The three of them traveled for three days straight before and despite the road being well maintained, the lack of towns meant that they had to sleep in their tent out in the wilderness. They were lucky in that the road was well patrolled, so they hadn't really seen any monsters, but Megumi was ready to sleep in an inn already.

According to the map, they should be nearing the first little town, Lerwick, sometime later today. Megumi could hardly wait to sleep in an actual bed. She realized that she got a little spoiled being able to relax at the guild hall for so long, but she didn't care.

Poro-tan had been awake for over a day as she had been making him keep near constant watch for threats, but she figured that once they reached the little town and got their room, it would be okay to let him get a few hours of sleep at least.

By the time Lerwick was in their vision, it was nearly dusk. "Look! Finally, we can sleep in real beds again!"

"Sleeping in a tent isn't so bad, at least you got to sleep," he grumbled.

"Megu just wanted to be on the safe side. Who knows what kind of enemies will be coming for us. As far as Megu knows, there isn't a Villain's Guild around here, so enemies should be behind us towards Rivean, unless there were some already up here and got word of the bounty somehow. The further from Rivean we are, the safer we'll be."

"If you say so. All I know, is that I'm exhausted."

Lerwick was more of a village than a proper town. There were probably only two dozen buildings in the whole place and most of them had smoke puffing out of chimneys. Megumi would be more than happy to be inside a building next to a fire. Castellum was truly a wretched country to be stuck in outside during the winter months of the year. Surprisingly, they didn't see a single person as they wandered through the town. Something told her that there was something off about this place. They arrived at the only inn that the town had to offer after a few minutes, and she saw that there were people inside from the large window in the front.

"Not many people out and about. Are you sure you want to stay here tonight? It's weird that there aren't any people around really."

Megu really wants to sleep in a real bed tonight. It's probably nothing, right? Maybe the people are just inside eating their dinner.

She hesitated for a moment before answering but ultimately said, "We'll stay so long as the price is right. We're pretty low on funds, but Megu would really like to be warm tonight."

"Okay. Let's check it out then."

Megumi and Poro-tan hopped down from their horse and tied it to the hitching rail in front of the inn before heading for the door. The inn was called The Wild Stallion, and Megumi noted the large horse carved intricately above the door before they pushed it open and headed inside. 

The door creaked loudly as they entered and Megu let out a sigh of relief when she saw a young woman sitting behind the inn's counter looking at a ledger and the large crowd gathered in the common area listening to someone perform music on a lute. Megu needs to stop being so paranoid. Everyone seems to be here to see this musician. He does seem good at his craft. Thera's bounty has me all tied up in knots, I need to relax. It's doubtful that anyone would have been in the area to move on us yet anyway as I told Poro-tan earlier. 

Megumi flipped off the hood of her cloak and pulled off her warm gloves once they approached the counter. At least it was nice and toasty inside the inn. 

"Do you have any rooms?"

The innkeeper, a pretty woman, who had short-cut blonde hair, lazily looked up from what she was doing and nodded. "Room and board is 50GP per night. One room or two?" 

"One room is fine." Megumi dug into her bag and pulled out the required money and set it down on the counter. This was an extravagance considering how broke they now were after renting the horse, but it would be okay. 

"Your room is the first one to the right at the top of the stairs." The woman opened a drawer on the desk and shuffled things around for a moment before pulling out a bronze key with the number 1 etched into it. She slid the key over towards Megumi and smiled briefly before going back to staring down at the ledger. 

Once she had the key in her hand, she intended to go straight up to the room and get cleaned up, but the song that was playing in the other room called to her. It was a somewhat somber piece of music, but she recognized it. She kind of wanted to stay and listen for a while. It had been so long since she had taken time to enjoy an entertainer, her bed could wait.

She proffered the key to Poro-tan. "Megu's going to stay down here for a bit and listen to the song. How about you? Do you want to listen as well?"

"Music isn't really my thing and I'm more than a little exhausted. I'll go up and get a little sleep if you think that's okay."

"It's fine, go ahead and rest for a bit, Megu will call if you're needed. There are a lot of people around, no one is going to try anything while we're here," she whispered to him.

Poro-tan nodded. Before he headed upstairs, he paused for a moment and turned to the innkeeper, "Did you guys already serve the evening meal?"

