Brand had wrapped the shield with some old clothes he found in the hut and returned to the inn.
It was better to keep a low profile, especially when this shield was so shiny.
[A very normal iron shield wrapped in old clothes.]
Luckily, the Vibrant Shield was playing its part to look dull. The once brilliant shield now looked like a rusted iron shield.
He wrapped it up a few more turns before strapping it over the back, resulting in it looking bigger than it should be.
"You look like a turtle." Seraphine giggled.
"What if assailants were aiming for the shield?" He stated bluntly.
The scariest thing was that he knew nothing about the fall of the Essen family.
As they talked, the sun was setting, and soon the night would come. The desert will be really cold by then.
He needed to quickly return to the inn. He was not worried about the cold as his body had a thermoregulation function.
But he would still feel discomfort.
His blood pumped faster to keep him warm. But what if he wanted to feel cool instead?
"Maybe one of the upgrades would be related to your bloodstream?" Seraphine hinted.
10 more Karma Points to upgrade his Core to Level 2. He
He checked on his beetle scout. There was no signal from the beetles. This means he was not followed. He continued to walk to the inn.
***
The streets of Emas Tribe's village were different at night compared to during the morning.
The canvases of red and yellow hanging through the hut were glowing. The tribe's symbol, etched on the canvases, shines as the villagers infused mana into it.
The glowing canvases envelope the street with a soft light. Brand could navigate through the streets with ease with sufficient lighting.
Brand noticed there were some new faces with odd clothing, not native to the tribe.
The foreigners' clothes have different engraving symbols to show they were from a different tribe.
He didn't pay much attention to each of them and walked toward his inn.
But there was one thing that Brand noticed. Weapons were hung around their waists or strapped behind their backs. They don't look like merchants.
***
—Tavern of Brawl
The sign of the inn was glowing in red light, as if calling out to the travelers.
Though it looked more like it was welcoming fights among the customers.
"This tribe seemed battle hungry," Brand whispered his thoughts to Seraphine.
'I just wanted to take a rest… so tired…'
However, the first thing he saw when he entered was the Ed trios arguing with a few foreign travelers.
Ed and Eddy were holding down Edd, who was screaming at the foreign traveler.
He was also provoking the other customers into fights.
'Was he always like that?'
Brandhas a resigned expression on his face. He looked at the other tables, and the customers seemed to be cheering on them.
'Wasn't an inn a place people rest?'
The tavern offered a place for customers to enjoy alcohol and food, while providing lodging services above it.
'How did Lena accept this?'
He searched around but was unable to find Lena. Instead, an old man was staring at him.
Brand felt a sudden chill and avoided eye contact with the old man.
"He was the guy who muttered 'traitor' when we first entered the village." Brand reaffirms his memory with his little companion angel.
"Yeap, he's the one," Seraphine replied.
"—"
'Hmm, I might have to look into the old man.'
"——"
'Maybe attach another beetle to him? But I don't see the old man's companion here.'
'There were two different voices that muttered traitor at that time.'
"—"
'I need to find a chance to stick the beetle on him.'
"———"
While Brand was thinking, the arguments were nonstop blasting in the background.
He looked at them and suppressed his desire to beat them.
"They had been going on like this since the afternoon." A young man's voice came from behind him.
Karl sat beside him and passed him the beverage from the counter.
"They were so lively, don't you think?" Karl asked.
His eyes were lit with flame.
'He wanted to join them, right?'
"Don't we need to stop them?" Brand asked.
Karl paused and looked at them, then gulped down his beer.
"Not yet." He replied. "When do you think a person would most likely blabber out their secret?"
Brand checked on both parties, the Ed trios and the foreign travelers.
They were not standing upright but kept spewing slurs at each other.
"When people were drunk and agitated?" Brand pondered.
"Bingo." Karl toasted his glass against Brand's.
Brand continued to listen to their conversations.
"I broke a wolf's spine with my fist!" Eddy showed his hand full of calluses.
Then he sticks it in front of the traveler, just close enough to barely touch the traveler's hair.
"I snapped a vulture's neck!" The traveler yelled while his head was spinning.
Karl was smiling and sent a signal to Eddy.
"I worked under our great captain, Karl the Lightning Wolf!" Eddy proudly shouted, as if trying to intimidate the traveler.
"SO WHAT?!" The traveler slammed the table.
His companions were unconscious from the excessive drinking.
"Our leader… gulped… WAS THE DUAL AXE MORGAN!!!" He shouted.
Everyone in the tavern was looking at him with their eyes widened.
"Hmm, interesting." Karl threw his glass onto the traveler's head.
"Urggh…" The guy pressed his hand on the wound, in pain. But Karl never looked at him. Instead, he had already headed to the door.
"Imprison them, deprive them of sleep for three days," Karl stated his order nonchalantly, then waved backward as he walked away.
The Ed trios, after hearing his words, quickly took the foreign travelers away.
'That guy was scary! How was he just 18 years old?'
This was the honest thought of Brand.
The tavern was now quiet. There were only a few others who were also guests staying a night in the inn above.
The guy who muttered that Brand was a traitor was also nowhere to be seen.
However, Brand could now observe the man through the borrowed sight from the beetle attached onto him, from the old man's perspective if he wanted.