Baston came back to the inn silently, unable to think further what he should do. After realizing the deep matter about the quest, he
hesitated whether to finish it completely or just to leave it alone, so the quest might have a bad result. It was alright if he failed one or two times, yet he felt something bad would happen sooner or later. Based on his
investigation, the potion needed complicated ingredients plus the lives of
people.
It seemed the whole town knew, but they just never talked about it since perhaps, one of their family member or friends were the one who also needed such a dark potion. People would gather all bad thugs or criminal in this town. If there was no one, they might be looking at the neighborhood area. Anyway, no one would remember the bad guy. The society despised them and they were already branded as evil. Losing one of these people was already welcomed by everyone. The world needed more kind people, not troublesome person.
Still, it wasn't quite right for killing people just because everyone said the person was bad. Not to mention the judgment in this era
wasn't actually fair. As long as you have power and title, you might be pardoned. It would be different though if you have nothing and just a normal commoner. It was just like the man Baston met in the underground before.
Life wasn't fair to begin with so he should be used of this kind of happening at present. Even though so, there was a question popped out inside his head. What would people do if there was no more criminal at nearby? The possibility was people in this town might take a trip to somewhere far just to bring some prisoners. Another one was some sacrifices needed to be made. Baston
believed in desperate times, no matter whether you were good or not, you might
become one of the victims. It was scary but he believed it might happen someday.
In the end, he must thwart this town's plan into smithereens. He might do good because not only he would finish the quest, he might also save many people in the future. Baston stood up but suddenly, there
was a little girl's face came up in his mind. That little girl kept selling the flowers although no one bought it. Her family had enough wealth to live decently, but it seemed she still insisted on doing it.
The little girl struggled and when she successfully sold the flowers, she would beam with smile. That smile was pure and beautiful, making him stopping his action according to the quest. Because of this, Baston walked aimlessly around the town until he met again with the little girl at the
crossroad. She still remembered him which she quickly trotted over while offering the flowers.
"Young master, why your face is so sour? My mother said if you are always in sour mood, you will get older faster."
Baston chuckled, "Well, I'm just thinking about something burdening. Right now, I don't know whether I should do it or not. The thing is if I did it, some people might be sad in short time but it was for their own good."
"Really? Hmmm… I don't know for sure if it's right or wrong. But as long as you bring good for them in a long time, I think it will be fine
in the end."
"Yeah, I think so…" Baston smiled, "By the way, how is your flower selling?"
"Still looks good!" the little girl answered optimistically, even though it seemed none was sold until now.
"Looks like no one buys it, right?"
"Just wait until the end of the day. I believe my flowers will be sold by then."
"Then, how about I buy all of them?"
"Really? You are going to buy all of them?" the little girl stared at Baston enthusiastically, "Young master is not lying, right?"
"Of course! I'm not lying so I will buy it all now!"
The little girl quickly began to get busy, preparing all the flowers so it would look good. Baston smiled bitterly when he looked at her. The hesitation to end the quest seemingly increased when he saw her happy
expression. It was also the same with others. The lives of people here just went as usual and when he commenced further to complete the quest, he was afraid of the impact. While he was lost in deep thought, the little girl poked him as to remind that all the flowers were ready.
"Young master, the flowers are good and beautiful. I believe it will bring good luck for you."
"Yes, I believe so…" Baston replied hesitantly, "Here's the money. You're going to have a good dream tonight."
The little girl slowly made a sad face over his statement, "I don't know about it. Lately, I have always a nightmare. In that dream, I turn into a big monster and hurt my family. It really makes me horrified…"
"This…" Baston frowned, then slowly patting her head, "You don't need to be afraid. Everything will end soon."
"Yes, I believe so…" the little girl got back to her optimistic state, "Everything is going to be alright!"
After conversing for a moment, the little girl then went back to her home while Baston stood still at the same place. The nightmare she told perhaps could be said as the bad sign or side effect from the potion. It might lead to big incident if he let them did as they pleased. While everyone looked indifferent, only the wife of the town mayor showed weird symptom regarding this matter. The little girl also started to develop a side effect for her daily nightmare. Baston finally made a conclusion about what he must do.
As soon as Baston got back to the inn, he told Panto the truth about this town, asking for help to end this dark secret once for all.
Still, he also informed the merchant boy that by doing this mission, it might destroy some people's hope. The peaceful town wouldn't be there for some time because Baston was sure all of them would grieve so much. He would be condemned hardly if this matter went out, but it was for the best. Panto nodded and agreed with Baston because manipulating the life force wouldn't end in a good way. It was just like a ticking time bomb, waiting for it to explode.
