The Female Knight of Doom - TFKOD 08: Lina the Beauty

On Alice’s first day working at the tavern, she did hardly any work. Instead, she introduced herself to the regular customers.

It didn’t help that the mercenaries asked her name, forgot it, and called her “Redheaded Beauty” when ordering. She was too green, and they were obviously just jesting.

She was a little bashful about it but ecstatic to accept the nickname, which was much better than “Redheaded Witch.”

The customers were not as aggressive as she had originally thought. The scary-looking master craftsmen seemed more easygoing after a few drinks. Since she was new, they sometimes gave her extra tips. She found that the job was much better than odd jobs in the kitchen because the income was greater, and she received tips.

She had almost forgotten what her mother had warned her about earlier when she was alive.

It was Lina who reminded her, “You have to be cautious. In two hours, when they’re stoned, they won’t be this talkative. If you can’t handle any of them, leave it to me or Ruth.”

Because of her young age, the mercenaries didn’t take much interest in her. At best, they cursed and verbalized a few offensive things when she was too tedious serving the meal.

She did see someone make a move on Ruth, though. Ruth was apparently seasoned and managed to defuse the situation a few times. However, one guy seemed muddled and acted like a stalker. He tried to get Ruth to drink, and she couldn’t push him away.

Alice wanted to go help, but she was merely a lass with no exposure. Even if she went over there, she wouldn’t know what to do.

She could only glance at Hewlett.

He shook his head at her.

Did he not want to help either? Was it fine to just watch?

Terrified, she stood at the bar, at a loss for words.

Suddenly, a dart shot toward the mercenary and pierced his hat. She recognized it as one of the darts the tavern offered its customers to pass the time.

The mercenary was taken aback, but he was a seasoned battlefield veteran and immediately recovered, grabbing his hat and looking around for the culprit.

Unexpectedly, a second dart came from the same direction and lodged between his fingers.

Lina stood in front of the target, holding a handful of darts.

“If you don’t scram, the next dart will be your eyes.” Her tone was mild, yet no one who listened to her would doubt her ability.

There was a natural conviction in her words.

The mercenary’s face turned pale with horror, and he instantly removed his claws from Ruth’s waist. He watched Lina’s motions as he moved toward the entrance.

Lina bellowed at him, “Hey! You haven’t checked out!”

The sound startled him so much that he nearly stumbled over. He hurriedly reached into his pocket, pulled out two silver coins, and flung them on the floor. Then he fled the place.

Alice gaped at the scene in front of her in amazement.

She spun her head toward the bar and saw Hewlett, whose visage rippled, “Even though I’m the owner, Lina is the queen of this shop. That guy was fortunate. If he had been molesting Lina, his head would probably have exploded by now.”

She read his face. It was evident that he wasn’t being funny.

Lina walked over and picked up the silver coins that the mercenary had thrown down. After his order, there were six copper coins left, which she slipped into Ruth’s hand.

“Count it as your tip.”

Because of Lina’s sudden outburst, perhaps, the drunkards were much more conscientious during the last two hours before the tavern closed, and there was no more disturbance.

Alice’s first day at the tavern ended safely.

She wouldn’t get paid for her work until the end of the week, but she kept all the tips she received tonight.

Before she departed, the chef handed her the leftover fried potato horns and onion rings from the day’s sales in a paper bag, “You young people get hungry easily at night. Take them back as a snack.”

Suddenly, her days seemed to get comfortable.

She was able to eat at the tavern twice a day, and with the tips she was earning on top of her paycheck, she finally felt like she could breathe a sigh of relief.

She hadn’t quite given up her job at the laundry shop yet, and she went there every morning to wash a few loads of laundry. It wasn’t a lucrative job, but it was hard to come by.

The work at the tavern, however, was taxing, and the weekends were so bustling that Alice couldn’t accompany the laundry shop owner’s wife to the temple anymore.

The owner’s wife at the laundry shop often complained that Alice’s presence made no difference. The laundry work was originally billed by the piece, though, so the owner’s wife didn’t actually lose anything.

In addition, Alice would occasionally bring her leftover sour ale from the tavern, so she didn’t complain.

Life gradually got on track. During this time, Alice lived on her own and realized that, besides food and shelter, there were many other expenses she hadn’t considered before. Not to mention, just buying the coal to fuel the stove every day costs a lot of money. It was spent like running water; she could hardly save any.

Luckily, after she started working at the tavern, she earned much more, so she could still cover these expenses.

After working for a few months, she had a little money in her pocket. She was determined to spend it on something that would make her elated. Instead of going to the laundry shop that day, she went to a thrift shop where she bought an old wooden chest, a kerosene lamp, and an old blanket. She could use the chest as a table on which to set the lamp.

Her home was narrow and empty, but these few additions made it feel a little like home.

She packed the lamp and blanket into the crate and carried it home, bumping into Burke not far from her place.

If Alice had one more friend on Dark River Street, it was probably Burke.

