Looking at the map, the main seat of the Church, the Holy See, was not all that far from Wobern. The distance between Estatt and Aquent was about the same. But the reason it was not considered a part of the south was because the interrupting mountain range was so forbidding. “Basically every road going through it is blocked off. Snow piles up in the winter, and spring is snowmelt season—bridges fall, roads wash out, it’s nothing but trouble. Wobern sits in a basin surrounded by these mountains, making it a natural fortress.” Nyohhira was also in the mountains, but it sat more in the depths of a far-reaching range of relatively gentle slopes, so it was a different beast entirely. Myuri was nothing but impressed, and her eyes shone as Luward told her about the city. “But the mountains to the north of Wobern aren’t as steep. There’s a big river that flows down that way, see, and if you follow it all the way through these valleys, you’ll end up at the sea to the west, here.” “Oh, we stopped at that city when we took the boat from Rausbourne, right?” Myuri asked. Hyland was currently stationed in Rausbourne—when Col and Myuri left her and came to the mainland, they had come by boat. They had passed several coastal cities along the way, and one of them was a port city called Ahberg. “But Uncle, if this place is so hard to get to, then why’d you say it was good geographically?” Luward looked at Myuri and shrugged. “The mountain range isn’t actually impassable. Determined people can get through them. That means it’d be real easy to launch a surprise attack on the heart of the damned Church from this mountain city.” Myuri’s eyes snapped wide open and her ears and tail popped out again, but the way her fur stood on end was a little different than last time. Col decided not to scold her. Instead he asked Luward, “If we were to gain Prince-Elector Duran’s support, since he rules Wobern, that would put considerable pressure on the Holy See, yes?” “It would. The Holy See’s on a nice, flat plain. On clear days, you can barely see the mountains on the horizon—even though no one’s ever built a real road through those mountains before, I bet the pope would still be mighty uncomfortable knowing his mortal enemy’s just over that ridge.” The wolfish grin on his face was perfect for a ferocious mercenary. “This Ilenia works for you, right, ma’am? She’s probably thought about that, and that might be why she’s called on the Twilight Cardinal,” he remarked. Regardless of the way he addressed her, Eve gave an irritable sigh. “Something troubling you?” he asked her. Eve stared at Luward. “Two things. One—whether or not you and the other mercenaries are joining us.” Myuri’s tail stood at attention, like a dog shown a piece of jerky. Luward noticed this—he shook his head apologetically. “We won’t be, unfortunately.” “Why not?!” Myuri asked with such ferocity Col thought she might snap at him. As Luward gently calmed her, his open palms facing her, he said, “It’s not cheap to take a whole load of people through the mountains. I mean, I bet Miss Eve’s wallet could handle the cost. But the bigger problem is we’d be walking into the mercenary king’s territory.” Myuri’s ears flicked at those words. “Plus, considering where the city is, we can’t claim we were just passing by. All roads that lead to Wobern, end in Wobern.” Luward put his hands on his hips and gave a tired smile. “What would you do if a whole pack of other wolves came into your territory, kiddo?” The silver wolf pup looked a little more grown-up than she normally did. “I’d want to know what they’re plotting.” “Exactly. Two strong wolves can’t share the same land. Minus male-female pairs, of course.” When Luward said that, Myuri, for some reason, glanced briefly at Col, then exhaled in understanding. “I can lend you one or two of my best men for protection and guidance. ’Course, I don’t mind if the only payment I get is for their meals,” Luward said, looking at Eve. “So this is where we say good-bye, Little Miss.” Myuri’s expression suddenly changed from that of the village menace to that of a young girl. “Am I gonna see you again?” “Of course you will. Call for me whenever you need me. I’ll be right there.” Hearing that from such a tough-looking man like Luward would be a fatal blow for most girls. Myuri was no exception. In a burst of emotion, she leaped at him for a hug. “So, what’s your other worry, ma’am?” Luward asked Eve as he hugged Myuri back. Eve was a miser through and through and seemed to relish in acting like it—she was astonished by the sight of Myuri hugging Luward, tail wagging, and replied quietly. “Hard to do trade in Wobern. The locals have a death grip on the few trade routes into the city. Might as well empty my coin purse now if we go with your plan.” “Sounds like a big problem for you!” Luward teased. “It’s not funny. I’m the one supporting you through this, and you people don’t come cheap.” Once Eve said that, Luward laid out what they needed for their journey to Wobern, and she sent some of her people out on an urgent mission to buy all those things from the grand market. They initially planned to get to Wobern by going to Ahberg first and then traveling upstream, but they scrapped that idea when they saw how long it would take. Even though it did not seem Ilenia was in any particular danger, it had been enough for Vadan to send a pigeon their way, so it was likely best to get there as soon as possible. And so they decided they would travel east from Estatt and then take one of the very few mountain paths from the skirt of the range that led to Wobern. “Every time I’ve had to say good-bye to someone in my mercenary life, I’ve been the one leaving. It’s kind of strange to be on the other side for once.” Col had assumed that Luward and the other mercenaries would be leaving Estatt first, but the seasonal winds were making it quite difficult to secure a ship. And so Col and Myuri’s party was leaving first. With everyone gathered at the front of Eve’s warehouse, Luward seemed to be having fun. “You have to teach me sword stuff next time, okay?” Myuri