>>5444510>“Hey! What’s going on here?” You shout to the assembled mercenaries. As you do, you can hear Damian groan loudly, slapping his hands onto his face.The mercenaries turn away from the dancer to examine you. Getting a closer look at them, they appear to be armed with a variety of well-kept weapons, ranging from swords to spears and axes. There are two men with bows hanging out in the back, and a woman who looks to be a mage.
“Stay out of this, lady.” The lead mercenary spits in your direction. “This is between me and this lying, harlot.”
>“Is that so? Would you mind explaining why it takes twelve of you to intimidate a defenseless, unarmed woman?” You say as Sebastian and Roxanne move forward to flank you on each side.The man looks at you as though you’re daft, and frankly you can’t blame him. Here you are wandering around in the middle of the night, sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong and attempting to provoke twelve armed and pissed off mercenaries.
“Well then, if you’re so eager to know, this woman owes us quite a bit of money.” The mercenary says. “She seems to sell herself very highly, but when it came time for us to do our job…well let’s just say her dancin’ left a lot to be desired.”
One of the other mercenaries’ snickers loudly. “Hey Mina, why don’t you show the nice lady those ehh…’pretty’ little moves of yours?” His laughing prompts the other mercenaries to start laughing as well. Gradually, they begin inching closer.
The dancer, Mina, clicks her tongue in annoyance. “Ugh, you’re such a bastard Rodolfo!” She slips through a crack in the circle surrounding her, and runs to hide behind you, grabbing onto your cloak. “There’s nothing wrong with my dancing! It’s not my fault that brutes like you don’t know how to utilize me properly!”
From your knowledge, you knew that the art of “Combat Dancing” was incredibly rare. Through the combination of a special type of magic and an intricate series of movement, Dancers could support their allies in battle. The most famous of these dances was the “Refresh Dance”, which was capable of completely curing a soldier’s fatigue and allowing them to rejoin the battle as if they were fresh. But in your entire life, the only Dancer you’d ever encountered was Dorothea, and even then, she was only allowed to pursue the specialization after winning the White Heron Cup.
The mercenary, Rodolfo, steps forth. “Like I said, this is between us and her, so step aside. Or maybe you feel like paying for her little misstep? If so, I think that…hmm…4000 gold seems fair compensation? That would certainly make up for the pay we lost out on, as well as damages incurred.” He smugly smirks.
“And now we’re being extorted…” Damian sighs.
