Slowly pushing herself up on her elbow, Rebecca blinked at me in confusion. “Wha-?”

  “We could′ve asked the innkeeper about the people sitting next to Simon and Emily! And where to get the news of the Riot out. And- and- the truth test-”

  “Calm down.”, Rebecca said, clearly groggy. “I tried talking to him already. He had like… a dozen names that sat next to Simon and Emily, I'm just missing those six.”

  “Oh.”

  Without any further words, Rebecca wrapped an arm around me and pulled me against her. “No more talking, sleeping now.” Not long after did her breathing evened out as she fell asleep. Her warmth seeped into my body as her warm scent enveloped me until it pushed all thoughts out of my head, replacing them with a gentle peace.

  “Good Night Rebecca.”, I whispered and fell asleep soon after.

  Only with great unwillingness did I wake up the next morning. I had not slept this well in ages. As I opened my eyes, Rebecca's arm was still around me, almost radiating warmth. When I moved slightly, her grip tightened just as slightly in response. I pat her arm. “Rebecca?”, I whispered.

  But she did not hear me over her snore. How come that hadnt woken me up all night? It had in the past, after all, but not now for whatever reason. Footsteps caught my attention. Their origin was Robin, walking in circles, sometimes turning to watch us sleep. I hadnt seen her emote much yet, but when her gaze moved from Rebecca to me, it clearly soured.

  “Good morning.”, I said diplomatically. Robin's eyes flickered down to me, and she hid the worst of the acid in her gaze. She squeaked at me, presumably in response. Then she turned around and left the room.

  Before I could think much further, the bed creaked as Rebecca sat up, dragging me along like a living teddy bear. She smacked her lips together. “Where′s everybody?”, she wondered out loud. “They'd better not start breakfast without me.” I tapped her arm.

  “Oh.”, she released me, and I fell onto the bed with a small thump.

  Her back cracking as she rose, Rebecca stretched with a satisfied grunt. “That deserved being called a good night's rest.”, she said. “You sleep ok, Henry?”

  “Very.”, I replied as I got dressed.

  As we left the room, Nico gestured for us to come inside Simon′s room, so we did. Robin was already perched on the post of Emily's bed while Emily was still sleeping, though very ladylike, so to speak. She slept in the manner one would expect a princess to sleep with her…. guard falcon, for lack of a better term.

  “If the town wasn't locked up Id say we′re good to go.”, Simon said. “Not at full speed, maybe, but good to go nonetheless.” As he spoke, I could feel a headache coming on as the desire for an early morning coffee filled my mind.

  “Might be a blessing in disguise then.” Rebecca replied. “If she′s only half recovered, then continuing would just make it worse again. And I for one would prefer having her in bed here before letting her try getting better inside a wagon going who knows where.”

  Simon couldnt argue against that.

  “I'm gonna go check the truth spell on the innkeeper.”, I said. “And afterwards Id like to check out wherever I can get information to the people. What are your plans?”

  Rebecca moved closer. “I'm gonna join you. I'd like to have you there when I find those six guys we don't know about yet.” Nico squacked. “And Nico would like to join us too.”, she added. Nico was growing on me. I wished I could understand him.

  Simon grabbed his own chin thoughtfully. “I think if we′re staying in the first place, then I'm gonna stay here with Emily, see how much strength we can build back up.” Robin chirped and didn't move from Emily′s bedpost, to which Rebecca simply nodded.

  “She wants to stay and stand guard?”, I asked.

  “She wants to stay.”, Rebecca replied.

  The three of us went down the narrow stairs, Nico ahead of me, Rebecca behind me. This made me almost feel like a celebrity surrounded by bodyguards. As I walked over to the innkeeper, I gave him my best business smile before sitting down.

  “I'm very sorry for having left you to wait.”, I said. “I trust that my little spell wasnt too much of a burden?”

  The man looked at me differently than he did before. Like he was expecting something that would tell him if I was or wasn't an actual Rolander, maybe he was annoyed that I hadn't believed him regarding the poisoning and was now late with the truth spell. Maybe he was simply tired due to all his work lately and the town being locked down. Maybe it was none of that; he just looked like that, and I never noticed.

