The following morning, they started the day with nothing out of the ordinary.
Cooking simple dishes as breakfast, washing up, and scaling down the mountain to head towards the town once more.
This time, to avoid embarrassment and further chaos, Louis decided to stealthily climb over the town walls and enter the town that way. They distracted the guards by making a loud noise, and grasped their attention in one go.
From there, it was a piece of cake. Louis asked Azure, who was now clothed in less conspicuous clothes to carry him over the tall wall.
Luckily, this was nothing but a small, cozy town. There were no magic barriers set up around the area, and they were able to enter with ease.
As they walked through the streets for the second time, Louis saw that there weren't as many people around the area which should've been a bustling market. Some of the shops were even closed.
"It's strange. Yesterday, it was packed to the brim all day." Louis commented, looking over the goods to see if anything caught his attention.
"Maybe there's an event or something?" Azure said.
"Who knows.." Louis was not entirely convinced.
If there was an event big enough to attract the attention of all those citizens, wouldn't he have heard or seen something in relation to it yesterday?
Out of nowhere, Louis was reminded of the mother-daughter pair he met. Since their home was near his current location, he thought that visiting them wouldn't be such a bad idea.
He bought some fresh fruits from a vendor, and candies from another. He meant it as a gift to the pair who housed him with warmth yesterday.
"Let's pay a visit to them." Louis finished his little shopping spree and began walking towards his next destination.
Following closely behind him was Azure. She had lost her cheeky smile and was now sporting an unimpressed look. One that couldn't be seen by Louis.
"..Mhm. Let's do that, master." Azure replied quietly.
As they got closer and closer to the spot, faint noises began to appear. It became louder with every step they took.
Louis raised a brow. Was there really a gathering around here?
Leah's house was positioned near the outskirts of the town, which was less populated and crowded.
He didn't know why, but he had a bad premonition. A very bad one, at that.
When he arrived, he saw that a large crowd had formed in front of Leah's house.
'As expected, something is wrong.'
Leah had spoken about how her late husband used to be a renowned Hunter in Rudis before he was killed by an unexpected horde of monsters.
The sight of her husband's corpse returning home with his right arm torn off, his legs riddled with savage bite marks, and a visible hole on his abdomen was what broke her.
She wept and wept for days, clutching her newborn daughter in her arms, trying to console herself.
From then on, she entered a depressive state and couldn't function as a member of the society for years. Even until now, she had troubles doing certain things that would be considered simple in life.
Instead of cheering her on and giving her support, the townspeople did the unthinkable. They regarded her as a weak woman, one that could only rely on her husband's remains.
Her husband was rather wealthy. He had a Class that heavily assisted him in fighting, and his track record was so good that he was considered the best Hunter in Rudis.
Perhaps, that attracted one of the most common emotions in humans. Jealousy.
The townspeople, who knew that Leah was left with a lot of wealth, an amount that could sustain her for life if she was careful with managing it. They looked past her emotional distress and even said that she was 'lucky' for marrying the late Hunter.
They dared to say that she should be grateful for the fact that she still had plenty of funds. That a lot of people had it worse than her. As if she wasn't a grieving woman who was struck hard by the incident.
Even with all that money, Leah had a hard time taking care of herself. Her only solace later turned out to be managing the small home they resided in. The home the three of them once shared.
That's why, her house was so well kept even though her own body was not.
When she wanted to stand up and escape from the darkness that enshrouded her life, she was not welcomed. She went back and forth in an attempt to somehow pick her life back up, but the situation kept getting worse.
In the end, she gave up on forcing the impossible, and tried to live a lowkey life with her daughter by her side, and no one else.
That was how Leah became estranged from society.
That same Leah's house was now surrounded by the people who once mocked her when she was down, and refused to help her when she needed it.
'For what reason?'
Louis walked closer to the center of the commotion, pressing through the wall of people.
Sounds of discontentment rose from all directions at Louis' disruptive behavior, but he cared not for such comments.
All he wanted was to know what happened to Leah. Because his gut was telling him that it wasn't something good.
His ears stopped working properly. He tried to pick up what the others were saying, but he failed. The sound of his own heartbeat pumping madly turned out to be louder than anything he has ever heard before, covering everything around him and putting him in a dazed state.
Deep down, he must've known.
He must've already realized that the scene he was going to witness wasn't something the current him could digest.
But he persisted.
And when his legs took him to the center, his eyes finally fell upon Leah.
Only, she was in a state that made him wish he had no eyes.
A naked Leah, with bruises and open wounds leaking out blood all over her body. Clear signs of having been violated multiple times.
The final cherry on top was the choke mark around her neck- the attack that took her life for good.
Leah was dead.