Even in Rivington, the sheer vitality radiating from Baldur's Gate was infectious. After waving the half-elf Verati away, the sun elf Barrel planted his hands on his hips and breathed in the less-than-clean air. "If you're interested, sir, would you like me to give you a brief introduction to Baldur's Gate?"
"I'm all ears." Aaron nodded.
That fat bastard Barrel Moonflower was a crafty one. Ever since he had been forced to reveal his strength aboard the Mind Flayer Nautiloid, he had refused to lift a finger. In the battles that followed, as long as Barrel himself wasn't involved, the fat sun elf never moved if he could help it, and never cast a spell unless he had to.
In his own words, "You've only paid me about ten thousand gold over these past two years, sir. Casting that ninth-circle Time Stop alone put me in the red!"
It reminded Aaron of a joke from his previous life about a museum robbery in Japan. The thieves had actually triggered the alarm, but when the security guard went to investigate, he only looked into the exhibition hall through the glass in the door. Seeing nothing unusual, he returned to the security office, and the thieves ended up cleaning out the exhibits.
Afterward, the police discovered that when the guard came to check the hall, the thieves had been hiding in his blind spot behind the doors, with only a door separating them. Yet the guard hadn't opened it to look inside. When the police asked why, his answer was simple.
"My measly salary isn't enough for me to take that kind of risk."
The incident later sparked widespread public debate, with everyone focusing on whether the guard's reasoning was justified.
Aaron believed that Barrel would certainly have approved of the guard's