A Monster Life Ch. 106-108

'I could use more writing materials myself, and there's a town not too far out of the way to our next target. Might as well take advantage of it.' said Valdys, and there were more who thought a stop there would be useful.

The two day trip went through forest towards grassy plains, and became easier thanks to a little used road they came upon, and they stopped at a cluster of trees to hide their presence within sight of the town. Ulric, Elzbieta, and Conchim observed the outskirts. 'What do you think?' asked Ulric. 'A few hundred people?'

Elzbieta calculated in her head. 'Fairly less than a thousand, darling. Seems peaceful enough around here for the houses to be spread out more and not need a defensive wall.'

'I could fly over it if we wait until dark, and then confirm it, hubby.' said Conchim.

Ulric chuckled. 'If anyone spots you flying, it might cause a panic, my sweet.' he said, and sat back. 'The only thing I worry about is whether they've seen our wanted notice.'

'Indeed, darling.' said Elzbieta. 'We'd not be able to do any business, and harming innocent villagers who think we're criminals while trying to buy supplies would be horrible.'

Ulric looked back at the others, who took the chance for a quick meal. 'We'd need to send a spy.'

Trixy surprised him by jumping on his lap and staring at him. He laughed once and stroked her head. 'Am I correct in assuming you're volunteering for that mission?'

She gave him a confident chitter, pointed back at Handil, and flapped her arms twice.

Ulric smiled at her. 'You want a seniovi to come with you?'

Trixy nodded, and Handil summoned one at Ulric's request, and he briefed Trixy and the bird on what he needed. 'Don't take any risks, just see if any public notice board has our faces or description on it.'

The two saluted with professional pride, the seniovi picked up Trixy in its talons and wing arms, and flew low over the ground towards the town. Lehti moved closer to Ulric. 'What's this about a notice?'

Ever since they came along, he thought Lehti had become more quiet, while Tera livelier though still quick to pout because of their forced journey. It occurred to him that the change of environment might show more of their true self, and wondered what they'd be like after more experiences in the world. 'There's an opposing demon party looking for the same artefacts, and they managed to put us on the country's wanted criminals list. It means we can't simply enter any town or city without the risk of someone trying to capture us.'

'Ah, I see.' she said. 'Are you all on it?'

'Yes, although when someone knows you two are in the party, you'll be caught as well. The reward is not just as individuals, but the entire party. We did mention it to your queen, but it didn't change her mind about forcing you to come with us, sorry.'

Lehti made a slow nod in thought. 'We did had it coming, so it's okay. We'll have to do our best to help you gain all the artefacts. Queen Diseria told us it was very important for the feiju's survival in the end.'

'I don't like dragging people into this, but we can use all the help we can get.'

***

The seniovi landed not far from the outskirts of the town, and took to the skies while Trixy scurried to the nearest house, where she swiftly climbed to the roof and peeked at her surroundings. Young kids played, while older kids assisted their parents with their work and daily chores, and nothing seemed threatening to her. She looked up at her new friend circling overhead, explored a route towards the centre of town, and elegantly evaded small cattle in yards while sneaking undetected from house to house.

Close to the centre of town on top of a roof, she spotted a larger building with a shield for a sign at the town square. The seniovi landed next to her, and gestured that it found nothing special other than shops. Trixy gestured she'd take a look inside the building, and for the bird to take a look through all the upper floor and roof windows. While the seniovi flew away, Trixy pondered how to enter that place unseen. The noise by a small group of people heading to it gave her an idea. She recognised them as adventurers by their different weapons and large packs for prolonged stays outside, and slipped down a drain, sneaked from a vegetable stand to a cart with barrels, then to one of the packs, and slipped inside through a loose flap. Keeping an eye socket out for the chance to slip out again, she waited while the party entered the guild building, put down their packs in a corner, and went to the reception area to report on their quest. Only a few more people were present, and Trixy slipped quickly out of the pack and slid underneath a nearby cupboard to observe the room.