insisted. “Of course I will,” Luward replied. “But you’ve gotta bulk up before then. Eat well, sleep well.” Luward’s advice was fitting, but as her older brother, Col wished it was not something he said to Myuri specifically. She was already eating and sleeping well, after all. “Are we going, then?” Myuri was always ready to dash off like a burst of mushroom spores at the start of every new adventure, but this time, the signal for departure was a reluctant question. Col nodded with a troubled smile. “We are. Miss Eve, I’m leaving plenty in your hands—including communication with Heir Hyland.” “I know. I’ll leave some of my people at the cities along the way. Look for them if something comes up.” Eve was staying behind in Estatt. Beside her, Pierre lifted his cane along with his voice. “We shall take care of the cathedral!” “I will be following in your footsteps before long.” Along with Pierre, Le Roi would also be remaining in Estatt for a short while—he would be heading to Wobern using a different route later. He had to stay in Estatt because he needed to fill the orders of the local nobles who wanted their own copies of the vernacular translation of the scripture. But there was also another reason why he would be headed for Wobern on a different route. Ilenia was in jail because a certain astronomer had gone missing. Astronomers were closely related to astrologers, and astrologers were practically heathens. And while they were unclear about the particulars of Ilenia’s predicament, they decided it would be worthwhile looking into the identity of this astronomer at the center of it all. So Le Roi decided he would look at the booksellers’ trading records first before heading to Wobern. If someone needed books in mountainous Wobern, then there was little doubt they would have to rely on the nearest port city, and what sort of books this astronomer was reading would shed some light on whether they were a genuine heretic. Le Roi had also given a belly-shaking laugh, declaring his wide midriff would not be able to fit on the narrow mountain roads. But since Luward had nodded in response to that statement with a straight face, Col and Canaan exchanged glances. Were the roads really that difficult? With those worries in mind, the Wobern entourage ended up being one of Eve’s employees, one of Luward’s men, Canaan and his bodyguard, Col, and Myuri. It seemed it was only Col and Canaan who were uncertain if they would be able to traverse the harsh mountain paths. “Bye, Uncle!” Myuri, riding the same horse as Col, kept turning around to wave at Luward. Luward and the other mercenaries still had to prepare for their own departure, so his men were busily running to and fro; Luward, however, waved back every time Myuri did. She paused to look back at the tough-looking mercenary boss with a delighted smile on her face. At last, they followed the bend in the road. When they could no longer see him past the building blocking their way, Myuri finally turned to face forward and settled into her seat on the horse’s back. “Finished?” “I wish I could run there and back, and give him another big hug.” She said it with such earnestness that Col could not help the smile that crept onto his face. She sat right between his arms, so he squeezed her with both of his elbows. “Is this not enough?” “Your arms are too skinny!” she complained, and then rested her back on his chest. “I hope Miss Ilenia’s okay.” “She will be. What I’m more worried about is whether we can make it through the mountain paths in one piece.” Myuri turned her head to look up at the clear sky, then bent farther back to look up at Col. “I think you’re the only one worried about that.” “What? Isn’t Archivist Canaan…the same as me?” “He said when he came to the kingdom from the Holy See, he took a similar route.” Indeed, when Col first met Canaan in Rausbourne, Canaan was in tatters, and it seemed like only his eyes were shining. Their traveling expenses were not entirely reliable, and they were unable to secure passage by sea, so Canaan had pushed past his bodyguard’s objections and traveled north through the mountain ranges. “Plus, Canaan has it more together than you do, Brother. You’re going to trip, stumble over roots, and then fall off a cliff.” She could be so harsh precisely because they were close. But he knew, of course, that it was a leading statement. “Yes, you are correct. And that is why I need my knight to protect me.” Myuri was sad she had to say good-bye to Luward, and so that was exactly what she wanted to hear. “Heh. Of course I will!” she said, cheerfully readjusting herself in her seat. She stretched, and then snuggled up against Col again. “I’m gonna nap until it’s my turn to shine, okay? I need to eat well and sleep well, after all.” “………” It did not take very long for her to use Luward’s advice as a shield. Despite his total exasperation, he squeezed her on either side with his skinny arms so she would not fall off the horse while she slumbered. On the second day after their departure from Estatt, they finally spotted the mountains they planned to conquer on the far horizon. They appeared suddenly from the flat of the plains, which made Col wonder what sort of whim led God to create a landscape like this. Not only that, but what they were seeing was just one part of the whole range—beyond those treacherous peaks was a ring of truly steep mountains, like the crown a king among kings would wear. On the third day, their road started to slant up and down, and by the fifth day, there was a drastic decrease in the number of people on the roads. They arrived at a relatively large town that evening, which is where many travelers would make final preparations before heading into the mountains proper. While there were those ready to head into the mountains on one hand, the town was also filled with those who had finally made it through the range, and this was their first lively place in a long while. That meant the town had a strange aura about it—it was filled with the excitement and unease of those about to make their trip, while also brimming with the