Dawn of the Last Dragon Rider - Chapter 026 - Never Stand on a Dwarf's Bar (Patreon)

Kaen walked out of the office and back into the bar.  The weight of so many things churned in his stomach as he strode up to the bar where Eltina and her male counterpart were slinging drinks and laughing with patrons.

Taking a big breath, Kaen stepped onto a chair close to the bar, put two fingers from each hand into his mouth, and blew a long, loud whistle.

The bar quieted down as every eye turned to see who had called for their attention.

“Fine men and women of Ebonmount, may I ask you all one simple question?!” Kaen shouted.  He watched as they all turned and leaned toward him, eager to hear what he might say.

“Now, I really want your answer before I ask the real question. How many of you got to enjoy a free drink paid for by my friend Hess, the gold token adventurer who trained me?!”

Cheers broke out, and people held up cups as they laughed and smiled.  Most of the inn patrons seemed lucky enough to score a free drink, paid for by Hess’s coin.

Kaen raised his hands and encouraged them as they laughed and raised their cups.  He finally held his hands up for silence, and the room quieted down after a short moment.  Kaen glanced over at Eltina, who was looking at him, wondering what he was doing.  He had seen her turn and look at Hess and Sulenda standing outside the office door when the first cheers had erupted.  It was obvious that Hess and Sulenda had no clue what Kaen was doing.

“Now I know that many of you might doubt the stories going around about me and how I have slayed three orcs and over twenty goblins,” as Kaen paused a moment, a few jeers were heard across the room, but the majority of the people there were waiting for Kaen’s real purpose.  “While I am not gifted in the art of storytelling, allow me to tell you how these feats took place, and then decide for yourselves.”

Kaen jumped onto the table next to him and started regaling the patrons with their first encounter with the cave, ten goblins, and the orc.

Kaen held the rapt attention of everyone in the bar with his storytelling, moving between the patrons and putting actions as he described how things took place.  He rolled across the floor, sprung up to his feet, and used his invisible bow to slay goblins by the dozens.  People cheered and laughed, and he pretended to take a hard pretzel stick and stab a dwarf in the eye as if he had shot it before holding it high and cheering for himself.

When he got to the part of the story where he was shot by the orc with the arrow, he suddenly ripped off his shirt and pointed to the mark on his chest and the one on his back.  The crowds all leaned and gasped when they saw a scar from what had obviously pierced his body.

When the final battle for his life took place between the two goblins who had tried to ambush him, Kaen climbed up on the bar and lay on his back to mimic how he had shot his bow and killed the last goblin.

Standing on the bar, Kaen gave a quick flex, having never put his shirt back on, and smiled.

“And that, my friends, is how I killed three orcs and thirty goblins!  Now what do you say?!”

There is always that moment of silence after a good story has been told.  Everyone is sad to know it is over but wants to cheer because of how it ended.  Here, that silence hung for just a few seconds, and then the patrons started leaping to their feet and cheered.  Men and women came up to the bar and started offering their hands and shaking Kaen’s as he smiled and laughed.  Suddenly he felt his heart and the lifestone pulse for a moment.

[ Story Telling Skill Acquired ]

[ Story Telling Skill Increased x8 ]

Kaen stood there stunned as people kept rushing up to him. He had not acquired a new skill in what had felt like ages.  This was not one he had intended or even thought about trying for.  Had his story been that good, or was it something else?

After a minute of people streaming by, he felt Eltina tugging on his pants leg.

“Sell some alcohol or get off my bar, you shirtless fool,” she said with a smile.

Kaen winked at her and nodded.

Whistling once more, he gathered everyone else's attention in the inn again.

“For my last act of tonight, I have one small treat left!  Everyone who places a wager on which rank I will be and gets it wrong,” Kaen paused a moment as he could feel everyone waiting for what came next.  “I will personally pay for their drink at my celebration here in the greatest inn in all of Ebonmount!”

Cheers broke out, and cups thumped the tables.

“He seems sure of himself,” Sulenda had to shout into Hess’s ear over the noise of the inn.

“That’s because he takes after his father,” Hess replied with a laugh.

Selunda laughed and elbowed Hess in his ribs.

