Lena entered the apartment speaking loudly with an energy that violently contrasted with the usual calm of the place, her voice echoing through the empty living room.
She headed straight toward Hiro, who was sitting quietly on the couch.
"You know what's happening downstairs in the guild hall right now?"
Hiro looked up from the book he was flipping through distractedly.
"I already went down this morning and I didn't see anything special or unusual. Why are you asking me that exactly?"
Lucia entered a few seconds later, carefully closing the door behind her.
"We just saw that all the available quests at the guild have completely changed since this morning apparently."
She approached the couch.
"The quests that used to be diverse and varied, covering all sorts of different objectives, are now all unique in their nature and purpose."
Lena nodded vigorously, crossing her arms.
"All the normal quests have been temporarily suspended and replaced exclusively with reconnaissance and patrol quests around Veritas in a perimeter that seems to stretch over several kilometers according to the descriptions I read."
She paused significantly.
"The other adventurers downstairs are seriously worried and wondering exactly what's going on to justify this kind of drastic measure, but the situation isn't clear at all because the guild employees refuse to give any more detailed information on the reasons behind this sudden change."
She added with a pensive, almost calculating expression.
"While checking the descriptions of the available quests more carefully, I noticed something interesting. Their rewards are significantly higher than usual for this kind of relatively simple mission, almost double what you'd normally expect."
When Hiro heard that the rewards were higher than normal, his expression changed immediately.
His eyes lit up with obvious interest.
"We can't miss this golden opportunity that probably won't come around a second time."
Cassian was observing the whole scene from her room through a small gap in the door she had left ajar.
"You made your decision way too quickly without even thinking about the implications."
Her voice carried from the room.
"You didn't even ask yourself for a single second what the exact threat is that forced the guild to take this kind of unusual emergency measure."
Hiro turned toward the bedroom door where he could barely make out Cassian's face in the shadow.
He put on a face that was far too serious and dramatic for such a ridiculous statement.
"As long as my purse is heavy and full of coins that jingle pleasantly, I can accept literally any mission without exception."
Cassian blinked several times in a row at this completely absurd and superficial explanation.
Is he serious?
Is that really his life philosophy?
Lena laughed and gave Hiro a friendly pat on the shoulder.
"I was just coming to tell you to join us on this lucrative quest. We're teaming up like usual."
Cassian looked at all three of them with what felt like a huge invisible question mark floating above her head.
Are they not thinking at all or what?
Do they seriously think they have unlimited lives like in a video game?
Do they believe they're immortal maybe?
Completely invincible?
She turned her gaze toward Lucia, hoping to see at least one reasonable and cautious person who would share her concerns.
Lucia simply gave her a gentle smile.
"Do you want to come with us too, Cassian?"
They really don't know the word safety in their vocabulary.
Cassian sighed deeply and shook her head.
"No thanks, I don't feel like it."
She closed the door a little more.
"I prefer to stay nice and comfortable in town rather than risk my life for a few extra gold coins."
Hiro got up from the couch and slowly approached Cassian's bedroom door with his eternal idiot smile stuck on his face.
What is he doing now?
He leaned slightly toward the ajar door.
Gently pressed his lips to Cassian's forehead in a gesture of affection he probably thought was sweet and appropriate.
"See you later then."
The moment his lips touched her forehead, Cassian sent him a massive right hook that violently sent him flying backward.
CRACK.
Hiro crashed heavily onto the hard floor with a dull, painful thud.
Cassian calmly exited her room with a face empty of any identifiable emotion.
She methodically approached Hiro, who was still sprawled on the ground.
She kicked him in the ribs.
Then quietly returned to her room and closed the door behind her.
CLAC.
Lena and Lucia watched the entire scene without reacting in the slightest, as if it were something perfectly normal and everyday.
Cassian is really unpredictable.
And sometimes extremely difficult to understand.
I never know how she's going to react.
Hiro painfully got back up from the floor, rubbing his aching jaw, his silly smile still inexplicably present despite the violence he had just endured.
"Cassian must have been hitting a fly that landed on me."
He nodded as if that explanation made sense.
"Yes, that's it. She was just trying to help me get rid of a bothersome insect."
The bedroom door flew open violently, slamming against the wall.
