Sarah was a rather simple girl in my eyes.
In my mind, she was just the type to mind her own business with only candy on her mind. But outside of that, how much did I truly know about her?
What she liked, her goals, her dreams, and why she liked candy so much... I knew nothing about her.
"I also felt the grip, and Sarah was right, there was barely any friction."
Mia said abruptly, trying to cheer Sarah up.
Joana chimed in.
"You're not wrong. I also felt that something was wrong with the grip of the sword..."
"But what should we do now? Can we sue them back or something?"
"No, why would we do that? Mia, do you have any idea what you're talking about?"
"Of course, I know! It's so unfair! The whole situation is not our fault. How are we responsible for their faulty products?"
"That's not the issue here, Mia. What do you think will happen if we sue them? Even if we end up winning, it'll ruin our image completely. No company will work with us anymore."
"But..."
Listening to Joana and Mia argue over the matter, I reluctantly nodded my head while scrolling through my phone.
What Joana was saying was right.
Counter-suing them would put us at a disadvantage. Even if we might be able to win, the repercussions might not be something we could handle.
We didn't want to be labeled as the group that sued other companies.
No matter the situation, companies didn't look at that stuff favorably.
— ● [WestBom's Equipments] ●—
Gaston Perdigon - 136 Reviews
★★★★★ 1 year ago
Very kind, helpful staff. Active in satisfying the customer by looking for the desired items, even in outlets, in other shops. In any case, it deserves a visit.
Gualtiero Romano - 75 Reviews
★★★★☆ 2 months ago
Very helpful and courteous staff. Good prices and in any case very competent they don't force you on the purchase and try to get you a good price. Good product quality.
Tony7462 - 61 Reviews
★★★★★ 2 years ago
Trained staff very helpful and kind ... also very patient with the children !!!
— ● [WestBom's Equipments] ●—
'There's nothing here...'
The reviews were strangely positive. There were a few negative ones, but they had no comment underneath. No matter how much I scrolled, I couldn't find anything suggesting that their equipment was bad.
...And that made things more difficult for us.
Just because we couldn't sue them didn't mean they couldn't sue us. Of course, that was on the premise that the Guild wouldn't pay for the contract breach,which was unlikely. But in the event that it happened, we needed some concrete evidence to stop them from suing us.
Similarly looking through his phone, Dean nudged me with his elbow.
"Did you find anything?"
"No, all the comments are strangely positive."
"Hmm, as expected. The Guild wouldn't have given us the opportunity to work with them if their image was bad."
"So what now?"
"I don't know."
Dean frowned. He looked really troubled.
"I guess the only thing we can do is go back. I'll call and tell the Guild about our situation."
"Okay."
"You check on Sarah for now. Help the girls into the van."
I did an 'O' sign and signaled to the girls with my hands.
"Girls, come with me. It's time to go."
'Oh, right.'
Just as I was about to move, I recalled something and sent a quick message.
[Did you see my message?]
The reply came quickly as I made brief eye contact.
[Yes, I got the message. I have it.]
[Alright, thanks]
Satisfied, I put my phone away.
'Perfect.'
The girls followed my lead without saying anything.
I glanced at Sarah, who was quietly following behind me. She looked the same as usual, with no noticeable change in expression. However, I couldn't get the image I'd seen before out of my head.
Was she really okay? Was she pretending to be fine?
That...
If only she showed me how she felt. At the very least, I'd know how to handle things from there.
"Girls, get in the van."
"Manager... Are we going back?"
"Yeah, we're going back to the Guild."
"But what about the equipment?"
"We'll leave it here."
"Oh..."
Seeing how downcast Mia looked, Olivia patted her on the shoulder.
"Cheer up."
"Olivia...?"
Mia looked both touched and confused at the same time. Her expression seemed to say, 'Is this the Olivia that I know?'
But she was being too naive.
I saw everything coming from a mile away.
"Regardless of the equipment you're still shit, so what does it matter if you get it?"
