It was strange, going to bed, he needed the rest, but this entire situation was a blaring alarm in his head. If he went to sleep, would he even wake up the next morning? At the end of the day, his need for rest took priority. If he died in his sleep, at least he wouldn't feel it. Still…waking up to an unfamiliar room was quite a shock. And the less said about the quality of sleep, the better. Unfortunately, he needed to use the bathroom, and after debating it in his head over and over, he eventually gave up his pride and figured out the outhouse-like toilet.
Heading back into his room to change, he found a plethora of the same outfit he had worn the previous day. Great, he didn't even get the option for a more comfortable set of clothes. Grabbing another small handful of jerky, he noted that the bag was already half empty, so he split it in half, some for lunch and some for breakfast. Something else would have to be made for dinner.
With nothing else to do while eating, he thinks about the conversation from the night before. The strange reaction from Jens was the most alarming thing. He was perfectly fine with Gabriel buying the statue at first, but what changed after such a short conversation? Despite ruminating on it for a good fifteen minutes, he had to give up. There were too many missing details.
Once he finished the jerky, he went outside and breathed in the fresh, cool air of the morning. There was a light fog over the village, and he reflexively shivered as a breeze gusted past him. There weren't too many people first thing in the morning, so he took the chance to enjoy the quiet of the early morning village.
The quiet is ruined, however, when most of the villagers start emerging from their houses. Their voices steadily grow louder as they chatter about their day. As he considers heading back inside for a bit, Dahlia exits her house right across from him. Spotting her before she sees him, he doesn't call out, but as soon as their eyes meet, she starts walking toward him. Frowning slightly, his eyes follow her as she approaches. It's not like he minds her, per se, but he really didn't want to deal with someone talking his ear off first thing in the morning. It's a pleasant surprise when she doesn't exchange much more than a simple good morning with him. All she does is stand next to him, silently watching as the fog rolls around the mountains just visible beyond the edge of the forest.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Dahlia sighs. It had been a few minutes, and Gabriel was in a more talkative mood, so he didn't mind responding, "Mm."
"I wish I could live here. It would do wonders for my research. I would actually be able to study without a train passing by, or the constant honking of cars in traffic." Dahlia says wistfully.
"Research?"
"Oh, I'm a scientist, a medical scientist to be exact. I'm still going to university for an advanced degree, but I do a lot of research in my own time." Dahlia explains, grinning sheepishly.
"Impressive. I'm just an ordinary cashier for a convenience store." Gabriel sighs; the endless days of customer service get on his nerves, but…well, it was better than being on the streets again. He owed it to the manager for letting him have the job despite his lack of ID.
"I remember my early high school days as a waitress; it wasn't very fun. The customers were insufferable sometimes. They took the phrase 'The customer is always right' and really let it get to their heads." Dahlia said bitterly, making him chuckle. That was definitely an understatement. Their conversation is soon interrupted by a loud pounding on one of the doors near them.
"Hey! Katherine! Come on out, you were supposed to be at the forge right when the sun was up! I have a busy day, and you can't be losing me business!" A crabby older gentleman was knocking on the door to Katherine's house. Expecting the door to swing open and the frowning face of Katherine to make itself known, he let his attention wander. But as the knocking continued, nobody showed up. With a vague curling of dread in his stomach, he took a step forward, heading toward the presumed blacksmith, with Dahlia following along behind him.
"D-do you think she's…" The blacksmith stuttered upon their approach.
"We'll help you," Gabriel states instead, bracing his shoulder against the door. The blacksmith swallows and nods, bracing his own shoulder. They shove against the door, once, twice, and on the third strike, it breaks at the hinges and clatters to the floor.
The inside of the house is dark, with not a single speck of light to be seen except for the sunlight shining through the doorway, cutting a beam into the living room. Breathing heavily with exertion, he quells the noise as they creep into the house. All the shades are drawn, and nothing can be heard, no sounds of snoring or the rustling of someone shifting in their sleep.
Walking carefully through the living room, they turn into the hallway, squinting to see in the dark. Opening each door one by one reveals nothing out of place, and the dread only grows as they stop in front of the last door they have yet to open, the one to her bedroom.
Hesitating just slightly to pry open the door, the blacksmith brushes past him and flings it open. Stepping into the room, it appears as if nothing is amiss, until he looks down and spots a faint trail of blood. The door slowly swings closed to reveal the body of Katherine just behind it.
She was just inches away from the door. Her eyes open wide with fright, her face pale, but the rest of her skin blotchy with different colored patches. And her hands and legs were a purplish blue color. Behind him, Dahlia gags, and he places a hand to his mouth, his stomach roiling with disgust. His expression shifts into one of revulsion and distaste.
"Another one…but why Katherine? She was perfectly healthy…" The blacksmith mumbles, his voice choked. He…he can't do this. He can't be here right now. Knowing about a dead body and actually seeing one are two different things, and this…he can't handle it. Backing out of the room, he bumps into Dahla, who was kneeling on the floor, her face pale and clammy, startling her.
"We…we need to check on the others." Gabriel barely managed to choke out the words; the roiling disgust in his stomach made him hold a hand up to his mouth as he took a deep breath.