Although the guild wasn't packed, it was busy enough with people entering and leaving that she found no chance to move near the notice boards to read the contents. She puffed up her ghostly cheeks in frustration and pondered a way out of there, when she spotted movement underneath a weapons rack. It was not a shadow, but the opposite. A glimmer of hope came to her, and the moment no one in the room looked into her direction, she rushed along the wall and slipped underneath the rack, and gazed at the spirit form of a rat.

It twitched its faint whiskers nervously at the newcomer, but Trixy gestured her friendly intentions, and the rat approached her. Trixy conveyed her intention to examine the notices, and requested the rat for help if it could. The rat shook its whiskers as it looked at the feet of the people and thought of options. A slightly mischievous grin appeared on its face, and it gestured it knew a way to distract the people in a little while. It disappeared through a crack in the floor, and Trixy wondered what it would do while she waited for whatever happened.

The receptionist looked over the quests on the counter when he thought he heard a faint squeak. He looked behind him at the half open door to the short hallway, but saw nothing nor heard anything more. He continued with his work, then heard two faint squeaks. "Mice?" he thought as he frowned at the door opening again. "There'd better not be more of those damned pests after I spread poison all over the place yesterday." A few more squeaks and even a meow had him walk over to the door and pull it open. 'I'll extermina-' he began, and shrieked when a whole bunch of rats rushed past his feet, followed by as many cats.

The rats scurried through the room and stirred up the place along with the cats chasing them. Everyone shouted and jumped away or tried to catch the rodents, and Trixy chittered in amusement. She kept to the walls while hurrying to the notice boards, and climbed on top of them and went over the notices while everyone's attention was aimed at the floor. When she was done, she sneaked to an open side window where the seniovi perched on the windowsill, and waved in gratitude at the spirit rat when the bird flew up with her.

The party laughed at the description of the scene when Trixy told of the events, and were glad there was no demand for their capture on the boards. Handil understood the seniovi, which had discovered different shops around the town, and summed them up for the others. Ulric stroked Trixy's head. 'Great work, you two. Seems we can safely enter the town and take a short break.'

Leaving the capri hidden among the trees to draw less attention, the party walked to the town. The closer they came to it, the closer Tera and Lehti walked to Ulric. He glanced at them when he noticed. 'Are you worried because its your first time visiting a town?'

Tera puffed up her chest and looked away. 'Who's worried about a whole load of humans and their dwellings?'

Lehti held on to his neck fur and silently looked a little down.

Ulric chuckled in his mind. 'All right, then I won't have to worry about you, just like I won't have to about everyone because we all look after each other in this party.'

He sensed the two girls relaxing a little, and smiled at Iphigenia when she gave him a wink. 'Smooth, Wolfie.' she said privately over the familiar link.

Tera felt nervous at the people staring at the group of humans and demons and their two demon animals as they walked along the streets. 'Is this normal for you guys?'

Iphigenia giggled. 'Pretty much so. It happens less when we're at places where all kinds of races live together, but this town seems to be inhabited by humans only.'

They stopped at the square, and Iphigenia, Elzbieta, and Valdys went up to the guild to gather information, just as the receptionist opened the door and swept out the last rat. He gasped and stepped back startled when he nearly bumped into the young women. 'Sorry! We had a little trouble with vermin.'

Iphigenia gave him a friendly smile. 'Oh, that's a shame. I hope everything's all right now?'

He nodded quickly. 'Yes, they're all gone now. It must have been a freak accident.' he said, and returned to his counter and put away the broom. 'How may I help you?'

'We're simply wandering around the country and thought about staying a day or so here.' Iphigenia said while Elzbieta and Valdys took a casual look at the quests on the boards. 'We were wondering if you could recommend an inn and advice us on the area, like where we should avoid places as we go, or what to look out for.'

The man's eyes lit up. 'Of course I can.' he said. 'I'll show you a good inn on the town's map. Just tell them Theis sent you.'

