Psst seriously dudes, join the discord :( https://discord.gg/9hsKfB
"Sorry, I'm sorry!" Cecilia kept repeating in her broken English as they left the guild.
"It's fine, I'm fine don't worry about it." Jackson said, giving her a thumbs up and pointing at the mark on his face to get across his point.
"El esta bien no te preocupes." Eric suddenly interrupted, Cecilia nodded but still avoided looking at Jackson out of embarrassment.
"Should've known you would know Spanish." Jackson said as he walked alongside him, it wasn't unusual for someone to know a second language just it was just a skill he rarely saw people use these days - well in Mayson that was, 'The other Hunter Bases probably speak a few different languages.'
"Know Spanish? Never spent a day in my life trying to learn it!" Erics' answer caught him off guard however but he quickly followed with an explanation, "It's a skill I have, [Universal Understanding] gained it a while ago - pretty useful when you travel around a lot." He said with a smug grin.
His words caught Jackson by surprise as his eyes went wide with shock at the implications of that being a skill.
"Haha don't give me that look, is it really so surprising that there's a beast out there that can understand different languages? It's not like that beast is special either, we've been finding more and more strong beasts who can understand our languages."
Jacksons' mind wandered to the Dragons he'd seen as he listened to Eric speak, 'Without a doubt they're part of that list...'
He was interrupted by Eric patting him on the back suddenly.
"You good kid? You spaced out for a second there."
"I'm fine, but... do you think we can win?" he asked slowly.
His question caused Eric to pause, a troubled expression crossing his face, "I think we can survive." He said after a few moments of silence. "I won't lie to you kid, sometimes I get the feeling that there's something out there that no human could take on. It- nevermind... Forget it, you'll understand if you ever reach A Rank"
'When I reach A Rank? I think I've already seen that thing in the flesh..." He muttered in his heart but didn't say anything more, he had a vague feeling that the Dragon was far stronger than anything Eric could handle, he didn't want to be the reason the man ran head-first to his death.
Cecilia was completely oblivious to what they'd been talking about but she could tell from how they were speaking to each other that it wasn't something pleasant, despite this she didn't try to ask and simply followed behind them in silence. Jackson couldn't help but wonder why she'd helped him, 'Does she really know I'm the one who helped them or is she simply being nice?' It wasn't like he had a way to question her about it, he could ask Eric but after their conversation just now the atmosphere had been soured, they walked in silence for several minutes longer before coming to a stop in front of a building.
"Here we are, the best place to stay in the city, Lone Blue Inn!" Erics' voice was filled with pride as he showed off the building to them, Jackson didn't find anything special about it other than that there were rarely Hunters' who came into the building from the street, it looked practically deserted in comparison to the others around it.
Jackson was about to voice his concerns only to be pushed through the front door by Eric, he went flying headfirst through the door from the sudden force to his back, sliding across the floor a short moment after quite literally flying through the door that slammed back shut behind him.
"Ouch..." His body ached as he pulled himself to his feet, 'That's the strength of an A Rank?!' He thought to himself as he rubbed his aching arms, 'He might as well have thrown me through the damn door.'
It was only then that he noticed that his dramatic entrance had caused the entire Inn to fall quiet, the patrons sitting around their tables and the man behind the bar were all staring at him, observing him with eagle like eyes that didn't miss a single detail.
"Um... hi?" He said with a little wave of his hand awkwardly, he was growing increasingly uncomfortable as time passed and they simply watched him. 'Do they want to me to leave?' He couldn't help but think sheepishly, he could feel pressure from several strong individuals that seemed on par with Erics in the room, he glanced at the door hoping he'd walk in soon.
His prayers were seemingly answered as a mere moment later the door opened again and both Eric and Cecilia entered interrupting the silence, Eric didn't seem surprised by the scene as he raised his voice and shouted "What do you lot think you're doing? Get back to your drinking leave the kid alone!" He turned to look at Jackson with embarrassment clear as day, "Sorry about that kid, they're pretty cautious around people they don't recognise."
"Anything else you want to apologise for?"
"Nope, no idea what you're on about. Let me book you a room and get us something to eat, how does that sound?" He quickly changed the topic as he quickly walked off towards the bar. Cecilia came to his side to check to see if he had any bruises, he could only try and reassure her that he was okay before she tried to lift up his shirt to check more of his body.
Eric returned soon after and lead them to a small table in the corner of the room, the Inn had grown rowdy again as groups began to talk and argue with one another as if nothing had happened, "What was that about anyway?" Jackson said after they sat down.
"Well..." Eric rubbed his temple as he began to speak, "Let me explain what exactly an Inn does for the Hunters first, putting it simply the Inn can perform as the middle-man between a Hunter and the Guild, they'll provide the Hunter with missions and give them their rewards - in exchange the Inn receives funding from the Guild for the amount of missions completed in a year and the number of Hunters registered with it, but that also means that the Inns' reputation and the reputation of the Hunters' associated with the Inn are tied to each other."
He stopped for a second to take a sip from the beer he'd brought over from the bar, "A few years ago a Hunter associated with this Inn was found to have murdered his Hunting Party in cold blood while they slept just to keep the Beast Crystals they'd hunted for himself... He'd been a newbie that'd joined the Inn only a few weeks before and it was only his second time in a party. Most of the Hunters' here have an issue with newbie Hunters joining the Inn because of that..." Eric finished with a sigh.
"What happened to him?"
"He was executed," Eric said calmly as if there was nothing to it, Jackson wanted to say something but Eric cut him off before he could, "He killed seven people. A murderer like that doesn't deserve mercy, just because we're fighting for our lives doesn't mean we need everyone we can get."
Jackson swallowed his words, his words made sense after all; although he wasn't comfortable with the death penalty it was a fair judgement for someone who had betrayed the trust of the people who'd trusted him. "Kid I'll tell you this now, anyone who dares to harm their own party - I'll personally rip them apart with my own hands." Eric said suddenly, his voice was cold and emotionless as he spoke.
'What happened to him.' He couldn't help but wonder, he didn't dare ask the question however, some things were better left unsaid after all.
