It had been a long journey. Why did towns or villages have to be so far apart?

I handed my mule’s reins to the stableboy of the inn I had just purchased a night in. I was ready to relax, get a bath in the tin tub in my room and put on clean garments.

Unfortunately, a bard’s income comes from singing all evening in local pubs. I don’t mind the work, and I always look for a local legend, or new hero to sing about while I’m in town. I don’t mind the sight of voluptuous women, the taste of beer, nor the smell of tobacco leaves burning at the mouths of paying customers.

I washed my face and gathered my lyre before heading to the Bull’s Eye. I was nearing the square, when I heard the town crier call:
HEAR YE ! HEAR YE!
His Majesty, King Archibald Phillip Drake V, ruler of all the provinces of Sarderia, royally decrees from this day forward, all traveling bards will tell solely of his heroism in the late Petrachian Wars.

I turned around and headed back to my room. I think I’ll take that bath! Might be my last