A rainy night

Mary’s intuitions proved true as it started pouring down after the sundown. John was cleaning a couple of mugs while Mary was upstairs cleaning the rooms when the door of the inn opened and a soaked man entered. John rushed to his side. “Do you need any help sir? Come, sit by the fire.” John guided the older man to the table closest to the fire.

Once the man sat down John asked him if he wanted anything to drink. The man grunted. “Bring me some ale boy.” John soon returned with a mug full of ale. The old man drank it quickly. “Ahh tastes like shit.” The old man exclaimed, he then looked at John. “You had this place for long boy?”

John nodded. “Yes, it was originally my grandfather’s. Now I run it.”

The old man looked at John. “Listen I’m a merchant, the discovery of that ore mine means that the town nearby will soon become kind of a hotspot. I’m looking for some info about the place, you willing to give me that? In exchange I would give you advice on how to become the most popular inn around here.” John nodded and the man began asking him questions about the town, the roads and such. After John answered all his question the merchant was deep in thought.

“The situations’ ideal for me to set up shop around here. Do you have lots of storage room?” John nodded. “That’s good. There will be lots of merchants who will be traveling these roads from now on and from what I’ve seen in town, there is only a couple of inns with enough storage space around here. You have another advantage which is the fact that you are closer to the road and the mine than the ones in the city. How about night companionship?” The merchant asked.

John looked at him questioningly. “What do you mean by that?”

“Ladies who keep the costumers company during the night.” John still didn’t get his point.” Whores boy. Ladies who are willing to sleep with the men for some quick coin. It’s a lucrative business.”

John gasped.” Isn’t that illegal?”

The merchant grinned.” Not in your county since last month. You can offer the gents some harlot for the night. People pay a pretty penny for some hot woman.”

John thought about his proposal.” If you say its not illegal anymore then I don’t think I’ll be a problem. However there are not that many women living around here and the trip to town is about 6 hours by foot. I don’t think anyone will accept to come here.”

Just then Mary came down the stairs and headed to the kitchen. The merchant eyed her for a bit. “How about her? She seemed up for the job.”

John looked at him incredulously.” Sir that’s my wife.” The merchant shrugged.” What does have to do with it? Listen to me boy, this world is a cutthroat world and business is worse. It you want to survive you have to use everything at your disposal. I heard they are going to implement even stricter taxes on establishments. Your finances must be in the gutter already.”

John was flabbergasted that this stranger knew so much about their financial situation. “How do you know all this?”

The merchant let out a laugh. “Boy I have been in business longer that you have been alive. One look at you and the state of this place and I knew all about it. It starts with you, you’re not a cutthroat type so you need an edge to succeed.” The merchant leaned back in his chair.” And it won’t be just humans either, you know that other species give their left ball to sleep with a human woman, you two will be swimming in gold. And the fact that you haven’t kicked me out already tells me that you are not opposed to the idea. Now I want a room to stay the night.”

John got up and led the merchant upstairs, showed him a room and returned to the bar. Mary was closing up the inn as he appeared.” Hey hon, how about we call it a night? I’m too tired.”

“Sure darling.” He responded before following her to their room.

Author's note: Hey how is all of yall doing. Sorry about the wait I had some things come up and totally forgot about the story lol and when I decided to write some more came across the comment about the other story that is based on the Adelaide Inn too, so I decided to scrap the further chapters that I had written because they would have been carbon copies of the other story and try some original ideas that could work in the setting, anyway I hope you guys will be patient with me till i figure it out and another thing is that I'm not a native English speaker and this is my first story so if you guys find something wrong with the story or any typos feel free to let me know:)