“We ain’t get newcomers to this ‘ere village often... I take it ye’re all from that fancy Academy or whatsitcalled.” Said the man with incredibly thick sideburns. “I’m Paul, an’ this here’s Peter. We’re the owners of the place ye’re stayin’. I believe ye got my letter?”

“Yes, we did.” Rodrick replied. “Thank you for hosting our students.” He said with a bow.

The society followed in his footsteps and bowed as well.

“Oh, ain’t nothin’ for it. I ‘ssume ye’re gonna wanna settle in, look round the village and talk to some of our residents ‘bout the House over yonder. Here.” He said, before tossing a jingly bag to Rodrick. “Those’ll have yer room keys. Ye’re all upstairs, but there’re only 4 rooms spare. Ye’ll have to bunk wit’ some o ye.”

“I don’t believe that’ll be a problem. Thank you for your hospitality.”

“Dinner’ll be served ‘round nine.” The man said, before returning to his conversation with the other man sat next to him.

Rodrick turned around and guided his students into the big building that was clearly a kind of inn, the one with kids playing outside it.

Once they were in, the archaeology society realised that this wasn’t going to be the most lavish living arrangement they’d ever seen. Nor was it even going to be... comfortable.

The bottom floor was plain without many adornments or keepsakes, but that wasn’t the problem.

It was the sound.

The archaeology society could all collectively hear through the walls into the other rooms on the ground floor.

This was clearly a hotel, with rooms being occupied by others. The sounds that came through would leave some of the students scarred for days to come. They weren’t used to hearing this much verbal beratement, followed by sounds of ecstasy.

Rai cringed at the thought. He didn’t find that to be attractive in any way, and he hoped that Sin felt the same. Though, when he glanced at her, she bore an expression of curiosity. Rai only felt that that couldn’t possibly bode well.

“Well.” Rodrick said, trying to move on while ignoring the sounds. “I’ll be off now. Here.” Rodrick handed Rai the jingly bag of keys. “Allocate the rooms between yourselves. You’ll spend today talking to some of the residents, finding out what you can about the House, and then tomorrow you’ll spend as much time as you can in the ruins. On Wednesday, I’ll return here at eight in the morning, if all goes to plan. We’ll travel back to the Academy, rest a little if you all need it, and then discuss your findings. Sound good?”

Rai looked around at his companions. They all seemed indifferent about the plan, which was also a sign of acceptance.

“Sounds good to us. Good luck lich hunting.”

“Thank you. Remember, don’t anger the undead. Enjoy your first expedition, all of you!”

“Haha, don’t you worry, sir. And we will, thank you!”

Rai’s words did nothing to alleviate Rodrick’s worry.

Rodrick took one last look at his society. He was like a proud mother hen, but at the same time he just couldn’t help but worry about them. This group was full of eager fighters, which brought him untold levels of anxiety. All they had to do was leave the undead alone. That was it.

It remained to be seen whether they could accomplish even that.

“Right...” Rai mumbled, sat in the circle of his companions. They found some chairs downstairs and made a circle of them, with Sin making a mirror chair for herself since they were just one short.

“He said four rooms, but why are the amount of beds so random?...” Amy muttered.

“Let’s work it out. There’s four rooms, and a different number of beds in each. Two rooms have one bed, while the other two rooms have only two beds. So six beds in total...”

“That’s not enough beds, which is probably what Paul meant when he said we’ll have to bunk...” Sin said.

“Yep. So, I know that me and Sin can sleep in one bed together. That leaves one other bed that needs a bunk.”

“I’m sleeping alone.” Hiron said, as soon as Rai finished. He was waiting to guarantee his own space.

“... Me and Lina can sleep together, since we’re sisters.” Amy said.

Lina nodded in affirmation.

“Right. Then, you’ll both be in one of the rooms with two beds, and Maya will sleep in your room on the other bed. Hiron can sleep alone in the other room with just one bed. That leaves Feris and Tullian to share the final room with two single beds. Is that fine with everyone?”

They all looked at each other, then back at Rai.

“It’s fine with me.” Amy said.

The others also agreed.

“Wonderful. Then, let’s get settled in the next thirty minutes, and meet again down here before we go and talk to some of the residents.”

And so they did.

The archaeology society got settled in their rooms, set up effective soundproofing magical barriers to prevent sound from getting in from other rooms, and then made their ways back downstairs.

They all seemed more or less fine with their beds, which was surprising given the state of the village itself. Though, the rooms were more barren than anything, with just the beds, a desk, and a chair each. Some of them were used to much more lavish lifestyles, but most of them were completely fine with it. After all, this place was only there for them to sleep and rest.

“Okay, now that we’re all ready, let’s go out, talk to some of the people that are outside, maybe go a bit further into the village and talk to some of the residents, and learn as much as we can about the House of the Brave. We’ve got only a few hours of daylight left now, so meet back here once the suns meet the horizon.” Rai said.

They all looked determined to find as much information as they could about the House, which was a good sign, Rai thought.

“I’ll talk to Paul and Peter about it, you guys can go off and find whatever you like. Remember, we’re guests here, so don’t say or do anything that can anger the residents!” He said sternly, before hitting Feris with a lingering gaze.

The others stifled laughs, but saved Feris the embarrassment of dealing with full-on giggles. That didn’t stop him from sneering at them all.

