Lord: My Shop Connects to Modern Times

Dawn City, East District, Ocean Tavern.

Here you go, your "Gold Coast."

The bartender behind the counter casually pushed a full glass of murky yellow liquid in front of the man in the black robe.

"Thanks."

The man in black robes picked up the wooden cup and took a sip.

The first taste is a bitterness that fills the mouth, with a faint, strange flavor that irritates the nasal cavity.

Tsk!

It tastes awful! It's nowhere near as good as the kvass from Grey Rock Town!

The face beneath the black robe nearly contorted into a grimace, but fortunately, the tavern was dimly lit and the crowd was noisy. He quickly composed himself, so no one noticed his expression.

Lia put down the wooden cup with a look of disgust, took out five copper coins from her pocket, and pushed them across the table.

The bartender expertly collected the coins, then turned away to attend to his own business, ignoring the situation.

Leah subtly pushed "Gold Coast" a little further away, her gaze beginning to wander throughout the tavern.

The Ocean Tavern is very large.

It was much bigger than she had imagined.

It's probably because of its wide audience.

The tavern has a spacious hall at the entrance, with more than twenty rough wooden tables, most of which are occupied.

The counter was directly opposite, and behind the bartender was a row of wooden shelves stacked with all sorts of wine barrels and earthenware jars.

There was a staircase in the corner leading to the second floor, and you could vaguely hear even louder noise coming from upstairs—probably from the gambling tables.

The air was filled with the smells of beer, sweat, cheap tobacco, and some kind of cheap grease.

Lia wrinkled her nose, but refrained from covering her face.

The people in the tavern were pretty much what she had expected.

Most of them were men, dressed in all sorts of clothes—some were like dockworkers in coarse cloth shirts, some were like down-on-their-luck mercenaries in old leather armor, a few were dressed like small merchants, and a few were obviously thugs, wearing their hats askew and glancing around furtively.

They sat in groups of three or five, drinking, bragging, cursing, and banging on the table.

Lia sat quietly in the corner, pulling her hood down a little.

After arriving in the capital with several members of the intelligence team, she immediately found Sig and, following Lynn's instructions, sought some "help" from the merchant.

Sieg gave her a list of several hideouts where the "rats" often gathered.

Ocean Tavern is one of them, and it's also the largest one.

"This kind of place is a melting pot of all sorts of people, from all walks of life."

"If you want to gather information, that's a good place. But be careful—losing your wallet is a small matter, losing your life is a big deal."

This is what Sig told her after they arrived in the capital.

Lia silently made a mental note of it.

She's sitting here now, her palms are a little sweaty.

It wasn't out of fear, but out of nervousness; she had never done anything like this before.

She was worried that she would fail to complete the task and disappoint Lynn.

She didn't know when it started, but Lynn's words and actions, especially his opinions of her, carried much more weight in her heart.

Leah didn't think much of it. She picked up the awful "Gold Coast" drink again, pretending to drink it, but actually using the glass to cover her face and continue observing.

At the table to the right, three dockworkers are complaining about their foreman withholding their wages.

At the table to the left and behind, two mercenaries were boasting about how many monsters they had killed, while the people next to them just scoffed.

A little further ahead was a gambling table, surrounded by a large group of people who occasionally burst into laughter.

Lia's eyes narrowed slightly.

The elf had a high level of perception, and she could hear the topics these people were discussing very clearly, but there was almost no useful information.

Just as she was about to look away, she suddenly heard a word.

"...The Eastern Territory."

Lia's ears twitched.

She glanced over there casually.

It was a table near the counter, where four men were sitting.

Two of them were wearing old leather armor, like mercenaries. One was dressed in tattered clothes, like a vagrant. The other was dressed fairly decently, but his cuffs were frayed, so he was probably a small merchant or something.

"Have you heard? Another squad leader died recently on the eastern border!" The speaker was the small merchant.

Upon hearing this, the mercenary opposite him took a swig of his drink and said, "Tch! What's the big deal? There have been monsters roaming the east lately, so what's the big deal about one or two people dying?"

"What do you know? The one who died was a squad leader of the Purifying Knights!"

"What?!"

The other mercenary's eyes widened, and he instinctively slammed the wooden cup in his hand onto the table with a loud "duang".

"Are you kidding me?! The squad leader of the Purifying Knights? Killed by a monster?!"

The mercenary instinctively felt that the other party was bluffing.

"Why would I lie to you? I went to the Eastern Border to deliver goods a while ago, those were war supplies. I was on the border once."

The vendor gathered his emotions for a moment: "Many people died there. Most of the bodies of those who died in battle were not buried in time. The only one who received a simple funeral was that squad leader."

"Only members of the Purifying Knights have the prestige! If they were recruited from ordinary civilians, they wouldn't have time to hold a funeral!" a mercenary added to himself.

The words sounded like praise for the Purifying Knights' prestige, but in reality, they were laced with a sour taste.

