48 Trying a Shortcu (1/2)
The number of people trying to enter the city of Archet at dawn was quite low, but still enough to probably make someone wait a bit. Unless that very someone was carrying an immense bloody head in his hand and was towering at least one meter above the rest of the small humans. Even a group of adventurers that were all so tired that one was literally sleep-walking still made way for Davion to bypass them. As for the guards, they dared not stop someone that managed to kill the monster that had such a terrifying snakehead.
The rest of the walk inside the city was provoking more or less the same effect and a few citizens immediately closed their door the moment they saw the dark armor moving with his scary package. The smiling and happy adventurers nearby stopped what they were doing and just looked at them. Among them, a few were present the precedent day and even mocked the pitiful weaklings that only had money at their sides. They discreetly turned back and decided to wander in the town before entering the guild.
Inside the building, another receptionist that was a lot more professional and calm, without relentlessly showing her huge assets in front of everyone. She was wearing a robe that was vaguely similar to one that magicians wore. Even if she was not extremely beautiful and didn't provoke the stares of all the horny males around her, she still had a huge amount of work and in this time of the day, many groups were ready to leave. Provoking a small period of waiting before she could answer her request, from validating an increase of rank to giving more precisions about some notices.
Because of this and the fact that she was not present yesterday, she only glanced at Davion and Meridiana and still maintained her full attention to the two kids in front of her. They were still trying to negotiate a lower price for the passage at the D-rank and only had a little less than 3 gold coins. To be more precise, they had 2 gold coins and 89 silver coins. The principle of coins was based on the fact that it needed 100 lower coins for 1 superior one. Therefore, they had 28 900 copper coins, that could look incredible. Until you realized that it was not even 3 gold coins and at the moment, the two children required 4. The succubus and the orodil arrived just at the time where they were losing hope.
”You know us, it had been more than a year that we are doing small errands every day, but the salary is just too low. No one even accepts us in D-quest because of it, please, can you just lend us one coin, we will pay back, for sure, Hey, tell her too.” The bigger of the two kids pinched the smaller one. They were both boys, but one looked clearly uncomfortable doing that. But under the pressure, he still murmured some words.
”Please, just one gold and in thre … two months we will repay you back. Promise.”
”See, please.” Even as they tried to look as miserable as they could, the impassive receptionist was clearly not listening at all. If it was the one from the last day, maybe that pitiful plead could have worked, but not the day they chose. She was raising her eyes to the heavens when she saw something falling toward her. Dumbfounded, a huge thing ended up on her desk, splattering some red liquid everywhere. Only after touching her cheek that received it did she realized that it was blood. Examining the thing in front of her, she had a very hard time figuring out what it was. Turning her head, she saw the smallest iron armor getting closer while apologizing.
”Sorry, the wrong direction, here you go.” The voice of a woman resonated and she turned the object to face the receptionist. The latter screamed at the sight of the terrifying snake ready to pounce on her. At first, the face smashed on the desk and she only saw the scaly back, but now, the eyes of the monster were scaring the poor woman. They were frozen in the same state as a predator feasting on a prey and a dark light was still present inside them. That disturbing scream still provoked the interest of everyone and all noticed the head nearly as big as the two children nearby.
For Davion and Meridiana, it was perfect. For the first time, they were the center of the attention for a very good reason and not like previously. The head even shocked the receptionist, but maybe it was because of how they did it. They head the numerous humans and non-humans gossiping, trying to figure out the origin of the monster and where was the rest of the body. At the same time, a few pondered who asked for such a strange trophy, and all of those that wondered about that were not present during the previous visit of the foreigners.
”WHAT IS HAPPENING?” A big bad man suddenly appeared, and he looked angrily at everyone. He was getting ready for his morning routine and just finished stretching himself when he heard a woman screaming. After that, he saw the two wealthy greenhorns and the head on the desk. At first, he thought it was one of the more known groups that slew that monster, but there were only four people near the trophy, two strange people and two children. And he was even less convinced that the two kids did it.
”Oy, you two, explain yourself!” Pointing specifically at Davion, he ordered some explanations from them. Not everyone had the guts to enter like that here.
”Simple, we decided to skip some ranks. And this …” She showed the big head. ”… is our proof. I don't really know how strong the monster was, but it should still be enough for something like rank J? Maybe K? I am not certain.” The succubus was still wearing her helmet, otherwise, the old man would have seen the huge sarcastic smile she wore while saying those sentences. All her anger for what she experienced, she decided to use this opportunity to completely vent it.
Her foolish demands were still badly received, even when many admired them for slaying such a big threat. Even without the complete body, they were still able to guess that the creature wouldn't be smaller than the biggest member of that strange group of two. But that entire thing about disregarding the usual rules was provoking quite a lot of adventurers to personally discipline those two rookies. Without even letting the respected old man inspect in detail the head, one female wearing a tight leather armor left the crowd and shouted at Meridiana.
”Yesterday, you presented yourself grandly, acting mighty and such. But when it was time for you to drop your armor and weapons, you backed off. Just look at you, you are saying that you killed that monster, why is there no traces of that battle on you? No marks left by a claw, no corrosion or burnt area, your sword and daggers are without a gap on them. Instead of you killing it, I bet that you just paid someone to do it. How many died just for you to have this? Three? More?”
The more she talked, the stronger the resentment of the adventurers grew. What was disappointment and irritation turned into disgust and anger. The more they thought about it, the more the sound of the woman in leather armor sounded right. Nothing on either the two proved that they even fought once. It was even the contrary, the possibility of someone paying a group of adventurers to do their dirty job and then steal the glory happened a lot in the past. It was mainly some nobles and wealthy men, eager to prove their strength.