Looking for a decent inn to spend the night in, the three kids couldn't help but felt the pricking stares of the adult on the back of their neck. Murmurs resonated indistinctively on their ears. Fritz sharpened his hearing sense, hoping that he'll hear what the adults were saying.
"Poor kids. Don't they know what happens to children who wander around the town?"
"Sh-sh! They might hear you!" Two dirty women immediately shut their running mouths and anxiously looked around. "Shit! 'They are here! Come on, let's get out of here." The two women sprinted away from the direction of an approaching man.
Continuing on their path, Fritz didn't look back to see who the two girls were running away from, even though it would have been befitting them.
"Strange, there are no kids other than us." Newt found the town weird even more. Now that he's not seeing any kids his age or older or younger than him, his suspicion of the town grew bigger. "Something's definitely happening in this town."
"Right!" Agreed Lily. "The thought of spending the night here in this crime-conspicuous town is outrageous!" The three of them get a bad feeling that something unlikable will happen tonight. "If I knew that this town would be like this, I won't let us go here!"
"Newt," called Fritz. "The wagoner knew what kind of city Malkar is. He tapped your shoulders earlier, right? Do check where he touched you." He had checked himself earlier and found something similar to what they saw back in the bloody path they took. "He was acting when he saw the dead bodies."
There was a small button-like thing on Newt's shoulder where the wagoner touches him. He plucked it up, for it was like glued to his tops. He holds it closer to his eyes.
"I can sense someone's magic in this. But, how did you know?"
"The magic imbued in this badge is the same magic emitting from the wagoner. It is the same badge we saw attached to the dead adventurers' clothes. I'm guessing that they were marked by this badge, by the same trick, just like us, got themselves into a fight against the perpetrator and died. They might be using the magic as a tracker. What I'm worried about is their real purpose and what's the reason why there are no kids here."
"Maybe, we can ask somebody?"
Fritz shook his head. "I think everyone is too afraid to talk about the matter. The parents might be keeping their children away from outside."
An elderly lady pulled them inside an inn. Right after that, she closed the door and spoke: "you kids must be from outside of this town. It is dangerous for kids to loiter around this town!"
The kids found it as an opportunity to further press into the matter. "Why is that?" Newt's lower lip protruded, for he doesn't know what he should call the old lady.
"People around seventeen years old and below get abducted. Parents of the abducted never find them no matter how hard they try. Also, all sorts of crimes happen at night!"
"Bereaved lady," Fritz couldn't think of a proper way to address the innkeeper. "Do you know what happened to those kids? And, does this badge rings a bell?"
'Bereaved lady?' The innkeeper thought. "My beloved husband passed away a few years ago." She painfully reminisced the memories of the lost husband. "That badge means as an identifier as a target of abduction. Marked people who they can't control are disposed."
'So, the purpose wasn't robbery but abduction. That explains why the dead adventurers' belongings were still with them.'
"We are sorry. For your husband and for the trouble we will be causing the good lady."
The innkeeper filled them in with the information they want to know as she showed them her best room for them. Since they are just kids sharing a fluffy white bed would be no problem for them.
"We got a discount for this clean and spacious room. The old lady was really kind!"
Lunch was even prepared for them personally made by the innkeeper.
"After we eat, we should get as much rest as we could." Lily and Newt knew right away what Fritz wants to say. That night will become a busy night for them. The elderly lady told them that the name of the group is Astra.
"I doubt we will get that much rest and sleep." The uninvited guests they were expecting had already arrived. "The sooner, the better, huh?"
The wagoner's magic aura went under their noses. That was why the kids were alerted immediately.
One block away from the inn, where the three kids were, a group of cloaked men surrounding the wagoner from the shadows confirmed if the kids were in.
"The kids are inside. Be careful they don't look like ordinary kids."
[Malkar City's Commander of Astra, Silverwar Sublitilion.]
"Leave it to us, chief!" Silverwar's men dispersed into the dark shade of the night.
Looking back at what the kids did earlier when they found the dead bodies, Silverwar, at first, thought that the kids were ordinary travelers. But, what he saw and analyzed about the kids changed his perspective about them.
"They found the badges but, why did they choose to keep them?" Lost in his train of thoughts and doubts, Silverwar was struck by a lightning realization. "Were they expecting us? If so, what can a bunch of weird kids can do against a dozen men?"
Arrived at the front door and the roof of the inn, the group of men wearing cloaked stormed into the building. Windows, doors, and walls were destroyed as they forced their way in.
"Where are the kids?!" His harsh threatening voice was filled with anger.
The old lady trembled in fear, losing her strength, causing her to fall on her butt, her hands clasped on her bosom, trying to still her beating heart.
"I-I don't know! What kids are you talking about?!" She denied the kids' presence at the inn. "There are no kids here! You've wrecked my inn, you scoundrels!"
Looking down on the old lady, the man, furious at her lies, slapped the woman. His palm left a trace on the elder's face.
"Brother!" Shouted one man on the second floor. "The kids are here!"
"How dare you lie on us!" The man was about to hit her again when he heard a loud thud on the upper floor. "After with the kids, you're next." His eyes, wickedly brimming with a threat.
"T-this kids are nuts!"
~