Chapter 353: The bartender enters the fray

Nero was running through the empty streets as fast as he could, but due to the injuries he had received in the previous battle, his speed wasn't all that great. He was barely faster than a regular person in his current condition.

Nero who was running with all his might smiled dryly at his current situation. He who held a grand dream of reviving the greatness of the demon race was now looking so pathetic. He had betrayed a lot of people and sacrificed everything from his past, he did all this just to fulfill his dream. Yet now he was running away like a beaten dog.

As Nero was trying to navigate his way through the empty streets towards the tavern known as the Lonely Cat, he heard the sound of wolves howling. Nero looked back and saw shadowy wolves following him.

Nero gritted his teeth and tried his best to run even faster. Yet despite his best effort, the wolves were slowly catching up to him. Seeing the wolves nearly reaching him Nero gritted his teeth and finally took out his weapon.

Nero's weapon were two daggers, it was said that these daggers were from the legendary Demon Lord Kretos's collection. It was given to the ancestors of his clan by the Demonic Fox Tsukiko as a sign of respect from one of their clan's kin. It was said that particular kin was one who accompanied the demon lord and protected him until the very end.

With these two daggers at hand, Nero felt a sense of comfort. His body was badly injured and his mana supply was all but drained, he couldn't even change into his demonic form, but when he held these daggers it felt like the Demon Lord was by his side smiling.

"Come at me you mutts, this is not where my dream ends!" As if responding to what Nero said one of the shadow wolves that was nearest to him lunged at him. At that moment everything seems to slow down from Nero's point of view.

His body was heavy and even though he could see the shadow wolf's movement he couldn't do anything about it. He didn't want it to end this way so Nero tried his hardest to lift his heavy arms and attack. As he was slowly raising his two daggers to attack, a familiar object flew and hit the shadow wolf's eye.

'Isn't that the cig the bartender usually has in his mouth?' It was at that moment a man wearing a black vest appeared in front of Nero and kicked the shadow wolf away. The kick had no trace of mana in it, in fact, the man wearing the vest had not even a shred of mana within his body, yet the kick he made blew the shadow wolf several meters away.

"Stop making a racket in front of my tavern."

...

A few minutes before Nero was about to be attacked by the shadow wolves, Haruto was cleaning the tables of his tavern the Lonely Cat.

In the past few days not a single customer came, heck there weren't even people walking through the streets. It would seem that everyone was in the arena watching the Grand Mage's tournament. Even Haruto wanted to watch the matches, and witness shounen manga like fights.

Yet the system wouldn't allow him to go since his level was too low at the moment. If he was able to upgrade the tavern and advance the security of his tavern he would be able to go out freely, but for now, he was stuck in his own tavern.

It has been three months since he came to this fantasy world. He had met many different customers, but none of them looked like fantasy characters, well except for the dwarven brothers who were regulars. He wanted to see more but he was unable to go out and see what this fantasy world looked like. Haruto wanted to go to an adventurers guild and see what kind of atmosphere it had. He wanted to look at those so called dungeons and witness the adventures beating down monsters.

Aside from the dwarven brothers who occasionally come to drink some beer, Haruto hasn't seen anything fantasy like at all. Back in his old world when he was a kid he used to read various light novels about being isekaied, but now that it happened to him it wasn't as he expected. Haruto sighed as he placed his hands on his pockets. When he noticed that he no longer had any cigarettes he spoke to the system.

'Hey system, do you have any cigarettes in your store?'

'Yes,' a robotic voice answered.

'How much to buy a pack of cigarettes?'

'A pack costs ten silver coins, and a single cigarette costs one silver coin.'

'The f*ck that's too expensive!'

'Otherworldy items are available but the prices will be inflated due to it being a non-existent item in this world.' Hearing the system's response Haruto clicked his tongue.

'Fine, I'll buy a pack of cigarettes'

'Thank you for your patronage.' After responding a pack of cigarettes appeared in front of Haruto.

Haruto immediately took one piece lit it up and started smoking. As he was waiting behind the counter he heard a system notification.

[Urgent Mission= Hostile Beings are near your Tavern. As a tavern owner, you must make your customers feel safe. Even against drunks who cause trouble, to mighty dragons that threaten the establishment, the tavern owner must show the customers that they can drink and make merry without any fear. The mission will be completed once you Eliminate or drive off all hostile beings near the Tavern.]

[Mission Reward= 10,000 XP, unlocking new drink Moscow Mule.]

When Haruto saw the mission notification he was surprised. In the past three months, he had received regular missions or daily missions. This was the first time he had received an urgent mission. The reward for this mission seems to be quite good. He was especially curious about the Moscow Mule drink. As an owner of a tavern or a pub, and also being its bartender he knew how to make Moscow Mule but he knew that what the system will give him would be different.

The system never allows him to make any drink or food that wasn't approved by it. The preparations of making the Moscow Mule created by the system would be different from the normal way he knew, so Haruto was curious how different it would taste from a regular Moscow Mule. Also, it was a good thing that the menu can finally be updated.

Haruto smoked a bit more before heading out of the tavern. This was the second time he had been allowed to leave the Tavern and he was a little bit excited.