Take The Prize Money!

Mission:

By the time Haruto reached the next village, he was entirely exhausted. He'd been traveling through the snow for several days now, and he was almost entirely sapped of energy. Normally the rogue wouldn't have pushed himself as long or as hard as he did, but unfortunately he'd had little choice in the matter. The last village he was in, Ice Cube Valley had a bit of a nasty gang problem. Some overconfident band of yokels calling themselves the Snow Leopards. And unfortunately, Haruto had agreed to do a job for them, and worse, did it well. Suddenly they wanted Haruto to join their little gang, and it suddenly became time for him to hightail it out of there. Though when he left town, the last thing Haruto had expected was that the next one would be so damn far away. If he'd known that, he would've thought about his plan in a bit more detail.

The last few days had been miserable for him. Blizzards had struck at nearly all hours of the day, and Haruto had only managed to get through it by hiding out in what little caves he could find throughout the tundra, using the dwindling supplies of kindling he had left in his pack to keep himself warm through the night. The entire journey was excruciating. Though thankfully, there had been some small boon along the way. On his second day through the tundra, when he was getting ready to settle down for the night, Haruto had found a small cave for shelter. He had traversed deep, deep into the depths, looking for a good place to set up camp when he had spotted something nearby. A single frozen corpse, clinging desperately to a knapsack of some kind or another. It was a particularly unpleasant thing to look at, not only being a corpse, but being a horribly mangled thing as well. It was clear that some predators of the ice had made their way into the cave at some point in the past and had begun passively eating at this poor soul. Its face was nothing but shredded tatters, more skull than meat by this point. Certain parts of the corpse's coat and pants had been torn out so that the animals could get to the juicy bits inside. The back of the hands holding the knapsack had all been eaten off, though for some strange reason the palms seemed firmly attached to the bag in question. The entire scene was... highly disturbing to the rogue. He wasn't too keen on bunkering down in some cave with a corpse, though unfortunately he also didn't want to brave the nighttime blizzard once again in hopes of another cave. He supposed he'd just have to make do with what he had.

After setting up the fire and sleeping furs, Haruto made his way over to where the corpse lay, crouching down on one knee to examine it a little bit closer. The clothes it was wearing were useless to the rogue, considering that they were both stuck to a corpse and full of holes. No use trying to salvage those. Though the knapsack it had its hands wrapped around showed some promise. Haruto reached down and began to pull at the thing, grimacing in disgust when the corpse's hands remained stubbornly attached. Seemed as though the frozen skin had somehow managed to get stuck to the bag, and stuck tightly as well. Now he understood why no animals seemed to gnaw away at the corpse's palms. Still, the rogue wanted whatever was in that knapsack, and he would be damned if a dead man stopped him from getting it. Haruto gave a mighty yank at the knapsack, and it was promptly and easily ripped from the corpse's iron grasp, bringing a good deal of the flesh attached to its palms with it. Haruto glowered with utter disgust at the old flesh that now was stuck to the knapsack, but ultimately his task was accomplished, even if the knapsack could no longer be sold to any reasonable person. Haruto quickly undid the latch holding the thing shut and flung open the top, revealing the treasures within. A single glance was all the rogue needed to replace the rogue's disgusted glower with a greedy grin.

Haruto's mind returned to the present. Somehow, he'd absentmindedly made his way over to the town's tavern. Possibly because he thought it was the best place for respite, possibly because he wanted to get drunk, who really knows? It was warm, it was open, and it had fresh food. That was all that mattered to Haruto. He opened the wooden door leading into the tavern and stepped into the warm atmosphere inside. The entire place seemed full to the brim with several young men, all of whom seemed to be having a grand time, hooting and hollering and getting hopelessly drunk. A rather exasperated barmaid seemed to be trying to say something to the rowdy tavern, though few of the men seemed to hear her. Haruto himself walked calmly through the dingy place, minding his way towards a large empty table towards the back. He practically collapsed into the chair when he got to it, promptly sliding into a face down position at the table.

"Ugh..."

Few thoughts ran through Haruto's mind as he basked in his contentedness. Warmth was a luxury he'd scarcely had over the past few days, and for a time he was scared that he would freeze to death out there. To finally be warm and... semi-safe was a feeling he was particularly grateful for. He was honestly about to doze off right there at the table when he felt a tapping at his shoulder. Haruto's head quickly jerked upwards to see who had disturbed him, only to notice that it was the barmaid who had been trying to catch the attention of the young men a few moments ago. She was a younger blonde woman, gussied up in heavy makeup and more clothing than he'd expect the average barmaid to dress up in, likely to compensate for the weather. She stepped back in shocked surprise, and Haruto relaxed a tiny bit. Just a barmaid... nothing more.

"Geez, you're an easy one to startle."

Haruto blinked for a minute, catching his bearings before giving a shrug.

"Guess so. What do you want? You here to take my order?"

She looked a bit annoyed at Haruto's response, and she promptly crossed her arms across her chest. He face grew cold and stern, and Haruto shrugged in response. He wasn't about to apologize for his manners when she was the one who had disturbed his rest.

"Well mister, that's no way to speak to the one handling your drinks. I WAS going to ask if you wanted something to eat, but I guess if you're going to be like that."

She began to walk off, which prompted Haruto to desperately raise a hand after her.

"Wait!"

She looked back, one eyebrow raising up on her face. Haruto's face grew sour, and he began to grumble under his breath.

"I'm sorry alright..."

She made a great show of raising her hand to her head in the direction of Haruto's table.

"Sorry, what was that? You're going to need to speak a little louder for me to hear you."

The scowl on Haruto's face grew even deeper.

"I'm sorry alright! I shouldn't have spoken to you like that."

Her face gave a drastic shift, changing from cold and stern to smiley and bubbly. If Haruto had to guess, she was probably glad she finally got someone to listen to her tonight.

