33 Risen#re - Chapter 340

When Lirian left the room, the Red Boar was already bustling with activity, Lirian could hear the sound of axes working hard in the garden.

When Lirian walked to the doors the entire garden of the Red Boar was covered in a thin layer of mist and inside the mist, Lirian could see four men busy placing pieces of wood on old tree stumps that were extremely wide.

A short while later they got to work raising their axes and cutting the wood into finer pieces that would burn nicely in the kitchen.

“You’re late Bell,” an elderly man called out and looked at Lirian with a trace of annoyance, as Lirian went through his memories as Bell and identified who the man was.

The man speaking to him was called ‘Old Buch’ by everyone he was in his later years, and he fit the stereotypical look of a butler perfectly, he had a shining bald head with a light beard comprised of only white hairs, and with just a single look one could tell that he was a strong man, at least by the definition of mortals.

With a single glance Lirian could make out the man’s solid build, that was tucked away beneath the classy suit that all Red Boar employees wore.

“Sorry Old Buch, I overslept a little,” Lirian replied acting in accordance with Bell’s personality, as he sheepishly scratched the back of his head.

“Just get to work and be quick about it,” Old Buch snorted, but he didn’t cause any trouble for Lirian, in fact, he seemed surprisingly calm, which struck the surrounding workers as odd.

Old Buch was usually like an angry ox during working hours, he didn’t allow anyone to slack off and if someone was even a second late they would consider themselves lucky if their workload only doubled.

Lirian also noticed the change in Old Buch’s attitude, it was different from Bell’s memories, but he quickly chalked it up to his charm and grabbed a pile of wood and went to a tree stump to start chopping away.

Bell might have been a waiter, who was also pretty good with a lute, but he also had to help out with all the preparations of the Red Boar.

Lirian walked through the mist with his pile of wood and settled in a spot where the mist was particularly thick, he didn’t want to draw attention to himself as he cut the wood, within fifteen minutes a large pile of wood was already cut up neatly.

When Lirian finished up he sat down in the mist closed his eyes to start meditating, after 45 minutes passed, Lirian heard Old Buch shouting for everyone to bring their chopped wood and move on to their other tasks.

Lirian brought all his fire wood forward and dropped them into a pile for Old Buch to see, Old Buch was surprised to see that Bell had had actually managed to finish up so quickly, he was pretty late, and usually, Bell had a hard time getting his work done in the allocated time, let alone now when he was late.

Old Buch looked at Lirian’s pile to make sure that he wasn’t pulling a fast one on him, but once more he was surprised by what he saw, every piece of wood was cut perfectly, every piece looked identical to the last.

“Can I get to work?” Lirian asked shortly after Old Buch stopped him to check his firewood.

Old Buch stared at Lirian blankly for a second before nodding his head vigorously, “Good work son,” Old Buch praised Lirian loudly, once more bringing attention to Lirian, from the other tired wood choppers.

As Lirian returned to the inn, he felt an arm wrap around his neck from behind and sighed inwardly as one of the wood choppers pulled him in close, “Did you slip something into Old Buch’s drink this morning?” the man asked with genuine curiosity as he grabbed Lirian like they were close friends.

The man in question was, Tommy, another one of the waiters, and he was actually pretty close with Bell from what Lirian could recall.

Lirian shrugged and answer Tommy, “I guess that Old Buch was just in a good mood, I guess it’s my lucky day,” he said as they walked up to the kitchen.

“Oh, come on, there’s no need to hide the truth from me, did you teach him one of your pick-up tricks?” Tommy snickered and tapped Lirian’s arm.

Lirian chuckled, “Come on Tommy, with a body as old as his, I doubt that his facilities are working anymore, there would be no point in me teaching him anything,” said Lirian in a casual and carefree manner.

Tommy laughed aloud and continued to thump on Lirian’s arm, from Tommy’s point of view Lirian was the same Bell that he always knew, he couldn’t even tell that Lirian was an imposter.

After a while Lirian got annoyed by Tommy’s constant thumping of his arm and walked into the kitchen, it was currently occupied by the cook and the waitresses.

The waitresses were dressed in maid outfits as they peeled off the skins of the various vegetables, and got to work chopping and prepping the food, and at the main table, the cook was busy slamming bread dough against the table.

Lirian was about to start helping out in the kitchen when the owner came in searching for him.

“What you need boss man?” Lirian asked as the boss approached him.

The boss sighed at Lirian’s casual attitude, but by now he had grown used to the way Bell addressed him.

“Lady Stella Maxim has requested you to play her some calming music as she eats her breakfast,” the boss quickly explained.

Lirian quickly joined the dots, he knew who Lady Stella Maxim was, she was the wife of Lord Thoman Maxim.

Lord Thoman was one of the leaders of the alliance of the minor nobles, he was also in favor of House Kurt, because of his friendship with Lord Rupid.

Lady Stella was his 6th wife and she was the youngest, when the two stood next to each other, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that they looked like a grandfather and granddaughter.

‘The pour old bloke,’ Lirian mused, ‘Not only is he a loyal dog for House Kurt, but his youngest and most beautiful wife has already turned him into a cuckold,’ Lirian laughed internally, after all, it was Bell himself who spent a few adulterous hours with her every time she visited the Red Boar.

It was then that a thought occurred to Lirian, ‘Oh crap, this woman is going to want me to have sex with me,’ he realised, ‘I need to find a way out of this,’ Lirian thought, he was starting to regret taking on this form.

“Bell,” the boss said bringing back Lirian’s attention, “Lady Stella has a few other ladies with her, so I need you to listen in to what they are talking about and report everything back to me,” the boss said seriously.

Lirian shot the boss a look, wondering why the man would make such a request, and Lirian wondered if the boss was some big pervert, but in the next second the boss cleared up his confusion.

“Last night someone assassinated Lord Grant Ventrano, find out whatever you can and report back to me if, it’s anything useful you’ll earn yourself a handsome penny for your troubles,” the boss explained to Lirian.

Lirian’s eyes widened in understanding, as he heard the boss of the Red Boar, a place like the Red Boar was practically a second home to nobles, if there was any information being exchanged this was the place it would happen.

And the boss could earn a lot from being in the know.