12

"Have you guys forgotten how we have walked into this trap?" Felicia started, "We accepted the quest from the notice board but have you considered how Emilio managed to get the quest up there in the first place?"

Arthur shared a look with Billy. Arthur was starting to have some ideas but Billy was still quite lost in the dark. Felicia continued for the sake of the two boys, "Every quests that are posted on the adventurer's notice board have to be personally vetted, approved and categorized by the representatives from the adventurer's guild."

By then, it finally dawned on Arthur. He blurted out, "This means that Emilio has someone inside the adventurer's guild working with him to set up this trap!"

"Bingo!" Felicia uttered, "and I have a fairly good idea who it is, so now you two understand why I say it might not be such a bright idea to bring Emilio back with us?"

Billy and Arthur's faces turned grim. They too had a good guess of who that person might be, a person of importance at the adventurer's guild branch and a person who was close to Emilio. All three of them turned to Emilio and their faces were creased in contemplation.

In the end, they still decided to bring Emilio back with them to Armana. This was because even if they left him there, the tragedy of what happened to the man would have caught up to them eventually. As someone who worked at the adventurer's guild branch, the person would only need to check the quest records to know who had accepted this quest to trace it back to them. Since the confrontation couldn't be avoided, why not face it head on?

Felicia was tasked to carry Emilio while Arthur supported Billy. The stone slab that blocked the opening earlier had been moved. Emilio's men probably pushed it out of the way when they used the path. That made things a lot easier for the group of three.

...

When they arrived at the village entrance, Billy was feeling much better. The exercise from the trek back from the cave to the village probably did him plenty of good. Halfway through the journey, he moved his weight away from Arthur. When they arrived at the village entrance, he was already helping Felicia with Emilio, carrying the man between them.

Felicia told Arthur, "I'll bring Billy and Emilio to the local doctor. Do you want to come with us?"

Arthur shook his head, "Thank you but I want to get to the adventurer's guild to get my adventurer's license as soon as possible." There was an unbridled joy in Arthur's eyes.

Felicia couldn't help but smile, "Okay, we'll see you in a bit at the inn to hand in the quest and share the loot."

Billy added in a whispered voice, "Be careful to be on the lookout for you know who. I'm afraid he might purposely create trouble for you."

Arthur nodded solemnly. Then, the group parted and they went on their separate ways.

...

The group did not realize a pair of fiery eyes burning with vengeance had been watching them ever since they stepped foot in the village.

The man had been waiting at the village entrance for Emilio to come back with the loot. Before Emilio left on his latest adventure, he told him about Billy's group who had taken the quest they set up at the inn and how confident he was, considering the group was barely even full. They had 2 qualified fighters while the extra one was an added weight. Emilio told him it would be like taking lollipops from a child.

Emilio gathered the men to follow their target while he waited at the village for Emilio to come back with the good news.

One could imagine his surprise when he saw the group of three return, carrying Emilio with them. His surprise turned into anger when he noticed Emilio that was leaning against Billy. He was just like a living corpse, not talking, not moving. His eyes were open but his pupils only stared down a particular direction blankly. Believing that they had assaulted Emilio and done something horrible to him, fire of vengeance burned within the man.

However, he shared some of the cunning displayed by Emilio because he did not charge out blindly to demand for an explanation in spite of his burning urge to do so. This was because he knew he would not be able to take down both Felicia and Billy. Even though he noticed that Billy had a slight limp in his left leg which suggested an injury, however, since they managed to defeat Emilio and his group of men, they were most likely more powerful than Emilio anticipated. They had underestimated Billy and Felicia.

Nevertheless, revenge had to be made, and debt had to be paid. At a time like this, the man knew to go for the weakest link. He waited for the group to go their separate ways because he knew since Arthur wasn't an adventurer, he wouldn't be joining Felicia and Billy when they handed in the quest at the inn.

The man got that part of his speculation wrong. Felicia and Billy were going to the doctor but in any case, the fact was Arthur did get separated from his friends. Seeing this, the man grinned wickedly and eagerly because he knew his chance had arrived.

When Arthur turned the corner and walked into the centre square of the village, the man stepped into the open and shouted quite loudly, "Arthur, you murderer! Hold it right there. Are you trying to escape from the scene after killing Emilio?"

The attention of the nearby villagers was captured due to the sensitive terms like murderer and killing. They all wondered what had happened and stopped to listen.

Arthur turned and when he saw the man, his face was set in grim lines. "Emile, your little brother is with Felicia and Billy at the local doctor. He is still alive so I don't understand what you're talking about."