- VOL 1 – THOSE UNITED BY THE FATE -
Chapter 3: Final Preparations (6/10)
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‘What's been going on for the last two days?’
Minato sat back down, confused.
"Minato, why do you keep getting up and sitting back down? Decide whether to go or listen."
Shin said playfully as he returned to his calm state. Then he focused a little more on the food in front of him.
The auburn-haired young man, on the other hand, looked worried, gulped, and sat down firmly in the chair. He doubted that from this point on he would encounter anything heavier that might surprise him.
The silence was broken by a short woman who had not spoken for some time.
"Are you sure you don't recognize them? Why would they attack you for no reason?"
"Actually, they tried to rob me at first. I ignored them, but they wouldn't let me go, so there was a little problem."
"Huh... That's a bit too much of a coincidence, but I think you're telling the truth."
Turning to the man next to her, the blue-eyed woman continued with a slightly more serious expression.
"Minato has gotten into something really bad. In fact, the reason I called you here to talk to you was to help you part ways with him, but you obviously have nothing to do with him. So I can only tell you to be more careful. The backstreets are too dangerous for someone like you."
After saying this, she tried to stand up thinking that she was done here, but there was something she forgot. The boy in front of her was not done with her and with his words he made her sit down.
"It's really nice of you to think of me and not Minato, Rina-san. But I'm afraid I have a lot more work to do on those streets."
He paused for a moment and gauged the woman's reaction. She had a weary and slightly annoyed look on her face.
"Now that your questions are over, it's my turn to speak. Remember, I told you I have business with you."
The short woman, as well as the young man at the same table, paid full attention to the boy's words. Seeing that he had attracted everyone in the audience, Shin continued his speech with a big smile on his face.
"This is a really important job. If you accept it, there is no turning back. You have to keep your mouth shut tightly."
He had finally finished the food in front of him. Relieved, he leaned back in his chair and turned his full focus to this conversation.
"I'm talking about a quality job where we can make a lot of money. The beginning can be challenging and dangerous, but the reward at the end is huge."
The auburn-haired young man was the first to react when he heard the word money. He shouted excitedly.
"WHAT! MONEY-"
"Shut up, you idiot!"
But the woman next to him quickly silenced him. For a moment the people around looked at the trio. When the shouting stopped, everyone went back to their own business.
Another person who was surprised to hear the word money was the short woman. But unlike the excited man next to her, she was more careful and quietly expressed what was on her mind.
"Aren't you going to learn, kid! The coat you gave me was covered in blood, but I didn't say much because you looked fine. If you're so eager to kill yourself, I won't hold you to it, but if you spread it around, there'll be trouble!"
Shin sighed exasperatedly and spoke in an attempt to convince the others.
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"Huhh... First of all, I'm not spreading anything around. If there's anyone here who talks loudly and reveals everything, it's the guy next to you. Secondly, neither this nor Minato had anything to do with my injury yesterday. But I can tell you that when I came to this city, I didn't expect to encounter such incidents. I heard from my father that this is a very good trading center, but it seems that everyone is doing as they please! How do you think we can trade properly if there is no safe environment? What can I do but just go along with the way things are?"
He was supposed to convince them, but the more he spoke, the angrier he got, and he could only spill his guts.
"I want to trade, but circumstances lead me to the Black Market. On the other side of the city, there is no justice or security, everyone gets what they want!"
Minato's eyes widened at the mention of the Black Market. The blue-eyed woman slammed her hand on the table to silence him.
"Enough! I was going to leave you alone too, but apparently, you're no different from Minato! In that case, I can't let you go anywhere!"
The atmosphere was becoming strangely tense. Shin got even angrier at this and stood up.
"So that's it, Rina-san! Then try and stop me! I have no idea why you're trying to protect me, but this city is already rotten from the inside. Even if I don't go to the back alleys, I'm sure I'll find trouble somehow. And those big guilds that are supposed to protect the city are just working for their own benefits too!"
As the tension heated up in the table, Rina stood up as well. In contrast, the auburn-haired young man seemed to slump in his chair. He couldn't even move because of the pressure and had no intention of raising his voice to get into this conversation.
"What do you know, brat, you have no idea what it's like around here! You're just looking for excuses to justify yourself!"
