The interior of the Drowned Man tavern was even larger than its facade suggested. Renato passed through the dark red door and was met by a thick, murky cloud of air laden with mingled odors.
Smoke from countless pipes gathered into a translucent haze beneath the dim yellow lights, rolling slowly above the patrons' heads. It mingled with the lingering stench of sweat, the sharp sourness of cheap liquor, and the mustiness of damp wood into something beyond description.
Renato's gaze swept from the scattered tables on either side of the bar to the wall straight ahead. The wall directly above the bar was plastered with all manner of wanted posters, their edges yellowed and curled, nailed or pasted to the wooden boards in overlapping layers.
Pirates, murderers, cultists, Harpers...
The portraits on the posters varied in style, and the bounties ranged from a dozen or so silver coins to a hundred thousand gold coins. The highest bounty explicitly named a legendary pirate who roamed the oceans.
As his gaze moved slowly across the papers, Renato watched various [Quests] keep popping up in the [Guide] interface, growing ever more certain that he had come to the right place.
In the few seconds he lingered in front of the bar, the atmosphere throughout the tavern had quietly changed.
A plate-armored swordsman over two meters tall, clad in black armor and carrying a black sword, his entire body covered in magical radiance, immediately became the focus of every gaze in a place like this.
The sailors who had been leaning back in their chairs, laughing and talking loudly, fell silent. Their bleary eyes turned toward the entrance through the haze of smoke, assessing the weight of the greatsword in his hand.
Its blade was far larger than an ordinary longsword, and no