We found our way to the road hostel Farina had mentioned. Road hostels were little rest areas on the many roads in the Mortal Kingdoms, not quite an inn, as you were responsible for your own food and such, but they were places to rest. You paid the owner, and they let you access the building. It seemed we were the only ones at this one, and the owner seemed to barely be managing to stay awake out of boredom.
Farina gave him the money, and after some small talk I didn't pay any attention to while I kept a wary eye on our surroundings. We didn't see anyone during our scouting trip into the old villa, but my hackles were raised. I know someone, or something was there, and not being able to find them made my paranoia go into overdrive.
I could start to see why adventuring was so much different from dungeoneering. At least I had walls and corridors to protect my sides, and with a party, you could fill any gaps. I felt too open in the wild like this, like an arrow or spell could come from any direction at any moment. Not to mention monsters.
Gods above, what if it were intelligent monsters? The lich I dealt with was bad enough, and I was lucky as all the hells combined to have gotten away with that victory, but I doubt I would get that lucky again.
"Alta? Come on." Farina waved to get my attention before pointing her thumb at the hostel.
I gave the darkness one more glance before following her. The clouds were moving in, and I could smell the petrichor in the air. Early spring storms were good for the plants, I suppose, but getting wet was not my favorite thing.
I entered the hostel door and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief at the warmth. Unlike the weird magical machinery that kept the school warm, this space was heated by a proper fireplace that crackled cheerily.
I was also relieved that we had the place to ourselves. One less thing to worry about.
"So Alta, what did you find that made you want to tear out of there so damnably quick?" Farina said, as she sat in a chair by the fireplace, pulling a water-skin from her pouch and taking a long swig.
I joined her at the seat across from her, kicking my books off and warming my feet by the fire, wiggling my toes in delight.
"There's something very strange going on in that greenhouse, Farina. First, I need to know, did that villa have any underground machinery for producing something, or anything like that?" I asked.
"No. It was abandoned before we even had technology like that. It was pre-clockwork and crystal mechanism. Why?" She looked at me, confused.
"I was listening for footsteps in the dirt, and I very clearly heard machinery. Definitely clockworks at a minimum. And it wasn't a small amount of it either. And then I found a door under some of the dirt." I continued, taking a drink from my own water skin.
"A door? It's a greenhouse; it shouldn't have a basement, much less a door. Are you sure?"
"As sure as I am of anything. What's worse is that there was dungeon mana leaking through cracks in the door." I finished off the skin with a lick of my lips. Panicked running dries a girl out!
"Dungeon Mana? We didn't cross a threshold or anything like that. It shouldn't just leak. Dungeon mana doesn't work like that. Are you sure? Did it react to your...thing?" She asked, trying to be as diplomatic as possible, I assumed.
"Yes. It reacted to my thing, as you so delicately put it. I'm certain. And I know it doesn't work that way, but that's exactly what was happening. Something is going very wrong at that villa, and I don't think we're equipped enough to handle it between just the two of us." I sank into the chair. This turned out to be yet another situation that was over my head, and I was getting very tired of it.
Farina sat there in silence, her brow furrowed with concentration and no doubt deep, troubled thoughts. I decided to leave her to those thoughts and take a little nap. I didn't know how good a nap I was going to get, but I did not relish the idea of making the return trip half dead from sleeplessness.
I awoke to the touch of sunlight flowing through one of the windows, and Farina was gone. On the bed with me was a small bag with a note pinned to it.
'To Alta: Here is the rest of the payment. I will consult with you later about further employment. Enjoy the rest of your weekend. FF.'
I heaved the cloth bag and smiled at the heft of it. Farina was a woman of her word. I wasn't entirely sure about that 'further employment' part of the letter, but I'd leave that for later. Time to make my way back home. I earned a day of being aggressively lazy.
Unless Farina was willing to pay, I was more than willing to let all this weirdness fail to be my problem.
As I walked home, I ran through a lot of things in my head.
