“It’s probably having to listen to a loud drunk ramble on,” Fiddle answered.

Ash pushed himself back from the table, stood up, and drained the last of his ale. “Whatever it is, let’s just leave him to his thoughts. Our break time is over, and the boss is going to want us back in the fields soon.” Then, turning to Lucas, he added, “And whether I’m right or wrong about you, thanks for the drink.”

“Hear! Hear!” Gunter cheered. He slammed his empty mug on the table before grabbing his meal and walking off. As if on cue, every non-Human in the tavern rose and filed out one at a time, leaving Lucas alone with only his thoughts and what was left of the two pitchers of virtual alcohol remaining.

A minute or two after the tavern had been emptied of its patrons, the serving girl who had brought Lucas his bread earlier and Hermann came to the table and began clearing away all the empty plates, dishes, and mugs. After she was done, Hermann returned with a smile on his face and a much more confident disposition than the one he had been wearing when Lucas first entered the establishment. “Mister Lucas, you won’t be requiring any additional services, will you?” he asked. “We don’t have many more foods than bread to offer, but we do have wines, an assortment of spirits, and—”

“Cheese?” Lucas asked. He had already discovered that the bland bread was unsatisfying to munch on. “And maybe a dry wine?”

“Right away, sir.” Hermann excused himself for a moment and then returned with a block of Emmental cheese and a bottle of red wine. It wasn’t as good as the vintages that Lucas normally bought at the starting town. It was quite bitter due to a high level of tannins but was also overly sweet and had both black pepper and bell pepper flavors mixed together. All the same, it still went down well enough with the cheese.

After an hour and a half of waiting and munching on the cheese as Hermann and the serving girl awkwardly stared at him in silence from behind the bar, Lucas was beginning to want to take a nap. He was tired of the day, of people, of the memories that had been brought up, and of the mediocre cheese and novelty flavors that the local winery had produced in its evident effort to use up the region’s leftover fruits.

He was about to give up on waiting for Nick—and was starting to believe that the man’s pride had finally won out over his greed and ambition and that he had ditched Lucas to find something else to do—when the boisterous man practically kicked the door in as he barged through the entrance.

“I made it!” Nick proclaimed. “That pompous bastard better not have ditc- Ah! There you are! I was worried I was late.”