Creak. Groan. Huff.

Delphi looked out the window in the wooden carriage and saw a familiar sight.

Grass.

At first she had been grateful when the greenery replaced the golden fields of wheat that had defined the scenery for the first hour of the trip, but with how the verdant landscape remained in place for the hour after that and showed no sign of changing, she was beginning to regret this whole trip.

Creak. Groan. Huff.

Looking in front of her, Delphi saw the team’s latest addition turning the page of a newspaper. Beside him was Ted, who stared out of his own window towards the endless sea of green. He barely even blinked.

The back left wheel of the carriage completed another rotation and hit the bump, letting out a Creak and throwing Nash an inch into the air. She landed back down and the wooden seat beneath her let out a Groan.

The horses pulling the carriage let out a Huff.

“Alright, that’s another half hour,” said Nash, slowly getting up from her spot and rubbing at her bottom. “Ted, it’s your turn on the bad seat again.”

The brown haired man turned his head away from the window and gave a slight nod before switching seats with her.

“And I don’t think I can deal with another shift on the bad seat,” said Nash as she took her seat. “Do you think Count Montesquire will let us switch wagons on the way to Web Forest Village? No offense, driver.”

“None taken,” said the man sitting at the head of the carriage. He didn’t bother looking back at the quartet behind him and continued to look forwards. “Especially since we aren’t headed to meet the count.”

“Say what?” asked Nash.

“I thought we would have an audience with him,” said Chudsworth. “I am acquainted with the man, after all.”

“I don’t know nothin’ about that,” said the driver in a slow drawl. “I was just hired to pick you four up and bring you to Web Forest Village. If you were important enough to visit the count, then they would’ve hired someone with a nicer carriage!” He let out a loud cackle.

All of the passengers deflated, whatever hope they had for post-trip comfort quickly gone.

“And here I was looking forward to a nice, hot shower,” said Nash. “Nobles always have indoor plumbing and heating, I don’t want to have to bathe in an ice-cold lake after this!”

“Well, even if you were the count’s guests, he ain’t exactly the generous type,” said the driver. He drew up some mucous into his mouth and spit it out onto the side of the road. “I’ve done deliveries for him. Goods, mind you, I’ve got a separate wagon just for that. But every time I’ve brought him a dozen bolts of silk, or a couple of barrels of ale, did I ever get a thanks from him? Well, from the servants, sure, but it didn’t quite feel like a thanks when they made me sleep in the barn.”

“In the barn?” asked Chudsworth, looking slightly offended. “Even my father would provide the delivery drivers a room at the estates! Though it was a guest room with old cotton bedding, and he would feed them the reheated leftovers from dinner.”

“Hot food and a warm bed? Your pop’s a saint compared to the count!” exclaimed the driver. “But you lot are lucky as I take it if you’re headed to Web Forest Village. Those people really know hospitality.”

Creak. Groan. Huff.

“You call that lucky?” asked Nash, pointing to Ted as he seemingly ignored the discomfort of his seat, continuing to stare out the window. “Once again, no offense.”

“And once again, none taken,” said the driver. His smile didn’t waver for even a second while his placid eyes just looked ahead. “I’m talking about your destination, though. Web Forest Village might be way out there, but the people will treat you right. Hot food, warm bed, hotsprings, and they’ll even give you a nice gift once in a while!” He held up a small throw pillow he was sitting on before placing it back onto his seat.

“A pillow?” asked Delphi. “That’s… definitely a gift.”

“The cover’s entirely made of silk and stuffed with the plushest down this side of the county!” exclaimed the driver. “The kind only a noble would own, and only for themselves! Which is why I’m excited to finally be going back there. Who knows what kind of gift they’d give me this time? A few more visits and I’ll have a full bedspread fit for a king!”

Delphi politely nodded, not knowing whether the driver could see her. She was mostly doing it for herself though. Her hand reached into her pocket and palmed her family crest.

The other passengers had their own reactions, with Nash lighting up at the thought of the village’s hot springs, and Chudsworth taking a slow and careful breath.

Ted looked at the pile of fluff and made a comment. “Your pillow looks like it would be great for silencing screams.”

“Yeah, but there’s no need to put your head to one if you’re feeling frustrated,” he replied. “The best part about the great outdoors is that nobody’s around, so you can scream all you like without worrying about what people might think of you.”

Ted’s eyes lit up while everyone else rolled theirs.

“So what are each of you looking forward to?” asked the driver. “Anything in particular you want to get out of this trip?”

“For the most part, it’s classified,” said Delphi, looking out the window again with her hand still in her pocket. “But I’m hoping to get something substantial out of this trip.” She ended her own discussion there, not wanting to give out any more information, however vague, even to a driver who’d already been vetted by the HIA.

“Right, you’re all those secretive types, I get paid not to ask questions so I’ll leave it there,” said the driver. “Though it’s good that you follow rules, so I’m pretty sure you’re all the good guys at least. And that’s all I need to know.”

