Chương 181: Chapter 176 - Party Arrangements.

Alric sat in the common room. His fingers were pressed together in front of his face. He had been staring at the same spot on the opposite wall for some time. One of the staff had thoughtfully lit the nearby hearth for him; he hadn't even noticed, even though they had been glancing at him nervously. He had no papers in front of him, no charcoal, not even a forgotten cup of tea that was almost a feature of his at this point. The common room door opened and Seren entered.

She breathed into her hands and rubbed them together. She walked toward the fire when she Alric and paused for a moment before continuing to the fire. Alric didn't even notice her before she was standing next to the table, holding her hands out to the hearth.

"Everything alright Mister Alric?" Seren asked turning her hands over.

"Hmm?" Alric said, blinking and lifting his head.

"Is everything alright?" Seren repeated, tilting her head downward.

"Oh, yes I'm fine." He said sitting back in the chair, he glanced around the room as if seeing it for the first time. Seren stared at him for several breaths saying nothing.

"The bakery visit go well?" Alric asked.

"Better than expected, I think Vale just found the oven he plans to marry. It's the big one." Seren said before turning around to let the fire warm her back. Alric scoffed, looking at the fire with a grin before turning back to Seren.

"Think the oven will get jealous when a cask is his mistress?" he asked, keeping his face deadpan. Seren started giggling, "He loved barrels but it was a brief affair." Seren said letting out a dramatic sigh. They both grinned for a moment before Seren turned serious again, "You sure you are alright Mister Alric, you looked like someone told you someone died?"

"No, nothing like that." Alric answered quickly. He glanced at the empty table.

"Just a lot to think about, is all." Seren pressed her lips together before she finally shrugged.

"Vale is at the bakery guild getting the details dealt with but we will probably have it for winter."

"That's great. I should start making yeast then." Alric said with a small smile. Seren took a deep breath, paused for a moment, then walked to the courtyard entrance. Alric said forward again; he interlocked his fingers, put his elbows on the table, and stared at nothing again. He had barely slept the previous night, Stromni's words coming backing to him.

'This ain't ya world.' And 'Happiest I ever seen ya, lad.' And he's right. He'd come to the stunning conclusion that he was in fact happier on this world than the last. Sure, everything made him itchy, everything. His bed felt lumpy, he considered strangling the city's chickens every morning. Don't get me started on the toilets. And the roads, and carriages and winter and bloody glowing liquids that cost more than many homes. Oh, and monsters, but people don't talk about those much.

Then there were the nobles and thinking about wars and just the general sanitation. Earth had been more comfortable; he couldn't dispute that. But it was significantly less fun. Alric lowered his hands and looked at the hearth. We built a still. Maggie was massive, they had spent weeks arguing about copper, even gutted the first place that was meant to be a home. Then they had made brandy together and did a little dance in the still house. Then yesterday Stromni had shown him a drawing of the two of them together.

He felt a smile creep up. They had fought tooth and nail to get the copper for Maggie. Everything in this world felt difficult, copper quality was all over the place and yet they had built it. His thoughts last night had circled this. How hard would it have been to pull off on Earth? Not even build it, just get permission. How many engineers, inspections, fire regulations, architects, and insurance? How many years would it have actually taken? Before even getting copper.

He knew why earth had so many rules and regulations. Most of them were good but he doubted they would have gotten permission at all. He would be loath to admit their reasons would probably have been good ones. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. But none of that is the point. They had spent so much time complaining about how things were harder, but some things simply weren't.

"Mister Alric?"

"Huh?" Alric said, blinking up at the guard standing on the other side of the table.

"Guild Master Pavise is here for you?" The guard said with a small smile"Oh, of course. Send him in." Alric glanced to the door, the guard approached it, opened it and nodded to someone on the other side before opening the door fully. Alric stretched his back and took a deep breath. Pavise entered just after; he had three guards with him. He took a few steps toward the stairs to Alric's office before he paused and glanced across the common room to a waving, grinning Alric.

Pavise's expression immediately turned flat as he approached; he tilted his head toward Alric and narrowed his eyes.

"Pavise," Alric said, keeping the grin; he gestured to the chair opposite.

"Alric," he said, glancing at the chair for a moment first. It was one of the more reinforced chairs; Pavise decided to trust it and lowered himself into the chair. Pavise's guards took the nearby table and immediately got to work on lounging in it. Alric nodded at that; when he looked back at Pavise, he regarded Alric with open suspicion.

"What happened?" Pavise said, maintaining a suspicious look.

"Nothing happened," Alric said, spreading his arms, pretending to be harmless.

"Is that how you treat a friend?" Pavise scoffed, "That's how I treat people who always bring me their problems." He said, with his eyebrows lowering. Alric heard a snigger from Pavise's men. Alric tried to remember when he had a social anything with Pavise and realised he never had, so the accusation was fair. Alric nodded, "I can't even argue with you on that, and I do have a problem. I want to throw a party." Alric said.

