An'nan was the third employee at the Dawn Tavern.
Besides the owner Fast and Martin, Evelyn was the tavern's longest-serving employee. According to Martin, she was already there when he started. She was a fresh-faced girl about An'nan's age with freckled cheeks, responsible for manning the counter and serving drinks.
Martin tended to mess up everything, so he was only tasked with cleaning tables after customers left and sneaking leftover food. When An'nan warned him not to do this in front of Mr. Fast, Martin just defended his food-snatching habits.
As the newcomer, An'nan shared Evelyn's duties—though only the drink-serving part. Usually, he and Martin cleaned tables together. Customers preferred the tavern's only female server over An'nan.
Mr. Fast would occasionally help during busy times. Most often, though, he leaned against the counter like a bouncer, thin sword at his hip, arms crossed, eyes half-closed as he listened to the tavern's atmosphere and the bard's worn-out tales.
The tavern never got too crowded—even during the busiest evening hours, it was only ever half full.
After all, Pine Forest Town was just a remote frontier settlement of two to three thousand people on the forest's edge. The poor couldn't afford beer costing several copper coins, while the wealthy disdained such gatherings of rough folk. Only drunkards and adventurers seeking information would spend hours here.
And there was one bard.
An'nan liked him, not just for learning vocabulary from his never-ceasing chatter, but for his fantastic stories. Though most times, An'nan struggled to understand the rhythmic pronunciations and complex modifiers.
Not to mention his ribald tales filled with slang and swear words.
The saying that learning a language often starts with swear words proved remarkably true.
"...then, the sorcerer 'took care of' this sexy lizardwoman in the woods." Accompanied by the customers' low chuckles, An'nan learned about double entendres.
The bard claimed Mr. Fast was an elite-ranked warrior who shouldn't be in a small place like Pine Forest Town. He repeatedly tried to probe into Fast's past but never succeeded.
An'nan hadn't yet seen Mr. Fast in action. Many townspeople heard from the bard that he was an "elite-ranked warrior," so no thief was foolish enough to provoke him.
In truth, Mr. Fast was quite friendly, not too strict, and sometimes made men's jokes. Though these fell flat—An'nan couldn't understand them, and Martin was too dim to get them—usually earning only eye-rolls from Evelyn.
During quiet times, An'nan was much like Mr. Fast, listening to the bard's tales while watching customers who looked like adventurers.
Sadly, no elves or wizards visited the tavern, and as for orcs or dwarves... even if humans weren't so xenophobic, such races were unlikely to visit remote Pine Forest Town.
As the bard's stories unfolded, a world of swords and sorcery, gods and dragons, dark gods and corruption, demons and abysses, opened before him—fantastic yet bizarre.
Sometimes it made An'nan feel this world wasn't so safe, like when rat swarms devoured a southern city, cultists sacrificed a coastal town, greenskins occupied a country, or magical tide overtook a fortress.
"An'nan."
Mr. Fast's call woke An'nan from the stories. He pushed a glass of juice toward An'nan, pointing to a dark corner of the tavern: "Take this drink to the lady in the corner."
An'nan glanced at the shadowy figure sitting alone: "Mr. Fast, my Common isn't very good..."
That was actually his most fluent sentence.
"No worries, just saying 'yes' will solve most problems," Mr. Fast encouraged, patting An'nan's shoulder.
An'nan took the glass and approached the table as instructed.
She was a beautiful lady with a high bridge nose and defined features, wearing a rose-red floral dress and wavy, voluminous hair. Her fair arms above her chest and legs below her dress shimmered with a misty glow, exuding an aura that seemed out of place in this rundown tavern.
As An'nan set down the glass and prepared to leave, the lady suddenly asked, "I haven't seen you before."
"Yes."
"You're not from here?"
"Yes."
An'nan thought she talked too much; the lady found him boring: "Can't you say anything besides that?"
"Yes."
The previously disinterested lady now examined An'nan with curiosity, scanning his night-black hair and unnaturally gray face: "Boy, haven't you experienced a man's pleasures yet?"
An'nan sensed something wasn't right and glanced back at the counter.
Mr. Fast watched encouragingly, nodding.
"Yes..."
"Would you like to 'take care of' me?"
"Y—?"
Understanding this phrase, An'nan realized he was being flirted with and returned to the counter slightly embarrassed.
Evelyn shot a glare at their boss who had enjoyed the show, but Mr. Fast paid no mind, raising his glass to the apparently familiar lady.
"How come you can chat with female customers for so long, but they just tell me to get lost..." Martin complained as he came over.
"Why do you think Mr. Fast hired me?" An'nan replied.
Martin's expression became very strange then. Well... it definitely wasn't what he was thinking. But An'nan's Common wasn't good enough to explain complex matters.
Near midnight, the wine lady had already left, and customers now needed quiet. Fast made a gesture to the bard, who wrapped up his current story and strummed his lute.
Mr. Fast went to rest in the back, replaced by Martin who stood by the wooden post, one eye on guard, the other on patrol, watching every corner of the tavern.
"How do you do that?"
An'nan marveled at wise Martin's left eye watching the left side while his right eye watched the right.
"Why do you think Mr. Fast hired me?"
At midnight, the last two customers stumbled out supporting each other, and Evelyn flipped the tavern's sign to "Closed."
The first day of work went quite well, even lucky enough to get an untouched pumpkin pie.
Returning to Aunt Susan's home, the light in Aunt Susan and Uncle Hollin's bedroom only went out after they came back.
Martin climbed into bed. Snoring soon followed.
An'nan took off his coat and placed it beside the bed, falling contentedly asleep with dreams of the magical world.
He dreamed of four luminous points floating before him in a vast void.
The green aura spread life and benevolence; the purple aura released burning emotion and pleasure; the red diffused bravery and tenacity; the blue aura emanated wisdom and honesty.
The four spheres surrounded An'nan, spreading goodness. But suddenly a pure black aura appeared, dispersing the four spheres, suddenly emitting golden light—An'nan woke to sunlight warming his cheeks.