Exiting Shar

As they traversed through the secret passage, they went up and down as it took them further away from the Drunken Boar. At the end of the passage, as they were able to exit it, they found themselves inside a kitchen. Ahli looked around and saw how the kitchen might be part of a restaurant.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" A skinny old man with a tiny mustache appeared out of nowhere with a meat cleaver in his right hand.

"Oh, sorry. We were from Drunken Boar." Sharon apologized immediately which was quickly responded to by the old man.

"What? Drunken Boar? Aah, that old man Nald, huh? Ah, okay, okay. You go then."

As the old man waved to tell them to go out of his kitchen, Ahli, Sharon, and Mr. Granger looked at each other first, before they finally decided to do what he ordered.

Out of the kitchen, they found themselves in the dining area of the restaurant, which was quite small and only able to keep around 8 people at most. They walked out of the restaurant and to the street in front of them, to find that it was not a street, but an inner garden, surrounded by 2 to 3-story buildings. A tree stood in the middle of the garden where most of its floor was actually dirt and soil, with the grass growing around the bottom part of the big tree. Ahli examined the ground and saw how some stone tile was covered by the dirt that blended with the environment.

There was only one entrance and exit to that area, and it was another alley located diagonally across from their position. After a proper inspection, the three of them went through the alley which led them to the big main street near the town square. Before stepping toward the main street, they observed first the situation outside.

Ahli saw several towns guard roaming around, but he did not see any suspicious individuals nor the troops with the three-headed yellow dragon emblem.

"Okay, it should be 4 more blocks that way to reach the west gate of Shar. We supposed to be able to do it if we do it discreetly." Said Sharon explaining the escape path they should take.

"For that, my plan would be us walking in distance, so we did not attract anyone." Continued her.

"Yeah, that would be a good idea. I'll go first then. I have a big body, so it would be easy to attract attention. But, with this, you two can sneak out easily if I am stopped for question." Agreed Mr. Granger.

"Okay, then. So, Mr. Granger, me, and then you?" Asked Ahli to Sharon for confirmation.

"Yeah, let's do it like that."

With Sharon's confirmation, they once again monitored the main street. After they waited for some time, checking the town's guard movement, Mr. Granger looked at Ahli and Sharon and gave them a nod, which quickly replied by nods as well from the two, confirming him to take the action.

After he took his breath, Mr. Granger casually came out of the alley and started to walk on the left side of the street. His big body was surely catching a lot of attention and for sure, two town guards who were the nearest to him then started to approach him.

"It's happening." Said Ahli to Sharon, notifying him of the possibility that Mr. Granger told them about before.

"In that case, better you go now." Ordered Sharon.

As the town's guard was closing in on Mr. Granger, Ahli came out of the alley and walked toward Mr. Granger, however, he took the middle street, to avoid getting any attention from the town's guard who was approaching Mr. Granger.

Ahli saw how the town's guard called Mr. Granger and intercepted him. Mr. Granger, trying to not be suspicious at all, stopped immediately and started a conversation with the town's guard. Ahli himself was approaching their radius area, and the moment he entered that radius, he could hear faintly what their conversation was about.

"...so, the people in Yakul are all fine?" Asked one guard who was buffier than the other.

"Well…not exactly fine. There are still some houses that need fixing because of the fire, and one guy still mourning." Answered Mr. Granger fluently, showing no sign of nervousness, even though he saw Ahli at a glance, checking where he was while stalling those guards.

"Truly my condolences for him. We're hoping by next spring, we would be back there." Said the other guard who was shorter.

"Oh, really? Why?" Asked Mr. Granger again, to prolong their conversation.

In the meantime, Ahli was able to pass them and he checked toward Sharon's direction and saw that she was also already coming out of the alley and keeping her distance from Ahli. Like Ahli, she also took the middle part of the street, to avoid making the guards pay attention to her.

As Ahli turned to look forward again, coming at him were the two men that were chasing him before. They had changed their outfit and were fitted with soldier gears of the three-headed yellow dragon. They did not pay attention to Ahli yet, and so Ahli quickly turned and walked back toward Sharon, who was surprised to see him do that.

With her facial expression only, she gave a gesture that was questioning Ahli, of why did he return. It was quickly answered by Ahli by signaling with his right hand, notifying Sharon about the two men that were pursuing them before.

With Ahli's gesture of repeated gesture of two fingers and pointed directly toward the path that they should take, Sharon quickly took a glance at what was coming from Ahli's behind, and as she still recognized them since the time at the guild center, she quickly understood.

Sharon quickly gave Ahli a notice with her finger to take a turn toward the town square, as it was their only way to avoid those two. She then turned toward the town square and walked toward the middle of it. Understanding her message from before, Ahli quickly followed, and as he took a turn around the radius of Mr. Granger and the two town guards, he could catch again the content of their conversation.

"...anyway, what I'm missing is Frank's Smoked Pork Belly." Said the short guard.

"Oh, yeah. I also missed that. They have smoked pork belly as well, here, but it's just not the same. It lacked the punch in flavor, unlike the one at Frank's." Added the buffier one.

"Oh, yeah, I also like his work. I guess nobody in Yakul who did not like it. Hahahahaha." The laughter of Mr. Granger felt a little bit forced as he was asking Ahli why he and Sharon walked toward a different direction, by using the gesture of his eyes. Ahli answered it, by touching his right earhole, scratching it with his middle finger, while his index finger was pointing at the two three-headed yellow dragon soldiers that were approaching.

Ahli quickly hastens his walk to catch up with Sharon. In no time he was walking beside her.

"So, how we are going to do this?" Asked Ahli to her.

"We'll take a detour and reach the gate by following the street on that side." Said Sharon as she pointed at the other street that was bordering the town square.

"Okay, then. But, how to tell Mr. Granger about this?"

"Don't worry. When we turned at the end of the street, he supposedly will know what he must do supposedly." Said Sharon confidently.

Sharon's walk suddenly stopped. She raised her right hand in front of Ahli, to prevent him from taking another single step.

"What's wrong?" Asked Ahli for confirmation.

"The two men that were chasing me are walking onto us."

Ahli saw toward the front, and another two soldiers of the three-headed yellow dragon were coming from their front. He quickly checked their behind and saw the two men that were chasing him also coming from their behind. Then, more and more soldiers with the three-headed yellow dragon's emblem appeared from all sides of the town square. Sharon and Ahli quickly realized their situation.

"It's a trap."