One-Eyed Monster

What exactly is this person up to? And who is he?

These are the questions Igor has to consider.

However, Igor’s puzzled look didn’t elicit any caution from the other man. This flamboyant guy placed the bottle he was holding on the table, wiped his face, and said to Igor, ”Your ale is quite bland. Why not try mine?”

This was a gesture of friendliness, the flamboyant person was sharing his drink.

Igor frowned, unsure whether it was better to accept such enthusiasm or to refuse.

”Heh, with such a guarded attitude, I can tell you’re new here!” said the flamboyant man, his keen observation surprising Igor.

”Thanks!” Seeing that this fellow said so, Igor stopped refusing, took the bottle of rum, and poured a little into his ale.

”Mixing drinks like that isn’t good!” remarked the flamboyant guy, while handing Igor a plate of nuts. Such a thing wasn’t considered a luxury in the tavern because nuts were abundantly found around this small town, growing on many trees in the mountain. This pairing, however, seemed a bit mismatched with the drink.

”Mixing drinks and then having some of this is supposed to be fine?” Igor asked in return, not having much knowledge about drinking, this was indeed a kind of inquiry.

”Not necessarily, drinking is a bad thing anyway. The nuts I gave you are healthier…” the flamboyant guy shrugged, his speech exuding a clear inebriation.

”If drinking is a bad thing, then why drink at all, isn’t that quite contradictory!” Igor chuckled, finding this flamboyant fellow amusing.

”Yes indeed, quite contradictory!” The flamboyant guy agreed, sounding quite saddened by the whole thing.

Igor examined this flamboyant fellow again; the person in front had disheveled hair, wearing a simple linen garment, very casual. From his attire, he did resemble a Mantai person somewhat. Yet, this person spoke perfect Kayne official language, which still intrigued Igor.

Could it be that the person before him wasn’t a Mantai? Before jumping to conclusions, Igor really couldn’t make wild guesses.

”Ah, this wine, really shouldn’t drink it. After drinking, things get troublesome. Like me now, it’s a bit much!” This guy started sighing in front of Igor.

Igor picked up some helplessness from his words, as if drinking a bit of wine had directly unhinged this fellow’s mind. This was the first time Igor encountered such a situation, in his eyes, he was just unlucky to run into such a weirdo.

Figuring out how not to cause trouble while getting rid of this weirdo became something Igor was pondering, as he was a bit impatient with the current scene.

He didn’t want to cause trouble, yet trouble seemed to find him; where could he voice reason in such matters?

”Could you return to your own seat to drink?” Igor tentatively asked, and could only use such polite language to dismiss this weirdo.

The weirdo, however, didn’t care about what he said, continued swinging his legs, completely indifferent to Igor’s request.

”Kid, let me tell you, being new, not knowing the rules, you’re just lucky you ran into me. If it were someone else, they wouldn’t be so polite.”

Igor was stunned after hearing that, what on earth was this? Why did trouble come to him when he did nothing?

This was truly perplexing, deepening the frown on his brow.

”Heh, kid, I’m helping you, see those two fellows across? They’ve been eyeing you for quite some time. With your tender skin, you might fetch a good price!”

Igor felt a chill down his spine, as if those two leather-clad individuals were human traffickers.

”Don’t be so surprised, though this tavern has only a few people, none are easy to deal with. You see that old guy? He’s feared across the entire Yowein Continent.”

Igor combed through his memories, who could possibly be feared continent-wide in Yowein.

”You think this tavern truly is just a tavern? Let me tell you, kid, not many come here just to drink.” The weirdo’s voice was low, like a drunkard muttering.

Such a disguise was evidently clever, the weirdo didn’t want nearby onlookers to overhear his conversation with Igor.

And Igor’s facial expression concealed this quite well too, showing no sign of surprise or panic. After all, he had experienced quite a lot and was used to such scenes, leaving him more curious about this weirdo, puzzling over it for a long while.

He didn’t understand why this weirdo would tell him such things. Was it considered a friendly warning or was the weirdo genuinely trying to help him?

No matter how you think about it, it didn’t make sense, deepening Igor’s frown further.

This situation made those around drop their guard, as the weirdo really did seem like a drunkard.

The tavern’s regulars never created a ruckus, each visit leaving behind a decent amount of gold coins; the tavern owner rather liked this guy, occasionally treating him as a tavern mascot.

”You’re still too young, but reaching this place is quite an achievement itself, as it’s not somewhere anyone can just walk into.”

This small town was marked as Mist Capital on maps, rarely found. It was said to be shrouded by a peculiar smoke year-round, with very few ever reaching it.

This was also one of the reasons Igor was especially cautious coming here.

But now, what Igor saw was rolling mists, and a weirdo entangling him, which made him slightly confused.

Igor had too many unknowns, and if every unknown caused him such a headache, there’d be no point in continuing his journey as an Adventurer.

”Moreover, don’t just eat any meat; do you even know what meat you’re eating?” The weirdo was still advising Igor.

Now Igor noticed he was the only one who ordered a roasted meat plate in the tavern; the others all opted for vegetarian dishes.

Could there be something wrong with the meat?

Igor hastily spit out the roasted meat from his mouth, then stared blankly at the weirdo.

”In this place, meat might be the most common item and the least valuable because there is an abundance of Undead Soldiers here. Dead bodies of various animals are everywhere, and of course, there are quite a few human corpses too…”

The weirdo’s voice dropped extremely low, pointing towards the roasted meat on Igor’s plate.