Friends not so friends II

Inside, as Fenrir said, Cristoph, even with his misfortunes and disadvantages, was still able to preserve a few crumbs of good food for important customers like Fenrir. He offered small quantities mixed with ingredients of dubious quality to provide a full plate. Kalishar was a little offended that compared to the other things she had been able to taste, these dishes were below the quality of good food.

"So, how does the bastard who eats in front of me feel? I doubt you'd be able to use your brother's death, real or fake, for profit. That would break your already dubious code of honour."

"What can you say? I mean, I'm not going to cry in front of you, telling you all the pain I still feel every time I remember Lion and his stupid desire to be a knight that got him to where he is today. Let's drop the subject I'm fine for now, I've already celebrated his funeral and paid tribute to his memory."

"Anyway, for now I'll just offer you this as my way of offering good wishes to Lion's soul, but I will no longer let you host or trade let alone gamble in here. I must take care of what little I have for myself."

"So bad a friend have I turned out to be?"

"How shall I put it, if I had a friend who stabbed me in the heart and you. I'd take the man who tried to murder me."

"Ouch, that hurts, but I guess I deserve it."

Fenrir looked through the curtains at the place, and the bad vibe it gave off, he remembered how lively the place was even though it didn't stand out in taste like other places. Now it was a different place than he could have imagined. He apologized to Cristoph for not being a better friend than the cook deserved. This action caught the brown-skinned man off guard because he had never in his life heard Fenrir apologize or anything close to it.

The man took the apology well but made it clear that even so, Fenrir could not stay on the premises for long, the veto would remain in place for at least a year to ensure that Fenrir would begin to value the few friendships on his side properly. On the other hand, Kalishar was walking around with Theodore, who did have the luxury of taking a stroll to see if they could consume any of the other services on the premises. There was a poker table, a dice table, a dart board, or a fight stage to bet on drunken fighters to profit from the fights that broke out from time to time.

"This place seems interesting despite its lack of animosity," Kalishar commented.

"Well, it's hard to find relaxation if you know this place is run by the Gronbule brothers."

"Are these brothers really that nefarious? The more I discover how menacing and terrifying they can be, the more curious I become to meet them in person."

"Believe me it's better to kill that curiosity, a beautiful lady like you would prefer the company of a vulgar drunkard to one of them a thousand times over. You might say he is the human equivalent of a zerbarix."

Those last words offended and only further stoked the girl's curiosity, she wanted to know even more about dangerous people and see for herself that foolish fact for the cartographer.

"Look at that girl, dude," said one of the customers with a big hat.

"Nice curves, good face, wonderful eyes and who knows, maybe even a virgin," replied the fellow with the same look. "I wonder where a beauty like her came from."

"Don't worry brother, why don't we go and take her to a nicer place and find out a lot about her and show her the real fun while we're at it."

Both guys finish their drinks and get up from their seats to go to the girl to see how to trick her and take her to turn her into one of their prostitutes. Kalishar as she looked at a rare decoration depicting a legend of the Sun Saints, the horrible stench of malice invaded her nose and she realized that hostile beings were approaching her. Turning around she noticed the two guys in big hats smiling with friendly expressions that would fool any naive person.

"Did something happen?" she asked without wasting any time.

"Excuse me beautiful lady, we didn't mean to disturb such a beautiful person. It's just that my brother Ruto and I were wondering if you were alone here."

"That's right! Don't you want to have some fun with good company like ours?"

Words and smiles were useless to the girl who didn't trust that pair. Even if it wasn't the case, Kalishar didn't plan to stray far from Fenrir and knew that those two men intended to lure her away from the site for some reason unknown to her.

"No thanks, I'm not alone, so I must decline your generous offer." She tries to walk away.

"We must insist." Ruto steps in front of the girl. "Tupo and I know better than anyone what a girl like you needs to be happy."

"True." He stands behind the girl. "You may not realise it at first, but we know very well what every woman needs."

