Chapter 01 - Just the Usual
The fire matched her hair. Bright red strands pulled back into a ponytail and her bangs rested against her petite face. To him, she is the most beautiful woman he ever laid eyes on. She kept her deep ruby eyes on the crackling fire in front of her. It was keeping her warm tonight. She lifted her orbs slightly from the blaze. It's keeping him warm too. He noticed her looking and their eyes connect.
Bashful, she quickly turned her head away. He caught her multiple times in the past so it was not strange. Although, it did make him smile that she liked watching him. The small woman shifted in her seat, pretending to be interested in fixing the tarp under her. Her staring was becoming a habit and she didn't know how to break it.
Suddenly, the muscular man stood up. He walked over the tarp and sat next to her. She kept her eyes averted to the side, avoiding his. A warm hand reached out and touches her soft cheek, his fingertips lightly dance under her long bangs and move across her white smooth skin. She is an admirable female with a slightly narcissistic attitude and yet, her pale skin was the softest thing that he ever touched. He wondered if her skin was just as soft in other places of her body. Bringing his other hand and encircling her waist, the man pulled the petite woman over his lap.
She kept avoiding his eyes until finally, she slowly looked up at his handsome face. There was a gentle smile on his face. There was no need for words now. Silence overcame them and an unknown burning sensation was erupting from somewhere deep within. Something that words could not take credit for. The small woman leaned upward. Her grip on his shirt tighten when she felt his warm breath touching her cheek, he was so extremely close. His lips were just an inch away. Her entire body fluttered with intense anticipation. Finally, she was going to fulfill her deepest desire-
"I'm back." The third and last comrade in their group sighed when he entered the camp. He raised his eyebrow to see his two friends so close to each other. In fact, his eyebrow got higher to see the woman, known for her bloodthirsty behavior, sitting on the man's lap with his arms wrapped tight around her waist. In addition, the man obviously had not heard him since his hand was already sliding under her blouse. Her mouth hung open; embarrassment and humiliation exploded on her face.
"Lina-"
"GET THE HELL OFF ME, YOU PERVERT! HOW DARE YOU TAKE ADVANTAGE OF A BEAUTIFUL MAIDEN!" Lina Inverse bellowed into Gourry Gabriev's ear, forcing him to withdraw instantly and rub his aching eardrums. She grabbed her double-action triple-barrel revolver from its holster on her right hip and pointed it between his eyes. It took him half a second to realize how much danger he was currently in.
The overwhelming red color over her entire face was even brighter than their camp fire and she cocked the gun loaded. Thus began shooting practice. A loud screech escaped from Lina's lips as she fired at Gourry, threatening him that she was going to kill him for putting his hands on her body. She finally shot the center of his back. He fell forward into the dirt and whined from the extremely painful bruise he 'deserved'. Lina snorted loudly and opened her bullet chamber.
"Serves you right." She dumped the empty rounds to the ground and reloaded it with fresh casings. Turning her eyes to the mood-killer, she glared at the man in the beige coat.
"If you didn't have that body armor, Gourry, you would've been dead within the first week you met Lina." Zelgadiss Greywards said with a smirk, he grabbed the extra pieces of dry wood that he found in the forest and fed it to their weak fire. Gourry lifted himself from the ground, a display of pain and discomfort expressed on his face as he sat back into his seat.
"Nice timing, Zel." He chuckled wearily. Lina turned her angry blazing eyes at him and snarled; he jumped immediately. "I-I mean, it's not like we were doing anything." The woman nodded with a snort and shoved her revolver back into her gun holster.
"Not doing anything? You guys were doing something!" A man announced from a tree nearby. "And I loved every minute of it!"
"S-SHUT UP!" Lina had completely forgotten about him! Tied around a large tree trunk, the greasy man let out a loud whopping call and licked his thin lips generously.
"I don't mind watching the continuation later." When the man began to laugh, Lina stood up. Gourry and Zelgadiss watched the impulsive woman grab the weapon that was strapped against the side of her right calf.
