The following day, my companions and I were at the tavern slightly before 10:00 a.m.

  Most of them waited patiently for days to meet and test him.

  I remembered what we did yesterday and blushed a little. Even if it was more like a game than anything, I still felt a bit embarrassed. None of my compatriots should know it. Both for my and Raven’s good. How could I face them if they knew what I did yesterday?

  I was not telling them and Raven didn’t seem like one to do so.

  “Is he not here yet?” Leo asked, disgruntled.

  “Give him a few more minutes to come. I’m sure he must be on his way,” I replied.

  I was resolute to wait for him.

  If he were a little late, I’d have had the time to calm down. A slight delay of a few minutes was within the margin of error.

  I wasn’t in the dress today and we were all in casual wear, excluding Roosevelt.

  The waiting extended to more than “a few minutes”. At some point, some of us didn’t feel like waiting anymore, but I still insisted.

  Even my blushing self became dissatisfied with how long we waited. At one point, I thought he reneged and stood me up.

  Then it hit me – what if he couldn’t come? What if his disposal began? Was I too late?

  With such predictions in my mind, I feared the worst might have happened. I wanted to get up and look around for him.

  Yet, I took no action as the guild’s door opened. It was him! It was already 11:00 a.m. by the time he came.

  I was both glad and annoyed. Glad, because he was alive. Annoyed, because the heck was with his sense of time? Was this “around” 10:00 a.m. for him?

  He saw us and walked towards us. His gait was way better compared to the first day he got wounded, but there was an imperceptible limp when he used the right leg.

  Although he hadn’t healed completely, I found it miraculous how much he had. Although I’m not a doctor and couldn’t see the wound, I was certain it wasn’t anything light.

  “Sorry, Mary, my watch broke and I could not tell the time.”

  He gave us a half-baked apology that none of us bought and sat with us.

  “You sure do know how to make people wait!” Leo said with perceivable anger.

  “Who were you?” Raven asked.

  His expression showed curiosity about who Leo was. It was as if it were the first time they met! That left most of us speechless.

  He did say he might have problems remembering them. I didn’t know it was that severe.

  “A week ago, there was a mission we all took part in. After the briefing for said mission, we all introduced ourselves. Or, at least, all but you,” Leo replied after recovering from the shock.

  “Could you have been the one who was glued to Mary back then?” Raven continued to pour salt after some thinking.

  “What?” Leo exclaimed.

  From the numerous Leo’s features, how and when did he remember him with that?

  “As far as I could remember, there was a blonde and a monkey with red hair glued to her. So you were the said monkey! What was it? Leo? I would rather call you “Red hair”. You fine with that, Red hair?”

  Leo’s face became as red as his ginger hair, but he decided to say no more, as if they continued a fight was bound to break out. He tried to be civil for the time being.

  Rich saw the predicament Leo was in and decided to lend him a hand.

  “Is that the way to talk when you’re so late?” Rich asked him.

  “And you were?”

  “Richard,” he replied flatly without explaining much.

  “Hm… is this the second monkey that is clued to Mary today?”

  What was he talking about? The one closest to me was Lily.

  “…”

  “You did not object?”

  “Would denying on my part do any good?”

  “No, there is not much I could gain from talking with you.”

  That wasn’t polite. Was he provoking us on purpose?

  “I also find talking with you to be useless,” Rich gave up.

  In less than five minutes, Raven gave us an even worse impression than we already had of him. I was thinking about ways to intervene and lighten the mood, but I could find no opportunity.

  “Anyway,” Roosevelt interrupted before a fight broke out and extended his hand for a handshake, “my name is Roosevelt. We heard you wanted to join us on our travels.”

  “You can call me Darkness,” he replied and extended his hand.

  Good! Things started to go better! Wait… Darkness? We all knew that it wasn’t that. Even Roosevelt’s poker face twitched for a moment.

  I reacted with too much impulse. I lightly slammed the table with both my palms, got up and spoke with a slightly louder voice, my dissatisfaction palpable. All eyes were on me.

  “The hell you were “Darkness”! Wasn’t the name you said you’d take “Raven”?!”

  The noisy bunch in the guild hall around us went silent for a moment, giving me a look. I realised I acted too emotionally. I calmed down, feeling slight embarrassment and sat down. The others returned to their doings.

  “Was it “Raven”? Sorry, my bad, my bad. Let me check it again.”

  Was he kidding with us?

  He got out the paper where his information was written.

  “It is Raven.”

  “Raven,” Roosevelt continued from where he left off, showing slight annoyance, “we’d like you to tell us about your expertise, name, rank or anything else you feel like sharing.”

  “Hello, would you like to order something?” the waitress asked out of the blue.

  When did she come here? I didn’t notice her! Was she here to observe him?

  I wasn’t the only one startled. Even Roosevelt and Raven stopped talking and looked at her.

  While we waited for Raven to come, we all ordered something to drink. Most picked coffee, but I decided to get sweets and tea. Lily joined me in the treat, but the boys refrained.

  Therefore, she came to see what Raven would like and observe him.

  “Hmm…”

  He was thinking.

  “If you need more time to decide, I’ll come later.”

  “That it is!”

  “I’ll come later?” she asked for clarification.

  “Are you on the menu?”

  I choked and almost spat the tea I was drinking at that moment.

  From all the poisons he could pick, he decided on the one made specifically for him.

  “I’m not on the menu, sorry.”

  “Then, does this place allow customers to touch its waitresses?”

  He left me speechless.

  “No, this establishment has a policy against it.”

  “You seemed quite used to such questions.”

  “It happens often. Too often even,” she sighed.

  “Then… Then… How about after work?”

  Was he still at it? His bravery had already left us speechless. His impoliteness would have amazed us, even if we didn’t know how scary she was.

