The second night arrived as expected. Near midnight, three silent figures appeared in the streets once more.
As a faint mist rose in the night, the fully armed men drifted like ghosts beneath the eaves. They sped toward a particular spot in town: a place they should have reached the night before, had an accident not delayed them.
It was an unassuming little house on the edge of town, home to the corpse collector.
Collecting bodies and preparing the dead were hardly considered important in a town whose customs remained relatively simple. Even so, the duties and skills of a corpse collector tended to pass down within a fixed circle, often within a family.
In other words, ever since he had taken over from the previous generation, the corpse collection work in Grayrock Town had remained almost entirely in the hands of one man for the past decade or two: Duy Fred.
They had learned this from the mayor in private.
More importantly, judging by his appearance, the man named Duyi appeared to be the ox-cart driver they had encountered before.
They had carefully warned Mr. Tantus not to disturb the town's corpse collector without good reason. Their detailed questioning had clearly made him realize something was amiss—and perhaps stirred his curiosity.
After a brief day of sleep and recovery, the three had forced down a distinctly medieval "feast" to replenish their strength: crudely roasted meat without spices, hard white bread containing a little bran and sand, and rather weak malt beer. Under the envious gazes of the servants, they finished the meal with much grumbling, picked up their weapons, and became midnight prowlers once more.
Unexpectedly, this time they heard none of that troublesome barking.
Perhaps the creatures had been beaten into submission. Perhaps they had realized these people