It was a warm spring afternoon. Ivan, Lynn and Gabriel stood in a forest, surrounded by a gang of savage green midgets.
"Heh." Ivan chuckles. "Well, this came out of nowhere." He comments, observing the unending sea of goblins.
"They look kind of angry." Gabriel adds.
"We've killed hundreds of them over the past few weeks." Says Lynn, drawing her bow. "Even the stupidest creatures would want revenge after that."
"Maybe they just feel left out?" Gabriel smiles.
Lynn nods "Perhaps."
"Then hiw about we send them to their fallen brothers." Says Ivan, getting into a battle stance.
As those words leave his body, one of the goblins breaks the stalemate, charging towards Ivan. The remaining goblins don't hesitate to follow as a loud battlecry errupts.
"Bring it on!" Ivan shouts, effortlessly decapitating that goblin as soon as he was close enough with a single spin.
"Fireball!" Gabriel shouts, clearing out a section of the goblin wall with one spell.
The battle intensifies as our heroes continue taking out goblins. Wave after wave, the battlecry of the goblis grows weaker and weaker until it was completely gone.
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"So many goblins assaulted you? After all of the hunting we've done, they can still muster up such a force! That's truly frightening!" Goldegar comments.
"Yup.. there must've been like two hundred goblins." Says Ivan before taking a sip of his drink.
"Really? I feel like there were less." Gabriel adds.
"There obviously weren't exactly two hundred goblins, it's just an estimate." Ivan crosses his arms.
"I know it was." Says Gabriel. "I was just saying that it's a really bad estimate-"
"Oh yeah? And where's your estimate??" Ivan jumps up.
"Could you please stop arguing guys..?" Lan smiles nervously, sitting between the two of them.
"Yeah, you're embarassing yourselves." Lynn crosses her arms. "Oh, and Ivan.."
"Hm?" Ivan looks up at her curiously.
"When will you cut your hair?"
"My hair?" Ivan asks.
"Yes." Lynn nods "It's become quite long and messy. It's especially bad after battles"
"Really?" Ivan takes a spoon from the table and looks at his reflection. His hair was all over the place, completely shaggy and uncombed.
"...It doesn't look that bad, does it?" Ivan chuckles.
"It does." Says Lynn.
"You look like a caveman dude." Gabriel comments.
"Indeed. A noble hero such as yourself should always have an appearance to match. That includes a presentable hairstyle!" Goldegar states.
Everyone looks at Goldegar and his balding head in a moment of silence.
"Huh? What is the matter? Is there something on my face?" Goldegar asks, looking around in confusion.
"Nevermind that." Says Lynn. "I won't tell you how to style your hair, but it's is endangering you and by extension us."
"What? How??" Ivan asks.
"Your hair is hindering your vision. You almost got stabbed by one of the goblins today because you were using your hand to move your bangs out of your eyes."
Ivan scratches his head in embarassment. "Ahaha... You saw that?"
"In a more serious situation, that could've been lethal."
"Alright alright I get it." Ivan sighs. "I will cut my hair."
"Good." Lynn nods, a smile of satisfaction on her face.
"And by the way, how come your hair stayed literally the same ever since we came here?" Ivan asks.
"Huh? That's because I cut it regularly." Lynn answers.
"Well... could you cut my hair then please?" Ivan asks.
"Eh? I don't actually cut my own hair. Kyla does it, and she's quite good at it."
"Really?" Ivan asks.
"Really." Kyla confirms, startling everyone at the table.
"When did you get here??" Ivan turns to Kyla.
"She owns the place." Adds Gabriel.
Ivan turns to Gabriel "I know that smartass, but-"
"Since we don't have a barber in town, People often come here to get their hair cut." Kyla states.
"That is true. Even I sometimes visit Kyla to get my hair trimmed!" Says Goldegar as everyone turns to him, staring at his head again.
"Uh..." Gabriel utters.
"Anyway." Kyla breaks the silence. "I can cut your hair."
"That's great! Thank you so much Kyla!" Ivan smiles.
"No problem. Since its still early and there's not much going on in the inn yet, we can go upstairs and get your hair done quickly."
"Great!" Ivan nods, turning to the stairs. Though before he can go there, a hand tightly grips his shoulder, turning him around.
"Where do you think you're going. You have to pay up first." Says Kyla.
"Pay?" Ivan asks in confusion.
"Yea. 1000 perun." Kyla demands, raising her hand.
"How much now??" Ivan shouts.
"1000 perun." Kyla repeats.
"That's a robbery!" Ivan complains.
"Did you expect me to cut your hair for free?" Kyla asks.
"Well- no, but-" Ivan stutters, then turning to Lynn. "Did you seriously pay 1000 perun for a haircut??"
"No. Kyla cut mine for free." Lynn answers.
"Ehh? Then why are you asking for 1000 perun to cut mine??" Ivan asks.
"Are you Lynn?" Kyla crosses her arms.
"I am not..?" Ivan utters, seeming confused.
"There you go, that's why."
"... Well, I'm not paying 1000 perun for a haircut." Ivan crosses his arms, looking away.
"Then stop wasting my time." Kyla pushes Ivan back into his chair before walking away.
"That was terrific." Gabriel smiles.
"Shut up." Ivan snorts.
Lynn sighs. "Well, that's that. Guess I could cut your h-"
"I'll cut your hair, Ivan!" A slender redhead shouts across the room as everyone turns to her. She then quickly covers her mouth as her face turns red.
