BAM!
The sound of Souzane’s rod striking the ground resonated with a loud thud. She grinned at Aaron.
"You aren’t just a pretty boy. You’re smart too," she complinted the young man.
"Yes, I am the real leader of the bandits, Iron Souzane. And you, my pretty face, are going to pay for what you did to my little brother and my business."
"Huh?" Aaron blurted out. It seed that with every word that Souzane spoke, he delved deeper into the sea of confusion.
First, her brother. Now, she is saying sothing about her business.
None of it was making sense to Aaron, but that was a matter for later. The current situation at hand required his focus.
Souzane continued to attack him with her staff relentlessly, striking as fast and as strongly as she could but every move of hers t an evasion from Aaron.
She hissed and straightened up. "Hmm, you are quick on your feet, but I don’t see how you could have bested Muzane."
Souzane rubbed her chin for a few seconds, thinking about what she could make out from her small aggression towards Aaron.
She snapped her fingers, her face lighting up.
"If I can’t get you, then what about her," Souzane remarked, pointing her staff at Elsa.
Elsa, on the other hand, stepped back. She shifted her position, unable to get comfortable after Souzane had marked her as a target for her next attack. Her eyes darted around frantically, searching for whatever she could find to at least protect herself.
SWIISSHH!
Souzane moved her arm and at the sa ti, Aaron vanished from sight. But that was a feint from Souzane. In fact, her real target had never been Elsa. As far as she was concerned there was sothing else that Aaron treasured even more, sothing that would at least hurt him if she hurt it.
His clinic.
CRACK!
The sound of wooden pillars cracked behind Souzane, shocking Elsa and Aaron, who had reached her position to protect her.
"What the hell was that for!" Aaron exclaid.
Souzane scoffed. "Well, if I can’t get you to pay, maybe you should lose your business too and feel how I felt."
CRACK!
She struck another pillar. Just seeing this made Aaron’s muscles spasm.
"Lady, calm down," he said, trying to soothe her feelings, "whatever it is, we can resolve it amicably. Moreover, I didn’t know who he was. I didn’t know he was your brother or brought any business here."
"You’re lying!" Souzane replied, tightening her fist around the iron rod.
"Co now, what do I have to gain from that? He and his group of bandits had only co here to steal from us. Answer this, wouldn’t you fight if you were in the sa shoes as I was?"
Souzane hesitated, her lips pressing together in a slight grimace. She knew Aaron was right. She knew the kind of person her little brother was.
The power that ca with being a bandit easily got into his head and made him feel on top of the world, like he owned everything.
Souzane exhaled, making her rod retract and vanish with a splatter of shiny, tallic particles.
"You didn’t co here to get revenge for your brother, did you?" Aaron asked further, after having studied her.
She laughed and shook her head. "Definitely not. Muzane is capable of handling his own problems."
"Then why did you co here?"
"I’ve only co to see the man that beat him. I must say that I am quite surprised that it was you. Hahaha! And then..." she said, blankly staring at Aaron and Elsa.
"To talk about how you are going to repay for my goods that got stolen."
"What goods is she talking about, master?" Elsa asked Aaron.
Aaron shrugged. He was in the dark as much as she was.
Shaking his head, he answered, "I have no idea."
He then turned his attention to Souzane. "Stolen goods? What are you talking about?"
Souzane moved to and fro, not saying anything to the both of them but muttering inaudible words to herself as if she was calculating sothing.
After pacing about for several seconds, Souzane stopped and turned to face Aaron and his apprentice.
"I have a proposal for you, pretty face. Are you in?"
Aaron looked away and scoffed, not expecting any aningful thing from such a question. To him, it would be so aningless request of so sort and he was already irked as it was.
"Depends on what it is."
Souzane smiled. "Are you interested in making so star shillings for yourself?"
Aaron turned his face back to her imdiately, his face brightened by the sound of money as he lent her listening ears.
"I will need help in retrieving my stolen goods from those who stole them. I will need your help. We can share the reward at 80:20—"
"80 for us? You’re actually quite generous," Aaron retorted.
"Huh! What the hell! Is he dense!" Souzane thought, "Why would I want to share my loot and give you 80%?"
Souzane cleared her throat. "It wouldn’t be stolen in the first place if you hadn’t interfered and that’s why your share is 20%."
"Pfft! Let’s go, Elsa," Aaron said, taking Elsa’s hand and walking back into his clinic.
"Not interested," He added as they walked. "But thanks for the offer. It is generous."
Souzane sneered, noting the undertone of sarcasm in his response.
"Alright! You win!" Souzane finally spoke as Aaron reached the entrance of his clinic.
She knew she couldn’t let up the chance she had at recruiting him into her group.
"If what Whisper told is true, then he would be a more valuable asset as an ally than an enemy," she concluded, reflecting on the conversation she had with a bandit under her ranks.
Aaron stopped and turned his head to the side, peeking at her from the corner of his eye.
"70:30!" she exclaid, changing the terms. "Considering it’s because of you that—"
"But I’m helping you get it back, aren’t I?" Aaron replied tersely, "I propose 50:50."
Souzane gaped at him, almost tripping backwards. She clenched her fist, about to argue but stopped. It pained her but winning Aaron over was the priority.
She turned her head another way. "Pfft, fine!"
Victorious in the bargain, Aaron smirked and made a complete turn.
"One more thing," he said. "Where are we going?"
"The Herb village," Souzane replied to him.
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