Chapter 2: Return Inn

The moment he stepped into the inn, the previously fog-covered map suddenly cleared, and the entire southern area of the town became visible.

[You have activated the core landmark of Mottled Town: Return Inn. Core landmarks activated in this area (1/4).]

Raine thought, "As long as I step into a landmark, I can activate the map for that area. It's easier than I thought." But soon, his brows furrowed slightly. Although it seemed simple, if a core landmark was a heavily guarded castle or the territory of some secret society, it probably wouldn't be a place an outsider could casually step into. He suppressed his thoughts and refocused his attention on the inn's interior.

The warm air, laced with the aroma of butter, brought much comfort to his lungs, which had been filled with the biting morning wind. Several tables of guests sat in the hall, with polearms and Shields leaning by their feet. Most of them were Adventurers in varying gear.

A few gazes immediately fell on him, and whispers arose among the tables and chairs—RUSTLE, RUSTLE. Although he couldn't hear them clearly, fragmented phrases like "Goblin," "ran back," and "only him left" still drifted over. Raine lowered his eyelids, paying no mind to the idle gossip, and walked straight toward the inn's bar counter.

Lady Basha was there wiping the wooden counter. Fine lines were etched around the corners of her eyes, and the hair at her temples had turned gray, but her back remained perfectly straight, and her movements were clean and efficient. Seeing Raine approach, she looked up, her gaze holding only the gentle calmness of someone who had weathered many storms. "What do you need, kid?"

"A portion of breakfast, please," Raine said, his voice a bit dry. He placed his only Copper Deer on the counter and found a corner to sit down.

Lady Basha gave a slight nod. Her gaze lingered on his haggard, gaunt face for a moment before she calmly collected the Copper Coin and turned to enter the kitchen.

A moment later, a brown-haired girl in a clean apron walked out alongside Lady Basha. She looked about sixteen or seventeen years old. She wore her hair in a simple but sturdy braid that draped over her shoulder. Dressed in a plain linen dress, her features bore some resemblance to Lady Basha's, though she was much more delicate and pretty. A memory surfaced in Raine's mind: this was Lady Basha's only remaining younger daughter, Lian.

"Your breakfast," Lian said, her voice crisp as she set the meal down in front of Raine. In the moment she put down the tray, Raine keenly noticed that the insides of her slender index finger and thumb had thick calluses, exactly like his own. These were the marks left by long-term friction against a Bowstring. Raine only took a single glance before averting his gaze. In this perilous world, learning some self-defense skills was never a bad idea.

His attention was quickly and entirely drawn to the breakfast in front of him. The tray held two pieces of coarse black bread and a steaming bowl of vegetable soup. Although the broth looked extremely bland with almost no oil floating on the surface, the bottom of the bowl was filled with cabbage and carrots boiled until soft. The portion was far more substantial than he remembered. Raine paused for a moment, silently committing this kindness to memory.

Following the eating method in his memory, he picked up a piece of black bread and dipped it into the warm vegetable soup. Once the bread had soaked up the broth and began to soften, he couldn't wait any longer and took a massive bite. Sour, sticky, and coarse, with the occasional hint of a woody taste. To be honest, it was not delicious. Even when washed down with warm soup, the grainy texture remained obvious, practically scratching his throat. Yet Raine still ate with great relish, practically wolfing it down. In the face of survival, taste was merely a luxury. Moreover, there was an indescribable warmth within it.

Seeing his ravenous eating habits, the murmurs around him seemed to grow denser.

"Enough!" an impatient young female voice rang out, instantly drowning out the surrounding chatter.

Raine looked up. The speaker was an unfamiliar Female Adventurer at a neighboring table. She wore heavily worn Leather Armor, her wine-red hair tied back neatly, and a Longsword hung at her waist. Right now, she had her arms crossed over her chest, her gaze sweeping across those who were gossiping the most enthusiastically.

