Even if Rayne asked more questions on the hanging corpses, Jeff stayed silent. He quickly collected the orders, gave them back to him, and stepped out from behind the desk, gesturing for them to follow.

  “Come, I’ll show you to your rooms. You’ll find them more comfortable and clean than Fort Algar.” His tone was pleasant, but Rayne didn’t miss the way his eyes flicked to them as if measuring whether they were going to insist on knowing more about the corpses.

  They followed him up the stairwell. The wooden steps groaned under their boots, the smell of smoke and old ale thick in the air. On the second floor, soldiers lounged on benches, some cleaning armor, others with cards in their hands. A few glanced up at the new arrivals, whispers following them as they passed to the next floor.

  Jason was the first to break the silence. His voice came out sharp. “About the corpses, I wanted to know—”

  Rayne cut across him before he could complete his sentence. “The garrison really looks far better than the towers in Algar,” he said, forcing a casual tone. His words sounded out of place, but they bought him the moment he needed.

  He gave Jason a small shake of the head when Jeff wasn’t looking. Jason’s eyes burned, but he fell silent. Rayne doubted Jeff was going to be upfront no matter how much they asked, hence he decided to take another approach.

  Jeff smiled at Rayne’s comment. “The men here grumble about it, but I try to keep the garrison livable. I was in the frontlines once too before, fortunately getting assigned here. Keeping miscreants out of the streets and solving problems around the town is far better and much, much safer.”

  Rayne tilted his head, feigning idle curiosity. “Do you get a lot of problems outside Bricksall?”

  Jeff slowed on the stairs, considering his words before continuing up. “Some. No goblin nests in this part, but we do get a few wandering monsters getting close to the gates. We scare them off mostly. Can’t afford to get a whole monster pack on us because we killed one of them.”

  “What about bandits? Are they a problem?”

  “Not really,” the man said slowly, forcing a smile. “We don’t really get a lot of them this close to the frontlines, especially in Pascar plains in the season of outbreaks. Some mercenaries come up, but not many. Most of them know the Valerian army has the legal right to handle the dungeons here.”

  Nate hastened a step and moved close to Jeff, briefly meeting eyes with Rayne before asking. “Do you see mercenaries as troublemakers too?”

  Jeff paused a step, then shook his head. “No, they are more likely to cause a bar brawl. Why are you asking?”

  “Because Captain Edran wanted to know more about the state of Bricksall. I believe the higher-ups on the frontlines wanted it to be stored away in a report,” Rayne lied, calmly looking at Jeff’s face which paled a little. “So, we need to collect information.”

  “Why do they need that?” Jeff asked.

  “Who knows. The higher-ups are old and demanding,” Nate replied. “We could just do our job and hope we get some nice wine in return if they are feeling generous.”

  Jeff nodded, not replying back, and the silence stretched.

  They reached the third floor and the garrison deputy led them down a corridor lined with doors, stopping at three in a row. He opened one and gestured inside. “You’ll find enough beds for two in each. Sheets are clean, windows open to the square. Make yourselves comfortable.”

  John whistled low. “Cozy for army work.”

  Jeff gave him a small smile. “Need to give the best rooms for men fighting in the frontlines. If you need anything, just let me know. We have our own cook who’s always in the kitchen, so just head there if you want something to eat.” He paused, giving a grin. “Also, there’s only one whorehouse in the town. Go to the east of the town and you will find it.”

  Maybe the man expected whistles and grins from them at the last part of his sentence, but when he didn’t get any, he smiled politely and turned.

  Rayne stopped him with his next words. “Maybe we will report that too to the captain.”

  He turned his eyes to look at Jeff who froze. His eyes flickered, the mask of politeness slipping just enough for him to see the unease beneath. Then he turned back. “What else are you going to be reporting?”

  “Everything we have seen. Anything striking really,” he replied. “Why are you asking, deputy?”

  Jeff didn’t hide his thoughts this time. “Are you going to report the corpses too?”

  Rayne slowly nodded, seeing the man’s face distort further. He wondered why he didn’t want them to report on the corpses. Were they the ones who had put them there? He doubted that since the soldiers seemed sheepish about something else.

  He simply waited for the man to speak on his own, meeting eyes with his party who seemed equally curious. Jason even had his hand moving behind him to his axe.

  Finally, Jeff spoke with a sigh. “I didn’t want to say this since it would get the Crown’s Hand here if it got out, but the family you saw. The father in it was a farmer who somehow managed to get his hand on a cursed artifact of sorts and began to kill the others around the farm, all of them kids. He even corrupted his own family.”

  “Cursed artifact?” Rayne raised an eyebrow.

  The man nodded. “Yes, we had half a dozen deaths before the garrison found out about it. We have the church of Henrexa in the city, and we were able to take care of the problem and destroy the artifact before it could get out of hand. The family was killed because they were corrupted by death mana, but we didn’t kill the kids. They were already dead by the time we got to them.”

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Rayne furrowed his brow as the man took a pause for breath. Although he was no expert on mana, he had seen no signs of death mana or any kind of mana on the corpses. Was it possible that the man was saying the truth and the mana had dissipated with time?

  As he wondered that, Kesh opened his mouth. “Why don’t you want to report that?”

