Hey guys, guess what I have here? It's a delicious new chapter! (no shit sherlock)

I have been sleeping a lot these past few days to take better care of my health so I just didn't feel like finishing it yesterday night but it was a lot of fun writing this chapter so I hope you enjoy!

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Chapter 71: Friends in odd Places

The first thing that Makoto and his party did when they entered the rowdy town was to visit an Inn.

The idea actually came from Sharon as she told them that not only could there be a Bounty request for a person from the Magic Institute, but at the same time also a task or even quest here that asked you to take care of the same guy, so it was like killing two birds with one stone.

The Inn they entered was more like a dark cave, filled with dirty faced men and women of all ages and more than one pair of eyes followed them through the room as they made their way to the task-board.

It was clear that they looked like they didn’t belong, which in turn meant that they could be potential prey for a few chaotic NPCs living here.

One thing that was interesting was that not every single NPC was of chaotic nature, a lot of them even seemed to have a neutral Alignment and when he asked his red haired angel she explained that you would only acquire chaotic Alignment for murdering someone, scamming or robbing someone rarely ever changed your Alignment if it was in a small scale.

It could however make the local authorities aware of your deeds and in turn they would hunt you down to get back what was stolen even if you didn’t have a chaotic nature.

“Let’s see if we are lucky.”

Sharon mumbled to herself as she looked at the tasks pinned up on the wall, many of which containing rather nasty things like “beat up this guy” or “break into this house”.

It was clear that they were the kind of tasks you could only find in a city like this, meant for chaotic or evil players.

Glancing over the different papers, Makoto was even able to find a few tasks that involved chasing down and killing Bounty Hunters.

It came as a bit of a surprise but when he thought about it for a second it wasn’t really odd that they would exist considering that Bounty Hunters endangered anyone that ever committed a crime.

His gaze wandered for a while before stopping at a rather familiar name.

Kill the Bounty Hunter: (Task)Get rid of Zergoon the Foreigner, located somewhere in Undercity.Rewards:5 Gold.Requested from:Maralick, Leader of the Midnight Warriors.Requirements:Level 28.

It had been a long time since they last spoke and Makoto had honestly somewhat forgotten about the strange guy after getting officially together with Sharon as well as the Siege happening and the previous dilemma with Lilly.

Too many things had been on his mind at the same time recently but seeing that this old acquaintance of his was in the area left a little smile on his face as he opened his friends-list.

-Guess what Kill request I am looking at right now?-

-If you accept it I swear that my next bolt will go up your ass Makoto! I have already enough goddamn NPCs to deal with right now.

How the hell did you end up here btw? Did you kill someone and got kicked out of the city or what?-

Grinning about the messages he walked off to the side while writing back.

-No, one of my party members stumbled across an entrance to this place and made us accept a bunch of Bounty requests before coming here.-

-Smart guy.-

-Girl actually but yes it was a good move considering we can now accept a task concerning the same target and are able to reap double the profits.-

-Damn! Why the hell didn’t I think of doing that, guess I really am compensating for something…-

Letting out a small laugh he finally wrote what had been on his mind for the past two minutes now and the reason he even started to write Zergoon.

-Listen, we have a Bounty request telling us to get rid of this Maralick guy and I can see that he is a little pain in your ass too so do you wanna party up and take care of him? Should be a lot easier with more people you know.-

-That would be awesome actually and we did say that we would party up anyways when we met again so perfect timing, currently in a tavern called the ‘Flirty Trans’ and please don’t ask why I am here…-

-Who said that I am judging you?-

-See, this is the exact reason people think you are an asshole Makoto.-

Breaking out into loud laughter, more than a few gazes were shot his way.

Who wouldn’t be surprised if a guy was tapping around in mid-air for a while and then started laughing like a crazy person?

It was also at this point that his party noticed that he was no longer looking at the tasks and instead in his own little world.

“Everything alright or did you finally go completely insane Makoto?”

Lilliana asked, ever so charmingly and he couldn’t help but laugh once again as he strode to her side and put a soft kiss on her forehead before leaving the dazed girl standing.