"You keep calling him a coward and saying he abandoned his companions, but did any of you see with your own eyes what this kid actually went through?" Her frame was slender, making the shabby Leather Armor seem a bit loose, but her tone was firm and resonant. "If it were you, could you guarantee you'd have done any better in that hellhole? You make it sound so easy!"

The Red-haired Female Swordsman let out a cold snort, picked up her bag, and walked straight out of the inn, leaving the speechless gossipers to look at each other in dismay. In the instant she turned around, a hint of complex emotion seemed to flicker in the Female Swordsman's sharp eyes, but she hid it well, and almost no one noticed.

Watching her slender figure leave, Raine's chewing slowed down a bit. When his predecessor had fled back, his mind had already completely broken down. He had only kept muttering things like "They're all dead," "They were all Goblins," and "I'm a coward." Truly, no one knew what had actually happened that night. Except for himself.

The suppressed memories began to clear up once more.

The night wind in the Demon Shadow Forest was bone-chillingly cold, mixed with the stench of rotting leaves and damp earth. Like a frightened rat, his ears perked high as he lay low and stayed vigilant in the pitch-black dense forest, trying to catch even the slightest unusual sound.

Suddenly, without any warning, miserable screams erupted from the nearby camp. It was Tom, the big guy who always bragged about mastering powerful Combat Techniques. Next was Lanqi, the usually taciturn Dwarf, who now let out a wail distorted by absolute terror. Finally, there was Captain Carl, a sleazy Swordsman who always had women on his lips. Now, only trembling remained in his once-slick tone: "Quick! Back to back!"

Scared out of his wits, he crawled and stumbled behind a dense thicket of bushes, his heart practically leaping out of his chest. Trembling, he parted the leaves to make a tiny gap. With just one look, his blood ran cold.

The campfire flickered wildly in the chaos, casting twisted, short shadows onto the tree trunks like a wild dance of demons. Over twenty Goblins with dark green skin and ferocious faces were crying out bizarrely—SCREECH! SQUEAL! Wielding rust-mottled Short Swords or crude weapons made of tied stones, they frantically attacked the companions trapped in the center.

He saw Lanqi draw his dagger, but before the Dwarf could even swing it, a Goblin tackled him to the ground. He saw two Goblins pierce Tom's thighs with sharpened bone rods, causing blood to gush out unstoppably. The big guy fell with an agonizing scream, instantly swallowed by a swarm of green figures.

He saw Carl impale a Goblin's throat, only to leave an opening for another one attacking from behind, which viciously hacked a crude Stone Axe into his spine. The distinct sound of bone breaking—CRACK—was exceptionally grating. The young Swordsman staggered and collapsed to the ground, never to rise again.

A nauseating stench of blood permeated the air, mingling with the foul odor of the Goblins. He saw a Goblin mounting Tom, using its teeth to frantically tear at the big guy's throat. He saw Lanqi's eyes wide open in death as his intestines were ripped out. He saw the Goblin with the Stone Axe wearing a hideous grin as it hacked off Carl's head, blow by blow.

Bone-deep terror instantly drowned out all his reason. Like a rat whose tail had just been stomped off, he scrambled and sprinted frantically in the opposite direction, not even caring as branches slashed across his face and arms...

"PHEW."

Raine snapped out of the memory, cold sweat breaking out on his forehead. Only then did he realize that he had unwittingly eaten the last bite of black bread and scraped the bowl completely clean of its soup. Feeling the fullness in his stomach, he slowly took a deep breath. It was time to leave.

The adventure had just begun. He didn't need to explain that bloody night to anyone; his actions would prove everything.

As he passed the bar counter, Raine's footsteps paused for a moment. As if muttering to himself, he said, "May all lost travelers find their way home."

Lady Basha's wiping motion paused slightly. By the time she looked up, Raine had already walked out the inn's front doors. That young figure was gaunt, but his back was just as perfectly straight as hers.