“The co-captain of the knights?” Ray repeated, Ray was scratching his head not sure if he heard Justin correctly.

“Yes, Victor Zure, he is actually someone I tried to get to talk to, but he was out the whole day. I figured it would be suspicious if I searched him out.” Justin admitted, still looking at Ray in disbelief.

“Wait, why were you searching for him, if anything the both of us should stay away from him, and Roberto until the mission starts.” Ray added, he didn’t want any unnessasry trouble coming their way.

“Well who is better to ask than the right hand man? I tried talking to deacon Lucas about it, but supposedly Roberto rarely talks to him, the other knights said, he keeps himself private only talking to Victor.” Justin explained. “Well that is what I could gather, after all I can’t be seen being too nosy.”

{That is more than being nosy, dammit hopefully none of the knights are getting suspicious of him.}

“Do you know why he keeps to himself? I thought knights who are blessed tend to be outgoing people.” Ray added, remembering how Sierra was, always being out and about.

“No, I couldn’t get that from the other knights, but did say they can count on him doing his job correctly, so we better watch out for that, if we are lucky I will be able to meet him before our mission starts, help us get an idea on how he would do things, when we eventually have to fight him.”

“Kill him,” Ray corrected Justin.

Justin flashed a look of annoyance before he changed his face back to his regular look, Justin walked towards the window, and looked towards the village.

“So what did the both of you talk about, did you meet him at the library, from what I heard from the other knights, I didn’t think Victor would be the bookworm.” Justin admitted.

“Yeah, he came when I was reading about some random book,” Ray said, blessing his luck Victor didn’t come any sooner, Justin was looking at him expecting him to continue. “It’s a good thing he didn’t come any earlier otherwise he would have seen me reading about the hybrids,”

Justin took a double take looking at Ray, as if he heard him wrong. His face had confusion written all over it. “I’m sorry, can you repeat that?” Justin carefully said.

“I was curious and wanted to know more about hybrids, and the library only has three scrolls about them.” Ray admitted.

“So you're telling me, that you are worried about me messing up, but here you are reading about hybrids, knowing it going to raise suspicious, hell that is probably that's the reason Victor went to the library, someone must have told him what you were doing, and he came to check.”

“That is not what happened, the library has only one door to enter, and the wooden door makes a huge noise when it is open, I would have known if Martin the librarian had left.” Ray revealed, even now he could still hear the loud noise the door made when it was open. He was confident the knight went there by chance.

“You do realize that every building has two ways of entering, right?”

Just like that Ray confidence was crushed, he could feel his face was hot from the embrassement,

{That is true back in Alton, every store had two ways of entering, dammit could Martin have actually gone outside to get Victor because he was suspicious of me? No, what are the chances the co-captain would be around?}

Ray quickly adjusted himself. Maintaining his composure. “You really think the librarian could get the attention of the co-captain, if anything he wouldn’t leave his job just like that,” Ray reassured himself.

Justin still looks unconvinced. “Look now I have to be worried about you doing these kinds of things, I’ll try to talk to Victor, if I find him I’ll see if I can get him to say anything about you, what did the both of you talk about anyway?” Justin asked, he was slightly curious.

“He already knew I was a visitor supposedly he remembered all the faces of the villagers, and knew I was just a visitor, he did bring up how the both of us have money that we can stay in the inn for a while.” Ray recounted what happened yesterday.

Justin remained silent making sure not to miss anything Ray was telling him, the both of them needed to make sure their stories match with one another otherwise if they get caught in the lie they will get find out.

“Ok, and what did him about how we got the money.” Justin probed.

“I told him it was the family fund, what we had left from the attack, since it was just us two, we had more money to waste.” Ray explained.

“Yeah, but we can’t be spending all the money like it was nothing, we have to make it seem we are barely getting by, cause this money is supposed to help arrived to one of the holy cities, if the knights see us wasting it, they are going to start being suspicious of us.” Justin argued.

“Well that is everything, I am going to head out, we still need to buy some food as well, I haven’t eaten since yesterday, I am just going to buy something quick to eat, you should too, when was the last time you ate.” Ray questioned.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“I am fine, I ate with the knights yesterday at the church.”

“You…You ate with the knights, at their; You know what nevermind, we will talk again later, goodbye Justin and be careful.” Ray headed out the door, before he closed it, Justin wished him well.

Ray headed downstairs, and saw a middle-age woman where Mike usually was sitting at the desk. The woman stood up and greeted Ray. The woman was pale skin, she had on a long blue tunic, with black stripes going around the clothing, she had brown hair, with a mix of silver hair growing from age, she had her hair tied up in a ponytail, her brown eyes gently laid on Ray.

“Oh Well hello there young man, are you one of our customers?” The woman said, in a quiet gentle voice.

