In the next few minutes, everyone remained silent as the lady with the pointy hat--Scarlet--explained to Sin everything she knew about the town called Lucel.
It was a small town, probably the smallest within the entire domain of Captainia, the kingdom they were currently inside.
It was also many thousands of miles away from the city of Solstar, which they were currently in right now.
News quickly spread one day that Lucel, a random city that no one had heard of up until that point, had been blown to smithereens.
No one really cared at first. Why would they? Something happening on the other side of the kingdom was none of their business.
But their interest was resparked when they heard that, according to all trustable accounts and witnesses, broadcast networks, and more, this had been the work of the Trinion Republic.
The empire was a vastly superior one to that of Captainia. It was located within another Sanctuary entirely--continent-sized masses of land encased within barriers to protect from the outside Dark Lands.
More specifically, the knights had come to a nearby city called Uumen shortly before Lucel was destroyed.
Their plans to annihilate the town were boasted around in drunken arguments and conversations throughout Uumen, and seeing as they were rare individuals from a prominent and famous empire, many listened to what they had to say.
Lucel was destroyed shortly after, and Uumen was visited again. As the knights celebrated with liquor and harlots, they boasted about how they destroyed the small town and its people.
How their skin looked like the peel of a banana, rotten black and slimy as it slid off the white bones inside.
How the smell was of rotten carcass, mirroring that of some harlots they were fucking, and how the grand orange sky mesmerized them that night.
After that, the knights left, never to be seen again. The story also became clouded with rumors and conspiracies, eventually leaving people to abandon taking it seriously.
After hearing all of this information, which, to Sin, was gut-wrenching, he finally asked: "Do you know the name of the knight squadron?"
Scarlet looked up at Sin, pausing for a moment before saying, "Why?"
Sin looked down at her, his eyes inflamed with unbreakable conviction, "So I can slaughter them... one by one. Burn their flesh... char their bones. So that I can give Lucel peace... give my mother peace."
The gray-haired man--Kael--spoke up: "So that you can give yourself peace. It's understandable..."
Scarlet looked down, "Not many actually know the name of the squadron. Only some, who have deeper ties to Hunter guilds. That sort of information is dangerous to give out, you know... I don't know if I should--" She was cut off, but not by Sin.
Kael answered for her, "Trinion Republic, Blue Pleasure Knight Squadron."
Scarlet looked at him with a surprised expression, "Kael! You should not have!"
"Quiet..." Kael's voice was low, "Don't you get it? The fiery will this guy has in his body to get vengeance?"
Scarlet slowly looked at Sin. She looked at his ember-like eyes as Kael spoke:
"If not us, he would find out that information somehow. Any way possible, he would attain it. And then he would get to the Trinion Republic through all means necessary, even if he had to walk through the Dark Lands themselves."
Scarlet felt chills crawl up her back.
The large man--Roby--added: "He would most likely die on his way there. But something tells me... death is not something that will stop him."
The yellow-haired woman--Ince--replied: "The threat of death, that is. Death itself will stop anyone."
"Thank you." Sin stared at Kael, "Now..." He put his hands on the table: "How do I get there without dying?"
Suddenly, all the hype that everyone was feeling for Sin. Their brand new, improved image of him as being a brave warrior fighting for revenge, went down the drain instantly.
Unimpressed expressions showed on all of their faces.
"Get the hell out of here, brat!" Roby exclaimed, shooing Sin away. Everyone else chuckled as Sin decided to take his leave.
He didn't need any more information from them. He couldn't get more than what he took anyway, which was practically everything they knew.
But he was thankful. Despite having a harsh exterior, all of them seemed like decent people on the inside.
As they waved goodbye to him, Sin walked toward the back of the establishment.
'Before anything else...' He thought to himself, exhausted, 'I need rest.' His eyes prowled for the barkeep.
There were a couple of bartenders behind the bar table. Sin went up to one of them, a young man, and asked for a room key.
After paying 10 copper coins, he was given a small metal key with a piece of paper attached to it that read: "R:12, Floor 2."
Sin had gathered a bit of money during his travels. Of course, he wasn't rich. But a few gold coins weren't too hard to get after making his way through over 20 cities in the span of five years.
Sin walked with a slight daze, climbing up the stairs to a room he could stay in for the night.
The conversation from before had made him forget about the pain he was currently in.
Before he knew it, he had arrived at his room. Without wasting time, he entered.
It was small. A single window gave the only natural light from the back opposite side of the door. Below it was a twin-sized bed.
Opposite of that and next to the door was a small table and chair.
And facing the foot of the bed was another door leading to a bathroom.
Although it was very humble, this felt like a luxurious castle for Sin, as it always did.
Not a single other thought crossed his mind as he slumped onto the bed like a bear in its cave.
The eagerness of reaching Solstar for the past week or so had gotten him so ecstatic that he barely even slept, journeying through the night most of the time.
At least, when he saw it was safe enough to do so.
He had a lot of sleep to catch up on, and the coziness of the bed made him almost melt into a deep slumber immediately... but he forcefully stopped himself, opening his eyes.