Chapter 26: The Icy North (I) Cold News

Kilian smiled at the several gentlemen that had gathered around the table, some looking less like gentlemen and more like peddlers of the street.

He sized them up, as a total of 4 men were sitting at the table centered by a woman.

He directed his gaze to the big man in front of him, the face had a reddish tint to his skin tone, most likely caused by the now almost empty bottle of alcohol, that stood on the table at the man's right hand.

The man's breath reeked of whatever unsanitary things were going on in his mouth, and Kilian cleared his throat and tried to focus on the table, but the subtle almost purring sound from his throat brought more eyes in his direction than he had intended.

Kilian knew the blue colors from his eyes were mostly obscured in the shadow of the mask, and so far the people in the room had only vaguely glanced his way.

'Fuck'.

Gaining too much attention had not been his intention either, but he knew without his mask he would get even more unwanted attention from the people here, where a pretty face would stand out.

Kilian kept smiling and leaned back to relax in the chair, pretending to feel at ease in the situation, and proceeded to take out the few coins he had with him placing them on the table.

Money solved most problems regardless of what people said in his old world, and he soon found it to be right as the people by the table had smirks growing on their stubbed faces, all calculating the amount he had put down like bank tellers.

While their gazes shifted from his mask to the coins, he stole a few glances around the room, as his eyes were finally adjusted to the dim lights inside.

It was not a fancy gambling place, it seemed more like a place where townspeople and travelers would try and get lucky with the few earnings they had, and he didn't expect to leave the place with more coin than he had brought.

A stern tapping sound coming from the woman across him brought his attention back, seeing her bony finger hitting the wooden table impatiently while staring at him.

He picked up the 3 cards on the table that was laid in front of him, and without a word started by showing the "lady" or in this case, the queen of Spades card before shuffling the cards and fanning them out on the table with the backside up.

The man before him matched his amount of money and placed it in front of the most left card.

Kilian held his breath and turned it over.

A red knight was visible on the card and he exhaled with a small thrill surging through his chest.

Even if he was not there to gain money, winning still felt pretty good, and he smiled when raking in the few coins in front of the card portraying a handsome knight, that was protecting his lady.

He was in a daze for a bit, the musky smell of the room and heavy atmosphere, was unlike the type of gambling place she had seen on tv in his old life, and his body was starting to comfortably rest after the long travel.

His thoughts preoccupied him and it seemed to annoy the guy on his left who grumpily grabbed the cards from Kilian and proceeded to do the same as Killian had done by shuffling and presenting them with the back upwards on the table, with a new game of "Find the Lady".

He sighed while watching the simple games take place, and instead started to listen in on the conversations around him.

"Are you sure Marquess Foster will pay well?"

A young man excitedly exclaimed while chatting with another man next to him at a desk not far from where Kilian was sitting.

"Yes, word has it, that the Lady Marquess, is hiring commoners from her fief, to add into her knight's order".

Kilian furrowed his brows, even if Dante had been a commoner and had been accepted into the Heathgrave knight order, it was only because his skills had been valued high enough, and it was not a common occurrence.

"I am going to sign up tomorrow morning!" The young man continued while toasting the man next to him.

Knights and even knights in training did earn a decent living and it was an attractive opportunity to young men in villages with no goals or trade skills.

Kilian noticed the man across from him was staring him down with small beady eyes.

"Have I seen you before" He gruntled.

"I doubt it," Kilian said barely loud enough for the man to hear.

"I can't tell with that mask on" The man reached out towards him, just as he had done in the bath earlier.

Kilian sat still, unsure about what to do, he definitely did not want to have his face revealed but did not want to make a scene.

He had wanted to be a nobody who did not stand out too much, and he was also not the only one who was masking himself in the place.

'Smack!'

"Get your hands off him" It was the woman sitting at the table.

Her fan slapped against the man's backhand, causing him to retract it immediately while scowling at her, following up with a small mumble.

"I was just wondering".

"I have already told you to get rid of that bad habit, don't touch random people, because you are 'curious' ".

The lady seemed to have some sort of authority over the people at the table, and Kilian heard a big sigh escape from her lips, while others nervously held their breath.

