The inside of The Goblin Pot looks… unique. The entirety of the building, from the walls to the floor to the ceiling, is made of steel, while the chairs and tables are made of wood from the forest. The barkeep, a massive humanoid figure with pale skin and red scales growing in patches on it, a lizard-like tail growing from behind him, and a revolver on either side of his hips, looks at Ironvine and me as we approach.
"Now that the livestock has been removed, how may I help you, fine customers?" The man smiles.
"We're just passing through. A room for the night would be most helpful." I sit at the bar, "Some ale would be nice too."
"Just the one room?" The barkeep raises an eyebrow, glancing between me and Ironvine.
"No! We'll take two separate rooms." Ironvine interjects.
"We have a 2 Sweet Special happening right now, if you're interested." The barkeep spits into a shot glass and begins to polish it with a dirty rag, "Two of our best rooms for the price of one, but you have to pay for 3 nights in advance."
"How much?" I ask, only slightly interested.
"150 gold upfront. You get three free meals and drinks each day, too." The barkeep sets the shot glass upside down on a cloth sitting on top of the bar.
"Yeesh." Ironvine huffs.
"You won't find cheaper prices anywhere else in Amacedia, I promise you that much." The barkeep laughs.
"Is there anything we could help you with to ah…" I make sure nobody's eavesdropping as I speak, lowering my voice to a whisper, "... lower that price down some?"
"Well…" The barkeep strokes his chin, "... I guess I could throw you a bone or two."
He motions for me and Ironvine to come closer. Then, he points to a group of 3 human men sitting at one of the tables. They are unusually rowdy.
"Those men have been coming in here over the past few days, harassing my barmaids and scaring away all my other customers with their shenanigans." The barkeep clenches his teeth and balls his fists, "I can't do anything about it because they're paying customers themselves, and I don't want the knights shutting down my business."
"Sounds rough." Ironvine looks at me, "What do you think? It's up to you after all."
"I think I can help out our new friend here." A smile stretches across my face. "I'll be right back."
I stand up from my place at the bar and walk over to the 3 men's table. I slam my hands down, causing their drinks to spill.
"Hello," I say, glaring at all three. One of them refuses to make eye contact while the other two stare back.
"What do you want, half-breed?" The man directly across the table from me snorts, raising his nose just a bit.
As soon as he finishes, I grab his head and slam my own into it. A crunch assures me that his nose is broken, and I watch his unconscious body slump to the ground. The one who refused to make eye contact with me takes off running, out of the bar.
"You'll pay for this…" The last one looks down at his unconscious and bloody friend before he takes off out the door behind the other one.
"Like I haven't heard that before," I mutter, gathering all of the men's belongings, specifically their entry slabs.
I walk back over to the bar and set the men's items on the counter.
"I do believe that handles your problem," I say, handing the entry slabs over to the barkeep.
For a moment, he just stands there with his jaw open, speechless.
"Uhh, thank you, mister…" The barkeep clears the counter of the men's belongings, "...I didn't catch your names."
"Renald, and this is Ironvine," I smirk at the barkeep.
"Nice doing business with you." He sticks his hand out towards me, "I'm Liaz, the owner of this fine establishment."
I grab his hand firmly and give a shake.
"That's nice, can we get our rooms now?" Ironvine stumbles over his words, the weight of 2 bodies showing on his face.
"Oh, yes, why of course." Liaz fumbles around behind the counter, bringing out a pair of iron keys and sliding them in front of us, "Here are your room keys, and if you would like to follow me, I'll gladly show you to your rooms."
"With pleasure." I nod at Ironvine, and we follow Liaz to the back of the tavern.
"Ice, take over for me, will ya?" Liaz waves to one of the passing barmaids, a female Saber with blue eyes and white fur, who is carrying a tray full of dirty plates.
"Ugh. Alright." She rolls her eyes, "Don't make this an everyday thing, I've already…"
"Thanks, I'll be back in a second." Before she can finish, Liaz is already leading us up a set of stairs.
We head down a set of halls and eventually to a metal door with a wooden sign nailed to the front. The numbers 689 are painted on the sign.
"Renald, this is your room and…" Liaz points directly across the hall, to a room with the numbers 690 painted on its sign, "... Ironvine, this is your room."
"Thanks, friend," I unlock my room door.
"It's Liaz. Use it." I hear Liaz proudly shout, his footsteps trailing off into the distance, "The rooms are on the house! Enjoy!"
"Tsk, why'd he say it like he's being generous?" I hear Ironvine mumbling behind as I finally open the door, "You're the one who helped him."
"Don't think about it too much. From my experiences, most businessmen are like that." I dismiss his muttering and flick the arcane rune switch on the wall, causing the glow crystals to light up the interior of the room. I can already tell, we're getting our money's worth.
The room is extremely spacious with a working toilet, sink, and shower inside a walk-in bathroom. There are two bedrooms, each fitted with a nightstand, a dresser, and a large bed. There is also a kitchen, but there's no refrigerator, only a sink, stove, and dishwasher.
"Wow. I didn't know there was this level of technology in the Tower." Irovine gawks over the electric mana crystals powering the lights after he laid Whisperclaw on one of the beds and laid the bandit on the other one.
"Yeah, me neither," I say, coming from the kitchen. "I think we got pretty lucky if I'm being honest. There's no fridge though, which is kinda disappointing."
"Reminds me of home, back in Vertalara." Ironvine laughs a little, "The frost crystal in our fridge would always go out, so my dad had to bury our food in the garden."
"Yeah, Whitecoat never wanted to stop for supplies, so we all had to learn how to fish." I let out a chuckle. She never was the type to baby us either.
"Who's Whitecoat?" Ironvine asks.
For some reason, all that enters my mind is the night of the bar fight. The image of my shield crashing into the man who touched her flashes past. The next image to come is Whitecoat's terrified face.
"Nobody. You should probably check on Whisperclaw, I'm going to see what information I can get out of the bandit." I close my eyes and turn to walk into the room with the bandit, pushing the images into the back of my mind.
"S-sure." I hear Ironvine say. I feel bad, but I steel myself and shut the door to the room behind me.
I walk over to the bandit and set the bag down on the bed next to him. Then I pull some rope out of the bag and tie him to the bedpost by his arms and legs. When I'm done, I punch the bandit in the face, waking him up.
"Rise and shine," I step away from the bed.
"Ahhh! What in the hells?!" He screams, eyes wide in fear.
I punch him again.
"I'm the one asking the questions." I take a rag from my bag and start to wipe some of the blood off my hands. "I thought I told you to quit adventuring."
"Arghh! I think you busted my lip." Tears are beginning to fall on the bandit's face.
"I'm going to do more than that if you don't start answering my questions." I sit down on the bed next to him, "Either way, it's gonna be a long night."