“You should know that bards have alternative ways of dealing with enemies, right?” I said to Whiterabbitsbane. He still hadn’t left the room. Well, that was ideal.

The strange man shrugged. “I’m not controlling them, but you know that already.”

A group of shadow panthers and shadow wolves crossed the threshold, from the roof into the attic. Their claws clicked on the oak floor as they fanned out to surround us. Threatening growls echoed through the room. They crouched low, readying for their attack. But I kept my calm and Observed them.

Shadowborn Panther. Level 8. HP 225. MP 40. Likes: Meat, Dark Places, and Boxes. Dislikes: Light, Vegetables, and Water. Current Status Ailments: Charmed Shadowborn Wolf. Level 12. HP 485. MP 86. Likes: Meat, Dark Places, and Pets. Dislikes: Light, Loud Noises, and Strong Scents. Current Status Ailments: Charmed

These monsters were high enough that it wouldn’t take much for them to kill us.

With a grimace, I swiftly grabbed my lutzithen and hooked my arm around Mia’s. That sense of wholeness deepened. It was the bond telling us that we were one. It was how she could teleport me even when her low-level-version of the spell could only take herself.

Since that was the case...

I used 20 out of my 90 mana to cast the level 19 version of Aura of Redirection while considering Mia as part of myself. This allowed any enemy about to attack to focus on a different creature. They automatically turned to face Whiterabbitsbane.

When he saw this he raised an eyebrow at me. I grinned back.

“Is that it? Just change their focus to me? Isn’t that a bit... trite?”

He had a point. It was a good thing I didn’t plan for this to last that long considering that the inn’s host could vanish at any moment. But it was enough to distract these monsters.

A brave panther swiped at the event host, but he vanished and reappeared on the other side of the room.

Mia had to take a few steps as she continued to paint, and I had to follow while keeping a tight hold on her arm. Then I started strumming a tune. Even though it made no sound, the creatures still turned toward me. The entity controlling these things likely sensed the threat I posed.

I gathered the necessary sounds and emotions, and a full 40 mana, to cast this spell on a group, building it up into a huge ball of subdued light. With the flick of a finger, I sent it flying to the middle of the Shadowborn creature group. It burst on contact with the ground, nearly blinding these light-sensitive beasts and briefly exposing the disturbingly blood-colored paint on the walls. But what was important was that my level 19 Cure Ailment spell succeeded in removing their charmed status.

Each of the shadowborn shook their heads and stumbled. The wolves whined, likely from the strong metallic paint scent.

While they were confused and still mentally weak, I started to play a lullaby. Weaving the song to whisper that they were safe now, had worked hard, and could rest.

Their eyes drooped. A few of them fought the soothing music so I tailored a beat just for them. No need to fight. Only friends here to cuddle with.

Eventually, the whole group passed out.

Whiterabbitsbane sighed and brought out several large and familiar cages.

Weren’t these the ones from the basement? So, if we’d grabbed them back then we could have used them here? Actually, if we’d grabbed food from the kitchen and used it to feed the creatures in the basement then maybe they wouldn’t have gone crazy and tried to kill us.

But looking at past events with hindsight wasn’t always useful, especially considering that we wouldn’t be doing this event a second time.

Soon all of the sleeping creatures were captured and teleported away.

Mia finished her task.

Congratulations! You have finished the final repair task! You are free to go anywhere you’ve been before to look for helpful clues and solve the inn’s mystery!

She briefly released my arm so she could turn around and face Whiterabbitsbane but for some reason, she decided to keep our arms hooked together. Maybe, in case she needed to teleport us? I wasn’t going to complain. The comfort from the bond was, frankly, far too reassuring after the night we’d had.

I studied the inn’s host. “So, our agreement?”

He nodded slowly and smiled. “It just so happens that this was the last major repair we needed so I don’t mind letting you win. But, if you want to live, you'll still have to swear those oaths.”

