11
“I must say, I imagine it might be more efficient to look for any commotions occurring in the capital rather than groping around in the dark.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Because he is the kind who would go out to enjoy the rain in the middle of a storm.”
Following Chisha’s intuition about their quarry, the three of them headed for a guard post in the capital, thinking they might be able to find a clue.
“Are we sure, though? The guardhouses are always buzzing. Is that going to be enough to help us?”
“I should think we could at least narrow our search to places that have suffered some commotion,” Chisha said.
“No, there must be a way to be even more precise,” Julius replied. “There’s one area in particular he’s frequented on his jaunts out of my mansion during his stay. That man’s hard to miss, so perhaps someone has seen him.”
Chisha squinted at Julius admiringly, and Ferris’s ears stood up as he spoke up. “Wow. You mean you weren’t just keeping an eye on him at home, but you were staking him out when he left, too?”
“You make it sound so devious. I simply had my Sprouts trail him in case he should find himself lost in a strange town. Even then, that was only at night.”
Julius had assigned his greater spirits to this task as a sort of insurance, and now it was paying off. He only regretted that he hadn’t imagined Cecils would leave the house during the day and so didn’t have a spirit watching after him now.
“However, if his objective is in that area, then combined with your suggestion, Master Chisha…”
“A compromise between the two to find him. Very well, let us proceed as you say.”
“Fine, do whatever you want,” Ferris grumbled. The three of them headed for the guard post in the section of the city Julius suggested—which was where they learned of the gang of thugs that had been beaten half to death.
“We found these lowlifes in an alleyway, looking like death. Thankfully, none of them were actually killed, but something really awful must have happened to them—they’re all furious about it. You want to talk to them?”
“Yes, if I may. Any of them roughly sane?” Julius asked, and the guard in charge of the detention center brought out three men. Each of them was quite distinct: One was massive, another, medium-size but muscly, and the third, small and spindly. None of them looked very cooperative, and their faces puckered when they saw a knight standing in front of them.
“G-geez, what’s a knight doin’ here? None of us knows nothin’, all right?!”
“Calm yourselves. I’m not here to hand out punishment to any of you. I simply have a few questions about the man who worked you over. For starters, why did you target him?”
Julius was calm but got right to the point, and the three men collectively gulped. When Ferris saw they weren’t eager to answer, he pursed his lips. “Just a second! Play along with us here. Trust me, if you don’t say anything, someone else will—all you’re doing is wasting our time. So come out with it already.”
“…Okay, we’ll talk. But on one condition. We sing, and you let us out of this place. There’s a bad vibe here.”
“…Very well. I’ll see what can be done.”
The offer came from the second of the men, the medium-size one. He was young and possessed very sharp eyes. Julius accepted his condition, and the three of them visibly relaxed.
“There was this guy with a lotta, y’know, style,” the young man said. “Gave us each a gold coin and said to keep an eye on that cocky kid. Easy money, right?”
“But it ended up being the most painful milk run we’ve ever been on.”
“It’s all because of those other greedy bastards; they went and got carried away! We tried to stop ’em, I swear!”
“Anyway, point is, we tried to do our part, and look where it got us.”
The excitable smaller man and the glum-looking larger one both settled down as the one in the center concluded the story.
“Hmm.” Julius nodded when they were finished. “And do you, perchance, know the name of the person who hired you?”
“You don’t ask what you don’t need to know. Stick your nose in too deep, and you never know when they might decide to cut it off.”
“The only reasonable response,” Chisha said with a shrug. “And they’ve no reason to lie—another dead end, I suppose?”
“No, not necessarily,” Julius said, shaking his head. Then he reached out toward the three men. Their eyes were wide as he asked, “Would you mind if I inspected the gold coins you were given for your reward?”
“The hell? You tryin’ to fleece us? You’re a knight—that’s, like, abuse of power or somethin’! That’s our reward for doin’ our job!”
“A pretty shady bit of pay,” Ferris commented. “And then you didn’t even actually do the job—that’s just sad.”
