It was far from full, as far as she could tell from where she sat.

“I’ll be right back,” she said, rising from her seat and making her way towards the notice board. It chiefly held a number of smaller requests and advertisements, from trade offers for goods and services to simple jobs, universally written in simple writing on vaguely rectangular scraps of paper. Among these scraps, there stood out three proper missives, meticulously calligraphed on parchment in writing so clean it may as well have been printed.

Of these three, two drew her attention.

The first, because it explicitly stated in big, blocky letters “BEAST-SLAYER WANTED” at the very top, directing whoever read it to speak with the owner of this very inn for further information.

The second listing that stood out was an offer to rent numerous buildings in the town, each line stating a building’s address, condition, purpose, and weekly rent. One of these offers was a place named Riverside Remedies, described as an apothecary and with a rent nearly twice the other’s at fifty gelt. Zelsys made a mental note of this with the intention to let Makhus know.

However, something wasn’t right. She felt it in her gut. To absolutely no surprise of hers, a trio of men walked in through the front door, if the weight of their footfalls was anything to go by. One of them - who she assumed to be their leader - swaggered up to the notice board, whilst the two others walked up to the bar and began hollering for the barkeep. The two were lightly tanned and short-haired, wearing simplistic, practical clothing and bearing surplus war-knives much like Makhus’s. One had a mustache and a bandolier across his chest, three muzzle-loader pistols holstered in it.

The presumed leader of the trio gave Zelsys an unabashedly scrutinizing look, mouthing the word “Nice.” to himself as he turned his gaze towards the board. She continued to outwardly look at the board, while she focused her attention towards the periphery of her vision.

The young man was quite tall, though still more than a head shorter than her. His skin was lightly tan, he had short black hair, no visible facial hair, and a youthful, narrow face whose raw natural beauty was only matched by the insufferably arrogant look plastered across it. He wore well-tailored, immaculately clean clothing in the form of a simple dress shirt and trousers combination.

“You’re new in town,” the young man said to her in an offhand manner. “Beast-hunter?”

Zelsys gave a simple nod, considering just snatching the notice and taking it to the bar. She saw an insufferable smirk form on the young man’s face before he said, “You won’t get much work competing with us. Join my crew.”

The tone in which he said it was not a request or even a command, but rather a simple statement, as if the boy had full confidence that she would just go along with it. Even though she may have considered it under different circumstances, just the way he said that one sentence made her want to actively go against him out of sheer annoyance.