"What are you doing?" Zelgadiss questioned when she stomped past the fire. He yelped when Lina loaded her weapon with a single bullet that was the size of her hand. He reached out to stop her however Gourry grabbed him and shoved a hand over Zelgadiss' mouth to prevent him from talking.
"Stopping her will only cause our untimely deaths." He said with such grief. Zelgadiss joined in the grief. True, he valued his life and it would be quite unsatisfying to be at the end of that chamber. Instead of saving the poor idiot, they turned away and hid behind a large tree that can withstand the blast.
"I'm getting a boner just thinking about it again-" The man with the cowboy hat stopped instantly when he heard a loud familiar sound that resembled a gun getting ready to shoot. Multiple droplets of sweat dripped from his forehead to see the end of a gun barrel pointed at the tip of his nose. The barrel was the size of his face and longer than arm's length. Lina held the over-sized canon-like pistol by its handle. A cloud of anger, not humiliation, floated over her fuming expression. Her dark flaming eyes glint with the overwhelming evilness that her tiny body held.
"You're not getting a boner where you're going." She whispered coldly. The man's pupil shriveled from her statement and opened his mouth to apologize but it was too late. She had already pulled the trigger. The explosion that escaped from the bazooka handgun was great. Once the round hit its target, it engulfs whatever it hits with a big comet-like explosion that spanned a good 15-mile radius. Dropping the smoking gun to her side, Lina stared at the destroyed forest in front of her and smirked. She walked over to the dead corpse sprawled out in the middle of the obliterated patch of woods and stood over him.
"Happy afterlife, pal." Lina lifted her smoking canon gun close to her lips and blew the hot smoke away. The Dragon Slave, her creation of a mini-canon but with a greater disaster like a bomb. It is a true weapon of mass destruction. She cursed when the pistol suddenly fell apart into pieces in her hand.
"Damn, iron and gold wasn't it." Although she had created the best blast concoction, she was unable to find the right material that was stable and strong enough to withstand the detonation that came out of the barrel. It was still a prototype but when she finds the right metals, it will be perfect. She turned around when she heard a noise behind her. Zelgadiss and Gourry was walking over with their eyes on the dead man.
"Great. You killed him. You killed our 250,000 cash reward." Zelgadiss said with a hint of anger.
"Oh, that's right." She had forgotten that the man was to be turned in alive. Not dead. "But-But we can still get some of the reward!" Lina took out the wanted poster with the dead man's face on it. She pointed at the statement below the photo.
"See? Wanted, dead or alive!"
"Our client was with his wife." Gourry knelt next to the corpse and began poking him with a stick. "I don't think she would want to have a dead guy for a husband."
"Not to mention, she was offering MORE than the reward itself. Triple, in fact." Her companion reminded. Lina turned her body away in shame.
"I-I guess I over reacted-"
"Over reacted nothing. You OVER KILLED him." Gourry told her. She nervously chuckled when Zelgadiss snarled; she quickly tried to uplift the mood.
"We can still get money out of him! You can still turn him in and get the money on the wanted poster." Lina smiled innocently. "And if you like, you can just tell his wife that you found him dead and hopefully, she'll give us the money anyways-"
"First of all," The angry man in the beige trench coat slammed his gloved fist into the top of Lina's head with a pulsing angry vein on his cheek. "I'm not delivering a dead man. You killed him, you do it." The redhead knelt down as she held her throbbing head. "And lastly, Filia is going to be upset at you for destroying another part of the forest. AGAIN."
"Ahhhhh…" Gourry scanned the burnt forest area surrounding. "Yeah, she's going to be mad. Again."
"Oh, come on!" Lina stood up quickly with a pout. "She doesn't need to know about this-"
"Filia is going to know when she sees the corpse. It's not like this is the first time you killed someone." Zelgadiss crouch next to the corpse and untied the black sash around his waist. "You're delivering a dead man to someone who knows the power of your atrocious doomsday weapon. And hopefully, she will get rid of you."
"Filia can't fire me. I co-founded this bounty hunting business with her. The only thing she can do is not give me my money and she won't do that because I'll kill her." The redhead said with an arrogant smile and her comrade just rolled his eyes.
