Eye on the Prize

Dust away the heat they were trying to; it was this soothing breeze the provision of such service... providing that of a cool breeze that blew the heat away from their overheated bodies after the end of conducting some activities - especially the extreme ones - which costed them sweat and time as well as their sanitary ethic... if any of them would mind getting some dust and scratches all over the skin and protective attires, specifically, for it was all part of their jobs in daily basis. Risking their lives in line, conceivably, yet in returned it was a dime of pure gold in form of coins they would receive. Quite risky yet yielding more rewards, it was all depended on their struggling however. Therefore knowing their own strengths and weaknesses, was the initial prerequisite. And they had been performing this same risky thing for years fortunately, a dime of dozen times risking their lives yet still pretty much capable of knowing the limit on what target they must hunt, despite had to conclude the day with practically more bruises and dripping sweat.

After all, it was quite a tough fight they had for over the course of their professions as supposedly professional bounty hunter. It had been over though - that what was matters. They managed to defeat and kill their contract target, and now the three of them were waiting for the night before pursuing the other contract besides resting their tired body beneath the orange sky cheering over their first victory for today's dusk.

One of them, being the pigtails girl with her trusty weaponry of archery character archetype who favored a longbow to be rested on her slender back with shoulder covered in leather attire and seasonal clothing of her own choices... a long dark blue coat extending down to her thighs. Seemingly having quite a large capacity of stamina, the girl stood tall before her other two members party... voicing that whining tone of hers,

"You sure we go hunting every one of them in Kasala Village tonight? Sounds like a terrible plan, I'll wager."

The first that heeded such an utterance... it was one of her friend who seemed to have quite an athletic build. He was tall and slightly bulky-looking person even when in his sitting posture on a ground level leaning against his weapon of choice which evidently matched up with such a body type; heavy and large weaponry which relied solely on one's arms and shoulders muscles, as well as joints flexibility. Usually greatsword that became many choices for the likes of him, yet himself preferred much more blunt impact on every swing of his large arm... hence this great hammer which became, besides as a weapon, also served a backup on which he could lean his iron-platted back.

Looked sharp his deep black eyes were, resting while the soothing atmosphere tried to carry away his whole exhaustion and supposedly as well a few of scratches either on his protective short-sleeves clothing along with the thin layer of dust on his cool yellow tone of his rounded face; altogether with that harsh, seemingly deep and strong tone of his voice trying to describe any word stored within his brown ashes hue of undercut hair,

"Quit with your whining, ya hear Rudolf. It's a big chance, ya know? To get all of that coins reward. Besides, we're not wastin' our time waitin' for the night to come. We are waitin' to carry out the plan, as well as resting our body for a while, yes. And it ain't a terrible plan, ya hear? I've been thingkin' on it a whole day yesterday."

"No... it's not about that plan I whining about since I don't even know the whole plan yet. I... I mean... haaa~" letting the exasperation out to be carried by the long air expiration of hers, the girl - Rudolf as that athletic man called her - sighed trying to be patient with the current situation which somehow compelled her to do otherwise, "Alright, let me get this straight, Broadshield. About this contract you bought unbeknownst to us... you bought this contract from him again, did you?"

"Well, yea... bought I did from him. Though I never really intended to hide this. Just wanted to keep it a surprise for later."

"Uhmm yes, I felt surprised indeed. And here I thought we came here just to demolish that stone golem. Have you lost your mind when thinking about that plan of yours yesterday? We... three of us... against 'em dozens. Plus I heard that they already killed bunches of our own kin."

Broadshield was that man's name, being called by Rudolf such a way as she somewhat displayed quite an irritated look on her facial light skin yet didn't seem to resemble of a someone feeling a surprise in which she should've been for having her own suspicion based on an obvious peculiarity since she had a solid reason to feel such a way. It was solely out of annoyance rather than of a surprise as the man tried to explain himself. After all, it was not the first time for her, trapped in this kind of situation she involved herself into... however this time, across the line they were already - biting off more than they could chew, as she perceived it, the secondary contract in question.

"Well well... give him a rest, Rudolf. It's already been bought and it's not like we can demand for a refund, can us? We are onto it together. After all, the price is pretty cheap, considering the reward we'd get after."

Overheard the commotion, as he always did for years - a fuss his two friend often, if not always created... similar to the two opposite of polar they were, as he understood it after years knowing well and adventuring together with them; therefore he was more than capable of handling such a quarrel... with that calm, even-tempered tone of his and that seemingly unburdened smile across his long face slimmer cheeks. Sitting on top that seemed to be a stone formation he was... a formation that was too well-structured for a formation of a nature's creation. However it still was a product of nature regardless, the stone formation on which this light brown hair young man resting his glutes; despite its look and its dome-like structured anatomy for random dark stones on a vast green plain that was formed as a natural event - creating this stone formation as a walking being once... until the three of them did not make it so a walking creature, the stone golem which became their initial primary target.