The woman, who had gone back to ignoring them and fidgeting with her papers once again looked up. "Yes, sorry about that. Breakfast is just after sunrise though. I can see if there's something in the kitchen I can dig up for you in a little while though."

"Ah, it's okay. I'll wait for breakfast, I'm kind of more tired than hungry anyway," he laughed nervously to himself and ran his hand through his hair. The guy was transparent as hell.

Megumi had to admit that the girl who was running the inn was somewhat pretty, but still. Megumi's attention was once again drawn back to the common area where the musician began another song. She wanted to sit down and listen, so she headed in that direction while Poro-tan whistled on his way up the stairs to their room.

There was an open seat next to the fireplace, and Megumi snatched it up. The other patrons seemed to be entranced by the music and Megumi found herself closing her eyes and listening as well. He played so well, and the song was a nice one. The musician, who was an older man, bony and frail, had long mustaches that hung halfway down his chest. He had a melodic singing voice and when she opened her eyes as he started the next song, he gave her a wink.

Bleh... these bard types are always huge pervs. Can't Megu just listen to some nice music without being hit on?

She forced herself to give him a polite smile and then held her hands to the side by the fire and rubbed them together. It felt like the cold had seeped straight into her bones over the past few days. Once she was done with killing the king, she intended to be out of these mountains as soon as possible. 

As the bard finished his second song, he reached into a large bag next to him and pulled out a different instrument. Megumi saw that it was a harp and the man plucked a few strings tentatively before reaching over and grabbing one of the several mugs that had been sat down next to him. He took a long swig of the liquid and then spoke to her.

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

"What's your name, little lady?" he pointed.

"Megumi."

"Well, Megumi, I have a song, just for pretty girls like you." He sat down the mug and began plucking on the strings of the harp, and singing a familiar song. She was surprised, but she knew this song as well. It was called The Monarch's March and it was a tragic song about love and loss. It was beautiful and she found herself lost in the song as he stared at her while singing.

Megumi leaned back into her chair and closed her eyes remembering the last time she had heard this particular song. A lifetime ago, she had regularly gotten to hear music in her home before her whole life went to shit. She felt a teardrop run down her cheek unbidden as the song continued. She remembered sitting with her family and watching a skilled musician as he performed for them. Truth be told, this old man actually sung the song better than the last person she saw perform it. She had to give him a lot of credit for being a travelling musician rather than becomign a court bard or something.

The melody was soothing like the embrace of a loving parent who you hadn't seen in ages and it made her feel melancholy hearing it. What would her life be like right now if things had gone differently? Would she be married? Would she have had kids of her own? Tears continued to flow from her eyes even though she was squeezing them tightly shut and trying not to think about the past, she couldn't help it. She reached up and wiped her face and she realized that she was suddenly feeling very tired for some reason. 

Maybe the days of travel and the release of pent up feelings had taken it out of her?

Megu should go up and get some rest after this song.

She yawned and opened her eyes, which were now feeling quite heavy and watched the man as he continued to perform. The song seemed to be having a similar effect on the other people who had gathered, and she saw that several of the others had fallen asleep in their chairs.

Megu's eyes are so heavy... Need to go to sleep.

Alarms sounded in her head that something was wrong, but she just couldn't get enough energy to move. Her thought swere sluggish and no matter how hard she tried to keep her eyes open, they continued to fight her, trying to stay closed.

The old bard had stood up from his chair and now stood in front of her, plucking at the harp and singing. He had a huge grin on his face as he sung loudly. This wasn't right. She had fallen into a trap! She needed to call for help right away. Poro-tan could take care of this bard and then everything would be okay again. Her thoughts came slowly, it was like she was wading through a pit of thick mud and she fumbled to make the call for aid. She couldn't concentrate enough to send out the orders.

Her magical resistance was high, and that's probably the only reason she had managed to remain conscious so long, but there was literally nothing she could do. All of the other people in the room had passed out a while ago for certain. Poro-kun would notice she was gone when she didn't come upstairs, but would it be too late? Megumi felt as though she hadn't slept in over a month. Resistance was completely futile. As a last ditch effort, she attempted to yell, but she couldn't even manage to make her body do something as simple as that.