"And besides, Filia loves me." Lina smirked when Zelgadiss snorted at her loudly when she used the word 'love'. Pulling off his beige long coat, he laid it over the corpse and pulled his black bandanna over his nose and mouth. He covered the dead man with his coat and tied it tight with the use of his sash. Lina bent her body forward and positioned her mouth behind his ear.
"By the way, did you tell your little crush that you love her yet?" When he did not say anything back, Lina's grin got bigger. "You know, I was talking to her about you the other day. Want to know what she said about you?" After a few seconds of anticipating silence, Zelgadiss gave in and let out a heavy sigh.
"What did she say?" He asked softly so Gourry would not hear but he heard anyway and smiled at his response.
"Why don't you ask her yourself when you deliver the dead guy to Filia?" Lina patted his shoulder and stood up quickly. Lina Inverse, an Expert Gun Slinger and Dagger Specialist Bounty Huntress. She considers herself the best gun shooter in the land and the most beautiful with a dagger. Using special and out-of-the-ordinary materials to create weapons of mass destruction, she is the brilliant and beautiful knife-throwing nightmare that all wanted criminals knew as 'The Bandit Killer'. Infamous for her dedication in putting criminals behind bars and also, as witnessed earlier, killing them into burnt crisp toast. She truly is a killer of bandits. Many imitated but they were never able to duplicate. And to make it worse, she was always surrounded with people who are almost as talented, possibly equally talented, as she is. Zelgadiss opened his mouth to contest but Lina and Gourry were already walking away.
"Thanks, Zel!" Gourry grinned. Always next to her side, Gourry Gabriev was her most trusted partner in crime. This dumb swordsman was believed to be the strongest man wielding a sharp edge weapon and it was probably true. Able to dodge, reflect, and slice rounds into tiny pieces, it was understandable that women were attracted to him. And not only did he have an extraordinary talent when it comes to anything that has a sharp point, he was incredibly handsome and with a very gallant charisma. A true knight who still believed in chivalric duties, it was bizarre that such a noble person would pursue such an egotistic character like the Bandit Killer. But that was Gourry. He never saw the worse in anybody, only the good. And it was that trait of his that made him an easy target. Combine a merciless killing machine, Lina, and the gentlest person on the planet, Gourry, the balanced pair was unstoppable. But that wasn't enough. Zelgadiss hung his head and sighed loudly. As he did this, a few silver strands of hair moved away from the right side of his face. Overlapping his right eye and high cheekbone, half his face was healing from devastating third degree burns that he had obtained just three years ago.
Zelgadiss Greywards was the third member of the infamous group of hunters. An expert with a sword and gun, he was a master of knowledge and lethal with anything that he got his hands on. Before working with Lina and Gourry, he was a mercenary by trade. He accepted any job too dangerous if the money was right and he was good at it. However, after doing a specific job, he was caught in a terrible explosion and abandoned by his comrades. In result, his body became a magnet for the flames. With more than 2/3 of his body was charred and burnt into a crisp, he laid in agony for someone to find him for days. He could remember screaming in pain when rain fell upon his body. But she came. She was looking for flowers but found him instead. He spent a year bedridden, wishing and pleading for death but she never gave up on him. She fed him, cleaned his open wounds, rubbed his burn sores, and even sat up the entire night talking to him, knowing full-well that he rarely talked back. Speaking only with gentle kindness, she was able to see through the layers of harden exile that he had built over his lifetime and sculpt him into a slightly more approachable, pessimistic and non-humane man. It was still a change from being an isolated, silent, sinister ambiguity. It was because of her that Zelgadiss recovered with just scarring on only several parts of his body. She saved him and he knew that there was no way he could ever repay her generosity.
