Dance of the Gods

A new day of working began yet again. Veronica did the usual, brought out food and drinks, accepted payment and evaded everyone trying to bump into her. Everything was going well, there was only one problem...

'Why are there so many customers all of a sudden?' 

The main room was fully packed with people wearing overalls or just a bit run down clothes. They were also ordering a lot of drinks, which was a bit weird since it wasn't even midday yet.

After taking out another set of drinks, she approached James.

"Hey, who are all these people?" She nearly had to shout, they were so loud.

"They are a ship's crew that just arrived to port. The captain of the ship is my good friend, but I didn't expect him to bring his whole crew to my inn... Anyway, they pay good money so it doesn't really matter. If any of them cause trouble just say so and Alex will punish them, he is the captain."

'A whole ship's crew? So all of them are sailors? But why do they seem more wild than the sailors I met before?'

With nothing else to say, she went into the kitchen. On the table was the already prepared food ordered by some guests. She quickly picked it up and through a lot of trouble managed to deliver it.

While taking care of orders Veronica eaves dropped many of the sailor's conversations, most of them were talking about boring topics... But some were actually quite interesting.

"Have you heard? Monterra's navy fought with the Kingdom of Ranna near the Broken Islands!" Said a half drunken sailor, he was about 40 years of age maybe more, but there were definitely gray hairs on his head.

"No, who won? Monterra had to have win, their whole culture is related to war!" Said the other, a bit less drunk and even older looking.

"You would think so, but there weren't even really any fighting! I heard Monterra's sailors just straight up surrendered!" The older one looked unconvinced.

"You are talking about the people who think dying in war is the highest virtue? Those people surrendered? If you are going to speak bullshit at least make it somewhat believable!" The other man looked offended and angry.

"Are you calling me a liar? You son of a whore, I'm not lying! It is just a rumor I heard, I don't care if you think its true or not!"

Sadly Veronica couldn't hear more of their very civil conversation. At another table they were speaking about something else that interested her...

Weapons!

"Seen those dreadnaughts in the port? They were beauties aren't they?" A man even younger than Veronica spoke. He looked very excited, unlike the other man he was speaking to... He looked more concerned than anything.

"Yes, they are beauties. But these aren't like a woman, these ones I like to admire from afar and not while 'working'." For some reason he made quotation marks with his hand as he said working. They both laughed, then the younger one continued.

"I heard that the Dracon Empire made a new kind of weapon for ship and air combat. They are huge and are like the large cannons on the dreadnaught, but they can shoot a lot faster. Their shots are also not as destructive, but in the time those dreadnaught cannons shoot once, it can shoot 5 times!" The other man just shook his head, his eyes seemed to hold a bit of sadness, but also excitement.

"Why are you so excited boy! There is a high chance those weapons will be aimed at us!" He said with a smile and both laughed.

'What a weird bunch these people are. And why do they talk like the government is against them?'

Thinking about why these people seem to be a lot different, than the usual customers she delivered another set of drinks.

The day soon passed and night arrived. The crowd didn't really care at all and at this point there wasn't a sober sailor in the building.

Veronica was dead tired from all the work, she could hardly lift the tray of drinks. Her leg was in an even worse state because of the large amount of people needing to be served.

Even worse, every time she delivered something at least one person asked her to have sex. There were people who didn't even offer money for it! They just thought themselves so charming, that she would jump on them just by asking.

'They didn't even offer me a lot of money! Not even 1 gelt! Not like I would have accepted it, but still... I look better than 4 eura!'

While grumbling she saw James speaking with a person who wasn't drunk. She wanted to approach them, but suddenly someone caught her hand.

Turning around she saw one of the drunk sailors holding her hand and smiling with a gap toothed grin. She tried to pull her hand away, but the man just tightened his grip.

"Hey, gorgeous. How about you and me go into a different room to... Get to know each other better." She was still trying to pull her hand, but he tightened it further and it began to hurt. Moving her other hand she tried to slap the man, but he just caught her other hand and pulled her onto him.

"How feisty! I like woman who play hard to get. Don't tell me its that uncomfortable to sit on my lap."

"Let... Me... GO!" She was starting to panic a bit, but didn't relent and instead doubled her effort of getting as far away from this pervert as possible.

"Come now... Don't be like tha..." Suddenly a shadow appeared above them and whatever the man was about to say it didn't came out. Instead another person spoke, his voice not necessarily deeper, but it certainly contained a lot more gravitas.

"Pete! What are you doing! Let this poor barmaid go!" The voice sounded very angry, so much so that the man released Veronica without another word. She quickly jumped to her feet and ran to the bar, where James was holding something under the counter.

"Who gave you the right to harass the employees of this establishment?" The man was basically shouting at this point and everyone was looking at him. They all had fearful expressions, like this man could just slaughter them all with ease.

The pervert answered in a voice about as loud as a mosquito. "No one."

"Exactly, so why did you do it?" The man's voice became dangerously low, and his whole posture suggested trouble. The pervert looked around the room for support, but nobody cared about him. Whenever his eyes met with some other sailor's, they either just shook their heads or looked away with disappointment.

"Others were doing it as well! They were constantly asking her to have sex and I jus..."

At one moment the pervert was throwing everyone under the bus, and in the next he was lying on the ground with a broken nose... unconscious. The man just shook his hand a bit, then looked at all the people. At this point it was obvious for Veronica that this man was their captain.

"I let you to come with me for my good friend's and his family's inn and this is what you do? Harass his barmaid? All of you, finish your drink and go back to the ship... Tomorrow everyone will do a full cleaning! Throughout the whole damn day! Anyone disagrees?"

None dared to even look him in the eye, they just stared at their remaining drinks with sadness and anger, but not towards their captain. They know the punishment was just... They were mad at Pete, since he told the captain what they were doing.

They were already formulating plans on how to punish him when they get back. The captain just nodded and walked to the counter where Veronica and James were sitting.

His hair was dark gray, but surprisingly it wasn't because of aging... It was natural. His eyes were a deep purple, they looked unnatural compared to his hair. Veronica judged him to be around 45 years old, but unlike what a person would think his bearing radiated youth.

"If there is no need for drinks for the day lets go into the back and have a drink ourselves. I think both of you need one." Said James, then grabbed one of the better whiskey bottles and three glasses. When he was about to start walking the captain cleared his throat a bit forcefully... Suggesting the need for introductions.

After a second James understood what he meant, and began scratching the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Oh, yeah. You two haven't met yet. Veronica this is Captain Alex Morrow, he is a... trader here in the Remote Sea. Alex this is Veronica Navarro our new hired barmaid."

When James introduced Alex he raised an eyebrow, but soon made a hardly perceptible nod. Veronica didn't notice it and with a small and thankful smile she shook his hand.

"Thank you for helping me out there... Captain. I usually don't get bothered by harassment, but he was truly a jerk. He undoubtedly deserved that punch."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about my crew. And just call me Alex."

They walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table, then James poured a glass of whiskey to all of them. And they began chatting.