I arrived at the rowdy pub a few minutes later. I wouldn’t be surprised if the people inside had been there since this morning.

There were barely any seats open.

“What are you doing here, kid? I’m pretty sure I put up a sign that only allowed adults.” The bartender said as he cleaned a glass. I sat down on the barstool.

I could feel a lot of gazes on my back.

“I’m already 15 years old.”

“My apologies then.” He lowered his head. “Trying out alcohol for the first time?”

“That’s not why I’m here, old man.” I pulled out a silver coin and slid it across the table. “I’m here for information.”

“Regarding?” He took it without batting an eye. It seemed to me that many people come to him whenever they look for information.

“The disappearances that have been happening lately. Surely some adventurers saw something strange and spoke about it in this bar?”

“…..” He closed his eyes. “To the west of this town, inside a cave, strange noises have been heard.”

“Noises?”

“They are heard during the night or day. Only, they sound much closer at night. We oftentimes hear an echo from the mountains. Many say that they have found the nest of these creatures and managed to see what they look like.”

I gulped hard. “What…did they see?”

“A creature with a human form. However it had big beady eyes and a body charred with black skin.”

Please…kill me….

“!!” I nearly fell out of the chair when I had a flashback of that woman who begged me to kill her.

“You alright?”

“Y-Yes.”

‘It can’t be. Did those things escape? Fuck. I should’ve destroyed the tower when we left that basement.’

I cursed at my own stupidity.

‘Wait a second…those rods…If they could just freely move then why didn’t they at that time?’

Were the rods a special object that restrained them from moving? That would explain why the woman asked us to kill her. Because she had no way of doing it herself.

I remembered that Mr. S was the one who impaled them all with the rods, so they could suffer. Charlotte still had the book of the scientist in her possession so that was all that I knew.

“Please continue.” I took the juice he offered me.

“Alright. Some victims of the kidnappings have made it back, however, they are always too fearful to speak of what they saw. We have tried contacting priests from the Holy City, but alas…” The old man sat down and wiped his forehead. “The rest of people who were found weren’t so lucky. Sometimes there would be a large opening in their stomachs as if something clawed out of their bodies. All the women who went through that were dead.”

“Has no one called for authorities to come to the town to deal with this?”

“Kid, even the vice captain of the Knight Order came here. They found nothing even after a week.”

‘George already came here, huh?’

“Since they had no leads, they left to go to the next town over to the east.”

“Has Salvesteer been affected by all of this as well?”

He shook his head.

“Can’t say for sure. So far, only villages and towns have reported similar cases. My guess is that whoever or whatever is doing this isn’t ballsy enough to enter a city. The adventurers are on alert of these occurrences so I doubt they’d attack the city.”

“I see.”

If that was the case then we could rest assure that nothing would happen to miss Lisette. Once we left this town then we’d be vulnerable to their attacks, though. We’d only be safe once we reached the city.

If the worst incident were to happen then I might have to ask Undine to scout for me. It was risky with miss Lisette around but that way I could be certain that we’d be safe.

“Something bothering you, kid?” The old man probably noticed the troubled expression on my face.

“I’m currently travelling with a young woman. I’m kind of worried that I won’t be able to protect her.”

“Hahaha!” The old man’s hearty laughter turned all the attention of the customers to us. He stopped laughing after a while.

“You seem to be confident in your strength, hm? How old is this lady?”

“Hmm…” I had never asked her age before. She was more or less Brielle’s age. “She’s about 22.”

“Occupation?”

“Err, Priest? Why are you asking that?”

“That’s a weird combination the two of you have for an adventurer party.” The old man smiled meaningfully. “Leaving all offense to the mage is like asking to be killed. Looking at your badge, you seem to be an A ranker? That’s impressive for someone your age.”

His eyes were serious so I knew it was honest praise.

“As for your question ass to why I’m asking, the ones who always get taken are the younger women. Say between 20 and 30 years old. Anyway, When are the two of you leaving?”

“We’ll be leaving tomorrow, sir.”

He rubbed his beard at my words.

“Travel early in the mornings and rest on open plains in the night. That way you are always on alert for any attacks.”

“So travellers have gone missing too and not just residents, huh?”

He nodded his head.

“Let us hope it’s only goblins going crazy with lust. Anyway, Salvesteer city’s lord will dispatch soldiers in the next few days. Remember to stay off the highway unless you want to be suspected and hunted down. These days it doesn’t matter if you’re a child or an old person, if you’re deemed as a suspicious individual then you’ll be killed.”

He muttered under his breath: “Everyone has gotten paranoid over this whole issue about these black creatures of the night.”

After his mutter, he poured himself a drink.

“Are bartenders allowed to drink while working?”

He chuckled at my question. “Kid, I own this bar. I have my own rules here.”

“Maybe I’m mistaken but you look a little like that vice captain who was here the other day.” The old man narrowed his eyes at me.

“Oh, that’s my father. His name is George Astley.”

“So that’s it. I’m good at remembering faces so I was curious. Anyway, need anything else?”

I shook my head. “Thanks for giving me this information, old man. I’ll ask around some more before I leave.”

“If that’s the case then buy them some beers. That’s all the payment they need.”

I did as the old man said and bought a whole barrel of beer. I moved to the first table by the window next to the door and spoke with them. What they gave was nothing useful but the company was enough.

