Chapter 674 (2/2)

The man turned and looked at Azriel, his face pale. Azriel calmly returned his gaze and nodded her head. Forcing out a laugh, the man sat down next to the young and began waving away her questions about his outburst.

“Was that on purpose? We should do this more often. It is a fun game; whoever can get a bigger reaction wins.” Skarch said with a smile.

“Are there a lot of children like you in the Spear School?” Azriel asked with a little bit of interest as they walked towards the bar. The woman behind the bar noticed the bloodlust too; she watched them with obvious wariness as the two approached.

Skarch knocked the butt of her spear twice against the ground. “Are there a lot of children like you in the Northern Domain?”

Azriel gave Skarch a withering look and then smiled at the woman behind the counter. “Excuse me, Madam, we would like to purchase a room for the night.”

The woman grunted. “Oh? Well, we don’t have many amenities to offer warriors such as thee. Perhaps it would be best to continue another hour on the road and reach Hastam. There are plenty of places there that would undoubtedly be a better fit for you.”

“That won’t be necessary, a room here is fine,” Azriel said. She let some more of the tension leave her shoulders. It was her mistake to come in with so much killing intent laid bare. The rest of her squad had such similarly vicious gazes that they likely didn’t notice it. But Azriel should've known better. That was her role: to understand and adjust.

“It seems like we disagree,” The woman said blandly. The talk at the laborers' table was tapering off, and they were all looking over towards the two newly arrived woman. The man talking to the young woman kept laughing too loud and looking over his shoulder at Azriel and Skarch.

“Do you take money?” Skarch asked. For good measure, she took some out and put the cold metal onto the counter. She tapped them with her pointer finger, clinking them against each other. “We have money.”

The woman seemed to consider the money on the bar. Money which was more than enough to pay for almost a week of room and board. But she made no movement to take the coins. Instead, she just looked up at Azriel and Skarch. Her eyes were red-rimmed, and it was clear the woman hadn’t been sleeping well lately. “It’s not a matter of money. You’ll be wanting food, yes? Well, there is none. With the raids on the farms to the South, we have nothing. I won’t spare even a spoonful of food for strangers when I barely have enough to feed my kin. You are welcome to sleep down here by the fire, but we are filled to bursting with refugees who have been mistreated by soldiers for weeks. Soldiers who ‘extorted’ them for the protection to be dumped even a few more kilometers North. I think you might be in danger if you stay here, so-”

“Let me be clear,” Azriel said quietly. It was just lark to stay inside after they had sold the cart, and Azriel now regretted it. But she wasn’t going to let this woman take out her woes on her and blame, not after how much blood Azriel had shed for this land. “It is not us who would die if someone pursued the foolishness you speak of.”

Fear filled the woman’s face. Before the confrontation could continue, the door opened. Muttering to himself and smelling of smoke, Randidly walked into the inn. His bare feet were dirty and his hair was starting to grow out. The stumble across his jaw was starting to form a thin beard. But he carried a spear and bag over his shoulder, even though he possessed an interspatial ring. It was a habit he had gotten into as a soldier.

The woman’s eyes turned flat, “You soldiers all can just fuck right-”

“Wait.”

Randidly’s gaze shifted to the woman, and then when the other person spoke, it shifted again. To Azriel’s surprise, the man who was sitting at the bar stood suddenly, with much more grace than he had jumped up previously. He turned around and regarded them all. He scratched his hair and stared at Randidly for several seconds. Randidly’s eyes widened as he looked at the man.

“Before you kick them out, I owe this man a drink. It’s good to see you again, Randidly Ghosthound” The man announced. He offered a hand with a cocky grin.

Randidly blinked. “...uh? Oh, Orangey?!? Is that you?”

Orangey, as Randidly called him, opened his mouth, and then closed it. Then he opened it again with a frown. “M-my Tassle was orange, yes, but… we had such a confrontation in the preliminaries to the Regional Tournament. …did you really forget my name?”

Randidly scratched his cheek. Azriel chuckled.

Skarch turned back to the woman and pounded her finger against the coins again. “I’ll take a drink too.”