Chapter 4
Fiorentin and her warriors finally arrived at Alberta after a week of walking, right at noon.
"Oh, Alberta! Thanks heaven we finally made it after a week of tired walking!", George shouted. "Tired walking? The journey from Comodo wasn't tiring, the only thing I found tiring is your dummy bragging the entire week!", Olivia shouted to him. "Here we go again", muttered Felicia to herself.
"Me? Bragging? Did I brag about something?", George asked back.
"Yeah, like when you said "Oh, it's very hot in here, it's bad for my skin, when will we get to Alberta? or when you said "Ow, the mosquitoes last night were very rude. I could die from blood loss if didn't fight them back with my full power!", Olivia answered. George couldn't reply, he was too embarrassed.
"But, the only thing you managed to hit with your full power was a tree, while the mosquitoes were still having fun drinking your blood afterwards. And not to mention, the tree almost managed to fall on Devi had he not countered it with his brandish spear! What an idiot!", Olivia continued loudly. Her deviruchi pet just nodded hearing her master's words.
"Hey, who told you to bring your deviruchi pet with us! This is a mission, not an animal talent show! He should stick in the base, having some fun with his stinky pacifier!", George shouted back.
"Well, he's scared because of you now! I had to send him back to his world, you know!" Olivia replied loudly. "Guys, behave. We didn't come here to do a cat fight." Fiorentin said calmly trying to cool the two down. "Oh, oh. Yes, mam!" they both replied at the same time.
"Princess, what are we going to do now? Are we going to find something to eat first, or trying to get an info about the Valdomir soldiers guarding the town?", Felicia asked to Fiorentin.
"Let's find something to eat first, you guys are hungry right?" Fiorentin answered. They just nodded.
"Oh, yeah. Don't act suspiciously and don't call me princess here. Even though there are only 30 soldiers here and the security isn't tight, we don't want the Valdomir soldiers to find out about us, right?" Fiorentin continued. "OK. What do we call you now, princess? ....Ups, sorry!" George asked.
"Let's see, Fio seems to be a good name. Yeah, you can call me Fio from now on" Fio answered calmly. "Fio? Oh, ok. As you wish prin...I mean, Fio!" George replied.
And the four slowly entered Alberta.
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Once the four managed to enter the town, George was really surprised how easy it was to enter Alberta.
"Man, there are almost no security at all here. The soldiers weren't even guarding the town gate. I though we would have to pass one or two checkpoints" George said.
"That's why I chose this town to be our new base. This town is the easiest to be defeated among other towns, I'm sure if we want to get through Geffen or Prontera it would be a hundred time harder" Fiorentin explained.
The four arrived in an Inn named 'Peco Inn' not far from the port. There, they took a seat. An old woman, the owner of the inn, approached them. "Good days, Sir and Mam. What would you like to have as your lunch?", she said.
"Will 2 steaks serve you enough, guys?", Fio asked. Her companions nodded. "Ok then, 2 steaks. And I mean the best steak you have in here. And, just a mineral water as the drink" she continued. "OK, please wait for a minute", the owner said while walking to the kitchen.
"Peco Inn? What's with the name?", Olivia muttered. "Oh, didn't you realize? They have a peco-peco stable behind the inn, which I found very cute. And they also sell some peco-peco dolls, which I found very cute too!", Felicia explained happily.
"Oh come on, sis. Peco-peco isn't half as cute as Deviruchi." Olivia replied."Peco-peco is thousand times cuter than a Deviruchi, you can even ride them! Moreover, why would a high priest have a devil as her pet?" Felicia protested. "I don't care, Devi isn't too devil to be a devil!" Olivia said back.
Meanwhile, in the kitchen...
"El, 2 steaks for table number four!", said the owner loudly to Elraven who was seen cooking on the kitchen. "Coming", Elraven replied while readjusting his purple glasses.
"Man, this undercover job is harder than I thought. I spend almost more than half my day in this inn rather than having some info about this town. I should have find another job rather than a cook!", he muttered to himself.
"Maybe, I should have become one of the town soldiers. But, I'm not a swordsman. I'm unable to use a sword. Oh, I shouldn't have skipped the sword training class back there in the academy!!", he continued while bringing the steaks to table number four.
"Alright, the steak!", George said loudly when he saw Elraven bringing the steak. "Behave, George", Olivia warned him."Here you go, sir and mam. Your drinks will be arrived soon", Elraven said while putting the steaks at the table. "Huh, you are...." Fiorentin said to him. "Yes?" Elraven replied.
Fiorentin gave an awkward stare to him. She narrowed her eyes like she was realizing something when she saw Elraven, but she couldn't remember. "Is something wrong miss?" Elraven asked her politely. "Oh no, nothing" she replied back.
"Is there any other thing I can help you with?" Elraven asked politely. "Yes actually, do you sell the peco-peco in the stable ?", Felicia asked. "Huh? Oh, yeah. They are for sale. One peco is 30,000 zenny." Elraven replied while readjusting his purple glasses. .
"What? That is too expensive!" Felicia shouted. The others gave an awkward look at her while remaining silent. They look surprised. "Oh, sorry. I can't get a hold of myself when it comes to cute things, my bad" she said embarrassingly.
"Oh, OK. Anyway, I will take your drinks here very soon. Excuse me", Elraven said while walking towards the kitchen slowly. "I've seen him somewhere before", Fiorentin muttered to herself.
When Elraven took the drinks to the warriors table, some children approached him. "El, play us your doll story again!" the children asked. "Oh, kids. I've been playing the doll story for almost a week for you, don't you feel bored at all? Besides, I'm working right now", Elraven replied.
"That's OK, El. You play the dolls for them. I'll take care of the guests", the owner of the store said from his behind. "OK, boss.", Elraven said.