"Y-yeah." Dahlia agreed. Taking her own breaths to calm herself. While she was steadying herself, he marched back to the room, keeping his eyes away from the body, and lightly knocked on the doorframe to alert the blacksmith.
"There are a few people we want to check on. Will you be alright here?" Gabriel asks.
"...Yeah, yeah, I've got a few buddies who can help. We'll take her body and put it with the rest. You be careful now, awful thing that's been going around." The blacksmith waved Gabriel off, and he left, not wanting to be in the room a second more. Dahlia had already moved outside, so he luckily didn't have to stay in the building to talk to her.
"Do…do you think anyone else is…?" She couldn't finish her question; he hadn't a clue about the status of the others, so he shook his head.
"Do you know where Charles lives? He was with Katherine the most last night." Gabriel explains. Taking a moment to ponder, she then speaks, "Follow me, I think it was this way." She stalks off in a different direction, and he follows as she leads him to a house only a few away from Katherine's.
"I think it's this one, I saw him head into it the other night," Dahlia says nervously, she's fiddling with her hands as he steps up and knocks. Once, twice…nothing. He knocks again, louder, and waits. When still nobody comes to the door, Gabriel all but thinks it a lost cause. He could be a deep sleeper, but he doubts any of the Players managed to get decent sleep last night, let alone be able to sleep in like this.
"W-what could've happened?" Dahlia mumbles, placing a hand over her mouth. There are unshed tears in the corners of her eyes, but she wipes them away and takes another steadying breath to gain her composure.
"Do you have any ideas? You were with them both last night." With her composure returned, she had immediately started needling him with questions.
"I was, but it's not like I followed them around." He snaps, and she flinches back. "...Sorry, I do have an idea, but let me think on it for a bit first, maybe we could have another meeting tonight?" He suggests, and she nods enthusiastically.
"Hey…do either of you know what's going on? People have been whispering all morning." They're startled by the voice of Cassidy, who appeared before them with a worried expression.
"Before we answer…have you seen anyone else this morning?" Cassidy seems to realize the importance of Dahlia's question, so instead of arguing, she answers, "Well, I think I've seen Joseph and…Maria. But nobody else, sorry."
"That's fine. As for what happened…Charles and Katherine are dead." Gabriel tells her bluntly. Cassidy's eyes fly open, and she places her hands against her mouth as she gasps in shock.
"T-that-!" She chokes before she can finish what she's saying, "Sorry, sorry, I think I need to be alone right now." She manages to say before running off.
"Right, I'm going to head off to work now. God, this has been an awful day already." He sighs, brushing a hand through his hair in frustration.
"Alright, I'll come visit you again and let you know what I find," Dahlia says as they part ways. Thankfully, he remembered where the carpentry shop was, so it didn't take him an egregious long time to find it.
The workday isn't pleasant as somber villagers come in, each one requesting a coffin for a loved one. The other requests, such as chairs or tables, have been put to the side in order to fulfill the sheer amount of coffins he now has to make. Even worse, the people who came in were no longer gossiping. The entire village now understood the weight of their situation.
It was something of a relief when Dahlia came in. Exhausted from the work and bored from the lack of conversation, seeing a familiar face helped lighten the mood. Carefully picking her way through the shop, she avoided the scattered coffins that were placed haphazardly on the floor.
"Any good news?" He begged, hoping that there could be something he could latch onto to have a conversation.
"As good as it can get. Everyone else was fine, and I told them what happened. They seemed a bit shaken, but they all agreed to the meeting later." Dahlia replies.
"Alright." He sighs. It wasn't like he was looking forward to another meeting, but it was clear it was necessary. Now he had proof that there was more going on here, and he could actually lose his life; it wasn't something to joke around with.
"So? What do you think happened?" Dahlia had leaned against the wall and crossed her arms as she stared at him. Pausing for a moment, he thought about what to say. He hadn't spent the entire time focused only on making coffins; he had also been thinking about what had happened the other night.
"The other night, our group split into three. Katherine and Charles went off together to talk to the Night Merchant. I don't know what they talked about, but I had a conversation with his assistant. I was going to buy a statue that was for sale, but the assistant suddenly changed his mind and insisted I leave it and not buy anything before taking it and running off. I have a feeling these two things might be connected." He explains. Furrowing her eyebrows in concentration, she thinks over the matter before nodding gravely.
"Well, I'd rather not talk about such grim stuff anymore, do you agree?" She looks over at him for his answer.
"Is there something else you want to talk about?" He asks her.
"Ah, I don't know, I think I'd just bore you if you let me have a go. I tend to talk a lot. You have anything you'd like to talk about?" She shoots back her own question.
"Uhm…favorite movies?" He offers with a shrug.
"Why not?" She chirps and motions for him to go first.
"Hm, probably…" The conversation drifts on, and they talk about small and inane topics such as favorite movies, favorite foods, or favorite colors. It staved off the boredom, which was all he really wanted. It's over as soon as it began, though, when a villager walks in to retrieve their request, and she leaves with a wave as he handles the customer.