The Villain's Sword Is Sharp

Isaac still didn't know enough about the trial. He'd thought about it overnight and decided he still needed more information.

Bars, taverns and brothels were all perfect places to gather such information. All kinds of people were constantly coming and going and they always talked a lot. Chatting to some of the tavern's customers or even overhearing the conversations they had with each other would tell Isaac a lot about the village.

Now that it was lunch, he had a chance to listen to all the village's rumours, gossip and latest news. His colleagues had arrived earlier so they were prepared for the lunch time rush. The 1st wave of customers were the town guards who got early lunch breaks.

Isaac immediately went over to take their orders, but they were only complaining about how boring work was. The gate being found open was the only thing that happened in weeks. In particular, they mentioned they hadn't seen a wolf for almost a month, which seemed unusual. Anything which looked out of place was important since it could be related to the trial.

They ordered food and drinks very politely and Isaac had no excuse to eavesdrop any longer. He took the orders back to the kitchen and gave them to one of the chefs. The ingredients were already prepared and some of the food was even pre-cooked, so the meals were made quickly. When Isaac went back to serve them, he finally found an opportunity to inquire,

"The wolves have been behaving weird recently, haven't they? Honestly, it worries me quite a bit. Do you have any idea what's happening with them?"

The guards didn't know. It was to be expected considering their low positions. However, they did mention that this had happened in previous years around this kind of time. Either it was their natural behaviour for this season or something unusual was taking place this time every year and making the wolves act strangely.

His curiosity was satisfied so Isaac went to wait on the new customers who had entered. Throughout lunch he picked up on interesting bits of conversation, but none that seemed like clues about the trial.

When lunchtime was over, some of the part-time employees left. However, there still wasn't enough work to keep everyone busy. When he didn't have anything to do, Isaac tried talking to the other full-time employees.

After asking a waiter about who the village head was, the waiter said it was a man in his late 50s who lived in the large building Isaac saw yesterday. They also said that the village head had been ill recently. However, Isaac was asking too many questions about things a village resident should already know. The waiter had started to get suspicious of him and was reluctant to answer anything else.

Isaac explained that he'd been living on the streets for a few weeks, so he didn't know any of the recent news in the village. The waiter didn't seem totally convinced, but Isaac was pulled away to help wash up and couldn't say anything else.

He did odd jobs around the tavern until dinnertime. The employees ate a very early dinner together and got ready to serve tables until midnight. The tavern could get very rowdy, especially later when people had drunk a lot.

At dinner, Isaac found a table of middle-aged men drinking together,

"What can I get you, sirs?"

"Another round of beer."

The men were already a but drunk, but Isaac took their order nonetheless. When Isaac came back with the drinks, he heard them arguing. One of the older men had obviously drunk too much and was complaining loudly.

"Taxes have increased again! Farming's already hard enough in this godforsaken climate, but that incompetent village head just keeps making things worse!"

"Calm down and stop embarrassing yourself. I know you don't like it – none of us do, but that's just how things are. What can we do about it? Leave the village?"

"You can't blame me for complaining though. He's not even up and about, yet he's still ruining our lives! If things are like this now, I dread the day he gets better!"

"About that, do you know why Dr Jensen is treating him?"

"Huh?"

"I mean, Dr Ivar's the best doctor in our village, so why isn't he treating the village head?"

The other man couldn't stand his friend's ranting and tried desperately to change the subject. A third farmer cut in and answered,

"I heard Dr Jensen's grandmother left her a set of herbal remedies, making her an expert at curing breathing problems. Maybe it's something to do with that?"

When Isaac put the drinks on the table, the older man immediately went to take one. However, 3 other men simultaneously slapped his hand away. Then, they all looked at each other and laughed.

"Victor, you've had too much already man!"

"Hahaha"

The table quieted down and there weren't any problems (or interesting bits of information) after that. The rest of the day was rather uneventful and Isaac spent a peaceful night in his room.

*************************

That night, a meeting was taking place elsewhere in the village. 13 people were sitting around a table in a bar, but the bar was empty apart from them. Even the barkeeper had left.

The woman at the head of the table was the first one to speak.

"Let us start with a report of everything which has happened since our last meeting."

"The new taxes have not been well received."

"Our business in Sarape Village is going well. They seem to find our products unique and particularly attractive.

"Dr Ivar feels his reputation had been damaged by the new rumours."

"The village gate was found open yesterday evening."

"Do we know why?", the woman at the head of the table asked.

"The guards are sure they didn't leave it open. They only have 2 keys anyway: the head guard showed me that the first one hadn't been moved from his draw, and this deputy assured me the second one was always hung on his belt. He never let it get out of his sight. The only other people with a key are you and the village head."

The woman pondered for a short while.

"And the locks have not been changed? Nobody has noticed anything unusual?"

"The lock is definitely still the same. As for something unusual... I don't know if it's relevant, but a friend told me someone was asking too many questions at the tavern earlier, could be an outsider who entered through the gate. My 'friend' can be a little unreliable though. It's possible the guy was just especially chatty."

"It's nothing solid, but it's a lead. I say we have someone check him out. If he's suspicious, we can give him a tail. If he's not, we'll leave him be."

One of the people on the other side of the table gave their suggestion, and the woman nodded in agreement.

"A good idea. Though remember to be careful. We knew the sect would not like our plans when we started this. If he is somebody from the sect, we have to be wary of him but we also absolutely cannot kill him and provoke the sect even more."

*************************

After giving it some more thought while he lay in bed, Isaac felt the trial's setting was special. Many low-level sect missions took place in small villages like this, so perhaps the trial was meant to resemble a sect mission. If that was the case, Isaac could narrow down what the trial would be about.

Missions from the sect were usually about gathering information. Hunting for certain resources, delivering messages, and helping enforce the rules of the sect were also common missions. Isaac felt confident the trial was made in the style of a mission, so he would probably have to do at least one of those things.

He went to work the same way he did the day before and tried to ask more questions about the village head. However, he was unaware of the man who came in at lunch to eat quietly and subtly observe him.