"I apologize for my subordinate, pls continue to enjoy this establishment without interruptions"

Killian's eyes widened. Was this her place?

He just nodded at her and proceeded to ignore the gambling which seemed to earn him a curious look from the lady.

She was not particularly pleasing to look at. She was older looking, but dressed in a big heavy dress that may have once been for a noble lady but was now faded and worn, swallowing up her small frame.

"Why would Lady Foster hire so many commoners…?"

The words had spread in the few minutes Killian had gotten distracted, and some people had visibly seemed to sober up and were leaving the establishment flustered as if they were heading straight to the mansion of the Fosters.

A loud bang startled Killian and everyone around him, when a man opened the doors forcefully, huffing as he yelled out loud for everyone to hear.

"War… It is war!"

Kilian looked at the rugged man, his clothes looked worn, but they had a dark red color to them and after looking more closely could be seen as a very worn uniform of some sort.

"War?"

People around Killian started laughing and chuckling. The shock of the interruption was now replaced by the humor of this man seemingly crazily yelling.

"The Western kingdom is invading, Nagara has crossed the border with their knights, moving towards the Capital, and with them are….creatures, horr..horrible creatures"

A few people stopped laughing, but there was still no effect.

Killian grabbed what money he still had left with him, and tugged the mask in place, heading for the door.

A bright red light appeared and the form of a quill appeared in the air, swirling with the same magical liquid light as the bird he had with him from Rayden.

Soon several colorful lights appeared all in the form of animals or smaller objects floating to their owner or recipient.

For a second Killian envied how even common people had magic, even the slightest bit of their beings were able to create these "beings" like it was no harder than breathing.

'I really need to learn magic...'. He regretfully clenched his teeth as he headed towards the exit.

There was a sudden commotion and several people followed Killian to the door, as he no longer hesitated and went out straight towards the Inn.

A War? That must be why Rayden had gone to the Capital, he was a representative of a Duke's household, and had his noble responsibilities.

He was left in thought and bumped into several people, who like him, were suddenly all going from one place to another in a hurry, with the words of war and monsters filling the air in the town.

'What was it about creatures?'.

He raked his brain thinking of the books he had read about this world. Were there creatures like what earth would consider monsters?

At most, there had been tales of creatures long ago at the beginning of the creation of the kingdoms.

He had however read them as folktales and not historic documentation as facts.

When he reached the Inn, the same commotion had started, and people were leaving for the streets or their rooms.

He looked around in the inn, his mind had been mostly focused until this moment when he realized the crowd of people was obscuring him from finding Dante and Stella. A slight desperate feeling started to seed in his chest and he held his breath while looking.

Was there a chance they would abandon him? No... he didn't want to think along those lines, he needed them. His chest felt heavy. He needed to become invaluable to them so they would never leave him.

Strong hands grabbed his shoulder and pulled him into a nook in the dining area.

A hard body was pressed against his, making him trapped to the wall.

Though the feeling wasn't uncomfortable. Before he even looked up his chest already felt lighter, and the familiar voice the heard made him calm down.

'This guy won't leave me that easily', he thought to himself.

With the relief, was a slight tinge of guilt, not fully knowing how much he was using this person but also dependent on him. Still, he genuinely wanted this person by his side.

"We need to leave".

The words were Dante's and Killian felt relieved hearing the determined tone in his voice and replied in kind.

"Yes"

Their eyes met, and there was a strongly focused look in Dante's eyes that brought Killian to follow instead of leading as he had been during the trip.

The big broad build caused the people around them to give way, making it easier for Killian to get through the crowd.

He looked at the solid back before him, feeling somewhat at ease again, and reached out tugging at the shirt of the man who was leading their way.

Stella met up with them outside and they soon after left the city in silence, ignoring the uproar around them.

No one spoke for a while, they had left the town behind them, and it had for a while not been visible in the increasing hill-like terrain.

The growing wind send chills through them, and they were all tightly packed in layers of clothing, while on the path to the north.

"Young Master Killian... Look, there" Stella pointed towards the west, where dark clouds were covering the sky, the dense darkness fastly approaching them, and with it the wind grew fiercer and colder.

"Huh... Is this snow?" Killian held his hand out flat, where small specks of snow were melting on his soft palms.