Chapter 96 Love-Hate Relationship

I had been standing in front of the flames of the burning houses. The color of my face became reddish-orange as the fiery red color of the flames reflected on my face.

My body felt warm through the senses on my skin. The warmth embraced my body. However, my lips remained in a neutral position as I noticed something in the flames.

I had thrown the dead body of the nanny in the flames at one of the houses that had caught fire.

The first thing that caught fire was the nanny's clothes. After that, the hair on the head of her dead body began to burn, then the entire skin on her dead body had been burned also little by little.

When the flames ate her dead body, the color of her dead body had changed to completely black.

Her dead body was perfectly camouflaged with the wood that had been burning, helping the flames to keep burning. I was sure her insides would also burn until her dead body became ashes.

I continued to pay attention to what was in the flames, until finally the arrival of the children inside the inn distracted me.

Colby and Nina came dragging Pavlova and his men with the help of the other children.

Pavlova and his men were still bound hand and foot.

The children stopped dragging Pavlova and his men as they came toward me.

I was a little astonished when I saw Pavlova and his men. Except for Pavlova, they were in a state of unconscious.

It seemed that they had bumps on their heads and bodies.

One of the children said that they had to beat them unconscious in order to drag them here. That was why they took so long.

Being in the front row, Colby grabbed Pavlova's shoulders. Then he pushed Pavlova's back, causing him to fall down.

"This is enough, right?" Colby asked sarcastically.

"Yes, you can come over to Jeanne."

Colby went straight to Jeanne who was still unconscious on the ground. With a worried face, he touched Jeanne's hand.

Like a flock of ducklings approaching their mother, the other children also came to Jeanne and also held Jeanne's hand.

Unfortunately, I couldn't give them time to play out the lowly household drama.

This place would soon be surrounded by soldiers who noticed the commotion here.

There was no way such a big commotion here would remain a secret.

Especially when people have seen the smoke soaring in the sky, they will automatically swarm this place soon.

So, there's not much time left.

I took a bag of money from my pants pocket.

There was only Nina who hadn't approached Jeanne yet. She was still standing in front of me.

I forced Nina to accept the bag full of money.

She was confused at first, but I placed the bag in her hand forcefully.

The money in the bag would be enough for them to live comfortably for some time.

"Take good care of Jeanne and the other children. For the next few days, you'd better find another inn. Only after the situation here is conducive, you can stay at my inn again."

I was afraid that this area would be closely watched by Yary and his soldiers. Either the warrior or the magician could come here again.

Nina's response was a shock.

She gaped stupidly.

"B-but-"

She wanted to say something, but I didn't give her a chance to argue or refute it.

After all, the money I gave her was the money I took from their nanny.

So, you could also say that I was giving back the money that they should have had... although most of it was of course my own.

Then, Nina entered the other group of children and told them to leave immediately.

Working together, they carried Jeanne's body. They headed in the opposite direction from where the houses were burning.

Passing through the cracks beside the houses, they were finally lost in the darkness of the shadows of the houses.

It was quite funny to see them struggling to carry Jeanne's body, but I had to focus on other things.

Pavlova, the slave trader.

When I wasn't paying attention to him, he was kneeling.

"Hoek!"

He looks like he's vomiting.

Apparently he vomited because he saw the dead body of Duster that I had covered with a robe. Of course that robe was Duster's own, not mine.

I squatted down and pulled Pavlova's back collar. I aligned my eyes with his.

Receiving my glance, he quickly wiped his mouth so that there were no remnants of his vomit.

"Alright. Shall we continue our chat about our previously pending deal?"

I asked while letting out a smile.

***

On the bed of an inn, Jeanne still had her eyelids closed.

Once again, Jeanne's subconscious entered the darkness. The darkness was a nightmare, and the nightmare haunted her subconscious.

Nightmares of not being able to protect the children, nightmares of being betrayed by someone, and all other nightmares began to invade her subconscious.

Feelings of sadness, disappointment, anger, all those feelings gathered in her little heart.

Jeanne, in an unconscious state, began to blame herself for being weak. As a result of her weakness, she was unable to do anything.

Although she often scolded the children, the sadness of losing them could be very deep.

At least, that was how she felt.

