People in this chapter: (Sercius), (James), (Dauran Lafarzi), (Garnier), (Lyria).

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Chapter 019: (Shirley Tavern)

Deqios Fort is a historic castle built in the early days of the Karad Empire, located on the top of Kings Mountain, which was once one of the largest castles in the Karad Empire.

The interior of the castle is complex, including fortifications, apartments, palaces and castle gardens, and was once a military fortress and the residence of the Elector. The castle is mainly made of reddish-brown Neckar sandstone.

Deqiosburg is located directly north of Dehrim City, the distance between the two is more than 30 leagues, and it takes a day to ride a horse. This castle is the northern gate of the Dehrim area, and its terrain is dangerous, and the city is high and thick, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack.

During the invasion by the Nords, the entire Dehrim region was involved in the war and was severely devastated by the Nords. As the gateway to the north, Deqiosburg bore the brunt of the damage suffered by the Nords. Although it was restored after the war, it was not as large as before.

At this time, in the afternoon, the sun was shining.

After two days of arduous travel, Sertius and the others finally arrived at the castle that towered on the top of the King's Hill. They stepped on the stone paved road under their feet and slowly entered the reddish-brown ancient city in front of them.

The first thing that catches everyone's eye is a tall, wide, and old city gate, which is the 'Elizabeth Gate'. Although the inside and outside of the city walls are mostly destroyed, the city gates are still standing. Legend has it that if a couple prays to the god in front of the city gates, they will have a happy marriage.

After Sercius led the group into the castle, there was a conspicuous three-story building on the side of the road, the ground in front of the door was spotlessly cleaned, and a huge billboard hung on the protruding wall, on which was a glass of frothy ale.

Riding on horseback, Lyria introduced to the crowd, "This is the best tavern in the castle - Shirley, not only the name of the tavern, but also the name of the hostess. ”

Sertius dismounted, deciding to rest in the tavern first, and pushed open the double-leaf door in front of him and was the first to enter the spacious hall. Two scantily clad hostesses immediately stepped forward to greet them warmly, but the enthusiasm was a little too much.

Freelancers found the lobby of the tavern dry and open, and a few steps forward to the tables, which were not regular geometric but gave guests a sense of disorganized beauty, with square stools neatly arranged under the tables for guests.

Beyond these tables is a large bar with a fireplace against the wall at the innermost point. Bright flames flickered on the wood, and sausages, smoked chicken, and roast goose were pierced with iron drills. The woman who smoked the food was Shirley, the proprietress of the restaurant.

Shirley is a plump beautiful woman with rosy cheeks and curly blond hair.

Behind Shirley lay a pile of firewood, and next to it was a long wooden table used to prepare food for guests, and on the wall above it hung large bunches of purple grapes and bright red dates.

From the point of view of the guests, several layers of closets have been dug out of the wall to the right of the wooden table, and a pile of yellow or long-necked or flat-bottomed clay pots are neatly stacked on the bottom layer. The upper layers are filled with cabbage, bread, and dried meat. Dried fish and other foods. At the entrance to the bar is a short wooden ladder against the wall, which is used to fetch food from above.

The hotel turns right on a spotlessly clean staircase. The upper two floors are places for guests to rest. Entering the second floor, you can see the tawny wooden walls and the oil lamps inlaid on them, which were not lit because the windows were open a lot.

The first room on the second floor is a cramped but cleaner room. Sertius pushed open the door and saw that two small windows had been opened in the rough plank wall at the end of the room, and the main street of the castle was opened.

There are three neat single beds side by side, neatly laid out with the hotel's special linen bedding, and each of them is separated by a small wooden coffee table. Opposite the bed was a four-legged wooden table, on which a candlestick with three candles was placed.

Although ordinary, a small room costs one dinar per day. For ordinary mercenaries and the inhabitants of the castle, a dinar for one day is a real price!

Sercius took off his composite armor and threw it on the bed along with his weapon. "Alright, James, you can go buy some of the items you need. He said to James, "Oh, yes, this one. He thought for a moment and threw another money bag to James.

"Yes, good sir. "James is clumsy in his way of picking up the purse, and it doesn't look like he's a quick guy.

Sercius waved his hand, motioning for him to hurry up. As James was about to go downstairs, he seemed to remember something again, and shouted to the clumsy James, "Let Hatheron go with you, and say I ordered it!"

"Good sir," James replied.

The tavern is located at the intersection of Victory Avenue and Kailard Street, and you can see the busiest street of Dégersburg. But now, the old castle looks a little poor and still struggling.

At the end of the Avenue of Kailard is the residence of the owner of the castle, where Count Dawran Lafazi was busy with all the chores of the castle every day: arranging merchant transactions and settling civil disputes......

