"Should I scout ahead?" asked Chris as he had a tight grip on his bows and arrows.The party shared a glance before Luke said, "Go ahead, but at the first sign of trouble, head back right away.""Got it," Chris said as he hurried off to find the reason for the crowd.It didn't take long for him to weave his way around the people until he was at the front. Of course, it wasn't without consequence, as people glared at his back. It was understandable, but right now he needed to figure out what was happening, and he would be on his way afterwards. The guards took notice of his presence and tightened their hands on their spears.One of them stepped forward with their spear pointed in his direction as he said, "Back."Chris raised his hands in surrender as he said, "I mean no harm. I only want to know what's going on."His words did nothing to convince the guards that he meant no harm. Even the people behind him backed away and stared at him like he had the plague. Actually, the more he tho
"I think this is a bad idea," Tracy said as she had her arms crossed in front of her."Denied," Luke said. "If you thought it was a bad idea, you should have said so earlier."Tracy scowled as she stared in the direction the party had disappeared to. The plan was simple. They would pretend that Luke and Tracy weren't part of the party, so they weren't 'heroes'. Technically, Tracy wasn't a 'hero' to begin with, but that was beside the point. The point was that Luke and Tracy were introduced as tag alongs to gauge the guards' reactions.As Luke expected, they weren't allowed in, even though the others insisted they should come along. He wasn't surprised by their reaction and was even counting on the duo to be denied entry. Of course, they could have simply gone with the truth and said that Tracy wasn't a 'hero', but he didn't want her to be by herself for the investigation.Obviously, Grace was out, as he worried they would both get into trouble without supervision. Chris couldn't do it
After clearing out all the bodies, Luke looked at how many points he had received. He had only gathered about twenty two points. It couldn't be helped since there were only twenty two demonic monkeys they fought and killed, but with such a small number of points, he couldn't imagine being able to get anything worthwhile from the store.Well, it couldn't hurt to check. He pulled up the store and scanned the options. Luke wasn't sure what he was expecting, but he certainly didn't expect to see the store selling gold in exchange for points. The rate seemed to be one point for one gold. That meant if he exchanged all his points, he would get twenty two gold. Immediately, he checked to see if there was an option to exchange gold for points.He was denied, much to his disappointment. Of course, it couldn't be that easy to earn points. The demon king had already said as much. Luke had no need for more gold when he was getting decent money from the Morris family because of their deal. It woul
"It's been a while since we stayed in town. Is no one worried about the others?" Grace asked as she glanced at the people with her.She had been uneasy about separating from Luke, but he insisted it would be better for her to stick with the rest of the party while he stayed with Tracy. It wasn't like it was the first time they had been separated, but this was the longest time they had been apart. It had already been a few days since they started investigating the town for clues about the demons.So far they hadn't found anything, and she found it suffocating how the townspeople kept pressuring them to hurry and deal with the demons when they barely had anything to go on. She made sure to stay close to Theodore after the one incident where someone pulled at her clothes, nearly ripping them. Theodore almost beat the man to death before the rest of the party managed to pull him off.The stranger clearly didn't mean to do it, but she didn't feel comfortable letting people come close to he
"Okay, seriously, how are we still finding nothing on those demons?" said Bobby as he slammed his fist on the table.This drew the attention of the people in the inn, and he ducked his head to avoid their attention. Lately, the atmosphere had been getting uglier and uglier with each passing day. They had been there for almost a week now, with no news from Luke or Tracy either. It was honestly worrying, but they couldn't leave the town to go look for them.It wasn't because they didn't want to, but it was because the townspeople insisted they stay and solve the demon problem. The situation had gotten so bad that a fight might have broken out if the heroes hadn't backed down. It took a bit of effort to keep Theodore from doing something that the party would regret. This was nothing like they expected. As heroes, they should be treated better."If only Luke were here, then we might be able to get out of this mess," Chris said.Theodore only scowled as he drank from his mug. Grace glanced
"You've got to be kidding me," Chris said as he gripped the bars of his cell and glared through the gap. "I demand a trial."He was ignored by the guards, who went about doing whatever it was they did. With a huff, he let go of the bars and backed away. Once he was close to the wall, he sat down. The rest of the party were also stuck in their own cells, so he couldn't see how they were doing. Hopefully, they were okay. The guards had taken all their belongings before throwing them into their cells.After a few moments, he called out, "Is everyone okay?""I'm just peachy," said Bobby."I'm okay," Grace said.There was a grunt, which Chris hoped was Theodore. Otherwise, he might have to believe the worst had happened considering how he was the one the guards thought responsible for the destruction, which he thought was ridiculous. Seriously, after thinking about it, it made no sense at all. If it happened an hour ago, why did the guards only just arrest them?Also, the streets hadn't be
When the explosion first started happening, the only person remaining calm was Theodore. He glanced all around as he kept his ears open for what could be the cause, which was difficult considering all the screaming. It didn't help that the cells next to him contained Bobby and Chris, who seemed to be panicking over the situation. That wasn't to say Grace was calm.In fact, if he could see her, he would see that she was shaking in her boots. However, it was better than listening to the duo shouting and demanding to know what was happening. It was obvious what was going on. The important part was to figure out who was responsible and what they needed to do next. It was unfortunate that he wasn't strong enough to bend the bars of his cell.Another explosion erupted, and this time it came from behind him. Fortunately, he reacted fast enough and was able to defend himself as best he could against it. His arms screamed in pain as he cursed. He could vaguely hear the rest of his party trying
Luke listened to the demon report that his party was still nearby, but they hadn't decided what they were going to do. They didn't have any supplies since they had been forced to run out of the town with their tails between their legs. Even though Luke had intended for that to happen, he still felt guilt that they had no supplies to help them on their way.They could still forage, but that didn't change the fact that they would have to go through a significant change in diet while they decided their next course of action. Well, once he settled matters with the town, he would pay them back for this mess by supplying them with food. Of course, he already had an excuse planned to explain away how he got his hands on the supplies."Is everyone ready?" Luke asked once the demon finished talking.The demons scoffed before saying, "Of course. It's not like we've been waiting for this moment."He would have pointed out that they had been taking turns terrorizing the town in different ways for