Heading to Town

Stepping up the slight incline to the trail, the three figures appeared with deep green-colored liquid all over their bodies. The dull chank of metal followed them as they moved. Not recognizing what they were, Mors quickly felt his heartbeat increase in preparation. But it promptly quieted down when he realized they were the heroes coming back from slaying the monster.

Sighing that all of it was over, Mors quickly greeted, remembering to act like a regular old man, "Hello there, young heroes! Thank you for dealing with the troll… I was so scared of it, I had to hide in a bush."

Quickly turning to the old man, the adventurers quickly believed his story and seeing how he called them heroes put them in a slightly better mode. Seeing that the old man must be scared senseless but acting tough, the leader approached and, in a deep voice, said, "You are welcome! Now, why are you out here? This isn't a safe place for people your age…."

Hearing such a concerned response from a living hero, Mors wanted to tell the truth at that moment. He had experienced so much that he wanted to share with others. But remembering what Genn pleaded, Mors smiled as he lied, "Oh, I was on my way into town to get some groceries since I was running out. But as I traveled from my graveyard, I saw a blue flare, and I ran into a bush as quick as I could."

The party leader quickly realized that this old man was the town's gravedigger, and he was shocked. He had heard that the gravedigger was old, but not this old. He looked as old as his grandparents, with his cheap cloak and his deep black eyes. He had heard that the gravedigger did all sorts of physical tasks to prepare for dead bodies. He just couldn't believe this small, kind old man was the town's gravedigger.

But after a moment of collecting himself again, the party leader quickly spoke, "Well, since you take care of our dead friends, let us take care of the living you…."

Relief then poured into Mors's heart, as well as a ting of guilt since he had to lie to such a nice person. He never really liked to lie to people since he never found the need to. Life was too crazy without people lying, and in death, those lies can be the basin for so much anger. Now he was telling those cursed lies that caused so many problems, and he had to say it to such a nice man too.

But the heavy side of his heart was also offset by the fact that the leader person seemed to believe it. He was kind of scared to even lie like this since he didn't know how to do it or if he was doing it correctly. It might have even sparked a weird bit of adrenaline in his old mind. But that was for another time to explore since the party quickly guided Mors down the path towards the town.

Strangely as they walked, the wind seemed to dance around, but none of the adventurers minded as they traveled to the town.

…

Even though it was just a small town in comparison to the larger cities, It had some walls and defenses since it was a border town. On the border of a large strip of fog, this little town was there to help reduce the amount of monsters getting to the other side while also keeping the land.

The fog was a strange thing. It separated humans and monsters without a fixed border. If humans retreated, the fog barrier would follow them. Vice versa, if a section of monster land was cleared out, then the fog barrier would move back.

So to deal with all the monsters and the villainous plans to succumb the town to pure chaos, a mighty wall was erected. Made of thick stone and covered in spikes, it usually stopped monsters from climbing the wall and reaching the town. The town even had its ditch to make it even harder for monsters to break through.

But approaching the tall stone walls, Mors found them covered in a multitude of weird colorful liquids. Seeing as the walkover was quiet after the party leader decided it was best to go silently because there could be more monsters, Mors chose to ask, "Why are the spikes so colorful?"

To which the still-dripping party leader replied, "Oh, since there was a confirmed monster horde coming, the town replaced the traditional spikes with poison-covered spikes… Makes it a lot easier to kill your enemy if they are poisoned first!"

Becoming curious about why they just now applied poison to the spikes if they were so effective, Mors decided to ask, "Then why don't you put poison on them all the time?"

The clunky steel-armored leader became silent as they walked for a few moments, and Mors thought that he had asked something he shouldn't have. Feeling a weird sense of rejection that confused him, Mors became even more puzzled by his onset of strange emotions. But that was for just a moment before he was snapped back into focus by the party leader saying something incomprehensible.

Not being able to hear it, Mors quickly asked, "What? Sorry I couldn't hear." To which got the response of a loud laugh and the party hero announcing, "Money! It's Money, of course."

Becoming shocked but the sudden change in the leader, Mors almost missed him whispering, "If those stupid idiots weren't so money-driven, things would have been much safer…."

But before Mors could ask, the leader continued in his normal voice, "It's so the corpses of the monsters don't get contaminated… All those resources would be wasted with the poison. So we only use it when there is a… declared emergency."

Finishing his explanation speech, the leader quickly said, "Let's go inside," before taking off his helmet and approaching the gate. The rest of the party soon followed as they took off their helmets and helped Mors move quickly up to the gate.