Dorothy Paige's eyes twitched upon hearing Lance's words.
He killed who? The Madame?
Of course, she knew the madame for a long time because she was also their target when they first accepted the job of shutting down the Darkhound Mansion where Geneva lives as the Madame.
Their group was neither the beloved adventurers nor that of a celebrated knight.
They're scavengers.
People who live off on what's left by the dead people, people who are hunting after the tales of people who left the world a long ago. Scrapers, crawlers, rodents...they do have all sorts of insults and derogatory remarks for their job. But Dorothy couldn't care less.
"Then, what's your proof that you killed the Madame?" she challenged to Lance, putting on a decent bread into his hands. "Eat this and tell us everything without leaving anything behind."
When Lance told them again in detail how he managed to stay alive and killed Geneva, Dorothy's focus shifted on the dagger that Lance is holding when he first arrived. It is now safely tucked on Lance's belt and gleaming like the prized possession that it is.
According to him, dealing with the Madame became an easy task because of the poison from that dagger.
"Can you let me see your dagger closely?" Dorothy asked Lance.
Lance, on the other hand, still not accustomed on the ways of the wild in that place, handed the dagger to Dorothy as if handing evidence to the police for checking. He did not doubt her in any way and just gave the dagger straight to her.
"Be...be careful. That one got a very lethal poison," he reminded to her before putting the dagger on Dorothy's palm that is already waiting for him to hand it over.
"Really? Then--"
Swish!
Dorothy suddenly swung the dagger to Lance.
"What are you doing?" the bewildered face of Lance glanced back at the dagger and then to Dorothy. "I told you to be careful and not carelessly swing it. Are you trying to kill me?"
When the realization struck Lance, it is already too late. He has no more powerful weapon anymore and is also being surrounded by Dorothy's men.
"Hey...hey...hey, you're kidding, right?"
Dorothy just smiled at Lance instead of answering him. She waved her hands to him, holding the dagger and sat in crisscross in front of him.
"Of course I am," Dorothy said, motioning to her subordinates to watch over Lance. " I am not that bad, and you even gave me this dagger, see?"
And she showed her the black dagger that was originally Lance's possession.
"Since I am not bad and is actually doing good for other people, I will let you choose what would be your--"
"I did not give that dagger to you," Lance cut short to Dorothy's sentence. Why would he give his S-class dagger to someone he barely knows? He's just showing it. No more, no less.
But Dorothy has a different idea running in her mind.
She made a face, awkward and feeling uncomfortable by Lance's sudden interruption. Then she scratched his head with the tip of her index finger while holding the dagger.
"Uhm, you see...we do have specific laws about these things. You know, 'Finders, Keepers'," she said, quoting the general agreement of all people in their line of business. "Yes, find it and keep it," she said once more, just changing how it is phrased. "That means, if you found something, that thing will be yours forever, especially when the owner is...you know," Dorothy shrugged her shoulders, "dead."
Then as if waiting for Dorothy to finish her explanation, the other scavengers, those people working under command of Dorothy moved like being controlled by a single mind.
They surrounded Lance and made sure that he won't have a gap he can use to escape.
"This dagger looks good. Did you come from a wealthy family?" Dorothy asked to Lance as she scanned the dagger closely again, running the tip of her finger on the sharp edge of the dagger, to admire its shine.
"How about, we made a trade? Your life in exchange of this wonderful dagger."
Lance chuckled at Dorothy's proposal. Is she expecting him to just say 'yes' in everything she will say?
Annoyed at Geneva and now at Dorothy, Lance took a deep breath. Then he ran his hand through his hair and made a soft laugh.
"Inventory," he whispered on the air, thankfully it worked just like on the game, where he only needs to recite certain commands.
Then he saw the most recent update down below the inventory window.
[INVENTORY WILL EXPIRE IN 60 DAYS. FIND A PLACE TO UNLOAD DATA.]
Even though he is curious on what it meant, Lance set it aside for now and mentally chose the A-grade bow that he bought as an archer before.
Szhhht...
A long buzz sound echoed in his brain as if he drank an ultracold carbonated drink then on his hand, the bow with a crystal arrow in it appeared.
"Finders, keepers?" he repeated on what Dorothy told him initially. "Let's see then if you have something valuable in you that I can keep," Lance said and aimed at the ceiling just above his head. "Oh, but I am not talking about your lives."
And he let go of his drawn arrow.
The arrow swiftly flew from the bow and stopped midair and then like a firework, it scattered itself in every direction and attacked all the person around Lance.
The scavengers, panicking, ran in every direction then can think of. However, the arrows have the ability to change its trajectories as long as it already considered something as a target.
In this case, the people with Dorothy and Dorothy, herself, are all the subjects being hunted down by the arrow, 'Leila'.
Except Lance, everyone is running for their lives.
"Halt this nonsense!" Dorothy shouted to Lance. "We're just playing a prank with you, why did you take it seriously?"