After finding Ebony standing among the corpses of thunder bears, covered in blood, both men—the elf and the human—didn't know how to react to the scene.
But upon seeing the girl unconscious, they carried her together to a safe place. It was already daytime, and the dangers of the night were behind them.
.
.
.
Ebony opened her eyes as if it were just another ordinary day in her life. She got up with tired grimaces, rubbing her eyes.
She stretched her body while still lying in bed, and after a few seconds of staring at the midday sun through a window, she yawned and said:
"Mmm… five more minutes." After that, she pulled the blankets over herself again to block out the sunlight while trying to go back to sleep.
But almost instantly, she realized that this wasn't her bed, and it definitely wasn't her home. She jolted upright with a frightened scream, hurriedly checking her body.
She had small breasts and a slim waist covered by a white silk nightgown. Her skin was pale, and her hair was blonde. Indeed, what she had experienced before hadn't been a dream.
She let out a deep sigh and lay back down with her arms stretched out wide.
"Damn it…"
With every passing second, her mind regained its composure, so she got out of the unfamiliar bed. Looking around, she quickly identified the place. It was a small wooden room on the second floor. An inn.
She searched a nearby wardrobe for her clothes and found them stained with blood, ripped open by large cuts made by bear claws.
As memories of the previous night resurfaced, her eyes went blank and her legs trembled for a moment. The pain of being torn apart and healed at the same time, without pause, had left its mark on her.
But she wasn't just anyone. At least, that's what she kept telling herself.
"(No, no… calm down, that's over now… I'm a professional, I made it to the big leagues… well, almost… Anyway, I survived, and I even took down those stupid bears… wait…)"
With a sudden jolt, she hurriedly put on her clothes without caring how ragged she looked, then rushed out of the room, scanning the area for Lucian the elf.
In the hallway there were several rooms, and all of them had more than one presence inside, something she could sense thanks to her Healer trait.
Unable to find the elf, she went down to the first floor, worried—not about the elf and his safety, not about who had taken her clothes while she slept, no, not that.
"(My money! That bastard had better have brought the bears to sell them!)"
When she reached the reception area, she was surprised by what she found. Normally, there would be a tavern beneath the rooms where adventurers slept, but not here.
Instead, she found a lobby with leather sofas and small wooden tables. There was even an elegant chandelier hanging from the ceiling, and to one side, against the wall, stood a reception desk where a young, beautiful girl waited for guests interested in staying.
"Um… excuse me…" Ebony said as she approached the receptionist.
"Yes~… miss… how can I help you?" The red-haired girl eyed Ebony's body, her ragged, bloodstained clothes making her question the girl's sanity.
"Well, I… I'm looking for my friend… he has green hair, he's about two meters tall… he has the face of a feminine idiot and talks like a smug bastard."
"Oh, you mean Mr. Lucian. You must be the girl they brought in last night," the receptionist thought as she let out a relieved sigh. "Sorry, I didn't recognize you without all the blood."
"That doesn't matter. Where's Lucian? That bastard is going to pay for bringing me here."
"Calm down, calm down, don't worry. The gentleman didn't sleep in your room and didn't do anything improper. Our maids were the ones who bathed you and dressed you for bed. In fact, they should be back soon with your new clo—"
"And who the hell cares about that?! I wanted to stay in the forest to loot those damn bears! That was my loot, and he forgot to bring it back! He's going to pay!" Ebony shouted, grabbing her hair with both hands as she tried to calm herself down.
The redhead stared at her in shock, mouth hanging open. She had never met a girl so unconcerned about her own body. It was like watching an animal focused solely on money.
She found it so unpleasant that she was about to ask her to leave, but someone interrupted the moment.
"Well, well, you're finally awake. You slept for a whole day, little bear," Lucian said with a small laugh at the end. He had entered the lobby carrying a leather backpack and wearing a hood that hid his ears.
"There you are! You bastard, where are my precious bears?" Ebony stormed up to the elf to demand her loot.
After all, each adult thunder bear pelt was worth thousands in gold, and the magical crystals on their backs were perfect for forging magic weapons.
"Hey, hey, calm down, it's not that bad. I just came from there. We went to retrieve the bodies to sell them. We kept some of the crystals, but everything else has already been sold," Lucian replied, trying to calm the girl.
"'We' went?" Ebony raised an eyebrow and twisted her body slightly, noticing that behind Lucian stood the fifteen-year-old boy they had left in charge of watching them.
"Oh right, the damn little snoop," the blonde said, crossing her arms in her tattered clothes.
"I'm not a snoop, you runt! I'm a brave warrior who agreed to guard your disgusting engagement!" the human boy shouted, pointing his finger at her.
"You've got 'runt' hanging way lower than you, idiot. Don't think I'll go easy on you just because you're underage." Ebony tried to attack the boy, but Lucian immediately hoisted her onto his shoulder.
"Drop dead, runt! Don't think I'm scared of you just because you killed—" Lucian covered the boy's mouth before he could say anything else, then used his magic to wrap both of their bodies in roots, restraining their movements and sealing their mouths.
Carrying both of them over his shoulders, he let out a sigh and glanced at the receptionist, who was watching everything with a forced smile. Lucian bowed his head apologetically and headed up the stairs.
"(What an unusual trio of companions… I hope they leave soon, or I'll have to call the city guard…)" the receptionist thought as she looked at the registration form that the team of troublemakers had filled out.
On the sheet of paper where everyone wrote down their identity, Ebony's name was written, and beside the signature was a note that read crazy in the elven language.