"Stop him you fools!" The Plague Doctor screeched, pushing their men in front of them. Running behind them, trying to get to the stairs.
They were all pushing and shoving at one another. Wanting to escape through the narrow doorway to the steps to no avail.
"You got it!" One of the goons rushed in front of the other ones, as they were either cowering or trying to flee themselves. Yet, this man's convictions were soon followed by the sound of a blade, soaring through the air, and the abrupt bouncing of a head on the floor.
"Fuck! Fuck Fuck Fuck!" The leader couldn't help cursing themselves whilst they curled their fingers around the rail, as they went to go to dashing down the steps… Only for the same sound to ring in their ears.
Something spherical hit the crow masked person's back, sending them tumbling forward, coming crashing down on the wooden platform at the bottom.
Groaning, they looked up at the top of the steps as nine heads came rolling down after them. Hitting the would've been perpetrator with their own momentum.
Laying there in dismay, they watched as the Angel of Death spread its wings after shifting over the beheaded fallen bodies. "No… No! NO NO NO NO! NO!" The Plague Doctor scrambled onto their hands and feet, scurrying on their back towards the bar on the other side of the Inn. Throwing hay and chunks of dirt towards the steps as the six winged being came casually stepping down after them.
"How can an Angel be here!? In the Realm of Niria!?"
"Oh? So this world is called Niria? Thank you," Jack spoke in a singularly toned sarcastic fashion.
The Plague Doctor paused for a moment, staring at the being who was closing in on them. The larger blade of the spear etching a trail behind him as he started walking across the dirt floor.
The weapon was so sharp, that it didn't move the straw it passed through… It just cut through it, leaving a bisect piece behind.
"You… You didn't know the name of the World?" The gargled voice of the fearful one was curious, even moments before their imminent death.
Jack didn't give the human hiding behind a mask anymore of a reaction, or pieces of details pertaining to their situation. He just quickened his pace and raised the weapon, ready to swipe it diagonally across the puny form's body.
"Wait!" The Doctor reached up and grasped the mask, pulling it off their face, revealing the face of a woman. The same woman who had been escorted back home by Briggs before. "Don't kill me! I can be of use! I'll do anything! I'll stop using the Village Guard to lure travelers into town! Please!"
Jack stared down at Lady Hamlet for a moment before smiling falsely, his glove squeaking against the shaft of the weapon as he increased his grip, before scrunching up his nose slightly in disgust. "You won't feel a thing, Doc."
"I don--"
With a swift swipe of the weapon in his hand, the woman disguised as a man died the moment the spear made an incision her skin. Her head would roll clear off her shoulders and onto the dirty floor, rotten straw in her hair, her tears of despair at the sight of death wetting the frozen ground.
Turning his head, Jack glanced towards the stairs. He could see through that narrow doorway that the newbs were sifting through the bodies. Of course after they already puked at the real gore which lay before them. They were gamers and taking from the dead is what they did.
It was the only way to progress and gain more things.
Jack could only shake his head at the scavenging that was going on upstairs. If he was them, he'd do the same exact thing. So as he turned to look at the front door of the Inn, he pursed his lips.
Could there be more people waiting outside? Was the whole village in on it? Would the village believe them if he were to tell them what happened? Or would they be chased out by a mob?
His eyes traced over to the bar top, looking behind it to see if the Inn Keeper was hiding. No, they weren't even in the building from what he could tell. That or they were in a home nearby, especially if they were in on it, it was unlikely they were here.
Jack moved behind the counter and knelt down, before starting to open drawers. Finding a sack of coins, he stuffed them into his inventory without a second thought. Keeping two of them to observe in his palm.
"They're thinner than game currency..." He muttered quietly to himself before glancing over towards what looked like a sack hidden under a wooden panel by his foot. His thumb went over the coins.
Raising a brow, he flipped the panel over with his index and middle finger, his eyes resting on the sack for a moment before tilting his head. It started to move, as if startled by the movement of the panel.
"...Dhmm Khmfph hm hm..." A muffled voice could be heard, as if it was gagged with a ball of some sort.
Take the sack, open the sack, or leave the sack. Jack just glared at it as it was moving about, afraid, in the dark, unable to see him. He placed a hand on the shape that couldn't be mistaken as the bagged entities head. Patting it softly and slowly it stopped moving so erratically.
Glancing up from behind the countertop, Jack narrowed his gaze on the party members walking towards him. Sickened by the sight of the dismembered heads.
"We're not going to be staying here, right?" Nakajima asked, his hand resting on the hilt of his sheathed samurai sword.
"It'd probably be more comfortable at the lobby," Jack was still being monotonous, keeping a constantly tone, as he stood up… The sack in his hand as he rested it against his back over his shoulder.
Raising a brow at this bag which suddenly appeared in Jack's possession, they all stared at him.
"Whoever is in the bag, also shouldn't be here," Jack's eyes stared through the four amateurs before walking around the counter. "There's nothing more of value here."
Runa would walk up behind him, lightly poking the bag with her fingers, causing it to briefly squirm.
"Mmmmph!"
"Why don't you take them out of the bag?"
"We came here as four people, we will leave as four people and a bag." Jack rolled his eyes as they walked up to the front door. He kicked it open, causing it to swing and break against the outer stone wall. His eyes scanned the outside, which made him curious as there was no one outside.