relief and freedom of those who had made it through. There was no chance Myuri could behave herself in such a place. Worried about her and her high spirits, Col accompanied her as they went around visiting stalls. And the locals seemed to have seen right through them, picking out the unique tension hanging around those about to venture into the mountains. While Myuri was looking at decorations, the stall keeper told her all sorts of terrifying stories about the roads. Though Col could feel himself shaking, the stall keeper said, “No need to worry. Keeping this protective charm on you will keep you from falling down the steepest of cliffs. This is a fine article, one even the Church themselves have recognized.” What he held out to them was an iron charm in the shape of a goat. Col took it as borrowing the strength of a mountain goat, which could traverse practically vertical walls with ease, to make the worst of roads no big deal, but Myuri was terribly upset by this and turned down the offer. “Why a goat? A wolf makes way more sense!” Myuri was still ranting when they left the store, and she sulked. “And I don’t think we need a mountain guide!” It seemed as though her bad mood was not caused by the charm alone. “I’m more than enough. You don’t have to hire a guide.” Myuri was oddly proud of being born and raised in the deep mountain village of Nyohhira. But according to the information Eve had collected in Estatt, knowing how to traverse mountain roads was simply not enough for this journey. “It is not just that the roads are treacherous,” Col explained. “But it sounds as though there is a great deal of erosion due to landslides and snowmelt. We need thorough knowledge of the state of the roads, and what huts we can take refuge in when there are sudden changes in the weather. The act of fishing may be the same at any body of water, but things are vastly different between the river and the sea, no?” Myuri gave a halfhearted nod when he explained it this way, but she still seemed dissatisfied. Perhaps she had pictured herself leading everyone through the harsh mountain roads. Especially since this time they were headed to the legendary mercenary king’s territory. Before they left, she had read everything she could about the mercenary king at the cathedral library. Additionally, she had asked Eve to summon a city bard to sing for her every tale about the mercenary king. Her head was filled with nothing but thoughts of adventure. Col let her displeasure wash off him and made his way to the town trading hall to hire a guide for their journey the following day. Myuri was fully cranky, and decided she would be going to sleep in a huff. As Col grew tired of her upset, he finished arranging for a guide and returned to the inn, where he decided to read through the scripture until they found one for them. As he did, Myuri’s drooping ears and tail tensed, suddenly on edge. A moment later, there came a knock on their door. It was not Canaan’s knock. Col looked to Myuri, wondering if it was the innkeeper, but she did not put her ears and tail away. “Hey, I know you’re in there. Open up.” Col was surprised. He knew that voice. Still doubtful, he rose from his chair and opened the door to find one particular young man standing there. “…Mister Vadan?” This was a man of the sea who ran his own ship. No, this was a mouse of the sea, and he replied, “Yo.” On stormy nights, there was a ghost ship said to appear off the coast of the Winfiel Kingdom. The source of those rumors were the mice that crewed a smuggling ship. And the leader of these mice was a man named Vadan. “Ilenia told me to come get you. She said you’d be comin’ through here. Man, she really works her mice to the bone.” “How is Miss Ilenia?” Myuri sat cross-legged on the bed; she had called over a small mouse that had come into the room with Vadan and was playing with it in her hands. “She’s good. She’s tough.” Myuri laughed, her shoulders shaking as she did so, and the mouse in her palm scrambled as it almost fell off. “But why’s she in jail, though?” she asked. Col could understand, in a sense, if she had been subject to false charges and gotten caught up in some sort of incident. But that did not seem to be the case in Vadan’s letter, and seeing the man for himself, Col could see he was relaxed. “You know what this is? It’s not specifically about Ilenia herself—lots of people are getting thrown into jail for just about anything. Ilenia decided to act a little suspicious and the same thing happened to her.” It sounded as though the situation was a little more complicated than the paper for the letter allowed. “She was looking for the astrologer, right?” Myuri asked, only for Col to correct her again. “Astronomer.” “Same thing. They both look at the stars and decide where to go, right?” “………” With no good retort coming to mind immediately, Col fell silent. Vadan chuckled. “Glad to see nothing’s changed. She’s got you beat, Twilight Cardinal.” “All she has learned to master are far-fetched arguments. I am not quite sure what to do with her.” Myuri pointedly ignored him; she placed the mouse on her shoulder and asked Vadan, “Did she ask for Brother so he could find that fortune-teller?” “Guess so. We first heard about this astronomer from the bird alchemist.” Diana was both a bird spirit and an alchemist, and she had helped them in the incident involving Vadan and his crew. “From Miss Diana?” Despite how very little she was concerned with details in general, Myuri was not the only one who saw alchemists and astrologers, and even astronomers, as one and the same. The people in those professions seemed to consider one another comrades after all, so it was hardly wrong to consider them connected in various way. “I don’t know if astronomers are good or bad,” Vadan explained. “But this one in particular seems to have some valuable information. Divine providence, if you get what I mean. Charts for whole boatloads of stars.” Intrigued, Myuri recrossed her legs. “’Course,” he continued, “that’s not something you put together in one generation. They inherited that from their