  “I doubt it. Depends on how much you are willing to spend.”

  Was I in a brothel’s action or in a guild?!

  “Say your price.”

  “If you give me… hmmmm… hundred hundred dollars right now, I’ll consider your offer.”

  Why say hundred hundred instead of ten thousand? It sounds way worse and confusing.

  “Sure, but I would like to take the sample first. For such a price, a sample must be given.”

  “No samples are left, sorry.”

  “I see. If there happened to be a sample left, do tell me. I want to take one before paying 10,000.”

  “I’ll come back later when you pick something from the menu. You were lucky it wasn’t my colleague. If it were her, you might’ve been banned for a day or two for your sexual harassment.”

  “If it were another waitress, I would not have asked this of her. I ask because it is you.”

  “Oh, my, my! Will take note of it,” she said and left.

  “What a letdown,” he lamented.

  I wanted to lament for even inviting you!

  What the hell was that?

  My compatriots and I all had gobsmacked expressions and were speechless.

  Not only by what he asked for, which was more than enough for me, but also by whom he asked it to! An agent such as hers was by no means small fry!

  “Anyways,” he turned to us and spoke casually, as if he hadn’t just flirted with Death itself.

  “My expertise includes torture and mostly dealing with low to mid-ranked zombies. As for my rank, I would rather keep it a secret. Something I want to share with you is that you are looking at me so scary, Sir Roosevelt. Mind stopping?”

  Roosevelt didn’t give in to his taunt and countered.

  I had a feeling that Raven was doing all this on purpose.

  Even his flirt with the waitress was calculated in some way! He must have had many opportunities to talk with her like that! He deliberately decided to do so now!

  “You refuse to give us your name and your rank. How do you expect us to believe in you?”

  “When did you get the impression that I wanted you to trust me?” he replied flatly.

  “Then why are you even here?!” Leo screamed at him as he was unable to hold it in.

  We got more looks this time and someone even came closer to us.

  “Be quiet, bastards! We are trying to eat here!” the one who came to our table told us.

  This one was a survivor from the mission. He’s tall, with a strong build and was named Raimond.

  “Sorry, we’ll try to …”

  Raven interrupted me as I was apologising.

  “Or else?”

  “You wanna go, punk? Come outside!”

  Were all boys this ready to fight?

  “I might, but you have to prove yourself first. Do you see the monkey with red hair and the male that might as well be glued to the lady over there? They gave you the middle finger while you were arguing with me. Beat them and I might entertain you.”

  He was doing all this on purpose. However, I couldn’t see or understand why. Was he testing us in his own questionable way?

  “Did you really do that?!” Raimond asked while looking at Rich and Leo.

  They both had gobsmacked expressions. The absurd accusation left them questioning his thinking abilities. It was an obvious lie, but he had the smell of alcohol all over him and was drunk. Therefore, he couldn’t think straight and the slightest provocation worked on him.

  I’d like to end this in a civilised manner, but it didn’t seem like it would go that way.

  “Now, now, Ray. Calm down. Let’s not make a scene now, okay? Come, I’ll treat you to another drink,” someone came to help us from behind him.

  She was another one of the survivors. Her name’s Isabella and her hair is unusual – light blue.

  He turned to look at her and calmed down with her soothing words and touch on his arm. He was about to leave with her.

  Isabella gave me the thumbs-up and a wink, but before I could thank her for the help with my thumb and a wink, he had to stir things up.

  “Running with the tail between your legs now?”

  His provocation worked wonders! All of Isabella’s hard work went to hell with those few words!

  Raimond charged at us, but it was hard to tell to whom exactly. His moves lacked coordination and even I could tell he had numerous openings.

  Both Isabel and I slapped our foreheads.

  “Why are men this simple-minded?” Isabela lamented.

  “Right?” Lily replied to the rhetorical question.

  Before things became too violent, Roosevelt grabbed the man’s stretched arm. The man had no time to understand what had happened as in the next moment, he was lying on the ground, facing the ceiling.

  In seconds, Roosevelt stopped Raimond’s advance by holding him in place, got up and flipped the man over his shoulder!

  “You are annoying. Buzz off,” Roosevelt sat down and spoke in a cold voice, his hostility clear as day, without looking at the man.

  Isabella checked on Raimond, her expression representing disappointment.

  ‘Clap’, ‘Clap’, ‘Clap’.

  I turned to the one applauding slowly. It was Raven.

  “You do seem to have skills after all. I might not have to babysit you too much then. Sorry for making fun of most of you. I just wanted to know more about you.”

  Was that the reason why he angered half the team? Why he asked the waitress to sleep with him? Did he have problems socialising?

  “You make us sound like children that can’t do anything on our own,” Roosevelt said.

  “Can you prove me wrong?”

  “There are ways, but there is no need for us to prove anything to you. In fact, shouldn’t you be proving your worth to us?”

  “How can I do that?”

  “How about we have a friendly spar? That may tell us about your worth.”

  Friendly spar… Ops… I forgot to arrange it between you two… I never found the ideal occasion to ask about it… My bad…

  “I have no objections. Where and when?”

  “How about right now in the guild’s training room? But first, we’d have to ask for the personnel’s permission.”

  “Fine, let’s go ask them away.”

  They both got up and went to the receptionist. Meanwhile, Isabella helped Raimond get up and both retreated. She wasn’t pleased with Raimond’s antics.

  The fast movements of Roosevelt stunned Raimond. He wasn’t expecting anything of the sort. He was contemplating what had happened and didn’t dare to move. If Isabela hadn’t been there for him, he might have rested on the floor for a while longer.

  When they got to the reception, the first one to talk was Roosevelt.

  “Would you mind if we use your training room for a sparring session?” Roosevelt asked politely at the new receptionist.

