Chapter 11: Town

  It didn’t take long for Andrew, Olivia, and Mr. Magician to reach the bar which Olivia called the best one in town. The trio inspected the name on the wooden board outside of the bar before walking in.

  It had a rustic but clean feeling. Multitudes of drunk men and women gathered around the tables only to intoxicate themselves more than they have already done.

  “Let’s sit down at the counter! The bar staff are really kind here!”

  Olivia led the group further into the bar, towards the bar counter where two to three bar staff mingled and mixed drinks for the customers at all times.

  She sat down and gestured for Mr. Magician to sit down next to her. Andrew sat down on Mr. Magician’s other side and the three of them waited patiently for one of the bar staff to take their orders.

  “Welcome to Lin’s Bar, the best bar in Aurel!”

  One of the employees looked at their direction and greeted them with a kind voice. A beautiful woman in her early twenties stood looking at Mr. Magician and company behind the counter.

  “What would the three of you like to order?”

  Her brown hair was tied back into a ponytail, her hair reached all the way down her back. It moved as she moved, accenting her good figure. Mr. Magician recognized the woman in front of him with ease…Evangeline.

  A resident of the former orphanage that Shade inhabits, and the self-proclaimed older sister of everyone currently living there, Evangeline. She had a frilly white dress and green apron.

  The white dress was discoloured from being washed one too many times. To call Evangeline the flower of the bar wouldn’t be too far from the truth.

  A lot of the women working in Lin’s Bar were good looking, but even then, Evangeline stood out with her homey aura.

  Evangeline looked at the three customers in front of her. Two of them looked like siblings and the third one didn’t have any remarkable characteristics.

  The female customer started ordering with an energetic tone. The same customer then asked what Evangeline recommended for someone’s first time out.

  Evangeline understood immediately that the young man in the middle was new to bars. She looked at the young man in the middle of the three customers.

  Evangeline was quite good at guessing someone’s age, she noticed quite quickly who was the youngest out of the three in front of her.

  “Is it your first time?”

  “Yes, I recently got done with my mandatory schooling. I just recently got a good job and started earning money for my siblings.”

  The young man answered back rather calmly. Evangeline had never seen someone on his first bar run talk so calmly before. Nor has she met one that wouldn’t look at her lecherously at his age.

  She started questioning if she had met him somewhere before… Does he know me? Maybe he is interested. No, he probably was raised in a good household.

  “If you have the money then there is one drink I recommend.”

  Evangeline decided to recommend her favourite drink out of the ones she knows. The drink was rather easy on the pallet and easy to make.

  The young man looked at his male companion and then took out a coin from his pocket. Evangeline looked at the coin and saw the face of a previous ruler of their homeland, Asten… 1 pound! He took out an actual 1 pound coin!

  Evangeline looked at the well-dressed young man up and down and noticed all of the silver adorning his outfit… Why didn’t I notice the silver accessories before now? He isn’t just raised in a good household, he’s a rich young master!

  Though 1 pound was a lot for pocket money, it still was only at middle class. Evangeline was poor, that is why her reaction is a bit out of proportion. Having 1 pound coin or even 5 pound coins as pocket money, is nothing more than upper-middle class.

  However, Evangeline comes from an orphanage and makes half a pound, 5 shillings, each week. Out of all of the residents of the orphanage, she makes the most because it is hazard pay. Drunk old men are rather handsy at times.

  “I apologize, young master-”

  “No need to call me that.”

  A calm and kind voice came from the young man with a purple cape. Unbeknownst to Evangeline, the young man had received his pay from his companions.

  Apparently, they are the ones that handle the salary in their company. They have also been told to give the young man his salary in advance.

  After looking at Evangeline with an unchanging kind smile, the young man thought for a moment, then spoke with an ethereal tone.

  “Just call me Mr. Magician.”

  Evangeline fell in a daze before suddenly regaining her lucidity… His voice, why did it sound like that? Maybe I’m just tired from working this late.

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  Mr. Magician’s voice had an unnatural tone to it, almost divine. Evangeline regained her focus, her fake smile beaming while speaking to the young customer.

  “Well then, Mr. Magician, would you like the drink I recommend?”

  “That would be wonderful.”

  After receiving Mr. Magician’s calm approval, Evangeline started making his drink. She put on a show while shaking and mixing the drink to entertain her customers. While making Mr. Magician’s drink she prepared his companion’s drinks as well.

  After finishing their drinks Evangeline pushed the drinks to her customers and took their coin. After preparing their change, she handed it over with a service smile.

  “I hope the drinks are to your liking! Especially yours,

  Mr. Magician~.”

  Evangeline was used to either tease or flirt lightly with her customers, it was one of the must have skills for a bar worker. She decided to test the waters and hoped to see an embarrassed expression from the ever smiling young man.

  “I’ll savour it, you made it after all~.”

  Mr. Magician’s expression didn’t change at all. Instead, he counterattacked with a flirty response.

  This wasn’t the first time Evangeline was on the receiving end of a flirty remarks, however, for some reason the young man’s words made her heart skip a beat.

  Evangeline’s inner thoughts were in disarray…I’m not into younger guys, why am I getting flustered? No focus Evangeline, you are working!

  Evangeline’s face turned a slight shade of red, almost impossible to notice as most would think it came from her constant smiling or that she was slightly warm. Evangeline watched as her customers drank the drinks she prepared.