Valdys sensed a presence and saw the rat spirit beckoning her from behind the weapons rack. She went over and pretended to look casually at the two swords and the battle axe placed in it. 'Thank you for your help earlier.' she whispered while stretching out a hand to it. The rat climbed quickly up along her arm and hid in her neck, and reached its mind out to her with a warning.

Iphigenia paid Theis for a map of the town and surrounding area after he told her the most important things about it, and she left with Elzbieta and Valdys to join with the others again. 'I heard some disturbing news from our rat friend.' said Valdys as it poked out its head from underneath her hair. 'The inn that Theis told us to go to, is involved in thievery and murder.'

'What!?' said Ulric. 'How does it know?'

'It overheard conversations at the back room of the guild between Theis and the owner of the inn, Barlant. Wealthy adventurers have been robbed and even killed during fake quests, the story being unexpected bandits or strong monsters.'

Ulric growled softly. 'No one suspects anything?'

The rat gestured and Valdys translated. 'They plant evidence and mainly target little known adventurers who won't be missed any time soon.'

'If they don't spread the word around of the deaths of those people themselves, they could claim people have left without anyone else knowing about it.' said Elzbieta. 'As long as they don't do it too often, one could say that the casualty rate is no higher than average for adventurers and explorers.'

Ulric looked around at the others. 'Anyone else feel like putting and end to this?'

Rachael folded her arms. 'I can't keep quiet in the face of this injustice.'

Handil put her arm around Rachael's. 'Neither can I from the point of view of honest people in commerce.'

Yingshien blew a small puff of smoke from her nostrils. 'Although it's a human affair, us dragons cannot tolerate heinous crimes like these.'

Iphigenia gave Ulric a knowing smile. 'I'm sure I won't have to tell you our answer, Wolfie.'

His smile showed a hint of maliciousness at the expressions of agreement from the others. 'Let's discuss the plan over a meal at the source of the crime.'

***

Tarrence threw the cracked remains of the stone he used for communicating to the side. 'I just received word about a troll camp nearby. It seems our friends caused trouble there and left only one alive.'

Elyta looked at him for a moment. 'They want us to investigate?'

'Yes. It's not on our list, but maybe they found out there might have be an artefact there.'

The party rode into the quiet camp and up to the front of the old building. Muni had seen a couple of abandoned troll camps before, but those still had some corpses from an attack left. The lack of signs of battle or retreat made is look strange to him. 'Wiped out of existence without a trace?'

Tarrence dismounted his nasr. 'According to the surviving troll, they all entered some magical gateway and fought, but none of them returned.' He walked to the entrance. 'It should be at an inner courtyard.'

Coëllo smelled a faint burned scent from one of the passages at the entrance hall. 'Something has been burned recently and it doesn't smell of wood.'

They followed the scent and ended up at the former troll wizard's work area. Tarrence examined a pile of ashes in one corner of the chamber while Gigacks went over the tools and materials spread out over the place. Tarrence scattered the ashes with a short stick, and picked up a blackened leather corner piece. 'Someone burned books not long ago.'

Gigacks turned away from the materials. 'And took whatever was useful. Basic ingredients are missing here.'

'Let's check the courtyard.' said Tarrence, and walked out.

The five demons looked around the empty courtyard, and Muni examined the ground at the two pillars in the middle. 'Lots of activity here.' he said as he pointed down. 'Whatever happened, this was the spot.'

Tarrence looked at Gigacks, who moved around a little tense. 'You sense anything?'

Gigacks couldn't pinpoint the source, nor the type of magic faintly present, but he didn't like it at all. 'Trouble.'

Tarrence agreed with his reply. 'I feel like we're being watched.'

Elyta put her hand on her sword. 'I don't think we can find anything here. If there was something, those guys took it and destroyed any evidence of what happened.'

'Yes.' said Tarrence. 'There's nothing left for us to do. We're leaving.'

Queen Diseria watched the demons leave the courtyard through the dim view of a minimal gateway, and pondered the options for the future of the feiju.