Kalishar was beginning to be groped by the strangers who were becoming aroused by the feel of the girl's softness despite the fabric. The girl didn't understand what was going on, she wondered if somehow she hadn't been the first zerbarix to disguise herself as a human being, she was confident in her work to replicate inside and out the structure of a human girl. Luckily she had made sure that the worst things about her race were deep inside her, so the creature had nothing to worry about being discovered.

"You won't find anything zerbarix no matter how much you idiots touch me." He thought with a smirk misunderstanding the situation.

The two perverts, finding no resistance or calls for help from the lady, thought they had found themselves an easy woman, someone who would fit into prostitution without so much resistance. As Tupo was about to reach inside the girl's trousers, an unfamiliar hand pulled him by the shoulder forcing him to turn around to receive a blow to the face.

"Fenrir?!"

"I don't know why someone like you, who faced monsters for a living, is stuck here with a bunch of simple degenerates. Anyway," he sighs. "I'll only say it once, that girl is coming with me and if you think she'll be a product to you, I'll kill you after I rip off your limbs."

"Bro are you alright?"

"Yeah, but I think she broke my nose. This is not going to stay like this my friend, you will deal with us."

"Who are you?!"

"It doesn't matter. It should only matter that you don't go near this girl for anything in the world or you die."

The two brothers walk away from the girl, but they have no intention of letting her just walk away.

"Oh no, another problem for my place," said Cristoph already seeing the future damage.

Fenrir noticing his friend's concern for the situation, takes his friend's hand and alerts Theodore with a sign to leave through the back door.

"Let's go Kalishar."

"What?! Are you afraid of them?! No, you don't reek of that feeling."

"Of course he's afraid of us, we're the hat duo, one of the ten most wanted on Gurnot's list."

"Ah, those wanted. No wonder I don't know them, I'm not interested in anyone after the tenth most wanted."

"Oh yeah, how do you know we're not in the top ten?"

"Because I've already interacted with the nine in front of me. So you dirty filthy rats, don't make me angry and all will be well for everyone."

Fenrir leaves with Kalishar towards the main entrance to leave. Tupo recognizes the man accompanying the girl, he calls out Fenrir's name remembering the figure they were paying for the man's capture dead or alive. The hustler jokes about not wanting to sign autographs with low scum like those two.

Kalishar questions why Fenrir was so upset as they walked out the front door. He answers the obvious, asking the girl first about how she would feel if he or any asshole touched her without permission to abuse her sexually. That should make any woman angry, but when he looked at her, rather than anger, he only saw a neutral look as if there was nothing wrong, which he didn't understand. Quickly, Kalishar realized another concept he didn't understand yet, he didn't know what to answer because he still didn't understand her failure, but he knew something was wrong, that she allowed herself to be touched.

"Could it be that only he can touch me? Or is there something else I don't understand about these beings?" he wondered as he watched his companion.

Fenrir's group gathers at the back of the shop, and the man offers Cristoph food as payment for the trouble he caused, it was little, but he assured that it was only the beginning to start acting like a good friend to him.

"I won't accept this."

"I understand, I suppose you expect a good deal of gold coins and jewels. Give me at least a year and I guarantee I'll pay for it."

"That's not why. I do accept the offer though. I'm going to close up shop for now, as a way of preventing the storm you're sure to unleash for your girl."

"She's not my girl!"

"If you say so, if you're going to make it up to me, let me come with you, buddy. I need you to take me to certain places to get some good stuff out of sight of the Gronbule. That way I can recover a bit and acknowledge as true your words of regrets." He rummages through his bag. "Silly me, I almost forgot Dad's knives, give me a moment."

"All right, but don't be long."

The man runs to his kitchen to look for the missing items to start the adventure, as soon as the man enters, sounds of pots falling against the floor are heard alerting the group of danger, Fenrir orders Kalishar to guard along with Theodore and the carriage to prevent someone from robbing them. Once the duties have been agreed upon, Fenrir runs to the kitchen to check what has happened to his friend, hoping that it is not something alarming.