The Red Hand

"Does anyone else feel that it's strange to be walking around a town like this, again?" Elna looked between her fellow Black Company members. The five of them were casually moving down one of the main gray stone brick roads in Riftwood, and it reminded the Elf of a few other places that she'd been before. "It's like we're back in FWO again..."

{I'd say its got that fantasy look to it but is it really 'fantasy' anymore?} (Elna)

"I won't deny that it feels a bit nostalgic to romp around a place like this." Roxlex nodded. "Though I suppose that's largely because FWO was based on this world, so it makes sense that there's some similar elements even beyond the usual fantasy tropes." The five of them continued down the main street of Riftwood, the Capital of the Kingdom of Amdamell. They'd been brought over to Enoris per Akagi's orders and were currently tasked with assessing the situation within the United City State Alliance. As the largest partner within said Confederation, Riftwood was its de-facto Capital, and Amdamell's Royal Family and Nobility held a great deal of power within the Alliance, largely because it had the most population.

"This place definitely has that Medieval Germany vibe going on." Sabia commented as they walked past dozens of different food stalls. "I swear if we see somebody eating Schnitzel, I'm going to facepalm..."

"Isn't that technically an Austrian food?" Merkyul asked. He recalled reading something about that in an international magazine once.

"German, Austrian, it's the same, isn't it?" Sabia shrugged.

"I'd advise never setting foot in either and saying that if you want to keep your head." Hitamaguchi spoke up. "My grandmother would've skinned you alive for saying that Austrians were Germans." She was actually half Austrian as her father had settled down in Japan after meeting her mother during a business trip.

"Your grandmother always sounds like some kind of terrifying woman in the stories you tell about her." Roxlex gave a nervous laugh.

"Dude, she was the daughter of a Gebirgsjäger Division member who routinely went on hikes into the Alps with her father when she was just a child." Hitamaguchi smiled as she recalled her late grandmother. The two had been close, and Hitamaguchi had always enjoyed hearing stories of the old country. "She was one bad bitch! I remember the time that she wrestled a bear on her own!"

{She ended up turning the thing into that badass rug in her log cabin!} (Hitamaguchi)

"I still find that hard to believe." Elna rolled her eyes.

"Listen, I saw it myself and still don't believe it!" Hitamaguchi laughed, understanding just how crazy of a woman her grandmother was. “But I can assure you that she was the real deal!”

"That must be why you're such a stubborn woman." Merkyul laughed. "Though there's probably no woman more stubborn than Sabia here!" He laughed before getting pinched in the side by his sister. “YOW!”

"Enough pointless chatter and useless discussion about people's badass German grandmas..." Sabia sighed as she tried to get things back on track. "Lady Akagi has tasked us with handling Amdamell, and that's what we're going to do. This isn't a sightseeing trip, and we've got work to do, so come on."

"Hey, there's no reason we can't mix business and pleasure." Elna snorted.

"She's not wrong, and I won't deny that checking out local cuisine sounds interesting." Roxlex was actually quite an accomplished chef, and he'd toured Europe's best restaurants during his studies. “Perhaps I'll find a good inspiration for our meals? I know you all would love something better to eat everyday.”

"Rox, don't give into Elna's stupidity." Sabia sighed, though she couldn't deny that better food wouldn't make her happy on deployment.

"Oh, come on, or are you telling me that Akagi's brainwashing turned you into nothing more than her mindless little drone?" Elna smirked, teasing the fox about her position. “Can you not think for yourself? Is your mind filled with little more than blind love for your kitty overlord?”

"Hah! Even with all of Lady Akagi's power, she could never erase the pain in the ass that is Sabia!" Hitamaguchi snickered. “Though its entirely possible that we've been hearing MEW on loop in our brains for these last few months.”

{God I hope that's a joke...} (Elna)

"Ignoring all that, I think we can swing a bit of fun while we're here, Sis." Merkyul looked over at Sabia with a toothy smile. "We won't do anything to endanger our mission, and Elna's right that having a bit of fun won't hurt."

“Yeah, come on.” Hitamaguchi pleaded.

After being subjected to the rest of her team's unrelenting stares, Sabia finally relented. "Fine..." She sighed, not having the energy to debate them any longer. "But if I need to report any failures or problems to Lady Akagi, then it's your asses that will be on the line, not mine."

"Woo!" (Elna x Merkyul x Hitamaguchi x Roxlex)

{Fucking children...} (Sabia)

"Then, first things first, we're getting some grub!" Merkyul laughed as they continued down the street together. "We can gather a bit of intel while we eat since I'd imagine that rumors and such spread around these places like wildfire." He figured that billing it as a working lunch would solve all Akagi related issues.

After continuing along Riftwood's main road for some time and asking around for good places to eat lunch, they landed in front of a restaurant called the Smoked Pig. It had an interesting exterior, with a large metal boar dressed up as a silly mascot next to the main entrance.

"What an interesting name." Elna rolled her eyes as they went inside. It was a bit more than just a fantasy restaurant and had all kinds pork dishes and there were a few more cutely made boars inside as decorations.

"Well, at least we won't be eating cold soup and hard bread by the looks of it." Merkyul said as they took their seats.

"Though I wouldn't expect five-star dining." Roxlex pointed to the meal that somebody else was eating that looked like a heavy stew.

{That meat is horribly overcooked, and the bread seems to be hastily made. I'd definitely give that a failing grade if one of my old students served it.} (Roxlex)

"Hey, no matter how bad it looks, it can't be worse than FWO food." Elna commented as she looked at the paper menu that was on the table. “You'd probably have to try to make food that horrible.”

