∼ Disturbing Practices ∼

Chapter - 054

Darting up, knife unsheathed and in hand, Eric's eyes searched for the danger. But as the surroundings slowly came into view with his sleep-addled mind, the faint glow of a morning sun faintly lighting up rather the modest room, the memories of yesterday came flooding back.

That's right, he wasn't in the wild anymore. He sighed. From spending months on a knife's edge, fighting monsters, sleeping in the woods, and running from hellbent pursuers, Eric's nerves had unsurprisingly been fraught with tension at every waking moment. Never truly knowing when he'd wake up to a maw full of teeth or with a blade pressed against his neck.

Another couple of small knocks on the wooden door caught Eric's attention. He realized it must've been what had initially startled him awake. He got off the small bed of blankets and covers on the floor with a groan, stretching the morning fatigue from his muscles. But Aria and Nyx just grumbled and muttered unintelligible in the small straw bed beside him, a tangle limbs and disheveled robes. Both were clearly not willing to wake. To give up on the sweet, sweet bliss of unconsciousness.

They had both passed out the second their heads touched their first real bed in months. Aria had of course offered Eric to sleep on the bed, but he was used to improvising, and Aria definitely needed it more than he did. While she hadn't been the one to fight off deadly monsters or brawl with highway thugs, Aria had been indispensable in keeping them both himself and Nyx alive.

Being this weak of body, however, the journey had more than taken a toll on her. To Eric's surprise, when he thought back on the many days they had spent together, there wasn't one moment he could remember of the girl complaining about being uncomfortable or tired even once the entire journey here. Across almost the whole of Moravia. Not a word of complaint.

Eric respected that fortitude, though he found it quite troublesome when the girl would randomly pass out after having over-taxed her magic and body without saying anything. All just not to worry him.

A third knocking on the door brought Eric out of his reverie, finding himself looking at Aria's bedraggled form as she hugged Nyx tight like a body pillow in the bed, as her beautiful fiery red hair splayed out in every direction and her freckled face was lit up by the morning glow.

Eric coughed awkwardly, shaking his head as he went to the door, finding one young boy right behind it. Though, it was not the one that had led them to their room. Eadal - if he remembered correctly. The boy was holding a tray of piping hot stew and fresh bread. "Your food Master. You didn't come down for food last evening, so it has been prepared for breakfast. " He said weakly, his voice a little monotone.

Eric couldn't help but frown as he recognized the same dead stare in this boy's eyes. Like Eadal, this boy was well-fed and clothed, but he was disturbingly distant. "Is the innkeep only hiring orphaned or abandoned boys?" Eric wondered, finding pity towards these broken youths.

Realizing he hadn't answered the boy, Eric nodded and took the tray, putting it on the desk just to the side. "Thank you, that is fine." He grabbed something, crouching before the boy to be at eye-level. "Here take some - don't worry, I won't tell."

Eric stretched out a piece of his own bread, feeling a bit of kinship with this kid. However, as the boy's eyes widened with horror for a moment, the kid immediately turned on his heels and ignored the offering. But before he could dart down the hall, a sudden hand on the boy's shoulder made him flinch as if he had just been slapped. Eric quickly pulled back his hand, seeing that he had startled him quite a bit with that simple touch. The boy did not turn to face Eric, he just stood there for one frozen moment.

"Uh... you okay? You and - Eadal, right? You both okay?" Eric had to ask, the sickening gut feeling of this place blossoming into realized worry.

But the boy did still not answer, he just began stiffly walking down the hall.

"Is that our food?" A voice called out from behind Eric, making him get back to his full height. Turning around, he was met with the sight of one sleepy Aria rubbing her drowsy eyes. Her hood had fallen down and her untamed mane of wild hair seemed to nearly encase her entire head.

As they ate and finished their meal in companionable silence, Aria having produced a comb from her magical rucksack to tame her unruly hair, Eric just looked into his empty bowl with a brooding expression. "Is something wrong?" She asked, tugging at a particularly tough knot of hair.

He sighed, placing the bowl back onto the tray. "There's something seriously off about this place."

She paused her brushing, a frown creasing her cute face. "How come? Do you mean that child from yesterday?"

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Eric nodded, leaning against the bedside. "Yeah, there was another kid who came with our food. He was exactly like the other one, all dead in the eyes."

"Do you think they might be orphans hired by the innkeeper?" She proposed, tugging at her comb. "These streets ah- are definitely not kind - I can see it being the case."

"That was what I guessed too. But I think there's more going on here." Eric muttered darkly.