We both nodded.

“I, Lorevinel Silvercat, hereby swear an oath…” I followed through with my promise and even sent Mia a copy so she could repeat the oath. As soon as she said the last word a popup appeared.

Congratulations! Your team has won the event at Vermillionjoy’s Red Roof Inn!

Your team has won: Cerdantire’s Blessed Ribbon, 16000 PMk, and 10000 EXP!

- Since your team has already agreed on how to split these, your PMk, and EXP will be given to you now and your teammate, who currently does not exist, will be given their portion when they do.

When Mia beamed up at me I nearly relaxed.

No, we still couldn’t rest. Now we had to escape this place without dying because the portal that normally appeared when something was complete, hadn’t.

I peered at the host, showing my distrust. He smiled and I understood his spite. “I already said that I don’t control the creatures in this inn.”

“But you could teleport us out.”

“Oh, I could, but you deserve to go through the inn and possibly die after that stunt you pulled with your redirection aura.”

Fine. I guessed the man liked holding a grudge.

“Let’s just get out of here,” Mia whispered. “We have a boat to hire anyway.”

I nodded. And, if we did manage to make it out of the inn alive and down to the docks, we were still facing one or two days at sea.

We couldn’t exactly exit the inn while holding hands, though.

Ever so slowly, and with reluctance, I peeled my bonded’s arm away from mine and walked past Whiterabbitsbane to the hatch in the floor. I unlatched it, pushed it open, and noticed a familiar purple swirling vortex in the way.

Pressure on my back sent me tumbling forward. I flailed, possibly yelled, and I vanished into the portal.

Immediately after, I dropped, face first, to the ground right outside the Inn.

Did that asshole just—

Oof! My bonded fell on top of my back. Dirt from the road drifted around us. She quickly crawled off me. I noticed that her pale face had turned red with anger or possibly embarrassment. She turned to the inn, and shook her fist at it while saying some really impressive curses that I’d never heard from her before.

She even kicked a rock at it, but it didn't even hit the siding.

Once I stood and she hooked her arm through mine and leaned on me.

“Lore, I’m tired.”

“Same.”

“We have to leave, don’t we?”

I grimaced. “Immediately, before our tails figure out we’ve left.” I peered off into the distance where the friendly-looking tavern glowed with warm light.

“Chances are pretty high that they’re dead. That gives us a lead of a few hours at least.”

“With Mossthorn there, we can’t take that chance. Assume they're alive and will learn about us leaving shortly.”

She sighed. “Then, let’s go.”

***

We reached the docks. Since it was still dark we had to use the outpost's light-crystal lamps to illuminate our way to one of the magically self-driving boats.

If we were going to not die during our trip to the Tainted Prison, then we needed sleep. The trip would take anywhere from one to two full days, so we needed to choose the larger of the self-driving ships that included protection, a place to sleep, and shower.

We would have to pay for the trip to the prison, pay for it to wait for us, and then, we’d pay once again for it to take us to Holden Outpost northeast of here. But the current price... Was a bit steep.

Just getting us to the island would cost 4,243 PMk, a little over half of what we made by winning the event. That didn’t even take into account the other expenses.

When Mia saw the cost, her eyes bulged.

“Is... isn’t that a waste of money?”

I placed my hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “When you’re escaping for your life, success and failure could depend on how well-rested you are. Plus, we need to be in good shape once we get to the island.”

“Lore, this is like, half of the money we just earned, and it’s just to take us to the island!”

“We should still have some money when we reach Holden Outpost and we can take on a few simple monster-hunting sidequests when we get there.” I pointed out.

She sighed and looked regretfully at the steep number before paying it.

We stepped onto the boat. Its magical engine started up and we slowly floated away from the dock as the night sky changed from black to dark blue heralding the rise of the sun.

Too exhausted to do much else, we took turns taking very brief showers, changed into clean casual clothes, and passed out together on the one bed the ship had.