Scarlett felt more than simply tired as she sat on her chair, perched on the porch at the center of Freymeadow, her eyes fixed on the quaint square before her. Next to her, Arlene was absorbed in her book, while Rosa, seated on the porch railing with her back to them, was lost playing on her klert.

Eventually, Arlene lifted her gaze, looking towards the sky now tinged with hues of red as the sun started to set. “It’s getting late.”

Scarlett considered the woman for a brief moment, then nodded, understanding the unspoken suggestion.

“Miss Hale. If you would,” she said.

Rosa’s melody flowed without interruption, and Scarlett, feeling a wellspring of energy surge inside her, rose from her seat, albeit somewhat unsteadily. Stepping down from the porch, she watched as Rosa hopped down to join her, then both turned to Arlene.

“We will be taking our leave for now.”

“Until next time,” the older woman said.

“Until then,” Scarlett echoed, though her gaze lingered a tad longer.

“Do you have something to say?” Arlene asked.

“…I believe you promised me a reward for retrieving your heirloom. Something beyond your teachings.”

Tomorrow marked the end of this current loop, which meant Arlene would forget the promise by their next meeting. Scarlett had been waiting for the woman to broach the subject herself, but that hadn’t happened.

“You certainly seem fixated on this reward,” Arlene remarked.

“Promises are meant to be honored, are they not?”

The woman gave her a long, thoughtful look. “…Wait here,” she finally said, standing up and placing her book on the chair before she entered the building behind her, leaving Scarlett slightly surprised.

She’d never seen the woman actually go inside.

“Huh.”

Scarlett exchanged a glance with Rosa, who appeared equally shocked.

“What do you suppose she’s fetching for you?” the bard asked. She waggled her brows. “Something to aid her dearest pupil? Perhaps a manual on how to avoid making enemies of everyone you meet?”

“I hardly make that many enemies,” Scarlett said.

“That’s only because you lavish most people with copious amounts of money and scary information until they have no choice but to pretend you didn’t just kick their favorite cats. I should know, considering I’ve experienced it.”

Scarlett simply shook her head. “I believe I have an idea of what she is retrieving.”

“Of course you do.” Rosa sighed theatrically. “Doesn’t it get tiring always knowing everything? You’re sucking the excitement out of everything!”

“There is already more than enough ‘excitement’ in my life as is. I would happily reduce it,” Scarlett replied.

“A real grouch, you.”

“I am not preventing you from enjoying that excitement yourself, so spare me the complaining.”

“Never,” Rosa declared with determination. “I’ll keep this up till my deathbed — and mayhap even beyond.”

Scarlett looked at her. “I am afraid that I believe you.”

Choosing not to get pulled into more of the bard’s eccentricities, she turned her attention back to the house, waiting for Arlene’s return. It wasn’t too long before the woman emerged again, approaching Scarlett with a purposeful stride.

“Your hand,” she instructed.

Obediently, Scarlett extended her hand, and Arlene placed an ornate key in her hand, crafted from polished brass with a light silver finish.

Puzzled, Scarlett inspected it. What was this for—?

[Jewellery Casket Key]
{A key seemingly intended to open a jewellery casket}

Her eyes widened.

“If I recall correctly, you wanted what was inside that casket, didn’t you?” Arlene asked.

Scarlett looked up at her, then to a stool behind the woman. A red-tinted wooden casket with gold latticework rested on it.

[Locked Jewellery Casket]
{A woman’s jewellery casket. There appears to be no way of opening it}

“…Are you saying that I am allowed to open it?” Scarlett asked eventually, the wheels in her mind turning.

What she needed indeed lay within that casket.

A faint smile played on Arlene’s lips, and the woman shook her head. “No. I am giving you the key, but I am not saying that I will let you use it.”

Scarlett couldn’t fully contain the scowl forming on her face. Then what was the point of receiving the key? As long as Arlene insisted on stopping her, the key was basically useless. She doubted she could trick the woman in any way.

“In due time, you’ll have my blessing to use it,” Arlene said, observing Scarlett with a penetrating gaze. “But not yet. You haven’t quite reached that point.”

“…But you believe I will, eventually?”

If she could get her hands on the artifacts inside that casket, she would finally be able to enter Beld Thylelion. It’s what all of her visits in Freymeadow and her deal with The Gentleman had been building up to.

She had just never been expecting Arlene to willingly offer her the key. The woman’s statements in previous loops had suggested that such a possibility was out of the question.

“I’ll allow you to use that key, provided you fulfill one more request for me,” Arlene stated.

Scarlett adopted a confident expression. “Very well. Whatever the task, I will strive to carry it out with the same diligence as I have with your prior assignments.”

There were a couple more quests in the game that Arlene could give, aside from the one in Bridgespell, but none posed much of a challenge. If completing them was all it took to reach Beld Thylelion, it would be easy.

“It is similar to what you did for me last,” Arlene explained. “I want you to find another old keepsake of mine. A necklace.”