The fat boy waited for a whole day until night when the surrounding became quiet. For inn, restaurant, pubs, or any other else, the day
was still young so people still continue whatever their business. To help Baston, Panto ordered many foods and drink to make everyone thought both of them held a mini party inside their own room. Since Baston accidentally asked the forbidden question at the beginning, some people kept watching him. They were afraid their deepest secret would be leaked, so any extra caution was
meaningful in this time. At least, until Baston and Panto continued their trips here, they had to watch over them.
Precisely because of this, Baston needed another help to make his alibi in the inn. While he tracked his steps silently to the mansion, he hoped Panto could at least hold down for a while. Baston had already made a great direction toward his destination while moving undetected. By using his puppets,
he could make sure everything in front could be seen from the sky. After trotted to one of many dark and quiet side of the nearby alley, he then started to release another rat that headed to the mansion carefully.
He already circled the mansion a few times before, so based on the clue he got, Baston could pinpoint where the statue was located. It should be in underground but in different compartment than the jail before. For a person, it would be very hard to find it but not for the small animal like a rat. By using the 2 puppets he had, Baston eventually found the place where there was a mysterious statue in a small underground room.
"It will be easier to destroy it directly, but there's a magic trace at the perimeter. If I just take the action directly, it must trigger a warning to the people around plus the caster of this spell…"
This trouble wasn't a trouble for Baston. Since he had the puppet, he could made them bore the responsibility. In the meantime, he also had great candidate about who he needed to impersonate. The rat before slowly transformed into a human clown, namely Joker. With a playful smile, he then walked closer. By the time he stepped into the circle of statue, it should already trigger a warning to everyone, but Baston didn't care. The man manifested a big fireball of its flare magic before unleashed it to the statue. Suddenly, there was a protection mechanism emerged from the surrounding but it was useless in front of destructive magic.
"BOOOM!!!"
The room was in shamble and before everyone could climb down to this room, the man had already disappeared from there. It made everyone at the mansion was alerted while Baston was sighing. He sat at where he was silently when people inside began hurriedly checking what made the noise. With this, the quest should be finished but there was no trace of happiness in him.
Surely, he already made some people lost their lives tonight. Rather than lamenting the sadness, Baston quickly fled away from the place to go back to the inn. His movement couldn't go faster than the news around because it already spread to the whole town.
"Excuse me, can I enter the room?" the innkeeper knocked the door, "Something is happening at the town mayor's house so I want to check is everything alright."
"Everything is alright here. You don't need to worry about us," Panto replied from behind the door.
"Still, we want to make sure everything is really fine, sir. I must go in to assure everyone here. If not, I'm afraid the militia here will make a trouble for me."
"This… Then wait a minute…"
Panto could only delay it for a while, but he knew if Baston didn't come back soon, the innkeeper would find it strange and started to interrogate him. He wanted to find another excuse, but somehow, the door was getting
unlocked from outside. It seemed they were in a hurry to confirm his suspicion. By the time the innkeeper went inside, he only found Panto standing dumbfounded
while the fat one was nowhere. Before he could ask the merchant boy, Baston
suddenly came out from the bathroom.
"Good evening, is there something we can help you?" Baston asked the innkeeper.
"Well, no…" the innkeeper heaved a sigh of relief before he bowed down, "I'm sorry I disturb your rest. It's because the militia orders everyone to be checked upon. They must think an assassin is hiding among the
guest we accepted before."
"It's alright. You just do your job here."
The innkeeper didn't waste anytime here and he soon checked the other guests. Panto was flabbergasted because he didn't even see Baston came back before the fat boy showed himself from the bathroom. He even thought there was a secret path inside. Before he could ask further, Baston ordered him to go back to his room and stayed silent for this time. Panto believed him completely so he just did whatever Baston asked him. Anyway, he was just here so to make an alibi for Baston.
"Thankfully, I left one of my puppets here…"
Baston still struggled to get back to the inn because everywhere had become hectic once he made a mess. To prevent something unexpected, he put his puppet so when he didn't make it, the puppet could disguise as himself so people wouldn't suspect him. In this case, both of him and Panto wouldn't get in trouble. As for the man named Joker, everyone could try to search him in this kingdom but he bet they wouldn't find him anywhere since Baston was the only one who could decide where and when the man would appear again. Anyway, tonight would be a long night for him.