Behind three mountains and two rivers, two bounty hunters, Kairo and Arubi, are traveling to Waslan City to pick a bounty. Their empty stomach pushes them forward, but they may hit a roadblock in the desert inside the bandits' lair.
Wacky adventure...
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A small boy sneezed, startling everybody around him. His cat ears swayed as others bristled, and all eyes darted in his direction.
"What gives?" the girl sitting next to him nagged. "How can you sneeze at a time like this?" Her hands squished the blanket, covering her legs.
"Something tickled me," he whispered, searching his pants for a handkerchief with his four arms.
The four-year-old girl pressed her ears against her head as the boy sniveled. She growled low, showing razor teeth with tiny mandibles in the corners.
The older boy snorted. "Here, use mine." He handed his handkerchief. The small boy accepted it and blew his nose loudly.
The old man watched in complete silence. Nobody had noticed how his body jerked or how he gasped for air. The boy couldn't time it any better.
"Grandpa, please, continue your story," asked the four-arm boy once he returned the soaked and sticky handkerchief.
"Of course," the old man agreed, masking his shock with a puff from his pipe. "As I was saying..."
¯\_(^_^)_/¯
Kairo winced, for he never liked this cliché from horror stories. Any loud sound in silence roared, especially the one from inside you. He hated when his stomach rumbled, or when he released winds in a small space. Arubi always kicked him out if he was around.
"Is that central heating?" the boy asked, pointing at the massive, central pipe with many smaller ones.
"More like central cooling."
"Gyahaha!"
A loud guffaw echoed from above, and the bounty hunter assumed a fighting stance, prepared to deflect the first attack.
"Welcome— Guh, koof..."
The dramatic effect disappeared with the wind, just like the anticipation in Kairo's body. His hands limped with his bent back.
After a minute of muffled sounds and coughing, the voice continued, "We-el >koff< come!" A big ogre Oni descended on a platform from the ceiling. He huffed and puffed as he spun a wheel. "Huff, finally." He wiped the sweat from his forehead. "I should get hamsters for this," he mumbled, straightening his back with a snap.
Kairo's eyes narrowed with his mouth hanging. The Oni's waist had extra tires that the tiger skin could snap any moment. The bandit flexed his muscles in an impressive gesture, but the mass only wobbled. His thick leg stomped the railing, giving his unpolished toenails all the spotlight nobody asked for. He wiggled his thick eyebrows as if he was flirting. The picture in the magazine had to be made centuries ago, or the artist was blind.
"Welcome to your last sto-o-op!" Goro stuttered, his leg slipping down the railing.
Trying to look cool when the gravity wasn't in his favor was a bad idea. He recovered his posture with sweat over his forehead. The boy slumped his shoulders, ignoring the fact that bandits surrounded them. Dogs and wolves were the most common, but it would be unfair to mistake them with underdogs and werewolves since the latter didn't have fleas.