“Uh, yes, Yes I am ma’am, The other person booked us in, I am here with my cousin John, I am Sam.” Ray decided to let her know the basics, since she seems to work here she must already know about them.

“Oh yes, my dear Mike told me about you two, you know it not everyday we get travelers that stay in the inn for some time, mostly the others just stay for a day or two.”

The woman explained.

“I hope we are not intruding.” Ray said, if they cause trouble for the inn, it would be best if they left and try to find someone else to stay.

“Oh, it's quite alright dear, don’t worry yourself, the two of you are fine, in fact you keep the room so clean that I barely had to do anything when I went to your room to clean it.” The woman admitted.

{So she is the cleaner of the inn, I wonder what her relation with Mike is? Would it be ok for me to even ask?}

“Thank you for taking care of us, I hope you can thank Mike for us as well, if you don’t mind me asking where he is?” Ray thought that was an ok thing to ask.

“Oh, the poor thing was tired so I decided to let him rest a bit, he can be so clumsy sometimes, though I do like that about him.”

Ray blinked a couple of times, relaying the information the woman just told him, that she likes Mike. “Forgive my rudeness, but are the two of you?” Ray couldn’t finish the sentence, he was starting to get uncomfortable.

“Oh, yes, I am his wife, I am Nicole Ron.”

“I didn’t know Mike was married,” Ray said, trying to remember the conversation they had together.

“Oh, he tends to be forgetful, but yes the both of us are the owners of the inn, but he is mostly just in charge of the finances, we usually have someone else to do the cleaning but our cleaning man was sick the other day. I tend to the other business of the inn, I am not usually around here during the day.” Nicole explained.

“Well then I should really be heading out, it was nice talking to you Nicole,” Ray said, heading for the door.

“Oh, you as well Sam, you take care of yourself.”

Ray went out the door, and headed towards the direction of the library, passing a knight on his way. The other villagers seemed to be just waking up. Ray soon was in front of the library and went in.

Martin greeted him, recognizing Ray. Ray greeted him back, Ray took a look around Martin trying to spot a door that could have been used to leave the building.

Ray didn’t want to stand around too long and left when he couldn’t find anything. Ray went towards where he left the book he was reading, he easily found it and went back to the table he was sitting at.

Ray spent a couple of hours reading the book, when he heard the door of the church opening again, Ray tried to focus on the book but his curiosity got the better of him, he looked up and saw Victor coming in.

When their eyes met Victor wave his hand, Ray did the same, Victor started coming his way, Ray cursed under his breath, but faked a smile when Victor got near him.

“Oh, hello Victor, how have you been?” Ray stuttered out.

“Hello Sam, I just came to return a book I was reading, I just wanted to check out another book, I can’t stay here too long, since I saw you, I figured I’ll say hi before I leave.” Victor admitted.

“Oh, is there something you have to do?” Ray asked, while trying to stop talking like that, he figured getting some information from the co-captain could help in their mission against Roberto.

“Yes, we have a meeting going on, my captain made sure to include how important it was that every knight that can attend be there.” Victor mentioned.

{A meeting huh, it is most likely going to be held inside the church, I wonder if Justin would be able to hear it, without someone spotting him.}

“Oh… This meeting must be important then, I heard from my cousin who was visiting the church yesterday, that it was not always your captain who goes out.” Ray recounted what Justin told him.

Victor looks a little annoyed but quickly changes his facial expression. “Do you mean John, yes the other knight told me about an outgoing person visiting them yesterday, do you know what else he knows about my captain.”

Ray could hear a hint of anger in his voice, Ray started regretting his words, he thought it over. “Well he told how he is a capable leader when the situation calls for it, he does get everything done.” Ray admitted, hoping Victor would accept his answer.

“Roberto is a capable leader all the time Sam, do you know where your cousin heard these things? I'll be sure those assumptions are corrected.” Victor stated.

Ray got up from his seat, Ray needed to convince him it was just an honest mistake.

“Look I am sorry, I am sure your captain is a great leader, we have been here for a day, but I can tell he is a great leader if you are willing to go this far for him, I’ll be sure to talk to my cousin about this, you don’t have to worry about it.” Ray reassured Victor, hoping to calm him down.

Victor took a deep breath. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to lash out, it's hard listening to people talk a certain way about someone when they don’t have the full story about him. People tend to quickly judge someone without even trying to know their history.” Victor admitted.

“So what is his story, then” Ray asked.

“I’m sorry.” Victor stated.

“Well, I mean if you want me to judge him correctly do you mind telling me more about Roberto?” Ray probe, he was getting nervous, how Victor face kept on changing.

“...Another time, I already stay here enough as it is, I should probaply get going. Also, Sam?”

“Yes, Victor.”

“Please tell your cousin to choose his words carefully before he starts spreading them around like he already knows everything.” Justin warned.