"That's the spirit! Now, would you like something to eat or drink?"

"Yeah. Whatever's biggest and warmest. Plus a thing of ale to boot."

She gave a cheeky grin, and spoke her words in a sing song tone.

"What's the magic wooooorrrrdddd?"

Haruto's face flushed with embarrassment. God, if it wasn't so much trouble he'd just kill the barmaid here and now...

"Please."

She gave a nod, and started walking off towards what Haruto assumed to be the kitchen, leaving the rogue to examine the chaos unfolding before him. For some reason the large gaggle of men seemed to be attempting to sing some sea shanty or another, though Haruto couldn't for the life of him fathom why. Though as he looked around, he noticed more and more particularly strange things. This entire tavern was made of wood. Far more than he had seen in previous towns, which had buildings mostly composed of igloos and ice, with only some small imported utensils or furniture to change the scenery. Here however, it almost seemed as though the building was built like a log cabin. Very odd when compared to previous towns. Though stranger yet was the fact that he could remember other buildings as he passed by being composed of wood as well... could that mean-

The thought was interrupted by the barmaid coming back with two large plates of fish balanced on her arm, two mugs of ale trapped between her fingers in her other hand, and an envelope tucked under her arm. She placed the plates and ale down on the table and slid a chair out to sit in. She sat down with a heavy thump and a sigh before turning back to Haruto with a grin.

"Eat up! I hope you don't mind if I sit down to eat with you. This shift has been killer." She pointed a thumb over to the crowd of singing men. "These guys have been a handful. Boss couldn't stand them anymore so he went out back for a smoke break. He's been gone for the past fifteen minutes."

Haruto gave a slight grumble as he picked up a fork and knife and began to dig into his food. Great. Some barmaid trying to cozy up to him. If she thought this was the way to get tips, she was sorely mistaken.

"Actually, I'd prefer if you didn't eat here. I... appreciate the food, but I'd rather just be left alone."

"Too bad!" She said with a smile as she proceeded to shove a massive bite of fish into her mouth. Halfway through the bite she began speaking once again. "All the other tables are full, and you're a newcomer, so I don't have to worry about sucking up to you to make you a repeat customer." She swallowed the fish and pointed the fork towards Haruto, a slim smirk across her face. "And since I'm bored and you look interesting, you're going to be my conversation partner for a while. So tell me stranger, what brings you here to Sculpin Port?"

A port? That was perfect! That explains the wood everywhere, they likely got it all imported! Haruto's mind flashed back the the knapsack he'd found earlier. When he'd pried that knapsack open, he'd managed to find an entire ten thousand ryo stashed inside. More than enough to charter a boat out of here and off this desolate frozen hellscape. Haruto couldn't help but grin in response, something which got the barmaid in front of him grinning wider in kind.

"Well originally I was just stopping for rest, but now that I know it's a port town, I'd best be on my way! I have a boat to catch!"

Haruto quickly rose to his feet, and the barmaid gave a hearty, boisterous laugh.

"Sit back down there speedy, it's the dead of the night. Everyone who could take you is either asleep or drunk."

Haruto's expression of joy quickly melted into aggravated frustration as he slumped back over into his chair. Okay... that was fine. He could just wait until morning. Haruto angrily stabbed at the fish in front of him and began shoveling it into his mouth, washing it down with the ale. The barmaid seemed to giggle at the sight, earning her a furious glare from the rogue. She gave a sigh and waved her hand dismissively.

"Lighten up buddy, it's not the end of the world. So you're stuck in town for a little bit, so what? Not like I've been stuck here the past twenty years."

Haruto finally began to look the barmaid over in response to that. She was far younger than he'd expect a barmaid to be, likely only being about twenty years old. Haruto gave a sigh of exhaustion, letting all the stress leave his body as he threw back more of the ale.

"You could just leave you know. I've been trekking across the tundra for the past few days, there's nothing out here. Seems like life here is nothing but misery."

She gave a bored nod, and began drumming her fingers along the wooden table.

"That's the plan. I've actually got a ticket onto the next boat out of here. Saved up for it for a while. I'm planning on heading down to Demon Country to start a new life there."

Haruto nodded, sipping at his ale. He wasn't sure why she was still sitting at his table and chatting with him, but he was slowly growing to appreciate her company. Demon Country... far as he knew, it was in the dead of nowhere. No major shinobi villages nearby. Meaning... there was no competition for official work. Likely had a couple of good spots for him to scope out. Why not try it out? After all, not like he really had anywhere else to go. As long as it was out of this country, the better.

"You know... coincidentally, I think I'm heading there as well. You know where I can buy a ticket?"

She gave another grin.

"I can hook you up. Come see me tomorrow and I can get you in touch with the guy in charge of the operation."

She quickly polished off the last of her fish and her ale in a shorter time frame than Haruto would've thought possible before standing up and patting her stomach, giving a large and particularly unladylike belch as she did so.

"Welp, I'm stuffed! Thanks for eating with me, but I've gotta get back to work. Good luck with your... brooding or whatever it is you're doing over here. Oh, and before I forget..." She slid the envelope over to Haruto, prompting a curious glance from the rogue. "It was supposed to be poker night, but these bozos won't listen to me. You're technically the only one who showed up at the poker table, and you're also the only one who acknowledged my existence, so might as well declare you the winner. Money is inside. And if you want to purchase a room, my you can speak to the boss when he comes back in. Goodnight Mr...?"

"Haruto."

She smiled.

"First name basis, how casual. Nice to meet you Haruto, I'm Karmen. Goodnight!"

With that, she left. Leaving Haruto alone with his fish, his ale, and his newfound wealth. That was... certainly an interesting experience.

Word Count - 2503

Exit Claims:

approved