The sun rose early in this place called LeHarla. It was a decent-sized town still, with many technological advances. Hardly considered a "town" with all its buildings and skyscrapers that occupied the place. But regardless of this fact, it was still only a fractional quarter compared to the Valley Kingdom itself. Thus, it was considered a town in its own respect.
We stayed the night. The cool air brushed my bare chest, and I let out a yawn. I was covered in tattoos, but my neck, which bore the half-wolf symbol, had what looked like small bruises around it—made by what seemed to be a mouth from someone else…
Head beating as I lay there, hungover from the night before… or I should say from this morning, as we were at the noodle house until 0300, then a random inn by 0345. It was 0630 now. It was time to get up.
A slender female hand with black painted nails traced over my chest, turning me over to her as I was just about to rise.
"Five more minutes…" Ophelia said groggily.
Obviously hungover, she probably drank more than the rest of us combined. She made rest of us look like lightweights. If alcohol were a woman, it'd be her.
"Crew's expecting us back by 0800 today. We gotta get up." I replied to her, brushing the short black part of her hair aside, revealing her eyepatch. The blonde part flowed out of the sheets and over the covers of the bed. Noticeably nude. She groaned, then slipped her hand under the sheets below me.
My head jerked back. Her eyes were still closed, but she wore a smile as she stroked me from under the covers.
"Fine. Five more minutes," I said tightly.
She giggled, then moved her head under the sheets where her hand was. The sensation rippled through me, wet and constant… the feeling—amazing…
I let myself enjoy this for a few more minutes until I heard her gag.
"Serious? Thought you could handle more than that." I joked.
Another gag. And then another until I realized…
"Oh fuck!" was all I could say, but it was too late as I tossed the sheets off and bore witness as Ophelia hurled last night's dinner all over my lower half…
I swore the birds were laughing at us that morning as the morning sun's rays petered in from the window of our inn. It appeared to be another beautiful day here in LeHarla.
***
We met up with Havoc, who was outside the inn we were staying at, leaning against a wall, toothpick in mouth. His blind left eye showed no signs of remission, completely white, its sole purpose to reflect sunlight.
His Black Wolves jacket had the sleeves torn off and looked more like a hooded gilet than a jacket. Unlike me and Ophelia, he preferred not to wear a shirt underneath. He told me it's just easier when he uses his magic.
The inn was above a bar and I was greeted by the owner as I walked down the stairs before Ophelia. I stuck out a hand and to the batwing doors, letting them flapp behind me as I found Havoc there.
I threw my hands in my pockets as I usually do, and slightly hunched over, baring my teeth to no one in particular—which I've been told resembled shark teeth—hung over as fuck.
"Well, you two had fun as usual," Havoc said. A lazy tease.
I merely grunted in response to him.
He sniffed once. "Oh, don't tell me…" He leaned in, sniffed again. "Oh no, bro! She tossed her cookies on you!" he snorted out a laugh at the end.
"I hate that hypersensitive sense of smell of yours. I even showered, by the fucking Keeper," I calmly barked at him. And I swore I could now smell the vomit on me again, even though I knew it was all in my head. My senses were good, but not as good as his...
"Well, at least you got the 'cookie' at the same time!" he added, ending his laugh. His tone was more congratulatory than anything else.
I grunted once more and side-eyed him.
We paused a bit, then I closed my eyes and smirked out a laugh. Our fists bumped, and right there, Ophelia finally joined us through the swing doors.
"Good morning, boys! Whatcha talking about?" she said cheerily, obviously knowing already.
As mentioned, her tolerance for alcohol exceeded ours. All it took was one vomit, and she was back to her normal self, regardless of how hungover she was prior. I didn't quite understand it myself.
"Last night was so fun! Thanks for taking us along with you, Greedy," she said with that hinting tone to me. "Or should I say... babe."
Havoc snickered, "You guys are so obvious!"
I faced away from them both and simply waved a disregarding hand.
"Oh yeah. The funds… Last night, we had gotten a little carried away with the food and especially the beverages—"
Fifty eterna still available. As shown from my account on a magical screen.
"Huh," I said out loud. "Did we forget to pay last night?"
Havoc interjected, "Nah, Ryo fronted it. He even paid for our rooms. Such a stand-up guy. Pay him back for us, would ya, Cap?"
"Keeper." I face-palmed. "Well, where is he now?"
"He already took off. Said 'I'll see you all back at the Kingdom! Tell Greed to use a condom!' then went on his way… that was about an hour ago."
"Of course he did... and he did not say that last part, dick." I replied.
Ryo had taken care of me and my crew since we met him. Along with a few other guys who were now in other Guilds. All Vice Captains now. Except me… I was now an Acting Captain for the remarkable original Captain Asura of the Black Wolves. But I still felt undeserving of the role.
Especially with the way I acted... I could even earn us some money. Some Acting Captain I was. If anything, that's exactly what I was—"acting". I'm surprised these two, let alone everyone else in the crew followed my lead.
It should have been Code. That's what I always told myself at least.
I started walking off, hands still in my pockets, eyes closed in thought.
"Alright, well, let's go back home, you morons," I said to the two of them, and they followed behind.
We strolled through the town, stopping by some stores in the outskirts, and headed back to the Valley in the rusted heap of metal vehicle we rented.
***
There, in the distance atop a hill outside the town of LeHarla, three figures stood. Watching us as we drove away from the large town.
"He handled that well," the first of them said. Male, and with a slithering voice.
"Do you think he knows after that encounter?" the second one added. Female, mature and seductive.
The third, also female, was silent but bore a sinister smile. When her teeth showed, they were jagged like a shark's and salivated at the sight of us in the distance.
The first concluded, answering the second who spoke, again with that slithering voice of his, "No, he doesn't. But he will. Sit back and watch for now. The Lord does not wish for us to intervene just yet."