"Ah. You, what...!"
Mia fumbled over her words. There were many things that she seemed to want to say but couldn't. In the end, she looked at Joana for help.
But she averted her gaze.
"I mean..."
"Don't tell me..."
Mia looked horrified.
"Stop right there!"
"She's not exactly, wrong..."
"You bitch!"
And so another fight began. This time, it was Joana against Mia. Too bad Joana was an even more formidable opponent than Olivia as she held nothing back. It took her two sentences to drive her into a corner.
"Agh! This is unfair! I'm telling you, this is unfa—"
Right as Mia was complaining, Lyla who was sitting on Joana's lap alternated her gaze between the two before slowly muttering a word.
'Bitch.'
The whole van went quiet.
But the silence was soon broken by Mia who screeched loudly.
"Eeeek! Don't say that Lyla! It's a very bad word that only bad and stupid people say!"
I raised my brow.
Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.
"No, ehm..."
Looks like she realized it too as she fumbled over her words again.
"So like, ehmm... ah."
'Oh, right."
Pulling out another pack of candy, I extended it toward Sarah, who sat behind me, quietly staring at them.
"Want some?"
"Thank you."
She didn't even hesitate.
Carefully opening the pack she placed one of the candies in her mouth and started chewing.
This was good. At the very least, it seemed that she had recovered somewhat. As expected of Mia. She managed to turn the depressed mood into a lighter one.
Still, for some reason, I couldn't shake her reactions from a few minutes ago. I couldn't pinpoint exactly why, but there was something about that scene that troubled me.
"Olivia help me!"
"What? Why should I help you? You're the one who shot herself in the foot."
"Uwa! Please! You're the one always cursing. It's become a habit of mine because of you!"
"Go away."
"Akh! Why aren't you cursing right now?"
"Isn't it obvious? There's a child in the car. Learn some self-control."
Mia's complexion alternated between different colors. It went from white to red and from red to purple before returning to white. In the end, she could only silently take the hit.
"Just kill me..."
She vacantly looked at the glass window.
The van became quiet again, and when I turned around I realized that the girls had all fallen asleep. Staring at them from my seat, I lightly sighed before similarly closing my eyes.
'...When will we finally catch a break?'
"Hey, wake up."
"Um?"
How long was I out for?
I checked my watch only to see that I was out for two minutes.
Damn.
"You're already back?"
"Yeah."
Dean grimly nodded.
"There wasn't much to talk to be honest. The Guild is already aware of what has transpired."
"...Already?"
That fast?
"It seems like their lawyers have already contacted the Guild. I'm surprised they took action this quickly."
"That's unreasonably fast."
Did they have a grudge against us or something?
The speed at which they sent their lawyers was unreasonably fast.
"Here, hold this for now."
Sitting on his seat, Dean tossed me a long curved wooden case.
"This is..."
"I took it on my way here. We need this for later."
"Ah."
Click—!
The case clicked as I unsheated it, revealing a brief glimpse of the razor-sharp sword nestled within.
"Hmm."
Feeling the grip of the sword, my brows slowly came together.
What the...
"How is it? Is there something wrong with the grip?"
"About that..."
Rather than answering directly, my gaze wondered over to Sarah who was blankly staring in our direction.
When did she wake up?
"You try."
I handed the sword to her.
Accepting the sword, Sarah's hand traced across the blade before she firmly grasped the hilt. Within moments of her hand grasping the hilt, her eyes trembled.
"As expected."
Her reaction said it all.
Seeing that something wasn't quite right, Dean's gaze fell on me.
"What? Is there something wrong?"
"That's a different sword."
"What...?!"
Dean looked at Sarah.
"Is this true?"
"Yes."
Sarah grimly nodded.
"Moth...!"
Dean clenched his fist, teetering on the edge of swearing, but somehow, he mustered the self-control to restrain himself, venting his frustration by slamming his fist against his thigh.
"Ukh!"
Probably wasn't the best idea as his face contorted and his arms flung about in the air.