BAM.
Stolen story; please report.
Cassian immediately came back out with an expression that dangerously resembled pure rage.
She threw herself on Hiro and began methodically and savagely beating him.
Her fists rained down on him again and again.
"Where exactly is it, this fly?"
PUNCH.
"I'm looking everywhere but I can't find it."
PUNCH.
"It must be hiding somewhere on you."
Hiro desperately raised his arms to try to protect his face.
"I really think the fly is gone now, Cassian!"
Cassian continued striking without slowing her relentless pace.
"No no no, the fly is definitely still there somewhere."
She delivered a particularly violent kick.
"I'm going to keep looking until I catch it eventually."
Hiro tried to crawl backward to escape the brutal assault.
"How can you be so sure the fly is still there exactly?!"
KNEE STRIKE.
He groaned in pain, doubling over.
Cassian observed his face attentively with predatory intensity.
"The fly is probably hiding behind your nose."
When Hiro realized what she had just said and what it implied, he opened his mouth to protest.
PUNCH straight to the nose.
Lena watched the entire beating scene without moving an inch from her position.
"This fly is really tough and resilient."
Lucia nodded gravely in agreement.
"It takes the hits remarkably well for a simple insect."
Hiro raised a trembling hand in a gesture of desperate supplication.
"Stop talking about the fly as if it really exists!"
Cassian grabbed his raised arm.
"Stop moving like that, I almost had the fly just now."
STRIKE.
Hiro spat blood.
"This imaginary fly clearly wants me dead."
Cassian smiled widely as she continued striking.
"That's excellent news because I want you dead too."
---
Outside in the streets of Veritas a few minutes later, Hiro, Lena, and Lucia were calmly discussing exactly where they should go to start their reconnaissance patrol.
Hiro was clearly not at his best, with his face covered in bruises that were already starting to swell and turn purple.
Cassian.
He was thinking intensely about her despite the pain.
She had strangely looked in very good shape after pounding him.
Unlike this morning when she seemed depressed and tired.
Her face was downright radiant.
What exactly could have put her in such a good mood?
I refuse to believe it's simply because she hit me.
That would be too weird.
Lucia's voice suddenly pulled him out of his troubling thoughts.
"We took one of the reconnaissance quests available on the guild board."
She consulted a scroll she held in her hand.
"The instructions are vague and unclear. We just have to patrol the immediate surroundings of the town and then come back to report to the guild what we discovered or observed during our exploration."
She frowned slightly.
"It's way too imprecise as orders. We could potentially find everything or nothing at once depending on our luck and our route."
Lena shrugged nonchalantly.
"At least even if we don't find anything interesting or dangerous, there's still a guaranteed minimum reward for any quest accepted."
She smiled.
"The one just for participating and making the effort to patrol. That's already not bad for easy money."
An adventurer on horseback noticed them from the other side of the main street.
He directed his mount toward them, approaching quickly.
"There's news about the reconnaissance quests!"
He stopped his horse in front of them.
"Apparently the threat justifying all these emergency measures is kobolds that have been spotted in the area."
The group exchanged confused and slightly incredulous looks.
Kobolds?
That's it?
The man laughed loudly at their expressions.
"I know, I find it completely weird and disproportionate myself."
He shook his head with amusement.
"Kobolds that are supposed to scare experienced adventurers?"
He puffed out his chest proudly.
"I killed a considerable number of them when I was younger and just starting my adventurer career. They're weak creatures that pose no real challenge."
He tapped the sword at his belt.
"I'm a veteran who has survived absolutely every nasty thing this world could throw at me in the form of dangerous monsters."
He paused dramatically.
"It's really strange and suspicious that the guild has put the city on maximum alert just for ordinary kobolds."
---
In a dark and damp alleyway located in a poor district of Veritas, a man was sitting against a cold stone wall that oozed moisture.
He was hungry.
Very hungry.
Terribly hungry.
His knees were pulled tightly against his thin chest in a pitiful attempt to conserve a little body heat.
Someone suddenly crouched in front of him without making the slightest sound.
"You want some bread?"
The voice was incredibly pleasant to hear.
Sweet as honey.
Light as a feather.
Carrying a subtle touch of melancholic nostalgia.
