"...Very good work, Hawk."
"Tch…"
7 men. There were about 7 men surrounding Lucian and the group — although all of them were smaller than Hawk and skinnier, they were also all holding knives and batons. Rosa took a step back and turned around, but as soon as she did so, there was already someone there blocking her path.
"You know… if we scrape off your ugly parts, I bet you'd be one hell of a lay," the man who blocked Rosa started licking the blade in his hand as he looked at Rosa from head to toe, "Why don't you remove the robe so we could see everything?"
"You—" Rosa was about to grab her hand, but the man quickly took a hold of her wrist and pulled her closer.
"Oh!? This one's from Hestia!"
"I've never been with a mutated Hestian before."
"Boss, can we have her?"
"Just get rid of them and you can do whatever you want, tch…" The shopkeeper just waved his hand before turning around and going to the back of his shop, "...Call me when it's over."
"Hehe… heard that? We can have as much fun as we want with you."
"I'd advise you not to touch her," Hawk then let out a small but very deep sigh as he approached Rosa, only for his path to be blocked by another one of the thugs.
"Now, who's this fucking tough guy? Look at the size of ye."
Hawk could really only lean his head away as the man's hot breath almost penetrated through his stomach, "I'm just saying — you won't like what happens next."
"Ew, even the dialog is so cliche."
"Who said that!?"
"L… Lucian," and as Rosa felt Lucian very slowly climbing up from her hood, Rosa quickly started shaking her head, "Don't… please don't reveal yourself! W—"
And before Rosa could finish her words, she suddenly caught sight of the man blocking Hawk's path just flying in the air.
"Ho…?" And Lucian saw that too as he peeked out from the hood — Hawk just punching the man right on the face and causing him to just lift up in the air.
"What the!?" The man holding Rosa's wrist pushed her away to the side as they all started focusing on Hawk and surrounding him; their knives, now all pointed toward him,
"So, you really want to act tough, huh!? You're outnumbered, Boy… and you don't even have any weapon on you."
"That's fine," Hawk raised his fists and put up a stance, "I'll take yours if I need it."
"Oh, shit… did you hear that? He said it, he said the line."
"..." Rosa could really only squint her eyes as Lucian started patting her back several times in excitement.
"Get him, boys!" The thugs did not really allow Hawk any leeway as they all just started rushing toward him at the same time. Hawk, however, just quickly crouched down before slamming his entire back on the one that was closest to him — punching the man straight in the face as soon as he lost his balance.
And with the man losing consciousness, Hawk quickly caught the knife from his hand and then just quickly threw it toward the next closest thug and hit him straight through the neck — but Hawk wasn't done with him. He quickly rushed toward the poor thug and pulled the knife out of his neck, grabbing the knife on the thug's hand at the same time before just crouching on the ground to avoid all the attacks coming to him.
Hawk then spun while he was on the floor; waving the knives and just cutting everyone's thighs open — and as soon as everyone was on the ground with him, he just quickly stabbed them all on the neck in a fashionable order.
And just like that, in less than 10 seconds — Hawk killed all of the thugs.
"Whew," Lucian tried to whistle, but since his small body was not capable of doing so, he just mouthed it instead, "The Baldie's kinda badass."
"Murcans only know how to kill," Rosa shook her head and sighed, "But it's justified this time."
"We couldn't risk you exposing yourself so early, TFK," Hawk just let out a small sigh as he wiped the blood in his hands with the clothes of one of the dead thugs.
Exposing himself would mean that Lucian might just choose to leave the settlement, and that would mean Hawk would lose his chance of ever being reunited with his comrades — as long as he was with Lucian and Lucian continues to scan things with the Geiger counter…
…Hawk was sure that his people would know they were in a Scualor Settlement and they would come for him, General Annie wouldn't abandon him just like that, or at the very least, they wouldn't abandon the search for the TFK.
"Where did those moves come from, Baldie?" Lucian once again tried to whistle, "And where were they when you first tried to eliminate me?"
"...You're a monster," Hawk could really only sigh as he heard Lucian snickering, "I'm… just a normal soldier. I think only Exterminators would be able to fight you toe-to-toe…
…Wait here."
Rosa and Lucian then watched as Hawk walked to the back of the shop. And almost immediately, they could hear screams, crying, and begging — and this lasted for a few minutes before Hawk stepped out, now fully clothed and with a bag of coins in his hand.
"They are using Murcana's old currency," Hawk breathed out as he grabbed their things from the counter, "...Let's just sell all of our stuff someplace else."
"What, going to show more of your street smarts?" Lucian let out a teasing chuckle as he peeked out his head from Rosa's hood and stared at Hawk, "Where are you going to take us next, oh 'I've been in a settlement before, stay close'?"
"That—"
"Why… don't we try just selling our stuff on the streets?" Rosa raised her hand as they stepped out of the shop, "Like those people we saw near the entrance?"
"Hm…" Hawk placed his hand on his chin,
"...That might not be a bad idea."
***
"T… thank you for buying!"
Rosa's suggestion was right — it did not even take long for people to start buying their things as soon as they placed all of their stuff on the street near the entrance. And with Rosa's gentle smile just bringing in more customers, the group quickly found themselves with a decent amount of money.
"We should have done this from the start instead of listening to you, Baldie."
Unfortunately for Hawk, it meant listening to Lucian just berating him over and over again… and he couldn't even do anything about it at all.
"At least you're useful in looking like a thug," Lucian breathed out, "The people are probably afraid of trying to trick Rosa since they're afraid of your bald head."
"L… Lucian," Rosa whispered, "Please… people might see you if you keep on moving."
"Stop it, people are too focused on your pleasing personality to notice me," Lucian scoffed.
"Shh, there's a customer approaching," Rosa quickly pulled her hood so that Lucian would stop talking, "Hello! We have very many interesting wares, what can you—"
"How much for you?"
"...Sorry?" Rosa blinked a couple of times as she looked up at the hooded man in front of her, who was looking at her from head to toe—no. From the way his eyes moved, it was almost as if he was actually trying to look beneath Rosa's robes.
"How much for a mutie like you?" The hooded man smiled, "It's interesting — your corrupted parts look like they are of age, but you still seem fine…
…and I bet there's more flesh hiding inside that robe of yours. I bet the gods have blessed you under that… corruption."
"What did—"
"What the fuck did you just say?"
"What the—!?"
"Oh no…" Rosa could really only close her eyes and let out a deep breath as she felt Lucian just suddenly crawl out of the hood and onto her shoulder. And even though she can't see Lucian, she knew he was pointing at the hooded customer. And it wasn't only her, even Hawk closed his eyes and covered his forehead in lament.
"What…
…what is that!?"