Peaceful Life System: I only need to live peacefully-Chapter 74: Trouble at the Inn

Riku lazily walked on Luxia’s roads, still thinking about the quest.

An idea had already begun to form. The Church plaza was always crowded with the desperate. What if he set up nearby? Not in direct opposition, but as an alternative? A small stall, perhaps, offering ’unique restorative tonics’ or ’specialized relief treatments’?

A shop, Riku mused. A small, unassuming shop, right under their noses. Offering actual help, not just a temporary hope.

It would be a way to reach people, earn goodwill, and progress his quest further.

He was just starting to sketch out a mental plan for his ’Mysterious Healer’s Stall’, considering names and an initial marketing plan, when one of the communication stones in his satchel pulsed with a warm light.

He pulled it out. Lila’s anxious voice echoed from the stone. "Riku! Riku, can you hear me? You need to come back to the inn! Quickly! Something’s happened!"

----------------

Some time earlier.

It was another lazy afternoon at The Respite.

The old innkeeper was snoring softly in his favourite armchair by the cold hearth, a half-read ledger resting on his chest. His wife was in the kitchen, chopping vegetables for the evening stew. An air of drowsy peace had settled over the inn after Riku’s departure.

In their modest back room, Lila and Elara sat on the edge of their cots, the remnants of their chocolate-induced cheerfulness slowly giving way to a more subdued atmosphere. Elara nervously fiddled with the communication stone Riku had given her.

"Lila," Elara began, her voice barely above a whisper, "Riku... when he was angry before... he seemed so different. That feeling... it was terrifying. Even more than Vestarch Marius or the time I was convicted in front of everyone in Oakwood."

A shiver traced its way down her spine as she remembered the dark aura, the palpable killing intent that had briefly surrounded him.

Lila sighed, picking at a loose thread on her blanket. "I know what you mean, Elara. That... that was new. I’ve never seen him like that before."

"I have always remembered him as gentle and kind. That was a first, even for me. Because I’ve known him longer, maybe I could... process this surprise a little better? But it was definitely a shock."

"However, we should not read too much into it. He has been busy these days trying to solve the Crimson Creep, and that might be slightly getting to him. He might have gotten triggered by the Vestarch’s earlier words."

"Not much about Riku makes sense in the way we understand things," Lila finally admitted with a wry smile. "He just... is. And for all his mysteries, his heart is in the right place. I trust him."

"Hmm, you are right..."

Suddenly, a loud, authoritative banging rattled the inn’s front door, jolting both girls and causing Old Man Hemlock to snort awake in the common room.

"Open up! City Guard! By order of Vestarch Marius of the Church of Light!" a harsh voice boomed from outside.

Lila and Elara exchanged panicked glances.

"They found us!" Elara gasped, her face paling.

Before the old innkeeper could even fully rouse himself, the flimsy front door shuddered under a heavy blow and burst inward with a crack of splintering wood. Two of Vestarch Marius’s plain-clothed acolytes strode in, flanked by four uniformed city guards, their expressions grim and their hands resting on the hilts of their swords.

"Old man, we have evidence of you housing people afflicted with the Creep," one acolyte declared, his eyes scanning the small common room and landing on Hemlock, who was now struggling to his feet, bewildered. "You have one chance. Where are they?"

The old woman, hearing the commotion, rushed out from the kitchen, her face a mask of fear. "What is happening, dear sirs? Is there any misunderstanding?"

"Silence, old woman!" the second acolyte snapped. "We know they’re here. The girl with the marks, and her companion. Hand them over, and you might suffer from a slightly lighter charge."

Lila, who overheard the commotion outside, knew they had to act fast. She grabbed Elara’s arm. "The back alley!"

But as they scrambled towards the rear of their room, a few of the city guards, quicker than they anticipated, came into their room via the back door of the inn.

"Not so fast, little rats," the head of the guards sneered, drawing his short sword.

Elara whimpered, shrinking behind Lila.

Slowly, the guards ushered Lila and Elara from the back room to the common room where the old man and his wife were.

"Haha, old man. You had your chance, and now you have lost it. Guards, arrest everyone here and take them in. They shall be dealt with specifically by our Vestarch Marius," the acolyte who had spoken earlier sneered.

"Please, dear sirs. We did not endanger anybody. We took her in as she had no place to go. We did not take in other guests after that," the old innkeeper tried to beg, holding onto the legs of one of the acolytes.

However, the acolyte simply snorted and kicked the old innkeeper hard.

Bam.

The old man fell down on the floor with an audible knock.

"Dear...nooo!" Tears welled in the eyes of the old woman, and she tried to go to her husband. However, another guard blocked her off.

"Riku, we have to call Riku!"

With a surge of desperate courage, Lila did the only thing she could think of.

With a fierce cry, she launched herself at the guard behind her. He was larger, armed, but Lila was driven by an adrenaline surge. She ducked under his legs and, with surprising nimbleness, made her way back to the back room.

Without wasting a moment, she grabbed the stone that was lying on the ground and started speaking into it.

"Riku! Riku, can you hear me? You need to come back to the inn! Quickly! Something’s happened!"

However, before she could explain more, she experienced a sharp pain on her head due to someone pulling her hair.

"Argh..." she cried out in pain, the communication stone dropping from her hands. The acolyte did not seem to care and mercilessly dragged her back into the common room by her hair.

"Sly fox, what did you think you were doing? No one can save you today," he shouted, grinning evilly as he threw Lila onto the common room floor.

"No one..."

He appeared to want to say more, but suddenly his vocal cords got petrified.

A cold chill went down his spine. A chill that he had never felt before, even on the coldest of winter nights.