However, just as she was about to be trapped in the darkness of her nightmare, she felt a gentle touch on her lower abdomen. Not long after, her wrinkled forehead also felt a gentle touch.

Not long after, she opened her eyes.

Her hand rubbed her forehead and stomach as if she did not want to lose the soft sensation she had previously felt.

'Did I just faint?'

"Ah!"

Her foggy mind began to get clearer. Several questions began to assail him. What about her fight with Mesties and Duster? If she fainted, did that mean the children had been kidnapped?

Her negative thoughts forced her to grieve for no reason.

Unfortunately, her grief did not last long. Her thoughts had to be delayed due to the commotion around her. Her ears managed to pick up the sounds around her, which resulted in her lifting her upper body to look at her surroundings.

"The price for one room with two bedrooms is 3 silver coins. That's for a two-day stay. The price includes two meals."

"What? Isn't that very expensive?"

"What are you saying, boy? Didn't I tell you from the start that the price is non-negotiable? If you don't like it, then leave! Find another inn instead."

The noise turned out to be from Colby who was arguing with the man who owned the inn where she was.

Nina and the other children were watching the debate between Colby and the innkeeper.

When she saw the children around her, Jeanne automatically burst into tears.

She quickly approached the children.

Even if this was probably just a lie, she just wanted to follow her body's natural reaction. That was the thought in her head. As her body desired, she immediately embraced them.

"What are you doing, Big Sister?"

The children asked in confusion on behalf of the other children.

At first Jeanne thought that the children in front of her were not real, however, her head became clearer and clearer.

"Uh, is this real?"

Seeing their Big Sister's strange behavior, the innocent children immediately pinched Jeanne's cheeks vigorously, causing Jeanne's soft cheeks to turn red.

"Ouch, what are you guys doing?"

Reflexively, Jeanne scolded them. She ruffled the children's hair and pinched their cheeks back.

"Swtop, Big Sister!"

"Hahaha. Thank goodness you guys are safe."

"What could have happened, didn't you protect us?"

"Do you know what happened after I fainted?"

"We don't know."

Jeanne started to get confused.

Why would Mesties just let the children go?

She didn't know the reason. 'Is there an internal conflict between Mesties and that magician?' her mind began to make deductions.

But clearly, there was still a sense of resentment in her heart towards Mesties.

She bit her finger and furrowed her pretty eyebrows. The wrinkles on her forehead began to form without her wanting them to. Resentment and anger were still gathering in her heart.

"A-and then, did you know where Mesties was?"

"We don't know," Nina answered Jeanne's question suddenly. Nina replaced the other confused children.

"Ahhh~ damn it!" Jeanne shouted in annoyance.

Her foot hit the floor hard.

When she was acting crazy, suddenly the robe wrapped around the front of her body fell to the ground.

It was at that moment that she realized that she had been wearing a robe that she had never worn before.

A plain black robe without any patterns on it. A robe that could be bought easily at any store you came across.

Without taking a closer look at the robe, she knew who it belonged to. 'Yes, Mesties.' As his mind replied, he became even crazier.

Just as she was about to pick up the robe, she found a piece of paper from inside the robe's pocket. The piece of paper fell out of the pocket which she picked up and read.

[Quest Rank: F

Description:

Protects the charitable activities carried out by Charity Hope Foundation.

Place: Clock Tower in the Western district.

Time: Every day. The recipient of the request can come to the place in question anytime].

After seeing that the paper was a request paper, she assumed that the request was a request taken by the Mesties of the Adventurer's Association.

"If I fulfill this request, I will definitely be able to meet him." She said with a face full of confidence.

She clenched the request paper and was determined to go find Mesties. However, she had to take care of the children first.

She was busy talking to the children, until she didn't realize that there was someone who kept staring at her and the other children with bulging eyes.

"You kids. Hey! Aren't you going to pay? If not, then please leave. Don't linger here!"

"Prepare the accommodation for all of us!"

Nina finally intervened and threw a gold coin on the floor.

Seeing the gold coin in Nina's hand, the innkeeper who had wanted to chase the children away, quickly shut up and obeyed like a fed dog, who wagged his tail happily.

A look of confusion was on the faces of everyone who saw Nina had a lot of money.

'Why won't he let me tell them?' she ended up silently receiving a flurry of questions.