After arranging for the group to settle down in a tavern, Sertius walked alone on the street with the Count's daughter, and from time to time he heard people complaining about the price of daily necessities in the market, and he took a look at the grocery market, and there were still reasonable quantities of goods for sale.

Alleys meander along the castle's interior, with the occasional few abandoned houses, shops, and dilapidated carts.

Along the way, Sertius saw a curved serpentine mark on many of the tall buildings, and if memory serves, the figure was the coat of arms of the Lafazi family, the lords here.

Like all the lords in the kingdom of Svadia, Count Doran Lafacey has his own personal arm. Count Doran had a small number of men with a force of about five hundred, and their quality was equally uneven.

From Swadia recruits and militiamen to Swadia sergeants and marksmen, elite heavy armor soldiers accounted for only a small fraction of the 500 men, and most of the 500 troops were light infantry and light marksmen in leather armor.

However, they do not include knights, who are mainly vassals and minor nobles of the great nobles, and there are also some young sons or wandering knights who are unable to inherit their fiefdoms. These minor nobles had no fiefdoms, and they all wanted to strengthen their families through war and military exploits.

The minor nobles also had armies, but most of these armies were their servants or purchased slaves. When the lords recruited knights, they brought their servants to join the lords' army and help them in battle.

"Father!

Count Dowran, who was talking to another man, turned his face to his assistant and asked, "Do you hear anything, Garnier?

"My lord, I don't seem to hear Lyria's voice. Garnier felt uneasy, and for a moment he didn't know what to say, for he was thinking about his own thoughts, and had not noticed the movement around him.

"You know, Garnier, my hearing is good!" said the Count calmly, but at the same time furrowed his brow. "I'm going to go out and see, Lord Hogan, please wait. ”

"There's nothing ......," replied an embarrassed Garnier. He was an assistant sent by Duke Michod to help Count Dolang deal with affairs, although others thought that Count Doran did things at the behest of Duke Michord, but he himself knew how much Duke Dowry trusted the other party.

Duke Michod sent him to learn how to deal with these matters with Count Dolang, so that he could better help the Duke with some trivial matters in the future. But now the Duke has a problem, and he, Garnier, was thinking about it just now.

"Father!

Count Dolang, who opened the door, heard Lyria's cry clearly. In fact, he saw her too, and Lelia was running towards her father with her linen skirt "poof, poof, kick".

"Oh, Lyria, my daughter!" the old man looked surprised and happy to see Lyria. The two stone steps in front of the door nearly tripped him up.

"Ahh "Where have you been? I've posted a mission! I'm negotiating with the mercenaries ......"

"I was kidnapped by bandits, but luckily," Lylia said with a sob, sobbing voice. "Thankfully, this kind knight saved me and sent me back!"

The old count said to the knight, "Oh, thank you, Mr. knight!" and the old man put his hands on Lylia's shoulders, and his eyes quickly scanned her from head to toe, and let her into the cabin. "Lyria, you go in first, I'll talk to this adult!"

"Thank you again, knight, please come in!" said Count Doran, and invited Sercius in.

"Alright, Lord Hogan, my mission has already been completed, so I'm sorry to let you run for nothing. How about a drink at Shirley's Tavern, I'm in for a treat!" The old earl took a few dinars from his clean and plain linen robe and stuffed them into the hands of the man called Hogan, who, judging by his leather armor and the short sword at his waist, was just an ordinary mercenary.

Hogan swept the dinar in his hand and grinned at the old man. "Thank you, sir. With that, he turned to leave, only to leave with an unfriendly look at Sercius, who was also wearing leather armor.

"Please take it, this is your payment, although it is not in accordance with the rules, but as long as you sign here, everything is not in accordance with the rules, is it?" said Count Doron with an exaggerated expression and winked at Sercius. It seems that the old man is in a good mood.

"You're right, sir. Sercius smiled and accepted the "commission" from the old man, and quickly signed his name on the employment contract and handed it to the old man.

"By the way, there's this, please fill in this as well. Count Doran seemed to remember something again, and handed Sertius a form.

"Well, alright!" Sercius took the form and looked at it, picking up the wool pen on the table and filling it out.

"Sercius Thor?" asked Count Dorland, looking at the signature on the parchment, and then looking up at the knight in front of him. "You are the knight who was newly canonized by His Majesty some time ago, the lord of Tosdel Town?"

"Yes, my lord!" replied Sertius with his usual smile.

"Garnier," Count Dorant called out suddenly, hurriedly. "Quick, tell the servants to prepare a banquet, and I will set up a banquet for your honored guests!"

"I'll tell you to go down!" Garnier replied hurriedly, striding away toward the kitchen in the backyard.

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