The men along with Grace were walking down a dirt road surrounded by expansive plains of grass. Although Tibaut was somewhat used to this as his own parish was quite similar, with how tall the blades of grass were he felt like he was surrounded by a sea of emerald. There were no trees for miles and the village in eyeshot was the only piece of civilization they had seen on their jog within the past hour.

"I was kinda going with the flow but how did Albus get this information? Does he send you guys around to look for them?" Tibaut asked Grace.

She moved her eyes up and thought for a moment. "As far as I know I don't think he does. Maybe they were just that obvious with their whereabouts?" She commented, sounding uncertain.

"You don't know?" O'Reilly chimed in. "He has a cash reward for anyone that reports their presence. I even heard it's a pretty decent-sized purse."

"(Why does he know more about this than you?) I suppose money will loosen the lips of anyone."

"Boyo it's not about loosening lips, it's about giving them a reason to tell us."

As they jogged, Tibaut slowed down and stayed a few meters behind the group. Curious, Grace slowed down as well and made her beside him.

"Great plan Maid Red, my legs are killing me, so it's nice to slow down since we're already this close."

"Call me that name in public and I'll burn that uniform off you. Besides, the only reason I came back here was because I didn't want to ruin their image of a maid of Albus."

"Burn? Wait, what kind of magic can you use? Heh since I haven't seen you use it must be something embarrassing. What, does it only dissolve clothes or something?" She said with a cheeky smile.

"Sorry, but it's just basic fire."

Grace raised an eyebrow as she heard this.

"(Oh right!) Hoh, you got one of the four basic elements."

"Is it special?"

"I mean, it's cool to see but it's like not they're any better than other magic. So what did you want to ask me now that we're back here?"

"Are you sure you need to come inside the village?"

"pft, what afraid they're gonna take me away?"

"Aren't you scared? Didn't these guys raid where you live? Are you sure you want to go after seeing them first-hand?" Tibaut asked. He was genuinely concerned it might cause her trauma or the sort from being around them.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

"Don't worry, by the time we were allowed to leave it was all over. I didn't even get a glimpse of them until they were all dead and being buried. I was disappointed I didn't get to see any of them still alive, honestly."

"Wow, you're like a cat that'd try to meet with a wolf pack."

"What are we talking about? I have a nice big lion to protect here don't I?"

Before they knew they were inside the village. As soon as they entered they heard an uproar coming from the village. Tibait immediately started picking up his pace but O'Reilly stopped him by grabbing his shoulder.

"What's the deal? Don't you hear that!?" Tibaut asked. He became antsy as soon as he heard the voices and had a fierce look in his eyes. He pushed the man's hand off his shoulder and ran off.

"Oi lad, wait it's probably jus-"

Tibaut didn't have to listen to him, who knows what those woman-stealing monsters disguised in the flesh of man were doing. He ran through the village and saw the occasional person walking about, though it didn't assure him until he got to the source of the noise. It was coming from a building that looked nicer than the others in town. He didn't hesitate to open the doors and what he saw wasn't what he expected.

It contained groups of men all in high spirits. Some were drinking out of pints, others were singing and dancing along with each other and some fights had broken, though it seemed only to enhance the atmosphere in the minds of those inside as they watched in joy and shouted the name of the person they thought was going to win and splashed their beer at them.

The atmosphere was so wild no one paid an ounce of attention to Tibaut at the entrance.

"Huh?"

The fear and anxiety Tibaut was struck soon faded and he watched on in awe.

"Oh, this place looks fun," Grace commented.

She walked up to Tibaut and pushed him inside.

"Woah, the entrance was wide open."

"You can't enjoy something like this from outside Tibaut! Come on, let's order some beers." She said enthusiastically. The amount of people inside seemed to be past what whoever built this place probably ever dreamed of but she pushed herself over to the counter with him in tow.

"Like I said I don't drink!" He said shouting as the background of people talking and singing had become overbearing.

"Then drink some milk or something, with this sort of atmosphere you'll get drunk in no time." She said, "Yo bartender what you got?"

The bartender stared at Grace seeming almost petrified and ran up to her.

"Lady are crazy!? What the hell are you doing here? Go home before any of these drunks notice. You know what, just climb over the counter, I'll let you go through the back." He said before reaching his hand out to her.

The pair looked confused by his words and Grace soon waved her hands.

"Don't worry I have this guy, I'll be fine."

Now that Tibaut thought about it, he hadn't seen any women in here when they entered and drunk men aren't exactly known for their modesty.

"Sigh Don't worry old man, I'll keep any wandering hands off her."

The bartender didn't relent and held his hand out still.

"You idiots do you not know who these guy-"

The noise stopped. All the singing, conversations and arguing all ended within seconds. The silence happened so quickly that it was almost deafening. Fearing the worst, Tibaut looked towards the men but saw they're attention wasn't directed to him but something else. They were all focused on the entrance.

Tibaut decided to jump in the air to get a better look and saw what silenced the room. It was O'Reilly and the rest of his men standing at the entrance.