Knifepoint Robbery From Long Ago

"Someone is going to have to do the dirty work, you know?"

Marko said to the young elven boy.

"Even if it means to leave their only child all alone with his grandpa?"

Grim retorted back.

"I am not one to deem whether what your parents did was right nor if it was wrong. We cannot change the past, but we do have the power to shape our own future."

Marko sipped his bottle afterwards. "Tomorrow, you will be meeting the Luna Wolves' Commander."

Grim got up from his seat.

"W-What? Why?"

"To see if you're a good fit." Marko smiled innocently. "We already know that you are a part of the Fenris bloodline, you are the greatest tamers of all the families of Elves. Dart here certainly seems excited about it."

Dart was play-chomping on Marko's feet at the same time.

Grim Fenris was quiet, he was thinking about what his next course of action was going to be.

"By the way, you and Dart are not going to be staying in my room. It is kind of small and already cramped up. I have a spare room for you two, but you are going to have to clean it up. Are you fine with that?"

Marko asked.

Grim nodded.

"I guess I am going to have to do that alone since my tamed chimera here only thinks about eating and napping…"

Grim said as he sighed.

Marko chuckled.

"Hah. That's the spirit, boy! Come. I will show you where it is, after you have finished cleaning it up, we will come down for dinner. Then, I will tell you how I know your grandfather."

The duo of Grim Fenris and Dart the dragon was now situated in a room smaller than Marko's, but it was more than enough for two of them.

There was already a bed and a drawer, it was awfully dusty, however. It was quite obvious that nobody had been living in this room for long now.

"Time to get to work, Dart."

Grim said.

But the dragon did not respond.

Grim turned around and saw that Dart was already napping on the floor.

"What have I gotten myself into?"

The young elf said in a defeated tone.

After an hour of sweeping and mopping the floor, wiping the windows and the closets, and changing the bedsheets, Grim was finally finished.

"Dart!"

No response.

"Hello? Dart?!"

Grim was now up close in Dart's ears.

It was unbelievable just how this baby dragon was not hearing him.

"I'm going to go downstairs and eat, you can stay here if you want."

Grim said after he had finally given up on waking him up.

Dart jolted awake and got up.

"Dinnertime?!"

With its tongue sticking out, Dart was ready for action.

"Now you can hear me, huh?"

Grim rolled his eyes and began to prepare his backpack for Dart to ride on.

There were still countless amounts of people in the tavern, all drinking themselves away without a single care in the world.

Bards were in the corner playing symphonies and songs.

Even elves were jamming together with humans here.

The sight of it brought a smile to Grim's face.

"I guess it is not as bad as it is down in the towns further away from Midgard…"

He thought to himself.

An elven woman was on the bar serving the drinks.

She was in her thirties, probably. Her eyes glinted as she poured the drinks. Grim noticed his and was genuinely happy to see that his fellow elf was happy with their life here in this big city.

"Grim! Over here!"

Marko was calling out to him from behind the bar counter.

The bartender then closed the door from the bar to the kitchen.

"You can come out now, Dart."

He said.

The baby dragon hopped out of the backpack and was prepared to eat once again.

"Aren't you a nimble one?"

Marko said to the baby dragon.

Only Grim could understand what Dart said, however. But the baby dragon could understand what other people said, only that he cannot communicate back, he had to rely on Grim.

Chops of meat and potatoes were served on the small table in front of them. Marko told them both to have a seat to which they easily obliged.

"Eat up, both of you."

Marko's innocent smile was pure.

While Grim and Dart were stuffing their faces as fast as they could, Marko began to tell his tale about how he met Grim's grandfather.

"One day, I was really down on my luck. I had just lost all of my money in a stupid game of cards, the money that I lost was meant to buy dinner for that night. I am not proud of how it turned out, but here is what I did – I planned to rob the next person who walked in the alleyway I stood in at knife point."

Grim's eyes shot up.

"And yeah, as you have probably guessed, the man I wanted to rob was your grandpa. Everything happened so fast, he disarmed my knife and slammed me on the ground. He asked me why I resorted to doing that, I told him everything that night over a warm cup of tea. Believe it or not, the man actually gave me enough money to buy dinner."

Grim began to smile while eating.

"That's just the type of person he is…"

Grim said.

"I really did not expect to be overpowered by short, stumpy elf. Looking back on it, it was quite the comedic turn of events, isn't it? After that, we became really good friends, he was even the one who told me I should turn this place into a tavern or a bar. Well, it did not come for free, he asked me to make the Six Symphonies a safe haven for the Luna Wolves. Your grandfather told me everything, about your Fenris lineage, and your parents."

The bartender said to Grim.