The Golden Goose

Following Galiana at a safe distance, Kazex and Talanah approached the tavern and slipped inside. Taking a moment to inspect the place, Kazex could say that the establishment was quite impressive. The wooden furniture looked to be of high quality, with plenty of tables placed in the wide area of the ground floor and a large, bricked fireplace off to one side of the room. Moreover, there was a small staircase which sneaked around the central counter up to the upper mezzanine above them.

The fact that they had one of those meant that the Golden Goose had the success and reputation to earn and keep it. That alone was impressive.

Seeing Galiana make a beeline straight for the bartender at the central area, they both hastened their steps to reach her just as she started addressing the man in a rather blunt manner.

"Did you see Helga yesterday?"

The brown haired man, cleaning a clay mug with a damp rag, raised an eyebrow with an unimpressed look. "Why, hello Galiana, nice day to you too! Oh I'm fine, thanks for asking!" he snarked.

"Cut the bullshit, Karlus. Did you see her or not?" she questioned with a glare.

"The Lady was here yesterday, yes. Enjoyed a roasted goose with a drip of honey and a spray of wine over it, she did. But apart from that, I couldn't say."

"I don't care about what she ate. Did she talk with someone? Did she say where she was going afterwards?"

Shaking his head in exasperation, the bartender sighed. "Would it kill you to be less abrasive, woman? A bit more nice?"

"Being nice is just a fancy way of beating around the bush. Now talk," Galiana brusquely replied with an impatient look as she crossed her arms over her chest, muscles bulging. Karlus looked entirely unfazed however.

"All I'm hearing are questions and not a reason to answer them. Why you wanna know, did something happen to Lady Helga?"

The man had some balls, that was for certain. Stout as he was, anyone who managed to look and sound so flippant when having such a large woman loom over them on the other side of the counter had to be admired.

"The she-elf is friends with Helga and she wants to find her," Galiana growled as she shifted on her spot to let him look behind her, where Kazex and Talanah stood in silence. However, the only reaction Karlus had upon seeing them was a brief look of surprise before his face smoothed over.

"Ah, I see. I knew Lady Helga had hired someone to help with the Tower as her servant and I'd heard that it was a goblin, but it sounded so outlandish I thought people were lying. Seems I was wrong, then. Well met."

Well, at least he didn't freak out. That automatically put him above most other people. It was more than what he could say about Galiana. Though it rankled Kazex that she had very deliberately ignored his presence when he mentioned Talanah, he understood he should expect petty moves like that from now on.

It would take a long time for him to convince her he wasn't like other goblins, if he ever did.

"Likewise," Kazex replied with a nod. "Is there anything you can tell us?"

"Well... I can say that Lady Helga was here yesterday, but other than that? 'm afraid not," Karlus replied with a shrug before putting down the now clean mug on the counter.

"Nothing? Nothing at all, seriously?" Galiana hissed with a tumultuous look.

"The Golden Goose is the best in the business, Lady Helga knows that she won't be pestered if she only wants to eat in peace, otherwise people will have to answer to me. However, the place is big and we can't keep an eye on everyone at the same time; besides which, I was bringing up new barrels of wine from the cellar at the time. I don't like it, but I can't say more. My girls might have seen something though; feel free to ask them... provided you don't distract them from their work."

Galiana huffed in displeasure, turning to scan the place for a brief moment before her face soured and she glanced back at Karlus with a judging stare. "I see you're still hiring girls as your workers, you pervert."

"I have eyes, woman, but my hands don't wander. I pay them good coin and I have never done anything untoward to them, despite your suspicions," he sneered in irritation.

Given that Galiana's accusation had riled him up when nothing else had worked, it sounded to Kazex like there was a story there, but he figured it'd be better not to pry in something that was strictly not his business. No reason to piss off Galiana more than necessary if he could avoid it. Still, he'd better diffuse the situation.

"Thank you for the help, bartender. We'll go ask your workers now and get out of your hair," he said, quickly stepping in.

"You still haven't said why you're looking for her. Isn't she at the Tower?"

"No, we were actually supposed to meet her around the market, but we haven't seen her yet so we're looking for her." The lie came easily to his lips and the man seemed to buy it, as he nodded and turned to pour more booze for a customer that had approached the counter.

Kazex took that as his cue to inspect the room. There were two girls that looked to be around Zaria's age, if not a bit older, taking orders from the patrons and skillfully carrying large trays with dishes and drinks to designated tables. They moved with certainty and speed, indicating that they were clearly experienced at handling the workload of the Golden Goose.

One of them was a tall, buxom blonde with curly hair and an easy smile. She joked around and made small talk with every table before leaving and on top of that, the goblin noticed that more than once, a sneaky patron copped a feel of her ass or her legs. Whenever that happened, the girl would merely smile and say nothing, unless the man or woman got too handsy, in which case she slapped the hand away with a glare and a stern word. According to Karlus, her name was Ilyria.

The other girl was perhaps a contrast to her. Shorter than Ilyria, her brown dress did little to hide the generous curves of her hips and ass and her dark straight hair reached mid-back length, framing a gentle face covered in a handful of freckles. She made small talk with some of the patrons as well, particularly with the women, and though it looked like she wasn't as extroverted as Ilyria, she still had a warm smile for many. Interestingly, only a handful of female patrons tried to cop a feel while laughing with good-natured demeanor and the girl easily evaded them all as if she'd done so multiple times already, smiling faintly, though Kazex could swear it looked fake. According to Karlus, her name was Marian.

Now it was just a matter of deciding which one to speak to.

Notes: We have officially surpassed the longest storyline for this story as of this chapter! Aww yeah!

Anyway, I lost the draft for this chapter and I only realized I hadn't saved it like an hour after shutting down the PC yesterday night. Luckily, I was able to remember the key parts and rewrite everything quickly.

So, question time! Do you guys have a preference for which one of the barmaid girls you want the trio to speak to? It's mostly for which is written first, since I'll probably write a scene for both.