Enlightened Empire

Chapter 267

In the end, Sami and Chanca had found a place for themselves soon after, but it wasn't the place they had envisioned.

With a drawn-out sigh, Sami glanced through the dimly lit tavern as he brushed off the counter top and got ready for the evening. This place looked unspectacular both inside and outside, a plain building in a plain street, but it contained a famous location within the local circles. Him and Chanca had found work here only three days after they had started their search. Though neither got to work as a carpenter like they had wanted, they didn't really have a choice in the matter.

Despite their high hopes, the trip to Tasa bank had been a bit of a bust. Right after they had seen the sign, they had gone to the bank, a very ostentatious building in a street of subtlety. They had also met the building's owner, a plump man with a puffed-up chest who was no less ostentatious than his building.

Though they had gotten that far without troubles, they had soon been informed that there was no work for them in the new manufactory yet.

Were they too late, were all positions already filled, they had asked. No, they were not. Rather, the Tasa manufactory was yet to be built, something they could have figured out for themselves if they had only looked for a bit. After all, the building with the sign that had brought them to the Tasa bank was yet to be constructed, so how could they find work there already?

Even so, they had gone through a short interview with the boss of the Tasa bank, who seemed satisfied with their attitudes and practical knowledge. Thus, they had been put on a list of future employees, and then had been sent back out into the wilderness of the city streets with no further support. Until the Tasa people were good and ready, they would find no more work there. They had asked for more immediate work in several other manufacotries along the main roads, but their chances were slim.

For now, there were few independent manufactories like the one owned by the Tasa bank, so there wasn't much work to be had. Neither would they find work in any of the smaller workshops, since all of them already had enough mouths to feed. This only left them with the royal manufactories, but their chances there looked bleak as well.

It appeared as if there had been several foreign spies who tried to steal themselves into the king's local manufactories over recent months. In fact, it had turned into a massive scandal and there had even been a fire. Thus, new hires had to undergo thorough background checks. That sort of scrutiny wasn't something two unknown commoners from a small town in the deep south could pass. Thus, they were stuck again and had to look for other work until the Tasa manufactory opened its doors to let them in.

Despite Sami's best efforts, it had been Chanca who had found them a hire, under the most bizarre of circumstances. Though while his fellow apprentice had got them the job, when it was time to work he was nowhere to be seen. With a crooked smile on his face, Sami continued on with his preparations, as he cut a block of ice down into manageable cubes..

“Good evening, Sami.” A voice from behind made him back away from the ice and turn around.

“Oh, good afternoon, Ulpi.” Confronted with the older man with the red, swollen nose, Sami put on a professional smile.

“Please don't call it 'afternoon'. Are you trying to embarrass me?” the older man asked in a grumpy tone.

If you don't want to be embarrassed, don't come here for a drink in the middle of the day. Of course, that wasn't something he would say out loud. Not to one of their best customers.

“I'll close the curtains and pretend it's evening then,” Sami joked instead.

“None of you people here have any manners.” With a huff and a fist on the counter, the drunkard complained. “Your friend over there also isn't doing his work. How come no one came to greet me when I came in?”

He pointed over to the corner, where Ulpi was talking and laughing with a pretty woman around his age. While she wasn't any kind of noble beauty, she was lively and had large, intelligent eyes.

Normally, Ulpi should have been taking the chairs off the tables at this point, cleaning the furniture and setting up the seating area for the night. At the same time, the girl should have been greeting the guests who came in early. However, the two of them were too busy with each other to take care of anything else.

This had been going on ever since the two former apprentices had started work at the tavern. By accounts of those who had worked here for longer, the girl used to be a hard worker. But now with the arrival of Ulpi, she was as useless as Sami's fellow apprentice. However, there was nothing he could do about it. After all, his fellow's loose nature was what got them the position in the tavern in the first place.

After they had been let down by the Tasa people, they found an inn to stay and then had split up to find work individually. However, when his fellow had come back one evening, he hadn't come with any news. Instead, he had brought with him the stench of wine, as well as another pretty daughter. To their good luck, this particular daughter was the favorite child of Ekkoko, a famous man who ran many of the city's gambling houses and taverns.

Eager to expand his entertainment businesses, he had opened this peculiar tavern and had already been looking for help for his new operation. With no other options on the horizon, the two had gladly taken the positions the daughter had offered them. However, neither of the new lovers had lifted a finger since they had arrived here, and now Sami was stuck here with all the work by himself... which also meant playing nice with regular customers like the guy in front of him.

“I'm here for you, master. Aren't I?” With the patience of a stone, he tried to placate the older drunkard. “Please tell me your wish.”

“Alright, young man. You're off the hook for now.” The old man huffed again. “I'll take a Saniya Royal, and make it a strong one.”

Of course the drunkard would ask for a cocktail with lots of liquor as his first drink of the night, though again Sami knew better than to complain.

“One Saniya Royal, coming right up,” he said instead in a chipper tone. Rather than finish his preparations for the evening, he would get the drink done first to get the old man out of his face.

