The owner of the hotel looked at the couple for a long time, which showed up at his doorstep. His gaze went from the guy in the cape to the man smeared with mud. If the first one passed for a wanderer from a distant region, the second looked more like a sewage rat who decided to profit in a more decent place. But when he saw the sparkling coins, he exhaled smoke from his pipe and passed them into the main hall.

A mass of people, divided into companies, spent the evening cheerfully, making noise, drinking and smoking a strange mixture of herbs. Zee had tried tobacco in a past life, and although it wasn't for long, the local smoking kits only made him feel sick.

Bor did not become modest and filled up the young waitress with a huge list of dishes that he wanted to try. The list of desired alcohol was no less. Zee tried to strike up a conversation, but he could not make out the words of a dirty tramp flying out of a mouth clogged with food. So, he decided to wait a bit, going up to his room.

 

He was greeted by Asura, who was sitting on the bed with her eyebrows drawn together.

 

- “Umm, I wanted to apologize, and anyway, here…” - He pulled out the brooch he had gotten with such difficulty and handed it to her.

 

- “Master… You really love me!” – Her gaze changed, eyes filled with tears, shone with happiness – “I always knew that my Master cannot love dirty elves!”

 

“Yes…” - Zee didn't want to drag out the conversation, they had to change their plans and act quickly, depending on the information he hoped to get from Bor.

 

- "I LOVE you" - Asura shouted and hugged him. Zee's neck cracked treacherously and he lost control of his body, swaying like a doll in her arms. There was some plus in this, since he also stopped feeling pain.

 

“Mmm, spine. Well, at least she doesn’t get angry anymore…”

 

- “Asura, listen, I have important news. I met one person...” - He briefly spoke about the fateful meeting, hiding the fact of persecution, as he was not confident in his abilities to stop the rage-filled golem's attempt at revenge.

 

____________________________________________________________

 

After half an hour, they returned to a remote table. The mood in the room has changed dramatically. The people who had drunk had already spent most of their energy and were telling stories out of place, demanding to pour more, or quietly snoring, leaning on the table.

 

Bor continued his feast! In one of his hands was a jug, in the other a piece of a lizard's leg. With varying success, he tried to fill his full mouth with alcohol, but it treacherously flowed down his cheeks, lost in the depths of a beard, so mysterious and disgusting.

 

Asura was not enthusiastic about this sight, meeting him with a cold, judging look. He, in turn, coughed, sucked on the jug and spoke:

 

- “Holly mother! It's a real top-tier battle golem! In my entire life, I see the second such! Yes, and a lady, yes, so attractive” - He straightened his hair on his head, without much success – “Let me invite you to a dance, or to my modest home, for something hot, it's very close, you know the exit to the sewer, under the bridge at the intersection …”

 

His speech was interrupted by a short blow to the face. Zee noticed something flicker, and then Bor's face disappeared, the jug shattered into fragments tangled in his hair.

 

- “Asura!”

- “Ho, ho, as I see it, you have girl with character. Well, I beg your pardon for my rudeness” - Bor sat as if nothing had happened, sipping a drink already from a mug. There were no scratches on his face, although it would have been difficult to see them.

 

- "Master, we should leave. He is not an ordinary person. He is dangerous” - Asura whispered in Zee's ear as a chicken bone crunched in the Bor mouth.

 

- “What is the matter with you?! I said I want to help you. You kept your end of the deal, so I'll keep mine!” - His face twisted in annoyance.

 

- “Asura, calm down, let's listen to him. I beg you, start, what is it that you wanted to tell me?”

 

- Oh, yes - He cleared his throat, fishing out from the depths of a tattered suit, an old pipe and lighting from a candle - To be short, you are my friend in the ass. You can hide the hell from Airia, you can play for time or kill yourself, but if she needs something, she will find you. And you seem to be one of the summoned heroes to fight the “Lord of Darkness”.

 

He highlighted the Lord of Darkness with quotation marks in the air. He inhaled and released a cloud of smoke that looked like a suffering face.

 

- “But it looks like you have luck, a little less than me, pal. And as you can see, I have learned all the charms of the social bottom. Although the booze here is not so bad... You were cursed, I kept wondering where I saw this sign, so listen. Some time ago, I ran into a bunch of cultists who went crazy. The crowd had fun with dark forces, but more often they just drank, fucked and tried to come up with new types of perversion, like smearing some parts of the body with a special composition, very unusual and cool. And if you knew, their royal hanging for ...

 

- “Mister Bor! More to the point” - Asura interrupted his speech and her malicious silence.

 

- “Sorry... Anyway, one of them brought an old statue from my grandmother's attic to decorate the orgy hall, and I just missed the meeting, ehh my membership was lost. I returned, and there the devil knows what! The bodies are distorted, some have literally grown together. Portraits, coats of arms, other statues - everything swam like a candle. So, I began to look closely and look for the reason, as I crashed into the ceiling. The space itself was distorted, barely got out, because my every movement was a mirror. Left, right, up and down, a complete mess. And on the statue, I saw the same sign as in the depths of your eye. I don't know what you're involved with, but I guarantee this case is more dangerous than one bitchy Goddess.

 

There was silence, interrupted by Bor's champing.

 

- “What am I supposed to do?” - Zee asked.

 

- “That's where the problem lies. Usually, they go to the church with curses, they are engaged in cleansing, but in your case, well you know. You can try to find some renegade priest, but there are not many of them here, try in Gifors, although they may charge a fee there in a slightly different way. But what can you do? Two testicles are good, but life without a curse is even better! It's their motto!” - He laughed out loud. A crooked finger ran along the bottom of a wooden plate, collecting the remnants of the gravy, and then went into the mouth – “Do not despair, you can still show your nose at the elves. Or to our king, if you earn his trust, you can get a lot. And lose. But most importantly…”

 

The hotel doors flew off their hinges. A half-naked, muscular man covered with scars appeared in the opening.

 

- “BOR!!!” - he yelled, looking for a target among the visitors. Their eyes met.

 

- “Ohhh, now it's time for me! Thanks for dinner, boy. Madam, nice to meet you. We'll see you ...” - With these words, he slipped out from behind the table and ran into the kitchen.

 

The man rushed after him, overturning tables and throwing visitors who did not understand what was happening here. One of the clay mugs flew out of the drunkard's hand and rushed to Zee's head. Asura managed to intercept her mid-flight.

 

- “Thank you, Asura” -  Zee stood up, slipped in a puddle of beer, and slammed the back of his head into a chair. Consciousness left him, not giving him time to think about the situation.

 

Asura picked him up. Problems would wait until tomorrow, today she intended to take advantage of the chance for reconciliation.

 

This night will be one of her favorites in her memory.