I did the same when I moved to the other tables. Some of them gave some useful information on how to survive in the forest if you run out of food and water. Things like that. I didn’t think it was a waste to sit a little longer.

By the time I realized, the pub was quiet and empty. I was in the corner looking at the map after marking the hotspots for hunting they gave me. I rolled up the map and put it inside my pocket.

After saying farewell to the old man, I left the bar.

◇

“Is she still awake?” I opened the door to our room after undoing the spells. The room was quiet and dark so miss Lisette seemed to be asleep.

“Haa….” After taking off my clothes and slipping into my nightwear, I lit a candle.

I hesitated to climb into bed. The room was small so there wasn’t any room for a sleeping bag.

“Let’s just do this.” It was too dark to see anything even with the candle light. I had to summon spirits to create light for me.

“Mm…” A moan startled me.

“Eek.” I noticed after climbing in the small bed that miss Lisette was turned towards me. Her back was against the wall and her pretty face was right in front of me.

I could feel her hot breath on my face. It was slowly and steady.

“….How did it go?” She spoke softly.

“Ah, you’re still awake…”

“I wasn’t before but this creaky bed woke me up.” She chuckled.

“Sorry….”

“So? Find anything?”

“I managed to find out a lot of things at the pub. I was partly worried about travelling without any experience so I learned a lot from the veterans in the pub. Besides that, there was nothing too major.”

I didn’t want to worry her with those stories of black creatures ripping the stomachs of young women apart. There was no evidence that suggested that those creatures were the same mutated humans in those ruins.

“That’s good…that’s good…” Miss Lisette yawned. “You’ll fall off if you lie like that. Scoot closer.”

“E-Err…” She put her arm around my back.

“There’s no helping it, sir Clyde. It’s only for tonight, anyway.”

“Y-Yeah…You’re right.” I sighed softly before moving closer.

Her body was so soft. A sweet smell drifted into my nose. I noticed that I moved a little down when I moved closer. My face was right in front of her chest.

“Mmm….good night.” Miss Lisette said in a sleepy voice and yawned.

“Goodnight…”

We fell asleep while feeling each other’s warmth.

◇

The next morning, miss Lisette and I finished our breakfast in one of the lounges. It wasn’t anything fancy, just toast with eggs. There was a glass of orange juice with the meal. It was a lot for two copper. Maybe my standards on money were too high.

Miss Lisette chose apple juice. We had normal conversations like what we’d do during the vacation. She told me that she usually visited the houses of people in her neighbourhood and heal the people of any diseases or injuries they may have.

Apparently, the church was located in the slums.

‘It’s weird how she’s not a high priest yet. With her talents, the Pope would need her by his side.’

She could use her mana in such a unique way. She could also cast Mass Healing which already made her capable enough.

Mass Healing meant that, depending on the priest’s abilities, they could heal tens or hundreds of people at once. Miss Lisette told me that she can heal non-stop for an entire day. Most priests faint after using divinity more than five times.

‘It’s a shame about her eyesight…Wait, maybe I could….’

While I was thinking that, miss Lisette took out the books and magic item I gave her last night.

“Thank you for sharing this wonderful item with me. I truly enjoyed the last story of Heathcliff and Simoné.” She smiled and slid the books over to me.

“Actually, you can keep them.”

“Eh?”

“You didn’t finish them all, right? Why not take it all?”

“B-But books are usually so expensive.” She hesitated and scratched her cheek.

Just looking at her I could tell she was looking forward to reading them.

“I can always buy again when I get back to the kingdom. Take them, I insist. For the rest of the journey I’ll infuse mana into the Audio Crystal.”

“Thank you…” She took the things with a childish grin on her face.

“Well, well~” The inn lady came to get our plates. She grinned when she saw us. “Why does the young lady look so happy? Did you two actually do it?”

“N-No! I’m too old for him anyway…” Miss Lisette said with a small voice. Her face turned red when she realized what she said. “I-I mean…”

“Gyahaha! You’re just too adorable! My daughter is your age as well but she’s far different from you. It’s so refreshing having kids stay at my inn.” The inn lady whistled happily and took the plates.

“By the way, kid. Did you find out anything?”

“Yes. I heard that the vice captain of the Knight Order was here. But they left soon after.” I said.

“That’s right. At least they respond to our cries. The damn pope never sends the Templars to help us townspeople. Apparently he only moves them when there are heretics around. Like the Immortal cult that was recently discovered.”

“Immortal Cult? This is my first time hearing of this.” I murmured.

“They are people who worship the man who could cast God Rank spells. They believe that if they worship him then they will get his protection.” Miss Lisette answered instead.

‘Zero, you bastard. Look what you started.’

“And who are the Templars?” I asked.

“They are the knights of the Holy Kingdom who are led by the paladins who protect the throne.”

“!?”

“Paladin Annette recently failed to catch the cult leader. They are still out there somewhere. Curse those wretched scoundrels. They’re still killing innocent people for their beliefs.” The lady took our plates and left the table.

“Should we follow the same path as we decided upon, sir Clyde?” Miss Lisette spoke.

“Yes. For now, nothing seems out of the ordinary so we can follow the same route.”

“Okay.”

We packed up our things before leaving the inn.