They all worked under a young woman named Filia Ul Copt. A bounty huntress herself, she had given up her hunting days to open a business in the small growing town of Saillune. Her business, 'Pottery and Mace', sold the best pottery and iron maces in the town. Although it was just a cover-up, Filia enjoyed selling her works of art and sipping tea behind the counter. Behind the shop, she and her son worked with the hunters and managed the rising number of criminals in Saillune. Assigning the group with selective highly wanted fugitives or a collective bunch of one-shot criminals, Filia and her bounty hunters were viewed as heroes in town.
"Hurry up, Zel!" Lina screamed from the top of her horse. "Let's get out of here before the savages come to investigate."
"Go without me." Zelgadiss always preferred to be alone.
"And leave my money with you? Fuck no." She stuck her tongue at him. Zelgadiss placed the dead man over his horse's back and ignored her loud complaints. "Why do you always run off alone? We are a TEAM."
"There is no 'I' in 'TEAM'." Gourry mentioned with a smile.
"What Gourry said, there is no 'I' in 'TEAM'. If you always do things alone, you're going to get yourself into trouble one day and WE won't be there to help you."
"I don't need a lecture about my work ethic. Especially from you two." He climbed on his horse and grabbed his reins. He trotted past Lina and Gourry.
"Besides," Zelgadiss glanced at Lina with a smirk. "You'd rather want me out of your way."
"What are you talking about?" Lina curled her eyebrows. She watched him chuckle away. The confused woman stared at Zelgadiss until Gourry rode his horse past her. A returning blush appeared on her face almost immediately. She punt the heels of her boots against her horse, making it neigh. Her black horse jogged past Zelgadiss.
"If you weren't useful, I would've murdered you with my Dragon Slave the moment I met you!"
- o -
One of the earliest settlements, Saillune was growing exponentially in size. Lina and Gourry rode their horses on the dirt road that ran throughout the entire town; they raised their hands in the air when familiar faces greeted their return. Riding their horses to the only bar in town, they climbed off and tied the reins with the other parked horses in front of the tavern.
"I want my part in big bills and tell Filia that I'm not paying for any of the debt that I owe! Tell her I'll pay for housing later when I get my fill of drink!" Lina shouted as she walked up the small steps to the front doors of the bar. Zelgadiss replied with a sigh and continued riding his tan horse through the colonial town, practicing his lines for someone he will see very shortly. Gourry followed Lina into the tavern.
The entire place lit up. Regulars acknowledged them the moment they walked in and the newcomers looked up with large eyes. Women would not dare to step into a bar with all these greasy drunk men just waiting to grab them to their laps. But then again, Lina Inverse was the only woman in town who wore pants. She walked to the group of wolf calling drunken men and happily let them look at her tight, pants-wearing body. Some even tried to pull her to the back room but got a fist into the gut, others laughed as the hurt men fell to the floors and hold their abdomen. Unlike other women, she was able to hold her own damn self amongst these men.
"Caught another one?" A man behind the bar asked Gourry when he sat at the bar.
"Caught and dead." Gourry smiled when the bartender with wavy dark locks gave him a large mug, the alcoholic beverage falling at its rim. He placed it to his lips and took a good long refreshing drink. A sigh of relief escaped his lips right after and a soft blush developed over his nose. The bartender quickly refilled his mug and returned to cleaning his glasses.
"Due to the Huntress' actions, I bet." Gourry turned around in his stool and watched Lina give the drunken men a show for their money. She pulled the trigger of her specially designed revolver and accurately shattered a glass from on top a man's head, in which they cheered loudly and blew more wolf calls.
"So, did you ask her? Or am I assuming nothing has changed between you two?"
"I'm trying." Gourry sighed. Lina was now arm wrestling with a muscular man with bulging sweaty muscles. He took Lina's tiny-gloved hand and gripped his stubby sausage fingers around hers. She smirked and wrapped her fingers around his hand. The man's eyes suddenly bulged out of its eye sockets and he pulled away quickly, his hand waving everywhere in the air.
"Don't underestimate a woman with 5 guns strapped to her body." Lina winked and laughed alongside of the other men. Gourry turned back around when she stood up from her chair; he continued to drink his beer, pretending he was not watching her.
"Hey, Barkeep." Lina sat next to Gourry at the bar. "Where's my beer?"
