Sometimes excessive calm is a bad omen

I left early at dawn after happily saying goodbye to Lybico and his men, I quickly walked back to Dumai, the road was quite a lot more traveled than the day before, many of those who saw me were surprised by my walking speed, If adventurers or other mercenaries asked, I would simply reply that I had an urgent order.

It was a quiet trip, without any inconvenience, I had only stopped once to eat and take a short rest when the sun was beginning to set on the horizon I had the city in view, finally, after a long walk, I reached the front door after dark.

 

 

I quickly passed the control of the guards, I was walking fast, I just started to go into the city and they followed me again, but this time there were more than 6 people which was suspicious, I entered the Guild building, did all the paperwork as if I had just completed a real task, alone receptionist stamped a great stamp of mission accomplished.

Now it only remained to report the success to the Sancor supervisor, although he was no longer in the Guild, so I would do it the next morning, when I left I was followed again; when I crossed from the East quadrant to the South quadrant, the number of people who followed me increased, even more, each time it became more strange and suspicious.

 

 

Due to the strange behavior of my pursuers, I decided that it would be best to go as quickly as possible to the West quadrant, I would avoid going to take a look around the orphanage, in any case, the Sancor supervisor had promised that he would keep an eye on it, finally, after walking quickly for almost an hour I reached the West quadrant, I was immediately approached by the guards who were guarding the entrance to the military district.

But when I showed them my nameplate they quickly left me alone, just when I thought that at last, I would have gotten rid of my pursuers, I saw that two of the men who were following me had also entered the military district, this created a problematic and dangerous situation since I could not escape his persecution without raising suspicions.

 

 

Unlike the southern quadrant where there were many alleys, multi-story buildings, and poor lighting, in the west quadrant, the streets were spacious, well lit and there were almost no buildings, so he could not make careless maneuvers since otherwise he would also attract the attention of the members of the city guard.

I kept walking while thinking about what I could do to get rid of the persecutors, then I saw one of the city guard posts which gave me an idea, I walked over and greeted the guards showing them my identification badge and immediately pointed to the two men who were following me.

-"Those men have been suspiciously following me!"-, I said aloud as I pointed at them.

 

 

The guards reacted quickly and the two men made the mistake of fleeing, seeing that both men began to run the guards raised the alarm and rang a loud bell, quickly other bells answered the alert call, within seconds the entire district had been alerted to the ongoing persecution.

I took advantage of the confusion to sneak out of the place, however, I did go around a few times and alter my path several times to try to make sure as much as possible that I had no more pursuers above me, finally after several minutes I was able to reach my destination, a two-story house with high walls around it.

 

 

I walked in quickly and I locked the big gate.

-"You're late!"-, yelled at me before I had time to turn around.

I could see Ariadna watching from the front door and much further back looking curiously at Dub and Liath.

-"I'm sorry, I had a problem, we all should talk now"-, I said seriously.

Ariadna was left with a very surprised face but she understood everything quickly, then we all gathered in the small room on the second floor, I quickly recounted everything that had happened, from the encounter with Lybico to the men who followed me into the military district.

 

 

-"It's good to know that the old man is alive"-, ​​said Dub with relief.

-"I am responsible for all those lives"-, Liath said regretfully.

-"Was it you who ordered the attack?"-, Ariadna asked coldly.

-"Yes"-, Liath replied shyly.

-"You will have time to talk to them, now more importantly, as I told them, it is worrying that they even begin to follow us here"-, I said firmly.

-"You're right but how can they do something like that?"-, Ariadna asked annoyed.

-"Not all their men are criminals, they also have normal people working for them to do things that criminals cannot"-, I replied.

-"You are well informed alsyd Lif"-, said Dub intrigued.

-"It's a true rookie! How can you know about that?"-, Ariadna asked with a suspicious face.

 

 

Oh dammit! I must not abuse my past life experiences or they will become suspicious of me.

-"I met some people with shady backgrounds in the past"-, I said making my best poker face.

-"That's suspicious!"-, Ariadna said as she stared at me.

I immediately struck an apologetic pose.

-"I promise to tell you all about it later"-, I said lowering my head and clasping my hands.

-"Well, I hope so"-, Ariadna said, looking away.

Dub and Liath watched our interaction curiously.

-"So my men will be here in a week?"-, asked Liath worriedly.

-"If I think it is time for us to go on the offensive, if we continue to extend this we do not know how they can react"-, I said seriously looking at Ariadna who immediately got the message.

 

 

-"Yes! We must talk about this as soon as possible with the old man!"-, Ariadna said firmly.

-"We must also prepare for the worst, we will not be able to prevent them from following us again"-, I said while thinking about what to do in the future.

-"What are you thinking?"-, Ariadna asked.

-"In that, they may try to attack this place"-, I answered seriously.

Dub and Liath were very surprised to hear my words.

-"They won't take long to connect the dots once they find out we're here, it is obvious that they are suspicious of us, they probably have collaborators among the other mercenaries or perhaps among the employees of the guild"-, I said with a somber tone.

Hearing that, Ariadna's shoulders began to shake visibly due to anger.

-"Dub, Liath, are you ready to move?"-, I asked looking at both of them.

-"Y-Yes"-, they both answered between doubts.

-"We must be ready to act immediately"-, I said firmly.

They both made their faces very serious upon hearing it.

 

 

Then touch Ariadna's shoulder to calm her down.

-"Calm partner, I'm thinking of a plan right now"-, I said while smiling at her.

Ariadna just made a dejected smile but it was better than nothing, for the moment we must be prepared for tomorrow, during the day they will not try anything, but they will surely try to follow us again.

The worst scenario would be that they linked Ariadna to the attacks and would immediately retaliate against the orphanage, so we must be prepared for when they try to make their move, in the worst-case scenario, he would have to dispense with Ariadna for the fight since most likely he does not want to leave the orphanage unprotected.

 

 

After dinner everyone quickly retired to sleep, the general mood was low, I took one last walk around the perimeter of the house to make sure everything was in order, and then I went to my room, then I found Ariadna waiting for me sitting on the stairs and she looked quite restless.

-"Hey rookie, can we protect you all?"-, Ariadna asked very anguishedly.

-"If I will do everything in my power to protect everyone"-, I answered decidedly with a smile.

-"Why are you only talking about yourself?"-, Ariadna asked annoyed.

-"Because I do not doubt that you will do the same"-, I replied again, smiling at him.

-"I want to believe in that optimism of yours"-, said Ariadna dejected as she lowered her head.

-"It is in my blood, just as my parents never gave up on me when I was sick I will never give up before any obstacle!"-, I said with great decision making a triumphant pose.

 

 

Ariadna let out a slight laugh when she saw me pose.

-"You act like a fool, but you managed to convince me"-, Ariadna replied.

Then he got up and started up the stairs.

-"We should go to rest"-, Ariadna said turning to see me and making a charming smile.

-"Rest mate"-, I said goodbye to her and went to my room.

I kept thinking for a few minutes reaffirming my determination, I would do whatever was necessary to help them all, I would not hold back, in fact, I would already fight with all my might.

 

 

The next morning again I was the first to wake up and be ready, I started to prepare breakfast and quickly everyone was sitting at the table, the faces of sorrow from the night before had disappeared and the spirits were much better; after breakfast we marched to the Guild, ready for a fight, we did not know what could happen but we would give 100% of ourselves without any doubt.