He was a few months older than her, the son of a carpenter. He was strong, tall, and handsome—the finest of the young men on Dark River Street. He never teased her about her birth and treated her gently.

Although they both resided on Dark River Street, Alice and Burke had never met since she returned from the temple. Burke was an apprentice at the carpentry shop and was busy every day. Alice had also been busy making a living, so the two never encountered each other.

This time, despite having their hands full, they bumped into each other, so they stood still and chitchat.

“I’ve heard a little about you.” Burke started then proceeded sympathetically, “Things aren’t going too well in the laundry, are they?”

The information he had received was slightly outdated, and Alice grinned at him, “Never mind. I recently got a job at the pub.”

“A tavern?” Upon hearing that word, he showed a bit of hesitation, “Is it really okay to work in a place like that?”

“It’s not that terrible.” She stuck out her tongue and made a face, “I’m young, and everyone kind of takes care of me.”

“Being a handyman is hard. Can you do it?” Alice knew Burke had misunderstood when she heard him express that.

It might have been better to let him keep that misunderstanding, but she didn’t want to deceive him, “In fact, I’m a waitress, not a handyman.”

His eyes widened, “How? How can an underage child be a tavern waitress?”

She felt a bit embarrassed but told the truth, “The boss told me to say I was seventeen, and you know I didn’t have much of an option.”

Burke looked somewhat flustered, as if he wasn’t confident whether to speak up to reassure her.

She shook her head, “The tavern isn’t as terrifying as people commonly think. Isn’t Burke’s master mostly there as well? In a few years, when you can go too, I’ll buy you fried onion rings.”

“It’ll be a long time until I’m grown, and my master definitely won’t bring me ahead of time. Perhaps I can find a way to sneak in and see you before then.” Burke looked thrilled again.

Alice beamed, “Then it’s agreed. If you want to find me, you can come through the side door and ask the kitchen to call me.”

After making an appointment, the two parted ways.

Alice sighed long and hard as she walked home.

Burke was so likeable. If her mother had lived, Alice might have married him when she was old enough. But that was possibly not going to happen now.

Someone like him, from a respectable artisan family, would never wed a woman who had worked in a tavern.

The women of Dark River Street could perhaps not be blamed for viewing tavern waitresses with cynicism; the women who worked there were indeed more likely to stray.

Alice noticed a pregnant woman showed up to Hewlett before the tavern opened. She looked horribly haggard, and Hewlett gave her money. Alice and Ruth guessed that she was a woman Hewlett had messed around with.

However, Lina disclosed to them that she was a waitress who used to work there and ran off with a mercenary. The mercenary then dumped her and left, so she had to come back alone.

“She can’t work in a tavern like that anymore.” Perhaps she’d seen it happen too often. Lina’s tone didn’t show much empathy, “The money Hewlett gave her won’t last long. She’ll end up in the Red Light District.”

Despite this, Ruth, who worked with Alice, did not seem prudish. She didn’t make much more than Alice but consistently had money for silver earrings and rings with precious stones.

One day, as Alice was leaving work, she recognized the mercenary that Lina had kicked out last time waiting by the side entrance.

Alice took a step back, only to see Ruth smile awkwardly, “He’s here to wait for me.”

She watched as Ruth took the man’s arm and walked with him into the night.

Alice didn’t grasp why Ruth was doing this, but she certainly looked spirited and enviable.

However, it didn’t last long.

Soon, all of Ruth’s gold necklaces, silver earrings, and jeweled rings vanished one by one. The smile on her face was missing, too. After a few more days, she left without saying goodbye, just like the other woman Alice had seen.

Alice wasn’t naive enough to think that she was marrying a mercenary. By simply eavesdropping on the conversations of the locals, one would know that most of the girls who left the tavern ended up in the Red Light District.

Some acquaintances even recklessly talked in the shop about the sexual prowess of the girl who quit.

Stories like this happen all the time and never seem to end.

In that respect, perhaps the landlady and Grizzie were accurate. A girl who believed in Fragna would never work as a tavern waitress; it was the birth of the fall.

However, Lina didn’t believe so.

She told Alice, “It’s not much different from Dark River Street, where you grew up. The only difference is that the girls who work here have fewer choices in life.”

Alice was too young to perfectly understand her words.

She also didn’t know if she would stay there forever or if fate would throw her elsewhere. However, she had already made up her mind that she would never end up in the Red Light District like the waitresses who left their jobs. It was a dreadful place.

Even Lina, who had seen the world and made no fuss about anything, commented on it, “Life is probably over when you get to a place like that.”

Lina never counseled the waitresses nearing the end of their lives; she merely watched them with frosty eyes. The waitresses came and went, but Lina seemed to stay there forever. She was special from the others.

Anyone could see that Hewlett fancied her. He never declared it, though, and Lina never treated him any differently than anyone else. There seemed to be an unspoken and subtle understanding between the two that transcended typical adoreness.

The tavern wasn’t in the Red Light District, but to most people, stepping into the tavern seemed like the first step into the district, and the waitresses would sooner or later end up there.