"A young lady like you should be drinking tea and attending expensive parties. Not drinking beer, chasing wanted criminals, and wearing pants for goodness sake." The man shook his head with a sigh as he cleaned a mug with a rag. Lina pouted her lips out.
"Look, just give me a beer before I set off my Dragon Slave in here."
"And blow up the only bar in Saillune?" The dark-skinned man raised his eyebrow. Lina and the bartender stared at each other for a good silent 5 seconds. She let out a grumble and turn her head away from his stern serious eyes. Soon, Lina was presented with a cold glass of refreshing milk in a beer mug and she took it with miserable defeat.
"I liked you better when you were one of us, Zangulas." Lina glared at the bartender. "Don't you miss it? You know, when your team would go out and fail a mission, than we had to save your skins from being killed? I missed those days. There was more money." Zangulas just chuckled and leaned against the bar table.
"Serve the good men of Saillune and have a good time or go back to chasing people for big money and possibly lose my life?" Zangulas sighed and grabbed his own glass of beer. "It's a hard decision but I value my life more than money, unlike you murderers." It was true, Zangulas used to be a hunter. He belonged to a separate group other than Lina and Gourry with a set of other highly talented people but after earning enough money from hunting, he and his cohorts abandoned their profession and choose a normal and boring life to live.
"You forgot one more thing." Gourry smiled.
"How could I possibly forget?" Zangulas rolled his eyes. "Challenging you to a daily duel and always losing? It was the best part." He scoffed sarcastically and dumped the contents in his mug into the sink, obviously upset. Grumbling, Zangulas took his rag and angrily scrubbed down the bar table. This was also true. Zangulas had resentment for Gourry. They both had a chivalric persona and were equally famous with the ladies however Zangulas could not stand that Gourry was better than him in sword fighting. Like the black knight in movies, Zangulas always initiated the challenge, only to end up as the loser.
"Well, Zangy, I would've taught you how to play with guns-"
"Guns are for women." Zangulas snorted at Lina. Instantly, he froze when he felt the end of a barrel press against the back of his head.
"I guess that makes me a bitch." Zelgadiss stood behind him with his gun pressed into Zangulas's hair. Zangulas turned around, his nose barely touching the barrel. This scene was quite familiar between the two as well. Zangulas raised his eyebrow while the burn victim kept a steady grip on the handle of the triple-barrel revolver.
"How about a duel? You can finally show me what you got with that piece of steel." He motioned to the sword attached to Zelgadiss's hip.
"I don't intend to waste my time with you." Zelgadiss shoved his gun into its holster. "Unlike Gourry, I don't show mercy." He jumped over the bar and joined Lina and Gourry. Zangulas let out a soft chuckle and shook his head while Zelgadiss smirked. As always, they end up just dropping the barter altogether and enjoy each other's company.
"More work?" Lina sighed when Zelgadiss raised a collection of wanted posters in her view. He dumped the posters on the table for the two to look over, they groaned loudly to see repeat offenders.
"I'm not looking for this guy again!" Lina shouted loudly. "I spent a month looking for him in the woods!" She slapped the wanted poster with the back of her hand. "And how the hell did he escape prison AGAIN?"
"Someone keeps forgetting to lock the front door." Zelgadiss leaned against the edge of the bar table with his own mug of beer to his lips.
"Let me guess." Lina said softly with a cloud of darkness forming over her eyes.
"Amelia." She, Gourry, and Zangulas said simultaneously.
"Yes?" The three turned their heads to the door. Amelia Wil Tesla Saillune stood in the doorway of the tavern with an innocent expression on her face. She tilted her head to the side as the three persons stared at her and wondered whatever she did when they sighed loudly and looked away.
"Amelia-Chan!" A group of drunk older men rushed to her and groveled at her steel-toed shoes, looking up at her with big blushes on their faces. "Amelia-Chan, you're so cute! Like an unguarded angel looking for trouble! Oh, how you grown into a fine woman!"
