Book 1, Verse 19

After I collected myself, I sat up from my chair bed and stretched. Vivian was not wearing her cloak, displaying the simple tunic and matching pants that she wore beneath it.

“I’m fine. Thank you Vivian.” I rubbed my eyes and looked around the interior of the tavern. “Where’s Niels?”

“He went out a little bit before sunrise.”

I slowly got up and walked over to the windows of the tavern. I could see the sun barely peeking out from over the roof of a nearby building.

“So he’s been gone for a little while already then?”

“Yeah. He said he was going to get some supplies for the trip. And he said to forget about the plaza; he’ll just come back here, we’ll make the plans, and then set off.”

“Sounds good to me.” I turned to look away from the window, then started putting away the chairs that I had used to make my chair bed.

Once I finished, I remembered what had happened in the night.

“Vivian, what happened to the salt pork?”

She looked surprised that I was asking.

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t lie to me; it’s all gone.” I said, trying to sound even toned.

She looked a little awkward about being put on the spot, but quickly recovered.

“I gave it away.”

“What?” I said, extremely confused. “What do you mean you gave it away?”

“Exactly what it sounds like. I gave it away to those kids who were outside the butcher shop.” She sounded a bit embarrassed.

I tried to think of why she would give it away; maybe she felt bad for those kids? I don’t think they were orphans though; they all looked like kids that belonged to families with jobs. I was pretty sure that a couple of those kids might’ve been the butcher’s children.

“Vivian, you can’t just… I mean, it was very nice of you to do that, but…” I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to calm down.

“What do you mean? Priests used to always tell me about how good it was to give to the poor and less fortunate.” She kicked at the ground. “I figured, since we still have a bit of money left over, we could buy some more salt pork today for ourselves.”

Right. Priest.

That’s what I am.

I shut my eyes tight and forced myself to suppress the hunger that was gnawing at me.

“Y-you’re very right, Vivian.” I said quickly. “Forgive me for, er, being so short-sighted. I’m a little hungry, that’s all.”

My stomach growled for emphasis, and Vivian’s eyes widened. She smiled sweetly.

“Like I said, there’s nothing for us to worry about. I gave you the rest of the money; you know we have enough to buy some more food if we need to.”

I nodded absently.

A few moments later, the door to the tavern opened and Niels stepped inside with his arms nearly full.

He was carrying something wrapped in a waxed brown cloth, similar to the one that the butcher had given us for our purchase, except his was much bigger.

He also had a pail full of something that looked like butter, and in his left hand he was holding a small silk pouch.

Me and Vivian quickly moved some tables into position and helped him get everything off of his arms. As we did, I saw that his bounty was even bigger than I thought; he had a loaf of bread and some cheese as well!

My mouth started watering involuntarily.

“Niels! I was starting to wonder why you were taking so long.” Vivian said as she sorted out all the foodstuffs he had brought inside.

Niels was smiling confidently.

“Well, with all the money I got from selling this place to that old butcher, I thought I could afford to spend a little bit more than usual.” He sounded very chipper.

Vivian’s jaw dropped as Niels looked over his spoils with a determined and confident expression.

“Are you crazy?!” Vivian looked around the table, then grabbed the loaf of bread that I was holding in my hands and hit him in the head with it.

I was only a little devastated.

Niels laughed in response to the hit.

“No, no, don’t worry! Lucijan and I came to a respectable agreement.” He pulled up a couple chairs next to the table, then went over to his store of drinks behind the counter and pulled out three large mugs, before filling them with a completely clear liquid.

“B-but… What are you thinking? I thought Shinko only convinced you to fund us, not to go out of business!” She looked at me accusingly.

I shrugged. I honestly hadn’t expected what I said to resonate with him so deeply; really, I didn’t think it would work at all.

Niels’ expression was still jovial, but it became collected and serious as he set down the three mugs in front of the three chairs around the table. He gestured for Vivian to take a seat next to him; he didn’t have to do anything for me since I had sat down the moment the chairs were next to the table.
Vivian hesitantly sat down.

“Shinko made it clear to me that I had gotten stuck in a rut; and the worst part was I thought that there was nothing I could do about it. Logically speaking, it made sense for me to accept that I wasn’t ever going to be a wizard and do my best to live a comfortable life as a mildly-successful bartender.”

Vivian listened to what Niels said, occasionally looking back at me.

I looked at the table that Niels had set, occasionally listening to him.

“I guess so.” She said quietly. “It’s strange to see you being so optimistic about this.”

There was a moment of silence as Niels took in what she said.

I looked at Niels, hoping that he would give me the go-ahead to eat some of the food. He nodded.

“Thanks Niels.”

I grabbed a bit of the bread and immediately started cutting myself a slice, and after that was done I took some cheese as well. The waxed brown cloth was opened next and revealed a big hunk of salt pork that I eagerly sliced into a few thin pieces to put on top of my cheese and bread, then I cut another slice and muttered some butter on it before slapping it on top of the pile to make myself a decent sandwich.

It looked amazing and I started salivating, before moving it to take a bite.

Then I stopped.

Vivian and Niels were both quiet, with Niels looking very lost in thought and Vivian seemingly surprised by what I was doing.

I set the sandwich down on the table and cleared my throat.

“S-sorry.” I said sheepishly. “I… Let me pray for the meal.”

The two of them nodded and closed their eyes.

I had made a fool of myself just now. Grabbing at the food like I was a starved man.

I wasn’t even that hungry, darn it.

Plus, it sounded like they were actually talking about something important.

With a sigh, I began praying.

“God, thank you for this meal. And for Niels’ generosity…”

It felt so strange to pray and not ask for anything.

But it didn’t feel bad.