  We knew she lacked experience and we tried to be polite when talking with her. Lily and I had no interactions, but the boys occasionally had to speak with her when they were doing missions. According to them, her frown was her only con.

  “Give me a moment to ask my superior.”

  She left the desk and went upstairs. In less than a minute, a male receptionist came out. She stayed a step behind him, observing the situation.

  He looked neatly dressed. He’s in his mid-forties, wears a former ironed shirt and dark ironed trousers and his dark brown hair is combed.

  “Fighting of any kind is prohibited in the training room after the last fight we permitted. We are concerned that the equipment might sustain damage or even break again. We lack the budget to repair them, much less to replace them,” the superior replied as politely as he could.

  “I see. We understand. Thank you for your time.”

  “You are welcome.”

  Roosevelt failed and it seemed like we’d have to find another way to test Raven, but he didn’t give up. Raven leaned on the desk and spoke.

  “A glass of vodka,” he said to the female receptionist who was standing upright.

  She was startled and looked at him and then at her superior.

  “Bring him one.”

  She went somewhere after the man agreed to his choice of drink.

  “You can return and sit, Roosevelt, I’ll take care of this.”

  “… Sure, do your best,” he reluctantly agreed and returned.

  When he came, Lily asked him.

  “You let him negotiate?”

  “I want to see what he’s capable of.”

  “Ye, ye…” Lily didn’t believe it nor did I, “At worst… maybe a fight would break out?”

  “It could work. The more he fought at the same time, the better understanding we’d get.”

  “I hope after the commotion, we won’t be prohibited from entry with him.”

  “We won’t be staying long either way. We can live with the ban.”

  “What if he got detained?”

  “Mhm. That would be problematic.”

  I tried ignoring what they were talking about and did my best to listen to Raven’s talk. If I focused on a particular conversation, I’d hear it, albeit faintly. The noisier my surroundings, the worse it was. The chatterboxes didn’t help me. Still, I overheard his talk.

  “Do you have anything else you need to ask me?”

  “After the drink comes. My throat feels dry.”

  “Making such a commotion would make you thirsty, I assume.”

  “You call that a commotion? Maybe for such a place in the backwaters, this is one?”

  “There are rarely as energetic people as you. I think you have a bright future ahead of you, given you don’t waste it prematurely with your snake tongue.”

  “Oh my, how kind of you. Is that why you came so fast?”

  “I just went down to see what the commotion was when my underling came and told me about your request.”

  “You look familiar… Have we met?”

  “Who knows?”

  “Here’s your drink,” the female receptionist interrupted their talk.

  She came with a glass and a bottle of sealed vodka in her hands. Her fast appearance made me believe she kept an eye on Raven. How else could she be this ready?

  My compatriots realised she had come and reduced their noise-making.

  “He’s still on the radar?” Lily asked

  “Seems like it,” Roosevelt replied

  “How is she this undecisive?”

  “He’s been bedridden for the last few days. There wasn’t much to observe and with Mary’s constant visits, it wasn’t easier.”

  “True enough. Even Mary couldn’t get much about him.”

  The two most silent in my group became so talkative at the worst moment.

  As they distracted me with their small talk, the “underling” and the waitress managed to serve Raven one full glass. In the next moment, he emptied it in one go.

  He could drink. Noted.

  He also gave some money to the waitress and put some on top of the reception desk.

  “This fee is too small to buy me.”

  “It is for your effort, not for you. Take it as a tip.”

  “Thanks~”

  “Don’t use them at once.”

  Were they still at it?!

  “Wait, buy you?” the female receptionist asked, her usually grumpy expression changed into one of awe.

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  “Buy you?” the superior also wondered, giving a scornful look at her, “Outside the working hours, I don’t care what you do or with whom, but during the job…”

  “It was a joke between us! A friendly, harmless joke! You needn’t mind it!”

  “Was it now?” he looked at Raven for clarification, but his gaze was milder.

  Before they had the time to clarify anything, Raven continued with why he came.

  “I need to use the training room for a fight. Will you open the door politely or do you want me to break it myself rudely?”

  “Will you dare?”

  “You think I will not?”

  After a few seconds of staring, the receptionist poured him another drink.

  “I’ll get the key. Drink this while you’re waiting. I dare not anger one who knows the captain. You seemed to have taken a liking to one of our girls. While I’m away, she’ll keep you company, right, Sophia?”

  “…”

  She gave no reply as if he hadn’t asked her.

  “Sophia?”

  “Ah, yes! Sure thing, boss!”

  “Be fast then. The bottle won’t survive for long,” Raven added.

  “There is a bottle of alcohol and a girl next to you and you picked the alcohol?” the man asked while moving away.

  “It is the less harmful one.”

  “Haha! True,” he replied before going upstairs.

  “Gee, thanks. Overshadowed by a bottle. This was a first for me,” she pouted.

  That bi…

  But he didn’t care much.

  “You also have a hard time using new names?” he asked with a serene voice.

  That startled me. I might have been unable to see his face, but the sudden change in his voice showed that he had asked something serious.

  He asked who she really was!

  Her expression changed for half a second. It was so fast that barely anyone noticed it. It showed hostility and murderous intent that I had never felt before.

  Everyone from my team went silent and held their breath. The suspension on what would happen next was killing me!

  I noticed that the receptionist had her grumpy grimace, but I felt she was ready for a fight.

  She tried to defuse the situation.

  “I didn’t like the one my parents gave me.”

  Was she even trying?!

  “Ha! Let’s leave it as that.”

  Despite her excuse, she put no effort into thinking, he didn’t push further.

  Good. If he continued, his life would have been in danger.

  “I had the feeling that someone was watching me while I was resting from afar for the past few days. Do you happen to know anything?”

  “I have no idea.”

  “Really?”

  “Not at all.”