master, and their master’s master…Weighty after all that time, golden knowledge trickling down like that. That’s what I heard astronomy’s like, anyway.” Myuri audibly gulped, perhaps because she had recalled how a particularly high-quality wine was made. Grapes were placed in a sack outside, which hung from the eaves of a roof, and whatever juice dripped through the bag due to the weight was used for that fine wine. “We were lookin’ for this astronomer ’cause we wanted a star map which would help us find that continent at the edge of the sea. We finally tracked ’em down, but when we paid them a visit, the house was totally empty, and ’cause of that, everyone who could possibly be involved in the disappearance’s been locked up.” “You mean they were kidnapped?” “That’s what the prince-elector thinks, at least.” “What?! Does that mean there are other people looking for the new continent, then?!” Myuri sat up from the bed, and the little mouse sitting on her shoulder rubbing its face suddenly tumbled down. “I thought so too, but sounds like things are a little different. Apparently, there’s a ton of people out there who want knowledge about the stars. Sounds like it’s real handy when it comes to sowing crops and stuff.” “Sowing crops?” Myuri tilted her head. “Sometimes it gets real warm and you start thinkin’, is it spring already? But it’s not like they’ve got the seasons written in the sky, you know? So farmers look at where the stars are in the sky and they can see whether it just happens to be a warm winter, or spring’s come when they weren’t payin’ attention. Imagine plantin’ your crops, only for the frost to come again. You’re in big trouble.” That was the reason why most of the Church’s festivals were concentrated in the spring and autumn. The Church had been around since antiquity—they helped the people determine the seasons by employing their own astronomers, having those astronomers study the movement of the stars across the sky, and established a calendar as a result. But as those calendars went through revisions over the years, they became far less accurate with time—this was something Col had heard from Myuri’s mother, the Wisewolf. Village festivals grew slightly off as the years went by; festivals that currently took place in the spring once took place in the autumn, and even further back they actually took place in the spring again. When Col read ancient hagiographies, he noticed the people in the stories wore light clothing despite participating in rites that took place in the winter, which impressed him—how faithful they must have been to withstand the cold like that—but he learned later that at the time, the rites simply took place in warmer seasons. “Plus, you’ve got this person lookin’ at the stars each night from their tall tower, so of course the Church is gonna think they’re a heretic. And that’s why you’ve got a lot of guys with their eye on astronomers.” Vadan leaned against the wooden window frame and started counting on his fingers. “Lots of potential suspects. Lords from grain-producin’ regions, inquisitors who wanna snatch up heretics, proud nobles who want to employ renowned scholars, and—oh yeah, daredevils who want to discover new continents.” Myuri stared blankly at Vadan. Perhaps this had showed her once again the world was filled with more unknowns than she was aware of. “Plus, astronomers apparently cost way more than alchemists. The prince-elector’s paid big bucks to build towers and buy observation equipment, all so this guy can watch the stars. So it’s pretty hard to imagine the astronomer willingly up and left. Not only do they have an obligation to the prince-elector, but it’s almost impossible to find a patron who’d be willing to pay all that.” “But…the mercenary king still has no idea who kidnapped the fortune-teller, so he’s throwing all sorts of people in jail, right?” “Pretty much. He probably thinks he’ll get it right eventually.” Col pictured crowds of innocent civilians crammed in the jail, and he was astonished by how careless the act was. “But still, why would she want my brother there? He constantly loses track of himself and is always lost. He’s totally useless when it comes to finding people.” “………” Col looked at her with a withering gaze; Myuri turned to him and her only response was a sweet smile. “Two reasons,” Vadan said with a dry smile. “One, he’s always got a wolf with him—you.” “Me?” “You can sniff out the stuff we don’t notice.” Vadan tapped his own nose and then pointed at Myuri’s face. With her ears and tail out, her tail thumped against the bed in protest. “I’m not a hunting dog!” “The other reason is it does seem like the prince-elector has some kind of idea as to who the culprit is. But it feels like there’s one specific reason or another why he can’t go after them,” Vadan said, ignoring Myuri’s protest. He turned to look at Col. “You might be able to take on this opponent. And so Ilenia made a proposal to the prince-elector—she said if she could get the Twilight Cardinal to come, then we should be given special privileges to look for the astronomer.” “Me…? Then, does that mean the most likely culprit is—” “Yep—it’s the Church. But both Ilenia and I think that doesn’t sound right. If this was an inquisitor, then there’s no reason for them to kidnap the astronomer in secret. They can just kick down the door and stick their papal writ in everyone’s faces, including the prince-elector and his buddies.” Inquisitors were the natural enemies of nonhumans like Myuri. But the image of them kicking down a door to chase their prey struck some sort of chord with her—the fur on her tail twitched impatiently. “And it sounds like, from this whole situation, they were taken before the snowmelt, at least two months ago. Despite that, the prince-elector hasn’t gotten any word from the Church, which makes it hard to think it was an inquisitor. They always make it real well known when they get their hands on evil people and burn them at the stake.” It was their job to put a check on the spread of heretical thought by doing so. Thus, it was certainly strange to