  “This sure hits a spot!”

  Oliva was the first one to speak, this wasn’t the first time she had had the drinks from this specific bar as it was the best bar in their town, Aurel.

  Olvia wanted to say that it was one of the best bars in their country, Asten, but Olvia hasn’t tried many bars in other cities as she doesn’t travel much.

  “As fantastic as I remember it.”

  Andrew spoke after Olivia, his compliment was direct and said with a kind tone. He frequently visits Lin’s Bar on his days off with his friends or his sister when their schedules allowed it.

  Evangeline waited patiently for the young man in a purple cape to give his response. She expected him to either hate the drink or love it.

  While the drink was rather beginner friendly, if someone simply didn’t like alcohol it wasn’t that weird to not like this specific drink.

  “I like it, as expected of your recommendation.”

  Mr. Magician made a simple comment, he didn’t mean to be flirty, but he couldn’t decide how the other person would interpret his words. Evangeline started laughing softly, in an attempt to hide her fluster.

  “Excuse me dear customers! I-I have to go get more lemons!”

  With a large basket of lemons next to her on the counter, Evangeline walked briskly to a door behind the counter. Olivia hit Mr. Magician’s arm with a playful smile.

  “Is she to your liking? I never thought you were that good at flirting.”

  “Huh? Olivia, what do you mean?”

  As previously mentioned, Mr. Magician never planned to flirt with Evangeline. He simply said the things that came to mind, and from his perspective, he didn’t say anything he himself as Shade wouldn’t say.

  Andrew laughed softly, he remembered their previous conversation back at the detective agency. He turned to look at his sister and the young man with them.

  “Is she the one you wanted to avoid?”

  “Yes…”

  Andrew hit the nail on the head. Mr. Magician started talking about the reason why he had searched for a job directly after his mandatory school period ended and what had made him change his mind. Olivia and Andrew listened intently without making a sound.

  Evangeline returned with a large basket of lemons and gave it to the station of another bar worker as she already had a full basket of lemons. While serving other guests Evangeline couldn’t help but glance at Mr. Magician.

  She thought that she had seen him somewhere before. At first, she thought that they had met somewhere but she quickly forgot that train of thought.

  The night turned quieter, and all of the customers quickly left one after one. As the bar was about to close Evangeline prepared to leave after all of the customers had left.

  Mr. Magician and his companions stood up and before leaving, he handed something to Evangeline.

  “Think of it as a tip.”

  “Huh?”

  Evangeline was stunned for a moment, she wasn’t someone that would turn down a tip, but it was quite unusual to tip in their country. Tipping culture was more prevalent in Buldmoth compared to Asten.

  Mr. Magician and his companions disappeared before Evangeline could look at the coin she got. When she felt the weight and size of the coin, Evangeline thought that it was rather unfamiliar.

  She looked at the coin in her hand and fell in a daze while she walked home by instinct. She has handled every coin but has only held a 1 pound coin twice in her whole career and now, she received on as a tip.

  After reaching the door to the former orphanage she finally regained her lucidity and screamed in delight.

  “I got a 1 pound coin!”

  She opened the door in a rather loud manner and inside was a young man with average looks.

  His commonly worn over washed white shirt and grey pants was changed with a new and luxurious white shirt and black suit pants with a silver belt.

  “Evangeline? I’m home.”

  Evangeline was stunned. The resident that has been gone for little less than one whole week was now sitting in the foyer and taking off his black boots in a nonchalant manner.

  “Shade, you are back. How did it go?”

  Unsure of what to say, Evangeline asked a bland question with a flustered but worried face. The young man paused for a moment to think before answering.

  “Good, it was interesting how they put me to work even though I wasn’t completely ready yet, but it went well. I received these clothes and my pay. I was told to rest tomorrow and come during the day on Monday.”

  “I see.”

  Shade answered with a calm voice and pushed his boots to the side. He turned to Evangeline and started searching for something in his pocket.

  After finding what he was searching for, Shade held out his fist as if gesturing for Evangeline to put her hand below his and she did just that.

  Shade let go of what he had in his hand and then turned to walk up the stairs to the second floor while speaking.

  “I received my pay in advance. I’m tired, so I will go to sleep now. Goodnight, Evangeline.”

  “Goodnight.”

  Evangeline answered in a daze as she watched the young man walk up the stairs and disappeared behind a wall.

  Evangeline looked at her hand and saw five gold coins with the face of a previous ruler of Asten.

  “5 pounds.”

  Evangeline’s voice softly echoed through the halls. Tears welled up in her eyes and she crouched down clutching her legs as she lost all strength to stand up. Her white dress and green apron touched the ground.

  Evangeline’s thoughts mirrored her current feelings of confusion and happiness… He got one job, worked hard for a week and then returned home with a salary only someone from the middle class would be able to earn.

  Evangeline looked at the 5 pounds she received from Shade and brought out the 1 pound she had received from Mr. Magician.

  From one day, the orphanage turned from a low income household to lower middle-class household. If there were less mouths to feed, they would be a middle-class household.

  Evangeline returned to her room after taking of her shoes. She changed to a white gown then turned in for the night. Sweet dreams awaited her when she fell asleep.

  Shade looked at his new outfit which he had stashed in a tattered bag. The black suit jacket with silver accessories, the dark purple cape with a beautiful pattern, the monocle pendant with a spirit characteristic in it. After making a sigh, Shade decided to sleep.