Bob The Innkeeper

"Even the barn?" asked Bob surprised.

"I offered to pay every adventurer who would help, and I suddenly had more help than I could handle."

"Let me fetch your pay," said Bob, heading up the stairs. He couldn"t believe Sam had finished it all, already!

"We were getting ready to close the store early for the evening," said Vivian as Sam rubbed his hands together by the fire.

"Oh? Why?"

"Master Bob said there was business we needed to tend to at the clerk"s office."

"Ah, getting permits renewed, probably. It is almost that time. I suppose I should think about checking on my own soon."

"Here you go," said Bob setting a large coin purse on the counter.

Sam eyed it for a moment, looking at Bob, before picking it up and listening to it clink. "I trust you to have counted it right, but if it"s missing any, I"ll be back to get it," he said, turning towards the door.
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"Why was he so suspicious of you?" she asked confused.

"The amount I owed him shouldn"t have fit in a small pouch like that, but I put in some gemstones, to make up the difference. He should be pretty happy. I gave him a little extra for having finished so quickly," explained Bob.

"It"s getting late, if we"re going to make it to the clerk before he closes, we should head that way," said Vivian, preparing to lock the doors.

Trudy slipped through the door just then, causing them both to pause.

"I found out about the orphanage, and I think you"re going to be upset when I tell you about it."

"Is there anything that can be done about it right this minute?" asked Bob.

"Nothing that can"t wait until you return from the clerk"s office," she said with a smile.

He nodded. "Then I leave the shop in your hands while we are gone."

With Vivian following close behind him, he wrapped his cloak tightly around him, and headed out the door. Leo and Zach were close behind, following in their footsteps. The snow had slowed a little, with the wind causing it to drift into piles near the buildings. The visibility was still low, and Bob had to walk carefully to keep the snow from slipping in over the top of his boots. By the time they got to the clerk"s office, his feet were soaked, and half frozen.

Paul was surprised and apprehensive when they all piled into his tiny office, but it was warm, and that was all they could hope for at first.

"Good evening, Bob. How can I help you?" asked Paul carefully.

"I know about the changes to the permits from Clark, and my father told me about the delay from the City Lord having to fix everything that was messed up. I was wondering if we could talk about my options?"

Paul sighed. It was obvious he was trying to finish up for the evening, but with everyone needing their permits renewed, and Clark making so many weird changes, it was taking him a while to do so.

"Well, obviously, you can"t get a permit to run a store, as you have now, and Lord Richmond has declared that selling food is no longer covered by the same permit as just running a store."

Bob sat down in the only other chair and motioned to Vivian. "This is my cousin Vivian, who is helping me run my store. I"m not sure you"ve heard of her, or not?"

"Oh, is she the girl that Lord Richmond wanted arrested? I thought she was a debt slave to you?"

"Oh, she is. She still hasn"t managed to work off the money she owes me, just yet, but I was wondering… There isn"t a law, that restricts debt slaves from acquiring a permit to run a business, because slavery is technically illegal. I would like to use her name as the one the permit is under for my store."

Paul"s eyes grew round at the idea. "You realize that Lord Richmond himself has to approve every permit that is issued? If he sees her name…"

"I imagine he doesn"t even know her name," retorted Bob. "And even if he does recognize her name, the worst that could happen, would be he refuses it."

"The money you put in for the permit would be returned to you, but if he truly doesn"t recognize her name, and it gets through… he would become the laughing stock of the city if it became known!"

"Beautiful, isn"t it?" asked Bob with a smile.

Paul laughed. "Alright, let me get the permit written up. Vivian, you said your name was?"

As soon as she had it signed, Paul rolled it and sealed it with his wax.

"Now, as for the sale of your food. I"m afraid there"s nothing I can do for that, other than to let you try for a permit for like a bar, or an inn?"

Bob nodded thoughtfully. He had considered that. Every adventurer that had slept in his dining hall, during its construction had hammered home to him the fact that he was missing out on a lot of money, charging them room and board. It would take mere hours for word to spread throughout every one of them, if he were to open up an inn. But he had no experience with bars or inns.

"What are the requirements for an inn?" he asked.

"You would have to have a minimum number of rooms, and beds. There must be food available to the occupants, and boarding for their animals, and carriages, if they have any. Most of the inns in town have personal fireplaces in each room, but that would be up to you."

"And for a bar?"

"Bars need to have a liquor license, too, in addition to the permit. But from what I"ve heard, talking to the barkeeps around town, you make that fee back pretty quickly. It all depends on how much you charge for the various drinks you offer."

"Would I have to get two permits if I had both?" he asked, a thought starting to form in his head.

"Yes," answered Paul, seeing where he was going.

"Let"s see if Lord Richmond recognizes me by my new name of Bob, and leave off my family name. My father isn"t a.s.sociated with bars and inns, so maybe we can get it through the lord"s scrutiny."

Paul nodded and started filling out the two forms for Bob to have a bar and an inn.

As he was signing the two of them, Paul said, "Now, these don"t technically go into effect until they are approved by Lord Richmond, but the way I"ve been doing it, as soon as you pay me, you can go ahead. I may close shop and come to your new bar, if you pull this off, to celebrate the amazing competence of our Lord Richmond."

"I can"t help but wonder how much trouble he will be in, when the king comes by," said Bob as Paul went to seal them with his wax.

The wax dribbled over the desk as Paul jerked, and looked up at him wild-eyed. "The king has been summoned because of Lord Richmond?"

Bob looked at him for a moment. Could the city clerk really have not heard about all of this?

"The king was coming to see about marrying his son, the prince, to one of the available young women in the city. I don"t believe he was summoned because of the lord."

Taking a breath, Paul nodded and gently set the three new scrolls onto a pile ready for approval.

"These will be delivered to the lord first thing in the morning, so, hopefully you should know the results in a day or two. If they are approved, I will send your doc.u.ments as proof, and if not, I will send you the money you have paid me tonight, back."

Bob nodded. After thanking him, they returned through the cold to the dining hall and the roaring fire that was waiting for them.

Tables were set up, and adventurers were laughing and talking as they enjoyed their soup. Vivian went off to see to the shop, and to let Trudy know they had returned, as Bob went to inspect his new rooms. Waving and nodding at the adventurers who greeted him, he found himself pleased with the dining hall. There was even plenty of s.p.a.ce along the back wall for him to have Sam install a bar.

Leo and Zach trailed behind him as he went up the wide steps between the store and the kitchen, that led to the second floor. At the top of the stairs, there were two ways he could go, to the left was his room and the room for his servants, and to the right were the rooms he would rent out. There was one room to the furthest right, that could house a number of people, a.s.suming they were willing to share. Peeking into each of them, he saw that none were furnished. He would have to get beds and mattresses along with sheets and pillows for each room. At the furthest end of the hall, he saw that there was another set of stairs that went down to the dining hall, near the entrance to the stables.

Thinking about how he could keep people from sneaking up to the rooms, he wondered if he needed to close off that second set of stairs, and decided he could deal with it later. He needed to find Trudy and see what she had to tell him.