  “Whatever. I will tell you in advance. If I have that feeling again, I might decide to investigate. And if I find someone…”

  “It must have been your imagination.”

  He even detected the ones observing him?! If I didn’t know from her that he was being watched, I couldn’t tell. I detected nothing.

  How perceptive is he?

  “Mind me getting a grab now?”

  He asked out of the blue.

  “What?”

  “A feel on your butt.”

  You… Ugh! Do you want to die?! Didn’t you realise she was trouble?! Where is your perception now?

  All of us, including the receptionist, stared at him and contemplated the bold question he asked. We were left speechless, gobsmacked, wondering if he knew what fear or common sense was.

  Even she gave him a surprised stare. She wasn’t expecting anything of the sort.

  I thought that a fight had a higher chance of occurring rather than him asking her to grope her butt!

  “You… fine. Just for your bravery, but don’t go overboard.”

  What surprised me even more was her acceptance.

  “It’ll be under the skirt.”

  Yes, ask for even more! Why don’t you propose a fast round at this rate?

  “You really are something… Go on. Be fast.”

  I expected this to be a trap. I expected that while he dared to feel her, she’d use her weapon and decapitate him!

  He had his left arm near his waist – the place he kept his knife’s holster. Was he preparing to strike first?!

  What did I get myself and my team into?!

  But the two of them didn’t fight. He casually slid his arm under her skirt and felt her rear…

  “Well?” she asked during the procedure.

  “Cannot tell. Too much cloth on the way.”

  “You’re the first I've permitted something like this. Feel honoured”

  “If that is the case, I will take my time, thank you very much.”

  “I’d rather if you didn’t.”

  “What is with him…” Lily spoke silently, her lack of understanding of the situation was vivid.

  Did she want to have him touch her or what? I remembered her saying there was one who felt different from others, whatever it meant. Was she talking about Raven back then?

  One of the bystanders who saw what he was doing to her came towards them.

  I felt the burning anger he was issuing and the desire to brawl.

  On closer look, I realised that the person was Raimond.

  After the shock he experienced following Roosevelt, he was now entering the den of wolves by his own volition. This was going to be one of his worst days.

  Unlike the reserved Roosevelt, he wasn’t one to have that many restraints.

  When Isabella saw what he was doing, she ran to stop him, pulled him by the arm, but he shrugged her off.

  “Stay on the sidelines,” he ordered her, while the wrath he showed was worse than before.

  She had no other option but to comply, hold her own hands and hope for nothing bad to happen.

  I realised that the entire guild hall was silent and all were looking at what Raven was doing. Some were amazed, others – angry.

  She noticed someone was coming, but dismissed him. She had her eyes on him and he on her. It was as if two hunters were looking into their eyes, neither side daring to make the first move.

  “Yo, bastard! What are you doing, you fucker?” Raimond spoke to Raven.

  The onlookers were excited for the upcoming fight. Some had even already made bets.

  Raven didn’t even look at him while replying, his tone cold.

  “Get lost, garbage.”

  “You!”

  Ramond couldn’t hold back and punched with his left hand at his head!

  He tilted his head slightly to the right, dodging the attack. With his free left arm, he grabbed the man’s ring finger.

  The fast movements and last-second dodge he did froze the audience and the one attacking.

  He slightly twisted the finger he had gotten hold of. The man was in pain, but he only groaned a little. He tried struggling and breaking free, but it wasn’t easy.

  “Bastard! Let go! Fight like a man!” the man roared after being unable to free himself.

  “Tch. Someone ruined my treat,” he said to her.

  “Too bad. Thought, your arm overextended the permitted time, so get it off.”

  For the two of them, the brawl was nothing!

  When the man realised the only way out was if he cut his finger off, he used his other arm to punch him.

  By then, his “feely” arm was out of her skirt.

  She tidied her uniform, ignoring the fight happening before her, but still kept her eyes on him.

  To dodge, he now tilted his head to the left. His counterattack was to grab the man’s arm on the forearm when the whole arm was over his shoulder.

  He locked the arm and pulled the forearm downwards with his hand. The sound of breaking bones echoed through the hall, following the man’s agonising howls and heavy breathing.

  “AAAAHHHH! RHA!!”

  “My God!” I exclaimed.

  “Do we still need to test him?” Leo asked with a trembling voice.

  The man’s arm was turned in the wrong way, the broken bone was visible and blood was gushing out, a few drops falling on the one who did all this. Raven thought he had done enough and released the man’s ring finger.

  “Raimond!” Isabella exclaimed, a few tear drops in her eyes, and went to him.

  “Take him away before he angers someone worse than me.”

  “You…”

  I thought what she’d have told him if she didn’t know better. ‘Was there anyone worse than you!’ came to my mind. She was furious, but couldn’t dare retaliate. He wasn’t someone she could fight. Raimond’s one-sided defeat made all realise this.

  “Help her get him to a doctor before he dies!” she spoke to everyone present.

  No one dared move. No one knew what to make of what happened.

  “Give him a hand already,” he spoke and took a sip from the bottle.

  He then turned to the man, now holding his broken arm. His piercing gaze froze him.

  He poured some of the liquid he intended to drink on the wound from the bottle. That interaction stunned everyone. Was he bullying the defenceless now?

  “Alcohol works for disinfection. See a doctor fast before it gets infected.”

  How kind of you, oh, saint! If you hadn’t wound him like this, he wouldn’t have needed a doctor in the first place!

  The man was soon helped to go out. The relatively clean hall now had stains of fresh blood on the floor.

  Seconds after the man left the building, the main receptionist came out.

  “What was the noise? What happened in here?!”

  No one dared to report what had happened.

  He and she looked at each other.

  “A brawl occurred while you were away,” she said.

  “A brawl?”

  “Yes, just a one fast drunken brawl.”

