Chapter 12 Fake
Eisen woke up in the morning, his MP now filled again after his exercise the day before nearly depleted it. He stood up and got dressed, placing all of his items into his pocket.
After then bringing the keys back to the reception, he sat down in the restaurant and ordered breakfast, the same as the day before.
The young, pink-haired Waitress he met the other day was working again, and Eisen kept wondering if she wasn't too young to work. However, since he didn't know how stuff like that was managed in this world, he ignored it and treated her like any other waitress.
After breakfast, since Denmir shouldn't be at his shop around this time yet, Eisen thought he would look for Belrim. He stood up from his table after paying and walked to the bar.
He didn't expect anyone to actually be there at this time, but there were a number of people, most of which were Dwarves with dirt covering their arms and faces. There was one relatively large group sat in the corner, centered around the one Human in the group. He had short black hair and a cleanly shaven face and kept smiling smugly while talking to the rest of the group.
But Eisen ignored them, despite the loud conversations and laughter coming from that corner, and walked over to the actual Bar where he saw the man he was looking for.
"Good morning Belrim!" Eisen exclaimed and placed his hand on his shoulder while sitting down next to him, and the Dwarf quickly turned around in surprise. "Ah, Gramps! So how'd it gone at Morrom's place the other day? Got yer memories or skills back?" He asked and began to smile with the jug of Beer in his hand.
"Well, I got my racial skills and a title back at least, but other than that nothing. But I still wanted to thank you! Without you, I wouldn't have even known I could have those skills, to begin with." Eisen smiled happily, and Belrim began to laugh, "That's better than nothin'! And if ya wanna thank me, buy me a drink, you old geezer!"
Eisen laughed lowly and waved over the Barkeeper, and ordered another beer for Belrim, "Haha, ye're a good guy, Gramps!" Belrim laughed out and downed the beer he had standing in front of him in one go, and his jug was swapped out with one that was filled.
Belrim and Eisen continued talking for a while, simply about smaller stuff. During that conversation, he found out the importance of the mine under the town. It is at that spot where two huge veins of Iron and Mythril intersect. Since Eisen didn't know what Mythril was, he had Belrim explain it to him. It's a metal with a silver color, and it's incredibly light but strong at the same time, which was only made possible through the influence of mana that is naturally attracted to the metal.
While the two of them were talking about the general uses of Mythril, a loud noise interrupted their conversation.
Immediately, Eisen turned around to the source of the noise and saw the pink-haired waitress standing there in front of the group in the corner, picking up a few jugs that were thrown on the ground. Since the Restaurant and Bar were a joined business, it seemed like the Waitresses from the Restaurant also worked at the Bar when necessary.
Trying to figure out what happened, Eisen kept his eyes there suspiciously. "That's right, pick those up, you Fake!" The Human of the group yelled out, laughing with a vile face. The other men and women around him laughed as well and looked at her with despising looks.
When he noticed this as well, Belrim simply grunted and continued drinking his beer, "Damn Hendrick…"
"What do you mean? What's going on?" Eisen asked confused, a frown on his face.
Belrim sighed loudly and began to explain, "That girl over there is a Fey-Kin. Ye can see that from 'er bright pink hair and long ears, normally people don't have that, ya know? There's a stigma against Feys, which is completely idiotic. Many people say Feys are more monsters than anythin' else, so if there's a Half-Fey, they aren't easily accepted, hence people call them 'Fake', cuz it sounds like Fey-Kin and means she's a fake person. Pricks like Hendrick use that to look cool in front of others."
"We can't let him bully a little kid!" Eisen said angrily and prepared to stand up, but Belrim quickly stopped him with a laugh.
"Heh, little kid? Gramps, Fey-Kin age slowly. She's about as old as Morrom."
Eisen stared blankly at Belrim, unsure what to say. It was confusing to him since she looked basically as old as his youngest Granddaughter, but she was supposed to be double as old as that? He decided to let it be for now. She was an Adult, so she should be able to handle name-calling. Stepping in would probably only hurt her more.
Eisen wanted to simply ignore it, but then…
"Hey, Fake, how about you stop being so useless and instead come with me?" The Human, Hendrick, stood up and grabbed the girl by her arm, pulling her upward, "You've got a cute face. You might be worth a copper or two at the underground market."
"P-Please, Sir Customer, l-let go of my hand… I ne-need to get back to my work…"
Hendrick's face twisted in disgust as he was looking down on the girl and gripped her arm harder so that she was visibly in pain, and raised his other hand, "How dare you talk back to me? Don't you know who I am?!" He shot his hand downward and just when his palm was about to connect with her face, he felt a sharp pain in its center.
With his hand bleeding, he let go of the girl and inspected what the item in his hand was. Shocked and confused, he simply stared down, until a big hand covered in scars slowly pulled out the thin needle.
He turned to the source of the hand and turned his head upward, looking at the face of an old man with a body completely contradictory to it.
"Th-The fuck do you think you're doing?!" Hendrick yelled out and held his hand in pain.
"That's what I was about to ask, Kid." Eisen said, his eyes focused on Hendrick and his expression calm, hiding a storm of anger behind it. "What do you think gives you the right to treat another person like that?"
Hendrick's group was completely quiet while looking at the man in front of them, while Hendrick himself began slowly stumbling backward, his grin widening as he let out a soft chuckle.