As if coming from a distant and happy past that no longer existed.
The man slowly raised his tired, bloodshot eyes.
He saw Cassian in front of him.
She had a gentle and kind smile on her beautiful face, a compassionate expression that seemed sincerely concerned about his well-being.
It's the first time in my life I've seen a person this beautiful.
An elf.
A real elf.
She was holding out a piece of fresh bread that smelled wonderfully good.
The man took it between his dirty and trembling hands with obvious embarrassment.
Cassian spoke to him softly in a voice that carried an almost maternal kindness.
"Eat calmly, take your time."
The man had not heard a soft voice address him in a terribly long time.
Years maybe.
But never a voice as beautiful and melodious as this one.
He nodded quickly and began eating the bread.
Too fast.
Way too fast.
Like a starving animal that doesn't know when its next meal will be.
Crumbs fell abundantly onto his dirty and torn clothes.
He forced himself painfully to slow his frantic pace, deeply embarrassed by his beastly behavior.
When he cautiously looked up at her again, she was still there crouching in front of him.
She didn't seem the least bit disgusted by his repulsive appearance or his crude manners.
She was simply watching him eat with that neutral and attentive expression.
Cassian asked him curiously.
"How long exactly have you been in this difficult situation?"
The question took him completely by surprise.
People never ask that.
Never.
They walk past.
Or they insult.
Or they completely ignore.
But they never ask.
They never care.
He swallowed the piece of bread he was chewing with difficulty.
"About two years."
His voice was hoarse and damaged from lack of regular use.
Cassian tilted her head slightly to the side.
Her long blond hair slid gracefully over her shoulder.
"It must have been really hard all this time."
The man lowered his eyes to the dirty ground.
"Before I had a stable and well-paid job."
He hesitated visibly.
I don't like talking about this.
To anyone.
But something indefinable in Cassian's benevolent gaze inexplicably pushed him to continue.
"I worked for a major merchant caravan that transported valuable goods between several cities."
He stared intensely at the ground as if reliving the scene.
"We were violently attacked on the road by organized bandits."
His fingers involuntarily tightened around the bread he was holding.
"All the guards died during the fight, brutally massacred."
His voice broke slightly.
"All the goods completely disappeared, stolen without a trace."
He swallowed painfully.
"And when I finally returned to town to report what had happened... the merchant directly accused me of lying about the whole story."
His hands were now visibly shaking.
"He said I had probably sold the goods myself and kept the money."
He shook his head with bitterness.
"No one believed me when I tried to defend myself and explain the truth."
His voice became almost inaudible.
"My family completely abandoned me. They said they no longer wanted anything to do with a thief and a liar."
Heavy silence fell for several long seconds.
The man did not dare look up at the elf.
She must despise me now.
Think I'm a loser.
That she wasted her bread on me.
Then Cassian's voice returned.
Still just as calm and soft.
"So you lost absolutely everything."
He nodded slowly without looking at her.
She remained silent for a long moment.
"Life can be extremely cruel sometimes for no apparent reason."
Those simple words hit him harder than he would have ever imagined possible.
Because they were true.
Because they were sincere.
And especially because someone had finally spoken them out loud.
Someone had validated his suffering.
He felt a strange and painful pressure in his chest that threatened to make him cry.
When was the last time someone listened to my story?
Without interrupting me.
Without mocking me.
Without telling me to get lost.
Never maybe.
Never since all this started.
He finally raised his moist eyes.
The elf was still crouching patiently in front of him.
Her blue eyes were fixed on him with an expression difficult to decipher completely.
No condescending pity.
No obvious disgust.
Just... pure attention.
Listening.
He swallowed the last piece of bread with difficulty.
"Thank you infinitely for the food."
His voice trembled with emotion.
"And thank you even more for really listening to me without judgment."
A smile even began to appear slowly on his tired face marked by hardship.
A fragile and hesitant smile.
As if he had suddenly remembered that people could still be kind in this cruel world.
Maybe she is different.
Maybe not all people are horrible.
Maybe there is still hope.
It was exactly at that precise moment that Cassian suddenly burst out laughing.
A shrill and mocking laugh that echoed through the entire narrow alley.
---
Meanwhile outside the town, Hiro, Lena, Lucia, and the veteran adventurer saw a lone kobold slowly walking toward them from the nearby forest.
