Lilly turned towards William and said, "Let's go inside."
She then walked into the inn. William scratched his cheek but still followed her. Entering inside, he just silently trailed behind Lilly.
They received strange looks from the people inside. These looks were contradictory; some were directed at Lilly due to her beauty, while others were aimed at William because of his unkempt appearance.
However, it appeared that William was well-known, so despite the curious glances, nobody approached them.
Lilly stopped before the receptionist's desk and smiled at the mature woman sitting there. She said, "Hello, we would like two rooms for one day and one night. Also, we want a bath."
The woman nodded and said, "It costs one silver coin for one day, so it'll be four coins for the rooms. As for the bath, that'll be one silver too..."
Her gaze then landed on William, and she added, "Actually, two silvers."
Lilly smiled and put six silver coins on the desk. The receptionist took the coins and registered both of them. Then she gave two keys with numbers written on them to Lilly.
The inn was running a business, so they didn't mind William's infamy. As long as they got the money, they didn't care about anything else.
"Thanks for using our inn." The receptionist smiled and said.
"Hehe." Lilly then went towards William, who was just silently looking around with a lost expression.
Lilly handed one key to him and said, "Here, now go and take a good bath. You're really disgusting now. I'll be waiting for you outside."
She then took out a bar of soap and gave it to him. "Here, use this. I don't care about your weight, but at least look presentable, man."
She winked at him and waved her hand. She then slipped out of the inn. She had observed that William was afraid of her for some reason, so she was just using that.
William stood there for a few minutes before he shook his head and went to his assigned room. He couldn't run away, so might as well face it.
Lilly waited for an hour outside while looking around the town. This was a new experience for her, after all.
Finally, she returned to the inn after feeling it was enough for today. As she walked, her gaze landed on a hefty young man standing in the open area in front of the inn. He was looking around in confusion.
'Hmm, if he loses some weight, he'll look handsome. Well, chubby isn't so bad, hehe,' Lilly thought as she walked towards him.
William had changed completely. He was still the hefty man wearing a worn shirt and pants, but he looked clean with his silverish-grey hair and blue eyes.
He was a good-looking man, but circumstances forced him to maintain that messy appearance.
"Yo! Now you're looking great," Lilly said as she approached William.
William turned upon hearing her voice. He said, "Well, it's mostly because of the soap you gave me. Anyways, what did you want to talk about?"
"Calm down. I know you have questions, but do you really want to talk here?" Lilly asked.
"What's the problem here?" William asked in confusion.
"Well, it's about your sword." Lilly smiled and said.
That was enough for William to agree. He didn't doubt Lilly's words; since his bloodline was fearful of her, she should definitely know about it. And he got this bloodline from his sword.
Looking around, he noticed many people. Although they were far away, so they wouldn't hear their conversation, he didn't want to take the risk. His sword and bloodline were his greatest secrets, which he had told to no one but himself.
He nodded and said, "We can talk in the Wolfbriand Woods."
"Gotcha, let's go," Lilly said as she began walking towards the entrance gate of the town. William was right; the best place to talk things through, or more like convince him, would be the forest. They could also complete the quest they had taken there, so it was even better.
They didn't talk much on the way and soon reached the perimeter of the Wolfbriand Woods. Still, they continued walking inside.
William looked around as if to see if anyone was nearby. Lilly noticed it and said without turning back, "Don't worry; nobody is here. I would have sensed them if they were here."
William nodded and went to walk beside her. He asked, "I'll first ask my first question. Why are you after me?"
"I'm not after you or anything. I was just passing by and felt the aura of your sword. I couldn't really ignore something like this sword, so I had to come here," Lilly answered.
William tightened his grip around his broken sword and asked, "Are you here to take it from me?"
Lilly shrugged her shoulders and said, "Not really. Besides, why are you asking such a dumb question? If I had wanted that, why would I be here and answering your questions?"
"Ah, makes sense." William finally relaxed. He found Lilly's answer reasonable and felt better about that. At least he wasn't dying, and his sword was also with him. That was all he needed. That was all he had.
Since those two things were secured, he was much more relaxed and relieved now. It was as if a boulder had slipped from his back.
"I had actually thought I would have to go through some things before I would be able to talk to you. But it seems like you're quite afraid of me; why is that?" Lilly asked. As far as she knew, he shouldn't be able to sense how powerful she was, so why was he fearful of her?
"Huh?! Even I don't know. I just felt fear when I looked at you. Even now, I'm feeling my body telling me to run away," William replied.
Lilly thought for some time, and then it clicked for her. She understood why he was fearing her even though she didn't do anything.