“We are going to meet up with an old friend of mine so select the tasks you guys want to do while I am quickly going to ask for some directions.”

Speeding off to find the owner of the Inn, Makoto wasn’t able to see the surprised look that all 3 girls exchanged after noticing his good mood.

.....

“Well I guess now we know what kind of places your old friend visits.”

Sanja said as they entered the ‘Flirting Trans’.

Unable to refute the statement he smiled and looked around.

The inside of the tavern was just like he had imagined, a world of pink.

Each chair had its own pillow, was painted in screaming pink and on every table a few plush toys that a 7 year old might own decorated the area.

It was both cute and terrifying if you took the name into consideration and the possible mental state of the owner.

Interestingly enough there were all kinds of people here and Makoto soon enough found the reason as to why.

Generally speaking meals inside Azalon that everyone knew were heavy things like stew, meat or ham dishes but not once had he ever seen anything sweet.

Sure there existed a type of candy for little kids but actual dishes or desserts had until now been an unknown as even ice cream was a foreign term inside the game.

Looking at all the pastry, cookies and different colored cakes that filled the plates of every customer around, Makoto knew why so many people ate inside the tavern despite the rather uncommon name.

It only took a moment for him to spot the gigantic crossbow that was no longer wooden but had a metal frame with actual spears lying on a chair next to it as ammunition for it.

Seeing the ridiculously long pony tail and bright eyes, once again allowed a smile to appear on his face.

“Never took you for someone with a sweet tooth.”

Makoto said with a chuckle as he sat down on one of the free chairs around Zergoon’s table.

“We all got our little secrets and hello there, that your party?”

The other said with a glance at Sanja, Sharon and Lilliana that sat down next to him while eyeing this until now unknown friend with interest.

“Damn brother, so many beautiful girls in your party and you never bothered to invite me earlier.

Talk about holding out on me.”

Zergoon said as his eyes wandered over all 3 girls with a hungry light.

Both Sharon and Lilliana instinctively leaned closer to Makoto while also taking one of his hands each.

Clearly stunned by this sight Zergoon’s mouth nearly hit the floor when he noticed the atmosphere around the group.

“You gotta be kidding me here… you also in on that?”

He asked Sanja, a little stunned.

She naturally quickly shook her head while showing a wry smile and it amused Makoto a bit that his friend seemed to be somewhat relieved at that answer.

“3 girls in your party and 2 are your own, can I get her then?”

Pointing towards the blond Cleric at the table with a completely straight face, Zergoon was nearly ripped apart by the outrage that soon enough followed from both Lilliana and Sharon as they cursed and nearly spat his way in disgust.

It surprised Makoto to see that Sanja the girl in question was the one that was perplexed the most as her cheeks slowly turned red while still leaving a rather confused expression on her face.

“How about you shut up before you get yourself in any more trouble? If you continue down this road I am going to be overruled in letting you join the party.”

Zergoon who had taken the angry words without even flinching showed a knowing smile and only nodded.

It was clear that it had only been a joke but Sanja’s cheeks still remained a darker shade as they continued their talk.

“So what the hell have you been doing all this time Zergoon? It’s been a while after all and am I right that your class upgraded?”

Glancing at the Iron spears as well as Crossbow he wondered how the hell someone could even lift the damn thing.

As far as Makoto could tell the weapon his friend currently had was a good size bigger than before on top of no longer being made from wood but instead out of various metals.

It was clearly ridiculously heavy considering that the wooden floor had a visible dent in it while the Crossbow was leaning against a wall.

“Well you know how my Class used to be this odd one called ‘Bolt Thrower’ right? Turns out the moment I hit Level 25 I got this quest telling me to hunt some mobs outside the city, only problem was that they were literally enormous and I had to pin each one to the floor to actually kill them.

It was a real pain in the ass I tell you.

Anyways after completing it a local blacksmith made these custom weapons for me and my Class changed to ‘Giant Slayer’.

Pretty good damage but heavy as hell if you need to run around and loading each spear takes time so I am not good with crowds at all.

