“Hey there, are you ready to order?” said the waitress with a smile.

“Yeah, we’d like some ale for the three of us here, Fish ‘n Chips for the bear dude, Rabbit ribs for me an-...”

“Sorry for interrupting you, I forgot to mention we are out of Rabbit ribs…”

Slightly flushed, the gnomish-looking elf waitress bowed lightly in apology.

“Oh… Well, I’ll take Fish ‘n Chips too then, I guess… What about you, Nash?”

“I’ll take red wine, dry… instead of ale. And Beef Steak.”

“Eh...uhmm…” Looking flushed again, the waitress twiddled her fingers anxiously, fixing her gaze into the distance.

“... Is there something wrong?”

“Uhmm… we also don’t have Beef… or wine…”

Laughing at her embarrassment, I asked her to bring three orders of Fish ‘n Chips, and three ales.

“So, three Fish ‘n Chips, and three mugs of house ale, all good?”

“Yeah, I guess…”

Recovering quickly from her embarrassed state, the waitress smiled and rushed back behind the bar.

“Ugh… I really wanted those Rabbit ribs…”

Zivios, the three meter tall Bear-Human hybrid looked down at me. A low growling sound came from the sitting giant; my own height is five foot nine, but Zivios still felt imposing towering over me, even while sitting. “Fish be good…Very tasty...Very heallthy…” Zivios retorted to my disappointed remark with his heavy, thunderous voice.

“Yeah, yeah, I know, I just really wanted those ribs, man…”

Holding his head in his hands, Nash seemed a little depressed. “I miss classy meals…”

“... Don't be such a snob, we barely have any New-Yen for this meal.”

“No, I'm blaming you for the fact that we have no money… If you didn't fuck up that last gig, we would have had enough for more than some damn Fish ‘n Chips in this damn sorry excuse for a bar!”

“Wah... Well, I'm sorry... I was really drunk, and that damn ogre looked like he was going to attack me, okay???”

“GAH! He was the key to our mission, dammit! Even as a drunkard you should've remembered that! WAIT! Why were you even drunk in the first place?!”

Avoiding Nash’s queries, I pushed the conversation forward. “So, what do we do now? That last job didn’t get us enough cash to stay idle for too long, especially since we couldn't hand the target in alive. Haha... I want money...”

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Furious at me tuning out his question completely, Nash went on, “FUH! Seriously?! I can’t believe--”

Our attention was interrupted, and we didn’t hear Nash finish his sentence, because of the unexpected opening of the door to the bar. Two figures entered, and a somewhat cold aura filled the room. One of the figures was tall, and was fully clad in weird-looking armor, with a long Sniper Rifle strapped to his back; the other was a small girl with long blue twintails, wearing a white military-style female uniform and stockings. The two headed towards the counter and sat down.

“Hey, gimme a cup of Gin over here,” said the small girl.

“Right away…” replied the bartender.

“M’lady… You know you can’t drink…” said the tall man reprovingly.

“Did I ask you to talk? Hmph~” pouted the girl.

When the bartender reached to hand her the liquor, she caught his wrist, and I noticed a mist suddenly surrounding their two hands. With a firmer voice, the tall person scolded his companion.

“M’lady… this is not the time to make a ruckus.”

“Fine, fine…” the girl muttered.

The bartender hurriedly took his hand back and started rubbing it anxiously. From where I sat, his hand seemed slightly swollen and purplish, like it had a cold burn.

“Huh… she seems rather annoying…” I said as I turned back towards Zivios and Nash.

*BOOM* The wall near the entrance exploded, sending debris and shrapnel all over the nearly empty bar.

“What the fuck just happened?” I asked while hiding behind a tilted table that Zivios flipped just in time.

“I don’t know, but it seems like either this place is being specifically targeted by someone, or these newcomers are to blame…” said Nash with an annoyed expression.

Suddenly, the entire place turned freezing. Peeping from behind the table, I saw the bartender was missing an arm, and was literally covered in blood. 'Fuck. Ok, that must have super hurt… Damn, I’m so hungry…'

“Where are those guys? I can’t see them anywhere, did they buzz off?”

“I obviously don’t know… how would I? Stop with the stupid questions for god’s sake.” Nash answered with an irritated tone.

The waitress suddenly appeared behind the counter, tears in her eyes. “Jeff no! What happened?!”

Unable to answer, Jeff fell down unconscious, probably from blood loss or shock; he was bleeding profusely. The waitress crouched down, and as her hands started to emit a green light, she hovered them over his wound. “No! Jeff!! Wake up!!!” she screamed in stress.

The sound of guns firing filled the room. ‘What the hell is going on?’

Going my way around the table, I walked carefully towards the blasted wall, I tried to see what, or who, was there. I could dimly discern four silhouettes in the swirling dust. “Guys… we got company…”

I tried looking for my sniper rifle in the rubble near our table but ended giving up after a short glance, and just took my sword out of the cloth sheath that was strapped to my back. I deployed my Physical Force shield, a low humming sound was emitted from it. ‘Time to get some action…’

Zivios lifted the table and placed it against the aperture in the wall, giving us cover. “Here. Yourr toy…”

“Oh, thanks man.” I took back my sniper rifle and aimed down the gap between the rubble.

Through the scope, I saw the four figures that were approaching us. They looked like High elves, but something seemed… I dunno… off? It's like their movement is in unison with each other… but in an eerie kind of way… somewhat reminding me of puppets, ya know? Meh, whatever, all the same when they're dead I guess.

“Guys, watch out. Something feels really off with these assholes…”

“Smells of blood…” Zivios snickered, bearing his teeth, he released a growl from his gut. His paw-hands had a white, blurry and dense aura surround them. Zivios charged towards those creepy assholes, not bothering to wait for cover fire.

“Dammit man, let me at least blast a head off first,” I grumbled.

As Zivios charged on all four of his paws, the pale skinned elves aimed their weapons at him and fired. Their shots bearly grazed him, allowing thick crimson blood taint his dark brown fur. He ended his charge a few paces away from them and leaped into the middle of their formation, before slamming his paw-hands into the ground.

A pulse of pure force could be felt even from where Nash and I were taking cover. The four assholes went flying in four different directions, away from Zivios. Damn bear was taking all the glory again…

Oh, one seemed to be getting up. I aimed at his head, and was about to pull the trigger when…

“He’s mine…” The waitress, holding a blaster shotgun in her hands, walked past me and approached the dying asshole.  

Placing the muzzle to his chest--wow she's too short to aim to his head, haha--

“Bitch, say your prayers… “

The asshole was about to open his mouth--aaaand she pulled the trigger. At least let him pray if you’re going to use such a cliche line, dammit...

‘Ah… so anticlimactic. Hmmm… I’m still hungry… I wonder if the Fish ‘n Chips is ready.’