By now they were both shouting. They didn't even realize that the people around were watching them bickering. Unlike them, it was the young man sitting quietly who noticed. He reluctantly entered the conversation and explained the situation.
"Could you guys be a bit quiet?"
His hesitant voice was quite low. Amidst the shouting, not even sure if his voice reached them, the two were suddenly silent. They both turned to face the young man.
Shin smiled slyly and then suddenly stepped towards the young man, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him to his feet.
"I guess we yelled too much, Rina-san. I think that's enough bickering. Let's all go our separate ways and not get on each other's nerves."
Rina's face was calmer than on previous occasions. It was as if she had increased her self-control in just a few days. She even had a small grin on her face after the boy's last words.
Seeing her like this, Shin took a step to leave the table, dragging the man by the arm with him.
However, he was forced to let go of the young man by a sudden punch. Since this punch was aimed at the auburn-haired man, it didn't cause Shin much trouble. Minato, on the other hand, was caught off guard by the surprise attack and resignedly accepted the punch in front of him.
Patt!
"Huh..."
The punch was cut off halfway before it reached the young man's face. Apparently, he was not destined to be beaten today.
"Ahh!"
Before the young man even realized what had happened, he was thrown aside by the boy next to him. The previous punch was not the last and this time someone else was the target. The short woman was throwing punches at the boy in front of her with unexpected agility. The boy, on the other hand, was using his body and his hands to parry the punches and avoid her.
"FIGHT! FIGHT!"
Shocked for a moment, the young man came to his senses by the shouts he heard and got up from where he had fallen. The whole inn was on its feet and watching the scene before them with amusement.
"You get out Minato! Go towards the herbalist, I'll catch up with you!"
Shin said without taking his focus off the short woman who had attacked him and continued to return punches without making an attack.
"RUN!"
Getting up from the ground, the young man couldn't digest what he heard for a few seconds and continued to watch the shocking scene in front of him, but with a second warning, he came to his senses and did as he was told without thinking. His destination was the main door of the inn.
"If you leave now, you better not set foot inside this door again, Minato!"
By the time the young man reached the door of the inn, he was completely confused. He had no idea whose words he should follow, but he chose to leave the inn, perhaps out of fear of the woman, perhaps out of trust in the boy.
"Tsch"
The blue-eyed woman clicked her tongue and headed for the door.
Patt!
This time she was the one who got hit. As she turned toward the door, she blocked the boy's punch with her arm, which she had momentarily forgotten about.
"Why are you chasing him, Rina-san? The whole problem is right in front of you."
The woman's temper had gone into overdrive and her calm demeanor was completely gone. What came out this time was a rage incomparable to anything the chestnut-haired boy had seen before.
The veins in the short woman's forehead bulged with anger and she looked like a monster. Her mouth was wide open and her teeth made grinding noises.
"You're right, kid. Since you're the problem, there's not much to think about."
Suddenly he jumped on Shin and tried to punch the boy. Shin, on the other hand, had put his next plan into action as soon as he saw the change he had just seen. Unlike the way he had parried the punches, he dodged to the side with his whole body and started running towards the exit door.
The short woman's punch had hit, but instead of finding its target, it had found the table they had just sat at. For a few seconds, the woman, who had lost herself in rage, barely realized what had happened. Pulling her arm away from the wooden table that had caved in, she began to chase the boy as if nothing had happened to her arm.
"WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU ARE GOING!"
The few seconds she was unconscious were enough for the boy to reach the door of the inn. He quickly left the building, after sticking his tongue out at the woman running towards him.
"What's going on here, Rina?"
The short woman had just reached the door when she heard a voice from the stairs next to the main door that stopped her in place. Her veins, bulging with anger, strangely descended and worry began to cover her face. She turned her head in the direction of the voice that was calling her.
What she saw in front of her looked like the depths of the ocean. A terrifying, dark blue color. Bright eyes in which she would have been lost in fear even if she did not know the identity of their owner.
"YOU'VE BEEN OUT OF CONTROL FOR A FEW DAYS NOW, RINA!"
As the people in the inn watched in amazement, a tall maid stepped down the stairs and moved towards Rina, who was standing in the doorway. The shorter woman did not even try to move. From where she stood, all she could do was swallow nervously.