Jumping down from the height of the golem remains, resembled just another large stone in the vast green of plains if not for this spiky-haired man coming down with a glowing-red marble the size of his finger circle after digging it out from the thick and tough dark stone, which appeared to be once was a part of its eye which he quickly put it into his leather pouch; close to where he also placed his only weapon - a pair of twin dagger inside one leather scabbard - before approaching his other two friends whose quarrel had yet to find its conclusion, as that infuriating look on the girl's face seemingly still persisted,

"Acilis... don't tell me if you also somehow involved in this scheme. It's all your idea, wasn't it?"

Even far from subsided in fact, that infuriating feeling, only seemed to be getting worse upon listening to quite a statement from her another member party which only strengthened her initial intuition of a woman, and which she only relied upon in this situation, and since she was already well aware of this group's behaviour pattern after developing such for years.

"Scheme? Again Rudolf, really... there is no scheme. About whose idea is this, nothing really matter. Though it was me and Broadshield, yes, who initiated buying the contract, since it was left out in the cold, thus the price also been lowered. You wouldn't believe me and Broadshield if we hadn't tell you about the profit we'd get after we succeeded this one - far more profitable than dealing with the golem, I dare to say."

For years also seemed to be applied for this spiky-haired men as well... through that grin hiding thousands-of-meanings of his, he casually and slowly managed to lure the girl out of her zone of reluctance, for he was also well-aware of what kind of approach he must perform to pique her interest,

"Is that so? Then, tell me how many?"

After being quiet for a moment, the bait seemingly worked on her like a magic word that almost instantly changed the glimmer within her emerald stare; after flickering dimmer before, to sparkling bright right now, simply telling her curiosity to ask more about that financial matter that her tall, slender-looking friend gladly to provide her with a dissatisfying answer...

"One hundreds gold coins..."

"Haaa... alright, I set the bar too high it seemed. Isn't that far less than with the stone gole--"

A dissatisfying answer at first... for Acilis seemingly liked teasing with her expectation. After letting her down, he struck her with unbelievable facts that brought back her prior expectation to the highest,

"Per head. Yes. One hundreds gold per head and since the contract explicitly details how many targets on the run - twenty nine targets to be exact - and since we bought it with silver instead, we should profit three thousands minus one hundreds gold coins."

Seemed to have been piercing through the girl's both ears upon listening to such a major direction within the initial subject she neglected prior, thus the inconsistency of hers slowly began to emerge as a direct result with no words coming out from her closed red lips, yet with widened emerald eyes she seemed to be speaking an utter silence out of incredulity although her curiosity remained even greater after quite a fake downfall of her first excitement - thanks to her somewhat-eccentric friend, successfully lured her out of reluctance zone entirely.

None of those were matter any longer nonetheless. For her, knowing the further explanation which surprisingly changed the course of her earlier unwillingness into heftier with piqued eagerness; although it seemed mainly comes from that financial affair - emerald eyes of hers on the prize,

"So how's it? I wasn't so bad at picking a contract, was I?" added that athletic-looking friend, still sitting on the ground while feeling proud to himself with a wide grin across his face.

"It's a long term contract by the way, meaning we don't really need to get rid all of 'em at once for claiming the coins. Maybe we can get like six or seven of 'em to exceed what we'd earn from the golem." further clarification from that spiky-haired friend, regarding the type of the contract which only led into further destruction of the apathy within his friend before him, despite she seemed to struggle hiding such an emotion - the exhilaration giving birth to a stammering response of hers therefore,

"I-I see... w-well, it can't be helped anyway, since you already bought that from his group... like we can return it to him once you bought it. Fine... I'm in. M-maybe trying some challenges isn't so bad at all."

Fully aware of such qualities emanating from her, yet this oddly beguiling feeling when she tried her best to preserve her image... despite it had been occurred more than once - both Broadshield and Acilis witnessed her opposite side, far from that idealist temperament of hers recognizing her capability thus often neglected such a risk and was notably closed-minded when facing life's challenges or changes.

Money talked however, like a magic word it did... something apparent that motivated the girl who found it was quite difficult to be honest to oneself, till she decided to move forward... out of the comfort zone and out of her neatly-arranged schedule once in a while, and sure enough another teasing remarks she should receive,

"Hahaha... knew you'd be interested. Damn ya... can't be honest with yourself as always." this time especially came from that athletic-looking friend; feeling a little relief in fact he was, that eventually she agreed with the sudden job, thus the three of them could complete it as a team with no member left behind,

"Sh-shut up, Broadshield! I-it's not like I agree because of that gold--- okay, maybe just a little... b-but still, you do know I love getting myself into a thrilling adventure, do you not? And... and I also feel sorry from them."

Grinning out of success that he only did upon watching the stuttering reaction that emerald-eyed girl unintentionally exposed - simply no need the comeback words but a light chortle... until once again, that spiky-haired friend trying to ease the fuss which seemed to be managed to muffle the rustling grass around them - and also because of the declined participation of the breeze, for the sunset already delivered the night at their doorstep... there were no gust to rustle the grass.

"Well well... there's no need to fuss about it. Most importantly, I'm glad you're finally on the same wave with us, Rudolf. And maybe it's time to explain the whole plan to her, don't you think so, Broadshield?"

"Yea right, Acilis. I do think so. Well, if you may."

"Alright, let us hear that plan of yours... about how do you even know their exact location and what makes you sure they haven't moved an inch from where they stick their butts and getting the upper hand against the greater numbers."