Chapter 732: The T-Bar
Chapter 732: The T-Bar
"The T-Bar…" I muttered to myself after seeing the sign.
I'm guessing the name literally comes from the fact that it's located at a T-junction…
I pushed open the door to the bar which I assumed should be the most popular one due to its location.
Hopefully its popularity would allow me to gather the most information I could here or I would need to go bar hopping otherwise.
The moment I entered, the sounds of glasses clinking and people talking reached my ears..
Looking around the place, it was what you might expect a typical bar to look like.
There were tables and chairs and benches spread out in the centre of the room with the bar counter at the very back flush against the wall. There was a doorway that I assumed led to the kitchens beside said bar counter and even though it was still in the middle of the day, the place had a handful of customers already.
Pretty much all the customers were non-Mahuns while the serving staff were Mahuns and while most of them were drinking quietly in their corners, a group of patrons were drinking while having sex on their tables.
Yep… Just normal bar stuff that I've seen before.
I guess the only difference here was the fact that I'm seeing more non-humans than any other bar I've been to within the Lehcarouc Kingdom.
I went directly to the bar and sat at the counter, prompting a rather attractive Mahun woman to approach me.
She had an eyepatch over her left eye and her auburn hair was tied up in a ponytail.
"New in town? What can I get you?" She asked, picking up one of the glasses to start cleaning it with a towel.
"Umm… What do you have?"
She raised the eyebrow that was above her eyepatch, "Well waddaya want? We've got drinks and bites if you want 'em."
Well… I guess I should have thought this through because I don't really want drink alcohol…
I coughed and leaned forward a little, "Do you have… Err… Hot chocolate?"
She frowned and set the glass down, "Did you really come into a bar and ask if we have hot chocolate?"
I blinked at her, "Err… Yes? Do you have any?"
She huffed, "Girl, you're lucky you're cute. Yes we do."
The bartender woman turned back and opened a sliding window which I guessed opened to the kitchens behind the bar.
"Boil me some water, Cass!!" She shouted through the window.
A low grunt came from the window as a reply and she slid the window shut before turning back to me.
She picked up the glass and started cleaning it again before shooting me a look, "So what are you really doing here, girl? This doesn't look like your place."
Right… Time to turn on my bullshitting skills.
I leaned forward slightly, "I'm looking for someone actually. A friend of a friend who I was asked to meet but I don't know where to find him."
"That sounds like a shitty friend if they told you to come here without telling you where to meet them," She noted.
I shook my head, "He didn't tell me to come here. I'm… Well… I need someone I could depend on here and I don't know anyone…"
She frowned, "Are you trying to enter Lehcarouc illegally? Because if you are, I'm going to have to turn you in."
Wait, what the heck? There's such a thing as entering the country illegally? I mean… I guess there's definitely going to be some control over who could enter and leave a country but I thought the borders were pretty much open to law abiding people?
I shook my head quickly, "No, no, no. I'm a citizen of Lehcarouc."
"Then you're trying to smuggle something into Nekinumi Kingdom? You've come to the wrong place, girl."
I grimaced and pointed to my Light Sword at my waist, "No, I'm a Mercenary you see…"
She peeked over the counter and saw the sword I was pointing at before nodding, "Ah, I see. Sorry about that. We've gotten quite a lot of those kinds of people around here recently and I simply assumed the worst."
"There's a lot of smugglers?" I asked.
She nodded, "Didn't use to be a problem either and it wasn't because the border guards were slacking. It's just a whole bunch of them started showing up all of a sudden."
"What were they even smuggling?"
"That's the weird thing, pretty much everything. Weapons, drugs, food, even slaves."
"How do you smuggle food and slaves? Aren't those legal stuff to bring in?"
"Not when they're stolen, they're not."
"How do you even know that a bunch of food you're bringing in was stolen?"
"When the exact day before a military camp was raided and had the exact same food stolen of course."
What the hell? Who even goes to raid a military camp to steal their food to try and smuggle across the border? Heck, I'm even surprised they even got the news out so fast that they managed to catch the people involved.
I was just about to ask why would they even do that when the bartender waved her hand at me, "Don't ask me why that happened, all of us are wondering the same as well."
"And the slaves?"
"They were all slaves that were stolen from their original owners on this side and they were trying to smuggle them back to Nekinumi Kingdom. At least that has happened before so that's less surprising. The surprising thing was that the people transporting the slaves thought they could just bring them across the border just like that."
Oh… I think I know what's going on with that one… That's probably another Off-Worlder thinking that they're saving the slaves and bringing them back to their home without knowing how slavery works in this World…
Geez… I'm guessing the smuggling stuff might also be related to other Off-Worlders so there's already some things happening around the World that are perpetrated by Off-Worlders…
At least those matters are being sorted out by themselves so it's not my business anyway.
I just worry that this would make more people aware of the existence of Off-Worlders and complicate stuff.
The window behind the bartender slid open and a mug of steaming hot water was placed on it.
The bartender then took it and started making my hot chocolate under the counter.
"Anyway, my name's Loster. What's yours?"
I decided to just give my name, "Aster."
"So, what are you looking for then, Aster?" She asked.
"As I said, I'm a Merc and I'm new around here. I thought that friend I mentioned might be able to help me find some work."
She gave me a look with a single eye, "Couldn't you just go to the Guild for that?"
"Long term work."
"Hmm… You know what that guy looks like then? I'm guessing he must be a drinker if you came here to look for him."
I poked my fingers together, "Erm… That's the problem… My friend only told me in an offhand comment that he had a friend who recently settled at the border and that's all he said about it… He didn't even give me a name."
"Well that's troublesome, how the heck were you planning on finding him like that?" She asked.
"I was wondering if there's any Mahuns who came to this place recently and settled down? I know he's supposedly a little eccentric so he might act weirdly or have different customs than the people here."
"That's an odd way of describing someone," She commented while placing the mug of hot chocolate on the counter in front of me.
I murmured a thanks and took out a Large Bronze coin but she raised her palm to stop me, "On the house, girl. Also, it's just hot chocolate. It's not even worth one Crea."
I shook my head, "It's ok, I'm also paying you for the information too. Do you know anyone like that?"
She grinned, "Well if that's the case, I'm afraid just a single Crea isn't going to be enough to unseal these lips, girl. Just so you know, I do know someone that might fit that description but these lips of mine are a little dry if you get my meaning."
Oh wow, there really is someone? Looks like I lucked out!
Anyway, I expected something like this so before I came here, I asked Emilia to give me back some of the money I loaned her.
I reached into my coin pouch and took out a Medium Bronze coin to place on the table.
She let out a giggle, "Oh, that's very sweet, girl. But it's not money that would wet my lips."
"Err… You want a drink or something then?"
"Oh yes, I do. A very special type of drink from you. Something that can only be found in between your legs."
…
Oh… That's what she meant… Well fuck… She's attractive so I definitely think I would be the one that's actually benefiting from this so I wouldn't say no.
"Just to warn you, I'm a futa though."
She grinned, "Even better. Shall I take that as a yes?"
I nodded.
She licked her lips and actually crawled over the counter towards me.
Oh damn, what did I just sign myself up for?