A Journey Across Terra

10

"Yuki! Get up. We have a situation." Quercus's banging on the door, rung out through the building. It was late at night and it was evident that Quercus had just woken up by her unkept hair and her being in her pyjamas.

"It's midnight. The heck you want?" A tired Yuki stumbled out from his room. "And just as I was about to get some sleep as well..."

"Look, your sleep schedule can wait. WE have a bigger problem."

Yuki tiredly blinked at the shaken-up Quercus. "...And?"

"Ugh, just come here and I'll show you." She took Yuki by the arm and dragged him down the stairs. "I know you heard that bang on the front door earlier."

"Yeah...I thought it was just a bat or something."

"Well, you're wrong. It was far from a bat." Quercus opened the front door to the pub and out on the doorstep was the corpse of a deer. The thick metallic smell of blood permeated in the air as the deer laid motionless on the doorstep of the Green Spark.

"..." Yuki simply let out an annoyed sigh from the sight of this.

"Umm...Yuki you good there?"

"I fkn hate mercenaries. have some decency and let me get some sleep. You can try to kill me later." Yuki said out into the darkness of the empty streets. "And of course, they'd try to tempt it because why not? Y'know, let's just try to cause some mayhem because funny~..."

"So... What do you propose we do with this deer corpse?"

"Just toss it on the side of the road. The public will see it as just some roadkill." The annoyed snake boy grabbed one of the deer's legs and began to drag it down the dark streets.

"...Don't get yourself killed. Just scream if something happens." Quercus said to Yuki's fading figure in the moonlight.

"That should do it." Yuki said as he looked up at the starry sky. "Guess I really need to keep an eye out for everyone now." He sighed as he slowly walked back to the entrance of the Green Spark.

*Snap*

Yuki's ears twitched to the distant sound of a stick being snapped in two under someone's foot. His pace quickened as he saw Quercus patiently standing near the front door.

"Hm? Did something happen?" Quercus had a confused expression on her face.

"Hurry up and get inside." He said in a hushed tone. "That was far from a warning from the mercenaries. That was bait. Not only for me, but also for you as well."

"What?"

"For all I know, they might already be in here." Yuki frantically looked around the pub.

"Yuki, calm down." Quercus placed a hand on Yuki's shoulder. "Panicking won't do us any good."

"...Right...Of course..."

"Now, I've been meaning to ask you but what would a group of mercenaries need from you?"

"Just think about it. I can't make a living just by helping people in the world. And in turn for helping people in the world, I sometimes get in the way of mercenaries. Which would in turn cause them to put a bounty on my head." Then Yuki begins to speak in a quieter tone. "And it certainly doesn't help that I've worked with a pretty infamous Mercenary."

"Infamous mercenary?"

"Not important right now." Yuki cut off the conversation there. "Quercus, could you go get our weapons. We'll be stating down here for the night. I don't want any late-night assassinations."

Quercus gave a simple nod as she walked upstairs into their respective rooms.

{ - Adventures Across Terra - }