He felt the cool liquid running down his throat as he slammed back the third pint of the day. Raising his small hands, he called for another flagon; the drinks were expensive but he was rich. There was only one important detail that he would have to remember, continue wearing gloves and to avoid revealing what’s under the hood of the oversized cloak he was wearing. The adventurers had convinced the innkeeper that he was a halfling hiding his face due to his disfigurement after a particularly dangerous encounter with a group of squirrels. Of course that was not the case, while Glol was ugly enough to warrant hiding his face, he was also a goblin. That fact made him deeply unpopular around these parts.

  “What should we do next?” Lyra asked the group. They were sitting around a circular table at the back of the inn, trying to stay out of sight. William looked around nervously, afraid somebody would discover the goblin’s identity at any moment. Sasha, on the other hand, seemed to be as deeply in her cups as Glol.

  “I don’t know, Alex usually decided what we do…” William answered burying his head in his hands after glancing at the usual fourth seat their party filled. “We’ll have to get another job, and figure out what to do with this guy,” He turned towards Glol who was eagerly reaching for the fourth pint brought to him by one of the tavern maids.

  “Another job sounds…” Sasha paused for a moment finishing her own drink, “…great!” The archer flung her arms up as she said so, “Surely the guild has a job for us.”

  “It’s as good an idea as any, but maybe you should sober up first before we go,” Lyra said with a smile. She placed an arm around Sasha and covered her drink with the other hand. “Now we have to decide what to do with our guest.”

  “We could just kill him, although it feels like a waste after dragging him this far along,” William said, leaning back in his chair seeming to recover some of his confidence.

  “Noooo don’t kill him,” Sasha slurred, “He’s not a baaad guy. He’s just a little duude.”

  “We owe him our freedom. Not killing him seems like the bare minimum. We’ve paid him for his help, as far as I’m concerned we’re square,” Lyra answered, “but we can’t very well bring him with us, he attracts too much attention.”

  “Another beerz!” Glol yelled across the bar, the foam of the last pint still clinging to his lips. Then he turned to the group, “Arez youz talking aboutz me? I fine, rich nowz. Youz can go adventurer I no workz.”

  “You sure about that? It’s not like you are particularly, how do I say this,” Lyra thought for a second, “let’s put it this way, you aren’t hard to miss.”

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  “Yez, Glol very awesomez, peoplez notiz,” the goblin mumbled before he continued his body’s steady replacement of water content to ale. “I fine, no problemz. Youz have funz!”

  “You heard him, let’s go,” William said the wooden chair creaking as he suddenly stood up. The two girls were on their feet soon after and made their way around the table. “Well Glol, can’t say that it’s been a pleasure, but don’t get into trouble.”

  “Don’t drink too much!” Lyra said following William out of the inn.

  “I’ll miss you, little guy!” Sasha said before finishing up her last drink and depositing it on a random table on the way out the door.

  Glol was now left alone at his table, finally in peace to plan his next masterful move. He had gotten his first taste of coin and decided that he very much liked it. The question was how to get more, and after that, he was sure he would ask himself how to get even more on top of that. He finished pouring the last drop of ale into his mouth before standing up, his legs no sturdier than a flower in a storm.

  The goblin made his way to the innkeeper to pay his tab, usually, he would consider just running off without paying but that was not the way of the wealthy such as himself. Once at the bar Glol clambered up one of the stools and asked the innkeeper for his tab, he paid swiftly with little exchange of words. Glol paid no tip, he wasn’t about to waste any of his precious gold.

  The goblin stumbled out of the bar as quickly as his drunk little legs would allow him, he had work to do. Glol spent the next hours running around town buying all that he thought would be necessary to conduct business. He bought a carriage, and a small mule, excited about the prospect of not having to pull the carriage himself. With most of his remaining money, he started investing in goods, or more precisely one good. He bought as many barrels of the strongest liquor he could find as that was the only thing Glol as well as any other goblin could be expected to have experience with. He lugged the barrels onto his wagon and made his way out of town giggling happily each time he whipped the mule to go faster.

  He spent the time on the road to the next town thinking about what exactly he should do, after all, he knew nothing of local prices, and even he knew it was unlikely that anyone would want to buy anything from a goblin in a human town, no matter how great his disguise was. He knew he would have to wow the people and bring a product that humanity had never seen before, it was the only way he would make money. Of course, there was only one product that Glol knew about that he had not encountered in town, Dlud. The drink of choice for any self-respecting goblin. It smelled bad and tasted worse but he could never get enough of it. Naturally, every goblin prepared their Dlud differently, some added any plants they found on the side of the road, some attempted to mix fruits in the mix, and some added dead rats. The latter of which Glol thought always added an interesting aftertaste.

  To revolutionise the industry Glol would have to think of something better than randomly adding ingredients, he would have to come up with a recipe, his recipe to success. He thought of what he saw the humans eat, and of all the ingredients he could add to his Dlud, chicken drumsticks, apples, herbs, onions, bread, definitely not dead rats. The goblin frightened the mule as he started cackling, “I’m going to be rich!”

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