The group of healers crossed many towns over the next few weeks. Gathering knowledge and herbs about the ones they didn't know. In all those towns, the healers didn't seem satisfied, just like on the first one in giving those, even though they were being paid. Billy also didn't stop feeling that something was amiss… at first. He thought that it was due to the mission. He couldn't do anything aside from waiting, after all, but after feeling that for so long, he realized that it wasn't because of that.
"The next city will be our last stop," Anna said. "How are you holding up, Billy?"
"I am fine," Billy nodded.
In the Hiloh state, there were three large cities, the capital, where Jean and his family lived. Vergena, which was the closest to the border and it often was used as a fortress in times of war, and Kouseni, which was the third-largest and it, was located on the western side of the state and two days away from the bridge.
Kouseni was pretty big, and since it was pretty far away from the borders, it was supposed to be a calm city, but that weird atmosphere still was there. Billy looked at Sarah several times to check if she felt the same thing, but he didn't notice anything.
Regardless, the city was relatively big, but it didn't have anything out of special aside from one big mansion in the center of the place. Apparently, a big Shot lives there, but the group didn't have any business in such a place.
"Apparently, this is the only place where we can obtain the herbs that are produced in the other parts of this state… without heading to those places," Anna said. "At first, I thought that this state would only have three or four towns like ours, but…"
Billy was as surprised as his grandmother, even though he had heard before about the population. The Hiloh state had three major cities, the dungeon towns, and twelve small towns. Even the smaller ones had more people than on their own… that was the result of the tribes fighting each other for decades.
Regardless, the group found an inn and rented some rooms since they would probably stay there for a few days. Once that was done, the group left the inn to look for the places that were selling medicines and herbs.
"Should we really leave our luggage unprotected?" Billy asked.
"This place looks peaceful enough. I don't think we should hurry about having our stuff stolen," Anna said.
Anna had noticed that Billy had been tense when they arrived in new towns or cities. Still, nothing happened when they were in those places, so she imagined that he was being nervous since his friends weren't with him. Billy looked toward Sarah as if hoping that she would stay behind, but she just shrugged. She wasn't there to take orders from him, and the other healers didn't want to be protected by a single person.
In the end, Billy could just accept that. His grandmother was the leader of the mission, and Billy was just a guard… In any case, the group left the inn after lunch, and then they spent the rest of the day checking the medicine shops. In the end, they only checked three of them since they had to talk with the owners for a short while about those.
"Yes? Can I help you?" The innkeeper asked when they returned.
The whole group frowned when they heard they had talked with that same innkeeper a short while before lunch. Billy recalled his features… brown hair, plump face, large nose… a mustache. It was the same guy, so Billy realized that something was off…
"We talked with you, mister… a little earlier. You don't remember?" Anna frowned. "You even gave us these keys."
"... Those certainly are my keys, but I don't remember any of you," Innkeeper said.
"Is there a problem here?" A man armed with a red spear suddenly appeared, accompanied by several other guards.
"Hey, hey… are these guys for real?" Billy asked.
Their timing was perfect, but their acting sucked… Billy saw a drop of sweat flowing from the innkeeper's forehead. That was something they had armed beforehand… even Anna and the others were starting to notice that something was off, and that was the same feeling that Billy had, and it was because of that he realized what was going on. Someone wanted to screw with them.
"These… strangers appeared carrying the keys of our rooms. They didn't rent any rooms, so they probably stole them," The innkeeper said.
"Those are some serious accusations," the captain of the guards said and then stepped forward.
Even with his helmet, Billy could see in the eyes of the man that he wanted him to do something in order to have the perfect excuse to apprehend the whole group.
"This is a misunderstanding… we left our carriage, our horses, and a friend of ours in the stable," Anna said. "We also left out things in the rooms, and…"
Anna realized… if the innkeeper was part of that, then the things weren't weren't anymore. The driver, the horses, the carriage… everything had been taken to somewhere else in order to make them look like bandits. Sarah clenched her teeth and bit her lips… Billy had noticed something amiss, and since she hadn't, she assumed that he was just imagining things. The whole situation could have been avoided if someone had stayed in the room watching their luggage.
"We will check the rooms and the stable. If those places aren't like you did it, then you will come with us give us some explanations," the Captain said and then tried to grab Anna's hands. Still, he froze on the spot when Billy suddenly pointed his glaive toward his neck.
"You touch her, and you lose your neck, no… I don't need to go that far," Billy said.. "I will just cut off your arms."
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