Lilia's Tale: Freyja's Endeavor

Chapter 17: Reunion

Though I was worried the whole way through for Alice's safety, checking up on her regularly, the travel back to town was without any issues. We arrived up front in the middle of the night, frightening the guards due to the noise from Skadi's running.

I told her to wait here as I went to them, hoping to explain the situation. Before I even got close, the two of them brandished their spear towards me, yelling: "Get the captain, quick!"

"Excuse me, can I at least talk before you try to kill me?"

"What are you!?" one of them shouted.

"Uh... Well, I'm a soldier from the capital and I'd like to enter to meet with the general."

They looked at one another, seemed to talk a bit, then nodded and put their weapon away.

"You may enter. Your... summon? Pet? Either way, the hydra can't."

"Yeah, I expected that. Thank you."

I went into town and directly towards Olivia's inn. I was hoping to find the people I wanted directly, but due to being the middle of the night I wasn't sure if anybody was awake. I didn't even know where anyone was.

I started getting worried about the situation. I wouldn't be able to find anyone without being lucky or waking someone else up. I had to find a solution, and quick.

"Alice, how are things on your side?"

"Master, as always, everything is fine! The Eldest Hydra is still running itself to exhaustion, I believe it will collapse soon!"

Though that was good news in the grand scheme of things, I didn't like that answer. I had to find the general, and quickly. I came to the conclusion that Olivia would know, so finding her was my best bet.

I looked around on the first floor and didn't seem to find any bedrooms. Considering the inn's structure, which I was thankfully well-acquainted with, I could only see one place she could sleep.

I headed upstairs and quietly tried to open the first room's door. It was unfortunately locked. So were the next two rooms.

As I opened the fourth room, I looked inside. As soon as I pushed my head in, I noticed something was odd. The bed was empty, nobody was on it, but it wasn't tidied either. Did the person leave for a bit, maybe?

If they recently left, I figured they'd be awake at least. I opened the door and closed it behind me, wanting to find a chair to sit on and wait.

As soon as I closed the door, I felt something strange. I could tell I was about to be attacked from behind. I turned around, but was too late in reaction. I got pushed to the floor with something sharp resting fairly deeply into my throat and a lot of weight being put on my chest and legs.

"Who are you?" the person asked, whispering.

"It's Lilia," I struggled to say.

"What was your mission?"

That felt like a weird question to ask. If he was a military man, wouldn't he know about-

...Right. I sneaked into a military man's room at night. Of course he would be suspicious. My best bet was to be honest so he could verify it's me.

"I had to...be a decoy...for the rampaging hydra..."

After a bit, the weights and blade got off me. I coughed a few times to try and get my breathing back in order, then stood up.

"Sorry, I didn't think when entering."

"Yeah, I can tell. Why are you here?"

"I have an urgent report to make to the general. Do you know where he is?"