  “Aha. The screams were quite strong for one.”

  “Yes, one of the fighters stumbled and fell on his arm, severely breaking it. It was awful! Poor sob might lose the arm!” he said.

  Most spat blood, but after the show, they dared not speak.

  “Stop bullshitting and tell me the truth!”

  “But we did,” both spoke in unison, their expressions threatening.

  “You can ask everyone in here if our story was the truth.”

  “Is it?”

  Most nodded with their heads and the few who hesitated were soon intimidated and agreed.

  “Fine, let's leave it as that. Come with me. I thought after you came less than two weeks ago, the brawls inside the guild ended…”

  “Less than two weeks ago?” Raven was startled.

  Sophia had sweat on her forehead.

  “Yes, she’s relatively new. She and one more person joined the guild's staff then. They said they needed a temporary job for a few days, a month at the longest and I gave them one.”

  Her expression darkened, her arm on her weapon.

  “Isn’t such information private, guild manager?” she gave the last warning to both of them.

  “Was it now? Then I had heard nothing,” Raven replied and she somewhat calmed down.

  “When are you leaving?”

  “In a day or two at the worst. Why asking? Would you miss me?”

  “Heh. Maybe.”

  The situation defused and after a while, we all went into the training room.

  We were still shocked by what happened.

  “Are you sure you want to fight with him?” Leo whispered to Roosevelt.

  “Yes.”

  Unlike the now crippled man, Roosevelt wasn’t drunk and had fighting knowledge and experience. I cannot deny that the “fight” Raven displayed was impressive, but Lily and Roosevelt also had ways to deal with him, let alone her.

  I intended to stop them as I had the feeling that Raven was already drunk, as he had a few glasses of alcohol. I’ve seen him angry and dissatisfied, but never showing it to this extent. I thought the fault lay in the alcohol.

  I tried my best to tell him that he already proved more than enough, that there was no need for the spar, but he shrugged me off!

  Fine then! If you think you would be fine afterwards, then, please, by all means, do get beaten up. I won’t care! Hmph!

  And thus, we were going to spectate their friendly fight. The participants were in the middle, while the onlookers were sitting on the bench. I had my arms and legs crossed.

  She was also here. Her interest towards him felt unhealthy at this point.

  I thought it would be a one-sided massacre. I did warn him!

  The rules they agreed upon were as follows: the one who touches the ground with his back loses; if an attack lands on the body or head, it counts as a point for the attacker; the onlookers count the points; the fight is over after half an hour and the one with the most points wins.

  They both agreed on one restriction – no groin hits.

  “Who do you think would win?” the main receptionist asked.

  “Beats me. If I knew, I wouldn’t be here,” she replied.

  “Fair enough.”

  Both of them had proficiency in hand-to-hand combat. It was going to be an interesting fight if one of them wasn’t already drunk.

  Both removed their jackets and did a light warm-up.

  While Roosevelt was skilled at using his hands, Raven had outstanding footwork, as I had witnessed during his fight against the Brutes and the infected Alason.

  At the beginning, they stared at each other for a few seconds. Then they both closed the distance.

  Raven started with a fury of light but fast punches. They weren’t strong enough and Roosevelt parried them with his forearms and palms.

  Such an attack would cause minimal damage even if it hit. Raven tested the waters with light and fast attacks, making no risky moves.

  Roosevelt was watching for the chance to take the offensive, which arose when Raven delivered a powerful left hook. He slightly parried the blow, causing it to miss, and countered with an uppercut.

  He stepped back, making a safe distance for both of them.

  We, the bystanders, kept our eyes on them. The display they presented was captivating. Even though I couldn’t grasp most of the reasons for the attacks or their fighting styles, I found myself fully immersed. It felt as if skilled dancers were performing before me.

  And this was just the beginning! I had high hopes before the end!

  After that exchange, they cycled each other, as if two beasts were waiting for the best opportunity to attack and looked at one another in the eyes.

  I had no idea what they were doing. Was this the thing when two experienced warriors look at one another to determine how a battle would end?

  With every step, they were getting closer.

  Now it was Roosevelt’s turn. He dashed and attacked with a right palm strike.

  He dodged by tilting his head sideways and went to lock it, but Roosevelt was expecting that. The real attack came with his other arm – a palm strike to the stomach. It was a hit!

  Roosevelt won this clash, but the war continued. That was the first attack to land and score a point.

  Raven’s move was disrupted by the pain he experienced; he coughed once and stepped a step backwards, but Roosevelt recovered his posture and continued to pressure him.

  Left hook, followed by a right one and then a spin kick!

  Block, parry and dodge!

  The kick nearly connected with his chin! Drops of sweat flew over the room!

  Raven had had enough defending and rushed. He tried grabbing with his left arm, but Roosevelt kept backing up.

  He then stepped back a few steps and sprinted towards Roosevelt. He did a slight jump and his left leg was aimed at him.

  Roosevelt slid under him to evade and got up instantly, faster than Raven managed to recover.

  Raven did a back kick with his right leg.

  Roosevelt parried the hit, taking some damage, but getting a strong hold of the leg.

  In retaliation, Raven used his other leg for a high kick.

  I didn’t think he was agile enough to make such a move. Well, he wasn’t.

  I’ve seen a few of Lily’s high kicks. They were faster, stronger and more precise than Raven’s. His kick looked somewhat sluggish. I had no idea why he made such a losing move.

  Then I realised he kicked with the leg that was wounded until yesterday.

  Was it a miscalculation on his part? Or did he want to test how much he had recovered?

  Whatever it was, Roosevelt wouldn’t let the opportunity to punish his mistake.

  He dodged by tilting his head backwards and grabbed the leg after it passed.

  Raven, having no foothold, was falling on the ground and it seemed like it was about to end.

