Chapter 27: Dog Meat Sandwich

I stared at Sandy, completely blown away by this strange story about soldiers and dog food. I looked at the bartender. He still kept his silence.

With one last chug I finished my beer. It tasted a lot stronger than the first sip. And I made a sour face.

Out of my pocket I took my silver coin and asked for the strongest drink that this tavern had to offer.

The bartender now broke his silence. Telling me that he does not accept Dolovian money, due to the problems with the exchange rates.

I asked him what was wrong with the money. And I inspected the coin; the face had a spiral patern on it and the tail side an eight-pointed star like a compass rose.

It was really shiny and well polished. There was no way that this was not a pure silver coin.

The bartender, who is named Ibaneau, explained that it had nothing to do with the Dolovian money or the quality of it.

The problem was that there were economic troubles in the Underdeep Empire. And that they blamed the Dolovians for causing them.

There had been an enormous influx of Korees in their economy, and now a gold coin is around 1.600 Korees and a silver coin is almost 50 Korees.

As a response the Underdeep Empire put up a trade barrier against the Dolovian Kingdom; forbidding the trade with individuals who take Dolovian money from their clients.

I sighed and looked at the coin.

How am I supposed to pay her back with interest if I could not spend or invest it?

Ibaneau asked us how the two of us met. We weren't acquainted or related in any way; we weren't even the same species.

With a beet-red face I told Ibaneau that Sandy had stolen something precious from me and that she won't give it back.

Sandy nodded, and told me that she was willing to give it back in exchange for something of equal value.

I gave it a quick thought and came up with a proposal she could not refuse;

My underwear for her underwear!

Ibaneau started to laugh and directed us to the bathroom. In a corner was a man cleaning his nails with a knife and other than him there were no customers in sight.

We left for the bathroom and I took off my underwear. It was drenched in sweat from all the running and fighting.

Sandy was inspecting my crown jewels with glee. I felt a bit infringed on my privacy, but I really wanted Dya's panties back. I asked her if she liked what she saw.

Sandy told me that it was the prettiest one she had seen until now. I could hear in her voice that it was not a joke.

I asked her why; there was nothing special about mine as far as I know.

She told me that mine was twice the size of what she is used to. And that mine did not have ''barbs''.

Not wanting to know more about barbed genitals, I simply took the panties from her.

She stayed in the bathroom, smelling my underwear. It appeared to be a good trade off for her, because she really liked the sweaty smell.

Before I left I asked her what it smelled like to her.

She was purring at this point and looked me straight in the eyes:

''Dog Meat Sandwich''.

I rolled my eyes and wished her well with them.

Carefully I tucked the panties back in my uniform's pocket and left the bathroom.

Ibaneau saw me coming out of the bathroom alone and grinned.

''Did she accept your offer?''

I nodded and sat back on my chair.

We chatted a bit about what I was up to. That I needed a Permit with the number A38. Ibaneau told me to leave quickly, because the Census Office will close after sundown.

Although it is not far away, a tavern is a good place to lose the track of time.

I looked outside; the sun was setting and it was not as hot anymore.

Ibaneau asked me if I enjoyed my first time in a Tavern. With a grin I told him that I expected a big bar brawl, so I was pretty dissappointed.

The man with the knife looked at me. He was short with icy blue eyes, a goatee and thick eyebrows. I looked back, knowing instantly that I did not want to get in a fight with this man.

Ibaneau laughed and told me that if I wanted to get in a fight, I should come back next week.

Buppa-saba was in town then. And most of his boys were very rowdy in nature.

This Buppa-saba sounded like a rather shady person. So I decided that I would stay clear of this mysterious Buppa as long as I could.

Feeling a bit buzzed by the alcohol I left the tavern.

The paper that Dya had given me was still in my pocket. I sighed of relief and made my way back to the Census Office.

The building looked more imposing now than it did in the afternoon. I took a deep breath and entered.

The Census Office looked like a manor from the inside; it was very spacious with lots of doors leading to office rooms.

There were multiple floors and a staircase that led up to them. To my left was an old man behind a desk. I greeted him and got no response from him.

I greeted him more loudly and this time he responded.

''Don't yell at me, boy! Your parents raised you better than that.''

My parents had raised me very well, so I did not respond to his outburst.

With a less loud voice I told him I needed to get my administrative papers checked out.

He told me that if I wanted to get my galley registered, I needed to be at the office on the last door to my right.

I stomped my feet on the floor, knowing that this is going nowhere. With a sour face I walked to the office that I was directed to.

The door was locked, and I groaned loudly.

A lady with black hair, silvery eyes and pale skin in a purple dress told me that the people in that office were having a break.

So I needed to wait an hour.

Not having anymore of this, I told her that I was sent to the wrong office and that I needed to have my administrative status checked out.

She took me to her office and handed me a blue sheet of paper. And told me that I needed to go upstairs to have this filled out.

And then I would get a coupon which would allow me to enter the Registration Office of the Head Prefect.

In frustration I put my head on the desk. I had no time for this, and I hated paperwork. I tore the piece of paper apart and left the office.

I walked to the old man behind the desk and told him that I wanted to have my galley registered as soon as possible.

The old man became very helpful and asked me about my administrative status.

I told him that I did not know, only that my name is Heiro. I took the piece of paper that Dya had given me from my pocket and tore off the part with my name on it.

I gave it to the old man, who scratched his chin. He wrote down my name and gave it to an assistant.

He asked me more about my galley and at what date I wanted to set sail.

I had no chance to answer, because the assistant returned to us with a pristine piece of paper which contained all my personal information and a parcel.

The parcel was rather heavy and my name was writen on it. I left the building with my papers and parcel.

When I was back outside, I saw that Dya was waiting for me.