hear absolutely nothing over the months. “I could believe the Church wanted a new astronomer because they wanted to watch the stars and went out of their way to kidnap one. But would they really resort to something so drastic?” “It seems…rather unlikely,” Col remarked. They would at least have held negotiations of some sort first. If those fell apart, then perhaps they would resort to kidnapping…Or would they? “Plus, the prince-elector is acting weird, too. Anyone who had any kind of relation to the astronomer, anyone who came lookin’ for ’em—they all got thrown in jail. Which makes it seem like he’s not really looking for them. He’s not even whippin’ anyone.” That was the very first thing Col worried about when he heard Ilenia had been put in jail. “Sometimes it’s like he remembers—he’ll call up a guy from the cells, ask ’em questions. But the questions are so vague it’s almost impossible to tell what he’s tryin’ to ask.” “Like Brother when he’s preaching?” Col felt a headache coming on when he heard the wild girl call God’s teachings vague, but Vadan looked serious. “As far as we can tell, the prince-elector is smart. So we think that, just maybe…he’s got a secret he can’t tell anyone about, and it’s bothering him that he can’t ask the crucial questions. You know how your secret could get out if you ask the questions you really wanna ask?” “…Huh? Is that a thing?” Myuri asked, confused. Col replied, “Say I hid a jar of honey in the pantry. One day, I went and saw there was less than usual.” That prompted Myuri to peer over at him. “If I asked the little wolf if she ate some of my honey, that would also reveal I had honey in the first place. I would have to be very careful with my line of questioning.” The rambunctious girl gave an emphatic nod, and then bared her teeth at him. “’Course, we looked into what kind of secret the prince-elector might be keeping,” Vadan continued. “But he’s careful. Whatever it is, it’s locked up tight in his mind.” Vadan was a mouse spirit, and there were no buildings in the world impervious to drafts. He and his crew could sneak into any room in any house, and of course, it was easy to believe they had a full grasp on what Prince-Elector Duran was having for every meal and what he was saying in his sleep. If Vadan had not been able to sniff out his secret, then it truly was a secret. And it was so tightly kept that Ilenia had to call out the both of them. “And isn’t a priest the perfect person to get someone to spill their secrets?” There was no way for Col to tell if that was meant to be a joke or not, but it seemed the mountain paths ahead were not the only trouble waiting for them. The deep ravines were the result of snowmelt carving away at the mountains for millennia. People dug out roads that clung to the cliffs, and with incredible effort, had even built bridges over the ravines. But there was always one big snowfall every few years, which melted into a torrent of water come spring—these torrents damaged the roads and the bridges, and before long, all these things would get washed away. And then they would have to start all over again. There had to be a good reason why people lived in regions like this, and why travelers braved them. “We’re walking here on the map now, right?” Afterward, they met up with Vadan, hired a guide without incident, and set aside some time to rest and prepare. Then they finally headed toward the hazardous mountain roads. Along the way, they stayed at simple inns that simply offered a roof over their heads, or spots in small hamlets where only goat herders lived, as they walked toward their destination beyond the mountain peaks. On the third day, they stumbled across a sunny outcropping with a good view, and it was here they stopped for lunch. Myuri and Canaan sat shoulder to shoulder on a rock like close-knit twins, looking at the map as they munched cheese on rye. Trade was poor due to the harsh terrain, so while there were no fancy meals for them, there were plenty of varieties of cheese, and Myuri with all her love for food was quite happy with her meals. Myuri studied the map with great interest; as she pushed a bit of cheese stuck to the corner of her mouth with her pinky she pointed to the very center of the mountain range, where images of winged horses were flying over the lines. “Miss Eve cursed a lot about this. She said olives from the south could get to the northlands really fast if it weren’t for these mountains.” And the ones who would be attempting to deliver these goods “really fast” were not traveling light like Col and the rest of their party, but encumbered by heavy mounds of cargo. It would be their legs transporting the cargo, and the only money they could spend would be on the bread that would fill their stomachs. If they managed to safely cross the mountains, then they could save on time and enormous transport costs. People traveled even on these roads, and the reason why there were inns and small communities along the way was because this was a shortcut to gold for young, reckless merchants. “Did you come this way when you went to the kingdom, Canaan?” Myuri asked. “Oh, no, no, of course not. We took a route that went a bit farther south, so the mountains were not as steep. But it was still quite the journey.” “Miss Eve told me people usually take boats.” “We did not have much coin to spare on our travels, and we were in a hurry. We could not afford to wait for westbound ships—the wind is never favorable.” “Westward sea routes go across the sea then make a huuuge detour, right?” Myuri dropped her finger farther south from the mountain range they were presently in. That area was where the ancient imperial capital had once stood, and was where the heart of faith, the Holy See, was in present day. In order to reach the Winfiel Kingdom from there, travelers had to take ships that went around the large peninsula that jutted out from the mainland in the southwest. And they usually had to contend with westerly winds, which meant they had to make a lot of stops along the way. That was why it was a much more time-consuming trip