Information Gathering

Arthur decided to visit the farmers first to know the whole situation and know when and where to attack at night. He found a small wooden house nearby with kids playing outside the house.

When the little girl saw a man going near their house, she stopped playing with her wooden doll and went near to him and asked " Big brother, do you need some lodging? We offer a clean room and delicious food. My mom cooks really well you know." She said while looking up to that man with expectation.

Arthur heard the girl and bent down and replied "Little girl, big bro wanted some place to stay for a couple of days, can I ask you to tell your mom about it?" after asking the girl he smiled at her and patted her head

The girl was so happy that her lips almost reached both ends of her face because she got a customer today and also helped her mother to earn some money. The girl immediately ran inside the house to tell the good news to her mother.

Minutes later, a middle aged woman came out of the house, her clothes were not luxurious but it is clean and neat. Arthur saw her and thought that it was the mother of the little girl as she was beside her mother holding her hands. Arthur went near to her to talk about his lodgings and some information about the Fire Rats he needed to kill.

"Hello ma'am, are you the owner of this house? I would like to lodge a room for 3 nights and ask for some information if you will." Arthur told his purpose to the woman in front of him.

"Hello adventurer, I'am the wife of the owner of this house Emelda. We have only one room in our house but you are lucky that it is vacant today. We also offer meals for our customers aside from rooms. The cost will be a thousand credits a day for your lodging and a hundred as day for the meal. So if you stay for three days it will cost you three thousand credits and if you add a meal to it, you need to add three hundred credits for that." The woman smiled at Arthur waiting for his decision.

"Oh, I'm Light and for the lodging I will avail a three day meal." Arthur only told his surname to the woman to hide his identity. There are dozens of alias used by adventurers so it was only normal to hear names like this. He paid his lodging worth of 3300 credits and went to his room after reminding Emelda that he will have his brunch by the time he went out of his room.

Entering his room, he found that there is a bed with thin covering on it and a table and chair, a room that is only good for one person. There is also a bathroom with wooden tub inside, the warm water was already prepared and he only needed to jump in to wash his body.

An hour later...

Arthur's lower body was wrapped in towel while wiping his hear after washing his body. He felt refreshed after the whole afternoon of going down to his business. He was picking his clothes when he heard a knock on his door and after the knock, he heard a voice of a girl.

"Big brother, mom was already done with the meal, let's eat now. The food was so delicious, mom made it so special for you" The voice was so jolly that it seems to be expecting a feast.

"Okay, big bro will just wear clothes and I will go to the table. Tell your mom that I will be there in a minute." Arthur replied to the bright voice of the girl.

...

Dining Table

Arthur saw that there are different kinds of local vegetables on the table and some meat soup that came from some normal monsters hunted in the forest. The smell of the food was so good despite looking so simple. He sat down and waited for others to join him in the meal.

"I'm sorry if this is only what I can give you as a meal. My husband was only a gatekeeper at the city and meat was so expensive for families like us. I hope you understand" The mother look at Arthur apologetically.

"It's okay. I don't have any preference about food, as long as it is clean and edible I will eat it. By the way do you have any information about the Fire Rats that are attacking your crops every night?" After assuring the lady, Arthur asked about what he came for and that is the information about his mission, the Fire Rats.

"Oh, the Fire Rats. We deal with them every year so we are familiar with these pests. All adventurer like you always go to villages like this to inquire about them. So it was like this.... so thats all I can give you. I hope that it helps." The mother told Arthur all the information about the Fire Rats that he needed to hunt, so he thank the mother for the information.

After 30 minutes the meal was done and Arthur stood up "Thank you for the wonderful meal. I'll just walk outside to observe. I'll be back before dinner"