Small talk.
The boy is leaving the room which Lena is resting in, He was told to by Lena as she wanted to rest in silence. Outside he finds the woman who had healed Lena sitting where he was a couple of minutes ago.
"Letting her rest is the best choice for now." She says as she sips on her cup of coffee.
"It's pretty late, drinking this much coffee will mess up your sleeping." Jack says as he leans his back on the wall to the right of the door he just came from.
"Sleep? after seeing that, I'm not planning to." The woman says looking at the door.
Jack says nothing and lowers his head.
"You two... are adventurers right?" The woman asks catching the boy off guard
"No." The boy instinctively replied with the truth.
"No? Then how did h-... she end up with those wounds?" The woman with doubt in her eyes.
"Ah...um... S-she is an adventurer, I'm not..." Jack said recalling something Lena once said. 'A ranking higher than mine.' (so that would mean she was ranked as an adventurer too.)
"I see, and are you her employer? Is she bodyguarding you?" The woman asks interested.
"Ah.... I'm more of a leech you can say... I just follow her around and she takes care of me..." The boy said with a disappointed tone.
"A leech?" the woman tilts her head in confusion.
"Uh... Just think of it as a useless piece of shit." The boy says.
"Self-deprecating much." the woman says sipping her coffee again.
"Haha..." The boy laughs awkwardly.
A while later.
The boy has fallen to the ground of where he was standing as he continued to rest his back on the wall. He is trying to fight sleep.
The woman continues to stare outside the window located to the right of the chair.
"You should sleep, don't worry I won't steal anything." Jack says barely awake himself.
"Don't worry about me, plus It's not like you will really find anything to steal out here." She says as she keeps her head to the window.
The boy is desperate to stay up so making conversation was his best idea.
"What are you looking at." jack asks.
"Just my neighbors house..." She says slightly turning as she feels a presence close in on her.
"Hmm... nothing to see really..." Jack says disappointed.
"Just waiting for something... someone..." The woman says in a sad voice.
"Ohhhh! A lover!" Jack says in his barely wake state not fully aware of himself.
"Ha, as if. He is still a kid to me. I see him as I would see my brother, if I had one." The woman says.
"And where is he?" The boy asks.
"*sigh* have you guys passed through the woods that are habitat to the monstrous-wolf pack?" The woman says.
The boy hearing that suddenly wakes up. Not a hint of his sleepiness remains.
"Y-yes, there was a warning saying something like that along the path..." The boy says with a hint of panic in his voice.
"The kid's an adventurer. It's something he dreamt of being every since all he did was call me leelee..." She says with a smile forming on her face.
"Dreamt? Isn't being an adventurer quite the dangerous thing." the boy says.
"You must have never talked with a kid huh... We had a custom gold adventurer raise in this village you know. He left us for a greater kingdom a couple of year ago, but while the kid was still growing up he watched the adventurer come back every day, and each time becoming even greater." The woman says.
"To kids with wild dreams and aspirations watching someone like that they couldn't, but want to become like him. Most kids were gladly convinced by their parents to stop their dead end of a life, but his were, you could say, very accepting. I had talked with them multiple times, begging them to rethink, but it always turned out the same with them saying they only want to see him smile." The woman says grinding her teeth.
"His parents? So you... what are you to the kid?" The boy asks.
"Hmm... I raised him mostly. When he was still an infant all the way up to when he was around 15 or something. His parents used to be very busy with their work which made them leave for the capital multiple times a month, each time disappearing for days. So in that time I was asked to take care of him in their stead. I had nothing else to do at the time so I accepted. Though, in the last 3 years they've fell into poverty as their products were no longer needed, so I don't get as much time with him." The woman says.
Jack doesn't say anything and stays silent for the moment.
"You said that woman inside is an adventurer right? What rank is she?" The woman asks.
"G-gold I think..." Jack says.
"Makes sense, with a build like that I would expect no less. Liam, he is silver! isn't that just amazing, to think he made it that far at just 15." The woman says in a warm voice.
Jack gulps down the built up saliva and asks reluctantly.
"T-the kid... Where is he at the moment?"
The woman was looking at the window not turning her head to Jack.
Jack stared at the back of her head as he waited for the answer.
"He... he went with a par---" The woman stops as a sudden slam can be heard.
The door to room Lena was in has been fully opened all the way to where it had hit the wall.
"Hey you! Don't just throw my doors like that!" The woman demands as she stomps towards Lena.
Lena stares down at the woman and then turns to the boy.
Jack has started shaking on his grounds, his face is absolutely terrified, he has realized the reality of the situation.
Lena's serious look turns saddened.
"I'm sorry... I'm so very sorry..." Lena says as she walks to their bag.
She reaches her left hand in as she barely gets what she was looking for.
"This is all we have so please, please forgive me..." Lena says as she handed the little coins they had to the woman.
"Uh... um... ok... Don't worry about it..." The woman is taken aback as she notices the boy's condition and Lena's sudden turn.
The woman takes the coins and places them in her pocket.
"We will be leaving now sorry for intruding." Lena says as she lefts the bag.
"L-leaving?! With the way you are?! You would just die out there! You can stay here, I wouldn't like to have the idea of sending you both into your own death." The woman says.
Hearing that Jack's condition worsens as he his now muttering the word sorry under his breath repeatedly.
Lena stares at the woman with a face begging for forgiveness. She then walks towards jack and tells him to hurry up.
"L-let's get going." Lena says.
"Hey! You two! Stop! Get back here! You will end up dead! Do not underestimate the world!" The woman continued to scream demandingly only to get ignored.
Then annoyed she says "Well hell if I care, my fault for worrying." As she slams the door entering back her home.
"Hey kid, hold this for a second, just gonna do something real quick." Lena says to the emotionless boy next to her.
She places the bag next to him and walks back to the woman's home trying to not get noticed.
She leaves a monstrous-wolf's fang and returns to the boy.
"What did you do?" the boy says devoid of emotion.
"Just a hint. that and the cloth we had left behind she should be able to figure it out." Lena says picking up the bag to continuing moving.
"Lena." the boy says as he follows her.
"Yes?" Lena replies.
"Was there really no other choice?" The boy asks.
"Yes." Lena said.
"You heard her, the boy's family was going through financial problems, and then suddenly a 10million gold pot shows up. What do you think he would have done even without getting the pot? Sell the information about it. It was either them, or us." Lena said hiding her face from the boy.
"Yeah... right... of course... No one did anything wrong..." The boy says devoid of emotion.
"Lena, you told me about yourself back there... But I'm yet to share anything." the boy says.
"..." Lena listened without interrupting.
"Me too." the boy said.
"You too?" Lena asked.
"Me too, I have killed someone." The boy says leaving them both in silence.
As they left the village in darkness a little light was in front of them.
As they reached it Lena looked towards it seeing that it was the village's board. On it is written.
"A match of the decade! The rigid champion vs The Raising adventurer! An Unmoving Legend vs A Hero from the boonies! Now in medlucia! DO NOT MISS!"
Looking at it Lena suddenly remembered something.
(the rigid champion. The Rigid Champion! The scene of him reading something off of the air back when he first defeated the octopus adventurer.)
Deciding their next Location Lena opened up their map and decided on a path.
"Hey, This way." She says turning the emotionless boy to walk alongside her.