than how it appeared on the map. “There was another route in the time of the ancient empire,” Canaan said. “One was able to pass directly through these mountains. There are records of being able to reach Wobern from the Holy See in about a week.” “Uncle Luward told me about that. I guess it’s true.” Myuri looked up from the map and squinted at the mountain peaks. She seemed somewhat spellbound, perhaps because she was picturing ancient imperial knights crossing over them. “If you put it another way, it’s the way the land is. There are only so many routes people can take when they travel through here,” Vadan added to their conversation as he scanned the surrounding area. “I don’t think the kidnapped astronomer left behind a crumb trail, like in fairy tales, but I knew there had to be a clue somewhere…Then again, I haven’t found anyone that’s seen any evil-lookin’ guys running off with a person under their arm.” Myuri smiled at that and tossed a piece of bread into her mouth. “Usually when the evil king kidnaps the princess, she drops an earring or a ring on the road, and that’s when a knight finds it,” she said. Vadan shrugged. “There might not be many roads, but could there be bypaths?” Canaan asked, looking around at the sky-piercing peaks. Col felt truly small in the presence of such grand sights, but the grander scale led him to believe there were more gaps to slip through. “’Course I asked the local guide about that, but he almost laughed at me. He said sure, if you’ve got goat legs. Or if you can swim like a fish.” Vadan pointed at the dark rapids that cut through the pastoral highland scenery. The cold snowmelt water rushed furiously along the riverbanks, their darkened rockface bare to the world that dotted the mountains. It was because of these raging rivers that communities spread across a valley would be cut off and lose almost all contact with one another. It did not seem realistic to take unmarked paths in this land that even the locals dared not take. Even the fledgling merchants, those who wanted to save every piece of copper they could, knew they needed to hire a guide for these paths; not doing so meant death. Of course, if there was a nonhuman involved in the disappearance of the astronomer, then that assumption no longer applied. Or, if the astronomer themself was nonhuman. “But look at these roads,” Myuri said. “Are you sure this is going to be a big town?” “In terms of what paths connect Wobern and the world below,” Vadan replied. “We’re coming through the back entrance. We came to Wobern from a part of the sea that’s farther north than where you guys were at in Estatt.” “That Ahberg port city?” “Yeah. Their main trade route goes up along the river from Ahberg. The roads coming in from the northern part of the mountain range aren’t as bad as this. The southern roads are for adventurers only.” Myuri beamed when she heard that. She was covered in dirt and dust after these past few days of mountain climbing. Before they went to sleep at night, Col told her to at least wipe her face, but she apparently considered the dust and dirt to be proof of her dauntlessness, and so the wild child purposefully kept herself dirty. “If someone spirited away the scholar, then my bet is they came from the north. My crew’s looking into it, at least.” “Hmm. I guess scholars like my brother do stand out a lot on roads like this. I thought they might’ve put them in a box and carried it away, but that doesn’t seem easy here.” Canaan must have pictured the sight of someone carrying a heavy box like that on these narrow, cliffside roads—he shivered. “But I still can’t believe it.” “Hmm?” When Myuri spoke up, Canaan looked at her curiously. “I still can’t believe there’s a big town nestled deep in these mountains.” After seeing countless steep, heart-pounding roads, deep ravines, and thick blankets of brush, Col also found it hard to imagine a town stood somewhere up ahead. “All that talk about cities at the bottom of the ocean were outright lies, but it’s true there’s a city in the middle of the mountains!” Vadan said. Myuri laughed for a moment, then exhaled, stretched out her legs, and looked to the sky. “That fortune-teller must be looking at the same sky as me, somewhere out there.” The sky was a deeper blue here, unlike the plains, and the sun shone brightly. And if Col squinted, he found he could see the faint white light of the stars, even in the daytime. After an eventful hike spent looking out for falling rocks and helping a stranded merchant whose cargo had tipped over, their party finally reached the final peak. At the top of the pass was a cairn made of pebbles left by travelers; it had a stick protruding from it and a tattered piece of cloth affixed to the top, fluttering in the wind. It was a ritual hoping for safe travels ahead, and giving thanks to God for safe passage thus far. Myuri loved this sort of thing, despite not having a speck of faith in her body, so of course she added a rock to the pile. Everyone else followed suit in commemoration of the trip. And the sight they saw after that was the perfect show of strength of those who lived in such a harsh environment. “This is…amazing.” It was not her typical exclamation; instead, Myuri murmured under her breath in open awe. “It’s like the whole city is a fortress…” They had come upon a vantage point that gave them a commanding view of Wobern. It was a city of solid stone, built in a basin shaped like a mortar and absolutely earning its reputation as a natural fortress. What gave it this impression the most was the mountains surrounding the city, towering above the basin, reaching so high that no trees grew on the slopes from about halfway up. Lower down, the land was thick with foliage. The deepest part of the basin was home to a dark and dense forest, perhaps owing to the rich snowmelt. A wide river cut through the forest like a serpent and flowed northwest from Wobern’s northern valley along with a cascade of green. Alongside that river was the main trade route Vadan had mentioned. “Now I get why they called it an impregnable fortress back in