User blog:ImperialFish/A Debt Unpaid

The short story "A Debt Unpaid", by user ImperialFish.

A Debt Unpaid
Gavin walked the streets alone. He was depressed. Already the guild had taken his wagon and horse to pay his debt. Though they deemed it enough to pay the loan back, they made it clear that any merchants that were part of the guild would have no deals with him. He checked his coin purse once more. Just as women can fly or become jelly, coins could magically appear in his pockets, right?

No such luck, of course. Gavin kicked a rock sitting on the road, cursing his bad luck. His horse, his wagon, and his money. All gone. All he had left was the smaller purse he had hidden in his clothes, with the last bit of money he had to his name. He vowed never to spend it unless he was about to lose a limb, or there was a pretty girl involved. Reasonable priorities. But with all of the monster girls strutting around, Gavin can't hope to find a normal, single, human girl who would be willing to be with him, and his recent loss didn't help.

He looked up and immediately froze in fear. There, approaching him, were two of the Order's templars. He saw one holding the rock he had just kicked, and mentally slapped himself for not being aware of his surroundings. Had all of his merchant instincts disappeared with his wealth?

"Hey, you there." The templar on the right said, his voice muffled through the mask. "We gotta' do a mandatory random search on you, make sure you ain't smuggling any demonic trinkets or food around here..."

The templar on the left began patting him down as soon as the other had finished speaking. Gavin silently contemplated smuggling as a possible profession in the future, assuming these templars didn't just decide he was too "hairy" and might be seeing a werewolf, or too jumpy from having spent time with a wererabbit.

The templar patting him down found his reserve gold and tossed it to his friend. The first templar began looking around the small bag, even sniffing it. Gavin knew these men couldn't detect demonic energy, least of all SMELL it, so he held a little bit of hope he would get his savings back. Alas, it was not so.

"Yep, I think I can smell a little... *sniff sniff* ...yep, this smells like goblin to me." The templar holding his pouch said. Gavin rolled his eyes, and said his final goodbyes to his savings.

The templars continued with their empty, obviously fake script, which resulted in Gavin being escorted to the church nearby, screamed at by a priest, and leaving the church without his hard earned gold. And, as all do when they are down in their luck and don't know what else to do, Gavin headed straight for the tavern.

Not a very popular place, few people came to this tavern to do anything other than pass out drunk. A state Gavin hoped to be in once the night was over, but he had no coin to pay for it. He decided to sit at the bar and order one of the cheaper drinks. A warm, frothy ale was slid in front of him, along with an outstretched palm, obviously looking for payment. Gavin's sense of reason finally caught up with the rest of his mind, and began thinking of what to do. He had already sipped the ale, and this bartender didn't look like a nice guy, even by bartender standards. Gavin hoped for a miracle, and, surprisingly, he got one.

A drunk man burst into the front doors and yelled to the entire bar. "I just bet my house in a card game, and the poor bastard I played with matched it in value. And I won! Drinks for everybody!" As the few people left conscious began clapping, Gavin pointed at the newcomer, to which the barkeep shrugged and proceeded to go get his money from the one who could actually pay for it.

After managing to persuade the newcomer to buy him 3 more ales, which were surprisingly strong, the newcomer left Gavin to fend for himself in the tipsy state that he was. After debating with the bartender about philosophy, reason, and the breast size of orcs, a pretty, petite girl around Gavin's age came into the bar, and took the seat right next to Gavin. Gavin looked around the room finding plenty of other open places to sit, and numerous groups offering to buy her drinks.

Instead, she got the barkeep's attention, and ordered two of the most expensive drinks in the tavern. Called only "Party Drinks" by the barkeep, these mysterious drinks are said to change you as a person when you manage to pass out from them. They are also known for being the strongest drinks in the entire city. As the surprised barkeep brings over the two drinks, the entire tavern watched with anticipation to see how the petite woman could handle two of the hardest drinks in the city.