"I'm good now."
But at the very least it worked as he calmed down.
"I'm good. I'm good now."
He repeated as if trying to reassure us he was alright.
"So..."
I scratched the side of my face.
How should I tell him?
"What's up? Is there something you need to tell me?"
"Actually, yes."
I turned to Sarah.
"Sarah, can you wake Joana up for me."
"Yes...?"
"Just do it, she'll understand what's going on."
After a simple nod, Sarah did just that as Joana blinked her eyes several times. She seemed a bit groggy.
"What's going on...?"
"Joana, do you have the thing I asked you to bring?"
"What thi—Ah."
She sobered up real quick as her gaze fell on Dean.
"Yes, I've got it."
She quickly reached out for her duffle bag and retrieved a similar-looking case. Dean's expression changed at the sight of the case.
"That is..."
I hurriedly explained.
"Just before going to Sarah I texted Joana and told her to get me a sample of one of the swords."
To be honest, I had a hunch that something like this would happen.
One couldn't be careful enough.
"You did that?"
Touching the sword and slowly unsheathing it, Dean's expression eased as he sighed in relief.
"Thank god. I wouldn't have known what to do if we returned with that crappy sword. Here, have a look and tell me if it's all good."
"Let me see."
I reached out to grab the sword.
Actually, I was curious myself. Since this was the exact sword that Sarah used, it shouldn't have been swapped or changed.
'Ah...?'
But right as I touched the sword, the world around me turned dark.
'What the.'
It was another vision.
Now?
My ears pricked up and I strained every sense that I had. I wasn't exactly sure of the reasoning behind the sudden vision, but I knew that something important was going to be revealed.
I needed to memorize all the little details available to me.
"Haa."
A bar?
Something burned at the back of my throat as my surroundings seemed blurry. My head felt light, and a weird pungent smell lingered in the air.
'I'm drinking.'
Someone else sat beside me. Because everything was wobbly, I couldn't make out their identity, but I recognized the voice immediately.
"Shit... hic, we should've waited."
It was Dean and he seemed even more drunk than I was.
I grunted.
"Um."
"Those fucking bastards. Fuck, I knew that shit was going against us. First the failed project, then the mess with that fucking company. I thought it was our shitty luck playing against us, but it turns out someone was really trying to fuck us over."
My heart plummeted. Almost immediately startling revelations were made. So this also wasn't an accident?
"Motherfuckers. I should've seen this coming from miles away, but who would've expected they would go about things this way? Those fuckers are playing dirty!"
"Umm."
My throat burned fiercely as I chugged another shot.
"We shouldn't have been so hasty with our decision. If not for the fact that Robert Price was involved, things wouldn't have been as troublesome as this..."
Robert Price?
A familiar name. He was one of the top individual Star Chasers within the company at Tier 4 and on the A-list rankings.
His popularity wasn't something I could fathom.
But what exactly was his role in this situation?
How could he...
"We had no choice. WestBom had already signed a deal with him prior to us. In fact, the only reason why we even had an opportunity with them was because of the deal that went through. Should've known it was too good to be true."
My mouth parted on its own as I spoke for the first time.
"...If news got out that his contract was going to get canceled because of the situation with us, the Guild wouldn't have made such a hasty decision. If we just had a little bit more time. Just a little more, and we could've proved the relationship between WestBom and them."
What?
The more the conversation continued the more severe things appeared to be.
I strained to listen closely. Every moment within the vision felt suffocating but I couldn't stop myself from listening. As if I was an addict, I couldn't tear my gaze from what was happening.
"You're right, those fucking bastards. To think they'd go this far just to fuck an unknown group over. For such a big Guild they sure held nothing back. Damned..."
Oh, no.
The voices were starting to become distant. The vision was about to shatter.
Not yet. I needed more
Straining my ears, I focused my entire mind on the faint words that were echoing in the background.
Come.
Just a little more...
"...Lotus Guild. Damned Lotus Guild."
The vision shattered.