11 Tavern

Bidding his farewell to Ardelt, Exia directly goes to the tavern based on Ardelt's pointer.

Since he had yet filled his stomach, Exia's stomach began crumpled in hunger, forcing him to goes to the market first to buy some loaves of bread.

Reaching onto one of the food vendors, Exia's eyes wandered around the displayed foods, and he couldn't help but swallow his saliva, 'If only I got a little more money.'

Wiping his imaginary saliva, Exia asked, "The cheapest bread, please."

Handing him a loaf of hard dough bread, the seller said, "5 coppers."

"Here you go." Giving the exact money, Exia proceeds to take the bread and chewed it directly.

It seems his teeth are already accustomed to such food as he didn't suffer a toothache after constantly eating the hard bread.

Finishing his food, Exia wiped the corner of his lips with his slightly dirty hand and resumed his journey to the tavern, oblivious to the fact some people tailed him secretly.

"Heh, he extremely bold for having an outside transaction despite Mister Braun's prohibit such action. Should we report him, Luke?" Ryan asked as he stared at Exia's back full of malicious intent.

"Not yet. You remember Lockey said that Exia was acting these past two days suspiciously, right? Then the day before, Exia gave only 23 coppers to Mister Braun despite the earning we got was usually amounted to around 50-70 coppers a day." Luke elaborated, receiving a gasp from Ryan, "Could it be Exia hid most of his money?"

"I'm not sure either. But I got a hunch he did it." Luke then turned his head to Ryan, "That's why we shouldn't reveal ourselves yet. We need more evidence, and when we accomplish that, we'd immediately catch him in the act."

As he spoke, Luke had this devilish smirk plastered over his face, 'Wait for your doomsday, Exia!'

...

"Achoo!! Did someone talking behind my back?" Exia mumbled while rubbing his nose. He then halted his steps because his eyes spotted a crowded tavern with a beer mug carved over the wooden hanging board. Resuming his stride toward the bar, loud chattering noises began to reach his ears even from a distance.

Frowning his eyebrows slightly, Exia suppressed the bad feeling he had within his heart and proceeded to enter the bar with an unsettled heart. Since it was his first time visiting a bar, Exia was taken aback by how hubbub the place is.

He wasn't expecting the bar would be serene, but not this chaotic either. Curses and voices from various people echoed through the room, causing Exia had to plug both his ears with his finger to reduce the noises. As he scanned the room with his golden-eyes keenly, he saw a man was sleeping on the table with his hand as a pillow, looking pretty immersed in his sleep despite the noises that filled the entire space.

'How can he sleep comfortably like that?' Exia thought to himself as he made his way toward the counter where a man with his hair raised-up like a spike stood behind the counter while cleaning a tankard.

Plopping himself onto one of the vacant seats, Exia starts to tap his finger to gain the man's attention. Hearing no response, Exia opened his mouth, "Hey mister!"

Realizing he's still ignored, Exia raised his voice a bit, "Hello!!"

Hearing a slightly childish-voice, the man seemed bewildered for a moment before turning his head in doubt. Surprisedly, the voice's owner was an underage child with a skinny appearance and slightly dirty clothes. Feeling somewhat uncertain, the man hesitantly asked, "Are you lost, kid?"

"No, but I need information." Exia shortly replied.

"Information? What kind of information do you want." The man immediately goes solemn upon hearing the serious tone from Exia.'

"A job. Preferably, a job that required immense durability." Since the orb's function was to restore his stamina, Exia'd definitely use that advantage on most parts of his real life, including the job he was about to take.

"A job?" The man said ponderingly before tapping the counter's surface with a copper.

'Tch! Really stingy!' Exia thought inwardly as he placed a copper just ahead of the bartender's finger.

"Uhm, Uhm, not enough. four more." The man shaking his head and demanded more coins shamelessly.

"Take these," Exia grumbled annoyedly and promptly shoved four coppers on the counter reluctantly.

Grinning widely, the man collected all the coppers and stored them in his pocket, "There is ongoing construction and in need of human resources. The payment is not bad, which is 1 silver/day. But considering your build, I doubted they would hire you."

The corner of Exia's mouth subconsciously twitched, 'Isn't the information you uttered worthless, then?'

"Uhm...There is also another, but I couldn't quite recall it," The bartender looks lost in his thought, but Exia knows surely what's going on in his mind. Heaved a sigh, Exia placed another copper on the counter's table, earning a fake exclamation from the guy as he quickly grabbed the copper, "Yes! I remember it now. A shop owner who came last night mentioned his shop isn't doing well and need someone to advertise his product."

"How much the payment?" Exia inquires curiously.

"That...I don't know."

Exia was speechless for a moment before pounding the table furiously, "Are you joking with me?" He just paid the man for quite a sum of money and all of the information he provided was mostly useless. If he is a rich man, then he wouldn't make a fuss of it. But the money he only got today was 20 coppers, and six copper already goes into the man's pocket. How can Exia not be angry?

"Hey, calm down. I still got another piece of information for you, kid." The man tried to pacify the fuming Exia.

"What? Don't tell me you got another crap news to tell? If that so, then I skip. I got zero money to pay you since that was all I got from being a beggar." Exia briskly replied and about to jump from the seat, when the man anxiously grabbed Exia's hand to prevent him from leaving, "Wait! Wait! This one is genuine!"

While speaking, his eyes were averted somewhere and full of guiltiness. It seems Exia's words earlier make him realize his previous shameless action and now abashed for attempting to squeeze out money from the little boy's pocket which only worked as a beggar.

Halting his action, Exia said with a hint of scepticism, "Alright, brief me up, then."

Clearing his throat, the man said sincerely, "Currently, I got no news regarding jobs except those two earlier on." Before Exia started refuting, he continued in a whisper, "But, I heard there'd be a competition being hold in slum-area."

"Competition? What's the connection between the thing I seek and competition?" Exia said in perplexion.

"You mentioned that you were searching for a job that required enormous stamina, right? Then this occasion really suitable for you! Because most people in slum-area had no way to entertain themselves other than seeking pleasure by having sex or whatnot. They decided to create a competition to amuse themselves, consisting of street fight battle, wine drink battle, and many other things, including a marathon."

As realization immediately dawned over him, Exia emitted a sound, "Oh!"

"I don't know how much you can earn by participating in those competitions, but it's worth a try, right?" Seeing Exia's face still blank, the man tried to persuade him.

"Hmmm...Probably." Exia replied vaguely before adding, "When would the competition start?"

"Tomorrow around 18 o'clock at Hart District. Just a reminder, since gambling was obviously involved, you need to be careful."

Knowing his means, Exia nodded his head and said in gratitude, "Thanks for the information, mister. I'll come the day after tomorrow to check whether there is news regarding jobs or not."