"Had they brought everyone inside?" He sucked his teeth in disappointment regarding the tactics. "That's no way of stopping someone from escaping." Stepping outside, Jack looked around at the buildings before shrugging to himself.
The three others walked out behind him, taking a gander at the village which surrounded them.
The villagers weren't outside. No one was coming out to check why it had been so noisy.
So they had to be sure either this town had been run by corrupt officials, or those from the Barracks were using their positions to be bandits to begin with… Were the villagers too afraid to come out?
Wasn't their problem.
"Kokei," Jack turned and looked to the Skeleton Mage, noting his change of attire, some bloody scale mail and a mantle over his sturdy mage robes.
"Yes?" His voice echoed in Jack's mind.
"Burn the Inn."
"… Yes!" Kokei excitedly turned around towards the building and casting 『Fire Ball』through the open doorway, incinerating the immediate interior and catching the rest of the building on fire.
Kokei's jaw began to chatter and in front of everyone, he began to... dance? Perhaps he just really likes fire right? Seems like he was some sort of pyro.
Jack just watched as the skeleton for a few minutes, along with the rest of those whom were present before turning his head to look at some villagers who were peering outside.
Raising a brow, "It's time to go," he ordered as he began to walk towards the illusion gate, the only way out of the village that he knew of.
The rest of the party members quickly pulled Kokei by the robe away from the fiery building and began rushing after Jack as he was quick walking now that people were opening the doors of their homes.
Within the next few moments, they were jogging out of the village.
The people were distracted by the flames, shouting and screaming. They needed to put it out before it spread to the other nearby buildings.
All of the buildings in the village were close together, so if one building were to light on fire, they all had to put it out or else they'd lose everything!
The irony.
Jack and the others didn't pay it at all much attention. They were going back to the Dungeon, even if it was cold, it was safer and easier to defend.
However as they were rushing down the path to get back toward that opening, the rustling of leaves could be heard. The cracking of sticks. They were being chased, and those whom sought them were quickly closing in.
Holding up his spear, Jack cast the spell called『Mass Flight』, immediately the party members along with himself began to effortlessly fly into the air. He didn't even need to flap his wings.
…
On the ground ten gathered Catfolk stood there in their mantles, staring above the tree tops, primitive weapons in their hands derived from the surrounding trees and stones. "They escaped the village..."
"That Sack… It smelled familiar." The one in a white mantle thrilled in a singsong tone.
"Which direction did they go?" An elderly and coarse voice sounded over the others, a walking staff in the creature's hand, a long lively white beard hanging from beneath its chin.
"Towards the Mountains Elder, they took the Elven Princess who had visited the Village months ago on a 'humanitarian' mission."
"Hm… They could have been sent by the Fae Empire to save the Thirteenth Princess. Hmm..."
"But they saw her as the Unlucky… They wouldn't, would they?" The beasts looked at one another, tapping the butts of their spears and javelins into the ground.
"Thirteenth Child, Thirteenth Princess… Perhaps she is in better hands, hm?" The Elder stroked his beard in thought as they began to walk in the direction of the mountains.
"Why didn't they take her out of the sack though?"
There was a brief pause, the Elder turned his head to look at the younger catfolk of the group. "They might not know who they have in their company. It'd be best if they knew… Lets backtrack them from whence they came." He ordered and they all nodded, concurring with their Elder's conclusion.
"Though they might attack us," one of the youngest members of the group shivered at the idea of dying.
"Humans say we have nine lives," The Elder chuckled at the youth, "Perhaps we do?"
After about thirty minutes of tracking tracks which had since been wiped by passersby, the ten would make their appearance at the clearing.
A light escaping from a crevice in the wall of the mountain caused these beings to raise a brow. The left over hoof marks had lead them here.
"Was that there before…?" the Catfolk seemed to be asking themselves before cautiously hunching close to the ground, resting their hands in the sharp short grass, sniffing the air.
"...It seems they're in there..." The Elder who was standing behind the nine others, sniffed the air once more before turning his head to the side. The dull face of a blade belonging to an Enochian spear was resting on his shoulder. He could see the luminosity lingering behind him through his mantle.
"I'd refrain from jumping, or touching the blade, if I were you." It was Jack's voice, but it was quiet calm and soft.
"Oh? We mean no harm, we're mere hunter-gatherers, envoys of the Goddess Freyja, Oh Winged One..." The old man took a step forward and turned to face Jack as he removed the blade from the cat's shoulder after he had said a familiar name.
The Norse Goddess Freyja a known human deity of love, fertility, war, wealth, divination and magic from ancient times. A goddess in a fantasy world Jack, and just everyone in his party, could respect.
The other Catfolk quickly drew themselves from the ground, their gold glowing eyes centering on Jack who had snuck up on their Elder.
"Drop your weapons, youngsters, show this one we mean peace." The Elder commanded, his dominant arm held leveled with his own shoulder. Without a single doubt, they obeyed the order, dropping their handcrafted weapons to the ground.
Sighing quietly watching as all the catfolk who had been tailing them to the village seemed to be peaceful rather then trying to eat them. Jack could only shake his head slightly before looking to the starry sky above. "I've always been a cat person," his eyes would then narrow on the elder. "They have a tendency to smell better than dogs."
A chuckle arose from within the throat of the Elder, folding his hands over the head of his walking stick. "This one has wisdom indeed," the catfolk elder seemed to have gotten the joke, returning with some sarcasm in kind.