Massacre

The air flow was barely disturbed as the shadowy figure slipped silently through the trail of corpses. Now that all the guards are dead, one can finally get a sharper look on this person's appearance.

The man (or at least what can be assumed to be a man) was wearing a strange mask that appeared to be formed out of a flickering black mist. The figure's clothes were also oozing a similar ethereal substance that spread just a few inches into the air around his surroundings, but still allowed parts of the shadow's physical form to be somewhat discernable. If a person observed closely enough, traces of a black shroud could be seen covering his upper torso. And held in the figure's right hand was a knife emitting a faint purplish hue, with magic markings that were closely inscribed upon the blade and handle.

The mysteriously shrouded being, Requiem, shifted through the hallways like a ghost as it continued to dispose of any remaining survivors. He did not have any sympathy for the people living here, whether they were knights, servants, or nobles. From what had been discovered, they were all explicit in the horrendous crimes that took place in the castle.

Moving through each room, Requiem finally found the noble in charge of this territory.

Beside a lavish bed that could house a carriage, a man wearing an exquisite suit was currently huddled near his wife and child. If one raised their nose and sniffed, they would quickly detect a faint scent of urine and feces beneath the shivering family.

"Y-yo-you-- Wha-what do you want?!" the noble shouted after gathering what remaining courage he had left. At the same time, he held his child and wife closer to him as if hoping to protect them together from this intimidating monster.

From the scarce records the Fermes Kingdom gathered about Requiem, none of them detailed whether or not this individual was capable of speaking. The few survivors of his attacks have all remarked this being's haunting silence. Nevertheless, the cowering noble still wanted to know the reason for the massacre that occurred here. It was a last futile attempt to make a final stand.

Unexpectedly, Requiem stopped approaching once those words resounded in the bedroom. This caused the noble and his family to collectively hold their breaths as they waited in fearful anticipation for this specter's next actions. A few agonizing seconds later, they saw the nightmare standing in front of them take out a small-sized collar from a place they couldn't see.

If one took a small glance, it would appear as if the collar belonged to a pet animal. But in the eyes of every occupant here, the collar's original owner was well-known.

"S-so what!?" the noble man shouted, uncomprehending the murderous gaze that Requiem directed at him. Instead, he continued to speak erratically, "It's legal here! You have no right to question our country's laws! Why go after me when you can go after the ones' in charge!?"

As he shouted, there was a strange glint of derangement in the man's eyes, but Requiem had not taken the time to notice. At this moment, the only thing this shadowy presence felt was pure contempt that nearly obscured all reasoning.

Had it been any other man, perhaps they might've stopped and taken the time to briefly ponder this noble's words. Unfortunately, nobody even knew if the frightening foe in front of this family was even a man.

Still without a single utterance of a word, Requiem swiftly cleaved through the skulls of each individual, sparing not even the boy that was being held tightly in his parent's arms. In less than half a second, the heads of these nobles were cleanly split open in the places where the knife had struck. Despite the gruesome scene, the death of this family was actually quite painless.

An outsider might've let their son live. But only those with a true understanding of this family knew that the boy was also guilty. In fact, every person that had died in this castle tonight deserved their fates, with some earning more.

The swift deaths that were inflicted might've been initially confused with mercy. However, if a person had the ability to carefully see through the disguise of Requiem, they would notice a murderous rage, almost inhuman-like, that seethed beneath the black mist. The slaughter that occurred in this castle was not out of mercy, but disgust. It was the very kind of disgust that dearly wished for these horrible people to not remain in the world a moment longer.

Rather than taking the time to inflict torture, Requiem instead focused purely on eliminating the filth that existed around him.

Perhaps this was a good thing, as the path of vengeance is all-consuming. If one were not careful, they may find themselves falling into a twisted form of relish that would constantly persist in their every wake.

In any case, the scum were dead. There was no need to be concerned with them for the time being.

----------

Leo woke up to a cloudy morning.

"Looks like it's going to rain today." Leo commented after looking out the window. He recognized the cloud formations and felt that the chance for rain was going to be quite high in the afternoon.

He quickly finished the breakfast he bought yesterday before preparing to meet up with Alex at the guild; there were many things they needed to discuss.

Just for today, Leo planned to only bring some money and leave the rest of his supplies at his room.

'I should probably do a little bit of shopping first,' he thought. After all, they were only planning on meeting up around noon, so he had a few hours to spend before needing to arrive at the guild. 'That Goblin King destroyed my travel bag, so I should probably find a replacement.'

Walking out of the inn, Leo once again familiarized himself with the new city he was staying in. Despite the grey clouds in the sky, the market places were still as bustling as ever. This allowed Leo to take as much time as he needed to scour around for shops that were selling merchandise.

Coincidentally, after passing by a shop selling antiques, he once again found himself hearing a familiar melody around a corner. Turning onto a new street, he quickly spotted the Songbird playing another beautiful music piece to an excited crowd.

"Should I take this opportunity to listen to his songs?" Leo muttered. He felt that he could afford to waste more time staying here. However, the awkwardness from last night still lingered in his mind.

"Hmm. Maybe next time..."

He still has yet to find a new bag to store his provisions. Although it might seem like a minor issue, Leo found that keeping one's supplies intact is quite crucial on long voyages and deadly adventures.

During the duel with the Goblin King, Leo remembered how he was sent flying back as a result of the fierce shockwave conjured by the monster's skill. Back then, if his travel bag failed to protect the contents inside, most especially that healing potion, he might not have been able to save Alex from the Goblin King's club, and would have likely joined everyone else in death in that cavern. Their bodies would've been tragically kept as nourishment for that strange device the goblins stored in that basement, never to see the light of day again.

'I need to find a bag with some good quality,' Leo thought seriously as he looked around at the numerous shops stationed in different locations.

So far, he only discovered three bags that could be purchased, but each of them were worn and used; not very fit for an adventurer to carry.

"Sigh, guess I should go to the Adventurer's Guild for today." Leo eventually decided to give up after what felt like another hour of fruitless searching. The city was almost like a maze, containing only a few subtle physical details for individuals to utilize in finding their way. If he continued to walk any further, he was afraid he might end up getting lost.

----------

Inside the guild, Leo had successfully arrived before noon and prepared to wait for his new team to join him.

Looking around, Leo noticed that the place in the current morning was noticeably quite lively compared to his past few visits.

'Seems like today might have a lot of quests this time.' Leo guessed after staring around at the other adventurers.

Near a large signboard, where stacks of quest sheets were pinned on, numerous burly men clad in various gears were vigorously discussing with their teammates on which assignments to take. The ones who weren't interested in the quests were simply sitting in divided groups at the guild's tables, excitedly exchanging information on what they've obtained about recent events.

"Have you guys heard about this ghost terrorizing the Fermes Kingdom?" asked one man who looked like a mage.