottles for one brak." she said with a scowl before adding, "So, how many would you like?"
Seeing her act like this, Keith suddenly got an idea. He turned to look at the people at the bar and then shifted his gaze back to her, "I'll take five."
"O oh..." she stammered before adding, "I'll get it for you sir, please make yourself comfortable."
He silently nodded and leaned back on his chair, knowing full well why her attitude took a complete 180 degree turn for the second time. Just from asking for the price of one bottle of Gin, Keith could tell that they were selling alcohol at market price.
Which meant that the real business was prostitution services. As for why she acted respectful suddenly? It was because he had ordered 5 bottles for himself, which was equivalent to one bottle of Whiskey, which was priced at 1 Brak for a bottle.
He didn't have to wait for long, as the same waitress brought him his drinks pretty quickly and placed them on the table while also trying to seduce him.
Unfortunately for her, Keith's tastes didn't align with most of the population of the Empire. He simply thanked her and proceeded to ignore her antics as he downed two bottles at once.
"Sir, please take it slow!" she exclaimed seeing his actions as it was pretty common for people to puke after drinking too much.
Even though Keith didn't say a thing, more than half of the bar's attention was on him.
"It's fine, today I wish to get wasted." he said as he lifted his bottle and looked at the people of the bar who were already looking at him, "Today, I landed a great job and the pay is great too! Cheers everybody!"
"Wooo, let's go brother! Today is the night to celebrate!"
"Hell yeah! Let's get wasted together!"
"Drink more, drink more!!"
"More!"
"More!"
"Chug it all!"
Kieth nodded, acknowledging all of them and downed the third bottle effortlessly. He then grabbed the last two and stretched his hand to the guy who was closest to him, "Let's see who drinks the fastest."
Seeing Keith's smirk, the guy nodded confidently, "I didn't drink much tonight, but this calls for a celebration isn't it? My brother here is celebrating his birthday too."
Saying this, he got up from his chair and grabbed the bottle that Keith gave him before clinking bottles with him, "Cheers! For my brother and for your new job!"
"For your brother and for my new job!" Keith repeated before chugging down the fourth bottle as the soldier placed his arm around Keith's shoulder, chugging his bottle along with him.
"YEAAAAAAHHHHHH" the guy screamed as he placed the bottle on the table with a victorious smile on his face as he pointed at Keith's half empty bottle, "I win, hahahahahaha!"
"Hahahaha, yeah you win." Keith agreed before turning to look at the waitress, "Can I get something to eat? Any chicken dish will be fine."
The waitress nodded and left, after which he shifted his attention to the guy beside him who had just let him go, "I drank too much so I'll go pee. Let's have some more fun tonight."
"Sure sure, me and my brothers will be waiting for you right here." the soldier said, smiling ear to ear as he watched Keith head to the toilets.
Once inside the toilets, the first thing Keith did was to stuff two of his fingers up his throat and a moment later, everything that he had just drank, came out, making it look like a dam had just burst.
'Can't have so much alcohol in my body when I'm trying to get important things done. Gotta be sober.' he thought as he flushed and walked towards the sink so he could wash his face.