"What person could you be talking about? All I did was do what any proper citizen should do! It's disgusting enough that a Fake is even allowed to work here! Having a fake talk to their customers, seems like the owner here truly is an idiot, huh?" He laughed out and the rest of the group began to have mixed emotions. Some joined Hendrick in his laughter, while others looked angrily at the Fey-Kin and the owner acting as the Barkeeper during this time.
Eisen turned to look at the owner, whose face became angrier the more he looked at Hendrick, but simply said nothing for some reason, and then turned back to the Human in front of him.
"Alright, Kid, that was the last straw." He muttered out lowly and grabbed Hendrick by the collar, slightly pulling him up by it. Sure, his strength was still not what it is in real life, but it was enough to pick up such a scrawny looking man.
"Sto-stop right there! What do you think you're doing? You don't know who I am, do you?!"
"No, I don't. Should I care?"
"Of course you should! I'm Hendrick Argon! A Rank 4 Adventurer! You can be happy I'm even here in this measly town!"
Eisen clicked his tongue and gripped his collar more tightly, but let go when he saw the Fey-Kin girl have a conflicted look on her face as if she was about to try and stop. "Listen here, kid. I don't care about who you are and all that adventurer nonsense. Just stop treating another person like that. Or you'll regret it."
"Is that supposed to be a threat? What's your level, huh? Ten, Twenty? Like anyone else's in this measly town? I'm level Fifty, so try and see what you can do against me!" Hendrick began to laugh like a maniac at Eisen, who sighed and turned around.
"Oi, you think you can just leave? After you disrespected me like that? No way!" He yelled out and grabbed Eisen's arm, stopping him in his track. While Eisen wouldn't want to admit it, but Hendrick really was way stronger than Eisen.
"The Job I'm here for is gonna last a week, so it's going to trouble me if I kill anyone for now, but after that… You know what I'm saying, right?" Bearing his teeth, Hendrick looked up at Eisen and continued, "In seven days, you'll fight me! And then we'll see who's in the right! In one week, down at the entrances to the Mine!"
[New Quest – Hendrick's Duel]
[Description]After defending a Fey-Kin from Hendrick, he felt offended and requested a duel. You don't know what's to gain or to lose from this.
[Requirements]Fight against Hendrick in seven days at the Mines
[Reward]???
[Failure]???
[Time Limit – 1 Week]
"Until then, don't bother anyone."
With that, Eisen ended the conversation and left the Bar, with Belrim laughing in the background and a concerned Fey-Kin following behind him closely.
"P-Please, wait!" The Pink-haired girl yelled out at Eisen, who decided to make his way to the smithy to create his weapon.
He was greatly agitated through the conversation with Hendrick right then and needed to let loose of some steam. Because of that, he didn't even notice her when she was trying to stop him by grabbing his arm and simply kept on walking forward.
Only when he arrived at the shop's door was when he actually did. He scratched his beard and closed his eyes, releasing a soft smile, "Ah, sorry. Erm, I hope I didn't mess anything up for you back there. I didn't want to get you in trouble or anything."
Immediately the girl crossed her arms in front of her face, "No, you didn't! I'm the one that should thank you, and also apologize! Thank you for helping me, but… sorry, you have to fight him because of me…"
"Haha, don't worry, kid! I'm fine! A brat like him can't beat me!" He laughed out loud and flexed his arm as if to show off how strong he was. Of course, he knew that his body didn't matter in this world, but he also knew that his kids and grandchildren always had to laugh when he did this, and he felt like she could use a good laugh.
But opposite to his expectations, her eyes began to glitter, "R-Really? So you're stronger than him?"
"Of course I am, little lady! Now, don't you think you should go back to the Inn? You still have to work, right?"
The girl shook her head with a smile. "Nope! Those guys would have been the last order I was going to take for the day! Also, my name is Bree! And what is your name, Mister?" Bree asked with an innocent smile.
"I'm Eisen, nice to meet you, Bree." Eisen shook Bree's hand, and then explained that he was going to enter the shop now since he wanted to make something in the smithy.
He expected her to leave but instead asked for a favor. "Eisen, could I maybe… watch?"
"Hm? You want to watch me?" Eisen asked surprised, and Bree quickly nodded, "Yes, please! And maybe I could even help you? I can bring you whatever you need, and I can, erm… I can make the fire hotter!"
Eisen looked down at the girl fidgeting with her hands and began to laugh, "Sure, come on in! Just try to stick to me and don't wander around too much!"
Bree's nervousness immediately turned into happiness and she followed Eisen inside.
"Good morning old-timer! What're yer plans for today? Oh, and is that Bree behind ya?" Denmir asked and smiled at her while Eisen and Bree were walking through the door to the smithy.
Eisen greeted him and did some small-talk amongst other things, telling him that it would be the last day he would be there for a while.
Denmir was sad to hear it, but he understood. "Well, then I hope yer gonna come back soon, haha! If ya ever need to make a quick buck, ye can help me out around the shop and make some weapons for us."
"Thanks for that, Denmir. I'll remember that!" With a smile, Eisen continued on toward the storage space, picking out what materials he would need today.
With a grin on his face and part of his agitation already dwindling because of the cheerful Bree, Eisen got his hammer out of his pocket and smiled.