Mary-Ann was in a bit of a pickle now.

What is she supposed to do? She is completely covered in blood, she has two corpses lying in her room and her bed, sheets and pillow might just be stained or shredded beyond repair.

Would there still be some of the staff awake this late? And what would happen if they saw her like this?

Covered in blood.

There is one thing she can do, now that she thinks about it.

The one typical thing most women would do.

Something that she has been feeling like doing from the moment she detected the intruders.

So instead of suppressing the feeling, she just lets loose.

She screams.

A piercing wail that manages to wake up nearly every person in the building and that even some of the guards on the street manage to hear as well.

Soon after, the resounding thuds of boots rapidly hitting the wooden floor in the hallway can be heard coming her way.

However, they quickly falter a bit, most likely since the persons that were alarmed by her scream have no idea which room it came from.

Since help is nearby now, she staggers towards the door, unlocks it and stumbles outside.

She must strike quite the figure, covered in blood and gore like this.

"Over there! What happened ma'am?"

One of the guards spots her and shout at her whilst he runs towards her.

Nearly immediately after he reaches her, the rest of the guards reach her as well.

One of them stands near her while the rest of them stand in front of the door to her room, their weapons at the ready.

With a nod from a man that is at the front, they all slowly advance into her room while the one that stands next to her remains behind.

As they advance into the room, they come across a grisly sight.

On the floor on the side of the room near the window and on the bed lays two corpses.

One of them has seemingly had his throat slit. Even though wounds like that look impressive and horrid, these are hardened men that see them often, for backstabber and throat slashers are quite common in the back alleys.

The other corpse, on the other hand, makes even the most hardened and most veterans of the guards falter slightly.

The youngest and 'greenest' of the guards literally becomes the greenest as he turns around and pukes in a corner of the room.

Despite all of this, they quickly search the room for any potential lingering intruders before returning to the hallway.

One of the men turns to the man that stayed with Mary-Ann to report.

Apparently, the man that stayed behind with her was the leader of this small squad of guards.

"There were no intruders left alive in there Sarge. It is a mess in there though, you got to see it yourself to believe it."

The man, that apparently holds the rank of sergeant and that was standing next to her, turns towards her and asks her:

"Would you mind waiting out here for a bit while I go inspect the room? Now that my men have confirmed it to be safe, I can give it a cursory examination. From the looks of one of my rookies, it must be pretty bad in there so I think it would be a bad idea if I took you in there with me right now."

"Yeah, yeah, sure. I'll wait here then."

With Mary-Ann waiting outside in the hallway once more, the sergeant strolls in the room to take in the scene.

In the room, he takes in everything that's there to see.

The open window. The thief's tools that were still lying on the balcony.

The stabbed blanket with a pillow underneath it. The position of the bodies.

The slit throat of one of the bodies and the multiple stab wounds on the other body.

And lastly, the woman's backpack that is hanging from the back of a chair.

A backpack that looks a lot like a dimensional backpack. Even though they are not that rare, they are still uncommon enough to cost a pretty penny. Especially if its one of the bigger variants.

Enough incentive for a pair of thugs to try to break in into this poor woman's room, to stab her to death and to run off with her possessions.

Sadly enough for them, it seems like she managed to kill them instead.

Good for her. Less scum that prowls the street and a potentially prominent member of society that still walks around safely. Who knows what might have happened if she had been killed, she might have been someone important after all.

While the officer on duty of the squad that came to her aid was in her room, Mary-Ann was reminiscing about what happened earlier.

Somehow, she had become awake right in time to spot the intruders on her balcony and prepare for their entry.

Thanks to this, she wasn't stabbed to death in her sleep and also was she able to overpower her opponents through sheer ferocity and the element of surprise.

This raises some questions though.

How did she manage to wake up and spot them right on time?

And how did she manage to put enough ferocity in her attacks to overpower two grown men?

Even with the element of surprise and sheer luck, she feels as if she should have at least taken some hits or as if something should have gone less well.

What she does have is a sneaking suspicion though, one that she can only verify if she heads to the branch of the adventurers guild.

Great, another delay before she can continue her journey towards the capital.

Not long after, the officer returns wearing an unreadable expression.

"Don't you worry ma'am, it is pretty clear to me that you acted in self-defence.

Since we, the city guard, failed to protect you, we'll handle the removal of the bodies and will pay for the cleanup.

Since I know the innkeeper well enough, I will give you a hand in getting a new room and something to clean yourself and your clothes with, all expenses paid by the guard."

"That would be very kind of you. I can use a bath about now, standing around whilst covered in blood and wearing nothing but my night's clothes isn't what I would consider as having a fun time. Would you be so kind and have one of your men gather up my stuff? I'm loathe to go back in there, I'm afraid."

"I'll make sure one of my men will deliver your possessions to your new room in a bit. I'll even have them clean your possessions a bit if they happen to be covered in blood as well. Now, if you would like to follow me?"

After having woken up a grumpy innkeeper, Mary-Ann is assigned a new room, has been given bathwater and a tub and her blood-covered clothes have been handed off to a roused, even grumpier, maid that is tasked with cleaning and ironing the clothes by the morning.

With Mary-Ann set up for the night, the guard captain bids her a good night and returns to his men to make sure the bodies are removed and to resume his patrol.

Not long after that, Mary-Ann has bathed and has crept underneath the covers of her new bed.

Seconds after her head hits her pillow, she's fast asleep.

When Mary-Ann wakes up in the morning, she comes to the realization dawn has come some hours ago and the time is getting closer to noon. She must have been really tired after the entire ordeal the previous night for her to sleep that long.

Not wanting to waste any more time, she gets out a spare set of clothes out of her bag since her other set of clothes were taken away for cleaning. Once she's clothed, she grabs all of her stuff and opens her door.

In front of the door to her room is a neatly folded and ironed pile of clothes.

Scooping them up as she walks past them, she keeps walking towards the common room.

With a small nod as a way of greeting, she places the key to her room in front of the innkeeper and orders a plate of breakfast. Not long after, she's wolfing down a plate that is heavily laden with various meats and piles of scrambled egg.

She washes it all down with a big cup of tea.

After bringing back the plate, the teacup and the eating utensils to the counter, she strides towards the door.

With a wave behind her back and a shouted thanks for the hospitality, she leaves the inn and makes a sharp turn towards the centre plaza. Her next immediate destination, the adventurers guild's branch building.