'In reality, the only town worse for humans than this one would be the capital, Elveria.' These words echoed in Ryan's head, making him realise just how wrong their trip to Elerea could have gone if Mayor Deuteros hadn't come to their rescue.
"It seems that the only time your brother told the truth was about how you are also kind to humans." Said Eleanor.
"Haha, thank you; follow me, and I'll bring you to my favourite tavern, where you can eat and sleep all you want; all you need to do is show the owner, Freddy, this, the Dargin family crest token." Deuteros brought out a small black token with a black rat's head on either side. It was quite beautiful, but slightly misshapen, most likely due to a low-skilled blacksmith. Deuteros handed it over to Ryan, but Eleanor quickly snatched it off him.
"I don't trust him with it," she said while looking at Ryan, to which Deuteros lightly chuckled and Ryan sulked.
Only a couple of minutes later, they reached a beautiful medieval tavern with the words The Black Rat, carved onto a plaque on the front of the tavern, most likely its name. The tavern was tucked down a cobbled side road. It stood out, being the only completely black building in the entire town. Streams of people were entering and leaving the tavern.
"And here we are, quick, right? I am going to leave you two here; if anyone asks about who you are, say that you two are my slaves, and in two days, here at midnight, I will have both of you taken to the Rupes kingdom. See you soon! Ahh, crap, I am late." Said Deuteros, looking at his silver pocket watch, which was pretty oversized.
Huh, maybe I could bring some inventions from Earth to this world, like a normal watch? Probably not, though; I'm no engineer.
The duo pushed through the crowds of tall elves, giants and dwarves outside of the tavern, into a dining room, black wooden beams reached up to the 10 meter tall roof keeping it stable, chairs and tables flooded the room as well as all sorts of workers on their lunch break. Waiters and waitresses dashed around, efficiently dodging drunk customers and settling rowdy ones. Laughter was everywhere, as was the sweet aroma of mead, which Eleanor's nose seemed drawn to.
But there was an issue! All the tables were taken!
Which was quickly solved.
"Ryan, look over there. A couple is leaving their table right now." Eleanor said, her voice drowned out by the chatting surrounding them.
"What did you say?" Ryan asked, his eyes followed her finger, showing a couple getting up from their table.
Eleanor leaned into his ear and shouted, "Hurry up, or we will lose the table!" After which she grabbed Ryan's hand and fast-walked over to the table, sitting down only seconds after the elves had stood up.
The two elves gave them a judging look before wondering off, leaving the tavern.
Suddenly, just after sitting down, the duo heard a loud voice behind them, "You stole our seats, bloody humans!"
Ryan and Eleanor turned around to see a group of five elves wearing armour... that had the Dargin crest.
Ryan quickly recognised one of the elves as Umbar, the elf guard who harassed them only moments ago.
"Are you deaf human? You shouldn't even be allowed in this town!" Said Umbar, fury covering his face.
Before Eleanor could respond, a waiter came over to their table.
"What's the problem here, chaps?" The waiter asked with a cheerful tone, he had glistening green eyes and a head full of bushy brown hair.
"Hey Freddy, those two humans stole our table!" Umbar said with disgust.
"Hmm, you two, where's your master?" Freddy asked.
Eleanor, without even saying anything, whipped out the token that Deuteros gave them.
Freddy quickly understood and turned to the elves saying, "Alright, these two reached this table before you did, unless you want to offend your boss, Mayor Deuteros, I suggest that you give up and wait for the next table. Thank you!"
The elves reluctantly wandered off, but before they did, Umbar couldn't help but mutter under his breath, "That fucking mayor has a thing for humans! This has happened at least five times now where humans have randomly appeared and shown that crest."
"Careful what you say about your Lord-Mayor, Umbar," Freddy said with a stern tone.
Umbar didn't even turn around to acknowledge Freddy, but simply continued to walk away.
"Sorry about that, guys. What can I get for you both?" Asked Freddy.
"Water, mead, and a plate of your finest food!" Eleanor said, unbelievably excited.
"Got it, and you?"
"Ryan, who felt completely out of place, asked, "What drinks do you have?"
"Mead and water," Freddy responded with a grin.
"The same as her, then, please, but without the mead." Ryan said.
Freddy nodded and dashed off to the kitchen.
Quickly returning with two large tankards of water and a tankard of mead, after placing them on the table, he hurried off again.
Ryan quickly took a swig of the water, trying to quench his thirst.
Ryan nodded his head in satisfaction,This tastes pretty normal! I was expecting medieval water to taste terrible as it wouldn't be very clean! Wait, what is Eleanor doing?
Eleanor was sitting in her chair with her eyes closed, facing down. She brought her hands up to her head in a sign of thanks and began mumbling words, too quiet for Ryan to hear amidst the bustling atmosphere.
Suddenly, Eleanor nodded her head and opened her eyes to take a swig from the cup.
While gulping down copious amounts of water, she quickly noticed Ryan's questioning gaze, causing her to put the cup back down.
"Ah yes! I nearly forgot that I was in a foreign world. Just then I was thanking my God, Neptune."