It took everything she had to hold her eyes open and she glared at the grinning bard. The figure of the woman who had been at the counter stepped in front of her and leaned down. "She's still awake. That's pretty impressive. This will be the easiest 20k GP we've ever made."

"Her companion? How did he resist my Siren's Call spell?"

"I don't know, it's an anomaly. That spell pulled everyone in the town here. All we had to do was walk around and people followed us like sheep. No one had been able to resist, not even this girl."

"I don't like the idea of leaving someone behind who will likely come after us."

"It doesn't matter, he went upstairs to sleep from what he said earlier. Leave him. We should hurry up and be on our way already. I want to cash her in as soon as possible and move on to the next job. Thera likes it when we bring the bounties in alive, so that she can dispose of them personally, but we can kill her if we need to. That goes double for her companion if he gets in our way. By the time he even notices she's not here, we'll be long gone and he won't be able to find us anyway. I don't enjoy killing people for free and he has no bounty on his head. Let's go."

The last thing Megumi felt before passing out was a cold metal ring snapping around her neck. Her MP leaked out of her like a breached dam and blackness finally overtook her.

Spoiler: Poro-kun's Stats

Name Hideki (Poro-kun) Level 024 (32,999/39,903 EXP to next Level) Class Warrior HP 1475/1475 MP 50/50 TP 1 Adventurer Rank B Attributes Vitality 53 Magic 12 Endurance 40 Magic Resistance 18 Strength 37 Luck 7 Agility 29   Dexterity 26 Passive Skills • Warrior's Essence - Level 5 (+50 HP regeneration/min)

• Sword Mastery - Level 7 (+70% proficiency with swords)

• Tiger Style - Level 2

• Turtle Style - Level 2

• Stalwart - Level 1 (+10% natural defense)

• Fortify Health - Level 3 (+150 HP) Active Skills • Holy Blade - Level 1 (Envelope blade in holy aura for 15 seconds)

• Shockwave - Level 2 (Release shockwave from blade)

Spoiler: Megumi's Stats

Name Megumi Level 026 (46,805/49,541 EXP to next Level) Class Necromancer HP 475/475 MP 0/1350 TP 0 Villain Rank C     Adventurer Rank D Attributes Vitality 19 Magic 75 Endurance 10 Magic Resistance 50 Strength 6 Luck 18 Agility 9   Dexterity 10 Passive Skills • Mage's Essence - Level 6 (+180 MP regeneration/min)

• Fortify MP - Level 2 (+100 MP) Active Skills • None Necromancer Magic

• Sanguine Infusion (50 MP) - Level 15 (Absorb life essence of recently deceased, 15% chance to gain +1 TP from human victims [Cap reached. Lvl Requirement for Lvl 16, (50)])

• Corpse Explosion (30 MP) - Level 7 - (+70% damage from explosion)

• Corpse Absorbtion (10 MP) - Level 1 (Absorb a corpse's essence. Recover 80 MP)

• Raise Undead (20 MP) - Level 10 (Raise weak undead to fight for you. Max: 50)

• Summon Blood Golem (500 MP) - Level 1 (Raise a Golem to fight by your side by using the blood of the fallen. Max: 1)

• Blood Golem Mastery - Level 2 (+8 Minutes to summon duration. +10% defense, +10% attack power)

• Soul Trap (350 MP) - Level 1 (Trap soul of a recently defeated foe. Max: 1 [Cap reached. Lvl Requirement for Lvl 2: (30)] )

• Soul Trap Mastery - Level 4 (+10 to all stats, excluding Luck, of Summoned Soul)

• Spirit Barrier (100 MP) - Level 2 (Erect a barrier using souls of the dead for fuel. Blocks spells and projectiles)

• Magic Skin - Level 3 (Actively consumes MP to negate physical and magical damage. Higher levels lower the MP cost)

• Decay (120 MP) - Level 5 - (25% chance of success. Causes body to rot from the inside out causing extreme pain and slowing movement at joints)

• Siphon (70 MP) - Level 1 - (Drain health of enemy at a rate of 10 HP/second for up to 5 seconds. 30% chance of success.)

• Eldritch Blast (75 MP) - Level 13 (Unleashes a roiling ball of Eldritch energy that burns its subject on contact for 5 seconds)