“Listen, kitten! Don’t think you can mouth off to us just ’cause you’re cute!” came the explosive response from the shortest of the three criminals.
They stared at one another like small animals in a face-off until Julius intervened. “Pardon me,” he interjected. “Ferris, restrain yourself. My apologies for this misunderstanding. The money is yours, of course. I simply wish to inspect it.”
“Yeah, likely story! You’ve done this before, haven’t you?!”
“Pfah. Give it a rest, Camberley. Here.” The medium-size man talked his companion down, then flipped a coin to the knight. It made a lazy arc, and Julius caught it in his palm. He felt the weight, ascertaining it was gold. The spirit mage nodded, satisfied, and tossed it back.
“Just as I thought… Thank you. That helps.”
“…We don’t care what country it came from or whatever; it’s our reward. You better keep your promise.”
“Should I take that to mean you do, in fact, recognize where it comes from?”
“Already told you, sir knight. Don’t sit well to go upsetting your generous benefactors. Not good to ask nosy questions.” The man in the center snorted. He and his two friends made to leave, and Julius politely got out of their way. The trio walked straight out of the guard post, but Julius called after them:
“You’re free to go on this occasion, but…I sincerely hope you won’t do anything to find yourself in the hospitality of the guards again. A lifestyle like yours all too often leads to an early death.”
“Easy for you to say. Me, I think the air’s too thin to breathe way up high,” one of the men spat. And with that, the three of them scurried away.
When they were out of view, Ferris exclaimed, “What is with them?!” and stomped on the ground. “The nerve of those guys! It drives me up the wall! Shouldn’t we have just left them here?”
“A promise is a promise. What’s more, they have some money right now. That means, perhaps, a chance to forge a new path in life.”
“Bah, I think that’s awfully optimistic! Their like never turn over a new leaf. I swear…” Ferris frowned, taking Julius’s faith in the men’s goodness as more than a bit idealistic. Still, his anger quickly cooled. “So what now?” he asked. “What’d that coin tell you? Did you get the name or the face of whoever hired them? Not that Ferri’s sure it would make our missing-person search any easier…”
“A fair point. Well, let me start at the beginning. First of all, that coin was not minted by the kingdom, but by the empire.”
“An imperial gold coin…? So whoever hired those clowns—”
Whoever paid them did so with imperial currency, thus implying a connection with the empire. But that didn’t make any sense. At least, not with the information Ferris had. After all, Cecils, whom the men had been pursuing, was from Volakia himself.
“But if the person who was trying to watch him was from the empire, too, then… Huh?”
Julius put a hand on his perplexed friend’s shoulder. “The answer to that is clear, Ferris. But first… Master Chisha.” He turned to look at the envoy, who waited calmly for him to continue. “Am I correct that we are not apprehending the hunter, but the quarry?”
“Most wise. It is as you suspect, Master Julius.” Chisha bowed to him, openly impressed. The pale general’s superficial deference could sometimes seem to hold a veiled contempt, but this particular gesture appeared sincere.
Ferris, though, was completely baffled. “Can someone explain to me what is going on?”
“Let’s start by clarifying your question. Right now, there are two mysterious members of the empire in your mind. One is the unauthorized entrant whom Master Chisha is pursuing.”
“Right, and that’s…” Cecils, right? Ferris didn’t quite finish his sentence out loud.
“I’m afraid not,” Julius said, shaking his head. He continued like a magician revealing the secret to his sleight of hand. “The runaway is the one who gave the gold coins to our three acquaintances and ordered them to watch over his own pursuer. And if so, what purpose do you think our mutual friend had in coming here?”
“You can’t be saying what I think you’re saying…,” Ferris said, belatedly realizing what Julius already knew.
The other knight smiled as realization dawned on his friend’s face. “We were told two envoys had come from the empire—Master Chisha has a partner we haven’t yet connected with. Cast in that particular role is one General Cecils Segmund.”
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