Trouble Follows Once More

"Mind telling me what all that was about? Don't tell me he is a 'friend' of yours from those mercenary days, you know better than to invite those people over, what if your-"

"Father, he is not, could you listen before you start berating"

"Hah, look whos talking about listening"

"Father!"

"Gah, fine"

The father and daughter had just dropped Yu at his residence but were already arguing, it made the woman take a deep breath so she could explain everything clearly in one go, just in case her impatient father decided to chip in early

"I don't know him or anything about him for that matter but I can tell from just a glance he isn't someone to be messed with"

"Just a glance? You were eating the man up with your ey-Geh!"

A fist to the shoulder was enough to shut the old bugger up so she could continue

"He had no armour and only clothes, no weapon unless he used daggers, there was not a scratch on his body or clothes, his soft features tell me he hasn't gone through training drills to become a warrior and even if he was lying about coming from Risterg the closest town is still a couple of days by foot so he would definitely encounter many beasts on the way"

"You're just assuming that he was really alone though, what if he had a group send him here or something? What if his cart broke down nearby? You could never imagine what backstories these fellows could have"

"I did doubt it at first, but then..."

"Oh, your 'killing' me with the anticipation, what could possibly be the reaso-Guhu! Stop hitting me, woman! I'm too old to take your rock hard fists"

"Heh, I'll stop when you quit your yapping old man, I'm serious about this"

"Haah, so? What makes you believe him?"

She suddenly stopped in her tracks and looked back at the now distance guest house, her eyes giving a grim glow

"Blood"

"Blood?"

"The mixed scent of blood only gained by going through body after body without break, I've smelled it before only on those mad hunters and warriors who come back from days of continuous battle, there is no way to gain that scent without spending your time around fresh corpses, this man is not simple, I'm sure of it"

"..."

The old man turned and stared at the house as well, what guest did the wind blow to their quiet life and what problems came he bring with him, only time will tell

...

"Ugh, I stink, looting crystals from all those bodies is a hassle"

In the scent filled woods he was used to the smell but when he came to this clean environment his unwashed body and blood odour stuck out, even Lyra had it better than him since she only needed to claw at the enemy once or twice while he had to dig the crystals out their body, getting more blood on his hands than he would have liked

"I need a bath, haah, I have to find a bathhouse"

There was probably a bath in this house but he needed to get the water from a nearby well, then he had to heat up the water to bath before finally draining it outside manually, too much of a hassle when he could just go to a bathhouse

'I'll have to rent an entire one for me and Lyra, though seeing how cooperative they were it might not be that hard'

He knew he had to give the clean obsessed wolf a good scrubbing since the last bath she had was before he 'abducted' Heather, if she couldn't get her fur care time then surely things would take a bad turn

Knock Knock

"Young man, I brought you lunch"

"Come in"

Hearing about food Yu couldn't help but salivate and forget all about bathing, especially when the woman came in with a bunch of plates filled to the brim with veggies and well cooked but not burnt meat, just the smell alone was making him tear up, not because it was delicious but because he recalled the nine days of horror he had to stomach

'I hope I never have to eat that again'

Wishfully thinking he took the plates and said his thanks before diving into them with relish

The good meal was followed by a few hours of much-needed rest during which he took the time to call out the little spider and snake so that they ate and got some fresh air until the daughter and father came knocking at his door around evening

"Coming"

Opening the door for the two he noticed they had an extra visitor with them, the man with a lanky figure and sneaky eyes took the opportunity to offer a handshake the second their eyes met

"Good to see ya friend, I'm Rodney, Willa's younger brother in law, hope ya don't mind me joining the small talk, I've been dying to meet someone from the city, I admire you lot greatly"

"Pipe down kid, we haven't even introduced ourselves yet"

"Oh, sorry old gee- father"

The man's mouth slipped for a second there but he quickly covered it up, the woman also tried to guide the conversation away from the slip-up

"I'm Willa, that's my father in law Ridge, he's the head of this village, may we come in? We have a few things to ask if you don't mind, then we will leave you to rest once more"

"Sure"

The four of them went into the guest hall and took their seats, there wasn't anything to present them with, it wasn't really his house after all, so they cut right into the chase

"What you be coming to these outskirts for lad? There is nothing here but old men and woman foraging for food and cooking beasts"

"Well, I didn't come here for a specific reason, I just wanted some time off from the buzzing city and its troubles, I need a long vacation every now and then so I thought the quite village life would be best"

"Wasnt it dangerous getting here all alone? How did you go through the woods all by yourself, you must be really strong man"

Rodney asked following his father's question, it was clear he was probing for a clue to his identity, such a brash question caused Yu to smile though, these guys were clearly just worried otherwise they wouldn't be so open about it

"Well, there are only Bronze rank beasts from here to Risterg, nothing too dangerous for me"

He tried to look as confidant as he could when saying that, the stronger they believed him to be the less of a bother they would be

Rodney's sneaky eyes turned sharp for a moment but it went by unnoticed, he then stayed silent for the rest of their time

Willa proceeded to handle most of the talk, where he wanted to stay, how long, if he wanted any help with the meals and bath and all those small conveniences

Other than needing food and baths he didn't put any other requirement nor give any definite answers

"It seems we have prolonged our visit, we won't be keeping you any longer"

"Alright, once again thank you for the great hospitality, I hope you have a great evening"

"I hope you do too"

Everyone got up and he escorted them to the door politely, before they left though Willa turned around and asked him something

"Would you like me to show you around the village tomorrow? If your staying here for a while it would be good to know your way around"

"I wouldn't want to trouble you any more than I already did"

"Its no trouble at all"

"In that case, I will take you up on your offer"

"Then I'll come by breakfast time, goodnight"

Finally, the three left him be so he could get some sleep

He called out for Lyra and had her guard his body as he slinked into the land of dreams

****************************

While the tired Yu was resting peacefully in his house Rodney and his 'father' split up from Willa and headed into one of the houses nearby, inside they met six impatiently waiting people

"So, You brought good news?"

Asked one of them with a familiar sounding voice

"Hehe, what ya think?"

The sneaky smile on Rodneys face caused everyone's eyes to turn excited, one couldn't even remain seated as he jumped up and cheers

"Shh, don't make too much noise, we need to keep this under wraps, remember, it's just the seven of us that should be in on it"

"Eight"

An old rough voice reminded

"Ahaha, my bad old geezer, your right, just the eight of us, you sure you don't want to get Willa in on this too? I bet she could be of great help, if you know what I mean"

"I'd rather not know, and I don't want her involved in this whatsoever, if something goes wrong I wish she stays out of it"

"Ha, your soft on your daughter in law huh, well, her husband would definitely kill me if she was hurt so I guess its better this way"

"You think we could make it out alive for him to kill you if something goes wrong?"

The old man asked, dampening the excitement from everyone's face

"Old geezer why you gotta be such drag"

"No Rodney, he's right, if that young man we saw in the forest is really the same one you just met, and all those dead beasts on the way were truly killed by him then we would for sure be dead if something in our plan went wrong"

"You mean his beast, not him, that guy looks like he couldn't tussle a Michicha's feathers let alone fight"

"You shouldn't underestimate him too much either, who knows what this guy is capable of, anyone who can contract a beast is usually strong, we can only hope his body isn't that tolerant"

Everyone started to wonder whether their plan would actually work, but even if they thought it over and found his strength to be dangerous they would still attempt this crazy plan of theirs, after all this was a Soul Stone up for grabs, one possibly capable of housing a peak Bronze beast, if they could get their greedy hands on it…..what a lavish life they would live