Son of Baron Bayard

Son of Baron Bayard

Black Fort District, "The Weight of Knowledge" Tavern.

A bard with a handlebar mustache was playing the lute and singing the spicy, sultry "Port District Ballad," a song rarely heard in the inland regions.

A dwarf dressed as a gnome and a dancer performed exaggerated pantomimes beside him, dancing in a ridiculous yet provocative manner that drew laughter and cheers from the crowd.

"Did you hear?"

Someone was bragging, "Something happened out at sea yesterday!"

"You dumbass, you're not talking about that giant sea monster, are you?"

Clearly, there were other well-informed people who did not want to let the first man steal the limelight.

The man had drunk too much, and his voice had become coarse and slurred. "You're saying that like nobody else knows!"

"What's so special about a giant sea monster?" an old fisherman said with a laugh. "The gentlemen from the Spirit Tower even paid for information about giant sea monsters back in the day! They paid three gold coins for each reported location. I used to earn eighty gold coins a month!"

"Give it a rest, old John!"

Someone cursed at him. "The gentlemen didn't come after you because they were magnanimous! You reported the same sea monster dozens of times. Did you really think nobody knew?"

"It's precisely because the gentlemen are fair and magnanimous that they deserve more praise!"

Old John shouted, his face flushed red, "That's why everyone's willing to work for them—"

"Then did you volunteer to test the medicine? You'd get twenty gold coins each time."

"I—I didn't go... I'm already this old. Let the young people earn the money."

As soon as old John finished speaking, waves of laughter broke out around him.

At that moment, beside a piano on the second floor, a mature,