"Ira? You'd do that for me?" Ivan asks.
"Y-yeah... I've actually learned quite a lot from aunt Kyla."
"That's amazing! You won't charge me 1000 perun, right?" Ivan asks, seeming suspicious.
"Of course not." Kyla nods.
Lynn crosses her arms. "Wow, very selfless of you to cut someones hair for free. I wonder what the actual reason behind that is.."
"E-eh??" Ira looks around nervously. "I n-never said I'd do it for free! H-how about... 200 perun?"
"Huh.." Ivan thinks. "That's reasonable." Ivan nods.
Lynn pouts, looking at him with an annoyed expression.
"What's wrong?" Ivan tilts his head.
"Nothing." Lynn looks away.
"Alright then." Ivan shrugs.
"Shall we go cut your hair?" Ira asks.
"Sure." Ivan nods as they go upstairs.
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"It's been like 30 minutes already, do you think Ira messed something up?" Gabriel asks.
"I don't think so." Lan answers, humming happily. "It takes time to cut hair. I'm sure they'll be done soon, though."
Gabriel nods before turning to Lynn who had a look of murderous intent on her face as she impatiently tapped with her foot.
"...Everything okay?" Gabriel asks.
"Yes. Why wouldn't it be? Does something look not okay?" Lynn turns to him.
"Uh... right." Gabriel utters, glancing at Lan who just smiled blankly.
Soon after, they hear a door upstairs creep open, followed by footsteps.
"Guys~" Ira shouts, rushing down the stairs. "Meet new and improved Ivan!" She moves out of the way, revealing Ivan and his new hairstyle in all of its glory.
Gabriel, Lan and Lynn jump up with mixed reactions.
"How does it look?" Ivan asks.
His hair was definitely shorter now, but the largest changes were countless of shapes being carved into his sidehair while the hair on top was tied into a bun.
"It's..." Gabriel mumbles, dumbfounded.
"Great, right?" Ira grins. "I saw an adventurer with a similar hairstyle recently and thought it would look amazing on Ivan! Though his hair wasn't long enough for braids so I did a bun instead." She explains.
"I s-see." Says Gabriel. "It looks very wild."
Lan chuckles. "Ivan's like one of those barbarian fellas."
"Yup, It's hilarious." Gabriel comments, chuckling as well.
Ivan frowns.
"It's horrible." Says Lynn, grabbing everyones attention. "It doesn't suit Ivan at all." She complains.
"Oh, give barbarian Ivan a chance, Lynn." Says Gabriel, barely holding his laugh in.
"No way." Lynn looks away.
"Oh, Gabriel?" Ira suddenly speaks "Your hair has been getting quite long, too. Want me to trim it as well?"
"No!" Both Gabriel and Lan shout at the same time. Everyone turns to Lan who looks away nervously.
"I don't think such a hairstyle would suit Gabriel eheh..." Lan chuckles.
"I agree with Lan" Gabriel nods. "I also like my long hair." He continues, playing with the brown curly fluffball on his head. "I don't think I want to cut it, maybe trim it a bit in the future if it gets too long."
"Oh. I understand." Ira nods.
"Oh well, it's getting late, we should probably head back and have dinner, I'm sure grandfather is waiting for us." Lan suggests.
"Right." Gabriel nods.
"Oh, I'm starving! Let's go." Says Ivan as they head for the exit.
"See you later Ira." Gabriel waves.
"Bye, stay safe guys!" Ira waves politely as they leave.
.
.
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It was already late night. Ivan laid in his bed, the room dimly lit by a candle on the drawer next to the bed. Gabriel was already sleeping tightly in the bed next to his. Ivan stared at the ceiling, deep in thoughts, his hands behind his head. Suddenly, he hears a faint knock on the door.
He quietly makes his way to the door, opening it to find Lynn, who glared up at him.
"Lynn? It's late, what are you doing here?" He whispers.
Oh? Did she finally succumb to her feelings for me? Will she fall into my arms and be like "Oh... I can't hold it in anymore... I love you Ivan-kyun~"?
Without saying a word, Lynn grabs Ivan's arm "Come on." She says, pulling him out of the room.
"Lynn, we'll wake everyone up." Ivan whispers as Lynn drags him into Barny's lab.
"Don't worry about that." She says, sitting Ivan down on a chair and taking a pair of scissors.
Ivan looks up at her nervously. "W-what are you doing..?"
"Fixing this mess." Lynn mumbles as she starts cutting Ivans hair.
"...Couldn't this wait until tomorrow?"
"No." Lynn continues trimming his hair.
A couple of minutes later, Ivan's bun was gone, in it's place a short and clean hairstyle.
"There we go." Lynn nods. looking at Ivan's head. "I can't do anything about these horrible shapes in your hair though, but those should disappear in a few days as your hair grows back."
"Thanks?" Ivan looks at her.
"You're welcome. And next time you need a haircut, I'll do it." Lynn states.
"Of course." Ivan smiles nervously.
Lynn suddenly looks up before swiftly turning around, throwing her scissors at the door behind her. The scissors get stuck in the wooden doorframe, almost hitting Gabriel's face, who stood at the door.
"Woah- I didn't mean to intrude." Gabriel raises his hands defensively.
"What are you doing here?" Lynn asks.
"Just wanted to get a glass of water and find you guys doing... something inappropriate?"
"Don't get the wrong idea