“He better score well if he is hoping to pay for all their drinks.”

Hess elbowed Selunda back, but not near as hard as she had him.

“If what I believe might happen, this boy will earn you more money in the next few days than you have in a long time.”

Selunda nodded and smirked.  She believed Hess was right.  The son of Hoste appeared to be just as big as his father had been.  She prayed to herself that he would succeed where Hoste had not.  Knowing that he was already making a name like his father was intimidating.  She would have to ensure they kept who his father was a secret, or the bets would be skewed drastically.  She already wondered if the odds were against her.

Eltina climbed up on the bar next to Kaen, grabbed his hand, and started raising it.  She motioned to her counterpart, who started ringing a bell on the side of the bar.  Everyone in the bar started shouting and cheering!

“Why are they cheering so loud?” Kaen asked as he shouted at Eltina, who was smiling at him.

“It’s because you just bought everyone in the bar a round tonight!”

Kaen’s eyes went wide, and he looked at Eltina and saw her smiling as she stroked her beard with her other hand.

“I told you to get off the bar or sell drinks!  The first rule is if you stand on my bar, you buy a round!”

“Do I want to know the second rule?” Kaen asked with a groan.

“Get off my bar, or you're going to find out!” Eltina replied as she started to get off the bar herself.

Kaen shook his head as he jumped down to the floor.  He was immediately on the receiving end of countless backslaps and thanks for the free drink.  The sting of the slaps was bad enough, but knowing he had probably spent most of his money tonight hurt even more.

The night had flown by, and soon Kaen and Hess were in a room upstairs at the top of the inn.

“You still look a bit sore for what Eltina did to you,” teased Hess as he lay in his bed. “Most inns and bars will let it slide if you get on top of a chair or a table, but you better have a damn good reason if you actually climb on the bar.  Otherwise, it will cost you possibly more than just your money.”

Kaen sighed and nodded as he lay on his bed.  His brain was running in twenty different directions.  Tomorrow and what would happen consumed his mind, but he was also thinking about the letter from his dad.  The fact that Hess had held onto it for so long and not shown it burned him.  The other side of him knew why Hess had waited.  There was so much about this world that he didn’t know he now realized.  All those years he thought he understood everything the world could off was burst like a soap bubble on the wooden floor.

Turning to his side, he smiled at Hess and grunted.

“You got something to say?” Hess asked as he opened one eye

“I gained a skill today,” Kaen stated as if it was such a common thing.

“You got a what?” Hess roared as he rolled off his bed and jumped to his feet.  “What did you get and when?”

Kaen grinned.

“When I finished telling the story of how we fought the orcs and goblins, the moment they cheered, my lifestone pulsed, and I got the notice.”

“What skill?” Hess groaned.

“Story Telling.  It gave me level eight from the start.  I’m not sure what good the skill will do, though.”

Hess shook his head and sat back down on his bed.

“You know every skill is important.  It might seem like a wasted skill to you, but those who master it can walk into any room or even into the King's court and find themselves able to bend a crowd to their will,” Hess explained.  “Some of the greatest bards had mastered this skill and could change the direction of a kingdom’s war plans. They could shift opinions and change minds without people realizing it was being done.  A true silver tongue was a dangerous enemy if you did not know who they were.”

Kaen lay there on his side and was wondering about that skill.  He had no stat increase or anything else besides the skill.  Maybe Hess was right.

“Anything else you need to tell me or perhaps ask for a loan from the amount of alcohol you paid for tonight?”

Kaen groaned for a moment and then laughed.

“You and I both know that I easily increased our take on all this betting from that stunt.  I am sure both purchases will easily be covered by what people are going to spend on this silly betting thing you all do.”

Hess nodded as he sat there, massaging his quad with his hand.  He had not yet told Kaen specifically how much they could earn or that now he believed from this event, he could easily find them a place inside the walls of Ebonmount after all the funds were collected.  Of course, that would mean leaving here and upsetting Sulenda.  Sure, he could tell her it was because of Kaen and his desire to be inside the walls or closer for quests, but she would know that wasn’t true.

“Kaen, I need to ask you a question.”

“That sounds bad.”