After that because hunting in the Labyrinth was starting to get boring and slow I kept on doing Bounty request until I got the title Bounty Hunter and through it gained access to Undercity.

Then I pissed off lots of NPCs by randomly killing a few members of their Guild, had to burn down some houses to cover my tracks, killed a few more people, was hunted by a player guild for stealing a boss drop and that was pretty much it until now.”

Listening to the ridiculously casual way he explained his story, Makoto didn’t need a lot of imagination to know that his friend had been on a rollercoaster of life and death events.

“Is that why there is a task to kill you in this city, because you pissed off so many people? I mean after getting to know you I gotta say it isn’t really surprising considering you seem to have a talent for it.”

Lilliana said with a poisonous smile, clearly still a little angry about the previous episode.

Showing her a small grin, Zergoon leaned back in his chair and took a bite from the cake that was on his plate before answering.

“Listen here girly, a man isn’t really a man if he doesn’t piss a hundred people each day off.

You gotta live life to the fullest or it isn’t fun so doing things like this” he suddenly took a hold of Sanja’s head and placed a deep kiss on her lips before backing off again “is something completely natural”.

Everyone was completely stunned for a moment after what just happened, Makoto included.

He remembered Zergoon to be a little loose lipped and talkative but never this daring, could it be because he had never seen the guy actually interacting with women before he always was like this?

It was clear that his friend soon enough noticed the error of his ways as he put both hands up with a panicked face.

“Alright I am sorry, hey I said I am sorry so please put down your weapons guys.

We are in a restaurant so don’t make a mess that is very ru-“

Before he had time to say anything else, Sanja, who had until then stayed quiet stood up and threw a dazzlingly fast kick his way.

It was unclear if it was the anger that flushed her entire face red or something else but Makoto knew that this was the first time he had seen the otherwise calmest member of the party fly in a rage like this as she continued to kick the living daylights out of his poor friend.

Nearly all guests in the room watched this scene with terrified eyes and even the rest of his party didn’t dare to interfere with what this normally ever smiling Cleric was currently doing.

Completely out of breath and her blond braided hair in a mess she looked down on the curled up ball that was Zergoon.

“If you touch me again I will rip your fucking testicles off you cocksucker.”

She said in a low voice, sending shivers down each and every spine in the room.

Spinning on the back of her heels, Sanja left the whimpering mess that had once been Makoto’s friend on the floor as she once again sat down with a calm face and fixed her hair like nothing at all had happened.

It was at this moment that Makoto made an important mental note to never piss her off as it was quite similar to kicking a sleeping dragon.

Gulping once he helped Zergoon back on his feet and clearly saw the fear in his friend’s eyes as he didn’t even dare to look at his new nemesis.

Silence filled the table and no one spoke a word after this little incident that took place.

Makoto exchanged a look with Sharon and could see the same startled expression that he also had on her face.

“Now then, I think it is time that we get going again, maybe without this ‘friend’ of yours.”

Lilliana said while throwing a look of contempt towards Zergoon.

Clearly he hadn’t made the best of impressions on her after playing around with her best friend like that.

“Oh I don’t think so, I think it would be a great idea to have him in our party.”

A voice on the table said and nearly all flinched in fright when they saw that it had been Sanja who said that.

The completely empty smile she showed him was beyond scary as she even was the one that sent him the party invite.

Zergoon was currently hesitating, clearly weighing both his friendship with Makoto and the safety of his privates on a scale but before he could make a decision a cold and empty voice took what little choice he had away.

“Accept the request now or I will make your life into a living hell.”

Normally someone would want to stay away from a person they hated or had bad history with, Sanja was a beast of a different kind as she didn’t seem quite finished with the poor Zergoon yet and with a feeling as if he was watching his friend sign his death certificate a new system window popped up before Makoto’s eyes.

Zergoon has joined the party.

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I know its a bit short but I just had to leave it on a note like that XD.

As awlays if you find any mistakes please tell me below!

PS: I am making this a bad habbit that chapters are like 1 day late aren't I? [th_015_orz-v2.gif]

Abbadon out!