Yolden Company (3)

"So that is why you took so long."

Fenrir said with a mouth full of food. Back in the Gallow manor, he didn't have the luxury of eating the food as the stress from the unfamiliar environment distracted him, yet here in the more open and free village, it felt more like home. Even the buildings were similar, although much bigger compared to those at his village, as whilst Trowan was rather cramped and had tall foreboding buildings, the village instead had the land to expand and as such had more smaller buildings.

If it weren't for the immense flow of people going in and out of the inn, this would be the happiest time he had eaten in his life. Instead his fear of humans was still in the back of his mind, especially the adventurers who frequently entered the building looking for cheap rooms and easy ale.

They had gone to the same inn as Silvo was currently hiding in, a rather neutral inn compared to some of the cheap or expensive ones in the village. Because of this it was also one of the more difficult ones to secure a room, as the rich one housed merchants and travelling nobles, whilst the cheap ones were for adventurers, limiting the number of people who entered the inn to only the rich adventurers or poor merchants.

As such it wasn't hard for Nia and Fenrir to obtain a room, many of them still spare as travel had decreased due to the fast news of the events in Trowan. Many merchants were afraid of entering the town, the many knights and trainees still occupying it a much too fearsome image for even the most innocent travelers, not that many who travelled to Trowan were innocent.

Nia also agreed with Silvo's initial judgement on choosing this inn as his place to hide, as one too rich would easily gain the attention of merchants, whilst adventurers and assassins would naturally assume he would hide among the cheap masses in the poorer inns. That was probably how he found out about the assassins being in Lullin before any attack had revealed itself.

"Yes, it's out of the way but there is no hurry to reach the Quinten Dukedom, besides, we still need to find out about the Owen Company."

Unlike Fenrir who ate rather messily, Nia ate neatly as befitting of her noble stature. The reason was not because of her pride however, but simply because of the annoyance that came with cleaning the mess without the proper equipment on hand, every stain and scratch being rather costly to repair whilst on travel.

Fenrir however didn't seem to care for his messy eating, only making sure to keep his figure concealed so that people don't notice he is not human. The further they got from the western region of the Kingdom, the more inflated the rumors of the raids became, and as such the more afraid the local people were of them.

To their luck, nobody were really interested in them, and with Nia not truly concealing her nature, anyone who looked their way would naturally notice her fearsome image and then look away. One thing she was annoyed about was how easily she was identified as Nia Roguepalace in some backwater village, not even a major town like Trowan.

She did realize it was bad luck, as it was a completely outlandish thing to assume the leader of one of the top merchant companies would be here, yet that didn't ease her mood. The problem was the mask brought too much attention, and was impossible to use within the Adventurer Guild as she needed to at least reveal her face to confer her identity as Nia the adventurer.

There was also the fact that the rumors about a masked figure with constantly changing eyes was likely more widespread than the purge of Trowan, simply because her figure as Blindness was revealed before the purge was committed. As such a name would be placed on the purge, and everyone would direct their focus towards her.

This would only grow worse when the results of the upcoming Crown Trial is revealed, as she would either become a hero, or a criminal. Neither outcome mattered to her, as even with her desires to become a legend, becoming a hero too early with too simply of an achievement would mean her name would quickly fade from the books of history.

As such she needed her reveal to be big, and as such didn't don the mask and simply left it on hand. As for becoming a criminal, she was pretty much already one so that outcome was even less fearsome.

"What about me?"

The wolf-boy asked in a low voice, his uneasiness clearly showing. Unlike Gallow, who not only found out quickly but was also trusted to some loose degree by Nia, Silvo Yolden was a complete outlier and had even threatened Nia in order to get her help in getting him to the Yolden Merchant Company.

Nia did return the favor by threatening him, yet that didn't make the situation easier.

"We will have eyes on him throughout the whole trip, should he show anything unfavorable towards beastfolk, we'll act based on the situation at hand."

It was a worry for Nia, as her knowledge about the relationship between beastfolk and merchants was basically non-existent, but the fact that they were willing to supply slave equipment meant that there were those that viewed them as nothing but luxuries. Yet similar to her worry about the outcome of the Crown Trial, should he reveal that Fenrir is a beastfolk, they will simply return to absolute hiding and continue their journey otherwise.

At the very least it would give them a lead or a target to deal with, as although Nia didn't have an obligation to complete Prowess' request, her debt to the elder already paid off by taking care of Fenri, yet Nia wasn't willing to back down on her word. Whether it be the desire for a heroic figure, or good parenting not even Nia knew, but she intended to at least to deal with the problems she encounters along the way.

