The way to the village proved harder than I had expected. We had to hack our way through thick undergrowth, always watching for low hanging branches. After more than half an hour of cutting and pushing forward, we finally reached the village. It wasn’t tiny, but not large either. A few houses, streets and a small plaza with a fountain in the middle. The streets were almost empty, except for a few people making their way to a small shop. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something seemed off about the people. I turned to face my friends and ask them for their opinion, when a middle aged man approached and started shouting at us.

  “Another group of adventurers? Hurry up and go back to where you came from! We don’t need more of you here! Leave us alone!”

  “Another group of adventurers? Turn around and go back where you came from! We don’t need more of your kind here! leave us alone!”

  I was completely taken aback by his rude approach, and judging from their faces, Kuro and Shizuka felt the same. Only Hina still wore the same smile she always shows.

  “We’re here to help, can you tell us what’s going on here?”

  The man seemed to get even angrier from Hina’s carefree approach.

  “Look around! This place was once thriving with people! We lost half the village in a little less than three weeks! The guild sent two parties and both of them vanished within two nights! This is not a place for kids, go home before it’s too late.”

  With that, the man turned away, threw us one last angry glare over his shoulder and walked away.

  “I hope the other people here are more friendly than him… We still don’t really know any more than before, maybe we should split up and ask around a bit.”

  Kuro and Hina nodded and gave their silent approval to Shizuka’s suggestion, still visibly disturbed by the man’s sudden rude approach. We formed two teams, with Hina joining me and Kuro and Shizuka going together. We asked around for about an hour, then met up at the Plaza.

  “Nothing, none of them really wants to talk to us. The only thing we got out of them is that the other adventurers bragged about how great they are and that this quest was way too easy, then vanished one or two days later.”

  “Yeah, it was pretty much the same for us.” I calmly replied to Shizuka’s complaint.

  Kuro was quiet and wore a thoughtful expression on his face, so I asked him for his opinion.

  “Kuro, I can see that something’s on your mind. What are you thinking about?”

  He seemed to be unsure if he should tell us at first, but then apparently decided to speak his mind.

  “None of the parties lasted more than two days. What if we set a trap and stay here for a few nights? When whatever's responsible comes for us we'll be ready to face it.”

  It sounded like a solid plan, but would pose risks if we didn’t prepare correctly.

  “Hmm, what do you think about this plan girls?”

  Hina and Shizuka exchanged a long and meaningful glance, then hesitantly agreed to the plan, even though both of them seemed concerned.

  We walked the streets looking for an inn to spend the night and ended up in front of “The Hearth and Hound”, a small inn with a dog statue carved into a stone next to the door. “A small wooden sign read: “Protected by the Spirit of the Ancient Hound”. When Hina and I led the way inside, we were greeted by a cozy fire flickering in the middle of the room, surrounded by a little stone wall.

  “Welcome to the Hearth and Hound, how may we assist you today?”

  The person that welcomed us was a girl around our age, with hair as red as the fire next to her. Her clothes were simple, but well-kept and clean. Even though she was smiling, her eyes gave away that she was uneasy around us. Well, if there had been people gone missing in Greenwood, I’d be wary of strangers as well.

  “One room for us four please. And to get some lunch would be nice as well.”

  “Sure, that would be 80 copper for the food and five silver for the room per night.”

  I took out my coin pouch, gave her five silver and let her keep the change.

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  “So what meal does the chef recommend?”

  My stomach grumbled in support and underlined my question, followed by grumbling sounds from my friends as well.

  The red haired girl chuckled and presented us with today’s recommendation.

  “Today, I can recommend our specialty dish to you. Mountain rabbit ragout, the best you can find in the entirety of Sural!”

  I had never eaten a mountain rabbit, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. We sat around a table in the corner next to the door and waited for the food. “Barely half an hour later, the red haired girl returned, balancing four steaming plates which she carefully set down on the table in front of us.” She had not exaggerated, the ragout tasted amazing. The meat was juicy and tender and sent my tastebuds to heaven. Judging from the others’ expressions, they were enjoying it too.

