Olin sat, staring at the boy in awe.
"I strongly doubt he would remember any of this when he wakes" he said. "We must keep it that way, Irin. We must make him forget--"
Then suddenly, they heard a loud crash coming from the bar, followed by the voices of loud rowdy men.
The crashings continued, with the bartender yelling in resistance. Olin and Irin could hear it, muffled by the wooden walls and doors.
"He's here again" Irin said with a sigh.
Olin sighed as well.
"The sound of a little ant who cannot comprehend just how big the world is" Olin said, standing up. "But ants don't make any sounds. So what is this that I hear? What do we call..."
"You and your senseless speeches again. Just go handle that fool already" Irin said, a bit irritated.
"Where are you?! Olin!" A man with a deep, raspy voice called out loudly for Olin to hear.
"And where is that wench too?!"
"He's looking for you too" Olin said immediately. "Why don't you go take care of him this time? I'm not in the mood for this"
"Ehhh?" the girl exclaimed.
"It's been a while since I had a little fun, so come on out. Tell the little girl we'll be gentle with her too, although my boys are quite hungry!"
Olin sat back down.
"See?" he said.
Irin was clearly irritated by Olin and more by the loudmouth who yelled for them.
"I'd hate for that fool to wake the boy up" she said. "He's making a lot of noise already"
Olin nodded in affirmation.
"Tsssk!" she sounded a bit frustrated before leaving the room.
The bar they had been in earlier had a few inns, one of which they had taken for the night. It was around the back of the bar which was only accessible through the back door.
Irin then surfaced from there, meeting the bar in a mess.
Some of the tables there had been broken and a huge man, leading the rowdy group of thugs there had his hand tight on the bartender's neck, holding him up with a single hand.
"Ahhh. There she is" he said with an insidious smile. The huge man had short hair and a wild face, with scars here and there.
He looked strong, seeing how he easily held a person off the ground.
Irin grinned.
"I thought we had an agreement" she said to him, putting one of her legs on the table closest to her.
"Yeah. We did" he said.
The bartender groaned, trying to break free from his grip. The huge man then threw him back over the counter, sending him crashing hard on the shelf.
"You brought me the black sprout earlier as we agreed and I haven't troubled your lot" he said, walking towards her, his imposing build towering over her figure which was quite small compared to his.
"But you see, Olin made a mess of three of my boys earlier"
'Ohh, that' Irin thought, remembering Olin's entrance earlier. 'But they started it'
"So, I thought we might just take it back to square one. You see, here we take what we want eventually. A deal is nothing" he said, nearing her until he was close enough, just on the other side of the small round table.
Irin had wanted to let him know that his men had tried to kidnap someone she had came with first.
But on hearing this, it probably didn't matter. This guy didn't care. Moreover, they seemed to have smoked a bit of the black sprout--if so, they were beyond reasoning at the moment
"Like I said, my boys are hungry. And you seem to be just what they need"
Irin then looked up at his face and sighed.
"Damn it. I really hate your type the most"
"What did you just say, you little bitch" one of his henchmen close behind him said, and tried to smack her face. It was something he regretted instantly.
Irin moved promptly. She seized his arm, dragged him forward, grabbed his head and shoved it down, shattering the table between them.
Puca was their boss here. While he moved around often, he frequently made stops at Reel, making it part of a turf feared by other local thugs.
While he had an impressive physical strength, that wasn't the only thing he had going for him. But none of that was a bother to Irin.
Swiftly, he moved to grab her in turn, but Irin had already picked a wooden plank and smashed it on his face, slowing his movement.
Then she created distance immediately.
"Aren't you a feisty one?" Puca said, licking the blood on his mouth.
Irin still had the black cloak over her. Since the fight had already begun, intently and slowly, she pulled the cloak off, revealing her actual clothes.
She wore a red sleeveless leather jacket and tight shorts, with numerous pouches and strips holding different objects, mostly weapons.
"I don't want you screaming too loud" she said. "So do me a favour, and handle this like men"
Puca wiped his mouth then.
"She's all yours boys" he said, giving them the go to attack her.
They had already clustered together with dirty smirks on their faces, eager to pounce on the delicate-looking young girl.
Irin took them on at once. She attacked first, kicking, smacking and sending them flying, all with extraordinary strength not expected from a girl of her stature.
"She's strong! Don't underestimate her!" some of them soon realised but nothing changed.
A few of them had daggers which they frantically swung at her but kept missing.
And one by one, she would keep hitting them, some at fragile parts, incapacitating them in a single strike.
And in less than a minute, she was done with all of them, except Puca, who could only watch his men all go down from fighting a young girl.
As soon as she was done with the last person, she faced him again.
"You should send your boys home now" she said. "I'm sure there are a lot out there willing to satisfy them"
Puca was marveled. He was. All his men lay, groaning in pain and unable to get back up. With that, he could tell she wasn't an ordinary lass.
He would have to handle her personally.
"Now, I'll have to kill you" he said with ill intent.
"I won't go easy on you, Puca" she warned. "I might even kill you"
Puca laughed at her impudence. He began coming towards her, stepping on both the broken tables and his men who lay on the ground.
"You don't think I'm the same as them, do you? They're all beneath my feet. This town is beneath my feet, you and your boyfriend, are beneath my..."
At that moment, just before he could complete his words, Irin leaped at him, landing a kick on his neck.
"What boyfriend?" she asked, annoyed at his last words.
Even without blocking it, he would be able to withstand the damage. It stung him, but he only sneered and reached for Irin, who spun mid air, knocking away his hand before he could grab her.
Then she landed back on the floor and created distance again. However, Puca came to her this time. He closed in and hurled his fist at where she was.
She easily evaded it and avoided him. From her first strike, she could tell that he was more durable than the rest. She would have to put in more effort to bring him down.
So, they kept going at it. Puca missed all the fist strikes which he threw at her. At times, she would land a hit or two from the opening she got after he attacked. But they didn't seem to do much damage.
And the power in his strikes; they were even much stronger than they seemed. Any direct hit could make things harder for her.
'I'll have to end this now' she thought, unsheathing a dagger from a strap tied to her left thigh.
Puca came at her again, like a mindless bull. Irin got ready then but just as she was about to move, she felt something latch on to her ankle.
She quickly looked down at what it was.
"You--little bitch" said one of the men whom she had taken down earlier. He grabbed her leg tightly, hampering her movement.
"Hehehe" he smugged mischievously, showing some of his missing and displaced dentals.
She couldn't evade it. The huge muscle man landed his first strike, sending her flying and ploughing into the other end of the bar, breaking through the wood wall.
Puca scoffed loudly.
"Come on out, you little slut" he said, oblivious to what had just happened as he stepped on the henchman who had held her legs just now.
Irin remained there for a few seconds before she surfaced again.
"How do you like tough men, huh? I can be rough sometimes, y'know" he said with a foul grin as he got closer to her.
Irin was up already. She had reduced the damage by blocking a bit of the impact.
However, she hadn't let him off so easily.
"You should look at yourself, you stupid gorilla" she said.
It was then Puca began to feel the throb. A cut from his arm to his chest.
'She cut me?' he asked in his thoughts, taken aback.
Looking at her now, the vibe about her had changed. She had stood up with her arms hanging limply from her shoulders. He could clearly sense her bloodlust.
"You'll end up dead at this rate" she said and in that instant, she sprung at him faster than he could react, with her dagger already going for his temple.