"C-Cute?" Amelia covered her face with both her hands and waved her body to the side. "But I'm not cute at all!" She embarrassingly whined like a child. The men squealed from an overload of cuteness and grabbed at her slender naked legs, pleading for her to dance for them on the bar table. Amelia timidly tried to wiggle away from their grip, only to make her loose dress dance in motion and gave the greedy men a preview of her milky white smooth thighs.
"OFF." Zelgadiss was suddenly behind them and spoke in a very dangerous low growl. In each of his hand, a gun was locked and loaded. The men obliged his commands and were soon sitting in their tables, drinking their lukewarm beer. He let out a loud snort and looked at Amelia with an angry expression. She just smiled.
"How many times do I have to tell you? Don't come here if you don't want to get molested."
"B-But Lina-San comes here and nobody goes near her." The little lady in the white loose dress pointed at Lina with oversize long sleeves.
"That's because everyone knows me here." Lina rolled her eyes to the men behind her and grinned. "And besides, they only prey on the young and innocent." They responded to her statement with wolf calls and laughter. Amelia and Gourry nodded suddenly, they looked at each other as if they were from the same planet and communicating mentally.
"That must mean…"
"It has too…" They said to each other softly. Lina drew her eyebrow up.
"Lina-San is not young and innocent enough." Amelia said loudly. Gourry patted his fist into his palm.
"She's too old and perverted to be considered a feast."
"DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT HERE?" Lina had Amelia and Gourry in a tight choke hold. They gasped for air as Lina grinded her fist against the top of their heads.
"B-But Lina-San said it herself. The men here are only preying on the young and innocent." Amelia said the moment Lina unhanded them.
"I meant the inexperienced and immature." Lina snapped at her. The inexperience and immature young lady blinked a few times, she blankly stared at Lina than at Gourry. She gasped suddenly and took Lina's hands into hers.
"You finally did it, Lina-San. You finally told him how you feel." Sighing with large hearts flying over her head, Amelia clasped her hands to her chest and sighed again as Lina watched her with confusion. "I bet it was a magical night filled with love. Usually, I don't approve sexual intercourse before marriage but you and Gourry-San were together for a very long time so it shouldn't matter-"
"THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT BY 'INEXPERIENCED', YOU CLOSET PERVERT!" The humiliated redhead smashed Amelia's large breasts together from behind, making her let out a high-pitch squeal with a large blush. Lina was quickly shoved off by Zelgadiss's foot; he had his arms protectively around Amelia as she cried from the rough actions done to her body. Zangulas stared at the four characters in his tavern and sighed. Gourry was holding Lina by her wrists and prevented her from lunging forward while Zelgadiss kept the sobbing tiny woman back. They never changed. He smiled and continued cleaning his bar counter.
"I AM GOING TO KILL YOU, BASTARD!" As Gourry kept Lina from fighting Zelgadiss, a customer walked into the tavern. Judging from his strange black foreign clothes, he was not from there. Sitting on an empty table close to the back but nearby so he can hear the ongoing conversation, the man in the black suit took off his top hat from his purple head of hair and placed it on the small round table. His slender black cane leaned against his knee as he unbuttoned his black suit jacket. He kept a gentle smile plastered on his face the entire time, his slit eyes were difficult to tell where and who he was looking at. A book was opened in front of him and he quietly began to read.
"What the hell are you doing here anyways, Amelia? Shouldn't you be at your shift?" Lina changed the subject, hoping it would avert the topic from her. The tears from Amelia's eyes quickly evaporated, she left Zelgadiss's side and reached into the leather black pouch above her buttocks.
"Zelgadiss-San left before Filia-San could give him this last mission-"
"I told her looking for 7 random people for the week is an overload." Zelgadiss waved the 7 wanted posters in Amelia's faces.
"That's fine, she told me to give these to you next week." She swiped 4 out of 7 posters from his hand and replaced it with the one instead. Zelgadiss looked down at the enlarged drawing of a man's face, Lina and Gourry poked their heads around his shoulders.
"This guy is not wanted." Gourry pointed aloud.