The archaeology society did as their leader beckoned. They went their separate ways in the village. Lina and Amy paired up and went to talk to some of the people who were working on a lumber mill close by.

Surprisingly, there was more going on here in Kigglesbury than first met their eyes.

Feris and Maya paired up to look around the relatively quaint school and see if any teachers were nearby that they could talk to about the House.

Tullian and Hiron went off on their separate ways, with Sin leaving Rai to explore by herself shortly after.

Rai did as he planned.

He walked over to Paul and Peter, who were still sat where they were as they entered the village.

Paul looked over at Rai and waved.

“‘Ello there! You all settle in well?” He asked.

Rai couldn’t stop himself from staring at the balding man’s incredible sideburns.

“Yep, we decided who’d bunk with who, so we’re all sorted now. Thank you again for hosting us!”

“Not a problem! Yer Academy is payin’ us a pretty penny too... left me assumin’ that ye’re all rather important students, aye?” He said in a tone that left Rai wondering.

“... Not really. We’re just trying to learn as much as we can about the world. Rodrick, our headmaster that you met earlier, would treat any of his students the same.”

“Is that so? Interesting... anyway, I gather ye’re not ‘ere to stare at my bootiful burns, so how can I help ye?” He asked in a playful tone.

“Ah, sorry about that, haha.”

“Not at all.”

“Well, I was just wondering if you could tell me anything about the House of the Brave? We’re here to explore it and try and learn as much as we can about it, but we don’t know much about it other than what Rodrick briefed us on.”

“Aye, makes sense. Ye’re all city folk, so ye’d know little ‘bout towns like ours’s history.”

“Actually, I grew up on a farm, and only moved to Aurum for the Academy a month or so ago.”

“Is that so? Even more interesting. Ye’re an interesting feller, y’know that?”

“So I’ve been told.”

“Anyhow, there ain’t much known ‘bout the House, other than that we all should be stayin’ far away from it. ‘Course, we buggered allathat up and settled right bloody next to it. Curs’ed ancestors.”

“Why would you have to stay far away from the House? Is there some kind of black magic or curse around it?”

“The undead, boy. They’re in control o’ the whole place! Ain’t no way a mortal like you or me could dare tread on their territory!”

“But they’re docile undead, right?”

“So they say. I ne’er been there myself, but Peter here has. And boy did he pay for it! Go on, show ‘im Peter.”

Peter nodded, before opening his shirt.

Rai looked at the scar left behind on his chest, just below his neck.

“That’s... crazy...” He muttered.

“Ain’t it just? They went and stole his voice! Poor bugger can’t even talk now, but least he can hear us, ain’t that right Peter?”

Peter nodded with a smile.

“Now ‘en. I don’t know what kinds of protections they got ye students under, but it best be enough to deal with that kinda terror.”

“Ah, you don’t need to worry about that. We’ll be just fine, even if the undead do attack us.”

“If ye say so lad. If ye say so... Oh right, there was one more thing.”

“Oh?”

“The House ain’t just home to undead, but there’s also a beast way down in its depths. It rumbles at night, leavin’ our village’s men and women shakin’ in their beds. Best be careful to avoid whatever monster lays down there!”

“... I’ll mention it to the others, thank you!”

“Not a problem lad, hope I could’ve been of help!”

Rai wandered around the village shortly after talking to Paul and Peter. He tried to make sense of what Paul was saying about the undead attacking Peter.

The only thing he could think about was the possibility that Peter did something to anger the undead, and they attacked him for it. That was the only realistic explanation, unless there was a fault in the information the Academy got, or there really was an anomaly.

The other options were that there was some misconceptions that Rai didn’t want to consider, right now at least.

Fortunately, he felt like he gathered a good bit of information about the possibility of a beast laying beneath the House, in its mausoleum.

As he walked around Rai saw Feris talking to a small group of old ladies. He must’ve finished up at the school with Maya, since he was on his own now.

This was quite possibly the funniest thing that Rai’d seen all day.

Feris. The boy who shouts at everything...

Was somehow talking quietly with a bunch of old ladies.

It just didn’t make any sense, but Rai loved the image all the same.

Feris seemed to glance over at Rai accidentally, before doing a doubletake.

His face said it all.

‘If you tell anyone, I’ll kill you.’

Rai simply shot Feris a pair of thumbs up, before continuing to wander.

The more he walked around, the more Rai found the village to be a lot more robust than he first thought.

It wasn’t exactly like Acies, but there were small houses with a few people hanging about here or there. It didn’t seem like many people here actually worked, though, which was the strangest thing about the whole place.

Still, Rai managed to find a couple shops that weren’t really shops. They were more like houses with people that stitched clothes together, or people that cooked food. The food and clothes weren’t on sale, but were simply on display.

Rai soon learned from talking to one of the tailors in the ‘shop’, that the clothes and food were free to any who would take them.

This put his previous understanding of Kigglesbury into perspective. The people hardly worked because they didn’t need to. They didn’t need to buy anything because it was all given to them for free. It was only possible because there were people in the village willing to supply such things, which began a trend of more and more residents doing the same thing.

It was an interesting dynamic that Rai hadn’t really considered before, since his whole life had taught him that money was required for almost everything. This visit had already prodded him to think about things that he’d taken for granted. It was truly an interesting visit so far.

After a while longer, Zenith’s twin suns met the horizon.

It was time to return and collate their findings.