Chapter 7

In a moment, there was no one standing in the tavern except for Locke, his subordinates, and the somewhat dazed innkeeper. At this point, Locke slowly walked over to the middle-aged man who had been leading the group, stepped on his waist, and asked, "Who gave you the nerve to rob the army of the Fostan Kingdom?"

Indeed, all the money earned by the tavern came from the soldiers of the Fostan Kingdom, which was essentially the army's money.

"Sir, I was wrong, I won't dare to do it again." The middle-aged man was quite sensible. He covered his bleeding mouth, bent down, and pleaded in a low voice. He didn't dare to explain anything, knowing that there was no reasoning with these fierce Fostan soldiers. Since he had admitted his mistake and the group had been disciplined, Locke couldn't continue to pursue the matter. Their camp, under the management of the baron, had strict military discipline. The baron required them not to 'excessively' disturb the civilians, and Locke couldn't just kill these people.

"Get out!" Locke kicked the submissive middle-aged man, sending him away. The middle-aged man, flustered, quickly left with his subordinates, and the tavern instantly became quiet again. Locke cleared his throat to wake up the still dazed innkeeper.

"Sir, thank you... I, I..." The innkeeper suddenly woke up and hurriedly thanked him, flustered. The brutality of the soldiers had frightened her, and she was still in a state of panic. However, since these people had helped her, she quickly expressed her gratitude.

"It's fine." Locke had a good impression of the beautiful innkeeper, which was why he had helped her. "Since everything is fine now, we'll be leaving." Locke waved his hand, interrupting her thanks and signaling his subordinates to leave. It was almost completely dark now, and the torches in the camp outside the town had already been lit. Dinner had likely started, and he hoped there would be some left for his group, Locke muttered.

The soldiers in Locke's squad all left the tavern and headed towards the camp outside the town. Locke walked last, and just as he was about to leave the tavern, he heard a faint sobbing from behind. He turned around to see the still attractive innkeeper sobbing quietly at the bar. Locke couldn't stand to see women cry, especially beautiful women older than him. He told his subordinates to go ahead and turned back to the bar, gently patting the innkeeper's shoulder. "Don't cry, tell me what's wrong, and I'll help you," Locke said helplessly.

The innkeeper, hearing this, cried even harder, sobbing on the bar. Locke was at a loss. He knew how to deal with enemies and even with thugs, but he had no idea how to handle women. Although he wasn't a virgin, he truly didn't know how to comfort a woman. Could you expect a young man who had been living in a military camp since he was an adult to comfort a crying mature woman?

His subordinates were walking further away, almost out of sight. They were clearly walking fast with ill intentions, thinking that after the hero saved the beauty, it was the perfect time for the two to deepen their bond. So, they left their leader in the tavern without a second thought. Locke was now in an awkward situation, not knowing what to do with the mature woman who was ignoring him and just crying. Leaving would be inappropriate since she was still crying, but staying would make him look like a man watching a woman cry, which could be misconstrued as something sinister. Although Locke wasn't a good person, he had never done anything as bad as forcibly taking a civilian woman.

Time passed slowly, and the innkeeper's sobs gradually subsided, though she still sniffled occasionally. She secretly glanced at the man who couldn't comfort her, sitting stiffly beside her, and couldn't help but giggle. At that moment, she realized that this Fostan Kingdom officer was actually a young man, younger than herself. Under Locke's calm and cold exterior, there was a slightly youthful essence.

Locke's rigid state was broken by her giggle. Unlike the formal smile she had given when he bought the drinks, this playful, cute smile made Locke's heart skip a beat. The beautiful innkeeper, Xiasi, also felt the change in Locke and blushed, lowering her head to thank him again.

"Um, it's fine." Locke didn't say goodbye; he wasn't in a hurry to leave. He guessed there was no dinner left in the camp anyway. As for the night patrol, he, as a squad leader, wasn't afraid, as he had subordinates to help. He couldn't quite describe his feelings towards the innkeeper, but his intuition told him he couldn't leave just yet. They stared at each other, eyes wide.

As they competed to see who could keep their eyes open longer, Locke was the first to break into a mysterious smile. Xiasi, confused by Locke's smile, followed his gaze to the side of the bar, where a few plain-colored women's undergarments and clothes were scattered. "Ah!" Xiasi let out a scream, blushing and pouncing on the clothes to shield them from Locke's view.

Locke rubbed his ears, which were ringing from Xiasi's scream, and smiled at her. "Don't hide them, I've already seen them, and..." Locke was about to continue when he noticed that Xiasi, while lying on the bar and pressing down on her clothes, couldn't hide her ample figure. Her slightly loose clothes revealed a glimpse of her cleavage, which made Locke forget what he was going to say, muttering, "So big."

Xiasi clearly noticed this as well and let out another scream, quickly covering her chest with the clothes in her hands, but this exposed her hot undergarments to Locke again. The shrewd innkeeper now looked like a frightened rabbit, trying to cover herself and hide her clothes, which was quite adorable.

After a chaotic struggle, the beautiful innkeeper Xiasi finally gathered her scattered clothes and tightly held them against her chest. "Please, you don't need to lie down; even if you don't cover yourself, I can't see clearly," Locke thought to himself. "Since everything is fine now and it's so late, I'll head back to the camp," Locke said, looking at the beautiful innkeeper, not knowing what else he could do by staying.

"Um... okay, thank you, sir..." The innkeeper hadn't finished speaking when Locke's stomach growled, making him incredibly embarrassed. "Sir, you haven't had dinner, have you? How about... having dinner here tonight?" Xiasi, seeing Locke's awkwardness, felt less nervous. The shrewd innkeeper quickly invited Locke to have dinner, feeling that she needed to secure his support and to thank him for his help today.

"Um... okay, anything will do." Locke thought that if he went back now, there would be nothing to eat, probably just some barley cakes or black bread. It was better to eat something here. When he told the innkeeper to make anything, it wasn't out of politeness but because he knew the current situation of the civilians in the occupied territory of the Fostan Kingdom. Most people couldn't even get enough to eat, let alone choose. Even though she ran a tavern, given how she had been extorted by the local thugs today, her life couldn't be much better.

"Okay, I'll go make it for you now." Xiasi first walked out from behind the bar, went to the tavern door, and pushed a wooden board to block the entrance, signaling that the tavern was closed. Then she walked to the kitchen to prepare dinner for Locke. Locke noticed that as she closed the door, her face was flushed, like a beautiful mature woman about to engage in a secret affair, which was quite alluring. Indeed, she was a mature woman, but not about to engage in a secret affair, Locke thought.

Seeing the innkeeper walk gracefully to the kitchen, Locke didn't sit down. He helped her pick up the scattered copper coins, putting them back in the original package. It was already dark, and there were no lighting tools, which was why the innkeeper had only gathered her clothes and not the money earlier. Locke could only rely on his night vision, honed over years, to pick them up.