The Beginning After The End novel Chapter 171

Chapter 171

Chapter 171: Inside The Tavern

The flickering fires of street lights glowed in the nearby distance, a sight for sore eyes after hours of nonstop walking. I had come back to Ashber, the small town where I was born, for the first time in more than ten years.

“Mica is ready for a nice cold mug of ale,” the general whispered, licking her dry, cracked lips.

I nodded wordlessly, keeping my pace brisk to match the speed of the carriage we were behind.

“Just out of curiosity, Sir. How many slaves do you own?” the younger man asked eagerly, his narrow eyes shifting between Olfred and me.

“I never counted,” Olfred answered with a shrug. “We have many at home, some owned by myself and some owned by my family.”

“Wow.” The younger man sighed. “If you have so many, how about you leave those two slaves with us—ouch!”

The older, bearded man leaned back from his seat and smacked the boy upside his head. “Are you hollow in the head? Who in their right mind would just freely give away their slaves!”

The boy rubbed his head, fixing his dirty blond hair. “I was just asking, old man. Sheesh!”

“Sorry about my boy. I’ve had to raise him on my own after his mother ran off, and manners weren’t always a priority on my list of things to teach him.”

“No offense taken,” Olfred said with a deep chuckle. “Normally, I might’ve just left them with you once I’d reached my destination but these two offer at least a bit of security in these chaotic times.”

The boy clicked his tongue. “Unlucky.”

Something about the two of them didn’t sit right with me. Aside from the fact that there were no other carriages going back and forth so close to town, there was no luggage on the carriage either. Their only weapons seemed to be the knives that they had buckled to their waists, which provided barely any protection.

They had seemed reasonably suspicious upon first contact, but they opened up too easily as if waiting for a reason to trust us. However, we were almost in Ashber and nothing seemed amiss.

“Well, here we are,” the bearded driver announced, pulling on the reins to halt the carriage. “We’re skipping through this town so it’d be best if you walk from here.”

“You’ll be traveling through the night?” Olfred asked, skepticism laced in his voice.

“We’re in a hurry to a small outpost just an hour away,” the blond-haired boy answered with a laugh, releasing the latch in the back to let Olfred out.

“Well, regardless, thank you for the ride.” Olfred handed the boy an extra silver coin before hopping off the carriage.

The driver gave Olfred a wave before snapping his reigns. With an annoyed grunt, the two horses started trotting, pulling the carriage to a narrower dirt road that veered off to the left.

“They need to work on their acting,” Olfred said, shaking his head as he began walking.

“So it wasn’t just me,” I replied.

“Whatever. As long as there’s alcohol and a cozy bed, Mica will be happy.”

As the three of us walked into town, I couldn’t help but notice how empty the streets were. Part of my memory of Ashber was how lively it had been for such a small town. Adventurers were scarce this far up north but a small river flowing near the town made the area a great place to raise crops. After the death of Lensa, my father took my mother here to this remote town and took a job here guarding farmers and their crops against the frequent wolves or stray mana beasts that came from the Grand Mountains. With farmers waking up early to tend to their crops and afternoons spent either selling on the market streets of Ashber or to frequenting merchants, nighttime was when everyone truly found the time to unwind and have fun.

My father would oftentimes come home at night, tripping over his own feet after drinking with the local farmers. I had expected some change to have occurred from the war, but I never expected Ashber to become such a ghost town.

The street lamps that lay scattered around were burning brightly, but there were no signs of people nearby. The three of us sensed someone in the alleyway, his features hidden by shadows. After a moment, though, the person scurried off, his unrhythmic footsteps growing fainter until the only sound we heard came from ourselves.

The three of us looked at one another but remained quiet. Looking around, most of the buildings were either vacant or barred. Wooden planks were nailed over windows while chains held together a store’s front entrance. I activated Realmheart to sense for mana fluctuations, not expecting much.

However, I could see the distortions in the atmospheric mana all over the town. There had been mages here recently.

“I sense individuals scattered around, but there seems to be a congregation of forty or so just a few blocks away,” Olfred grunted.

“Mica sensed forty-three,” the little lance muttered beside me.

“I thought we agreed not to use magic,” I said, irritated. “What if there are Alacryan mages or Vritras nearby that pick up on it?”

“Mana wasn’t needed to sense them,” Olfred replied cryptically.

What? I almost said aloud. If they were able to sense people around this accurately, my whole plan could be compromised.

“That’s good,” I lied. “Looks like we’ll be able to pick up on the Alacryans’ hideout sooner than I’d expected.”

“It’ll probably still take some time. Mica can only sense people within a short distance and even then it’s sort of fuzzy. Same goes for Olfred,” Mica explained.

‘I smell meat being grilled,’ Sylvie said as we got closer, rustling impatiently inside my cloak.