"So… you need guards?" Pavise asked, tilting his head the other way.

"You have a bunch now, though."

"I think you misunderstand. I want to throw a party, I need…" Alric paused for dramatic effect.

"I need professionals, serious ones. I have a problem. I have barrels of beer I need drunk."

"You need… you want adventurers… to drink beer?" Pavise asked; behind him, one of his guards sat upright.

"I do. I need the barrels for whisky, and my dwarven friend would never forgive me if I just let it out into the river, so I need your help." Alric said tilting his hands upward, pretending to be helpless.

"You asking adventurers to… help you drink beer… How many casks are we talking?" Pavise asked, sitting back and folding his arms.

"I didn't say casks, I said barrels, eight of them." Alric explained holding up eight fingers. Pavise's eyes opened wide and he tilted his head down.

"Is it free?" one of the men behind Pavise asked. Pavise raised one hand; he tilted his head, regarding Alric.

"What kind of—" came another which caused Pavise turned his head slightly, the man quieted immediately. Alric tried not to grin… and failed.

"What's the catch?" Pavise asked, still holding up his hand and regarding Alric.

"If I'm providing beer, you guys get the rest? Tables, fire, food, and whatnot." Alric explained, counting parts on his fingers, "If the guild handles the party part, then all the adventurers are invited." Pavise's eyebrows raised higher than Alric had ever seen them. Behind him, the three guards had even stopped lounging and were openly regarding Alric closely.

"So, you provide eight barrels of beer. Is it good beer? Forget I asked; with you, it's always good beer, stupid question." Pavise cleared his throat to try again, "You provide the beer, and we get the rest?" Pavise said, tilting his head. He glanced at his guards quickly before turning back.

"That's right," Alric said with a smile.

"Done," Pavise said immediately.

"That was quick?" Alric said turning his head.

"It's free beer. Beer is expensive this time of year normally," Pavise said with a shrug, "Meat is cheapest now; we can get pigs easily enough. Send out hunters." Pavise turned to his men, he indicated them with his chin.

"The Millers Nap been doing them big ox roasts." One said with a smirk.

"They charge too much, we get that stew from the Dancing Gale. Spoon stands straight up in it." Another said with a sneer at the first.

"The Spluttering Lamp does that nice pig on a spit, crispy." said the last with a nod. Pavise nodded at them, nodded, and they went quiet again. He turned back to Alric.

"We can hire the innkeepers to cook, they know how to do it. Roasts, whatever game we get, big stew pots, bread, that sort of thing." Pavise said, tapping his finger on the table, "How many people do you think?"

"I have brewery staff, the people here, and the guards from the king. About a hundred on my side, a few extra guests," Alric explained, closing one eye to try to guess.

"We have about two hundred looking to overwinter, so three hundred total then. Is that even enough for eight barrels?" Pavise asked, looking up at the ceiling. It was around two thousand four hundred liters of beer. That worked to eight liters each.

"I don't think so, it would be sixteen tankards each." Alric explained. One of the adventurers behind Pavise flared his cheeks; the other two opened their eyes wide. Pavise bit his bottom lip and glanced at the hearth.

"More people will arrive, but this will be serious." He said after a long pause.

"Where, though? The muster yard?"

"We can do it at the brewery, we have the street we can close off…" Alric began but trailed off at the chorus of heads being shaken.

"Three hundred, free beer, lots of fires, in the middle of the warehouse district? Not happening." Pavise said, shaking his head, "There is an old muster yard just out the walls, by the river. It's where nobles show off horses and people host small fairs. It should work." Alric thought about for a moment.

"Wagons can get in and out easily, nothing there can burn," Pavise added. Alric nodded.

"Yours is better then. So then, when?" Pavise sat back and tapped the table again.

"I don't want to wait too long, its getting cold. Temple says it's winter at week's end. Won't be a few weeks for the snows but… five days." Pavise said, glancing at Alric. Alric nodded; that was faster than he expected. One of Pavise's guards made a noise of excitement. Alric frowned; they could come in looking bored, but now they looked like Christmas had come early.

"One last thing, I am going to invite one of the king's advisors," Alric added while watching Pavise's guards.

"Which one?" Pavise asked, leaning back slightly.

"Calvern. I owe him a few favors, he may not come." Alric explained. He grinned as he watched the guards deflate slightly.

"Oh, Calvern is fine, and he will come. He's just like that." Pavise said with a grin. Alric smiled and felt distinctly smug; a royal advisor in attendance should help keep things manageable. Pavise stood.

"This is the best news I've had in years, but I need to get this moving." He glanced over at his men.

"Any of you lot tell anyone about this before I do, you'll be on guard duty." All of them opened their mouths before turning their heads down and nodding slowly. Pavise grinned back at Alric, a nod of understanding passed between them. Each had their own way of doing things. Just after they had gone, Alric found himself staring at the door. A year ago, he hadn't known any of them. Now he was excited about getting drunk with several hundred of them in a field.