Bob The Innkeeper 3 Chapter 3 His First Customer

"Robert, your aunt came by this morning, hoping to see you," the maid mentioned softly, looking down, as if she was afraid to meet his eyes.

"Edith, you didn't!" cried Robert, jumping to his feet with the bowl of stew half-finished in his hands.

"Oh! I didn't tell her you were here, if that's what you mean! I told her that you were out with your father. She seemed very disturbed by that and rushed off."

He remembered what his father had said, about his aunt wanting to take him away, and shuddered at the thought. They would probably force him to wear those tight clothes, to look fancy, then he would have to attend 'lessons.'

"Please don't tell her that I'm here," he begged her. "Father is going to let me run this store!"

She looked around at the half-opened wooden crate, and the empty shelves. "Robert, are you sure about this? What's keeping the poor people who live over here from robbing all of your stuff? You're just a small boy!"

"I am not! I'm twelve. I have cousins that were married at this age. If they can have kids at twelve, then I can run a business!"

She shut her mouth, and Robert glared at her, daring her to say anything else. He knew how she felt about his cousins getting married so young, and that she wouldn't argue as much after he brought that up.

"Do you need any help? Your father came home briefly this morning, and said he had meetings all day. I could help you unpack these crates for a little while?"

He glanced at the crates again, and then back at the stairs, where he had barely managed to get five steps replaced.

"I am kind of tired. Could you take the boards I take off the crate into the back room? I want to use the wood to fix the stairs."

"The stairs? What's wrong with them?"

"Father and I spent all night replacing the floor boards. We took the boards from the upstairs, and moved them down. I'm replacing the rotted boards on the stairs with the boards from the crate."

"But these boards from the crate aren't very good for building with. They'll break too easy."

"Maybe if an adult tried to use them. I'm much lighter. I figured I can get some new boards once I start to make some money."

"Alright, if that's what you would like for me to do," she finally said with a nod.

Robert gave a small sigh of relief that she wasn't going to say it was a bad idea. He focused on prying the boards off of the crate and handing them to her. Once he was done, he excitedly looked into the crate to see what things his father had gotten for him to sell.

There were simple clothes, eating utensils, wooden bowls, torches, some rope, waterskins, and a variety of other items that would be useful to beginner adventurers. His excitement diminished as he pulled out the cheap and simple things that were in the crates, and slowly began to put them on the shelves.

"These don't look to be of the best quality," said Edith surprised.

"I'm just starting out. It makes sense that father wouldn't give me the best right in the beginning."

Robert tried to hide his disappointment, as he carefully placed the backpacks next to the bedrolls.

"I need to return home, to help Stewart with supper. Would you like for me to bring anything?"

Robert stepped back to look over the small selection of belt pouches and sighed. He wanted to go home, get something else to eat, and sleep in his own bed, but until his father returned, he didn't dare leave. The front door didn't even lock. If he left, someone really could just waltz in and take everything.

"I think I might start sleeping here. Do you think you could start bringing my things here?" he asked, not daring to turn and look at her.

She was silent for so long he thought she hadn't heard him, when he finally heard her shuffle her feet.

"Of course, young master. I'll see to it tonight."

He turned after the door shut behind her and looked around at the room. Everything looked rather shiny, and he roughly wiped his eyes. This was everything he had ever wanted. Why was he crying? He wasn't a small child anymore!

Hanging his head for a moment to get himself under control, he moved over to the last crate, and pulled out the last of the rough cloaks on the bottom, only to have something in the corner of the crate catch his eye. It was a small dagger. Not much more than an eating dagger, like the one he kept on his belt. Letting the cloaks fall to the floor, he reached in and grabbed it, to see it better.

The leather was ornately decorated, more than the simple items he had found so far, and he wondered if it was mistakenly placed in the bottom of the crate by accident. Unsheathing the blade, he could see the lines in the metal, dictating a very high price. Anything that would have so much work and care placed into it, would never be as cheap as all of the other items he had unpacked. Walking with it in his hands, towards the back room, he decided to hide it, and mention it to his father later.

Climbing the stairs quickly, Robert stashed it in a crack between two boards in the wall. Before he could turn around, he heard the door open downstairs and sighed. It made sense that someone would show up just when he wasn't down there.

"h.e.l.lo? Is anyone here?" came a voice.

"One moment! I'm coming down!" cried Robert, being careful to not break any of the steps as he came down into view.

There was a woman standing just inside the door, looking around. Robert recognized her clothing immediately. She was one of the clerics that had come to the city when the plague broke out.

"I'm afraid I'm not really open yet," said Robert, giving her a professional smile.

"Oh, drat! I was hoping that I could grab a couple things from you? I heard that you were opening today, and I could really use a few more supplies before I head home."

She looked over at the things he had carefully organized on the shelves. Robert couldn't imagine what he had that she might need.

"I suppose there's no harm for you to look around," he finally conceded, picking up the pile of cloaks he had left on the floor.

"Oh, good! Thank you!" she moved away from the door and picked up several things.

She had several pieces of chalk, a whetstone, a bowl and spoon, two waterskins and a bedroll when she turned back to him.

"Could I get these things, please?" she asked.

Robert looked around, suddenly realizing he didn't have a counter for her to lay her things down on.

"One moment," he said, dragging one of the empty crates back away from the shelves, near where he wanted his counter, then proceeded to flip it over. His back and legs complained that he had done too much already, but he ignored them, finally getting it flipped over. It was wobbly, but let her set the things down.

"How much do I owe you?" she asked gently, giving him a smile.

He wracked his brain, trying to remember the prices his father charged for some of these things.

"The whetstone is 2 copper, the waterskins are a gold a piece, the chalk is a copper a piece, and the bedroll is a silver," he said slowly, pointing to each item as he remembered what his dad charged for them. When he came to the wooden bowl and spoon, he paused. He couldn't remember his father ever having sold them, before.

"Is something wrong?" she asked, her coin purse open as she dug out the necessary pieces.

"I'm not sure on the bowl and spoon, I've never sold them before," he said, scrunching his brow in concern. "Would three copper be too much for them? Two copper for the bowl and a copper for the spoon?"

"That's just fine with me, I'm just glad to find them. Almost all of my normal gear was given to some of the recovering people I've healed. I just need something to get me home with."

"Alright then, I guess your total would be, 2 gold, 1 silver and 7 copper."

She dug around in her coin purse for a moment, frowning as she pulled out 2 gold and 2 silver. "Do you have change? I'm afraid I've used up all my copper."

"I'm sorry, ma'am, I don't."
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"Oh well, I'm so glad you were willing to let me in when you weren't necessarily open yet. I don't mind paying you the extra. Think of it as a bonus for being such a wonderful store owner," she said with a laugh.

Robert took the four coins and held the door open for her as she left. Shutting the door behind her, he looked down at the coins in his hand and couldn't help but smile. He had his first paying customer!