With deft hands, Sami picked up a glass cup and his shaker from under the counter. One at a time, he measured out and added the ingredients for the drink. He made sure to give it a little extra booze, since the old man would complain otherwise.

This way, Sami would make a little extra coin, and the extra cost for the liquor was no skin off his back. Although he hadn't worked in this role for a very long time, he already felt well-familiar in it, both handling the drinks and the customers. After all, every night the tavern was full of people, so he had ample time to practice.

As he cracked the ice into the shaker, he realized what strange games fate sometimes loved to play. He had gone on his journey north to become a carpenter's apprentice again, and to one day become a proper craftsman master. Yet instead, he had been forced to transport ice out of necessity. If he hadn't move the ice from the south into Saniya, he would have never made it here.

Then once he had reached the capital, he failed to get a position as a craftsman anyways, despite his best efforts. Thus he stood here, and once again he was working with ice. Quite possibly, the cubes he was breaking up came from the same block of ice he had moved several weeks earlier. Somehow, the thought filled him with a strange pride. He felt that he mattered, that he had become a part of this giant organism they were all living in.

“Kid, you're not very urgent with this, are you?” the drunkard complained.

“Well, the customers aren't lining up yet. So I would rather get it right and make the first drink of the night a good one. Don't you also think the first drink always matters the most?”

Rather than complain about the constant rudeness, Sami smiled the practiced smile of a servant. After all, that was what he was: a servant to the commoners. Since their status didn't allow for proper servants, Sami was as close as the rich merchants and craftsmen would get to one, and they expected appropriate behavior out of their subservients. Without hurry, the barman strained the drink into the glass, where it joined two of the ice cubes. His service provided, he placed it in front of his patron.

“There you are, one Saniya Royal.”

Without so much as a glimpse at his provider, let alone a word of thanks, the old man took the drink and downed half the glass in giant gulps.

“Haah, that's the stuff.” After a deep breath, he put the drink down with enough force to have Sami worried about the expensive glass. “Well done, friend. Really nothing better than a fresh Saniya Royal first thing in the evening.”

“Well, it is what I do,” Sami said and put all the bottles back, before he cleaned up the water stains on the bar. Once the cleanup was done, he would still have to finish up preparations for the night, though it was still early, so he wasn't in much of a hurry. Since the chairs were still not in place, the old man remained at the counter for now. Awkward pauses were the death of a room, so Sami decided to strike up another conversation.

“Though if I may confess a secret: Personally, I prefer wine over these fancy cocktails.”

“Really? That's a surprise.” The old man stared at him with raised eyebrows. “You don't like your own product?”

“To be honest, I've never even heard of these types of drinks before I came to Saniya.” He shrugged. “I'm from the deep south you see, a proper country bumpkin. Where I'm from, we only drink strong, sour wine, and only to keep us warm during the cold winter nights. Up until a moon or so ago, I couldn't even imagine such a complicated drink, let alone know how to make one. Is this sort of thing normal in the big cities?”

“Only in Saniya, I bet.” The old man laughed. Though these days, he spent most of his time in taverns, Ulpi would always tell stories of his traveling days whenever he was drunk enough. Thus, Sami was inclined to believe him. “First the nobles started doing it, and then we commoners started to copy them, like we always do. There's rumors that the king is very fond of fancy and novel drinks, so one half of the city is trying to imitate the king out of admiration, and the other half is trying to come up with new recipes to gain his favor.”

“So I have the king to thank for my employ then?”

“Don't we all?” The old man smirked and downed the rest of his drink. Without a care for the freshly cleaned surface, he shoved his drink across the counter, leaving a nasty water streak behind.

“Make me another one, boy. While you're doing that, I'll take a seat.”

Sami wanted to tell him to slow down with his drinks, but in the end it was none of his business, and boss Ekkoko had warned him before about cutting off the supply for willing customers. Even more, if the old man took a seat, he would have to set at least one of the tables for himself, which would save Sami at least some work later.

“Sure thing,” he thus said.

Just as he was getting into the swing of things and finishing up his second drink, someone bumped his shoulder. He looked over and saw an excited Chanca, this time without his better half, though still untainted by any sweat from work. Although Sami wanted to complain, he didn't have time to. Before he could, Chanca hissed into his ear.

“Pretty daughter sighted. Pretty daughter by the door.”

Out of instinct rather than interest, Sami looked over, though the result surprised him. This time, even he had to agree with his fellow. While Ekkoko's daughter was a pretty girl, the newcomer appeared a bit more mature, though still no older than her mid-twenties. Still, she looked like a proper woman rather than a little girl, and she carried herself like one as well. Though her clothes were not the most fancy, they couldn't cover up her noble temperament, or her fiery figure. Even the pragmatic Sami was transfixed right away. This time, the daughter really was pretty.

While the two fellows stared at her, the newcomer stood in the entrance for a bit and looked around in confusion, before she locked eyes with Sami and marched straight to the bar.

“Excuse me,” she said before the barkeeper could regain his composure. “My name is Ulan, and I'm looking for work. You don't have any positions open here, do you?”