  Jeff looked over at him, eyes locking onto his face. “You seem like a new recruit, so you might not know, but having the Crown’s Hand in the town is the worst thing. They would have flipped over Bricksall, interrogating and even torturing everyone for more information on the matter.” He paused, hesitating for a bit. “Captain Baker and I would have been stripped of our rank if the Hand decided we were incompetent. Anyone who knew what happened didn’t want them here.”

  “Then why hang them like that? Why not just give them proper funerals and get it over with?” Rayne asked, carefully following Jeff’s expression.

  Jason stepped forward. “Yes, even murderers get funerals.”

  “The church refused to give them one,” he replied after a second. “No one wanted to even touch them. And the head priest advised to put them out there, as a warning to others. The man got corrupted because of his greed of owning the artifact for strength and not reporting about it. That’s all that happened. I hope you won’t write it in your report, for the town’s sake.”

  Rayne didn’t speak, matching eyes with his party. All of them looked far too conflicted to say anything. The whole story sounded like a children’s tale to him. But fear was evident in Jeff’s eyes. Were parts of it really true? Or was it entirely fabricated?

  He had no way of verifying anything right now, hence he smiled lightly. “I will think about it. If it’s as you said, it would be better to not report it.”

  Jeff widened his eyes, probably not expecting him to react positively, then smiled. “I’m sure Captain Baker would be able to persuade you. He’s busy right now, but would be free to have dinner with you all.” He paused, looking over each of them. “I will be on my way for now and send the ledgers by supper.”

  He didn’t wait a second more and left them there, descending the stairs until they could only hear the sound of his footsteps.

  “What type of a fucked up story is that?” Welix muttered, stomping his foot.

  Rayne didn’t say anything, simply gesturing towards the room and moving inside. All of them followed and once they entered, he moved to close the door and lean against the frame, thinking over the whole tale.

  “We should talk in low voices. There could be people listening,” he said, then added. “And yes, it’s a fucked up story. Do you all believe it?”

  “Believe it?” Nate scoffed. “Yes, if I was a ten-year-old who believed everything that I hear. I think Jeff’s just making bullshit up.”

  “I agree,” Jason said, sitting on the bed. “If you have to give a warning to others, there are better ways. That old bastard is lying. I believe we can go and corner him. Any man will say the truth after a few punches.”

  “In a garrison?” Kesh raised an eyebrow. “We saw all the soldiers. Are they going to stay as spectators while we beat up the deputy?”

  “We can do it secretly—”

  Rayne clicked his tongue, interrupting Jason. “I don’t think we will get answers even if we beat him up. The man might just lie again, and I agree with Kesh, it’s too dangerous.”

  “Then what are we going to do?” Nate asked.

  Every eye turned towards Rayne and at that moment, something struck him. The others looked at him as if he was the leader of the party. That had been the case since they started the journey to Bricksall and he had been given the map.

  Typically, only the party leaders carried it.

  But it had been something unspoken. Without Bran here, he had simply followed his habits that he had picked up from their quests together. Now, though, he needed to make an important decision.

  Before Rayne could open his mouth to say something, Welix interjected. “Why do we even want to do something?”

  Jason glared at him. “What do you mean?”

  “I’m saying this isn’t our quest. It’s to check the ledgers, tour around the town and be on our way to catch up with the marching forces before they reach the frontlines. It’s not to investigate the reason why a farmer and his family were killed.”

  Silence fell for a minute as everyone just looked at Welix, except for Rayne who instead looked at Heins and Quinn who both seemed to agree with the man. And there was logic in his words.

  They were here to do a supply quest, not to unveil a mystery. But when he thought about the hanging corpses of the family and how Jeff had simply dismissed them as nothing big, anger fueled him but he soon calmed himself down.

  I can’t make decisions out of rage.

  As he deliberated calmly on their next move, he saw Jason move towards Welix, making the man take a few steps back until his back was touching the wall.

  “Didn’t you see those kids hanging? How could you even say that?” The burly man pointed a finger at him.

  “I just don’t want to risk our life when we don’t even know what happened,” Welix replied, gritting his teeth. “If there’s an actual cursed artifact, we would be unnecessarily risking our life.”

  “Unnecessarily?”

  Rayne stepped forward before a fight could start. That was probably the last thing they needed here. He patted Jason on the shoulder, making him look back and frown at him.

  “Stop cornering Welix. He said nothing wrong.”

  Both of them looked at him in surprise, but Jason stepped to the side, and Welix gave him an appreciative nod before putting distance between him and the brute.

  He looked at all of them before speaking, “So, we are going to be on our way, right?”

  Rayne again fell eyes on him, but he simply focused on Welix.

  “No,” he said. “Although this is not our quest, I believe we should still investigate before making a decision.” Welix opened his mouth to speak, but he continued over him. “If there’s actually something ominous going on and it comes out later on that we got a hint of it and simply choose to not investigate, then we might be unnecessary targets. Some of us are forsaken and the army loves to pin all the blame on us.”

  He got a few nods and even Welix seemed to be contemplating his words. Before any more opposition could get up, Rayne spoke again.

  “I don’t know if there’s actually a cursed artifact or Jeff was just making it up,” he said in a flat tone. “But I’m sure others would have seen the corpses and would know a good deal about them. Gossip like that should spread in a quiet town like this.”

  Nate grinned next to him. “So, you are saying…”

  “We go out and act like soldiers just going through town after time fighting monsters.” Rayne smiled. “But all this time, we look for clues on what in the nine hells is the town hiding!”

  ***