Chapter 163: Halfkin Village

All nineteen people (including the dude who was outside and had to pay a lot of money to get in) decided to reserve a few meals. About half paid with cores, while the rest of them paid in gold.

[Status]

Name: Finnick Altheus Solthar

Race: Human

Class: Innkeeper, Chef

Level: Awakened Tier 2

Awakening Type: Physical

Affinity: Fire, Earth, Wind

…

VITALS

HP: 391/400

Mana: 390/400

Stamina: 380/400

Wallet: 448 Gold

Hearth Points: 69 Points

…

Skills:

Active: [Ingredient Scan] [Dish Analysis][Heated Arc] [Farming] [Assessment] [Feather Step] [Sticky Soil]

Passive: [Blade Proficiency – Growth Type (Lv 2)] [Monster Instinct]

[Strong Stomach] [Improved Palate] [Fire Resistance] [Foraging]

Condition: Normal]

He whistled, satisfied, and played the proper host for a while despite disliking the customers.

“Well, it’s time for me to rest now, too,” he said. “If you have anything you need, you can just tell my assistants—who you will treat with respect.”

“I will give them the right to kick people out. As mentioned in the rules, there will be no refunds, so don’t go asking for it.”

…

Finn headed back to the goblin’s room, where Ranran and Tumble were standing next to the feline’s bed. He saw that the girl had fallen asleep on the rug made of beast fur.

Amazingly, Tumble, being extremely handy, had already transformed the double-decker to a triple-decker. The ceiling height was not low, and three of them were small (goblins and dwarves) so this was fine in their case.

“Cat always wants to go out. I told her many stories to distract her and then she fell asleep. Aren’t I good, boss? Right, boss?”

“Yes, yes, Tumble is awesome,” he chuckled. Tumble definitely had a way to make people sleep with his endless chatters.

He was about to help her up to her bed when she woke up, quickly wrapping her arms around him.

“You’re tired, you should rest.”

It was around this time that Durgan entered the room, too, careful not to open the door too widely so that people would see what was inside.

“Where is your home, anyway?” he asked. “If you can, can you tell us what happened back then?”

This way, they’d know how to help her.

The girl sniffled and then leaned over to him and rubbed her forehead, to his shoulder. She really reminded him of a cat, so he patted her head and she purred.

“Feron, Baeko, and I were making our rounds in our village when we saw many of our people fall ill.”

“You were a guard?” he asked, surprised, then shook his head. “Never mind, continue.”

“They were really, really, ill,” she said. “Many of them weakened, until nearly all of our village was asleep and weak. Horrible.”

“All helpless and weak and katnia cried a lot,” she said. “Then… they came.”

“Those guys?”

“They gave us delicious food, and told us they know where the cure is.” “We just had to follow them.”

“…”

“They also promised to take many of our sick brethren to the hospital. We agreed to send them all.”

“…”

Finn’s eyes met Durgans, and both their eyes twitched.

Well, this showed why beastkin and halfkins weren’t known for their great wisdom.

“When we agreed, hundreds of them came by to help.”

“Hundreds?” Finn voiced out, looking at Durgan with a similar expression.

“So the team outside is part of a bigger organization?”

“Mostly, likely partnerships between different merchant and noble groups.”

Durgan blinked. “They must be from the areas bordering the beastkin territories. Otherwise, it would not have been so easy for them to get so many at a time.”

He cursed. “Orcshit

. It is one of the many reasons we dislike mercenaries. Their code of conduct is mostly money, so as long as the price is right—they could do anything.”

Finn shook his head and looked at the cat. “So you’re trying to get out to get the cure?”

She shook her head. “I overheard them saying that the cure was missing.”

“Why don’t you escape?”

“They have Feron and the others,” she said, eyes teary. “They said if I behave, I will go see them. I need to ask when I can see them,” she said, explaining why she was so eager to head out earlier.

Finn sighed and stood up, getting the cat to stand up as well. “I’ll let you listen to something, but you need to promise to keep quiet no matter what you hear, okay?”

Katnia blinked, but nodded in the end.

He smiled. “Good girl,” and he opened the window which was facing the opposite of the mercenary camp and used his skill [Feather Step] to soundlessly leave and climb up to the roof of the inn.

The insulation of the rooms was top-notch, but fortunately, there were many members of this team, so many were outside.

Some rented tents, while some just slept on the grass. They were mercenaries, they did this often. They stood near the campfire, where most people were. At this time, they were still wide awake and chatting.

For the most part, the discussion was about the losses, the plans on how to make up for those losses, as well as some rants. Since the incident was still fresh, Finn didn’t have to wait for the topic about the halfkins to open up on its own.

“Damn! I hope the other teams have the rest of the halfkins! That faux-poison was really expensive!”

The person speaking was a man named Josp. He was quite impactful due to his large physique and tatooed body.

“Yeah, even more expensive than deadly ones. After all, it had to weaken them enough so they could handle that many at the same time.”

“We had to travel so far to the other edge of the safe zone and had to separate to different teams. It’s so troublesome—and we lose so many?”

“Damnit! You better find the other halfkins and the rest of the team, Evo!”

“The faux-poison would lose its effects soon. If we don’t sell them by that time, or at least pass them over to stronger groups, then it’ll be a loss!”

Katnia wasn’t the smartest thing in the world, but she understood what they meant.

She growled and gestured to jump down to attack, but Finn was quick. He covered her mouth and he carried her back down to her room before she made any more noise.

“Liars! Liars!” she yelled, eyes constricted and face scrunched in anger, but Finn quickly covered her mouth.

Her eyes were red with anger and he could tell she’d fight them to the death if she had to.

He sighed and patted her head, waiting patiently for her to calm down.

“We’ll make them pay, okay?” he said. “But we should never harm ourselves in search of revenge.”

“It’s not much but…I have a way to lessen that anger.”

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