Scarlett paused, frowning slightly. She studied the woman. “…A necklace?”

“That is what I said, yes.”

“Are you certain this is truly the task you wish me to undertake?”

A short, amused chuckle escaped Arlene. “I am quite certain, yes.”

Scarlett’s frown deepened.

That wasn’t a quest from the game. She had never even heard of Arlene having any necklace keepsake, nor did she have any idea how to locate something like that. Why would Arlene suddenly make this particular demand? Was this a consequence of Scarlett’s own actions having altered things to such an extent? Yet, if the necklace was of such importance to Arlene, it should have been present in the game, right?

“…Is there not another task I can perform for you?” she asked.

Arlene seemed to be pondering it briefly before answering. “Are you doubting your ability to fulfill this particular request of mine? That’s quite surprising, considering your success with my dagger.

Scarlett remained silent for a few moments.

That was a no, then.

“…I will inquire into the matter and see what I can uncover,” she eventually said. No matter how difficult, she couldn’t exactly decline this opportunity. “Could you provide any details to aid my search? While knowing that I am searching for a necklace is helpful, the task seems daunting with such scant information.”

“Oh, I’m sure. Regrettably, the necklace itself isn’t especially extraordinary. It is crafted from silver and has a sapphire pendant, but it’s not something you wouldn’t be able to find in a market if you looked for long enough.”

“…Then what do you expect me to do?” Scarlett asked.

“Find it, I hope,” Arlene replied. “Your resourcefulness has already surpassed my expectations more than once, so I have faith in you. If it helps, I can tell you that the last known holder was another disciple of my master, my younger brother, Delmont.”

“Delmont…? And which house does he belong to?”

Arlene offered Scarlett a knowing smile. “You’re assuming he is a noble.”

“From what I gathered from your sister’s journal, he is. The same would apply to you as well, would it not?”

“Once, perhaps. But for me, such connections are a thing of the past. As for Delmont… I’m not so sure. Regardless, you will have to manage without knowing his house. Even as my student, I would prefer my name not to leave this place and cause unnecessary complications.”

“It will be more than challenging to locate this necklace without even knowing the full name of its last holder,” Scarlett pointed out. “I do not even know where to begin the search.”

“True,” Arlene conceded. “Unfortunately I don’t have anything that can help you there since I don’t know where he last was either. Perhaps you could begin your search with the Brook Tower. He was once associated with it in his youth. He also spent some time with Ustrum and that old man’s new ‘assembly’, but I can’t vouch for what you’ll find there. Those two never got along.”

“Are you referring to the Ustrum Assembly?”

“I doubt there are other assemblies with the same name.”

“I understand…”

That piece of information could actually be helpful to Scarlett. The Ustrum Assembly was established when the empire was still relatively young by the legendary arch mage Ustrum. If Arlene’s brother had been someone close to the man, there was a decent chance records existed within the Assembly that referenced him.

Scarlett didn’t know exactly how that would lead her to this necklace, but at least it was a lead.

“I will do what I can to locate your necklace as swiftly as possible,” she said.

Looking for something like this without being able to rely on her game knowledge was unfamiliar territory for her. Contacting Beldon Tyndall and leveraging his information network would likely be her first step. Adalicia Mendenhall also had connections within the Ustrum Assembly, and if she remembered correctly, Lady Withersworth’s daughter held a relatively high position there too. Maybe those were both possible avenues of approach as well.

That said, she suspected it would be difficult to find any usable information, considering how many years had passed since Arlene’s time. Over two centuries was more than enough time for most trails to have gone cold.

The loop here in Freymeadow also presented another complication. Scarlett hoped she could keep the key since it was given to her as a reward, but even if she did, Arlene wouldn’t remember giving it to her in future loops.

Maybe presenting the key alongside the necklace would prompt Arlene to come up with her own explanation within the context of the loop?

It was a possibility, given Arlene’s reaction whenever Scarlett displayed her pyrokinesis at the start of the loops. Though far from a guarantee, it was at least a strategy worth attempting.

“If there is nothing else, we will take our leave,” Scarlett announced.

“Wait,” Arlene said. The woman reached into her robe. “I am not so stingy a teacher as to offer you nothing but an ineffective piece of metal for your efforts.” She took out a charm shaped in the form of a fox’s head, extending it towards Scarlett. “It may not be much, but perhaps you will find some use for it. It serves little purpose gathering dust here with me.”

[Foxfire Charm (Unique)]
{This mystical amulet harbors within the elusive essence of a fiery spirit, its warmth radiating and aglow with a special flame}

Scarlett observed the charm, slightly surprised. This was what she had been expecting when Arlene promised her a reward.

She reached out to accept the item, examining it for a moment before stowing it in her [Pouch of Holding].

“Thank you,” she said, meeting Arlene’s gaze.

The woman nodded. “Now, it is getting late. I suppose I can expect to see you tomorrow as well?”

“You will. Until then, farewell.” With that, Scarlett and Rosa departed Freymeadow.