Chapter 11: Bar talk
2 guys sat in the bar's backroom, chugging tons of beers in large glass mugs. They kept chatting and laughing; they were drunk.
Luis Kaiser was laughing so hard that everyone around could hear him, not to mention the guy who he'd been laughing at.
"Haha. Never gets old," he said. He was the only one wearing a grey cloak with an emblem on the back that shaped a grey heater shield which had two Phoenix on both sides. On the left was a white Phoenix and on the right was a black Phoenix. He looked at the man beside him and said, "So, how d'you get that face again?"
"So which one would you like me to explain?" Klause asked, referring to every injury he got. The backroom smelled of beer and a hint of cigar, though none of them smoked only the other guys at the booths.
"Let's start off with your hands. That's some nasty shit you got there."
"Try not to laugh. I was bitten by the headmaster's dogs. Like literally DOGS! Who would've guessed that you could keep your dogs in the toilet."
"Well, at least you didn't get rabies."
"Like hell, I could. Even our healers wouldn't dare to come and help me if I got one. That's why it's better to be injured than to be gravely injured."
"Then what happened to your face?"
"Hahaha! This is nothin-"
"DID YOU GUYS KNO-!" Klause wrapped his hand around Luis' mouth before he could finish what he was saying.
"Shut the fuck up... I'll tell you," Klause said. "You know the time you went on a mission with Petra?"
"Yes," Luis said. "Didn't you tell me you had something else to do that's why you didn't come?"
"Hehe. Well, about that... I was with Rebecca and we- ."
"What the fuck! You know me and Petra almost died to that 9th rank monster," Luis interrupted while he chugged down another glass of beer. "It took us the entire day to deal with it."
"I know that. That's why when the headmaster knew I didn't go he smacked some sense into my face."
"Hahaha! You asshole," Luis said, pointing the top of a glass mug at Klause.
"Ok, ok. That's enough questions for today," Klause said. He had large greasy chicken wings on a wooden plate on the table, picked it up, and took another bite. The grease of his wings dropped on his clothing.
"Tsk. I just got this cleaned from the blood of those dead cult followers," he said, around a mouthful of meat. "It's hard to remove stains you know."
Klause was wearing a white cloak with a large emblem on its back. It had a black sword facing down, with flames engulfing it by the sides.
"Where's Petra? She should've also felt that mana outburst days ago," asked Luis.
Klause replied, "Maybe there was a limit 'till where that outburst could reach. She may be somewhere else."
"She's in Hillbert," corrected Angela, who was the owner of the bar they were drinking in and who sometimes sang on the stage in the middle of the bar. Angela has the same age as those 2 young men. She was wearing a tube top and short shorts. Her brown hair, which had blonde highlights, was tied to a ponytail on the back.
"Oh. Hey there Angela," said Klause. "Did she tell you where she was heading to?"
She nodded, and said, "Yes."
"Why didn't she tell me or Luis where she went?"
"Well, you know..." she said, rolling her eyes. "It's something for girls only."
Klause winked at her, and said, "The night is nigh, Angela. Why don't you accompany me to bed."
"No thanks. I'll pass," she said as she sat beside Luis. "How about you Luis? Will you comfort me in bed?~."
"In your dreams. Haha," Luis said.
"Aww. That's too bad."
"Hey! Why not me?" Klause asked. "Am I not your type? I have good moves in bed, you know."
"Tch. Fix that face of yours first and I'll probably consider it. You look like a piece of beaten-up horse."
"I'm trying to, but the headmaster probably placed some spell on that slap of his that wouldn't make my face recover."
"Hahaha. Serves you right," Angela said. "Girls all day and girls all night. You got no time in helping in those missions assigned to you."
'Somehow, Angela really doesn't like Klause' Luis thought to himself.
* *
The inner pocket of the cloak of Luis buzzed. He slid his chair back and stood.
"I gotta take something," he told the two who kept talking.
He walked away from the table and went to the corner of the bar. He pulled out a small blue crystal from his cloak and said, "Hello?"
"Any weekly report?" an old man's voice resounded from the crystal.
"Yeah. This is probably known, you've heard about the massacre?"
"Yes, the rest of the high officials also heard about this," said the old man. "The news hasn't spread yet to the citizens. They've been keeping it quiet for a while to find out what or who caused it."
"We might've found a lead to it," Luis said to the crystal.
"What do you mean by 'We'?"
"Oops. Forgot to tell you. Klause was there too when I found the lead."
"Haha. It seems that you guys keep on meeting each other even though our distance from theirs is distant."
"It seems so. He was just close by that's why we met."
"Hmm. You need to return and then we continue our talk," the old man said.
"Ok, I'll be there before you know it."
Luis said to the old man that he would arrive within 2 weeks. When their talk ended, Luis went back to the table, and Klause asked, "What happened?"
"About that massacred town, you saw it, right?" Luis whispered to Klause.
"Yeah. That's was so disgusting, it made me went to puke out all my insides," Klause whispered back to Luis with a bitter expression.
"Hey," Angela said. "What you guys talkin' about? Care to tell me."
"You heard abou- " Before Klause could finish what he was saying, Luis, hit Klause's arm with his elbow. "He meant if we could get a discount on the food," continued Luis.
Klause looked at Luis with a face meaning: 'What was that for'
Luis looked back with his index up in his lip meaning: 'Shh!'
Luis stood up and walked out of the table. "Look at the time already. It's already late at night, I have to go," Luis said. "You take care of the bill, Klause. Bye, and to you too Angela."
--
It was midnight, lanterns hanged on houses on the streets. Luis was heading downtown from the bar, but then he was pulled back into a dark alley.
"Empty your pockets and you'll be unharmed," said a man holding a knife.
Luis dropped a pouch from his cloak. "Ok," he said and left, continuing his walk downtown. Somehow, Luis already expected this to happen. He knew that there was someone in that alley.
"Haha. I can't believe it was that easy to get coins." He opened the pouch and instead of seeing multiple coins, he saw pebbles. "How can this be! I heard coins when he dropped the pouch."
He emptied the pouch on the ground and only saw lots of pebbles and 5 bronze coins. "Ughh! What the fuck. Is this a joke!"