Chapter 315: Haunted
A knock on the tavern door pulled Anna from her thoughts and lifted her gaze from her palms. She’d only heard the sound because of how closely she was seated to the door. Even with the ever-present aura of darkness that muted both sound and light alike, the tavern was bustling with conversation and the clink of cutlery.
It was early afternoon, and a horde of adventurers had descended on the tavern like a swarm of locusts. Today might have been one of the busiest ones in recent memory. Anna hadn’t seen so much as a glance of Lillia since the rush had started, and Reya was working with Madiv to queue people up at the door.
That made it all the odder for someone to be knocking on the door. It was clearly open, but as if in spite of that thought, another knock rang out.
Anna rose to her feet and walked over to pull it open. Then she glanced down. Standing before her was a young girl, somewhere around eleven or twelve years of age. She cradled a hand, which had been wrapped heavily with stained bandages.
The girl wasn’t alone. About five or six other people had gathered in a line behind her, and even without looking closer, Anna could smell the lingering grasp of sickness on them.
This wasn’t the adventurer line. That one ran off to the left, wrapping around the Devil’s Den before continuing off into the street. These people weren’t here for food.
“The thin man said we could come over here and skip the line since we aren’t trying to eat at the tavern,” the girl said, peering up at Anna with wide, brown eyes. Her skin was pallid and her features were sunken, but there was a strong air of propriety that seemed to have been imbued into her very being that wouldn’t allow her to act impolitely in the presence others. “Is that okay?”
“I suppose that would depend on what you want,” Anna said with what she hoped to be a comforting smile. Rodrick had always been a bit better at dealing with kids than she had.
The girl picked at the bandages on her hand and shifted her weight from foot to foot uncomfortably. A man behind her — burly and with the smell of a tanner lingering in his clothes — spoke first. “I heard there was a smith that could fix ruined limbs here.”