the day,” Myuri murmured in quiet excitement. She had read quite a few stories about Wobern while they were staying in Estatt. The fall of the ancient empire ushered in an era of constant conflict as successor kingdoms clashed to see who would rule over what was left. No king could successfully capture Wobern, the seat of the mercenary king. As a result, even though the new nation was originally meant to have six prince-electors, they had no choice but to add a seventh. “Attackers have to come through the valleys to the north, even though incredibly tall highlands sit on either side. And they’re filled with stones perfect for throwing! No one could possibly conquer it,” Myuri recounted excitedly—she loved war stories—and Canaan listened with rapt attention, deeply impressed. “And even if you decided to attack from the back, the only paths you can take are the same as the ones we took.” Hearing about it was already fairly persuasive, but seeing the city for himself made its invulnerability almost undeniable. There was no better city to defend than Wobern. They enjoyed the breathtaking sight for a little while longer before beginning their trek down the side of the mountain. “It’s really smoky. That’s not from the hot springs, is it?” Myuri asked when she could finally make out some details of the city in the distance. The sight of Wobern was so grand and majestic that it seemed closer than it actually was. “It must be coming from all the forges,” Col mused. “Miss Eve said smithing was one of the few viable trades here…” Evidently, this limitation did not mean the scale of trade was necessarily small. “That deep forest goes on foreeever. It might be deeper than Nyohhira’s. You can’t see them from here, but there are more countries on the other side of those mountains over there, right?” “I would not call them countries, per se, but a collection of villages and hamlets that dot the mountains. Prince-Elector Duran of Wobern rules this entire mountain region and looks after their interests. Metal ore is brought in from the eastern mountains, lumber is brought in from the western mountains, and both become iron in Wobern before being sent down the river to be traded…Or so I’ve heard.” “They’re blacksmiths that work for the mercenary king. They must make a lot of swords.” “Yes, but we won’t be buying any.” When he preemptively told Myuri no, she stuck out her tongue at him. As they made their way down the mountain on the winding path, the city of Wobern came into clear view. There was, perhaps, a good chance the city was mostly built from stone due to its abundance as a resource nearby, but it was more likely the smithing industry was just very conscious of the danger of starting fires. “Is that the castle?” “It has a tower, so perhaps.” “So the fortune-teller must’ve been at the very top of it, then.” From all the prior discussion, Col was under the impression the astronomer had been brazenly kidnapped from a sparsely populated, rural mountain area. But Wobern was a much bigger city than he had imagined, and kidnapping a single person here would not draw too much attention. It did not seem all that difficult to carry a person in a wicker suitcase down along the northern river path. Col felt he understood the prince-elector’s desperation a little better now, throwing everyone who might be connected with the incident into jail. “Either way, it’s the perfect place for an adventure!” After walking several days on the dusty mountain path, Myuri was covered from head to toe in dirt. But that was a perfect match for the rambunctious girl’s smile. When they arrived in Wobern, Vadan’s crew came to greet them. A good number of them could not take human form, so they had slipped into every crack they could find in the city and secured an inn that looked run-down but was surprisingly comfortable inside. Col wanted to collect information before visiting the prince-elector’s palace. He particularly wanted to get a feel for what sort of person the prince-elector was. And if he was being honest, he was a bit too tired to speak with someone so important right after crossing the mountains, so he wanted to get a bit of rest first. But of course, rest was not a word in Myuri’s dictionary when she was on an adventure. “Make sure to come back at sundown!” He knew she would not listen to him if he asked her to behave simply because he was tired. At the same time, he was not worried she would get lost, even in a new city. And since she now had a member of Vadan’s crew on her shoulder—they became fast friends—he knew she should be fine. “Okaaay!” Myuri gave her usual acknowledgement (which was truly nothing more than her acknowledging something had been said to her), and once she had finished changing into her errand-boy clothes, she rushed from the room. “Good grief…” “She sure has a lot of energy.” In his astonishment, Col saw that Vadan, who sat in mouse form on the table, wore a similar expression. “Can you make contact with Miss Ilenia?” “Yeah, we’ve already told her about you guys. And it sounds like nothing happened while we were gone.” As Vadan spoke, a continual stream of other mice came to him. If anyone else had seen this, they would be panicking with broom in hand. Col would most certainly faint if he saw something like this in the bathhouse pantry, but now, the sight reminded him of a fairy tale more than anything else. Perhaps it was because all the mice, including Vadan, had such a fine sheen to their coats. “In other words, there are no clues?” Col asked. “Do you think it was a spirit that kidnapped them?” The astronomer had been whisked away from the top of a tower with no witnesses. As the big brother of a wolf girl, Col had naturally considered the possibility a nonhuman was involved. “A large bird, for example, could sneak in under the cover of darkness and take away the astronomer as they stargaze.” “That bird alchemist could do that.” Diana the alchemist had helped them during the incident with Vadan and his employer, the eccentric noble Nordstone. Diana was also a nonhuman and was the incarnation of a large