"A doll play?", Fiorentin asked to the owner. "Yes, Elraven is not only a great cook. He is also a great entertainer and a great bodyguard,too", the owner explained. "Bodyguard?", Fiorentin replied.
But, before she got an explanation, the children clapped loudly to the very famous doll show. Even some of guests were paying attention, too.
Elraven came out from the kitchen bringing 2 peco dolls, a black peco and a white peco. "Cute", Felicia whispered. And then, Elraven put the black peco on his left hand and the white peco on his right hand. And started telling the story.
"Once upon a time in Alberta, there are a white peco-peco live near the port. He is known as a good, gentle peco. But unknown to the people in Alberta, the white peco is a prince from a far away Peco-Peco Kingdom trying to hide himself because his father was dethroned by his enemy,the black peco. Now, the white peco is trying live peacefully by forgetting his past", Elraven started. "Huh?", Fiorentin muttered.
"But one day, the black peco managed to find him", Elraven continued. From here, Elraven mimicked a chicken sound while telling the story.
Black Peco : "At last, I found you white peco!!"
White Peco : "B,black peco!! What are you doing here??"
Black Peco: "I'm here to take you back to the kingdom. And then, I will turn you into a chicken steak!! Wahahahhahahah!"
White Peco : "NO! I'm trying to live a peaceful life here, please let me go!"
Black Peco : "What? Don't be a sore loser. What are you, a chicken?"
White Peco : "Well, I am a chicken. And you are a chicken, too"
Black Peco : "Huh? Hey, yeah right. I'm a chicken, too"
White Peco : "See, we both are chickens. Why would we hurt each other? We shouldn't dare, right ? That's why we are chickens. And you shouldn't even dare to dethrone my father, did you?"
Black Peco : "Uh, yeah. I guess you're right"
White Peco : "See, there's no point on fighting anymore. Now, why don't we go to the peco inn and have some steak? A chicken steak or a beef steak will be good"
Black Peco: "Uh, ok. There are some peco-peco dolls I want to buy, too"
White Peco : "Ok, let's get going then!"
"And then they come to Peco Inn, and they live happily ever after", Elraven finished. The children laughed and clapped.
"What? That's it? What kind of story was that?", George shouted. "Was that even a story?", Olivia replied. "Oh guys, that was a cute and touching story. And the peco-peco were cute too", Felicia interrupted. "He just want to promote this inn, a bad story but not a bad idea", Fiorentin said calmly.
BRAAAAAK!!!
Suddenly, a sound of something dropped surprised the whole inn. "What did you say, old hag? There are no steaks, anymore?", said a big man with an eye patched in his left eye. It turned out that, he just threw one of the tables while shouting at the owner of the inn not far from Fiorentin's table. Two scary looking men were seen standing behind the big man. They have an old modeled hand gun on their waist.
"I'm s,s,s,sorry! But, we, we ran our of the,the meat right now", said the owner scarily. "Like hell I care!!" the big man shouted again. "If I, Gacker, said an order, you must obey. Now, either you give me the steak, or I'll destroy this inn, right now" the man named Gacker threatened.
Before Fiorentin and her warriors made a move to save the owner, Elraven already barged in between the owner and Gacker. "What do you want, punk? Trying to be a hero?" Gacker said to Elraven. "Pops, you are disturbing my boss and my guests. Please leave, before someone get hurt." Elraven said while readjusting his purple glasses.
"Don't tell me what to do, punk!" Gacker shouted while trying to throw a punch towards Elraven. But before he even realized, Elraven threw a quick strong punch right to his face, sent him flying out of the inn and hit the wall in front of the inn's building. He was knocked unconscious in one punch.
The two men who were standing behind Gacker surprised for a bit, but they quickly pulled the old modeled hand gun from their waists. Unfortunately for them, Elraven threw 2 coins to their faces, managed to shocked them a bit.
Before they even noticed, Elraven had already stole their guns and pointed the guns right on their heads from behind. "Now, will you two morons leave peacefully? Or should I give you a 'hand' like I did your boss? By using the guns of course", he asked, smiling. The two men quickly lifted their boss, and ran as fast as they can. Elraven threw the guns.
"Thank you, El. You have done it again. Just like you did the thugs 3 days ago", the owner said. "Don't worry, boss. I'm a cook, an entertainer, and a bodyguard, remember?", Elraven replied. The whole inn, and the people watching outside gave him a thunderous clap and praises.
"Wow, what a punch he gave to that big man", Felicia said. "Heh, his punch was not stronger than mine", George replied. "Maybe that's true, but at least his punch managed to hit the right direction. Unlike you, George" Olivia said to George. "What?!", asked George furiously. "Let's leave this place at once. I have something to discuss, now" Fiorentin ordered her warriors surprisingly. The three nodded. They left some zenny coins in their table and leave.
Outside the inn....
"What's up, Fio? Why suddenly left?" Felicia asked. "Didn't you notice, guys? That guy is no ordinary man, based on his strength and agility. Not from Rune-Midgard, though. Since his fighting style was different from the knights or the monks" Fiorentin explained calmly.
"How did you know that, Fio?" Olivia asked."The monks and knights didn't throw coins and steal guns, I presume. My best guess is, he's from the Republic of Schwaltzvalt. Most possibly a gunslinger" she continued.
"A gunslinger? The soldiers who fight with the firearms? What is that kind of a man doing in Alberta?" George replied. "I don't know. But if he isn't alone, we can use the gunslingers to help us take down Alberta. There aren't so many Valdomir Kingdom soldiers here in Alberta, to begin with. I'll talk to him tomorrow" Fiorentin answered.
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So, one more chapter until the first big fight. Please tell me if I made mistakes in grammar. Don't forget to review.