Third person POV
Later, at 8:10 p.m., the bus arrived at Nuevo Tacloban's bus stop. Romana woke up as soon as the bus had pulled over and the bus driver called for those who were bound for this destination. So, she got up, grabbed her belongings, and got off the bus alongside all of the passengers. As the bus left the stop, she saw the liveliness of Nuevo Tacloban: people going out for food and shopping, social interactions, and having fun. At this hour, the street where the stop was packed with people selling food and stuff, and others shopping for these things and eating out after a hard day's work. "This place is quite lively…" she thought, before her stomach growled.
So, with that, she grabbed her belongings and started looking for a place to eat a meal tonight.
Luckily for her, she found a tavern that was open until 9 every night and entered it. The tavern was not as busy as the street outside. She went to a table for two, and a Vamzom waiter came with a menu. "Hello, miss, good evening. Welcome to Jack's Eats."
He then handed that menu to her, and Romana received it and started looking for a meal on it.
The choices were decent, like meat pies and bacon.
These are typically peasants' food for her, a noble who was used to high-end foods.
Now she went down the social ladder by eating commoners' food, so she went for a meat pie in the mixed meat form, a glass of beer and another glass of water. Taking her orders, the Vamzom waiter replied, "Okay, ma'am, I'll be back with your order."
He then hurriedly went back to the kitchen.
A bit later, Romana is now eating her simple, cheap meal with a few Ruslav Pesos, which were exchanged with another Vamzom waiter, this time, a waitress, a few minutes ago, so she could pay for her meal in this country. As she enjoyed her meal, she was enjoying the quiet atmosphere of the tavern while thinking about keeping her distance from Tej so that bad memories of her past treatment of him would not strike her emotions like a hammer. Later, she paid for her meal and left with her stuff to find a place to stay for the night.
After a bit of time, she found a boarding house that has the monthly rent rate of 2 Ruslav Pesos per month. So, she went there and asked for a room. The owner, a Vamzom soldier who had been running the boarding house with his family for generations, quickly offered a room to her on the second floor, which offered a window view of the street of the small city. So, with her room also clean and simple, she accepted it and promised to pay her rent next month. With that, the owner left the floor, and Romana put her belongings away and rested up for the night. A few minutes ago, she had an encounter with Tej, who was dressed in a doctor's apprentice's attire, in the streets. She knew that it was him and didn't make eye contact with him, yet she wasn't sure if it was him or not due to his clothes.
The next morning after breakfast, Romana went with her plan of becoming a soldier for Ruslav. So, with that, she went up to the castle on foot and requested the Vamzom guards of its south gate to be a soldier of their country, like someone who applies for a job in a potential workplace.
"Ah, I see…" one of the Vamzom soldiers replied. "We'll take you to our leader to see if he would like to hire you."
"Yes, thank you," Romana briefly responded.
And so, the two Vamzom guards did so, and a bit later, Romana was now standing in front of Basilio in his office. After reading her qualifications, Basilio said to her, "Are you here to apply for a job as a soldier?" Romana then briefly and calmly nodded. "Yes, I had some experience as a patrolling guard back in my home country of Kamal. I'll be of good use to your service."
She then pulled out a bag of coins from her family's treasury in Kamal and placed it on Basilio's desk. "Here, compensation for Tej Lengyel."
Basilio and the guards in the room were taken aback by it.
"What?"
"For someone?"
Romana then nodded. "Yes, and I was sorry for how I treated him in the past in my home country.
Putting and shuffling Romana's application paper, Basilio responded back, "Okay then, also, are you sure about being sorry to Tej-kun?"
"Yes, I am sorry for everything."
Romana then bowed her head to Basilio in apology before raising it.
"It's fine, as long as you are sorry," responded Basilio calmly. "And also, it seemed that you're a good fit for this line of work. You're now hired."
Romana was happy on the inside and said to him, "Yes, thank you. I'll do my best to serve in this country." Basilio then smiled at her back. "Yes, you're welcome. Also, we'll provide accommodation if you want to stay and live in this country if you like."
"Yes, I'll be happy to accept that, Basilio-san."
"Okay, I'll be assigning you to a squad."
But the two Vamzom guards who accompanied Romana weren't sure about Romana's entry as a soldier here in Ruslav and stated their suspicions and concerns to Basilio. Hearing that, Romana looked at them and said, "I'll behave well and won't cause any trouble, I promised."
"Are you sure about that?" asked one of the two guards. "You're from Kamal, right?"
"Yes, but I'll be good to you guys. I'll do whatever you say."
Because of that, the two guards eventually agreed. A bit later, Romana went to her assigned squad of Vamzoms, which also happened to be Chivo's assigned squad, in Ruslav's eastern region next to Dimwell's borders while Basilio had the bag of coins delivered to Tej via Helena, who delivered it to him. So, upon seeing that Romana was now a soldier of Ruslav and a member of his squad, Chivo was stunned. "Wait, Romana-chan, you're now a soldier here?"
"Yes, that's true, Chivo-kun," Romana replied back calmly as usual, "and also, I am sorry for you and Tej."
"Okay…"
"Yes, Romana Alma is now a member of our squad," said their squad leader, "so please, be nice to her."
"Hello there!" Chivo replied back to her positively. "I'm Chivo Sergia of Fresa de Ard."
The other members of the squad then said their introductions to Romana.
"Yes, nice to meet you all," Romana positively replied back, "I am Romana Alma from Kamal."
And so, this squad went on their routine patrol duty in that area. Meanwhile, Tej received the money from Helena, and he was stunned by who gave it to him via Basilio and Helena. As time passes on that day, Romana felt good about her new job in this country while being unsure if this would be permanent or not, considering other alternatives for the future. Days turned to weeks, and Romana was living the best life here.