bird. “Maybe Miss Sharon’s birds know something.” One of Sharon’s bird friends did follow them from Estatt, but turned back once the elevation got too high. Part of it may have been because the air grew too thin, but a bigger part may have been the skies over Wobern were filled with birds of prey, circling overhead with their large wings spread wide. Myuri had heard they would be taking the long way around the mountain range, and then come back into the city from the north. “We did ask the city’s birds for good measure, but they haven’t noticed anything in particular.” In the eyes of a regular human, the powers of nonhumans were practically fairy-tale magic. “Then…perhaps the astronomer themselves is nonhuman. If they were one of your kin, one could easily slip them into a pocket.” The mouse shrugged, apparently not finding the joke all that funny. “Well, I guess the little wolf would be able to sniff that out if she makes her way to the tower.” Though it was nowhere near the caliber of her mother, the Wisewolf, Myuri’s nose was just as sharp as any wolf’s. She would always sniff Col with a dissatisfied look after he spent a long time in meetings with Canaan. Had there been a struggle in the tower, she would immediately be able to sniff out some sort of clue—and if the astronomer was nonhuman, she should be able to smell that, too. “But for now, I want to rest. I can stand all day on a boat and not be tired, but…” Vadan was still the leader of a crew—once he was finished dealing with the reports his underlings came to deliver, he wearily dropped his head onto the table. Mice were detestable creatures that nibbled on books in libraries and food in pantries, and sometimes even the toes and fingers of those sleeping in inns, but looking at them like this made them seem rather adorable. “Archivist Canaan wanted to take a walk around the city too, so shall I buy something for you while we’re out? I hear Wobern is known for its good cheeses, like those we had on the road.” Vadan’s round ears piqued. “…I know a good place.” “Then I shall get it for you.” Once Vadan told him where to go, Col left his room to invite Canaan, who sat looking out of the window of his room restlessly, and they left to take a quick look around the city of Wobern. On the way back to the inn, large cheese wheel in hand, they ended up running into Myuri, and it took a lot of work to soothe her temper. In the tavern attached to the inn, there was an even bigger cheese wheel that always sat by the fire. Its face was deliberately exposed to the heat and melted, then shaved off with a large knife and poured over meat—a rather decadent specialty. Though Myuri had thrown a fit over Col and Canaan going out together, this dish immediately cheered her up. That night, Col had a dream he had been crushed by buckets of that melted cheese poured over him. The reason he had that dream, of course, was the wolf pup snoring soundly on his chest. “When are you going to break this bad habit…?” In the morning, when he tried to push her off him, the clingy little knight whined and resisted. As he did, he felt something above him—a mouse face was peeking from the crack between the ceiling and the wall. “So this is the Twilight Cardinal, eh?” “…Good morning.” Vadan deftly scuttled down the wall. And as he started munching on the raisins they had brought back from the tavern the night previous, Myuri finally woke up. “Smells like Miss Ilenia…” “Huh?” “Thought the wolf might sniff that out. Hope you can track the astronomer with that nose of yours.” Myuri curled up, yawned so loudly and for so long the fur on her tail fluffed out, and then finally did a big stretch. “Yawn…I could chase them across the forests up in the mountains, but it’s not going to be easy here. There’s so many smiths. The whole city smells like coal and iron.” She had immediately gone out for a walk when they arrived yesterday, but it seemed she had not done so purely for the fun of it. “If you go to the room where that scholar was starin’ at the stars, you might be able to find us a trail or somethin’. I guess it’d be a scent trail in your case.” “Did Miss Ilenia say anything?” Myuri got out of bed and reached for a raisin, patting mouse-Vadan on the head with a finger as she did so. “She said she’s comfortable, so no need to worry about her.” Myuri chuckled. “Does it seem like the prince-elector knows we’ve arrived?” Col asked as he took a sip of water from the jug. “There’s not a lot of eyes on this part of town, so maybe not. What do you think, wolf?” “I think we’re okay. No one knows my brother is the world-changing Twilight Cardinal in disguise.” “I could say the exact same thing for the Saint of the Sun,” Col quipped back. But of course, Myuri acted as though she had not heard him and the frown on his face only made her more delighted. “So are we taking another walk around the city?” the rambunctious girl asked as she grabbed his arm and grinned. Canaan and the others went to the church, while Col and Myuri went to the trading companies and artisan houses to gather information. Eve had asked them to check out the market prices for Wobern’s metalworks. Myuri had visited a variety of places the day before, so they wound their way to the artisans’ quarter without difficulty. According to Luward, most of the men of Wobern had battlefield experience. If it came down to it, they could take the weapons they forged with their own hands to battle, and the air about the place suggested that was likely true. “Everyone here seems much stouter than the average craftsman…” “All the spears and swords they have leaning against their walls definitely aren’t for decoration. And look!” Myuri pointed at the canals that flowed between the tightly crammed workshops. The snowmelt water flowing through them was perfectly clear, and they carried boats piled high with swords. The cargo would have been much too heavy for a person to carry on their backs, yet it easily went from place to place on the water. And eventually, they would go downriver to the sea and be sold all over the world. “All right, let’s get asking,” