Sunset was approaching inexorably, and Rock and Revy still hadn't returned from their hunt. Dewar had been worried for a while now. He had been certain that they would deal with a few sherads during the day and return before it started to get dark. However, there was maybe 20 minutes left until sunset, and they were still absent.
He had packed up his stall some time ago and standing on the cart, was looking around for their trace. He was accompanied by a young receptionist from the communication post. Alena tried to support him morally as much as she could, but the dwarf still had mostly dark thoughts.
He was already able to imagine their unfortunate end. Thinking about it, he partly blamed himself. Despite the fact that they had chosen to become hunters themselves, he could have given them more time to learn or he could have accompanied them on the hunt.
"Please don't worry, Mr. Dewar..." The young girl said, approaching him. "They'll probably be back soon."
"I'll stop worrying when I see them." He replied in a rough voice, even though he didn't mean to offend her in any way. After a moment, he looked her way with a softer expression on his face. "Forgive me, dear... I didn't mean to..."
"I understand you..." Alena interrupted him. "I've been working at this post for two years. Although that's not long, during that time I've met many hunters from behind that counter." She said with a slight melancholy in her voice. "Some of them came back and I used to saw them regularly. About some I only heard later from reports. And some that I met disappeared without a trace, not long after..." Saying this, she sat down on the edge of Dewar's wagon. Dewar sat down next to her. "I've never been able to tell who will return and who will disappear... Or rather, I didn't want to... And I still don't. I always believe that the hunter I gave contract to will return and I'm willing to wait for them. So..." She said trowing blanket over her back. "I'm glad I'm not waiting alone today..." She finished with a slight smile. Dewar looked in her direction and after a moment smiled gently.
"I'm not such an optimist as to unwaveringly believe in their return... But it's nice to hear someone's positive thoughts."
After a dozen or so more minutes, dusk fell. The area around the wagon was illuminated by a previously lit fire from which a pleasant warm light emanated. Dewar knew that with every minute of darkness, the chances of survival near the sherad's nest were decreasing. If they hadn't left the nest already, it might have been too late for them. However, suddenly, two figures emerged from the darkness of the night. He quickly stood up and carefully directed the lamp in their direction. After a moment, Rock's face flashed in the light. He was riding his brown horse, and Revy, few steps behind, on her black mare. He rejoyced, as did Alena, who, seeing that she was completely right in her hope, was far more open with her joy than the stoic dwarf. However, a moment later he noticed confusion on their faces, their clothes were visibly dirty, and under Revy's brown hat he noticed the white of the bandage, with a visible red stain.
Dewar quickly approached them, worried, although still happy to see them. Rock was just tying his mare to a tree.
"What took so long? I was sure I wouldn't see you again..." He said in a clearly stoic voice, and if it weren't for the slight signs of facial expression from under his gray beard, it would be hard to tell that this was a sincere question and that he cared about the answer.
"We were attacked..." Revy replied in a clearly tired voice as she stoped her horse near a tree and Rock tied her up. "The fucking sticks ambushed us..." She said slowly getting off her horse. Rock tried to help her, but she got off before he could help her.
"What?" Dewar replied with obvious surprise. He had never heard of sherads being smart enough to set up an ambush before, especialy during a day. He looked towards Rock, his gaze demanding an explanation. Rock just nodded.
"Yeah, that's true... But that's not end of it."
"So you want to tell me something attacked the Sherads?"
Rock had just recounted the hunt. The route they had taken to find the shrads, how they had found them, how they had eliminated them, and the group of dead sherads as well as the ambush. Alena was in the meantime dressing the wound on Revy's forehead.
"Something really big..." Rock replied, holding a tray of bandages for Alena. "...A tree was knocked down..."
"The tree was dead and dry... It could have fallen on its own under more pressure, it didn't have to be something big." Revy said, then hissed in pain as Alena wiped her wound.
"Please don't move too much, Miss Revy..." Alena picked up a fresh bandage from the tray and began wrapping it around Revy's head. "The wound looks clean. It doesn't need stitching and it probably won't leave a scar..." Revy hissed again feeling the pressure of the bandage on the wound.
"Those damn shits, their claws are sharp as hell... I didn't even feel it cut me." She said holding her bangs. And Rock nodded, then looked towards Dewar. He was clearly lost in thought and worried.
"Is something woring you Dewar?" Rock asked looking in his direction. Dewar sighed after a moment of obvious thought and looked in his direction.
"I think, what it could have been that attacked those sherads... I don't give a damn how big it was, but the fact that the awakened sherads climbed the trees and watched over. Sherads are cowardly creatures, but if they can, they will defend the nest..." The dwarf replied scratching his head.
"So it wasn't an ambush, we just came at the wrong time?" Rock's face was turned towards Dewar as he asked the question, Revy just stared in his direction, not wanting to move too much so as not to disturb the young receptionist as she was bandaging her.
"Looks like it..." The dwarf replied still very thoughtfully, then turned his gaze towards the employee of the communication post. "Maybe it won't come near the village, but I guess we'll have to inform the League about it anyway..." Alena nodded.
"Yes... I'll write a report about it and send it to the office as soon as I finish bandaging Miss Revy..." The young girl replied politely.
Less than a minute later, she finished dressing Revy's wound and went to her booth, followed by the rest of the people present. Revy, getting off the wagon, pushed her hat on her head to hide the bandage. When they approached the counter of the post, Alena was already writing a report on a typewriter. The spring-like sound of the typewriter's arms hitting the paper in an extremely fast thud was almost hypnotic, no one even thought about interrupting her. When she stopped typing, she pulled out a piece of paper from the typewriter and handed it to Rock.
"Please check if everything is correct..." Alena, as she had previously spoken mainly in a gentle and delicate voice, now spoke in a strong and truly officeworker voice. Evidently, despite her short experience, working in a small communication post had become a habit for her. Rock, in the light of the oil lamp hanging under the roof of the post, began to read the text. It was a record of the dead shards they had found and the possibility of a larger monster in this forest. After reading it, Rock showed the paper to Revy, who quickly looked through it and nodded.
"Looks good." He replied, handing the paper back to Alena. She nodded, then put the paper behind her, on the desk where another typewriter like machine stood. To Rock it remided him of old teletypes.
"I will now write the reports of completed contracts..." Alena said, in a confident voice, sitting down in front of the typewriter again. "The contract was written as a combined one, so I will write it as two... From what I understand, you are not registered in the League and do not have ID, right?" Both Rock and Revy were slightly confused by the amount of information she gave, but they understood enough to shake their heads. "I understand. I will also write certificates of completion of contracts so that you can present them in the office in the city, as evidence..."
"Additionally, they took care of Derego's gang. If I remember correctly, there is a reward for them..." Dewar suddenly intervened. However, Alena continued typing on the typewriter without taking her eyes off it.
"I will check in a moment... I understand that you are a witness?" The dwarf nodded, confirming her question.
"Okay... Could I have some sherad weaves please..." Rock took a cloth bag from his over shoulder bag, in which he kept the weaves collected from the sherads, and then placed it on the counter. Revy had insisted that they should collect them from all the corpses, despite her wounds. However, that made them returned after dark. Alena peeled herself off the typewriter and carefully poured the contents of the bag onto the counter, then began counting the amber shards. "Are in these the weaves of the sherads you found already dead?" Rock hesitated for a moment before answering the question.
"Yes... There are 19 of them..." Right after that he yelped as got elbowed in the side by Revy. She had been counting on a bigger reward if all the weaves were counted as sherads killed by them. Alena paid no attention to their behavior.
"That's 42 sherads killed by you two and 19 found dead..." Alena said emotionlessly typing on the typewriter.
"By the way, girly..." Revy suddenly interrupted, irritated by Rock's behavior. "...Will you be able to give us the reward for all the orders today?" Alena, as soon as she heard Revy's rough voice, stopped her hands above the typewriter, then slowly turned towards them. There was nothing left of the confident and cold office worker on her face. Instead, an awkward and helpless smile that was supposed to at least slightly soothe the upcoming conflict.
"I'm sorry, Miss Revy... But the rewards are only given out at the local League offices..." She said in a slightly frightened voice.
"What do you mean by that?" At these equally harsh words, Alena doubled over.
"I'm very sorry, but the reward can only be collected in larger cities!" She said quickly, frightened. Revy gritted her teeth. She was about to throw some words at the girl behind the counter but then Rock stopped her.
"Revy, don't exaggerate... It's not her fault." He said in a calm voice, placing his hand on her shoulder.
"These are the rules of the league... It's supposed to prevent attacks on communication posts by robbers..." The employee added from herself. Revy sighed after a moment, some irritation left her. However, she still had to take a breather after a not-so-successful day.
"Rock, finish the paperwork without me... I saw a bar somewhere in town, I'm going for a drink." Revy turned on her heel, freeing herself from under Rock's hand at the same time. Then she headed towards the settlement.
"Ufff, I thought it would be worse..." Alena said quietly, straightening up as soon as Revy's silhouette disappeared behind the building. "Miss Revy looked seriously on edge..." Rock just laughed gently.
"Don't worry. She was just irritated... As you probably noticed, the hunt didn't go so well for us." He added in a slightly tired but calm voice and pointed to his forehead where Revy had a wound. "She just needs a moment to catch her breath. Don't take it personally."
"I see... So, back to how was the hunt?" Alena sat down in front of the typewriter again and waited for Rock's words. He started talking after a moment of thought.
"We tied the horses in front of the forest and set off along the tracks left by the sherads..."
Revy, after a few minutes of stralling through the streets of the settlement, lit only by the light from the windows of the buildings she passed, came across the main square. Standing by the town hall, she looked around at the buildings along the square, quickly finding the one she was interested in. It wasn't difficult, more light shone from its windows than from the rest of the surrounding buildings, and even from where she was standing, she could hear the noice form inside. She quickly pressed her hat to her head and headed in the previously chosen direction.
Approaching the building, she quickly pushed open the double doors and went through them. Inside, she was hit by the warm light from the lamps hanging from the relatively high ceiling, she felt the distinct smell of alcohol and sweat in her nostrils, the noise of the guests of this establishment and simple music from the jukebox standing against the wall, which was the size of a small wall unit, rang in her ears. In short, she felt like in home.
With a calm but confident step, she moved forward, towards the bar. On the way she passed locals who bored with the monotony, were playing dice, complaining or simply drinking alcohol. She didn't pay attention to them, and neither did they to her, only a few glanced at her, but seeing that it was no one they knew, they went back to their activities.
She sat down on the corner of the bar, and soon a man with a balding head but a bushy mustache stood in front of her. He was slightly surprised to see someone new here, but decided to keep quiet about it. Especialy when he remembered the rumors about the hunters who came to the settlement at noon.
Revy took a few banknotes out of her pants pocket and put them on the bar counter. It was the money that Dewar had given them the day before they left, which was part of the payment for the equipment they had taken from the bandits, that they had saved him from.
"Something bearable..." She said enigmatically, but the bartender nodded and took a bottle with a white label and golden contents from the shelf behind him, took a wide glass from under the counter and filled it halfway, then handed it to Revy, taking a smaller banknote from the pile in front of her. Revy dipped her lips into the drink, it was slightly sweet, but she could feel the percentages of alcohol. At the same time, the term bearable was an understatement. "What is it?" She asked, still holding the glass in her hand.
"Honey wine... Although it's more like whiskey..." The bartender answered, wanting to put the bottle back.
"Good... Leave the bottle." Revy suddenly said in a rough voice. The bartender looked at her in surprise, but a moment later he shrugged and put the bottle next to her, and from the pile of banknotes he took, this time, a larger banknote, and then left to attend others. Revy put the rest of the money in her pants pocket, then refilled the drink in the glass.
Some time passed and when Revy was on her third glass of the golden drink she heard a familiar footstep coming from behind her and then Rock sat down next to her.
"I've taken care of the paperwork. You'll just have to sign, but we can take care of that in the morning..." He said taking off his hat.
"That was quick... That girl didn't cause any trouble?" She asked in a bored voice, not looking up, but she still managed to see Rock shake his head. "Is it because I scared her?" Rock laughed gently.
"To tell you the truth she thought you'd yell at her more... She said she had experience with hunters who signed a contract without reading it and then got mad at her for not giving them a reward..." Rock laughed, reaching behind the counter and pulling out a glass from under it. Revy just snorted at his answer.
"If she really pissed me off, she would have had a bullet hole between her eyes by now... She just irritated me..."
"I know that." Rock said nonchalantly, then poured himself some golden liquor from the bottle into his glass. "I told her the same thing... Maybe I just used softer words..." After saying that, he dipped his lips into the drink in the glass. The honey wine must have tasted good to him, because after a moment he looked at the contents of the glass with a gentle smile.
Thoughts in Revy's head were fighting with each other. Since the fight with the sherads by the fallen tree, her head had no concept of peace, and she felt that her stomach was turning non-stop and only with great effort did she stop herself from losing its contents. She hadn't felt this feeling in a long time, or at least not as strong, because flashes of it had been appearing since she and Rock had woken up in that hole in the ground. Was it fear? Uncertainty and doubt? In the past, she had been able to suppress this feeling with alcohol, but now? It was true that three glasses were nothing to her, but she didn't feel that she had come even close to suppressing what was gnawing at her. And the worst thing was that the part of the puzzle that was bothering her so much was sitting next to her and drinking the alcohol she had bought.
She looked at Rock and with irritation in her eyes, she stuttered. "Say it Rock..." Rock just looked at her with slight surprise, still holding the glass to his face.
"What?" He asked, clearly surprised.
"Rock, fucking say it..." Revy continued. "Say it finally that I fucked up... Say that I almost killed you again..." She spoke in a cold voice, but there was a hint of hope in it that if she heard his complaints, everything would go back to normal. Rock's face saddened and he slowly put the glass down on the bar counter. He swallowed, and the sound of the still playing music and the hustle and bustle of the half-filled room only intensified his silence.
"No... Revy... We both fucked up..." He replied after a moment. "And we both almost died..." These words hit Revy even harder, who, hearing them, remembered her own panic when she was on the verge of another death, a few hours ago.
"How we? I wanted to take care of those sherads, and you..."
"And I did nothing but complain..." Rock interrupted her. "I could have said no, I could have turned around or tried to convince you to back down... But instead I complained and then I just nodded and followed you..." Revy's gaze softened, and her stomach seemed to stop turning so quickly, hearing his words, the mere selfreflection from him made her feel a little better, a little less lonely in this mess in her head.
"Rock..." She stammered again, her voice softer, but Rock continued to speak.
"It was easier before, there was Eda, there was Dutch or Le Majeur... You could always count on them when it came to fighting, and leave it to me to talk, but now... Now it's just the two of us and we can only count on each other... I knew it. I said it. And I still didn't do anything, and acted like always..." Revy suddenly interrupted him
"So we both made mistakes..." She said, seeing that he was cornering himself in the guilt. Rock just sighed after a moment, calming down.
"Yeah..." He said, taking a glass of alcohol in his hand and tipping it to his lips. "If we want to continue living, we have to learn not to make such mistakes... Or change our profession while we're still alive..."
"I prefer the first option..." Revy said, then refilled their glasses with alcohol, then raised her glass for a toast. "I'd rather die fighting than be bored to death." Seeing her gentle smile, Rock smiled slightly himself. Then he raised his own glass for a toast.
"Well... I didn't expect anything different from you..."
They both swallowed the drink, both confused, both feeling like shit, but both feeling little more honest with eachother.
Rock and Revy, after a night of sleep in the bar, returned to the communication post, next to which Dewar's wagon with his stall was still standing. The dwarf himself was sitting by the fire behind the cart, and opposite him sat two other men and a woman. From the look of their clothes, Rock could tell that they were also merchants or the previously mentioned local vendors. Despite that, Rock, approaching, raised his hand and waved in greeting. Dewar noticed him out of the corner of his eye. With a unusual sincere smile, he said something to his interlocutors, then stood up and approached Rock and Revy.
"Good to see you..." He said, approaching them. However, Revy was more interested in the situation by the fire, than in his greatings.
"Locals not happy with the competition?" She asked, nodding towards the group by the fire. Dewar only laughed lightly.
"Well... At first they weren't thrilled, but when I presented them with my offer, they changed their attitude very quickly."
"So you were right about them taking the opportunity rather than fighting it..." Dewar smiled slightly with satisfaction hearing Rock's words.
"That was obvious... Besides, I haven't been in this business since yesterday, I know how other merchants think..."
"Cool... What now?"
"My new clients..." He said it in a half-whisper. "They're ready to go with us to the store to buy the rest of the contents, so as soon as you're ready we can go." Rock nodded.
"We have one more thing to take care of at the com post, but then I guess we can go... Right Revy?" She just shrugged.
"If it was up to me, we could be gone already. But you mentioned something about some papers to sign..." She replied reluctantly, not necessarily wanting to play bureaucracy game.
"I understand... Get what you need to do and I'll start packing the wagon." Immediately after these words, the dwarf turned around and returned to his customers by the fire, putting on a cheerful and satisfied smile on his face, despite his stoic nature.
In the meantime, Rock and Revy, wasting no time, headed towards the communication post. Approaching it, they were able to see Alena's dark hair, lying on the counter. They approached her, and hoping that she would wake up soon, they waited for a minute. However, she turned her head to the side. Revy, impatient with waiting for the young receptionist to wake up, snaped finger at her nose before Rock could stop her. Alena sat up abruptly and grabbed her nose, groaning. It took her a moment to open her eyes and realize what situation she was in.
"Good morning... Nice morning we have, right?" Revy said, in a tone clearly mocking the young receptionist, who had lost her tongue in her mouth from embarrassment.
"Yes... Good morning..." She replied after a moment, still embarrassed.
"Good morning..." Rock added after a moment, trying to bring the conversation back on track. "Everything okay Alena? Don't you look too good?"
"Yes, yes..." She replied, pausing for a yawn. "Yesterday I got the news that I am officially being transferred to the local office in the city... I spent all night packing."
"So today's your last day?" Alen nodded at his question.
"Yeah... I'm finishing my shift in the afternoon, so I still have time to say goodbye to my friends and parents..."
"Speaking of finishing things..." Revy interrupted. "As I recall, I had some papers to sign."
"Oh yeah... Please give me a second..." Alena perked up and threw herself at the pile of papers on the table next to her. After a few seconds, she managed to find a stack of papers and handed them to Revy. "This is a report confirming what you did. Read it and sign it down, if everything is alright..." Revy took a stack of papers in her hands, it was a report in two copies. On the pages of the report was a description of how they found the nest and how the hunt for sherads went, as well as the fact that they eliminated the members of the wanted gang. On the last page there was a place to sign.
Revy took the pen lying on the counter and written the letter R on the first copy of the report, but immediately froze. The last time she signed something was probably in elementary school. Back then she signed as Rebecca Lee, and now? She was supposed to sign as Rebecca or Revy. Her eyes wandered to the line above, where Rock had signed. With some surprise she saw that he had signed not as Rokuro, but as Rock, specifically as Rock Whiteisle.
Slightly surprised, but without thinking too much, Revy finished her signature. Continuing where she had started, she wrote Revy, Revy Whiteisle.