Every part of me was screaming to do whatever I could to make this not my problem. I had plenty of other things to concern myself with. School. Eira. Work. Saving Money. Earning Money. Lots of money-related things, to be honest.
Sometimes I worried that to an outside observer, I must seem terribly greedy. And there is admittedly some truth to that. Anyone who says that money can't buy happiness has never truly been broke.
Farina paid me very well for this little trip. Enough that food and such weren't going to be an issue for quite a while. If she needed more help with this little mystery of hers, I wondered at how much more money I could coax out of her.
I had set myself up for a solid future for when I got out of Dungeon School, but getting to that point was going to be tricky. Even with the payout from the King.
Thoughts for another day. I focused on making my way down the road through the wet roads, muddy from an early morning rain, no doubt. I hated walking through muck like this, as it made moving harder than it needed to be, and having to clean my boots later was the last thing I wanted to do. It wasn't hard or anything, I just hated doing it. Sometimes I missed maids. It's petty, I know, but that's who I am.
As I focused on my own internal world, a carriage pulled up next to me. The Ptarms pulling it had shed most of their winter plumage, settling into the woodsy brown of spring. They were beautiful birds, well-kept and well-trained, too.
"You heading towards Revenstahd, miss? Happy to carry you the rest of the way." A cheerful voice called from the window of the carriage. I turned to look at the source of the voice.
I took an appraising look. A man about my own age, dressed in a simple green cloak, and with deep brown hair and a very well-trimmed beard, smiled down at me. His face seemed friendly enough, maybe a bit well-kept for travelling, but for all I knew, he was some kind of merchant or something. I was feeling a bit on edge after the weirdness of last night, so my gut reaction was to turn him down.
Ah, well, I was getting tired of making my way through the muck, and if he tried something funny, it wasn't like I couldn't hold my own if it came to it.
He seemed to sense my hesitation.
"I understand if you say no, miss. I'd be a bit suspicious of myself! Strange days these, aye?" His eyes twinkled a bit with humor.
"True enough, good sir. I'll take you up on that. Mind you, I don't take kindly to strange men getting too familiar, if you get my drift." I warned as I took his hand. With a grunt and a pull, he helped me into the carriage.
I settled into the seat across from the man and noticed the bastetian seated next to him. She was tall and lithe, like others of her kind, and her fur was dark as midnight. She looked at me warily, and I could sense a sort of defensive readiness, like she would and could gut me in a moment if she needed to. She had a matching cloak to his, a deep forest green.
The man pounded the ceiling, and there was a whistle from the driver, and the Ptarms continued their journey.
We sat there in a sort of awkward silence for a long moment.
"So, you're from Revenstahd or traveling there too?" He asked, breaking the tension as if he was completely oblivious to it. His feline companion rolled her eyes and seemed to relax.
"From there. Sort of. Student." I answered honestly. In situations like this, strategic honesty is better than lying, in my opinion.
"Ah! Dungeoneer in training, yes? Best place for it. Dungeon School is the best place for it. Much better than what we have in Middenveldt, eh, Adhara?" He laughed, turning to the bastetian. She grunted in response.
"Middenveldt? That's quite a journey." I noted. I had never really met anyone from Middenveldt save for Myth, and she didn't have much of an accent. Of any kind, really, now that I thought about it.
"Aye, we've been sent as envoys. Can't give too many details, you understand. I will say, I wasn't expecting a noble Burgotovan to be this far from the capital, what with all the remaining chaos." He said, scratching his beard.
"What makes you say I'm Burgotovan? Noble no less?" I felt a bit of panic welling up in me. How the hells did he know that? We've barely talked.
"Accent. It's not heavy, so you've definitely been in Revenstahd for a while, but you haven't entirely lost it. Common Burgotovan has enough differences from Nobles that it kind of stands out to me." He shrugged. "I've never quite figured out exactly where in Kildjan Adhara she is from, but she also doesn't talk enough for me to figure it out. Isn't that right, old friend?" He laughed, patting the feline on her shoulder.
