Chương 123: New Faces

The freckled girl looked at Lloyd for a few more seconds with innocent, faintly narrowed eyes, but suddenly Lloyd noticed her gaze growing unfocused, losing all sharpness, her eyelids slowly but inevitably drooping shut, as though a full week's worth of exhaustion had hit her all at once. Her breathing evened out, slowed noticeably, and her body went slack, as though all the air had left her at once.

Then she suddenly began collapsing to the ground, her whole body going limp, but the redhead moved fast enough to catch her, wrapping his free arm around her shoulders with an ease that betrayed years of practice handling exactly this kind of situation. The girl gave a faint, sleepy smile for a moment and looked up at him with a hazy, half-asleep gaze that had already lost almost all of its earlier alertness. — Thanks. I'll be out for a bit.

Noticing Lloyd's stunned, bewildered expression as he watched the scene unfold, Rowen immediately broke into a wide, easygoing grin, still holding the limp girl steady with one arm. — Don't worry about it, she's just sleeping. Suddenly, entirely without a sound, the girl in the black scarf appeared right beside him, making Lloyd's whole body jerk in surprise, letting out an involuntary little squeak as he jumped half a step back, feeling his heart pound right back up into his throat.

Sidi, for her part, didn't so much as raise an eyebrow, as though such a reaction was simply expected, nothing worth commenting on. — Her flaw. Ridiculous, but clearly not the worst one out there. Her voice came out flat, almost entirely without inflection — and it was precisely that flatness, that calm with which she said the words, that sent a faint, unexplainable chill down Lloyd's spine.

Just then, a massive dog approached Rowen, fitted with armor tailored to its enormous frame — it stood upright on its two hind legs, its broad face resembling a flattened pug's, twitching every so often, a thin string of drool constantly trailing from its half-open mouth and leaving a wet, glistening trail across the flattened grass.

Its armor was worn and covered in countless small scratches, clearly having seen its fair share of battles, and on its broad chest was a faded but still recognizable symbol of some guild. The dog carefully, almost tenderly, took Scarlet in its paws and settled her onto its broad back, neatly buckling her into a special sleeping bag strapped over its own armor — judging by how smoothly the whole process went, this had clearly become a familiar, well-practiced routine for them, performed almost on autopilot.

"Looks like they're well prepared for this. Guess she dozes off like this pretty often," raced through Lloyd's mind, a fleeting, somewhat bewildered thought, as he watched this strange but obviously well-oiled process unfold, feeling like an unnecessary witness to someone else's familiar routine. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

Rowen, meanwhile, cleared his throat and spoke up loudly, with clear enjoyment of his own words, as though he'd been waiting for this moment since the fight had started. — Well, let's introduce ourselves. I'm Rowen. He gestured toward the assassin girl, dressed head to toe in black, her long scarf still swaying lazily in the faint breeze, the silver daggers at her belt clinking softly against each other with every movement. — This stern lady here is Sidi.

Rowen turned his hand toward the massive dog, at the sight of which Lloyd still hadn't quite managed to shake his own bewilderment, glancing at it out of the corner of his eye every so often, as if expecting it to suddenly speak in a human voice. — And this cutie's called Splash, and the mage sleeping on his back right now is Scarlet. Then he pointed straight at Lloyd, raising an eyebrow questioningly, genuine, lively curiosity flickering in his brown eyes. — So, what's yours?

Hesitating slightly, feeling the attentive stares of all three of them — and the dog too, whose small, deep-set eyes seemed to be studying him just as intently — Lloyd finally answered, trying to keep his voice even. — Lloyd, I... After a second of awkward silence, he added, tilting his head slightly in a small, grateful bow, feeling the awkwardness stiffen his movements. — Thank you for saving me. I owe you one.

Rowen's cheeks immediately flushed a telltale red, and he scratched the back of his neck nervously, avoiding Lloyd's eyes, as though the praise embarrassed him far more than the recent skirmish with six Whirlrunners had. — Ah, come on, it's nothing, not the first time we've done this. His voice suddenly grew more thoughtful, and his cheerful, carefree expression gave way for a moment to genuine concern, his dark brows drawing together.

— But wandering around places like this alone, without a party — that's basically suicide, you know. He spent a few more seconds lost in thought, absently scratching his chin and frowning at the Whirlrunners' bodies scattered around them, their tattered garments still faintly rustling in the wind, the pools of blue blood slowly soaking into the flattened grass, leaving behind dark, spreading stains.

Sidi, meanwhile, silently made her way around the clearing, methodically checking each body, as if making sure none of the creatures had somehow survived, her slender fingers brushing the hilts of the daggers at her belt every so often, ready to draw them at a moment's notice.

Splash, having finished settling his sleeping mistress, sat back down on his haunches nearby, adjusting her weight more comfortably, and studied Lloyd with obvious curiosity through his small, deep-set eyes, a thin string of drool still trailing from his jaws, occasionally breaking off and landing in the grass with a soft plop.

Finally, Rowen's face lit up again with that same bright smile, sweeping away all his recent thoughtfulness at once, and he held out his hand to Lloyd for a handshake, firm and slightly rough from years of calluses. Lloyd carefully shook the offered hand, noticing an odd, almost alarming difference in the strength of the grip — Rowen, it seemed, had gotten used to holding himself back even in the most ordinary gestures, so as not to accidentally break the bones of his new acquaintances.

Somewhere behind them, Sidi let out a quiet huff, watching the scene from a distance, then silently went back to examining the last of the bodies, while Splash continued sitting patiently nearby, occasionally glancing curiously between Lloyd and the sleeping Scarlet on his back.