64 Shadows

After a relatively uneventful night, Linnaeus was performing maintenance on his equipment when an incongruous feeling passed over him. At the same time, Emilia, who had been sleeping at the side with Eliza, twitched awake and, a stark contrast to Eliza, seemed completely awake in an instant.

Without the need for words, Linnaeus made a small hand sign before using a small cloth to wipe the oil from his daggers. He pretended not to have noticed the presence outside while Emilia, following his orders, snuggled up next to Eliza, albeit with a tense body...

Just as Linnaeus was considering whether or not he should take proactive action, a loud knocking was heard against the door. Immediately after, a slurred yet feminine voice shouted, "Hey, ey tol' you notsch to locksh the doooooooor~" while wiggling the doorknob.

Though it seemed like a misunderstanding, Linnaeus didn't drop his guard at all. Rather, the feeling on incongruity was even stronger than before and, never doubting his gut, he stood up silently with both daggers in hand as he stared back at the door.

Eventually, the abrasive and annoying noise awoke Eliza and, as if she had no sense of tension at all, she shouted in an even louder voice, "This isn't your room you dumbass...!" in a sleepy tone.

In response to Eliza's outburst, the shaking of the door ceased in an instant. Then, after several seconds of silence, an awkward laugh rang out from the hallway. Based on the sound, it could be inferred that the person outside was walking away but, even after the sound had faded entirely, Linnaeus kept in a battle-ready stance as Emilia helped Eliza come to her senses.

It was only when she was wiping the sleep from her eyes that Eliza realized the state Linnaeus was in. This caused her to stare at him for a brief moment before all the tiredness faded from her body and mind. She became significantly more serious as she asked in a low whisper, "What happened? That knocking...did someone try to break into our room...?"

Without taking his eyes away from the door, Linnaeus lightly shrugged his shoulders as he didn't really know the other person's intent. He couldn't even be certain she was a female as it wasn't all that difficult to mask your voice if you put a bit of effort into it.

Realizing that Linnaeus and Emilia weren't saying anything, Eliza ultimately decided to stay quiet as well. She quickly readied her own equipment without bothering to fix her hair. It was only when she was prepared that Linnaeus finally moved from his position, his steps absolutely silent as he stalked toward the silent door...

Once Eliza and Emilia had fallen into their own positions behind him, Linnaeus reached for the door's knob after deftly disabling the series of locks. Then, with a single motion, he swung the door open as he lifted up the dagger in his left hand, the point facing outward as a young girl with pale blond hair set into two parted braids walked by with a pile of linens.

Seemingly very surprised, the young girl startled like a cat with its tail stepped upon, the linens in her hand being thrown upward like an eruption. At the same time, Linnaeus formed a barrier to separate his body from the young girl just as a thin-bladed weapon, much like an ice-pick, stabbed toward his neck.

As if his barrier was completely useless against the highly penetrative weapon, Linnaeus twisted his body to the side as the thin blue membrane shattered like a piece of glass. At nearly the exact same moment, Emilia emerged from behind him, spear extending outward toward the seemingly young girl with an average and homely appearance.

Rather than try to defend against the attack, the young girl rolled in the opposite direction from Linnaeus. This was around the same time that the linens began to settle so she grabbed one in a single swift motion, throwing it between herself and Emilia as she tumbled several times in a deft and controlled manner.

Since bundled cloth was surprisingly difficult to cut through, Emilia's spear tip ended up being wrapped by the fabric but, rather than hold on to an entangled weapon, she placed it back into her Inventory before pulling out a second one without any delay. This caused the homely girl who, upon closer inspection, had two curved horns at the side of her head to muse, "You all aren't bad at all~."

Knowing the foolishness of communicating with an enemy mid-combat, Emilia largely ignored the girl's words as a ball of water formed at the base of her spearhead. She moved fast enough to vault over a thin piece of metal that had been thrown out by the girl then, using the roof as a footstool, lunged down with lethal momentum.

Now with a smile on her face, the homely girl squat toward the ground as if she wasn't even going to try and dodge. The hair on Emilia's neck stood on end in response as she had yet to identify what kind of Blessing the opponent had before charging into her range.

As if having read her mind, a thin blue membrane appeared in front of Emilia's trajectory, allowing her to quickly change direction in exchange for considerable discomfort and a bit of joint pain. At the same time, the girl released a light chuckle as, instead of attacking, she sank into the shadows beneath herself...

With the incongruous feeling fading away in an instant, Linnaeus furrowed his brows while Eliza, having just left the room moments prior, muttered, "So much for laying low." in an annoyed tone.

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Hearing her remark, Linnaeus shrugged his shoulders before placing his daggers into the sheaths at his lower back. There was a lot he wanted to say but, seeing several people exiting their rooms while the Inn's owner quickly ascended from the lower floor, he knew it wasn't really the time to talk about the identity and purpose of their attacker.

