Creak!
As the carriage was travelling through the sunless night, the twin moons in the sky illuminated the earth below with dim lights, Syla rode the last carriage that was heading to Direwell and realized that the carriage was a bit old, creaking noises can be heard almost constantly throughout her journey.
Because the carriage doesn't have a roof installed on it, Syla could look up into the sky and saw the countless stars and galaxies that helped the two moons to brighten the otherwise gloomy night, she stared at the cosmos, appreciating its beauty as the cold breeze sweeped through her body.
'Thankfully i wear a long pants and not a skirt, or else i'd be catching a cold tomorrow.. The nights in this world are colder than what i remember on earth..' Syla thought.
'If only my sleeves were longer.'
While Syla gazed upon the starry sky, she was startled by the carriage driver suddenly talking to her.
"It's a bit cold isn't it." He said, it seems like he was trying to lighten up the mood and invited Syla for a conversation.
"You're right.." Syla replied softly.
Earlier before the two of them set out towards Direwell, Syla was told that the carriage driver's name was Hermen, they introduced each other and shook hands together until Syla offered him a silver for the travel fee.
"I heard you're the one that solved Hayville's mandrake problem, how did you manage to survive from their shrieks?" Hermen asked, although his face wasn't facing at Syla directly, Syla could tell that he was smiling curiously.
"Ohh that— Umm, well let's just say i have something to cover my ears." Syla responded, she hesitated to tell him the truth, and in the end she decided not to since it was a little too embarassing to admit.
'I can't say that i inserted two slimes into my ears can i?' She thought briefly.
"Is that so, yeaahh it's amazing huh, i heard demihumans usually doesn't travel alone, do you have a family living in Direwell? Or maybe a friend?—
"Ah, pardon me." Hermen suddenly apologized and scratched the back of his head while chuckling.
"No it's okay, I actually don't have anything like that, my families are still living in my hometown Demiria, and i visited Direwell all alone." Syla responded effortlessly.
"Is that so– Hmm, Aye im sorry if i sounded a bit mean miss, but you're quite brave to travel all by yourself, pardon for my words, but your beauty can be a curse- Out of every girls that i've met, demihumans or not, you're definitely one of the most beautiful one i've met yet—
"And for people out there, who has a corrupted heart, they won't be able to miss out on someone like you, especially when they know that you're alone." Hermen said, his voice sounded serious and he turned his head towards Syla as a reminder of how cruel a person can be.
Syla stayed quiet for a few seconds, she heard all of Hermen's warning and was processing it in her head. She then furrowed her eyebrows and looked down to the carriage floor.
"—I know." Syla said. "That's why i became this strong, i trained, i read, and i learned countless knowledges about this world– All to make sure that i survive."
"I see— You're prepared, though we may never meet again, i wish you good luck on your adventure, miss." Hermen said with a gentle voice.
Syla didn't gave anymore words to Hermen, her head was locked to the floor, as she was listening to the sound of the howling wolves and owls, the memories of her struggles from the time of her birth to this day began flooding in her mind.
"Sigh– It's never easy." Syla whispered.
"Life has always been full of troubles, it sounds bothersome, yet without it, life will feel empty." Hermes suddenly responded, his smile was hidden from Syla.
.
.
Meanwhile, at the secret underground basement in the west side of Direwell—
A faint sound of chains hitting each other can be heard echoing throughout the room, followed by the sound of a man groaning coarsely, the basement room has had a significant change from what it looks like a few days ago, with the addition of an extra chains lining up at each side.
While the groaning noise and the sound of chains clashing was still ringing, a quiet clacking noise was mixed into the sorrow atmosphere, as the chained shadowed figure turned their head into the source of the clacking noise, the wooden door that separates the place with the outside world was opened.
From the other side of the door, three shadowy figures emerged and walked to the room, one of them was well-built and tall while the others looked smaller and chubbier respectively. The three figures stood right infront of the door after they went inside, they glanced at every chained person in the room before one of them raised their voice.
"How much have we gathered?" The one in the middle, which was the tall man, talked with a deep voice that reverberated across the basement.
"We've gathered 6 so far, that'll be enough to meet with the quota." The smaller and skinnier one replied cautiously.
"Hmm.. That's too little, i want 8 of them by the end of tomorrow, you can do that- right?" The bulky man said in a menacing tone, he obviously didn't want to receive 'no' as an answer
"B- but sir.. Direwell's mayor had already caught our smell, i heard they've already launched an investigation, if we extend our time in here and gathered more people, it'll be risky." The chubby one on the left tried to reason with the bulky man, however he was met with dissatisfaction as the bulky man grabbed him by his neck, choking him until he was almost out of breath.
"Keukk!!.. keukk!!" The chubby man tried to let go of the grip, but it was too strong, his strength was clearly way below the bulky man, and because of his short legs, he couldn't even bother to try to kick him.
"S- sir, we can do 8! We promise that we'll bring the other 2 tomorrow." The skinny man said while holding the bulky man's arm, asking him to let go of his grip from the chubby man.
After accepting the request, the bulky man then calmed down and freed the chubby man from his grip, he then put one of his hand into his pocket and pulled out a small glass vial that has a strange liquid inside of it.
He quickly drank the liquid from the glass vial in one gulp and threw the vial to the ground as it shatters into multiple pieces.
"Wait, i remember something." The bulky man suddenly said as the two others were about to leave the room.
They had no choice but to turn back and look at the bulky man, listening for what he had to say.
"There's a demihuman that has been recently coming to the adventurer's guild quite often, her appearance is perfect and quite possibly the best i've seen.. If we can capture her, many people would be willing to drop enormous amount of money, especially those sex crazed maniacs." The bulky man said, he glared at the two other man with his eyes.
"She's a top priority, search for that demihuman girl and bring her to me, you'll know who she is when you see her– you can go for whoever you want with the last person. Of course, i'll be searching for her too, that's how valuable she is." He added.
At the end of their conversation, the three men left the room as if nothing has ever happened, but before the bulky man left, he spared some time to approach one of the chained person at the side of the room, he crouched at the person who looked like a girl in her 20's, with her hairs painted in black stretching beyond her shoulder, and her oceanic eyes bright yet empty, as if her soul had already moved somewhere else.
The bulky man then opened forcibly opened her mouth, he stared at the saliva dripping from the roof of her mouth before pulling another glass vial from his pocket, this time however the color of the liquids was different, if the previous one that the bulky man drank had the liquids color as purple, this one was glowing in white.
He opened the vial and poured the liquids straight into the girl's mouth, she wasn't able to do anything but swallow the liquids that was given, and after seeing the liquids flowing down her throat, the bulky man then let go of his hand from her and walked out of the room.
Cough! Cough!