Whoever this man was, he was dangerous. He seemed weirdly observant and knowledgeable. I wasn't sure his carefree attitude wasn't just an act.
He looked at me for a moment.
"Ah, yes. I've done it again. I apologize, traveler. I had an odd hobby where I tried to figure out as much about a person as I could from just a few words and such things. Fantastic party trick, really impresses the ladies, if I do say so myself." He gave me a playful wink.
I wasn't entirely sure how to feel about this man. I didn't really like being analyzed like he seemed to instinctively do. On the other hand, he was charming and playfully thoughtless. But he was an envoy, which means he no doubt had a certain level of political savvy. Or he was someone's special little boy, and he's getting some experience padding.
"Seems to be a useful skill. Party trick or otherwise." I said, trying to keep my unease from my voice.
"It has its uses. You can't really get the full measure of a person, of course, but it helps in establishing a good baseline. Then you start from there. After that, you look at body language, tone, and all sorts of little things that tell you about a person." He continued.
"Is that so?" I was getting increasingly tempted to leap out of the carriage at this point.
"Oh yes. You, for example. Your body language and voice are telling me right now that you are incredibly uncomfortable with knowing I can read you like some kind of open book. Which suggests you are a private person and very shy, or you have things you'd rather not be known. You don't carry yourself like a criminal; you have too much of a warrior's wariness about you. That, plus your accent, the fact that you're attending Dungeon School instead of a proper trade guild, and the worn equipment, tells me that you're a noblewoman, likely exiled. How close am I?" He smirked at me. I decided that I didn't much care for this man.
"Leave the woman alone, Noah. Sands, you do this every time you meet someone new. Especially women. It's unbecoming, and quite frankly irritating." Adhara chided him with a well-placed nudge to the ribs.
He coughed at the sudden strike.
"I do apologize, miss. I have a bad habit of trying to show off." He bowed contritely.
"He wants people to think he's the smartest person in the room. Sadly, with the company we usually keep, this seems to be true, but his hubris is all he seems to show off." She grunted and looked out the window at the approaching walls of Revenstahd.
"I do apologize miss. Is there something I could do as a way of showing my contrition? I could treat you to a meal once I find a good place. I admit I've never been to Revenstahd before." He smiled at me again, and it seemed his apology was genuine.
"There's no need for that. The ride is apology enough." I said quickly. I just wanted this to end so I could get out of here. I couldn't help the feeling that he was flirting with me too, which I was not a fan of.
"The welcoming committee is here," Adhara said flatly.
"Oh, good! Thank you for the lovely conversation, Miss...I realized this entire time I haven't caught your name." He said.
"I'm...Astra." I lied. Knowing him, he'd know I was lying, but at this point, I didn't care.
"Oh course. Miss Astra." He bowed dramatically in his seat and winked at me. Adhara nudged him again.
We rolled up to the gates, and I saw Farina waiting there. Which was more than a little confusing. Was she waiting for me? No, she was in her official-looking outfit, prim and proper, her working expression on her face.
Farina gave a little curtsey as the carriage door opened.
"Greetings to you, Sers Scarletti and Adhara. Welcome to Revenstahd. The City Lord and Headmaster Walther await your arriv--" She looked up and locked eyes with me, sitting there with the other two.
"Um. Hello, Miss Firenze." I bowed slightly, trying my best not to look too embarrassed.
"Oh! You know each other! How delightful! A small world...or city-state rather!" Noah laughed as he dropped from the carriage.
"How many times do I have to tell this human to let me out first. Sands!" Adhara hissed angrily and followed behind him. I followed close behind.
"I'll just be going them. Thank you sers for the lift. I hope you have good luck in your endeavors!" I bowed and started to make my way past Farina.
"Sorry, Miss Marchesi. Walther needs to speak to you, too. Its. Important." She said that last part between her teeth, trying to keep her voice low.
"Of course it is. Lead on. Someone is buying me lunch for this." I sighed, resigning myself to an entire day of utter annoyance.
