(Lave POV)

The ground sloshed under my feet as I walked down the muddy road. It was raining causing my mood to soar. It’s been four days since I got to this Goddess forsaken place. All I have seen is forest, plains, and more forest. Thankfully the fruit is holding out well.

While it pains me to admit this but thanks to the girl, Amice, I can now understand some words of their insufferable language. All because she almost never shuts up. I’ve listened to her yammer on so much that I swear I can hear her talk in my sleep. Ugh. I took a bite of the red fruit that I have stashed in a bag on my back. After the first night she hasn’t tried to take it away from me anymore. Not that she ever could.

Finally, a walled town was sitting neatly below us. “በዚህ ተመልከቱ, Lave. በመጨረሻ ተዘጋጅቷል Haze.” Amice said happily even though she knew I wouldn’t understand almost anything she said. “ከተማ ውስጥ ለማግኘት ወደ እኛ ጠባቂዎቹ ወደ show መታወቂያ ያስፈልግሃል. ምንም ችግር የለም መሆን አለበት, ስለዚህ ደስ የሚለው እኛ ሌሎች ግዛት ወጥተዋል.”

All I got from that is that this is a place called Haze and we have to show something. I sighed. I would leave her if I wasn’t sure that I would just be attacked at the gate again.

We walked down the steep cliff. Lightning flashed overhead helping to light the path. Amice basically bounced down the trail. Really now. Aren’t Humans supposed to hate walking in the rain? After an hour we reached the gates of Haze.

Guards stood in front just like the other town. With the same stupid spears. Amice bounded up to them moving almost silently in the rain. “ሰላም!” She shouted in greeting scaring the hell out of the guards. She is going to get us in trouble. I walked up slowly and stood just behind her leaving all the explaining or whatever to her.

She chatted with one of the guards and then pulled out a card and handed it to him. He nodded his head and pointed to me. Amice said somethings making the guard nod again, and handed her a piece of paper with some scribbled writing on it. Do I have to learn how to read as well? Sigh. I guess I will try to find some pens and paper and also a map.

We walked through the gates entering the town. My first town in this place. The buildings where made of brick no more than three stories tall. Truly a primitive town. Never thought I would miss sky scrapers. Spotting a building that could be considered an inn I grabbed Amice and dragged her over to it.

It was time to use my free translator. Walking in I immediately smiled. It looked just like the common area at the mercenaries house. Standing a bit taller, and dragging Amice by the sheath of her sword, I walked through the crowd to the counter. A man coated in scars was washing cups while watching over the crowd. Placing the mug down he smiled a professional smile. “የእኔ ላይ አስቀምጦት ወደ እንግዶች እንኳን ደህና መጡ. ምን ልርዳሽ?”

I pulled Amice next to me at the counter while smiling brightly. A solid thud sounded behind us followed by a crash. “የእርስዎ ለመዋጋት መሄድ ከሆነ ኦአይ, ወደ ውጭ መውሰድ. የእኔ የሆነው ነገር ሁሉ E ስኪመለስ መሄድ አይደለም!” The guy yelled at the people behind us. Ah, I don’t even have to understand to know what was said. ‘Oi, don’t brake my place! Get out if your going to fight!’ or something along those lines. He turned back to us while Amice was distracted looking at the scene.

Shaking my head I looked back at the owner and tried to speak in their blasted language. “… Stay…” The owner looked confused for a second before it dawned on him what I wanted.

“አንድ ክፍል ሁለት ብር ነው. አንተ ቁርስ የሚፈልጉ ከሆነ, የመዳብ ነው. በመታጠብ እንደ አንድ የሕዝብ መታጠቢያ ቤት መንገድ ላይ ብቻ የለባቸውም.” He said too fast for me to catch any of the words. I frowned and tapped Amice getting her attention while pointing to the owner.

“ማለተም, ሠላም … ምን እርስዎ አለ?” Amice asked the owner while I looked back out into the shop, leaning my back against the counter. One particular card game caught my interest in the corner. They had trump cards laid out on the table while betting on the results. Ho, that looks fun. Flashing a toothy smile I wondered over to join in. Lets make some money.

~~~

(Amice POV)

Lave has dragged me into a strange place. I smiled painfully up at the big man in front of me. “Hi, um… What was it you said?” More banging noises could be heard behind me making me flinch. Mom warned me about these types of places.

“One room is two silver. If you want breakfast it is 5 copper. As for a bath there is a public bath house just a block down the road.” The man said while looking at me skeptically. “Little lady are you sure you want to stay here?”

“Ha ha, well…” Another crash sounded behind me followed by loud booing, making me turn. What I saw made my eye brows twitch down in confusion. “Lave?” Lave was sitting at a table surrounded by menacing looking men. She had laid a hand of cards down and was pulling the stack of coins towards her. The man that sat across from her pulled out a knife and violently stabbed the table.

He looked very unhappy about all of this. “Bitch, you cheated didn’t you.” He growled out while standing over her. Lave just smiled and pointed at his cards while shaking her head. Making him angrier. I was panicking. Lave doesn’t speak the language. She probable doesn’t know whats going on.

As I pushed myself forward from the counter the man behind it grabbed my arm. “Now little missy there is no need to be hasty. It looks like your friend can handle herself quite well.”

“But Lave doesn’t speak the language.” I whispered. Never taking my eyes off the situation in front of me. The man just chuckled.

“Yeah I could tell when she was making you speak for her. However it doesn’t look like she needs help. See?” As he said this Lave had pulled out the knife on the table and was rolling it easily with her fingers. She placed her other hand on the table. Fast as lightning she stabbed the knife back into the table in-between each of her fingers.

She then flipped it over and handed it to the man. For some reason he was sweating while the others smiled viciously. They sat him down and forcible placed his hand on the table. With clear agitation he did the exact same thing as Lave. A scream of agony was released from the guy as he stabbed his own hand with the knife.

The other men burst out laughing and congratulated Lave. She smiled happily and grabbed the money on the table. Walking back over to us as if she was dancing she looked at me confused. As if asking what I was doing. Thats my line!

“Hahaha, well what did I say little lady.” The man behind the counter said. “Oi, get that guy to the medic!” The scream grew quieter as he was drug off to wherever the medic was. “Stay?” He asked Lave making sure to keep the word slow.

She smiled happily and placed some money on the table while holding up her finger. “Right. One nights stay is it?” Slowly he pulled out two silver and held up one finger. Laves eyes narrowed slightly but then she nodded. Placing the rest of the coins in one of her pouches she tilted her head to the side. “Room 301.” He said while holding the right number of fingers up for each number as he spoke.

Smilling brightly she walked to the stairs without looking back. I just stood to the side and watched the whole thing take place. “… You seem used to talking to people who don’t speak Common.”

The guy shook his head. “No, this is the first time that I have meet someone who doesn’t speak Common. I’m used to talking to people who can’t hear.”

“I see…”

“So little miss are you staying here as well?”

“Yes.” I placed the money on the counter and received my room number. Really I want to know more about Lave.