"Just because his face is not on a wanted poster, does not mean he is not one of the prime suspects of 8 kidnappings." Amelia replied. Gourry nodded at that logic.
"Kidnappings?" Lina questioned loudly. "Lina Inverse does not do kidnappers. She does murderers and highly wanted criminals. Give this back to the police-"
"This is from a private client and he is willing to give each person who participates a sum of 400,000."
"Why, this man is going to pay for kidnapping those poor innocent people! WHEN I FIND HIM, I'M GOING TO MAKE HIM SORRY FOR WHAT HE'S DONE!" Lina quickly changed her attitude, Gourry and Amelia cheered with her in the background.
"Accepting private clients?" Zelgadiss questioned as he folded the picture and shoved it into his pants pocket. "If I didn't know any better, it sounds like Filia is turning us into mercenaries." Amelia smiled with a soft giggle.
"Winter is coming along and business is getting slow. Filia-San is accepting any job that is being given to us so please don't be shocked if she takes a missing person's case next month." As Zelgadiss commented on Filia's work policy, Amelia grabbed her shoulder bag that was resting on her hip and took out a nicely folded beige material.
"Here." She presented it to him and Zelgadiss stopped talking. "I noticed you used your coat for covering up Uehara-San's body so I grabbed an extra clean coat for you to wear from your room." It was this kindness that he had trouble responding too. When he didn't do anything, Amelia took a step closer and pushed the coat against his chest.
"I don't want you to be cold."
"Yeah." Zelgadiss snapped out of his gaze and grabbed the coat from her tiny hands. He turned his head away when she tried to look at his expression. It was a habit he had acquired upon receiving the burns on his face. He didn't take pleasure in people staring at him. In fact, he despised it greatly when they looked at his burns so he always kept it hidden behind his long silver bangs. Though, when it was Amelia who was looking, he felt more misery than displeasure. While Zelgadiss kept his face lowered, Amelia just smiled at his isolated behavior. She was already used to it.
"You better hurry back, Zelgadiss-San, or I'm going to have Filia-San teach me how to-"
"Not in your life." He quickly responded with a sudden glare, forgetting that he was looking away just a while ago. Merely teasing and only wanting to see his expression again, Amelia giggled at his sudden outburst. The one thing he hated above everything else was the idea of Amelia becoming a Bounty Hunter like him. Although she was teasing this time, Zelgadiss knew she was serious about becoming a Huntress. Sticking her tongue out playfully at his growling expression, Amelia turned her attention to Zangulas, whom she had forgotten to greet. She rushed over and joined Lina and Gourry at the bar, unsuccessfully pulling them away from their drinks and persuading them to return back to work. Zelgadiss watched her tug on Gourry's long gold hair and whine for him to work, the dumb fellow just continued to drink. Shaking the blush that was reappearing on his face again, he quickly unfolded the trench coat and wore it over his short-sleeved solid black shirt and beige pants. Trying it closed with a black sash, he called Lina and Gourry's attention.
"Back to work."
"That's the spirit, Zelgadiss-San!" Amelia cheered loudly.
"Are you serious? We just got back from a hunt! I'm tired." The redhead complained. Zelgadiss rolled his eyes and left the bar, getting the horses ready for departure.
"People are getting hurt out there, Lina-San! It's up to you, Gourry-San, and Zelgadiss-San to get rid of those bad men!" Amelia bounced on top of the bar counter and stood in front of Gourry and Lina. Lina just raised her eyebrow. "Saillune is in dire need of help! Are you going to deny Saillune's plea for help and let these bad men take over this town or you going to do something about it?" She said it twinkling signs of 'justice' shining in her eyes. Lina glared at her.
"You know, ever since Filia appointed you as our advisor, you've been mistreating me, Amelia." Lina said loudly, Amelia blinked a few times.
"I have?"
"Yes." Suddenly, darkness spread across her face and Lina gave off an evil smile. "And do you know what I do to naughty girls like you?" Amelia gulped when Lina lifted her gloved hand in the air and clenched it into a fist.
"L-Lina-San…" She whimpered. Lina joined her on the counter and slammed her burning fist into her own palm.
