Having grabbed his wallet from the dorm, and listening to the senile old man jabber away, the student and the former sage made their way down to the city.

  The morning fog that rolled down from the mountains coated the city, bringing along with it the morning chill.

  The Sun would not appear for another hour, obscured by the mountain ranges that surrounded the city in their stubborn heights. Yet, despite the early hours, the city seemed hardly dead.

  The city welcomed its citizens into its embrace, with muffled conversations and laughter slipping through the walls of taverns, and groggy adventurers walking down the streets, readying themselves for the hike to come.

  Combined with the ever present sounds of the Great Central River that flowed through the metropolis, the city exuded a feeling of liveliness completely different from the liveliness of the hustle and bustle in the daylight.

  “Why did you pick 6AM as training time? I may be on the clock, but I’m still old as hell.” The old man complained, as they sauntered down dimly lit streets.

  “It wasn’t my idea! It was Ms. Yeltz! I’m as unhappy about it as you are.” Aurelius pouted back, almost offended by the suggestion that it had been him who had picked dawn as training time.

  “That girl didn’t tell you I was taking over today, did she?” He asked, his face contorting into a judgemental frown.

  With the shake of Aurelius’s head, Mr. Tona let out a long sigh as Aurelius followed on the old man’s heels down the streets into an alleyway, darker and dingier than all the rest.

  “Hmm, I should probably have arranged for a different time. I’m much freer than my little apprentice, after all.” The former sage mused, the sounds of his footsteps echoing between the narrow brick walls of the alleyway.

  “But she’s as irresponsible as ever, I see. I’ll reach out to you the next time this happens. She’s busier than she looks.” He muttered, apparently holding back his annoyance.

  Aurelius nodded silently as he surveyed the rather glum, dark surroundings cautiously. Where exactly were they going?

  “Hehehe, we’re almost there.” The old man chuckled in delight, sniffing the air excitedly as they took another turn to the right.

  Aurelius attempted to sniff, as Mr. Tona had done. And he found that he could actually faintly make out the faint aroma of coffee. However, the other components of the smell, such as the tangy punch of trash and the horrendous wafts of concentrated piss mixed in with that faint smell only made Aurelius frown in disgust.

  As they turned into the last corner, they were greeted with a small, weathered staircase of mossy stone.

  On top of the crooked stairs lay a small inn, ancient, mottled, and misshapen in the strangest of ways. Its paint was blotchy, windows slotting awkwardly in the trapezoid holes in the wall. Its curved wooden roof was of an outdated design, reminiscent of the late Domination Era architecture.

  Above its unwelcoming front door hung an uneven sign inscribed with its name.

  “Welcome to the Crooked Twisters!” The sage exclaimed, giving Aurelius a slap on the back strong enough to propel him two whole steps forward.

  ???

  The pair sat on a wobbly wooden table, which was surprisingly shiny, apparently having been varnished recently.

  The inn was surprisingly crowded, with weary adventurers and even a few Magic Scholars scattered around a cosily lit dining area, dressed in their mage robes.

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  The smell of coffee was much more distinct within the establishment, filling the air with a taste of sourness and leaving a lingering smell of bitter roast deep up the nose.

  In the background of the quiet din of the tavern were the sounds of the radio, playing music that added to the tavern’s atmosphere.

  However the most noticeable part of this place was the incredible, mouth watering smell of chowder that filled the air. With a thin layer of fishiness, the smell of heartiness seemed to coax out saliva from the depths of one’s mouth.

  “Ah, are ya back in town Wally? Been a long time!” A skinny old man greeted over the bar counter, a scuffed eyepatch covering his left eyes.

  “Capn’ Walter! How’s business been doing you old coot? I hope your food’s still good even after all these years!” Mr. Tona replied, looking up from the small menu that he was looking at.

  “Ya know how it is. It's as steady as it’s ever been.” Walter said, shrugging at the question.

  “I haven’t really found someone to take over the business, though. Can ya believe that I never managed to get married?” He lamented bitterly.

  “Yes. Yes I can. Even brothels used to turn away your ugly mug!” Mr. Tona retorted, teasing the barkeep.

