The female officer had a really charming smile. Like any other pub owner in the world, he also had a soft spot for charming and nice women. Not that he would ever even get close to cheating on his wife. It was important that women also felt comfortable in his pub, because then they wouldn’t mind that their husbands came either. The amount of couples that got to know each other in a pub was also not disregardable. In all the years that he had this pub, he had also seen his amount of couples coming together, although he got to know his wife while taking a walk and not in a pub.<br/>“There has been sightings of a wild animal in the area. One which may be a danger to locals and livestock.” Of course the pub owner immediately thought of the hellhound that had appeared a few times. Yet, why would he tell such an unbelievable story to an outsider, not to mention to the police. Rational people wouldn’t understand.<br/>“We are pretty rural here,” the pub owner answered while unconsciously starting to lean on the broom. “Naturally there are a lot of wild animals around here. On the other side of the village there is a large forest, so we sometimes encounter animals like wolves as well.” Not a word of this had been a lie. It was all the truth. The pub owner was smart enough to not lie to an officer. However, admitting that the villagers believed to be haunted by a hellhound was something he stayed silent about. Mostly because that would also be admitting that even the best hunters in the village were unable to deal with a single animal by themselves. No, he wouldn’t admit such a disgrace for his beloved village.<br/>The pub owner had no problem with it that the officers walked around a little or that one of them placed a barstool back on the ground and seated himself. His pub was his pride even if he was in the middle of cleaning. Apart from local specialities he also had the most normal drinks, even coffee and tea could be ordered. The next question that came from the officers was quite surprising.<br/>“What do you mean with ‘strange happenings’?” he asked. In the village there were still old traditions being practised. To modern times and outsiders those could be seen as strange. However to people that grew up in the village those were all normal.<br/>The other question was a lot easier to answer. “My father used to say that in the past everyone in the village knew about almost everything, but that isn’t the case anymore. Nowadays there are villagers that go to work outside the village in the city. The farmers only take care of their fields and livestock. Those that have a shop only attend to that. Of course I am not an exception either, my pub is my job. There are still quite a lot of people that know about the forest and the inhabitants. Take children for example. They always go there to collect berries and mushrooms, although their mothers only allow that in the first few meters. Mothers really don’t change thorough the time, always so caring. Hunting isn’t a fulltime job anymore but some villagers have a license and do it as a side job. Controlling wildlife is pretty normal nowadays afterall. Chopping trees without a permit is not allowed so we don’t have any woodsmen. Nobody really gets into the deep parts of the forest because it is easy to get lost. Even the kid that lives on the very edge of it doesn’t go so far into it. The men that know most about the forest would be some of the local farmers and their older sons.” The pub owner sometimes couldn’t resist to tell more lengthy stories. Must be part of the job. Still, these officers asked some really weird questions.