Getting dressed and making sure the sleepy Nyx was also properly outfitted in his robes, the three of them made their way down into the common room. Like yesterday evening, it was sparsely populated, mostly by the same assortment of surly figures. Eric felt creeps whenever he would meet a dull-eyed stare from one of the pockmarked men whose sneers displayed a mouth full of rotten and black teeth.

Like last night, the innkeep didn't look to be behind the corner. But the very next moment, the fat man came bursting through the back door like a spell, offering them one of his signature sweet smiles. "Ah! Young master, I do hope you found my humble lodgings to your satisfaction,"

There truly was something about this man that had Eric wanting to plant his fist into his pasty face. But Eric held that urge back. Or at least, he did until he caught a glance beyond the back door that still swung ever so slightly back and forth, revealing at least five boys working the kitchen. It was finally then Eric noticed that the entire staff of this establishment was just little boys, all of whom had that same empty stare.

But Eric's lack of response or his sudden frown didn't even make the innkeep's fake smile waver in the slightest. From ear to ear, with his eyes creased, the man just waited for Eric without letting his sycophantic facade falter. Eric fixed the smiling innkeep with a stern gaze, his voice hostile. "Just what are you doing to these boys?"

This time, however, the fat man's expression became suddenly dark, his smile finally withering in one slow and eerily transition. But it was not only him, the entire inn fell even more silent than it already was, to the point where the faint sounds of the outside felt deafening.

The fat innkeep put his chubby hands on the counter, the wood creaking under his overbearing weight and wafting a wave of his foul cologne into their faces. "I think you ought to leave, right about now. Boy." It was a total shift from how he spoke before, sending chills down their spine even worse than his fake demeanor.

Eric sneered, however, stepping closer threateningly. "You didn't answer my question, pig." He growled. "Those boys, why do they work here? Just what have you been doing to them?"

The scrape of chairs against the wood floor was loud. All the patrons in the common room had gotten to their feet, hands landing on concealed weapons. Underneath Nyx's robes, it wasn't easy to make out, but he was grinning like a mad man, the drowsiness of the morning all gone and replaced with bloodlust. Finally, he would have an excuse to slaughter some humans. It had been a while after all. This was just what he needed to get his morning started!

Glancing nervously around at the nearly two dozen men around the common room, Aria tugged at Eric's leave. "Eric... I-I think we need to leave."

Eric's furious gaze was finally directed towards the rest of the room. You could almost hear the gnashing of his teeth as he eyed each robed and ragged individual. But as he laid eyes on the weapons many of these shady people held or had sheathed, most of them small and thin black blades, others wicked weapon made to inflict more pain than damage, his blood turned to ice and Aria could almost swear she heard his teeth crack.

They stood there for another long drawn-out moment before Eric finally stormed out of the inn, tugging along Aria and Nyx. All the while the demon protested. "B-but, my human experience bags!"

"What was all that?!" Aria blurted out the instant the door slammed shut behind them.

Eric suddenly halted in his step, his broad back looking rather intimidating as he breathed heavily. "That - man," He spat. "He was exploiting those children. Abusing them and worse. That place's function as an inn is only secondary. I saw it in his eyes. I saw it in their eyes..."

Aria had been thinking as much, but she hadn't wanted to believe it as such cruelty was too much for even her. "T-then, we cannot leave them like that,"

"I can't take them all on alone. For all I know, there could be class holders among them. And, we can't cause a scene with you two suddenly slinging magic around." Eric paused apprehensively. "I... I think I know to whom that place belongs... at least who half the people there, belong to."

Taken aback, Aria wasn't sure what Eric was hinting at.

Walking over to the ragged man who had been laying outside the inn since yesterday, Eric paused to recognize that he had already died overnight. His dull eyes were truly distant now, slumped on the muddy dirt of the alley.

Eric crouched, tugging down the cloth that covered the dead homeless man's lower face. What was beneath had Eric flinch as the image of his mutilated father was imposed onto the sight of this homeless man's marred face. Like his father, this man looked as if someone had a letter opener taken to his mouth, scarring the flesh all around.

Unsheathing his dagger, he carefully pried open the man's mouth, grimacing as he saw mutilated gums and a distinct lack of teeth. Those bastards had cut his teeth from his mouth with a blade. While he had been alive.

"T-then... all those people, they..." Aria was horrified as she recalled seeing all those hundreds of people on the street with pieces of cloth covering their mouths. "But there are so many of them..."

Eric tsked as he got to his feet. "We have to get moving and we need to get out of these parts. The people who did this must be the same who've been chasing us all the way to Boreas. And they're protecting that pig." He nearly growled, the unsolved business of the inn and the sight of his father evidently still a fresh source of anger for the short-tempered Eric.

As the two began making their way out of the alley, Nyx took a moment to glower. He had really wanted to kill some humans there…