Delphi felt a pang of guilt as her hand brushed against the spy’s note sitting right next to the crest. “Right, the rules.” She wondered how far she’d bend them to find out more about her past. At what point would “bending” be the same as breaking them? For all who knew, this could have just been an elaborate trap. But that would have required this super-spy to get information about Delphi that almost nobody knew about, not even her teammates or higher ups at the HIA. Still, “Asura Rank” was a threat level beyond anything Delphi knew about. It wasn’t something she was willing to underestimate, even to this ridiculous degree. She’d be going about her business very carefully.

The conversation hit a lull as the black haired woman sunk into her thoughts, only to be brought back by Nash, who turned to the driver and asked him a question.

“Hey, could I take a look at that pillow of yours?”

“Sure thing, you thinking of getting something just like it?”

“I was more interested in the stitching.”

The driver’s eyes widened and he flashed her a smile. “In that case, you’re in luck! Web Forest Village has some of the best silk weavers in the kingdom! They can weave their silk into all sorts of wonderful patterns, even make it armor-like so it can’t be cut by a sword!”

“That’s pretty strong for silk,” replied Nash. “But every weave has its weakness, and anyone skilled enough can unravel the whole thing with a well-placed shear.”

The driver, who was holding out the pillow with his hand, quickly pulled it back. “And how can you be so sure about that?”

“It’s how magic works,” said Nash with a shrug. “Threads of magic are woven into fabric-like spells, and I’m an expert at taking them apart. There’s a surprising amount of overlap between weaving and spellcasting.”

“Really now,” said the driver. “Then what do you reckon about a plain weave?”

“You mean what they teach beginners?” asked Nash. “Good for practicing spellcasting, but the interlay between the threads is so predictable and generic that it’s not worth using for anything specialized. Just make a long slice anywhere and that’ll unravel the spell. And editing the spell is just as easy.”

“Waffle weave, then?” asked the driver.

“The stuff used for magical shields,” replied Nash. “It’s great at absorbing incoming attacks like nobody’s business, but it takes time for the residual magic to dissipate. Just cut any spot that’s still cooling down and it’ll usually cause the whole shield to explode! Bonus points if you redirect the other stored magic to pool into that same spot.”

“Herringbone weave?”

“Used in projectile spells, cut just below the tip and the whole thing will explode in the caster’s face.”

“Well I’ll be,” said the driver with a chuckle. “Those are all the weaves I know! I think you’d get along mighty fine with the weavers in town!”

“I think I’d rather get to know whoever is in charge of cutting the cloth instead,” said Nash in a shrug.

The conversation hit another lull, and this time, everyone was mostly content with the silence. But it was broken up by a series of creaks in the carriage’s wood as Chudsworth kept adjusting his posture as he tried his hardest to focus on the newspaper. The same page he’d been reading for the last half an hour.

“What’s gotten you so worked up?” asked Nash. “You’re not even on the bad seat but you’re still squirming.”

“Oh! Well…” Chudsworth said as he put the newspaper down and began to fidget with his hands. “Just a bit of uncomfortable history following me from my last visit that I’m quite hesitant to be facing again.”

“You’ve been there before?” asked Delphi. “That’s not something I’d expect from someone of your social standing.”

“Well, my father and I were brought along by the Count as part of a tour of his lands. I met another young boy my age and we didn’t quite get along. My father allowed his animosity towards me to happen, and in fact even encouraged it in hopes of giving me a thicker skin.”

Everyone stared at Chudsworth with a blank expression, to which he didn’t seem to notice as he continued fidgeting and staring at the floor.

The driver eventually let out a low whistle and spoke. “Damn boy, your dad kinda sucks.”

Chudsworth shrugged, but didn’t respond.

“If you two were only children back then, your aggressor is likely to have grown out of bullying,” said Ted, finally speaking up for the second time on the trip. He turned towards Chudsworth and gave him a too-wide smile. “And if not, I’ll take care of him.”

Chudsworth smiled back and nodded.

“So you can speak more than two sentences!” the driver said with a cackle. “And what are you looking forward to?”

Delphi and Nash made all sorts of motions to the driver to cut or change the conversation, but it was too late.

“Stabbing people,” replied Ted.

“Err, pardon?” asked the driver.

“Small villages don’t have the resources to properly investigate murders or disappearances, so there are more opportunities for me to stab the people there and get away with it!”

Nash slapped her face while Delphi looked on in horror. Chudsworth was still smiling about Ted’s offer to help with his childhood bully and had lost track of the conversation.

“Only villains, that is,” said Ted. “In the name of justice and within the jurisdiction of the Kingdom’s law.”

“He’s very enthusiastic about his job,” added Delphi.

“I can see,” said the driver with a forcefully neutral look. After a moment, he turned back to the front and let out a sigh. “Guess those rumors about city slicker guards being too quick to reach for their swords was true.”