"I don't think I'd count most of that as food." Hitamaguchi shuddered as she recalled some of the poor-tasting dishes.

{Fucking shit tasted like plastic!} (Hitamaguchi)

"Maybe the booze will be decent?" Merkyul noted that most of the drinks seemed to be made with honey. “It can't be that hard to make good alcohol.”

"If it's mead, then it will probably be extremely thick and sweet." Hitamaguchi commented, she enjoyed that kind of drink herself, but knew that it wasn't for everyone. "But I think it should be fine."

After looking over the menu and ordering, the five members of Black Company were pleasantly surprised with their meals. While it wasn't spectacular food, it was far better than expected. Hitamaguchi was especially a fan of the honey mead that she ordered, stating that it was easily as good as the stuff her grandparents would send her from back home.

"Not bad, not bad at all." Roxlex said as he stretched in his seat. "I've had far better, but I've also had far worse. So I'll give it a pass, and maybe I can give them a few pointers to make that smoked sausage taste better." He laughed.

"Alright there, Mythril Chef, calm down." Sabia rolled her eyes. "We're not here to judge them on how they cook, we're here to gather intel." She had a feeling that Roxlex would forget himself and do exactly that.

"Which is exactly what I just did." Merkyul quickly took his seat. He'd paid the bill at the front counter and was speaking with the barkeep to gather information while they finished up.

"So, anything useful?" Sabia's eyes sharped, as did Roxlex and Hitamaguchi's.

"Apparently, the Empire's Hero Kanato came through this very restaurant yesterday." Merkyul clicked his tongue.

"Damn, and we were so close to capturing one of our primary targets." Sabia grumbled. "Do we have any idea where he went?" They'd been told to apprehend any of the Heroes they found, and missing one like that was irritating.

"The barkeep said that Kanato mentioned going North, but that was it." Merkyul shook his head. “As for where exactly he was heading, I've got no idea.”

"He didn't stay in Amadamell?" Roxlex hummed. "I would've figured that he'd stick around here in the Capital since it was the place that Shiroe Amakusa was summoned.” He figured that would be some place safe for him, especially if he was hoping to recover after their failure and regroup.

"I would imagine that he checked with the Palace, and when he was told that Shiroe wasn't here, he decided to leave." Sabia commented. She knew that the four Heroes were good friends, and that Kanato as its leader would be worried about the fate of the Amakusa who was left behind.

"Do you want me to go after him?" Elna said as she chugged her drink and slammed down the mug. "Hero or not, he can't be faster than me if I start using my Wind Magic. I'll drag his pretty boy ass back here and then we can take a few cracks at him."

"Letting you out of our sight isn't happening." Merkyul retorted. "Unlike us, your loyalty to Lady Akagi is in question." He had no interest in letting Elna go off on her own, understanding that she was just as liable to get into trouble or even go into the wind if they seperated.

"Hey, I'm not stupid enough to go angering you know who!" Elna nearly shouted and had to stop herself from causing a scene. "I saw that fucking darkness, and I'm not about to go giving her any reason to chuck me back in!"

(FUCK THAT!) (Elna)

"You're afraid of Lady Akagi, rightfully so I may add, but at the moment we've got no reason to trust that you wouldn't vanish the moment we let you run off." Merkyul continued. "The last thing we need is for you to start getting any ideas, Elna. Since I could easily imagine a scenario where one of those Gods offers to 'protect you' if you hand over crucial information."

{It would be a classic story beat, and one that would end very poorly for our little fool.} (Merkyul)

"I'm pretty sure that you know who put a muzzle on me anyway!" Elna had been bound to Akagi via some kind of tampering with her soul, and she figured that betrayal would instantly result in her doom. "I'm no threat!"

"Trust is earned Elna, and with your track record, it's going to take some time to build it up." Hitamaguchi commented. "We need to know that you're completely dedicated to Team Dumetor before we give you a bit of rope to hang yourself with."

"Says the four idiots who went rogue on us and attacked Akagi's compound, which I might add, gave Akagi the perfect excuse to come down on us hard." Elna scoffed at her. "I hope all of Akagi's mind fuckery hasn't made you forget that you were all part of Libra with me and that you were all gung-ho to take her head! So you idiots don't have the right to go calling me out like that!"

"No, we haven't forgotten about our past actions." Roxlex shook his head. "It's just that we've come to regret them, and we now dedicate our lives to serving the one we dared to raise our blades to."

{ONLY BECAUSE SHE FUCKING BRAINWASHED YOU! THE ROX AND CO THAT I KNEW ALL THIS TIME WOULD NEVER SAY ANY OF THIS CRAP!} (Elna)

"But enough wasting time." Merkyul stood up. "Right now, our orders are to handle Amdamell, not chase after the Hero. I see no reason for us to split up, and I'm sure that Chloe and the ninja will find him soon enough."

"So what's our next move?" Sabia asked her brother as the five of them walked back out onto the street.

"Well, let's see if we can't convince the Amdamell leadership to play ball." Merkyul's lips curled into a nasty smile. "After all, this is Operation Carrot and Stick, so we should at least give them the courtesy of a warning before we crack down on them." He laughed, as did the other original members of Black Company. All the while, Elna stayed silent, her head placed firmly in her hands.

{I think Akagi's brainwashing only made these four even MORE fucked in the head...} (Elna)