Her words gave the young boy some confidence, as he gave a light nod and continued with his food, clearly returning to the luxury of the rather cheaply made food. Nia didn't have a good sense of taste, so she didn't really care about it, whilst Fenrir hadn't eaten great food due to the lack of luxuries in the Blue Wolf Village along with his abusive father stopping any attempt.

As such the two continued the food uncaring for whether it were actually good, until the sight of two people caught her attention. It wasn't like people entering was abnormal, there had been a steady flow of people entering and exiting throughout their time eating, and each and everyone of them Nia had observed from the corner of her eye, trying to identify anything abnormal.

Nia however lacked the knowledge about how assassins acted, only knowing that they were next to impossible to tell from any other person, so as much as she had looked, no-one had stood out until now. These two however upon the moment of entering immediately looked around as if searching for someone, which wasn't rare, since some had come in to meet others or simply didn't notice the reception at the front, yet these two seemed both intent to see someone yet at the same time lacked the knowledge of where they were.

They also held their gazes on the mend of similar age and look to Silvo notably longer than other, something Nia didn't believe to be a coincidence. There wasn't a major advantage to identifying the assassins early, as she would defend Merchant Silvo the same way even if she noticed no-one, however the smallest details were helpful.

There was another problem however, is that unlike Trowan where Nia had Gallow able to clean up whatever mess she made, here in Lullin, it would be difficult if not impossible to remove the assassins. As such she had two choices, one was deal with them herself and flee the town in the night, or try and get the legal advantage.

As much as she wanted to do the first of the two, time was not a problem, and the local forces were well familiar with break ins and more importantly people dying from them. Since both Nia had a card for identity, and Silvo had proof of his renting of the room under a fake name, all she needed to do was in the night play it off as two people trying to jump a merchant in the night.

The only problem that came with this as no matter whether she left early or dealt with them legally, attention will come and that will make the future travel difficult. Not enough attention to get people who want Nia Roguepalace, but enough that there will likely be more assassins or greedy adventurers jumping Silvo in the future.

There was simply no way of avoiding it however, as every other option simply meant more problem.

"Is there something wrong?"

Nia turned to face the wolf boy, not needing to pay any more attention to the suspicious duo. Even with as suspicious as Fenrir looked due to his cloak and hidden features, the duo did not end up paying them much attention, a combination of Nia naturally warding off attention and their combined stealth capabilities. It was still bright, yet they were located in one of the darker corners of the inn, as such whilst they remained hidden, they also lacked the ability to hear what was being said between most others in the building and at the counter.

It was unlikely for there to be any topics of interest to the duo however, as the news of Trowan was crowding the populaces mouths.

"Prepare to fight tonight, I think the assassins have entered the building."

In reaction the wolf boy started choking on his food, not expecting such a response. He was not yet comfortable with Nia's way of talking, as she naturally had a rather imposing voice, yet at the same time spoke about everything with indifference, as if it were beneath her. It wasn't a sense of superiority, but more just a characteristic of her having everything planned out and her desires set, there was no ill-will in her words which in a way made them hurt more.

Not for Fenrir however, he was fully aware of his inability to stand as Nia's equal, for now.

"I, I see."

Choising to forget the previous exchange, the wolf boy returned to his food as if there was not going to be another battle for his life tonight. He couldn't help but slightly fear if every time they entered a town or city they would have to fight upon their first night, they hadn't even intended to stay here for more than tomorrow yet they still had to fight. These thoughts didn't consume him for long however, as the luxury of the food distracted him from the fear of the future.

Nia however was trying to determine how the assassins fought, as although it was likely they used daggers, the easiest of weapons to conceal, it was not certain. One thing she did know about assassins is that it was rare for them to be a skilled fighter, which only made the butler in Trowan all the more abnormal as he held the skills to contest a knight, and a superior knight at that.

The duo didn't seem to be anything fearsome from first sight, and in fact since Nia was able to identify them from the moment they had entered, it was unlikely they were very skilled, yet no matter if they were stronger or weaker, it didn't matter to Nia. Her red eyes coldly observed the duo from the darkness of the inn, the long black hair that flowed messily down her back concealing her neck.

Paired with her tanned skin from the constant exposure to the sun throughout her life, and the only thing that was easy to see about the women observing from the shadows was her eyes, hiding an immense fury and madness behind them. Nia always saw to it that her goals were reached, no matter how difficult the hurdles were.