Once the busiest part of the lunch rush had passed, Mawol finished tidying the tavern. When no customers came for quite some time, he thought it over, then simply shut the doors and decided to give himself the afternoon off.
After leaving the tavern, he headed straight for the Amli Merchant Guild's road construction site a short distance southwest of town.
His younger sister had worried herself sick over his nephew and had asked him several times to find out more about the Amli Merchant Guild, hoping her son could join the guild and earn such a high wage too. Old Mawol naturally had to put in a little extra effort.
When he reached the site, he found that, just as those three men had said, the entire site was on a break. Apart from a few workers who had stayed behind, everyone else had vanished without a trace.
Looking up at the blazing sun overhead, Old Mawol guessed the workers were taking advantage of their time off to sleep. He glanced around and settled his gaze on the few workers on duty.
Old Mawol walked over and took out the fine wine and side dishes he had prepared in advance, intending to get on friendly terms with them and learn a little more. The workers, however, firmly refused.
"Sorry, regulations say we can't drink during working hours. We appreciate the thought, though." The dark-faced worker seemed to be their leader. When he refused, none of the other workers said a word.
"Well... I brought these specially. It wouldn't be right to take them back..."
The dark-faced worker chuckled. "Sir, if there's something you want to know, you can just ask the supervisor. There..." He pointed toward the other end of the site. "See him? The supervisor's right over there.