  He shook his head. “No, it really wasnt. Was it supposed to?”

  He handed me the bag, which was completely unchanged. “Thank you very much.”, I said and pocketed it. He had not tried to manipulate it, since it would have opened otherwise, which I choose to believe meant he was telling the truth, as he had not felt the need to prove he was telling the truth. Since he was telling the truth already.

  “So. The spell?”, he asked.

  “Yes?”

  “Aren't you gonna check the powder inside?”, he asked.

  “Oh, no, the powder isn't gonna change.”, I explained. “So long as the bag is still closed its fine. It would have opened and not been able to be closed again.”

  “So you lied about the lie detection spell?”

  “I guess I did say the powder would change, didn't I?”

  Polishing a glass, he sighed. “Whatever, you′re not just here for that, are you?”

  “No, sir. I'd be curious where to get or spread information.” I hadnt seen a newspaper yet. Were they a thing? In the past, anytime I asked myself that question, the answer was yes, but that didn't mean I could rely on that.

  “Like an information broker?”, he asked.

  “Yeah, just like that. You know where I can find one?”

  Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

  After a few moments of thinking, the innkeeper, whose name I either had never learned or didn't remember, wrote down an address on a piece of paper. “Knock yourself out.”

  He handed me the small note, which I pocketed. Turning around, I made my way alongside Rebecca and Nico. The three of us walked north from the Inn, which luckily led us away from where the riot had happened, even though it had already passed. As we made our way, I let out a happy little sigh. “Cobblestone is so much more pleasant to walk on than dirt road.”, I said.

  “Agreed. It's pretty nice here too. If it weren't for the deadline and the whole “practically imprisoned in town” thing, I wouldn't mind staying here for a while doing a few quests.”

  As I walked through the streets, I couldn't help but look at the houses, which didn't feel too dissimilar to walking in the older parts of towns back home. Cobblestone streets, worn away by the many, many boots walking on them, lined by buildings and stores peddling all sorts of wares. The most overpowering of which was currently a bakery. I stopped shortly to buy a bun with cheese baked on top for each of us as breakfast before we continued on our way.

  As I focused on a small fountain in the middle of a plaza, I noticed that we were being watched. Not by an attacker, at least I didn't think so, and my dagger sense also hadn't activated.. They watched Nico and Rebecca as if worried either might do anything, and in turn, me, who walked between them with no worry. I noticed that, outside of the innkeeper, it's been weeks since I′ve had my last conversation with a full human outside of short exchanges when purchasing something. I didn't know what to say or how to feel about that. It wasn't negative, I didn't mind, but it came to my mind as at least noticeable.

  As we made our way further north, I felt myself check for my chain again and again. I didn't feel safe. Maybe that was silly. After all I had a single basic core pearl, and when I felt for it by trying to tense my core, I had also realised how to shatter it to activate its abilities, if Nico shattering his steel pearl for defense had been any indication of how it worked. So if I came into danger I could hopefully use that to- No, why should I just guess?

  “Rebecca?”, I asked. “I gotta shatter my basic core pearl to use it, right?”

  “How many do you have?”, Rebecca asked.

  “Just the one. I'm not sure how close I am to getting a second one, I′ve been slacking on my practice.“

  ”You′ve had a lot of different things you worked on.”, she said. “So yeah, you can shatter it. You should have an all-around stat increase till the energy runs out. how long thats gonna take depends on how close you are to the second one, but it should be at least a few minutes. At least I hope, we dont know how it interacts with your skill after all.”

  I hadnt even considered that. It did leave a small lump in my stomach.

  “I forgot to ask, how many pearls do you have?”

  That question put a grin on her face. “Just one more, and I have my first ring around the core. And as soon as I do, I'm gonna have a ring around my water core too, Robin says, unless the unexpected happens, I should have the water core pearls pre-formed already, and it's just a matter of my basic ring for them to come in. Can't wait to see your face, with how much I'll be able to shift after that.” She seemed pretty self-satisfied at the idea, humming happily.

