The Sea, Fishermen, and Sailors (2)

As I entered through the tavern door, it creaked loudly on its hinges.

The hinges were terribly rusted from the sea breeze.

I suppose it couldn't be helped, but seeing rusted metal left to sit like that had somehow begun to make me feel melancholy.

It was just my own sentimentality.

Some metals rust easily and others resist it, but most metals rust eventually. Such is the law of nature.

Some works of metal art are made with rust taken into account; indeed, they probably aren't complete until they rust.

But putting that aside, I looked around the tavern for an empty seat.

Unfortunately, every counter seat was occupied, so I pointed to one of the tables with empty seats and asked the young waitress if I could sit there.

She looked a little surprised.

"Huh~? A handsome elf like you coming to a place like this? That's pretty unusual. Oh, of course we're happy to have you. Sit, sit."...