  I had just finished my plate when the door was kicked open and a person clad in a black cloak jumped inside. Every single piece of his outfit was black. Black boots, black pants, black cloak and a long black scarf. He turned to us and walked over menacingly. Hina, Shizuka and I jumped up from our seats and got ready to react if the stranger tried anything.

  “Ahahahaha, I see the fear in your eyes, good! It seems you have already heard of me!”

  He came to a halt a few steps in front me and spread his arms in an awkward pose.

  “I am Zarathos the bloodless! They know me as the ultimate killer, and I’m here on my quest to make the art of killing great again!”

  With that, he reached beneath his cloak, drew a serrated dagger and jumped at me. I got ready to parry his attack, but he tripped over his scarf and fell to the ground hard before he even came close. I didn’t know what to make of him so I just looked confused as he pushed himself up and got to his feet, wiping away the blood that was flowing from his nose.

  “Wow, you’re fast! I didn’t expect you to parry my deadly attack!”

  He lunged forward only to trip over his scarf a second time. Then he quickly got up to his feet and retreated a few steps. I just kept watching him, unsure if this was just a joke or if he was serious.

  “Damn, you’re good! I will retreat for now, but next time you won’t be able to block my attacks!”

  The red haired girl came up from behind and smacked Zarathos’ head with a metal plate.

  “How often did I tell you not to bother my guests? If you set foot into this inn one more time I will make sure that you wish you were dead!”

  She turned to us and bowed apologetically.

  “I’m sorry! This isn’t the first time he bothered my guests… I hope he didn’t scare any of you. Even though he calls himself the ultimate killer, he didn’t actually ever kill anyone…”

  She smacked his head with the metal plate again.

  “Get out of my inn already, and don’t come back!”

  Zarathos, or whatever his name was, stumbled towards the door. Just when he reached for the doorknob, it swung open and hit him in the face, sending him to the floor again.

  Two hooded figures entered the inn, one was tall, the other seemed to be a child. The tall figure spoke to the red haired girl with a clear, feminine voice.

  “Miss Kindling, we have returned. Is it possible to get the same room as last time?”

  The girl bowed deeply before the new guests and replied kindly.

  “Of course, I promised you to keep the room free. These four young adventurers will have the room next to you, if that is okay with you, lady.”

  The tall woman nodded, which was barely noticeable with the large hood covering all of her face.

  “I trust that these adventurers won’t cause any problems. Please bring us some food to our room, the journey has been quite hard.”

  With a slight bow, the woman put a few coins on the counter, took the child’s hand and left through a door next to the counter. I could have sworn the woman glanced at us from under her hood as she walked by.

  The tavern girl hurriedly came over to our table.

  “Uhm, before you leave for your room, could you help me with something?”

  We helped her drag the unconscious Zarathos out of the inn and left him next to the road. I couldn’t help but feel a tinge of pity for him. Especially when the girl hit him for the last time before we entered the inn. She thanked us and showed us our room, telling us to be quiet and not disturb the other guests. Before she left, her smile faltered for just a moment.

  “If you hear anything unusual tonight… anything at all… whatever you do, don’t open the window.”

  With that, she left us to ourselves. Not that her warning changed anything for us, we were basically using ourselves as bait to lure the danger to us. The room was very large for its price. It had six beds inside, two small tables and six chairs surrounding them. A six person room for only four silver, that was a pretty good deal.

  We put our stuff down, sat down around the tables and began to plan for the upcoming night. After discussing for almost half an hour, we noticed that we didn’t even know what to expect. All we knew was that people had gone missing, not who or what the culprit was. Just to be safe, Kuro armed both our door and the windows with runes that would warn us if anything entered. All of us made our last preparations while we took turns napping to recharge our energy. The later it got, the more my heart started racing. But it wasn’t out of fear. It was out of excitement. My blood was boiling, ready to fight. I looked over to the others. Hina was napping, but Kuro’s and Shizuka’s expressions gave away that they felt similar. Maybe not as excited, but at least determined. My entire body was filled with the warmth of pride. Not only had we become full-fledged adventurers, but warriors as well.

  No matter the form of our culprit, whether it was a monster or human, none of us was scared to face this threat. We weren’t kids anymore. We were serious adventurers, not to be taken lightly. And so we spent our night waiting for anything to happen…