Chapter 33: 31 – Her Name is Bogart

Night in Ash'tar is like being in Shinjuku during new years but on crack. People are shoulders apart, bumping into each other and starting fights in the middle of the streets. The whole city is a red-light district, with brothels at every corner and women soliciting anyone that passes by.

The temperature has since dropped along with the sun. While it's chilly enough to warrant a jacket, many of the residents are no more dressed than they were during the day.

That includes us.

Loraine wouldn't take no for an answer. I had to wear the revealing white dress Emir Owyn gave us. But if she's happy, who am I to complain?

Too bad most of us split up soon after we left the Emir's palace.

Kawa and Loraine got distracted by a parade for the Lannarkis Ring at the north side of town. Yui, Frey, and I were dragged the opposite way by the crowd and rode the wave into an unfamiliar part of the city.

"No good, I can't sniff them out. All I'm getting are bullmor poop and sweaty beastlings…" Frey grumbles, pinching her nose.

"I'm not too worried as long as Kawa's with Loraine," I remark.

Trying to find those two in a city full of beastlings and dark elves isn't going to be easy. If those two couldn't handle themselves, I'd be freaking out. But I've seen them fight. 

"While we're out here, might as well look for an equipment shop to fit Yui with enchanted clothes for our fight," I suggest, already on a lookout.

"Is that Anya girl really that strong?" Frey asks. "I thought you and Yui were kinda the peak."

"Suuuuppeerrr strong! I heard Anya practiced boxing growing up!" Yui shouts, jumping onto Frey's back.

"Those were just rumors, but they might as well be true. Anya was no pushover where we came from. Everyone knew the Dragon of Tohoku. She's knocked out more teeth in fights than a dentist has in a lifetime." I add.

As we're taking in the sights, Frey alerts me to a couple of dark elven men eyeing us down. One saunters up to me, and the other three hover over Frey and Yui.

"Hey, ladies. You wanna get some drinks and have a good time?" one of them with a pointy nose asks, his face too close to mine. His mother clearly didn't teach him about personal space.

I roll my eyes and sigh, making sure he can see and hear how annoyed I am. "I'm only gonna say this once— fuck off, or I'm flattening your nose."

His friends burst into laughter. Trying to save face, he puts an arm around me and brings his face closer to say out loud, "I like girls who can play tough to get. You wouldn't be the first."

When I grab the back of his head, he smiles thinking I've taken interest. Instead, I rear back and pull his head in as I slam my forehead onto his nose. The elf stumbles back clutching his now flat nose.

"AAAHHHH! Y-You bitch!" He feels around his nose, the cartilage has cracked such that it's much smaller than before. "You actually smushed my nose!"

"You're a lot more nasally now. Gives character," I say, grinning.

Frey races up to me and grabs my arm. "Kain said not to pick fights in the city!"

"I wanna have a go, too!" Yui bounces on Frey's back, eager to get into a fight.

"No! You have an image to uphold as guild leader of Cynderace!" Frey shouts, panicking and trying to keep Yui from jumping off.

"Hah! As if we'd believe she's a guild leader. You cunts aren't going anywhere! I'll have you know we're all B-rank rogues and warriors of the Ash'tar Branch!" The elf and his friends surround us, brandishing blackjacks and knives.

"Oh…" I pause for a moment, gauging the gap in our ranks. "That sucks."

A crowd of people have created an arena around us, cheering for their nightly entertainments.

"Sorry, Frey. No way out but through now," I say, shrugging my shoulders and cracking my knuckles.

"Frey, throw me! THROW ME!" Yui yells hysterically.

"Nyah— geez, the things I do for you…" Frey flings Yui into the air in the direction of the playboys.

We mop the floor of the dark elves and then some who wanted in on the fun. Now a pile of unconscious and groaning chumps litter the ground in front of us.

I grab the elf who was hitting on me earlier. He stares up at me with a bloodied nose and black eye, the fear of death is written all over his face.

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"Okay. You ain't pretty anymore. Ugly boy? Flat nose? Dumbass? Whaddya want me to call you?" I ask his ugly mug.

"Uh… my name is Drebin…" he chokes out.

"Dumbass it is. I'm looking for an armor shop. Know where I can find one?"

Dumbass points to the end of the street as people are clearing away now that the fight is over. "At the corner. Bogart's place… all the adventurers go there…"

I pat his waist down and find a light sack of gold. "We're taking this. You said you'd treat us anyway."

The end of the street leads back to the avenue. Turns out the main thoroughfare of the city wasn't too far off from where we were. Bogart's store is one of the few places that stands out from the rest of the adobe buildings. Aside from the rooftop chimney billowing out black smoke, there is a helmet sign above the wooden door telling us this is the right place.

Inside, the store is a lot hotter. Out of the frying pan and into the oven couldn't be more appropriate. It's probably hotter in here than during the day. 

The shop has two floors, a set of stairs on either side of the room leads up to it: a bunch of weapon racks on the first, and mannequins dressed with armor on the second.

There looks to be a basement, accessible only from behind the counter. The roar of a forge stops, and a long, fiery-haired woman with goggles emerges from below. Her face is covered black with soot, but I can make out the face of a rather stern and pretty woman behind the mess. Aside from the goggles, she wears a work apron and heavy clothes that appear to have weight to them.

"Looking for Bogart," I tell the woman.

"Aye, I'm Bogart," she responds, her voice raspy from years of inhaling smoke.

Yui is the first one to blurt out, "Whaaaat? Bogart sounds like a fat man with a thick beard, and— mmrph!"

The rest of her sentence is muffled as Frey puts a hand over her mouth.

Bogart shrugs. "Not from 'round here, huh? Bogart's my master's name, and yeah, he was fat and had a beard. Took his name after he passed to carry on the store's legacy."

"Hope your shit is just as good then. I'm looking to put some enchanted armor on loud-mouth over here. Got any?" I ask her.

She scratches her cheek with sharp claws, scraping away the soot to the distinct glimmer of red scales underneath. "Enchanted armor I got plenty upstairs. Watcha looking for in particular?"

Yui and Frey have already gone upstairs. I can hear them browsing around, shifting and knocking on armor plates with their knuckles.

I turn my attention back to Bogart. "Something that you might not have up there. I need armor that can take a punch. A big punch."

Bogart mumbles to herself, pacing back and forth behind the counter. She then looks at me, eyes narrowed to judging slits. "You two are participating in the Lannarkis Ring?"

"What's it to you?" I ask, keeping my guard up for any funny business.

"I have an outfit that matches your specifications. Enchanted enough to withstand a beating from demon giants. It's not something I can just let you buy because it's got great personal value," she explains.

"So you need something from us."

"Aye. I can't ask the guild, and I need someone strong like the Emir's bodyguard to take care of this for me." Bogart puts a hand-sized stone on the counter. It's smooth, with sigil etched onto the surface. The symbol is a triangle with two parallel lines cutting diagonally through it. "When I inherited the old bastard's place, I didn't expect to inherit his debts, too."

I grab the stone, feeling a faint pulse of magic in it. "Fine. Just tell me who to point Sacchan at."

"Before I tell you… are you and your friends close to Emir Owyn Medir?" she asks, swallowing the lump in her throat.

Something tells me I should keep quiet about my group's association with the Emir.

"Nope. If anything, I want to bash his brains out," I answer.

Bogart breathes a sigh of relief and says, "A syndicate that runs the black market trade of Ash'tar. The Ramaleiks, a crime family with close ties to the Emir himself."

I can't help but smirk. A chance to shit on Owyn without physically hurting him. Opportunities like this don't drop into my lap often. It looks like tonight is about to get a lot more interesting.