Chapter 38: Last Call at the Bar (Patreon)

With the knowledge that anyone inside the bar who hadn’t rented a room would die in two minutes, people predictably began to panic. There was yelling and shouting as everyone went for the exit. A wave of System proximity warnings appeared in front of my eyes as people collided with each other in their rush to escape.

I grabbed Hugo off the bar and held back while noticing Earnest hadn’t yet left his seat.

“You’re not coming?” I asked him.

He shook his head. “Got a room upstairs. Sorry.”

I nodded and carefully made my way towards the door. Touching anyone too quickly could activate the safe zone barrier.

A crowd of people had formed near the door and were shouting something. Not being able to see past them, I casually hopped up onto a table and saw what the problem was. Anders and some of his lackeys had gotten there first and were standing in front of the door. By blocking it with their bodies, nobody could move past them without activating the safe zone.

One man desperate to leave forgot this fact and tried to grab Anders.

[Proximity warning. Strike 3]

That man instantly fell dead.

Those nearest to him gave him a wide berth and tried to talking to Anders. When that didn’t seem to impact him, they resorted to begging.

Hugo and I left them to it. I still had him clutched in my hand as the beer seemed to be hitting him pretty hard. “Wah? What’s goin ooon?” he slurred.

I shook my head in astonishment. “You can eat a million French fries and yet somehow you still metabolize alcohol like a regular bird.”

With less than two minutes left, I hurried back to the bar where Earnest was still sat drinking.

“Any ideas?” I asked him.

“There’s a backdoor to this place past the kitchen.”

I nodded and ran through a set of double doors that led into the kitchen. The backdoor was there just as he’d said, but when I tried it, the door was locked. There was no sign of a nearby key, so I went back out to where Anders and his crew were waiting for me. It seemed that they’d come to a bargain with the other bar patrons, after all.

One of his men moved to block my way out, but Earnest got there first to keep him back.

“Quickly, up the stairs,” he said to me.

With Hugo in hand, I slid across the bar and sprinted around to where the stairs were.

“Get after him!” yelled Anders.

I flew up the stairs with my enhanced speed and found a hallway full of rented rooms. All of which had the doors closed. I tried one of them and found it locked. Desperate, I tried to gently make contact and force the door open.

[Proximity warning. Property damage in a safe zone is not tolerated. Strike 1]

I could hear voices murmuring behind some of the doors.

“Come on, somebody let us in!” I shouted.

When no one did, I looked around and noticed there was a window at the end of the hallway. I ran over to it and tried to lift it up, but it wouldn’t budge.

[System curfew in effect in twenty seconds]

Desperate, I tried to break the window with my elbow, but a purple barrier popped up.

[Proximity warning. Property damage within a safe zone is not tolerated. Strike 2]

The men pursuing me reached the second floor and stopped when they saw that I had nowhere to go. They grinned, likely thinking about the reward Anders would give them for keeping me here. None of them would likely see any points or coins for it, but my some of my items would definitely be up for grabs.

[System curfew in effect in 10 seconds]

“Help! Anyone?!” Hugo called out, finally realizing the gravity of the situation.

Suddenly, a door to our left opened. It was Geminy.

“Quickly, hurry,” she said, pointing to the open window in her room.

[System curfew in effect in five seconds]

I dashed across her room and dove through the window.

[System curfew in effect]

The message appeared just as I’d landed on the street below and rolled to my feet.

There were others standing around outside looking restless, and I almost drew my sword to fight them until I realized that they weren’t Anders’s men. They were just some of the bar patrons who’d paid or promised favors in order to escape.

“Anyone who takes him out gets free rent for a month!” Anders shouted from within the bar.

Some of the people standing on the street with me suddenly didn’t look so innocent.

I let go of Hugo, who flew up to perch on the edge of a nearby rooftop, and then drew my sword. I tried to make it clear to them with my body language that this wasn’t a fight that they would want, but most of them carried weapons and they had the greater numbers.

I thought about trying to talk them down. Maybe even off them safety within the clock tower, but then one of them, a man, pulled out a wand. I simply couldn’t take the risk. I threw my goblin steel knife and it slammed into the wand wielder’s forehead and went back out the other end. The body flopped to the ground.

*DING!* [Knife Work Skill] Increased to level 5

*DING!* You have Slain [Walter Marks, Apprentice Sorcerer] Level 3 – Experience Points Acquired.

A few of them became disgusted, while others were scared at how easily one of them had just been killed.

I grimaced. “Jesus, only level 3.”

The former bar patrons became alarmed. “Wait, what level are you?” one of them asked.

“A higher one,” I said, and drew my Viper Fang to duel wield.

Some of them looked uncertain until Anders piped up again from within the safety of the bar and said, “anyone who doesn’t fight now will have to deal with us.”

“It’s bullshit,” I said. “You don’t have to listen to him. So what if you can’t sleep in a warm bed tonight? Is that really worth killing each other over? We’re the last of humanity. We should be working together. I’m sure with a little effort, you guys can hunt enough creatures to get the coin to afford places of your own by this time tomorrow. So we’re outside at night and there’s a curfew? To that I say, big deal.”

A few of them nodded their heads at what I was saying. Yes, it’s working. I’m winning them over.

Then a wolf loudly howled. It sounded close.

A chorus of wolf howls echoed to answer the first one. They all sounded close.

“Goddamn it,” I groaned.