  It didn't take much longer after that to reach the place indicated on the note. A large building called the “Arachne Information Broker.”

  Somehow, I had pictured a small back alley dude wearing a trenchcoat. Or a fantasy equivalent. No, who was I kidding, chances were some Rolander had brought trench coats into this world.

  The building itself was four stories tall, towering over most of the other buildings in town by a wide margin. Clearly, there was money to be made in information. I wondered what mine would be worth. I wondered what type of information we could gain from this.

  We stepped into a clean foyer laid out with a literal red carpet, the first wallpapered walls I saw since leaving the Vide mansion, and gentle violin music playing from unseen…. speakers? Gentle violin music played, and I could not see a band or a violin player, so I presumed magic was involved.

  At the far end of the room, behind a polished dark wood counter, stood a young woman in uniform. She reminded me of Louise, Henry′s maid. I wondered what Louise was doing. I had last seen her and Leopold, the butler, months ago. Did they miss Henry? As a person or in a professional sense? Were they attached to him in any form? I didn't have any answers, but frankly, I didn't feel like I needed them. I just hoped the two of them were happy.

  Rebecca's voice brought me back into the present. “No, he′s been like that since I married him, always deep in his thoughts. He doesn′t notice that he′s staring into the void.”

  “That's a relief, madam.”, The measured voice of the employee was as polite as her slightly exasperated tone could be. “I was worried we would have to call someone to pick him up. Do you know why he-” She looked at me. “Oh, he′s back among the living.”

  The employee stepped back behind the counter and tapped her papers onto it till the pages aligned again. “Are you here to buy or sell?”, she asked.

  “Spread?” I said a bit unsure.

  “Spread? How far? We can spread information towards a few people for a small fee, add it for a limited time to other bought information for a medium fee, or spread it town-wide for a large fee. We would usually have been able to spread it to other towns as well, but due to the lockdown, we aren't quite sure of our ability to spread it that far currently.” She lowered her head. “We apologize for the inconvenience.”

  “How big are those fees?”

  “Small, medium, and large.”

  “No, I mean in Rentrae.”

  “That depends on the exact information. Would you like to talk to one of our agents?”

  I looked at Rebecca, then Nico. The former nodded, the ladder gave a half-shrug before nodding.

  She raised her head again and looked at us once more. “Please follow me.” She opened a heavy oak door, leading us inside. We walked past four white doors with golden door handles until the lady opened the fifth door on the right.

  Inside, we came face to face with a middle-aged man with salt and pepper hair, messing around with pencils.

  “Jackson.”, the lady said.

  “Honey?”, Jackson replied, which gave her cheeks a slightly reddish note.

  “Not while we′re at work. I brought customers.”, she said, her professional tone a pitch higher.

  Jackson turned to us as if he hadn't even noticed our presence so far. “Ah, welcome. What can I do for you lot?”, he asked as the lady closed the door behind herself. Jackson gestured us to sit before looking at all three of us with a neutral smile. He had a polite, somewhat friendly tone that reminded me of a door-to-door salesman.

  Suddenly, an idea came to my mind. I had not thought of it before sitting here, but now I was curious. It might have been a bad idea but in that moment I didn't think that far.

  “How much for information on the current Rolander?”

  _________________________________________________________________________

  Current Status:

  Stats:

  Power: 2

  Agility: 1

  Toughness: 3

  Mental: 2

  Perception: 3

  Mana: N/A

  Effects:

  Night Vision  Lvl. 1

  Overlapping Protection  Lvl. 1

  Skills:

  [Basic Core Technique]  Lvl. 1

  [Behind every great person, there's their spouse] Lvl. 2

  [Emperors Gaze]  Lvl. 2

  [New World Mental Block]  Lvl. N/A

  Known Ritual Spells:

  [Basic Healing Magic][Determine Value]

  [Filth to Food]

  [Ignite]

  [Liquid Equilibrium]

  [Rite of True Death]

  [Simple Transportation Magic]

  [Trigger]

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