Chapter 22: Darkness (Journey VIII)

"Welcome to the 'Three Daughters', how can I help you?"

The tavern keeper gave me a little smile while saying this, but his eyes drifted off to Fenrir. It seemed my little puppy was frightening normal people.

"Don't worry my little boy wont bite you or your guests. I want to get a room for the night and maybe something to eat."

"O...ok...the room costs 65 bronze coins. But sadly I cant offer you food for the night, our cook is already finished with his work and until my wife comes home there is no possibility. But you could eat tomorrow morning...It would cost 35 additional bronze coins, totaling 1 silver."

I took out 'my' purse and gave him 1 silver. But before he took it he said:

"I would also need your name, so I can write it down for the taxmen."

"The name is Lena...say...do you know anyone who could give me a quick run down over the town?"

"You could ask one of my daughters as soon as they are back, which should be around tomorrow afternoon...apart from that you could buy a map at the town hall, but their quite expansive...something around 10 to 15 silver..."

*Well it seems that I will need to wait for tomorrow...*

"Here is the key to your room, just go upstairs and the first room to the right is yours...do you want something to drink?"

"No thank you...I just want to sleep...we see us tomorrow mister?"

"Francis...have a good night at our establishment."

I went upstairs and entered my room. It contained of a small table, bed and a chest. Opposite of the door was a window, from which one could see the main gate and directly over the bed was a Magic Torch.

*Its small but still...better then sleeping outside in my bedroll...*

I took out the last of the cured meat, gave halt of it to Fenrir and ate the rest myself.

I then made a small bed out of the bedroll for Fenrir then took of all but my underwear and laid down on the bed.

*It is time to sleep...and tomorrow I explore the slums...*

The next day...

I woke up relatively early because Fenrir was standing before the door, growling. I quickly got up and put my clothes back on. I then drew my sword and went to the door, pressing my ears on it.

----World POV----

1 inquisitor accompanied by 6 guards stood before the counter, beginning to speak to Francis.

"Are you the owner of this tavern, Francis?"

"Yes...what do you want here inquisitor?"

"Firstly I am inconsolable...your wife and 3 daughters were murdered by a group of demons."

Francis didn't really react. He just stood where he was, not doing anything. He stayed in this state for a few minutes before starting to shake uncontrollably. The inquisitor drew near and laid his right hand on Francis's shoulder.

"We are terribly sorry...we cant tell exactly who their leader was, but as far as we know it was a woman named Lena, although this could be a fake name, traveling with a large warg. She is wearing a mask as to not show her face...but fear not, we will avenge your family!"

The inquisitor knew that most of this was a lie. As soon as the guards talked to the mother they heard of this woman, who was an unknown magician. They've been brought in the church, who decided that the women needed to die for what they had witnessed. It was then chosen to blame the demons again, seeing as it would strengthen the churches grip on the populace. The guards that brought the women were also killed and so the official report was:

"A 41yo mother was murdered with her three daughters, one of them being only 9yo. The perpetrators were demon bandits.As the guards wanted to detain the murderer, they were killed. But in an act of bravery and commitment they managed to kill the rest of the bandits."

Then the supposed leader was described all around the entire town. The guards and the church were on high alert.

The inquisitor couldn't help but smile into his left hand. It was far to easy to manipulate normal people.

"This...this masked woman...shes here! On the upper floor, the room on the right...please...don't just kill her...make her suffer!"

The eyes of Francis gave off a murderess gleam.

At the same time, a masked woman and a large warg could be seen jumping out of a window.

----Lilith POV----

*Fuck, fuck, fuck...what do they mean I've killed them...*

I rushed directly in the direction of the slums, figuring that it was the best hiding place, as well as the best place to get out of town. I knew where I needed to go.

*The greater building in the slums...but first I need a new disguise...*

I decided to throw the mask away and just went with a hood over my head. Now only my mouth and nose could be seen, as long as no one came closer than 1 meter near me. The cloak also covered my whole body, because I didn't know how much of my clothes they knew.

After sneaking through the darkness of the slums for an hour, I arrived at the big building, which turned out to be a brothel. The prostitutes stood directly before the building making it obvious. But I was sure that there was some sort of Don around here.

I took a deep breath before approaching the brothel, my whole body had goosebumps but I needed to make a confident impression.

One of the goons besides the entrance looked at me as I got closer.

"I need to talk to your boss!"