  We couldn’t see his solution to the predicament, as Roosevelt used his strength to make him spin.

  Raven’s back touched the ground after spinning in the air. Roosevelt was the winner.

  Their fight was impressive!

  ‘Clap’, ‘Clap’, ’Clap’…

  The sound of clapping echoed in the room. It was the waitress. I saw a slight smile on her face. She gave me two bottles of water and left soon after.

  I hope her leaving meant he’d be spared. I want him to travel with us even more now.

  “Well, how was it?” Raven asked while breathing heavily on the ground.

  I gave both of them the water bottles to drink. They both graciously accepted it, one on two feet and the other lying on the ground. Both were sweaty.

  When I exercise, I usually drink water afterwards and eat something. I’d treat them to some sweets when we re-enter the guild hall.

  “You were so-so. Better than I initially thought. You could be useful,” Roosevelt replied and drank a bit of water.

  “If you are done testing me, how about you enlighten me about the journey? I still have little to no information about your preparations.”

  “Let’s go back and while you two take a breather, we’ll tell you about it,” I proposed.

  We thanked the receptionist for allowing us to enter and sat at the table we had been sitting at before. Our cups and leftover sweets stayed as they were.

  All people in the hall looked at him as we entered. The memory of what he did a while ago was more than vivid in them. Some newcomers were being informed about what had happened, their expressions distorting into curiosity, anger and fear or amazement in that order.

  It wasn’t dead silent in the hall, but it was quieter than what I’m used to. The mood felt oppressive and the people often looked at Raven. On the other hand, his fiery temper calmed down and became uncaring about the others. He seemed to have sobered up after the spar.

  The blood stains had been cleaned and the parts of the floor where the blood was are now wet.

  I asked Lily to go and order more sweets. She complied and went to ask at the reception.

  “Are you giving me the pass?” he asked us after we sat down and he put the empty bottle on the table.

  I’d give it to you, but not everyone thought as I did.

  “Ha! As if!” Leo exclaimed.

  Raven rolled his eyes and spoke.

  “How about we make a bet then?”

  “What bet?”

  “Let’s have a… an arm-wrestling match.”

  “Fine with me!” Leo was quick to agree before they even said what they’d bet.

  I doubt anyone from us could beat Leo when it came to arm-wrestling, which was why he immediately agreed without a second thought.

  I wonder what Raven had in mind? How would he amaze us?

  At the same moment, Lily came with a plate of biscuits in her arms. She was chewing one in her mouth and had food crumbs on her face. How cute.

  She sat down and I tasted the new snack. It was chocolate biscuits.

  “Before you ask, the waitress is taking a break and I had to bring them myself.”

  I was about to ask just that. Not that I had a desire to see her.

  We told Lily what she missed while taking the cookies, while Raven ate half the snack by himself. He also had crumbs on his face!

  “Can we wrestle already?” Leo was more than eager to engage in his favourite sport.

  Raven silently agreed and both readied themselves, gripping the other's arm and were ready to go.

  “On three,” Lily took the role of the judge.

  “One… two… three!”

  Their fight… was as everyone predicted. Raven lost. Fast.

  The second Lily declared the beginning of the fight, Leo overpowered Raven and his arm was pinned to the table in seconds.

  Everyone had anticipated this, but we expected Raven to put up more of a fight. Did he even try?

  Lily’s expression described it best. She was disappointed at what she saw, giving Raven a gaze of contempt. She even got hyped up enough to be the judge! This was one of the few times she took the initiative!

  In total contrast to us, Raven was nonchalant, even bored, and Leo beamed with happiness, as if he had won a championship.

  “That was easy,” Leo boasted.

  No one dared to tell him that Raven didn’t even try. I wonder what scheme he had?

  “It seems so. As per our bet, I will ask you all a question.”

  “Our bet wasn’t as such!”

  “You did not allow me to finish. The bet was going to be that the loser could ask the winner a question of his choosing. You accepted before letting me finish.”

  I rolled my eyes. Leo was also speechless.

  So that was your plan? It would only work if we permit it, you know?

  “You surely know how to trigger people,” Lily finally spoke with him.

  “It is not me who gave me the opportunity to do so.”

  “Just ask already,” I finally gave up.

  It was easier to let him get whatever he wanted instead of continuing. It was a quarter to noon already! We spent more time than I initially thought we’d need.

  “I would like to do a checkup on what you… we have gotten for the journey,” he asked us.

  We looked at each other. It was a relatively serious question that came this time.

  I was the one to decide our approach. I shared the information about what we had.

  “Every one of us has Mercenary rations for 30 days. We all have around 1,000 bullets overall for our firearms. We also have sleeping bags ready.”

  The amount of ammo should be plenty for our journey. We’d try to sneak around, evading the dangers and fight as a last resort.

  As for the small amount of food, we decided to increase our movement speed, even if by a little. The faster we crossed, the safer we’d be and along the way, we’d forage for food in nature if needed.

  A good night’s sleep was important and as the hard, uneven, cold ground would have made that impossible, we had a solution prepared. It took space in our backpacks, but we thought the benefits outweighed the cons by a big margin.

  He should be satisfied with our equipment. I’m waiting for his praise, maybe some advice or a way to improve our preparation. He seemed like one who travelled a lot.

  He squinted his eyes. I had a bad feeling about this…

  “You dumb or what?” he asked genuinely with a gobsmacked expression.

  “Excuse me?” I asked for clarification.

  “You are going into a place with very few, if any, settlements. Foraging for food can be very dangerous, time-consuming or even impossible. The journey will take… how much time is it expected to take?”

  “Two to three months.”

  “What morons take so little food? I get why you would want to have a lot of ammunition, but we will mostly avoid fights. We are going to travel into The King’s Territory! There will be dozens of zombies! Millions even! Can you think you can fight them off? And why are you getting sleeping bags? To slow you down or what? If you wanted comfort, you should have taken a pillow at the best, maybe a blanket.”

