SOLVED. 50s or 60s Sci-fi/fantasy, main character is roguish but gets promised to be mayor/guard for a city but gets imprisoned instead [s]

[Kevin]

There is one scene I remember but I can’t remember which book it’s from, or what the plot is. The main character arrives at a city and everyone is super nice and great to him and they want to bestow honors on him to become mayor/guard/watchman. He can have any woman he chooses (for sure 50s, 60s style) and he dances with one at a feast when he arrives. She pretends she likes him and he gets a little annoyed. He plans to marry her the next day and he goes up to this watchtower for the night. But it ends up being a trick and once he climbs up the ladder, they remove it and make him a prisoner in there. They feed him and he’s expected to keep watch for some magical being/force of nature/some attack that may come from outside but he’s all upset that he got tricked. That’s all I really remember.

[Robert]

This sounds like an episode from one of the Dying Earth books, it's in either the first or the second book, can't remember. I think the village is at a lakeside, and according to the local legend, if there is no one in the watchtower, a monster will rise from the lake.

[Robert]

On second thought, I'm pretty sure it's in the second book, The Eyes of the Overworld

[Ky]

I agree with Robert, this sounds like the character Cugel from the Dying Earth series by Jack Vance.

[Kevin]

Yep! That's definitely it. Seems to be Eyes of the Overworld. Time to read it again! Thanks everyone