I had another dream... or should i call it a flashback at this point? It's when i was with three people. My best friend, The guy who hired us, and her.

The three of us were mercenaries, hired on a mission to do some dirty work on a mega-corp. The mission itself was nothing special, we took care of some here and there, and we exposed a mega-corp's dirty secrets for everybody to see, only to forget a few days later. But it was in this mission i met her.

At first, we were kind of hostile against each other at first. we'd get to an argument about things, hesitate about helping each other... you know, usual rival stuff. But we ended up working out in the end. The final day of our mission, I ended up getting ambushed by a ton of goons. I would've failed my job if it hadn't been for her, and i ended up owing her a favor in the end.

After the job was over, we ended up hanging out with each other, and she would slowly become the greatest joy in my life.

And... my greatest sorrow.

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I open my eyes, waking up to a brown ceiling, and to a dingy little cell. Seems like they just hauled me off to jail right after they got some bandages on my wounds. Speaking of which, ouch. they're starting to hurt a lot now that adrenaline's gone. I'm used to it, though.

I get a few moments of rest before somebody decides to check up on me. it's one of the guards i saw before i passed out. "You. Get up. We're taking you into questioning." Pretty rude of them to just get a gal who's kind of covered in bandages into questioning not long after she wakes up. "Gimme a bit..." I groan in pain as i slowly move off the bed. Getting up is kind of a struggle, but I'm not complaining.

Once i got up, the guards unlocked the door, and i was led to a room where two people were waiting there. Some government looking guy, and Magnus? What's the adventurer guild's master doing here? "Sorry about the lack of healers, girly. Most of 'em are busy on the frontline, healing our hard workers." He pats the empty chair besides him. "Now, come on. Sit down and let's talk about some stuff." so i did.

the chair's comfortable at least, despite it being wooden and looking like it's on it's last legs. "We do apologize for putting you in prison, but it is procedure." The official spoke, sitting down proper. "Now then. Name, Age, and Occupation, please." The kind of questions they ask to everybody that they meet in a jail cell. "Katarina Nadezdha, Unemployed, I still don't remember everything else."

The official wrote down something on his book. He takes a inquisitive glance at me after that before his eyes looks back to the book. "Don't worry. Magnus has testified that you woke up with amnesia, so I'll believe you... for now." Magnus, my man.

"Speaking of which, I'm here because of a little stunt you pulled earlier, girly." He leaned down with a serious expression on his face. "You stirred up the hive. You've killed alot of the big bangs, and pretty much crippled them. do you know who you just messed with?" Oh dear lord, if this gang was led by this country's king, I'm gonna--

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"Guild master." The official stared daggers at him for a few moments, before he lets out a little giggle. "Sorry, sorry. Just wanted to mess with girly over here." Magnus, not my man. "Don't worry, girly. If anything, you helped us out big time."

Still, I'm glad that i didn't deal with a influentially powerful gang. That would've been a pain in the ass to deal with. I let out a big sigh of relief, leaning back on the chair as i stared at the two. "I'm assuming you guys were planning to take out those guys on your own."

The official began to explain, "We had a much more meticulous plan to replace the power enforcing the peace in that part of the town, but since we know what happened before we got here, you can assume what happened to it." This guy's got a condescending tone with him when he explains all this stuff to me. Is he mad? Doesn't seem like it. "But, it seems like they've had a plan of their own, and were planning to take the entire slum for themselves. Thanks to you, you've not only massively delayed their plan, but you've crippled them enough for us to go ahead with our own plan."

So... Everything worked out pretty well? sweet. It's probably another gang replacing the old, but there's worse problems out there. "Gotta thank you for that, girly. It would've already stretched our manpower thin, what with there being the monster stampede and all, so we've got you a gift." He pulls out a pretty average-sized bag full of coins, and places it in front of me. "A few platinum, and a lot of gold. I figured you didn't have any money, so here's something to get you started." Okay, so assuming that we're following a certain western tabletop RPG's currency rule, then platinum is worth more than gold, and gold is... A lot.

I stare at the bag in silence for a few moments, kind of baffled at the fact that i got a lot of money, before i looked back at the two. "This is alot more than i was expecting. I was just taking out some guys that pissed me off." The guildmaster pats my shoulder with a big smile on his face. "Oh, don't worry about it, girly. Think of it as a welcoming gift. You need it more than the government, anyway." The official looked at the guild master with a bit of contempt, but cleared his throat, finished his writing, and continued to talk. "Guild master. I've done everything i need. Please give everything that belonged to Miss Nadezdha, and let her be on her way."

The guild master had a troubled expression. That can't be good. "About that... We've recovered that gun of yours, but it seems like the moment we tried to pick it up, it just... vanished?" First off, they know what a gun is? Second, The rat bastard. I know he told me that the gun was gonna disappear anytime if he felt like it, but a little warning might have been nice. "A Shame... It's not every day you get to see Girdeyan craftsmanship in action. I would've loved to see how it functions, at least."

So guns are a thing in this world... But it seems like only a few know about the existence of it. That, or it's just the people here don't seem to know what it is. Weird. Maybe it's still in the infancy stage where they're shooting muskets, and all.

Whatever. Now i have a new problem. I don't wanna use my fist to fight people, and swords are lame, so what... "That looks like the face of a troubled warrior, girly. You trying to figure out where you can get some weapons?" Magnus, my man. Seems like he's a mind reader, or he's just really good at guessing.

"Don't worry girly. There's a blacksmith just a few walking distance from here, and they make all kinds of weaponry in there. Why not try that place?" Well, if they make any kinds of weapons... I wonder if they make scythes?

"Sure. Why not?"

{CHAPTER 8 END}