Unlike the kindly Sara, the owner of the Inn was a mountain of a man with a 'mane' of blazing red hair. The muscles on his body rippled with each of his movements yet, despite his rather bulky figure, he moved with precise and smooth movements. It would be impossible to run a business if you lacked connections and individual power so most established business owners were retired Hunters or high-level craftsman.

Fortunately, the man didn't immediately accuse Linnaeus' group of causing trouble as there was no reason for them to stay behind if that were the case. He could tell they were all extremely tense so, while he did question them, it wasn't difficult to guess they were the victims. Since this type of event wasn't all that rare outside of Central City, he even offered them a free meal as an apology for the inconvenience.

Linnaeus was honestly surprised by this reaction as he was used to people using any opportunity to con others. If not for the casual demeanor of Krone and Eliza, he would have refused the offer as he would have instinctually assumed the owner of the Inn was related to his attackers...

Once the questioning had come to an end, Linnaeus and co were gathered around a circular table at the corner of the Inn's floor room. They had a massive amount of food piled before them, much to the satisfaction of Emilia, but Linnaeus elected not to partake as he quietly explained, "I believe the purpose of our attackers was to collect information, not assassinate us. That girl was extremely swift and it's not the first time I've seen someone use [Shadow Step]. If her purpose had been to kill us, it would have been easier to attack us a few hours before sunset. There would have been no reason to use such a roundabout method..."

With her cheeks stuff with food, giving her an appearance similar to a small rodent, Emilia nodded in response as she added, "She was watching us all closely. Her speed was also similar to mine but she chose to keep a distance, despite having short-range weapons. Based on her movements, she wasn't inexperienced in intrapersonal combat. If she was serious, fighting inside of my range would give her a big advantage."

Though she didn't disagree with Emilia's analysis, Eliza picked at the food on her plate as she lightly muttered, "We can't dismiss the possibility that she fought in such a way as a result of not knowing our capabilities. Like Lin said, it is obvious they were just feeling us out...if I'm not wrong, we'll learn her intentions in the near future...haaaaa...."

Eliza was actually very accustomed to people targetting her and the people around her but, now that she was living a second life in the Crucible of Souls, it was disheartening to have people targetting her again so soon. It hadn't even been two full months since she died yet, despite making an effort to lay low, people came seeking trouble with her...

Unaware of the fact that Eliza had essentially condemned the people targetting them to death, Linnaeus mulled over the event within his mind. He considered everything Eliza and Emilia had said before hanging his head in a thoughtful manner and whispering, "It is impossible to be certain but the most likely motive seems to be recruiting people. If we're weak, they would probably suppress us and force us to pay a protection fee. Now that they've confirmed we're able to protect ourselves, the odds of a secondary force being sent to...negotiate...are pretty high."

As they had already come to similar conclusions, Eliza and Emilia nodded their heads while, at the side, Krone had his usual stern expression as he remarked, "If we leave the Southern Forests for another region, I doubt they would follow us. To use these kinds of methods, our enemies must be cowards who rely on a few powerful individuals to exploit anyone weaker than themselves. Staying here will just make us a target, either for recruiting or showing off their power..."

Linnaeus could understand Krone's point but, considering they had traveled more than half a day just to reach the Southern Forests, combined with the fact they had diminishing Kindling reserves, it would be extremely detrimental to leave so soon. There was also the simple fact that, if they couldn't even move freely in the 'weakest' territory, how could they expect to carry themselves confidently in other, markedly more powerful, regions?

In spite of his usual caution, Linnaeus shook his head, not to disagree with Krone but to deny the underlying suggestion contained within his words. Then, crossing his arms to put on a confident air, Linnaeus explained, "I don't want to stick out too much but, if we hang our heads and let people push us around, even living on the Fifth Floor will be made difficult. I say we focus on our original purpose while coming up with a solution to this problem...based on how the Proprieter behaved, this isn't the first time something like this has happened."

Remembering how the man had acted, Linnaeus was certain this was an arranged scheme, one that was directly supported by the Hunting Guild. They likely had a shadow organization that dealt with any troublesome elements that threatened the Guild's interests. For now, it was clear their intention was to simply gather information but, depending on how things developed, they may very well be targetted for elimination.

For now, Linnaeus wanted to gather information and, if possible, recruit people in a similar situation as them. Unfortunately, this would be very difficult as, if they approached people immediately after they were attacked, the logical conclusion was that they were the perpetrators behind the attack.

With this in mind, Linnaeus began to lay out a plan with his Party, one that focused on playing the part of bait as he gathered what information he could. They would keep Eliza's power concealed for as long as possible and, in order to trick the enemy into mislabeling his ability, Krone would only absorb the traits of his gauntlets. There were very Blessing that allowed a person to change the basic composition of their body so it wasn't difficult to mislead observers...