The creature was small with fur covering its entire body.
The veteran adventurer laughed loudly.
"Perfect, I'll take care of it personally!"
He drew his sword with a theatrical gesture.
"Watch closely and evaluate my performance. I intend to decapitate this kobold cleanly without even getting off my horse."
The horse began galloping quickly toward the kobold.
Then before the adventurer could understand what was happening, the kobold suddenly jumped with superhuman speed and agility.
CRUNCH.
When the kobold landed heavily on the ground, it now held the decapitated head of the adventurer in its mouth full of sharp teeth.
Along with the head of the horse.
Both heads.
At the same time.
Blood gushed abundantly from the severed necks.
Lucia was about to seriously evaluate the adventurer's performance by raising her fingers to give a numerical score.
Hiro quickly stopped her by grabbing her arm.
"This is really not the time, Lucia."
---
In the alley, Cassian continued laughing cruelly while observing the man's horrified face.
"You really smell bad. It's almost unbearable."
She observed his dirty hands with obvious disgust.
"I still wonder how people manage to fall this low."
The man no longer understood anything.
What?
What's happening?
She continued mercilessly.
"You had a family that probably loved you and you still ended up miserably in a filthy alley?"
She shook her head with fake amazement.
"It's almost impressive as a level of personal failure."
Her smile became cruel and contemptuous.
"If I were your family, I would have left too without hesitating for a single second."
She laughed even harder.
"Do you often tell your little sad and pathetic story to strangers to beg for sympathy?"
She opened her left hand revealing a coin.
She carelessly tossed it into the mud in front of him.
"Crawl to go get your coin."
She smiled disdainfully.
"That suits you so much better than sitting there whining about your fate."
The man was no longer smiling at all.
His face had completely emptied of any expression.
"Thanks to you..."
His voice was different now.
Deeper.
More dangerous.
"I was almost going to spare this town."
He slowly raised his head.
"Spare you."
The man's fingers began to twitch abnormally.
To lengthen.
To transform.
CRACK.
Pain suddenly rose like a ravaging fire in all his bones simultaneously.
Multiple and nauseating CRACKS.
His vertebrae began cracking one by one in a horrible symphony.
"I was even seriously starting to doubt my recent actions."
CRACK CRACK CRACK.
"To reconsider my plans."
Cassian slowly raised her eyes.
Her face gradually tinted with pure horror as she understood what was happening.
A monstrous and massive shadow slowly covered her as it grew.
The thing that had been a man spoke in a guttural voice.
"Now I no longer doubt at all."
His teeth grew rapidly.
CRACK.
His jaw deformed grotesquely.
Lengthened.
Filled with sharp fangs.
Then the creature let out a deafening and terrifying howl that echoed through absolutely the entire city of Veritas and well beyond the walls.
AAAOOOUUUUUUU.
All the dogs in the city reacted instantly to the howl.
Adopted completely strange and aggressive behaviors.
Began savagely attacking all nearby humans indiscriminately.
Chaos exploded in all the streets simultaneously.
The creature slowly stopped its prolonged howl.
It fixed its bright red and hungry eyes directly on Cassian.
The people around who had seen the transformation ran desperately to save their lives, screaming in terror.
A werewolf.
Massive.
Terrifying.
Its fur was a deep black that absorbed light.
Its face was frozen in a nightmarish and permanent smile, fully revealing its multiple rows of sharp teeth dripping with saliva.
Cassian was still frozen in her crouching position.
Her contemptuous smile was still stuck on her face.
She had simply forgotten to turn it off.
What's happening?
Why is this random person I was talking to now like that?
How is that possible?
I don't understand.
The werewolf slowly pointed a clawed and threatening finger directly at Cassian.
"You will be the very first to die."
Its voice was a bestial growl.
"I will paint this alley with your red blood."
It took a heavy step closer.
"Spread your still-warm organs on the dirty ground."
Its claws scraped the stone wall.
"And I will let the entire town hear your prolonged agony screams before you finally die."
It opened its mouth wide full of fangs.
"That will be my perfect revenge against your gratuitous cruelty."
Cassian still did not move.
She suddenly realized something.
She probably should have stayed home.
