02 - Farewell Meeting

The smell of cheap booze and low-rank monster meat, the clatter of waiters walking back and forth, and the sound of people talking among themselves while enjoying hot food in the midst of that snowy day filled the room.

On that cold and snowy night, a bar located inside the city of Surav was unusually crowded, its main customers being mercenaries, especially low-rank ones, given how cheap and close this bar was to the mercenaries' guild of this small city.

Creak

The old, defective wooden door of the bar opened once again, and soon another customer entered.

This customer was a beautiful girl with long, partially braided brown hair and stunning but arrogant eyes with red pupils, wearing the light, dark blue robes that any wealthy mage would wear, which covered her entire body, along with a large dark blue pointed hat big enough to cover even part of her ears.

Seeing such an elegant and apparently wealthy customer entering his establishment, one of the bar's employees quickly went to greet her with a slight bow, but before he could say anything, without even looking him in the eyes, the girl simply waved her hand and continued on her way, completely ignoring him.

Hmph, arrogant brat. Thought the employee, keeping a forced smile on his face as he returned to his duties.

Despite her appearance, which would certainly draw attention in most places within such a small city, tonight, with the bar as it was, practically no one noticed her as she made her way to one of the tables.

"You're late." Said one of the two men sitting at the table where the girl had arrived.

"Really? Sorry, I thought this meeting wasn't that important since we're meeting in this poor place." She sarcastically replied with a small arrogant smile on her face.

"Hey! Don't you dare talk to Leader Aldric like that, you—"

As the young, red-haired, hooded man was about to insult her, before he could utter any offense, he found himself stopped by the leader with just the raise of his hand.

"Stop, Thalion! And you too, Lyanna!"

"Hmph!" The young girl muttered to herself.

"We didn't gather here for fights or childish arguments!"

The leader was a serious man, clearly the oldest among the three, with long white hair tied in a ponytail and sharp serious blue eyes.

After a brief exchange of provoking glances, both sides finally fell silent, and after a few seconds with the three drinking their respective beverages, Lyanna took the initiative to bring up the topic.

"So... why did you want us to meet here so suddenly?" She asked, crossing her arms and legs, looking directly at her leader.

Thalion didn't speak, but this was a question he had wanted to ask for a few good minutes since he arrived at the bar, so he also eagerly awaited the response, furtively glancing at his leader.

Aldric simply took another sip of his orange drink before starting to speak.

"You must already have an idea why I gathered you... Well, we need to leave Surav."

"Hmm? If it's just about that guy's death... Well, mercenaries die all the time on missions, so why should we move just because of that?" asked Lyanna.

"Yes, after all, wasn't he just an orphan who lived in the forest before becoming a mercenary? Is anyone even missing him right now for his death to pose any danger to us?" Thalion added.

These were questions Aldric knew would come after he revealed the reason for the meeting, so without much thought, letting out a light sigh, he began to explain.

Sigh "You might be somewhat right, but I was informed that when the mercenaries' guild conducted an investigation in that abandoned castle the next day, they found nothing—neither the monster nor Zephyr's body, leading them to suspect that we killed him, robbed him, and hid his body somewhere... Until these suspicions are cleared, we won't be able to receive any missions as mercenaries."

Upon hearing this, the purely arrogant expression on Lyanna's face turned into one of anger, feeling personally offended by such an accusation.

"What? Me?? Robbing some poor orphan??? Who do they think I am to accuse me of such a crime???"

"This is unfair! They don't even have any proof that this happened to prevent us from doing missions in the meantime?"

Aldric remained silent for a few seconds before speaking again, while the other two eagerly awaited his response.

"I know, you don't need to say it... I've already tried talking to and convincing the guild that this is unfair and doesn't make any sense, but all they said is that if we really want to prove we aren't criminals, our only option is to find that damned monster again and bring it to them, but, well..."

"We'd never be able to hunt down that monster..." Thalion added.

A melancholic silence fell between the three of them; they all thought it was absurd, but they knew very well that the guild didn't care about that. It only wanted to protect its reputation among mercenaries once again after the disappearance of yet another mercenary, especially in such turbulent times as these.

"Our only way out is to move to a different city, get new identities, and start our lives over as mercenaries." Aldric explained, taking another sip of his drink.

"You've got to be kidding me! You really think that I, a second-circle mage and C-rank mercenary, would go to another city, get a new identity, and start over at F-rank???"

Lyanna exclaimed angrily, standing up abruptly.

"You know what?? You guys figure out how to solve this problem on your own because I'm going back to my house!"

Thalion considered stopping her, but before he could get up to grab her arm, Aldric held him back, shaking his head to indicate that it wasn't worth trying to stop her at this moment.

Sigh "So, Leader, what do we do now? Will we really leave Surav?"

"... I'm still trying to convince the guild, but unfortunately, the way things are going, it's likely that we will indeed have to start new lives." He explained melancholically.

There was another brief silence as both of them became lost in their own thoughts, only interrupted when one of the waiters finally arrived at their table, carrying trays with monster meat and the drinks they had ordered earlier.

"Well, as a possible farewell to this city we've lived in for so long, allow me to buy you a few drinks tonight, Thalion."

Seeing that he didn't have many choices, and recognizing his leader and best friend's clear attempt to lift his spirits that night, Thalion nodded in agreement with a small smile forming on his face.

So, without worrying about the next day, the two began drinking and eating as much as they could, in a festive, farewell atmosphere.

...

"Are you sure you can make it home in your current state, Thalion?"

"Hahaha, don't worry about me, Leader!"

At the bar's door, the two said their goodbyes, with Thalion heading home, still quite drunk from the amount he had just consumed.

Wow, it seems like the cold has only worsened since I entered the bar. He thought as he shivered from the cold.

It was completely dark, must have already been past midnight by now, as hardly anyone was seen remaining on the streets at this hour.

The cold that came with the endlessly falling snow was terrible, but it helped wake him up a bit and soothe his drunk mind, making him complain less about it.

Crunch

Suddenly, catching Thalion by surprise, the strange sound of someone stepping on snow echoed just behind him. It was a sound that would go unnoticed by most people, but not by him, with the instincts of a trained archer.

Hmm? I don't remember seeing anyone back there when I passed...

A little scared but still in control of his mind and heart, Thalion kept walking forward while trying, stealthily and without drawing the attention of his possible pursuer, to glance behind him.

But not a single person was in sight, making him imagine that it was just a sound created by his own mind, until suddenly, once again...

Crunch

... I'm sure I heard something this time! He thought with his eyes widening slightly, standing completely still to see if he would hear the sound again.

"..."

Nothing, a complete silence fell over the streets once more, and even looking back again, no one was seen, not a single person or living being was on the street at that moment besides Thalion.

Damn...

Feeling a bit scared and afraid, Thalion quickened his pace, little by little increasing his speed until, without realizing it, he was already running toward his house.

"Haaa... Haaa..." He was breathing heavily, not because of the running, but because of the growing fear in his heart as he approached his house.

Crunch... Crunch... Crunch...

The sound echoed again... And again... And again...

Damn!! who the hell is following me???

Without stopping, Thalion turned his head to try to see who was behind him, until...

Thud

... Before he could see anything, he tripped over a small stone in the middle of the path and fell face-first into the snow.

Damn, damn, damn...

With his legs still weak and his mind extremely confused, Thalion tried to get up once again when suddenly...

Crunch

... The sound of snow being stepped on was heard once again, closer than ever, making him freeze with fear, especially when he felt the touch of a hand on his shoulder.

"Boy..."