Hess chuckled and nodded.

“You are smarter than I give you credit for.  I am going to ask a hard question, and I need an honest answer.  Not one with misdirection but instead just tell me the truth.  Will you free me from the bond that I have with you?”

Kaen turned on the bed till he faced Hess and sat on the edge.  He felt his bare feet on the wooden floors.  They had been rubbed smooth from countless guests walking over them and getting cleaned.  He looked around the room and stared at the picture in the middle of the room.  It appeared to be an image of Beatrice.  He wasn’t sure if she had made sure it was hung there for him or any guest that stayed in this room.

“You avoiding the question?” Hess asked as he watched Kaen look everywhere but at him.

Kaen sighed and looked at Hess.  The man he saw across from him was hard to figure out.  Part of him saw Hess as a father figure.  Part of him was a boss who worked him not because he wanted to take advantage of his strength or lifestone but because he wanted him to grow strong.  The other part he saw was a man who was tired.  Somehow he was real at this moment and exposed.  There was a weakness he saw that he had never noticed until now.

“You still love her?”

Hess winced at that question.  Without thinking, he touched his chest where his heart and his gold token were.

“I thought I was asking you a question, not you asking me one,” Hess joked.

“Your answer won’t change mine, I just want to know if you can be honest with yourself and with me.”

Hess closed his eyes and turned his face up at the ceiling.

He sat there for what felt like hours, not saying a word in the quietness of their room. Kaen had asked about how it was so quiet when it was so close to the inn, and Hess had told him magical sound spells dampened the noise once they entered the room.

Finally, Hess opened his eyes and smiled at Kaen.

“Part of me still loves her just as much as I did all those years ago.  The other part of me is scared that both of us have changed so much over the years that we are in love with who the other person was back then and would not be in love with the person we are now.  Does that make sense?”

Kaen nodded.

“I understand that completely.  I…I love you for the man you are now.  Sometimes if I am honest, you have felt like a father to me.  I know I never would call you that to your face, but tonight I can tell you the truth.  You filled a hole in my heart I could never imagine being filled.  With Pammon in my life now, I have felt joy again.  It has been far too long since I have felt that.”

“Joy is hard to come across.  Cherish it,” Hess said as he smiled, leaned back, and crossed his arms. “Now, what is your answer to my question?”

Kaen grimaced and sucked wind in through his teeth.

“I guess all I can say is after I pass the adventurer test, I will have to keep you bound to me.  A gold token slave is hard to…”

“WHAT?!” Hess erupted as he bounded out of his bed. “How dare you call me a sla…”

He stopped shouting when he saw Kaen smiling and starting to laugh.

“Boy, I am about to beat you like I should have all those years ago!” Hess growled as he took a deep breath, letting the redness fade from his face.

Kaen fell over on the side of the bed and laughed.  He laughed so hard that he started crying.

“Oh.. oh… Hess… You believed me…”

Kaen couldn’t talk as he kept laughing.

Hess flopped down on his bed and sighed.

“I swear you wear me out differently every day, Kaen.”

Kaen nodded and wiped the tears from his eyes as he sat up.

“No worry, Hess.  Soon you will be free of me and no longer bound to me.  You have my word on this.”

Hess smiled and tossed his pillow across the room at Kaen’s face.

Kaen reached up and easily caught it, and the second he pulled it down from hitting his face, his eyes went wide as Hess towered over him.  Hess had crossed the room in the blink of an eye.

Hess bent over and started tickling Kaen as he hadn’t in years.  Kaen tried to fight back as he laughed, still upset that his ribs were that ticklish.

“Someday, boy, you will become a man, but tonight I’ll pay you back for that joke!” Hess roared as he tickled Kaen for a good minute.

When all the horseplay was done, and they both lay in their individual beds and turned off the light globe, Hess was about to fall asleep.

“Hess, you awake?”

Grunting, Hess acknowledged that he was.

“I know I never said this, but thank you,” Kaen called across the darkness in the room.  “Thank you for raising me.  Thank you for loving me.  I.. I want you to know I love you.”

Hess froze.  His heart leaped in a way it had never before.

Ever so silently, Hess whispered, “I love you too, Kaen.”