7 “Oh, you are…it’s been a while. Doing all right?” In a dark, dismal tavern, a human was lightly lifting a mug of cheap ale to his mouth in one of the corners of the establishment. “The Benevolent Mistress…? Ahh, you really went? Well, how did it turn out?” The surrounding patrons’ voices were low, coarse, and in a good mood. Amid the loud songs and laughter of men with their arms tossed over each other’s shoulders, he grinned. “You were thrown out the door?—Bah-ha-ha-ha! That’s what I told you, didn’t I? If you do something stupid, you’ll get beat up!” The man grabbed his stomach as he guffawed. As if taking pity on his companion, he slid the plate of bacon he was eating over to the other seat. “So what did you do?…What, you try to do something to cute little Syr? You dumbass! That girl is the scariest one in that shop! The others don’t have anything on her!” The man downed his ale in good spirits. “When I did it, it was that dwarf mistress who tossed me out. All the way into the middle of the street. I barely missed getting run over by a horse cart, you know?” Reflecting on how dangerous it had been, the man let his voice falter. Almost as though the other guests seeking ale were sympathizing with him, the clamor went up a level. “Hm? This wound? No, you’ve got it all wrong. I didn’t get this from the women at that bar. This was…a scratch from my wife and my daughter. I really pissed them off.” Tracing the fresh wound left on his face, he laughed in embarrassment. Smelling faintly of liquor, his cheeks reddened and his eyes narrowed. “I was an idiot and lost my only daughter. But she helped me, at that bar…that earnest, fastidious, charming elf did.”
He laughed a bit, as though saying that she really was a stupid elf—though it was ironic coming from a man who put himself down. “She cleaned up after an idiot like me, she got my home and my daughter back for me…and I was so ashamed I swore in front of my family that I would never gamble again, that I’d become an honest man.” Someone else laughed, rubbing his finger under his nose as he interrupted. “But…” “…About that, just a little bit of alcohol hidden away from the girls is okay, right?” He playfully laughed, spending a little bit of the day’s earnings on a small reward for himself. “—Father! Argh, I can’t believe you’re d-drinking in a place like this!” “A-Anna?” At that point, the bar’s door had burst open. A flaxen-haired beauty stepped onto the stage, and some of the guests got excited. The man’s lips twitched. “You promised you wouldn’t drink anymore!” “Aah, that’s not it Anna! Just one glass, it was really just a single glass! It was just one little bit of fun to end the month! Please let me have this!” “I’m telling Mother! If Miss Lyu and the others found out, I’d be embarrassed, too!” In an instant, the man who had been such a pitiful father stood up from his seat as his daughter dragged him by the arm. He turned his eyes to the seat across from him, smiling bitterly as the guests around him jeered and whistled. “A bit of advice from someone with a few more years of experience: Keep bad things in moderation. And also, if you are ever unfortunate enough to get wrapped up in something…then try going to The Benevolent Mistress. “But only when you’re desperate and there’s nothing else you can do. A fairy might help you out.” The man said that with a smile, and then his gorgeous daughter dragged him out of the bar.
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