Fear, Hunger and Cosmic Horrors

Chapter 10 - Cave Exploration

"What?!?" I shouted, standing up quickly after hearing several voices talking. I prepared to cast a spell, but I was confused when I felt something missing on my left hand, Kitab wasn't there.

This made me nervous. Where did the book end up? I also didn't feel Shark Teeth in my right hand. What is happening?

"Are you going to ask for something or just stand there?" An angry voice asked.

Turning quickly towards the voice, I was surprised by what I saw. A wooden counter with wooden benches in front of it. Behind the counter were wooden shelves filled with colorful, unlabeled bottles.

That wasn't here before.

As if that wasn't strange enough, I noticed the way this place was lit, electric bulbs hanging from the ceiling. There's something wrong here.

Looking back, I saw several circular tables with groups of people sitting on chairs, but there was something wrong with these people, the way they dressed didn't fit with the medieval era in which I found myself.

They dressed in the American fashion of the fifties, men and women, all wearing clothes that hadn't even been invented yet. These people talked and laughed while drinking and playing cards.

A strong smell of cigarette smoke permeated the air. I heard music coming from somewhere, looking towards the counter; I saw an old radio working without problems.

"Boy, are you okay? If you're going to faint, it's better to do it outside, I don't want any commotion here." The man behind the counter spoke again.

How long have I been standing here? I must look like an idiot to these people. Approaching the counter, I sat down on one of the wooden benches and rested my arms on the counter.

"So what will it be?" The man asked.

Analyzing the man's appearance, I noticed that he was wearing a classic bartender outfit, with a black vest over his white shirt and everything, but the man had no face.

I've been through so much to the point where a faceless person isn't the worst thing I've seen.

"Sorry, but I have no money, at least no money you would accept." I responded with a shrug.

"Great, a broke guy in my bar. But lucky for you, the first drink is on the house." The faceless man replied, taking a bottle from the shelves, removing the cap, and pouring the contents into a glass in front of me.

I picked up the glass and looked at the liquid suspiciously. Considering how the dungeon operates, I wonder what kind of status problems I would get from drinking it. Poison? Parasites? Or nothing?

"First of all, what is this place?" I asked the faceless man, as I gestured to the rest of the bar with the hand holding the glass.

As I did, an old man cleaning the floor with a mop bumped into my arm, knocking the glass onto the floor.

CRASH!

SPLASH!

"I'm very sorry!" The old man exclaimed, bending down with difficulty to clean up the mess on the floor.

"No, no, it was my fault, let me help." I responded politely, but before I did so, I felt a hand on my shoulder stopping me from moving, it was the faceless man.

"Let Old Bugs handle it, that's his job after all." The faceless man spoke, tilting his head to the side.

Even though he didn't have a face, I noticed that he leaned over to face the old man on the ground. The old man, now known as Bugs, stared back at us, before nodding and returning to his work.