An easy trip to Iretika.

Dario walked down the main street when he heard quick footsteps behind him. When he turned around, Rayne almost crashed into him. He quickly grabbed her shoulders to only just prevent a collision between their heads. Stopping inches away from him, she smiled and said “Hi!”. Dario, slowly settling his surprisement, replied too with a “Hi…?!”. Without a long pause, Rayne quickly said “So, which way are we going?” and looked around excitedly. Dario looked at her and asked “We?”. Rayne confirmed while looking around with “Jup.”. Dario, seemingly needed more reassurance and asked “As in, you are coming with me to gather the wood?”. Rayne stopped looking around and looked a bit annoyed at Dario and said “Well, that’s what “we” mostly entails. You got any problems with me joining you on this trip?”. Dario heard the tone in her voice, telling him that this was not the way she wanted to start the trip and quickly replied “Oh, no! Not at all. On the contrary, I’m glad that you are coming with me.”. Rayne’s mood rose up quickly and with a smile she said “Perfect. Then carry on!” and motioned him to move. Dario made a playful bow and resumed his trip, now followed closely by Rayne.

The trip to Iretika was a short and uneventful one. They used the ARTS, short for Autorail Transport System, an automated mass transport system that worked like a monorail, to get to Iretika as fast as possible. From there on out they would need to search for personal transport towards Afrodia. Plus Rayne forgot to eat before leaving in a hurry and got kind of hungry. So when they arrived in Iretika, the first thing Dario went searching for was a place to eat something while also be able to get information on transportation possibilities. After asking around a bit, someone told Dario that they should ask some guy named Riccar for cheap personal transport. Riccar could be found at his usual bar called Rebecca’s. “Good, then with a bit of luck we get two birds with 1 stone.” Dario said to Rayne, whose belly rumbled.

Rebecca’s wasn’t too far away, somewhere in the quieter parts of town. After entering the bar, Dario told Rayne to take a seat somewhere and order something while he would find this Riccar. Dario walked up to the barmaid, who welcomed him to Rebecca’s. “Thank you, miss. I was wondering, where could I find a man named Riccar?” Dario asked. The barmaid pointed towards a guy sitting alone in a booth. Dario thanked her and turned to Rayne, nodding his head in affirmation of finding their guy. Rayne nodded back and took off her quite wide jacket, revealing her unique features which were covered up by her jacket before. A bunch of men sitting on a long table took notice to them, as did the barmaid. Dario already made contact with Riccar and asked him about transportation from Iretika to Afrodia.

Meanwhile the men at the long table took a look at Rayne from time to time and softly discussed her between them, when the barmaid approached her. “Hello there, miss. Could I get you something to eat or drink?” the maid said kindly. Rayne looked at her and answered “Uhm, yes please. Although I haven’t looked at the menu yet.”. The barmaid smiled and said “Do you like salmon, because then I could really recommend today’s special.”. Rayne thought about it for a few seconds, when suddenly her belly growled again. “Sound good.” Rayne said embarresed, “Could I have some dry white wine with that, please?”. The maid nodded and said “Of course. Now you just make yourself comfortable and I’ll be back as soon as possible.”.

Just when the barmaid walked back to the bar and walked through the kitchen door, 3 men from the long table stood up and walked up to an unaware Rayne. “Well, well, look at what we got here. I heard about you. Aren’t you the artificer apprentice of that Gerard geezer? The freak woman?” the tall one of the three said while pulling up a chair and sat down on the left side of Rayne. Rayne looked surprised to the suddenly appeared man and said “Huh? I...what? Freak wo…?”. But she got interrupted by the second man, a short, round one, who pulled up a chair to her right “She sure is. Look at those awkward humps growing on her chest. Aren’t they the weirdest things you have ever seen?”. Rayne looked toward the table cover and turned bright red by the comments while her eyes started to tear up and she shamefully tried to cover her breasts with her arms.

But before she could, the third man, who stood behind her, grabbed her arms and said “Hold up, missy. Let us have a good look at those freakish lumps. Wow! Those are really ugly. Did you never even think of surgically removing them?”. Rayne softly kept trying to cover up her breasts while burning tear rolled over her red cheeks while shame filled her heart. Riccar noticed the what was happening at Rayne’s table and notified Dario, who was sitting with his back towards her table. When he saw what was happening too, he leaped up but before he was halfway across the room, the barmaid suddenly stood in front of the table.

All four persons around the table looked up to her and the men saw how furious she was. The tall man stuttered “H-h-hey, Rebecca…” with an apologizing smile, then the short, round guy added “We...we were just f-f-f-fooling around a-a-a bit, Rebecca…”. Rebecca calmly, but with an ice cold tone, said “I want you out of my fine establishment and if I ever see you again, I’ll make you the prime ingredient in that day’s special.”. And when the men sat there frozen to their seats, she added fiercely “Now move!!!”. The men reacted very well to that command and flew to the exit, followed by the rest of the men at the long table.

Then Rebecca looked at the heaving and sobbing Rayne and all the fierceness and coldness evaporated as quickly as snow before the sun. She quickly walked around the table, kneeled down and softly embraced the crying girl, who instantly hugged her back. Dario slowly walked up to the women and when Rebecca saw him, she patted Rayne on her head and softly released the raven haired girl. Then she stood up and turned to Dario, saying “Protect this girl. She is a very special woman. Protect her with your life.”. Then she turned back towards Rayne who’s tears had stopped flowing and said “Food and drinks are on the house. Also, I overheard your talking with Riccar and I recommend you travel early tomorrow morning as you won’t complete the next leg of your trip by nightfall and the forgotten roads are dangerous at night. I got two rooms left which you are free to use for the night. It will be a good opportunity for the girl to rest too after what transpired just now. I will make sure you are not bothered the rest of your stay.”.

Dario nodded and thankfully accepted the offer. He and Rayne dined mostly in silence, shortly talked about Dario being able to procure transportation and the time of departure the next morning, after which they greeted Rebecca and went to their seperate rooms for the night.