  He made many points, some of which I couldn’t agree with. I could more or less follow his train of thought, but after he pointed them out, we realised some of our mistakes.

  Not that we all agreed upon them.

  “How much more experience could you have compared to us?” Leo asked.

  “My highlight thus far was… Let me think which one was the best one… In one of the red-light districts in the Zombie Shogunate?”

  I choked on my drink.

  “Good joke,” Rich didn’t buy it.

  “You can understand the language in that far land?” I inquired further.

  The Zombie Shogunate was the most peculiar human-inhabited place on the entire planet I know of. There are more rumours than facts about that isolationist country.

  “Not really. I know one or two people from there who speak the forsaken language we are speaking.”

  What do you have against the English language?

  “Can you prove it?” Roosevelt asked.

  “I’m joking, I’m joking! You think those isolationists would let me in? They barely agreed on trading due to their fear of foreign interference. Who am I to go in there?”

  “…”

  We all went silent after listening to his nonsense.

  “Though, I do know a few people from there or ones who visited it. We had a chat or two about how the place was, but they refused to get into details, speaking about the minor things,” he continued.

  This was more believable. However, how much of what he said was meant as a joke and how much was true? Could it be that the “joke” was the truth and the “truth” the joke?

  “However, have I not already proven my expertise in the last mission we were in?”

  “Somewhat,” Lily answered positively.

  “Then, if you would permit me to do so, I would advise you to resupply before going on this journey. We need, at the very least, food for two months and water for one. It is easier to find and cleanse water than find safe food in nature, in my experience.”

  My teammates were looking at me with somewhat tired expressions. I was the one to decide whether to follow the advice or not. After some deliberation, I agreed with him.

  “I’ll follow your proposal. We’d get more provisions and then go, senior,” I said jokingly and he rolled his eyes.

  “This is why newbies should ask for advice first before wasting their money on junk.”

  Now was my turn to roll my eyes.

  “If we are done for today, how about we be off and start our final preparations for the long road ahead?” I proposed.

  “No objections.”

  “Then we’ll meet tomorrow at your place. The journey will start at 7:00 a.m. Also, don’t be late!” I said while giving Raven a serious look.

  “Will it really be me who will be late if you are going to come towards me?”

  “Be ready by then is what I ask of you, our senior. If possible, try being more lenient with your incompetent juniors.”

  “Fine. I will do my best to talk less.”

  “Waitress, the bill!” Lily shouted.

  “Sure thing!” she replied as if she were a normal waitress.

  After a bit, she came with our bill.

  “This is your bill. You can pay at the reception. Gobspeed.”

  Her words froze me.

  “Gobspeed? What is that? You meant godspeed?” Leo tried correcting her.

  “Ah, yes! My bad.”

  By now, we have learned to act normal around her as if she were a normal person.

  Gobspeed. I had never encountered this word until recently when I was informed of its usage. It was a code used by agents from our organisation, but not just by any random agent.

  Lily had no idea what its meaning was, but Roosevelt understood everything.

  She… just who was she? And why did she reveal herself to this extent?

  Lily, Roosevelt and she were all a part of that project – the darkest and brightest endeavour ever taken. It pains me how such noble desires turned so bleak in reality…

  I took the bill. Something must be written here about our mission or her decision.

  “I’ll go and pay.”

  “Sure?” Lily wondered why I took the initiative.

  I never paid myself.

  While I was paying, I inspected the bill. On the back, something was written.

  ‘Potential threat. Discard not. At your accord use. GL.’

  It was her message to us. Translated, it meant that:

  He was dangerous but not an immediate threat. We could travel with him if we wanted, but whether he died along the way, it mattered little. She also wished us good luck.

  When I returned, I gave my goodbyes to Raven and reminded him TO NOT be late.

  That was how the meeting went. After such a talk, we were all tired.

  Lily, the boys and I went into the boys’ room to discuss what information we acquired from this encounter.

  “What did you manage to learn about him?” Lily asked when she realised my mind was somewhere else.

  I was thinking about whether to talk with Sophia or not. She didn’t need to intervene this much nor was there any reason for her to comply with my wishfulness.

  “He was matching my pace during the fight”, Roosevelt replied, “He was probably stronger than me.”

  That shocked us all but Lily.

  Roosevelt was the strongest in close combat among all of us.

  “He’s too dangerous to be with us, even if his muscles aren’t that great,” Leo said.

  “What if he just faked your wrestling match?” I asked.

  “He used force at the beginning. It wasn’t weak, but it wasn’t strong. He realised he couldn’t beat me and gave up on the spot.”

  “He has no manners and talking with him can be a challenge,” Rich added one more of his many negative sides, “And let’s not forget what he did to the man.”

  “The man started it,” Lily defended Raven.

  “But he was provoked. Raven, or however we are supposed to call him, knew that the man was unstable and aggressive. If Roosevelt didn’t help us at the beginning, it might have been us to harm him.”

  “I think it was due to the alcohol he drank,” I suggested.

  “Then he shouldn’t have in the first place.”

  “Raimond ticked him off, I think.”

  “Who?”

  “The man’s name was Raimond.”

  “Raimond… Raimond… Ah, yes! I felt he was a familiar face, but couldn’t remember him well. Anyways, I have to agree that his conduct deserved someone to humble him, but maiming him was too far.”

  All silently agreed.

  “He might be reliable,” Lily said unexpectedly.

  “What do you mean?” I asked, puzzled.

  “As he was hiding his strength from us, he must have other positive sides we don’t know as of right now. And he healed fast. I don’t know if you managed to see bleeding from his wounds after the last mission, but were any of us to sustain such injuries, we’d still be recuperating if not dead. That’s when you leave when he was alone and the unknown number of fights he survived back then.”