"I heard it was to save the people of a small village, and they stayed behind to cover the retreat, but they couldn't win the battle," the merchant continued.

"There are monsters that even the Purifying Knights can't defeat? Tsk tsk tsk, the Dawn Empire is doomed!" a mercenary mocked.

"But speaking of which, just how strong must a monster be to be that even the Purifying Knights couldn't defeat?"

"I've heard that many monsters never seen before have appeared, including giant monsters that are two stories tall, monsters wielding weapons, and even a commander-like monster that can direct hordes of monsters!"

The vendor shared the information he had heard with the crowd.

"It's not just the East that's in chaos!" At this moment, the man who hadn't spoken before, who appeared to be a vagrant, spoke up.

"Things aren't peaceful in the capital either. His Majesty hasn't attended court in a long time; it's all Maurice relaying messages. I heard His Majesty has finally revealed himself..."

He suddenly stopped talking and looked around warily.

Lia quickly looked away, pretending to drink the awful-tasting wine.

The small businessman said something in a low voice, but she didn't hear it.

But it was clearly not something nice—the faces of those people changed after hearing it.

Lia quickly calculated in her mind.

This is an opportunity.

She picked up her glass of "Gold Coast," stood up, and casually walked towards the table.

The tavern was crowded. She wandered around a few times, and when she got to the table, she deliberately slipped and swayed.

"oops."

She managed to steady herself in time, but a few drops of wine spilled from her glass, landing on one of the mercenaries.

"Fuck! Are you blind?!"

The mercenary, seeing the spilled wine on himself, immediately started cursing.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, gentlemen, I didn't mean to." Lia deliberately softened her voice and apologized repeatedly.

As she got closer to the group, the dim light shone down, and Liya's smooth, fair chin was faintly visible in the light.

Upon hearing that the visitor was a woman, and seeing Leah's face partially obscured by her hood, the mercenary who had been splashed with wine gave a lewd laugh.

"Oh, it's a beautiful lady. No problem, no problem. How about sitting down and having a couple of drinks with us?"

Lia didn't respond. She slowly took out four silver coins from her pocket and slapped them on the table.

"Brothers," she lowered her voice, "I overheard you talking about the capital... Could you tell me more about it?"

The group of people exchanged glances.

The well-dressed small businessman sized her up: "Who are you? Why are you asking about this?"

Lia was prepared.

"I came to the capital to visit relatives. I just heard you say that the capital is in a lot of turmoil lately, so I came here to ask you about it."

"Go to live with relatives?" The other mercenary chuckled. "What's the point of going to live with relatives? Follow us, and we'll make sure you live a life of luxury."

"Hehe, please don't make fun of me, you two."

The homeless man glanced at the silver coins on the table, his eyes flashing.

He reached out and gathered the silver coins in front of him, the movement so natural, as if they were meant for him.

"Let me tell you, little girl." The vagrant stuffed the silver coin into his pocket.

Lia nodded slightly without saying anything.

"His Majesty hadn't shown up before, and everyone thought he was ill. But last month, he suddenly appeared."

The homeless man lowered his voice.

"His Majesty attended a small court assembly and seemed to be in very good health, not at all like someone who was seriously ill. However, it is said that he spoke much less during that assembly and mostly just echoed others."

The small merchant next to him chimed in, "I heard he barely moved, didn't even have lunch after the court assembly, and went back to his palace."

"Yes." The homeless man nodded: "Then a few days later, news spread that His Majesty was going to abdicate."

Lia's fingers tightened slightly.

"abdicate?"

"Yes, abdication." The homeless man lowered his voice even further. "But the problem is, His Majesty hasn't designated any prince to succeed him."

He paused, looked around, and made sure no one was paying attention.

"The eldest prince says he is the eldest son and should rightfully inherit the throne. The second prince says the eldest prince's mother was of humble birth and is unworthy. The third prince says his talents most resemble His Majesty's in his youth. And then there's the fourth prince, the fifth prince..."

He counted on his fingers.

"Anyway, in the capital right now, the princes are outwardly friendly and respectful to each other, but behind the scenes they're all trying to recruit people. I heard that in just the last two weeks, the commander of the Imperial Guards has been invited to dinner privately by the three princes."

The mercenary whose wine had been spilled curled his lip: "Stealing the throne, huh? Isn't that a common occurrence in history?"

"It's different." The homeless man shook his head. "Before, when they fought for the throne, at least His Majesty was truly failing. Now, His Majesty is clearly still alive and in good health. Is it normal for him to abdicate in this state?"

Lia remained silent for a few seconds.

He pulled his hood down a little and stood up.

"Thank you very much, brothers."

She turned and walked out, her steps neither fast nor slow, as if it were just a routine departure.

The mercenary's voice came from behind: "Hey, beautiful lady, don't go, let's chat a little longer..."

Lia didn't turn around.

The mercenary in the tavern picked up a silver coin from the table and slowly rubbed it in his hand...