The noon ends and the evening comes. After sharing her stories with Skye, Elsha came done for her dinner and Skye was sitting on her shoulder. She looked for Iris and others but they were not present. So, Elsha sat on a table which was near the window. Suddenly the door to the inn opened and Marcus and others entered.
"Oh, isn't it our Elsha? So, you're staying in this inn."
"Yes. Iris brought me here"
"Then, we are in your care"
They laughed and were talking to each other when Iris came down through stairs.
"So, why do you guys take so long to come from the guild?"
They look at each other and speak.
"Hmm. The problem was they asked us for guard duty because of the upcoming war. You know that the guild cannot avoid it because of the agreement and also, we are gold-plated mercenaries so we can't avoid it. We know your problem. So, you can stay in the inn and we will say you are not fine because of the previous mission"
Elsha noticed Iris when she mentioned the war in front of the adventure guild. As if she was in fear or had a trauma. Elsha was curious to know what happened but after thinking if it would cause iris discomfort, Elsha didn't ask when they were in front of the guild. But Elsha realizes after the talk between Marcus and Iris, that there is some deep scar in Iris's heart caused by war.
"Well, everyone is tired, right? Come after bath and let's eat our dinner" Elsha tries to light up the atmosphere.
"Ok then" Marcus and the others left for their room.
Elsha and Iris were alone, but Iris was still in a gloomy state. This was Elsha's first time seeing Iris in this state.
'Iris is always an active and cheerful person, what can it be to affect her this much?' Elsha thought.
"Iris, let's go to that table and wait for them"
"Mm"
They both sat together and were in complete silence. Elsha was in an awkward state because she didn't know what to say.
'What to do?' 'What to do?' Elsha was in search of what to say in this situation. Suddenly, the silence was broken by Iris.
"I know Elsha you're in an awkward state"
"Eh?"
"Your face tells everything" Elsha hiccups when she hears.
"To be honest with you Elsha, I quit Adventure Guild because I was scared of war. We were originally an adventurer party and it was because of me they left the adventure guild and joined the mercenary guild. In the adventure guild even if we are a party or not, based on rank, we will get separate missions from the guild itself. So, even if I don't want to go, if it's an order from the guild itself I cannot deny it"
Elsha didn't understand a thing but she listened to Iris and nodded her head.
"So, if a war breaks out, I need to go, but when I quit the adventure guild and joined the mercenary guild, the mercenary guild didn't sign any contract with the city but after a year they also signed. So, I realized that I can't always run away."
"But Iris, what happened to you to afraid when you hear about war?" Elsha asked Iris after she mustered the courage.
"Well, I was from the Glacia. I lived there until I was 7 years old. I was from a village which was not a part of the Glacia Empire. We lived a peaceful life."
"Our village was known for its rare production of herbs and good quality corps. Because of this our village was really popular and was the wealthiest. I was the daughter of the village chief. My mother was a mage who worked in the magic tower. After she married my Dad, she retired and managed the village with my Dad. I was the eldest daughter and I have a little brother. We had a happy life and villagers were like a family to us. Little know this peace was just a calm before a storm."
"When I was 7, we were busy with the harvesting. We saw an army of the empire marching towards our village. My Dad and Uncle, with some villagers, go to speak with the army. But we didn't know that next would happen was a tragedy. Even my father tried to ask them why they approached the village politely, but they didn't even respond and began to massacre the villagers. My mother tries to defend me and my brother. Somehow my uncle escaped, but he lost his one eye and his left hand."
"But what my uncle said devastated us. While trying to protect villagers, Dad was brutally killed. Uncle tries to defend Dad and loses his arm and eye. When my uncle was talking, some soldiers bragged into our house. My mother tried to defend but she had already reached her limit. She asked my uncle to run with us. But he said he couldn't leave his sister, and said he would defend and run away with us while he held the soldiers back."
"But Mother didn't listen and push us outside. What I saw was she was cut into pieces by soldiers in front of me. I couldn't talk nor cry. My uncle took both me and my brother and ran away. While we were running what I saw was a pile of dead bodies of people who were talking to us minutes ago."
Elsha was shocked to hear about the past of Iris. She doesn't know how to comfort her. While sobbing Iris continues the rest of her story.
"After we escaped from there. We find out that the soldiers killed our village because we were traitors by providing a place for a spy to rest. But that is a lie"
"What?"
"Why they attacked the village was because there was a large quantity of mana crystals. That's why our crops have high quality. To mine the crystal, they massacred our village. This happened 14 years ago and I lost my brother and uncle's group when we were traveling. I ended up rescued by our group leader Marcus. Then he invites me to the group"
"Sorry Iris, I didn't know. Sorry for asking about your sad past"
"Oh, it's ok. But now I'm trying to find them but I didn't get any news these years"
"You will find them. So, don't worry"
"Thank you, Elsha"
After hearing about Iris's past, Elsha slowly experiences a new emotion. An incurable hate and rage towards the Glacia Empire.