"It's punishment time." It only took Lina a few seconds to catch Amelia in the bar. Zelgadiss turned his head when he heard loud familiar squeals and cheering. Grumbling, he left his horse's side and stomped through the entrance of the tavern. He stopped the moment he walked in. Lina had Amelia lying on top of her lap, on her stomach with her dress pulled above her hips, showing off her white lace panties and rear.
"SHOW SOME DAMN RESPECT TOWARDS YOUR SUPERIORS!" Lina shouted as she spanked the squeaking girl with an open hand. Her rear end was getting slightly red from the punishment. Amelia screeched; her legs and arms waving wildly, droplets of tears rolled from her eyes.
"Please, no more! I said I'm sorry!" The men in the bar watched the adorable little lady get punished with their faces entirely red. Gourry and Zangulas even had blushes on their faces. Although, they had witnessed countless times Amelia being punished, it was not the sexual acts that she undergoes; it was her cute reactions that made them lose control of their loins.
"Please, Lina-San! It hurts Amelia-Chan's bottom! Please, no more!"
"NOT GOOD ENOUGH-"
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" Zelgadiss grabbed Amelia from Lina's lap and grinded his sharp knuckle into Lina's head, she let out a loud whine as he did so. The men in the bar groaned slightly when Zelgadiss pulled Amelia's dress down to her knees. Amelia buried her face against his chest and cried loudly, his arm wrapped securely around her body. "YOU PERVERTED SADIST!"
"Who's calling who a pervert? I see red on you!" Lina pointed at Zelgadiss' face. Out of everyone in the bar, he was the only one with a bloody nose and a cherry-like face.
"S-SHUT UP!" He gave her a hard karate chop into Lina's head. She fell backwards with dizzy spells for eyes. "AND WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU LOOKING AT?" Zelgadiss snapped at the onlookers. Immediately, the background music continued to play its soft melodic tune and they all returned to their beer. He snorted with a nod and escorted the traumatized girl out the bar.
Once outside, Gourry knelt next to Lina's lain body and poked her cheek. "Lina?" She quickly opened her eyes. "It worked."
"Good." Lina stood up from the hardwood floor and sat back into her seat. "Let's have one more drink, barkeep, and make it ALCOHOLIC. I have a feeling that we're going to be hunting for this next guy for a good while." A trick to create more time for one last drink, it had worked to their advantage.
"Next time, when you want to cause trouble in my bar," Zangulas looked up from rubbing his damp cloth over the dirty boot prints that Lina left on his bar counter. "DON'T DO IT ON MY PROPERTY." He served them their drinks and continued to clean. Lina and Gourry hit their mugs together in celebration.
"It's a good thing I know his weakness." Lina snickered and chugged down her foamy beer. Slamming the empty mugs on the table, the two bounty hunters left their bar stools and joined Zelgadiss. Eventually, the mystery man from earlier closed his book and strolled over to the irritable bartender. He reached into his pocket as he did so.
"Excuse me." The man held a gold metal police badge in the palm of his hand. "You look like you knew something about those four interesting people who just left."
"I know something." Zangulas didn't bother to look at the Law Enforcer and continued to clean.
"Would you like to share it with me?"
"I'm not the type of man who shares information without a price." He turned his body to make a fresh glass of beer for himself and when he turned back around to face the stranger, there was a long-barrel revolver with a large bullet chamber laid on the bar counter. The end pointed casually at Zangulas. Putting the glass to his lips, Zangulas carefully looked at the man; his eyes were shaped like rainbows and his smile was gentle.
"Would you like to share it with me?" He asked again. Zangulas eventually finished his long sip and placed his glass next to the revolver. The stranger made no movement for the weapon, instead his smile grew wider. As if this man was daring Zangulas to make the first move. This man, Zangulas resolved, made him uneasy.
"What do you want to know?" He shrugged his shoulders in an attempt to ease his nerves.
"Oh, just the usual." The man's eyes slightly open, showing off amethyst eyes. "Their names and who they are working for."
- 01 -
Just the Usual
