After briefing Jake and getting Shion paid for the job, Eren, the guard, walked Shion to the inn, just a couple buildings on the side of the Association.
Eren briefed the inn keeper as instructed, who was less than thrilled to have an orc sleeping in the building.
For someone that makes a living out of strangers visiting town, he's clearly selective for some reason. Probably the reason is clear enough for her.
Shion was told she could use a room near the entrance, also near the inn keeper's room as she noticed, probably he wanted to make sure nothing out of the ordinary would happen during the night, and have a way to alert anyone else if something did happen, be it guards or other guests.
She didn't care much about the room she was given.
Shion thanked Eren and the inn keeper, and moved to her room to sleep for the night, didn't even ask for a cup of tea or something to eat before, she just wanted the day to be done.
Once in her room, she removed her armor, and upon doing so, she noticed a bruise on her arm, probably from the hit she took from that bandit, if it wasn't for the padding near the shoulder, probably would have had a broken bone in there.
"I have to be more careful, can keep getting attacked by surprise" she thought to herself before hitting the bed and falling asleep almost instantly.
As the sunlight started to rise, Shion woke up and got into her armor, looking for a place big and lone enough to train for a while.
Usually the Mercenaries' Association would have a place to train safely, with magic wards in place for those that use magic spells or arrows, but the town was so small that they didn't seem to care enough for this branch to have their own training grounds.
She finally found a small place near the walls of the town, closer to the forest than the wall itself.
Stretch.
Warm up.
Train.
Calisthenics steadied the breath and sharpened the body.
Sword forms reinforced muscle memory—the precise arc of a cut, the disciplined recovery of stance.
Steel sang softly through the morning air.
There were no sparring partners to test her against. A few guards lingered at a distance, watching as though she were some peculiar spectacle staged for their benefit.
They would have profited from practice themselves; safeguarding a town required more than idle observation. Still, none stepped forward.
After a couple hours of training, Shion heads back to the inn for a shower.
When she's done, and heading to the dinning area, she's greeted by a red head with blue eyes "Miss Shion, good morning to you".
The voice sounds familiar, but she cannot tell who she is, someone known for sure as she knows her name.
"Let me introduce myself again, my name is Eren, I'm a guard for his royal majesty here in Trivale" Ah, is she that guard? With the helmet on Shion couldn't see her face, but introducing herself... Again?... She never properly introduced herself, just judged Shion for looking like an orc, not that she's not but still.
"Nice to meet you miss Eren, my name is Shion, silver rank mercenary for the Association, tho probably you already knew that" Her education is something that should not be overlooked, even if the guard was rude last night, she genuinely seems to be trying to start over "I was about to have some breakfast, care to join me?"
Shion invites the unexpected visit, as her stay at the inn was free, she could spare some coins to invite her to eat, might come in handy if Eren has any information that could serve Shion on neighboring villages. "I'm sorry for troubling your morning without previous notice.
But I'll accept your invitation" Eren didn't even hesitate on agreeing to have some breakfast, not that Shion expected anyone to agree to sit with her at the table first thing, but a welcome company for a change of pace.
"So, what brings you here? I know you didn't come to get to know me better" Shion states bluntly, people never come to see her unless they need something, as much as they give her the dirty eye, they can recognize that she's useful for mercenary tasks and physical labor, even if people won't say it out loud.
"I came here to apologize, for treating you so poorly last night, I let myself get carried just by appearances alone and I allowed that to cloud my judgment" Eren formally apologizes, right there in the empty table.
That caught Shion off guard, never expected that to be the outcome of this unexpected meeting, let alone anyone apologizing to her.
"No need to apologize. I know how I am seen in human settlements, hell, for that matter among most races, there are only few that treat me well for some reason"
Shion explains the truth, there only have been few instances in the couple year she have been doing mercenary jobs where she was treated as an equal instead some green-dangerous-thing that needs to be avoided or kept outside the town's walls.
And certainly she didn't expect any different from this particular town. A small farming town where most people know each other by name? Mostly humans? That sure enough is a recipe for her to be labeled as a kind of freak.
Not that she can hide her green skin, unless she knew illusion magic, which she doesn't.
"That's sad to hear, and I'm even more ashamed that I contributed to that idea. If there's something I can do, anything, to make it up to you, please let me know"
Eren offers to make it up "That's good?... I mean, I could ask her for information"
Shion thinks about the possibilities to get more and better jobs in the neighboring towns, Trivale's jobs were simple enough, but the coins they offer ain't that much other than the job she already completed.
"First, answer this. Why you came here just to apologize? Was that your idea?"
Shion is genuinely curious why is she apologizing all of a sudden, this is not normal behavior for her.
"At first it was, after understanding what the job you started and completed implied for the towns folk, I thought that I treated poorly someone that came to help, even if you're just a sword for hire..."
"Hey, that last part could have been omitted"
Shion didn't know if she should be angry or laugh at this, but let Eren continue explaining
"... But I was a coward, I couldn't come and face you last night after leaving you at the inn, nor this morning when we saw you training... "
"We? Ah, the guards, was she among them?"
Unconsciously Shion started to relax a bit, finding all the situation a bit funny.
"... Until the captain told me that, if I was thinking about apologizing, that was because I knew that was the right thing to do, so I shouldn't doubt about that, and here I am"
"That's a terrible advice, some people think about jumping down the cliff and they're not expected to do so just because of that!" Shion found that advice really concerning, tho in this case it worked just fine, probably her captain should have been more clear about what he meant.
"Look, I am thankful that you apologized, but for now I'm more hungry than angry, so let's ask for something to eat and we can talk about this later on" Shion gestures to the inn keeper, there was a woman attending this time, but she didn't get any close.
She sent a small kid, no older than 14. He tried valiantly to remain composed, careful not to offend the guard before him even if she wore no uniform. Yet his wide-eyed glances betrayed his unease whenever they drifted toward Shion.
She noticed.
She always did.
And, as always, she let it pass.