  “Ha! Says you. I bet yer wife’s happy to see yer handsome face broke’ by age.” Walter snorted, responding with wit.

  The banter continued on for a while longer, as the two old men ignored Aurelius who sat awkwardly, scratching blankly at the worn and yellowing menu.

  He was actually quite skeptical to find the prices at this… run down establishment to be dirt cheap, with the seafood chowder costing a mere 5 copper.

  If it were the farm bred freshwater fish grown in the nearby regions of the city, perhaps Aurelius would have considered the purchase, yet it seemed unlikely that fresh, high quality seafood would come around at this price, especially in such a shabby tavern.

  “I recommend you get that chowder kiddo. And have the signature Crooked coffee brew along with it.” Mr. Tona interjected, breaking up Aurelius’s train of thoughts.

  “Err, I don’t quite like coffee…” Aurelius responded hesitantly, having personally been considering the tea instead.

  “Tsk, trust me.” The former sage instructed sternly.

  “Walter, get me 3 rounds of your chowder, and 2 cups of your best coffee.” He said, ignoring Aurelius’s protests.

  “Coming right up.” The one-eyed man replied, crossing the bar and entering the small doorway decorated with strings of colourful beads that sat crookedly to the side of the bar.

  He quickly returned with 3 steaming tin cups of chowder, adding to the already delectable scent that hung in the air, along with another two cups of coffee.

  With a snap of his fingers, Mr. Tona conjured up 2 silver coins and 1 copper onto the table, sliding it over to Walter with a wink.

  “What, you’re not tipping?” Walter asked incredulously, leading Mr. Tona to break out in hearty laughter.

  With another snap of his fingers, he conjured up 2 gold coins, and slid them over to Walter, who nodded in satisfaction.

  This display completely baffled Aurelius. Two gold coins for a tip? What kind of scam was this one-eyed man running here?

  As the man named Walter returned behind the bar and started to fiddle with the radio on the counter, Mr. Tona noticed Aurelius’s slack-jawed face, leading him to burst out laughing.

  “Haha, don’t worry. You’ll only be owing me the 8 copper for your little breakfast.” He addressed breezily, taking a sip of his chowder.

  “I will owe that man over there a lot more gold coins as long as we’re both alive.” Mr. Tona explained, giving Aurelius a wink.

  “He’s my old adventuring buddy, see. My captain, in fact. I was wandering the Tlacualtzin mountain ranges in pursuit of some ruins, and I joined up with his little gang for a while in my youth.”

  “At first, the expeditions went great. We made a killing on a few of the more valuable monsters we managed to hunt down in some of these dungeons.”

  “But, I made a little mistake in the ruins I was searching for, and it caused the poor man over there to lose his damn eye.” He muttered, his airy demeanour tainted a little by the guilt that subtly lined his words.

  “Of course, he had the inn to inherit from his good old parents, but his adventuring days were definitely over.”

  “And I decided that I was going to pay that man 2 gold coins every time I saw him with both my eyes, given that it’s a privilege that I took away from him!”

  “Of course, I try to avoid visiting this damned inn as much as possible! If I come here too often, I’d be flat broke!” He laughed, letting out a small sigh of satisfaction as he sipped on the chowder.

  “At the same time, the damn chowder here is absolutely to die for!” He exclaimed, pushing a cup over to Aurelius.

  Aurelius was frowning at this point, a little taken aback by the suggestion that the scrawny old man at the counter used to be a captain of an adventuring party. Furthermore, he was a little weirded out by the strange agreement that the two old buddies had apparently come to.

  His thoughts were interrupted by the steaming cup of soup pushed over in front of him, filling his nostrils with the delightful smell of blue ocean skies.

  Aurelius still scrutinised the contents of the cup carefully, bringing it up to his nose to carefully sniff at it, in an attempt to determine its freshness.

  “Tsk, I will guarantee that it’s fresh, kiddo.” Mr. Tona said impatiently, urging Aurelius to take a sip.

  Aurelius, while not completely convinced, decided to take a careful sip of the tin mug, bringing the hot liquid to his lips…