A week after Varnum's death, Ikku decides to do something less hard... provide protection for a local tavern.

Anne smiles. "Hmm…this one looks like fun. Maybe they'll give us free beer, too."

Vera asks if she can come along.

Before you can respond, Arlo shakes his head. "No…best you stay out of the public eye. Until we know for sure no one is looking for you."

Vera frowns. "Very well."

The group head into town to check on the tavern…

The town is so crowded that they have trouble getting to the tavern. Ikku dismount his horse and walk up to the tavern's entrance. A short man greets them and asks if you're from the White Ravens.

"Of course!" said Ikku.

"Excellent! I've been waiting for you. My name is Reynold, the proprietor of this establishment," the man says.

Reynold takes a glance at your weapons. "I'm sorry, but I don't allow weapons in my tavern."

Anne scoffs. "How do you expect us to provide security without our weapons?"

"None of the patrons are allowed to have weapons either. They all need to be checked in at the door. You can have weapons if you're guarding outside, but no weapons inside," he replies.

Arlo offers to guard the entrance and collect weapons. Anne seems upset and looks at Ikku to say something.

"I'm not sure whether I'm comfortable with such an arrangement.", said Ikku.

Reynold begins to get frustrated. "Well…you're free to leave if you don't want to honor the contract. I'm sure I can hire somebody else to provide security."

Ikku said, "No, we'll honor the contract, but next time give better details on the mission."

Anne scoffs again but reluctantly hands her weapons over to Arlo. Satisfied, the tavern owner leaves. A few minutes later, Anne is smiling again.

Anne pulls out two daggers that were hidden on her person. "I guess he didn't notice these. Want one, Cap?"

They appear to be throwing daggers.

Anne hands Ikku one of the daggers and conceals the other one. Arlo stands guard outside and collects weapons from anyone entering the bar. A few of the patrons give him a hard time, but their eagerness to get drunk wins over their stubbornness.

Ikku and Anne stand on opposite sides of the room, watching the patrons for any signs of trouble…

A drunken soldier stands up on his table with a mug of ale in his hand. "A toast to the King!"

Several other soldiers join in the toast as well. They get rather rowdy and end up spilling some beer on a group of foreigners, Galmencians if you had to guess.

A Galmencian shoves one of the soldiers and says, "Fuck you and your King!"

Anne has to hold back a chuckle.

The soldiers look rather upset when Ikku insert himselfbetween them. They look at him, unsure of his intentions. The Galmencians do the same.

Ikku then tell the soldiers to "Back off!"

They look at Ikku, confused. "You're taking their side?"

Suddenly, one of the younger soldiers throws a chair at the barbarian, hitting him in the head. A bar fight ensues. It takes both Ikku and Anne some time to separate the two parties. When the dust clears, several chairs and even a table have been damaged. The tavern owner says the repairs will come out of Ikku's pay. One of the older barbarians nods at Ikku out of respect for attempting to stop the fight. He gathers the other Galmencians and leaves.

The rest of the night is rather quiet. Suddenly, Ikku and Anne hear Arlo arguing with someone at the door. Arlo is arguing with a nobleman. He's refusing to let Arlo take away his weapons, saying he's exempt from such things. When Ikku approach, they both look up, hoping Ikku can help.

Ikku tells the nobleman that he must leave his weapons with Arlo at the door.

The nobleman scoffs. "Do you know who I am, mercenary?"

Ikku responded, "Who?"

The nobleman stands up straight. "I'm the head of the Merchants Guild. I run the loan office in this village."

"No exceptions." Ikku said.

The nobleman scoffs at your words. He gives a half-grin. "I think I know what needs to be done here…"

He hands you a bag of Gold; given the weight, Ikku assume around ten Gold Pieces are inside. Ikku asked "Are you trying to bribe me?"

The nobleman smiles. "That's one way of putting it…I like to think I'm helping invest in the security of this place." What do you do?

"If you consider ten Gold Pieces a suitable bribe, you must not be a very good merchant." said Ikku.

The merchant narrows his eyes. "I apologize. I meant to say…twenty Gold Pieces?"

Ikku  accept the Gold and let the nobleman inside. Several other patrons take notice, but none complain. Arlo doesn't seem so happy with Ikku's decision.

It becomes quite late, and most of the people leave the bar. The only people left are the drunkards and those who have passed out. Ikku decide to collect his pay from the tavern owner. When he approach him, he nods and hands Ikku a bag with 125 Gold Pieces inside. Ikku notice the bag is light. The job was supposed to pay 150 Gold.

"This wasn't what we were promised." said Ikku.

"I deducted some expenses I felt you were responsible for," replies the tavern owner. Ikku decides threaten him by putting the man's hand on his weapon. The tavern owner stares at you for some time. "Fine…I'll pay you 135. I assume that will be acceptable."

Ikku threaten him further by drawing my weapon.

"We will only accept what you promised us," Ikku said.

The tavern owner seems taken aback. "You're…you're nothing more than cutthroats!"

Anne smiles. "I think you should hand over the Gold before we cut your throat…"

The tavern owner reluctantly hands it over. Ikku takes it and leave.