Warlord – Chapter 61
The pub was located in place formerly known as Seamen's club. After the Catastrophe the City of Wrath was rebuild on previous city's premises. The original Seamen's club was converted into a pub where men could vent their energy in. In addition to cheap beer, the pub offered performances of dancers and singers. Of course, the pub only provided the stage but not the security.
The word security was nothing but a joke in this era. A man with enough food or money could take any woman to become their partner. Even selling them as slaves to the others was a common thing.
In this turbulent era women were like the flowers that drifted with the wind.
Zero was stopped by a man who was guarding the door of the pub.
The man was black and about two meters tall. His upper body was bare revealing his strong muscles. There was strange circular skin disease on man's body. Although there were purification devices in the City of Wrath but the ordinary people who lived on surface had body tissue mutations.
“We only entertain members, women and local residents. Roll away kiddo!” The man looked at Zero with disdain as Zero had thin body.
The law of jungle was the dominant rule of this era. The wealthy ladies liked Zero's slim body but in the eyes of the guard he was a soft egg.
Zero was aware of this. He was awake for the last two years and he had faced stuff like this for many times. He was lazy to explain to the guard that he wasn't as weak as the guard thought of him. Instead he just took out few coins and stuffed into guard's hand: "I just wanna go in for a drink or two."
Money was also a manifestation of strength and power. The guard put the money into his pocket and went sideways to let Zero go in.
Zero pushed the door and went inside. The smell of alcohol and fragrance of women drilled into his nostrils. He frowned as he almost wanted to puke. He looked at the dance floor where young women were twisting their bodies to seduce the men.
Men were throwing money into the stage at the same time. Women didn't stop dancing but instead made more seductive postures to make the men into beasts.
A man jumped onto the stage and stuffed money into a woman's hand. He threw the girl under him and become to satisfy his desires. The groans of woman and man's roar mixed into the sounds in the pub.
Zero's ears were more sensitive after the recovery from the wounds from spider queen's sonic wave attack. The current environment was nothing but a torture to him.
Zero sat as far as possible from the dance floor. Few men took throw out a lot of money and took over their favorite dancers to make love with. It was a madness that was unthinkable in the old era but it was a common thing in this turbulent age.
Zero ordered a glass of beer but almost spewed it out after he took a sip. It couldn't be called beer but pure alcohol.
Bartender laughed as he looked at Zero: “It's your first time in here.. We have relatively mild cocktail. Would you like to try?"
Zero shook his head as he wasn't here for drinks but information.
He took out few coins from his picket and put it on bar. He whispered: "The money is yours but I need information about people who has the news about things…"
Bartender narrowed his eyes as he quickly put the money into his pocket: “The most informed man in the City of Wrath is Maestro. He comes to pub generally after 10 o'clock every night. Guest will meet him if he waits for a while."
Bartender described Maestro's features to Zero. There were no secrets left when enough money was given but Maestro was a different kind of a man. He had similar role in City of Wrath which Claude had in Remit. However Maestro didn't attract the anger of residents of City of Wrath or outsiders. He kept good relationship with Ron's company and had his own private team after years of activity.
Bartender told that Maestro had been to a lot of places and knew a lot of things. But Maestro didn't sell his information for money. It was a bit problematic to Zero as he wasn't good at dealing with people. For example Sean could open up to anyone as long as the other side wasn't a mouth-less stone. In this sense, Zero lacked interpersonal skills.
The sounds echoed in the pub and Zero heard an unusual sound…
“You little slut… Don't run away!”
Footsteps echoed and someone hit Zero's feet. Zero looked down to see a 13 or 14 year old girl with an elegant face holding onto his foot. She had a long pale silver hair and was wearing a dress which was a bigger size.
“Sire, please save me… If they catch me …” The girl trembled as she looked at Zero. She seemed like a kitten under the rain.
She moved up and hid behind zero. Zero didn't know whether she did it intentionally but her chest was tightly close to Zero's spine.
Four or five people who were chasing the girl came over. They had variety os strange tattoos on their faces. One of them shouted out at Zero: "Kiddo, its none of your business. We have paid money for her services and she has to go back with us!"
“No!” The girl shouted out: “That was meant for singing songs…But they want to… ”
She didn't finish her words but the meaning was self-evident. Zero didn't even move as he silently took a sip from beer. It meant that he didn't have intention to let the girl taken away.