pertwk Chapter 7 Tavern Owner Sylphy
Chapter 7 Tavern Owner Sylphy
After watching Uncle Regus leave with his squad, Gerns began leading his squad to clean up the goblin corpses scattered on the street.
"Captain, look at this."
Just as Gerns dragged a goblin corpse to the pile of corpses and put it down, Enzo mysteriously approached Gerns and handed him an object that looked like a stone.
"I just found this on a goblin corpse. Look, it's even glowing purple. This thing can definitely sell for a lot of money."
Gerns took the stone-like object from Enzo and examined it closely. Beneath its grayish exterior, he saw a deep purple light that was indistinguishable from the color of lavender.
Then Gerns drew his sword and chiseled off a small piece of the stone's outer layer along the crack, revealing the crystal-clear body beneath.
"You're in luck, kid. I'll take this stone."
Gerns patted Enzo's arm heavily, put the crystal into his pocket, and then remembered Sylphie, who was still locked in the storage room.
"Oh dear, I almost forgot about her."
Under the questioning gazes of his team members, Gerns hurriedly ran to the tavern's storage room and reopened the previously closed storage room.
When the wooden door to the storage room was opened, Sylphy instinctively flinched back. The moment she saw that it was Gerns who came in, her tense nerves instantly relaxed.
Sylphy peeked out and looked towards the outside of the tavern.
As Gerns pulled Sylphy out of the storage room by the hand, he explained, "It's all over now. Look, we've taken care of the goblins outside."
Sylphy looked out in the direction Gerns pointed and saw that the street outside the tavern was littered with the corpses of goblins, mixed with the bodies of some innocent civilians, and black blood had almost flowed all over the street.
Looking at the mess outside the tavern, Sylphy was stunned for a moment, as if something was stuck in her throat, and her voice was somewhat hesitant: "Is...it over?"
"Yes, it's all over, it's safe now."
Gerns nodded slightly.
After receiving an affirmative answer from Gerns, Sylphy walked with somewhat unsteady steps from the storage room door into the tavern, and then gradually headed towards the outside of the tavern.
Although the interior of the tavern was also somewhat messy, the view outside was more striking than she had imagined.
Looking at the scene before her, Sylphy covered her mouth, trying to suppress the nausea in her heart.
She then turned to look at the Corlington Kingdom officer beside her, who possessed a somewhat masculine air.
She knew Gerns, although the two were not particularly close. Gerns had come to her place for drinks a few times, and unlike other rough, vulgar soldiers, this man seemed more easygoing and had a certain charm.
Furthermore, after this experience, Gerns left an excellent impression on Sylphy.
"Are you alright? Were you frightened?"
Gerns released his right hand, which was holding Sylphie's, and looked at her with a hint of concern.
Sylphy immediately snapped out of her daze and hurriedly thanked him, flustered, "Ah? Sir, thank you, I... I'm alright now."
The goblin raid had terrified her, leaving her in a state of panic. Fortunately, the soldiers stationed in Grim Town were there, otherwise she didn't know what might have happened.
The reason Gerns saved Sylphy was simply because he happened to be in the tavern, and his moral compass from his previous life wouldn't allow him to stand by and watch someone die.
"You're welcome."
Gerns waved his hand slightly, interrupting the other man's thanks, and began to signal his men to leave.
The sky outside the tavern had already darkened, and the orange-red hues on the horizon were gradually fading under the cover of night.
Torches had been lit in the military camp outside the town, indicating that it was time for dinner. At this moment, Gerns only hoped that the people in the camp would leave him some food.
The members of Gerns' squad left the tavern and headed towards the military camp outside the town.
Gerns walked at the back of the group. Just as he stepped out of the tavern, he heard a faint sobbing sound behind him. Turning around, he saw the still-attractive proprietress leaning on the tavern counter, sobbing softly.
Although Gerns wasn't the kind of person who was overly compassionate, he had just saved this woman.
Furthermore, whether in his previous life or after transmigrating to another world, Gerns was still a young, unmarried man.
He has plenty of ways to deal with enemies or monsters like goblins, but when it comes to women, Gerns really has no way to handle them.
In his past life, he had never even held a girl's hand. How could you expect a young, unmarried man to comfort a crying mature woman?
As his men walked away, Gerns was left alone to face the mature woman who ignored him and kept crying.
Let's go, it's not appropriate, she's still crying.
If I don't leave, what kind of man am I, watching a woman cry? People who don't know better will think I've done something heinous.
Gerns didn't consider himself a good person, but he was a highly educated man, and his moral bottom line was constantly reminding him that he couldn't do things like forcibly taking women.
As time passed, the landlady, Sylphy, gradually stopped crying, though she would still sob occasionally. At the same time, she would glance at the man in front of her who didn't know how to comfort her and just stood there with a stiff face, and couldn't help but chuckle.
It was only then that she noticed that this officer from the Kingdom of Corlington was just a young man in his early twenties, whose calm exterior concealed a youthful essence.
Gerns's stiffness was broken by the proprietress's laughter. Unlike the formulaic smile when buying wine, Sylphy's smile seemed more genuine and playful, causing Gerns's heart to tremble slightly.
But Gerns quickly came to his senses and looked outside the tavern; the sky was already completely dark.
Despite this, Gerns did not say goodbye. He was not in a hurry to return to camp, figuring that there would be no dinner left if he went back now.
As for the night shift test, he, a squad leader, wasn't afraid, as his subordinates would handle it for him. However, the current situation, where he and Sylphy were staring at each other, was rather awkward.
"Since there's nothing else, and it's so late, I'll... head back to camp first." Gerns glanced at Sylphy and said as he stood up.
He really didn't know what else he could do by staying here.
"Gurgle..."
Just as Gerns stood up to leave, an untimely rumbling sound came from his stomach, making Gerns so embarrassed that he wanted to disappear into the ground.
"Um... you must be hungry too, right? The troops in the camp should have eaten by now, so... why don't you eat here?"
Seeing Gerns's embarrassed state, Sylphy's tension eased considerably, and her shrewd and capable demeanor returned instantly.
At this moment, she didn't just want to invite Gerns to dinner; she saw this opportunity to curry favor as hard-won and also wanted to express her gratitude to Gerns for saving her life today.
"Well... that's fine too, anything will do."
Gerns figured there wouldn't be much to eat if he went back now, just some dark bread or flatbread.
He told the landlady to make something simple, simply because now that Gorm Town had been conquered by the Kingdom of Corlington, most people couldn't afford to eat, let alone be picky about what they ate.
Even though Sylphy was running a tavern at the time, her life was still not much better than that of the common people.
"Okay, I'll go make it for you right now."
After saying that, Sylphy walked out of the bar, went to the tavern door, hung a wooden board on the side of the door to mark the tavern's closing time, and then went to the kitchen to cook for Gerns.
Watching the proprietress stroll into the kitchen, Gerns couldn't sit still any longer. He got up and, relying on his newly developed night vision, picked up a broom and began cleaning the tavern, which had been left in a mess by the goblin invasion.