A Warlock's Ascent

That day Dave didn't return to the dungeon, the arrow that struck him may have been a fluke, and he was completely fine, but that day he just needed some time to himself, trying to process all the revelations that he got lying under that tree.

He had a lot of dreams, that he may never be able to fulfill because he was stuck here, also, his life expectancy have taken a hard dive since he had put a foot in this world, he didn't know whether he would see the rising son of tomorrow, considering how dangerous this world is.

He needed to process his emotions, thus to process them, he turned towards the oldest invention of mankind, alcohol…

After he submitted the corpses of goblins, he made his way to a very popular watering hole of the city, that place was not hygienic nor it was in a good state, but yesterday he saw a lot of crowds over there, he figured at least give this place a try, after all, he didn't have a lot of options.

Although he was hesitant at first, after all, the sun was still up and shining in the sky, this was no time to consume alcohol, but he had it enough, so he made his way inside the bar…

That place was the worst nightmare of a Food Safety inspector, that place was dirty, smelly, and very moist for some reason. As he entered, he almost slipped from what looked like puke from the other night, still, he made his way inside, he was not leaving this place without drinking something.

The place was empty at the moment, there were some old men in the back drinking and chatting, and other than them there was a barkeep in there, a middle-aged muscular man with a big mustache, which looked angry for some reason.

He came to the bar and took a seat. "What can I bring you?" the barkeep asked.

"What do you have?"

"We have fish chips, kobold stew, goblin pie and if you want something fancy, I could also whip up some Kong ribs."

He was still disgusted by the fact that people of this world could actually eat humanoid monsters, but he kept it to himself. " I will take some fish chips. Also, what do you have to drink?"

"Water and mead."

"Bring the best mead you have."

The barkeep nodded and went inside. A few minutes later he came back with a wooden cup full of green color liquid, which was supposed to be mead. While the fish chips were served on a very dirty-looking plate but were actually very appetizing.

The food was good, but the drink on the other was not, but still, he chugged down the glass with minimum effort, he really needed it…

The barkeep saw how he chugged down the cup, so he made his way toward him. "Hold your horses, young man. This thing is strong."

The aftertaste of the drink was very bad, and the barkeep was right, that drink was very strong, his throat and mouth felt like they were on fire. Still, he kept on a brave facade that he was fine. "I am fine… I just really needed this."

"You seem like a man that has to story to offer."

"My story? Nah, I couldn't do that to you. It is very boring."

"Come on young man, empty your burden. After all, it is not like I dont have much to do."

"Well… It is embarrassing."

"Come on! Out with it."

"I… thought that I was going to die today. And at that moment, I realized that there are a lot of things in this life that I have never done. Maybe I will never be able to do any of them. I may die tomorrow, but there will be no one to shed a tear for me… So to that, I am here  to drink my heart out."

The barkeep smiled. "You are a new adventurer?"

"Yeah."

"Welcome to the club…" he then leaned forward. "A piece of advice from the person who supplies alcohol to every fucking adventurer in the city, this was not the last time that you felt that way. And this was not the worst one as well."

"What do you mean?"

"You are not the first adventurer who has experienced this kid. Like you there are many more. And from what I have seen so far, they all keep having this experience over and over again. Some experience worst than others. This is part of being an adventurer."

"What should I do?"

"Move on. You said that there are a lot of things that you want to do right? Then go do them. You won't be able to cross everything off your bucket list, but you will be able to cross some of those things."

"That is… very wise advice."

The barkeep shrugged "When you deal with broken people all the time, you pick up thing or two about life."

It is then that man bent down and picked up a jug from under the bar and refilled his cup. "Take this, it's on the house."

"Thanks…"

"Name is Gendry."

"Thanks, Gendry."

It is then the swinging door of the bar was opened, and a group of men walked in. "Gendry, 5 mead cups over here, hurry!" one of the men said with enthusiasm.

Gendry started working, while he peeked behind him. All those men were hurdled together on a table, surrounding a bald man who was telling them a story..

"I tell you guy, me and my boys were coming back, it is then we saw it. It was as beautiful as the stories tell us, it had golden fur, have these small horns, and was so nimble that when it ran away from us, it looked like it was surfing the air itself."

Hearing the man's words, he couldn't help but remember the deer that he found, it also had golden fur and small horns. He wondered whether this man was talking about his prey…