  She made a very logical point, yet not everyone could be satisfied with that.

  “He might or might not be then. At worst, even if he is, it doesn’t mean he wouldn’t try harming us,” Rich put on the table the biggest con.

  If he were an enemy, the stronger he was, the worse. However, I had high hopes for him.

  “That may be so. Only time will tell. We’ll have him with us, so we’ll eventually know him better,” I said.

  “True enough,” Leo said while scrubbing his head.

  “It was already decided that he’ll be with us.”

  Rich also had no choice but to agree, but he protested in the form of a sigh.

  “It would be good if we went out and got all the needed supplies. We have to double or triple what we currently have to meet his expectations,” Roosevelt said and we all sighed.

  “It should have been him meeting ours, not the opposite, Mary,” Lily scoffed, pointing at my mistakes.

  “There was nothing I could do when he detected your hostility,” I said to reprimand them for their mistakes.

  “I have to admit that we weren’t very friendly with him at the start… But it was all due to him being so secretive!” Leo tried to blame Raven.

  “Let’s leave this for later. We'd better start getting ready for tomorrow. Any objections?”

  There were none. Our meeting was over and we went to get more supplies.

  After that, we had a final check-up and went to bed early.

  Roosevelt seemed to want to tell me about something, but never got the chance. In the end, he gave up. It was about who Sophia was, I presume. I already had an idea of what she was.

  At night, I had to decide what to put in my bag. I’m the weakest in my group and I preferred travelling the lightest.

  The umbrella was taking up too much space and I decided to leave it behind. On the other hand, the dress was unnecessary, but I was attached to it. I wanted to take it, but my rationality prevented me.

  It would get damaged easily and there would be no opportunity to wear it.

  The following morning, we got up at 6:00 a.m.

  Sophia was looking at us from afar. It was her way of wishing us a safe journey. She wasn’t that bad after all.

  We went to his place around 6:30 a.m.

  I feared I might need to help him make up with a bucket of cold water, but surprisingly, he was already waiting for us in front of the building where he stayed.

  “You are here early. Could not sleep from excitement?” he said with a small smile.

  “I slept like a baby,” I joked.

  In fact, I couldn’t get a good sleep and was still sleepy. There were too many worries to think about.

  “Since we are all here, might as well go earlier,” he proposed.

  “Yes, we might as well do,” I agreed, “By the way, did you have your watch repaired?”

  “Yes, the battery had died. It should be fine for the time being. Do you have any way of telling the time?”

  “No, we don’t.”

  “I see. Here,” he gave me his watch, “Take it.”

  “Why?”

  “It has already served the purpose I bought it for. I also hate this cold metal stealing the little warmth I have from me. If you dislike it, give or throw it away. It is yours now.”

  “That’s quite the flirty gift to give a girl,” Leo mocked.

  “More like leaving the unwanted junk,” Rich added.

  “You know how it’s – junk for one, treasure for another,” Lily also joined to bully me.

  “You lot…”

  “Do not be jealous, I will find garbage to gift to you along the way,” Raven told them.

  “This is going nowhere,” Roosevelt commented, “Let’s just go.”

  He was still tired from yesterday’s nonsense.

  We headed to the north exit. The soldiers on duty wrote who we were and when we were about to leave.

  But something unexpected happened. A military vehicle, a jeep with a mounted machine gun on top, and two military trucks followed behind it entered.

  The people on duty saluted. A man with a visor cap exited the jeep, followed by a few armed soldiers. He saluted back.

  He was tall, tough-looking, with a scar on the left side of his face. He had one golden star on the shoulders, whereas Jeffrey had three golden lines.

  The man took a cigar and one of the soldiers lit it for him. He then puffed a few times and spoke to the soldiers.

  “Is Capitan Primero Jeffrey in the settlement?”

  “Yes, Mayor, sir!”

  “Good. You,” he pointed at one of the soldiers, “Come with me and lead me to him. I have something to talk about with him.”

  “Yes, sir!”

  “You, the civilians, no Mercenaries, have you seen… someone unique, someone unusual around here?” he asked us.

  We had one with us.

  “Yes, one is in front of me,” Raven replied.

  The soldiers looked at him; the ones on post were pale, the others from the trucks had their faces covered and their arms near their weaponry.

  “Well, whatever. I’ll have to ask him directly. You’re lucky. I was about to give the order for a lockdown on the settlement. After these ones exit, spread the news that no one is allowed to exit or enter, no matter the reason.”

  “Yes, sir!”

  “Teniente. Subteniente.”

  “Yes, sir?” two of the people with him replied.

  “Teniente, take team Alpha and start asking around the civilians about anything unusual for the past month. Subteniente, use team Beta and take testimonies from Jeffrey’s soldiers about what their superior was doing over the past month. Note any incidents and unusual happenings they have noticed. Don’t use force unless for self-defence. If anything happens, use the corresponding flare.”

  “Yes, sir!”

  “Are you still here? Go before I change my mind.”

  “Our apologies, we’ll be leaving now,” I said.

  I rushed my teammates to leave. I had a very, very bad feeling about this man’s coming.

  I hope they haven’t found out about Jeffrey and Sophia.

  I wanted to stay and see what would happen, but my mission took precedence over them.

  I’m sorry. I hope nothing will happen to the two of them.

  Before 7:00 a.m. we were out of the stronghold and were travelling.

  I saw a few ravens before we departed. I was thinking of making a joke about Raven to lighten up my mood, but decided not to tease him.

  I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to take his retaliation and it wouldn’t reduce my worrying.

  I’d better focus on our objective.

  We had a long road ahead of us filled with dangers and who knew what more.

  What was the saying?

  A journey of 1,000 miles starts with a single step.