It's the end of dusk.
Richard walked into the only tavern in Ashwood Town.
With a "squeak" sound, Richard pushed open the door and walked straight to the counter. The bartender behind the counter looked over with awareness.
Realizing that it was Richard, an "acquaintance", who came again, the bartender raised his eyebrows, smiled on his face, picked up an empty wooden cup, shook it, and said: "Why, this guest, are you very lucky? You have already found it." Thanka wizard’s tomb, got the treasure in the tomb? Then, do you want to buy a beer as a thank you for the information I provided before?”
The bartender smiled brightly, but Richard's face was as calm as ever.
Looking at each other for two seconds, the bartender realized that things were not what he thought. He put down his cup in embarrassment, scratched his head and said: "Could it be that... you didn't find the tomb of the thangka wizard? That... doesn't matter, after all, the others didn't find it either. , it’s normal. You seem to be in a bad mood, why don’t you have a glass of beer to relieve yourself?”
As he spoke, the bartender picked up the wooden cup again.
Richard glanced at the bartender, frowned and said, "It's not that we haven't found the tomb. In fact, we have already found it, but someone went there a step earlier and took away the things in the tomb."
"Huh?" The bartender was stunned for a moment after hearing this, but he was not too surprised. For him, the thangka wizard's tomb was something in a different world from him. Apart from the possibility of helping him sell beer, it had no other meaning.
In addition, he was very doubtful whether Richard was telling the truth. After all, Richard had only been away for half an afternoon, so he shouldn't have found the thangka wizard's tomb so easily. Maybe he was looking for a reason for his failure.
"Really?" The bartender thought about this and yawned. He thought that today's beer might not be sold. He put down his wooden cup and said to Richard with a somewhat bad attitude, "It turns out that the wizard Thangka's tomb has been occupied by someone." I’ve been there, so what do you want to do when you come back now?”
Having said this, the bartender thought of something and looked slightly wary: "You should... don't you want to get back the silver coin you gave me before? I admit that you gave me a bit too much, but I have already helped you drink the wine. Yes, the money has already been given to the boss, and it is impossible to return it to you."
"Don't worry, I don't want you to pay back the money." Richard said to the bartender, "But I want you to tell me another thing."
"What?"
"I remember that you told me before that before me, there was a group of people who were looking for the tomb of the thangka wizard like me last night and rested in this tavern?"
"Yes." The bartender nodded.
"So, can you tell me where they went after they left the tavern? And, did they come back again, and from what direction did they finally leave the town?"
"This -" the bartender hesitated in a long tone, and rolled his eyes several times. Finally, he picked up the empty wooden cup, filled it with beer, pushed it in front of Richard, and said, "Buy a glass of beer, and I'll tell you."
"Snapped!"
With a sound, Richard slapped a silver coin on the table and said, "Let's do the same as last time. I'll take out the money and you can handle the wine. Just tell me the answer."
"good."
The bartender said, putting away the silver coins politely, picking up the beer, bringing it to his mouth, and swallowed it quickly with a tilt of his neck.
After more than ten seconds, he finished the beer with a distorted expression. The bartender wiped his tongue with a rag a few times and looked at Richard.
Richard looked at the bartender, waiting for an answer.
After a few seconds of strange silence, Richard spoke out in confusion: "Huh?"
"I don't know." The bartender spread his hands and spoke sincerely.
Richard raised his eyebrows: "What do you mean when you say you don't know? You don't mean it literally, right?"
The bartender continued to spread his hands: "Yes, literally - I don't know. To tell you the truth, I was not in the store when that team left during the day, so I don't know where they went or what happened to them later. I haven’t come back, and I don’t know where I left the town. I don’t know, that’s my answer.”
Richard's eyebrows rose slightly.
The bartender looked at it and said quickly: "Hey, don't be angry first. I really don't know, otherwise I will tell you. But then again, although I don't know how they left, I know how they left. They're here. I'll tell you the direction they came from, and it should be of some help to you in understanding them, right?"
It does have reference value... Richard thought for a moment and agreed: "Okay, tell me, which direction did they come from?"
"Hey, don't worry." The bartender smiled like a sinister businessman and poured another beer. "This is a new problem. Buy another beer and I'll tell you."
Richard narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at the bartender. He didn't get angry, he just felt a little funny: "You go to all this trouble just to get me to buy one more beer?"
"if not?"
"If you use your intelligence in the right place, you will definitely get more than selling beer."
"Maybe, but I'm just a wine seller now, and my intelligence can only be used in this aspect." The bartender shrugged, and as he spoke, he shook the wine barrel next to him, and heard a "clatter" sound inside.
"After our boss brewed this wine, he asked me to sell at least a full barrel every day. If I couldn't sell it, I wouldn't be given dinner or a salary. What can I do about this, I can only try my best to sell it. .
Good Samaritan, if you take pity on me, just buy another drink. You don't need to give me silver coins. I can't get any more. I can only give them to the boss, so I only need three copper coins. Give me three copper coins, and I'll tell you everything you want to know. You won't suffer any loss on this deal, how about it? "
"Okay." Richard said, placing three copper coins on the counter, stopping the bartender from lifting a glass to drink, and said, "Tell me the answer first, and then help me drink the beer."
"Okay." The bartender said helplessly, "Since you want to know where that group of people came from, I will tell you: they came from the north, along the path in the forest, and passed through Black Nail Town, Sandstone Town, Baron Knox’s Castle and the Green Water River—this is what I heard when I helped them carry their luggage, feed their horses, and listened to their conversations. There is absolutely nothing wrong with it, so you can rest assured.”
"To the north, the path in the forest, Black Nail Town, Sandstone Town, Baron Knox Castle, Green Water River..." Richard recited in a low voice, and a route automatically appeared in his mind.
"To the north?" Richard said, nodded, and without saying anything else, turned and walked out of the tavern.
The bartender looked at Richard's back, shook his head, picked up the wooden cup filled with beer and started drinking.
At this time, Richard, who was walking, slowed down his steps slightly, tilted his head and reminded the bartender: "I think it is best for you to change your way of selling wine in the future. Otherwise, if you meet someone with a bad temper, you will If you make a conditional sales pitch, you may get beaten.”
After saying that, Richard turned back and walked out of the door.
A few seconds later, the bartender drank all the wine in one go, put down his glass, and looked towards the door where Richard left. Because it tasted so bad, the muscles on his face twitched, and he sighed: "You think I don't want to? But, I'm just a bartender, and the boss's wine is so bad, what can I do? What should I do?"
…