Nobody could have expected that she would slide one over to Gavin however. Gavin attempted to say something, but she was already sipping her Party Drink, an she motioned for him to do the same. Although reason and the rest of his mind had caught up by now, reason is the part of Gavin's mind that was hit hardest by his earlier ales. His life after he left this bar was not even in on his mind anymore, so he lifted his glass, and drank.

---A week later---
An entire week later, and Gavin could actually still feel the hangover. He returned to the bar as soon as his own body permitted him, only to find that the barkeep that was there the night Gavin visited was merely a temporary worker while the owner was at a wedding. None of the other patrons remember him, or were already smashed at the time. And of course, Gavin couldn't remember a thing after he took the first drink of that potent liquid, not had he seen that girl since. According to a few drunken memories from the other patrons, he and the girl drank five of those drinks each, sharing the last one. She paid for all of them, which cost almost the same as a small home. And, although none actually witnessed it, most remember her dragging him off to a room in the back of the tavern after she seemed to be very interested with the zipper on his pants. For about the fourth time that day, he cursed himself not not at least remembering some of the events of the night. One thing he did remember was her. He could picture her perfectly in his mind. Her oddly bright yellow eyes, the chocolate colored hair. Even in his state of poverty and lingering hangover, she was the main thing on his mind.

It seems fate favored him that day, because as he stumbled into the church, intending to pray for the hangover to end, and try to get his gold back, he saw her. Kneeling in front of the large goddess statue in the center of the church, Gavin thought her to be more like a goddess than the one she was praying to. She turned to him as he walked in, and walked straight for him.

"Walk with me." She told him. Gavin may have objected, but he was falling even more in love with her once she spoke directly to him. Her wonderful voice, his first thought was that he wished for her to sing a song to him. He pushed the fantasies out of his head and followed her out of the church.

After a few minutes of walking, and more times ogling her than Gavin would like to admit, she turned to him and got closer. Much closer. She pushed him up against the wall and kissed him. After a few seconds, she released him, and it took his entire will to not collapse to the ground. One thing gave him pause though. She muttered something as she pulled away. The curiosity at what she had said was frustrating. Had she not liked it? Did she regret it.....Did she like it? Does...does she want to do it again?

Finally, the curiosity broke out, and he asked her. "What was that?" He said, still running through fantasies in his mind.

She looked up at him and smiled. Not a good smile. A sinister one. "Fourteen silver, I said. Just adding it to what you owe me." With the sweetest and most beautiful voice, she delivered the terrifying information to Gavin in a way that made him want to smile, even at the horror she was now bringing him.

"That brings the debt up to 340 gold, and 15 silver. I drop the copper, because I'm so nice." She said, making Gavin physically recoil.

"Who....who could pay such a fine? Why am I in debt to you?" He asked, barely holding onto his consciousness and sanity. It seemed with all of the walking and mental shocks recently, his hangover was coming back for yet another round.

"You can, silly." She giggled after she said yet another terrifying sentence. "You agreed to it, after all. After the third drink, remember?"

Gavin was very glad that there was a wall behind him to catch him as his legs gave out. Now it seemed the hangover was coming back with a vengeance, and he was slowly losing consciousness.

The girl looked to the side cutely. "So, do you think you could pay me back now? You did say I could collect anytime I wanted..."

The most Gavin could utter in response was a wheeze. 340 golden coins was enough to furnish the imperial palace, with enough left over to pay the royal family to dance for you.

As his consciousness faded, he only saw her smiling down at him. The last words he heard were still from that beautiful voice.

"Or, you could always just be my husband."

---A Year Later---
"Come on Gavin, there is money to be made!" A pretty girl with yellow eyes and chocolate brown hair yelled back to a man carrying a large pack full of prisoner fruit. The Gyoubu Danuki waved to her husband and urged him to hurry up. The man stepped over the goblin who had fallen asleep in the road, and continued chasing after his wife's ringed tail as they strolled into a city formerly known as Lescatie, eager to sell their wares, and use a few of them later on that night.