Dawn- An age of Darkness

"I-I can explain you know." Dick chuckled nervously. 

I sighed. "I don't need an explanation, it's not like I'm your dad or something. Where's our stuff, and I'm guessing Servesta isn't with you?"

The more we'd talk about this, the more awkward it'd get, so it was better to just ignore it. 

"The stuff's at the inn. And Servesta left for his country, remember?"

The dude acted like he'd told before, but had he? I couldn't remember.

Drinking aside, this was a lively place. There were people drinking, hitting on the waitresses, even bringing in girls and some girls were hitting on the waiters- yeah, rather lively place. Weird, but definitely lively. 

"Look girls, wait in the inn, I'll get back to you in about half an hour!" Dick whispered, very vigorously. 

What was the point in whispering though? I could still hear him clearly even through all this background noise.

The girls were mostly beautiful but one thing was clear- those were prostitutes. And those broken-off horns and caramel skin color… Susan was right, I guess. These three girls were demons. But that didn't mean she was entirely right. These girls didn't seem like they were being fondled by Dick against their will and just because the guy was into demons, didn't mean that every prostitute was a demon. And also, these three looked awfully human, so I guess they fell in the demi-human category rather than demons…

Anyway-

This guy had bought all three of them for the night- meaning, he'd been having perhaps too much fun these days. 'Does he really need three women though? Even if he went twice with each…'

I was definitely getting an inferiority complex.

"Well, you sure are having the time of your life."

"Yeah," He admitted with a chuckle. "I was actually going a bit crazier but have learned the meaning of not overdoing it."

Yeah, so said the guy who was going to sleep with three girls and with two extra-large empty mugs on his table. 

Sigh. 

That did make me wonder, just what the hell was he doing before this? 

But I guess this was his life and his freedom. It wasn't like I didn't want to think about it, so I was ignoring the whole topic, okay?

"Well, we're staying at Brom's Inn. Let's meet up tomorrow."

"OH yeah, I'm staying at the inn just next to it. Clom's." Dick stood up, dropped some money on the table, and grinned when he stood next to me. "I ordered some stuff but I'll be busy now," He whispered. "So, feel free to use them." He left with a wink.

I was more or less speechless at the guy. Was something wrong with him?

Come to think of it, he never really bothered to talk with the two girls with me- two because we'd left Biteria behind at the inn. The damn bunny really made a scene but we'd just locked her there.  It would have been too much hassle to bring her along anyway.

Wait a second, I looked back, and well, the girls weren't actually here.

I looked around and couldn't really find them. 

So that's why, Dick never mentioned them, after all the girls weren't even here. 

I took a seat but couldn't really see those two….

After about five minutes, they showed up. 

"Where the hell were you?"

"The washroom. I didn't want to deal with the guy," Alisa said.

Oh well.

A moment later, a waitress brought three mugs of ale and a roasted duck with some potato sauce and a bit of fruit tart.

Dick sure knew his stuff.

"And you even ordered stuff?" Ve said, looking a bit displeased. She was definitely ogling at the food though.

We'd just eaten at the inn, so I knew I couldn't eat. I didn't know about Alisa but Ve was totally good to go.

"Courtesy of Dick."

Ve and Alisa took a seat. 

Ve ate normally like she hadn't had dinner. Alisa only ate the portion of her tart and nothing else. I didn't eat anything, so Ve was doing my part of the eating too. I had a feeling she could eat a lot more if I ordered stuff. I sure didn't though.

This place was full of drunkards and every now and then some were whistling and playful gestures at the two girls. Alisa was silencing them with sleep spells almost immediately.

I sure hope we weren't going to get kicked out of here for that.

  ***

It was roughly 11, meaning our criminal friend was probably in here or he'd show up around now. We couldn't just ask around about him judging from the reactions I had in the guild, but we did have a good way to fish him out. That being, look for the lone wolf.

But that idea almost immediately died as I spotted about half a dozen lone wolves.

Oh well.

Then maybe looking for lone wolves who were rough looking? That was also a no go, after all, in this world even ordinary people looked super strong- most weren't though.

Time moved on and by midnight more than half of the people disappeared and the few that were here were close to leaving. We still couldn't tell who was our mystery man though.

"Got any ideas?" I said.

"None," Ve confessed.

About half an hour ago Ve had ordered some more meat and tart. The money Dick had left on the table was actually good enough to cover all that. The guy was really being generous for once. 

"That man in the back and that man near the front table look suspicious." Alisa pointed out. 

But a minute later, the man at the front table paid up and left.

So which left-

The man in the back.

There were still two more lone wolves in here but they were also done and they were about to leave. 

Ve was kind of done with her food too, which meant, it was time for us to get up.

So- we were about to head over to the man in back when a waiter came our way and smiled. 

"Pretty sure, our friend had already paid the bill." I pointed at the money on the table. 

"You mean, your friend," Ve mumbled. 

"No sir, it's just-" The man came close. "Travador will see you now," He whispered. 

***

The waiter led us to the back, just where we were headed. 

'Well, that went nowhere.'

After all, I recognize the man in the back.

"Heard you were looking for me?" the man said. He signaled the waiter.

The waiter clapped his hands. "Alright gentlemen, the shop's closed."

Men, women, everyone stood up, paid, and left.

We were basically the only ones in, even most of the employees left. The waiter didn't though.

"Yes, we were looking for you. So, you were Travador. I guess then all that running around was meaningless and we should have just exchanged names then. Oh wait, I did ask your name but you never bothered!"

What did the guy say again? A humble mercenary?

He chuckled but then laughed haughtily. "Can ya blame me? We were about to be boiled alive, of course, I wouldn't bother. Anyway, Travador Monroon. Nice to meet ya."

"Daarc Green, a pleasure." I shook his hand. "You happen to know a geezer by the name Denkabo- something?" I didn't even bother. I couldn't even pronounce the geezer's name anyway. How the hell could people even hope to remember that let alone pronounce it!?

He again laughed haughtily. "Yeah, what about it?"