Nervous, Tylene arrived at the business district ahead of Norland’s National Theater.
Apart from having to discuss a contract with a demon, she was feeling uneasy because the place Joshua told her to go was a tavern.
Tylene felt that taverns were places filled with chaos and dangers. Those utterly intoxicated drunkards have no sense of rationality at all. Furthermore, taverns were placed with all sorts of dangerous characters of dubious background.
Very rarely do elves appear in taverns. This was especially so for when it comes to a lone female elf late at night. Tylene even considered concealing her appearance before entering the tavern.
But, when she came to the entrance of the Hearthstone Tavern, she discovered that all her worries were unnecessary. The entrance of this tavern was not in some sort of eerie and secretive alley. Rather, it was across from the bustling business street.
Tylene stood outside the tavern and did not push open the door to enter the tavern. Through the windows, she could hear the noisy atmosphere inside. She could also see that the tavern was filled with a warm-colored light.
“You’ve come too late! There must be no more open seats now.”
“Doesn’t matter, the loser will have to get out of their seat anyways. The true Hearthstone players never fear having no seat.”
Two mages wearing light blue mage robes walked past Tylene.
From their appearance and the way they carried themselves, they seemed to be extremely learned and scholarly mages. Even though they’ve noticed Tylene, they did not show any surprise because she was an elf. Instead, they merely nodded their head to greet her before entering the tavern.
Tylene never expected for a tavern to be able to attract mages. Shouldn’t this place be filled with those tacky drunkards? Shouldn’t there be thieves and hoodlums mixed among the crowd too?
Feeling confused, Tylene ended up entering the tavern after the two mages. When she pushed open the door, what she smelled was not the stink of alcohol and vomit. Rather, it was an unknown sort of aroma. The aroma resembled the cozy scent of cooked wheat. It gave off a comfortable sensation.
The interior layout of the tavern was also different from what she was expecting. Illumination crystals emitting warm lights were embedded into the ceiling. Paintings of flowers and trees were present on the walls. This place was much more easing to the heart than those dark and chaotic taverns.
But, the guests in the tavern were exactly what Tylene was expecting. They were extremely noisy. The majority of them were dwarves. In groups of three or four, they would gather around a table and shout loudly. Because of that, coarse shouts could be heard all over the tavern.
As someone who has just entered the tavern and wasn’t used to the noisy atmosphere, Tylene felt the dwarves’ voices to be too noisy.
That being said, Tylene was also able to see a lot of humans among the dwarves. And, what brought Tylene the greatest amount of disbelief was that she actually caught sight of an Ecclesiastical Templar!
Wait... wasn’t this tavern the dwelling of a demon? Could it be that the Ecclesiastical Templars discovered this place to be a demon’s hideout and dispatched someone over to hunt him down?
That thought disappeared from Tylene’s mind the very next moment. The reason for that was because she noticed the Ecclesiastical Templar was sitting before one of those special-looking tables in the tavern. ‘The Light shall burn you!'[1] A shout sounded and then a small cheer was heard.
That was most definitely not the appearance of an Ecclesiastical Templar on a mission. Instead, she seemed more like a guest of this tavern, and a frequent one on top of that.
If an Ecclesiastical Templar was here, wouldn’t it mean that demon Joshua would be in hiding?
Tylene looked around. She hoped to find an informer among the people present so that she could reach Joshua. But, to her utter surprise, the demon was openly sitting before the counter and drinking something!
When Tylene saw him, Joshua waved his hand at her enthusiastically.
At this moment... Tylene realized that she had found herself wedged in a battle between the Ecclesiastical Templars and a demon.
She immediately walked over to Joshua’s side.
“You’ve come sooner than I expected.”
For this elven girl to show up on the same night, it would appear that her awareness was quite high. She was someone worthy of nurturing.
Joshua had one of the servers Mrs. Melina hired to bring another mug of identical fruit juice to what he’s drinking.
“My treat. Go ahead. There’s no poison and it’s also not contaminated..”
Joshua was certain that this world does not possess any agricultural chemicals, food additives and other things like that. But, there existed something even more dangerous than those... curses.
“Mister Joshua, over there...”
Tylene was in no mood to drink fruit juice. She was pointing at the location where Messai was.
Tylene felt that the only reason why Joshua was so calm was because he did not notice that Ecclesiastical Templar. Furthermore, she believed the only reason why that Ecclesiastical Templar was able to enjoy herself like so was because she didn’t notice the demon Joshua.
The Ecclesiastical Templars and demons have always been irreconcilable adversaries. Tylene believed that the tavern would turn into a battlefield the moment they noticed each other.
“Messai? What about her? Do you Frost Elves possess some sort of prejudice toward the Ecclesiastical Templars?”
“It is not us elves! You demons should be the one who possess great prejudice toward the Ecclesiastical Templars!”
But, for some reason, Tylene felt like Joshua was familiar with that Ecclesiastical Templar based on the tone of his voice.
“I... guess I can understand what you mean.”
Joshua saw how the Frost Elf was gesturing at him nonstop. It seemed like she was urging him to quickly pack his stuff and run away.
“Let me introduce myself to you first. I am this tavern’s investor. In short, I’m the one who opened this tavern.”
Joshua gave a very simple explanation. But, his explanation once again shocked the elf.
“Then... why would an Ecclesiastical Templar be in the tavern...?”
“They’re guests. It’s that simple. Miss Tylene, this tavern welcomes all guests. As long as you do not show any hostility... regardless of whether you’re an Ecclesiastical Templar or a demon, all are welcome.”
Had it been before, she would definitely not believe a templar and a demon would be able to be in the same place in peaceful coexistence. But, she was witnessing this scene.
“Mister Joshua, I must say, this tavern is quite unimaginable.”
“If you’re willing to cooperate with me, I will let you see even more unimaginable things. My workplace is upstairs. If you don’t mind, we can go upstairs to talk about your matter.”
Joshua carried the overly drunk and unconscious Ciri up from her seat. Even though she was asleep, Ciri subconsciously placed her hands around Joshua’s neck when he began to carry her.
Tylene took in this sight. She felt that the human girl had quite an extraordinary relationship with Joshua.
She watched as Joshua walked up the stairs. She brushed the bracelet on her wrist with her finger and calmed her mind. With that, she followed after Joshua and walked up to Hearthstone Tavern’s second floor.
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Translator YangWenli:
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[1] [Anduin’s threatening emote.]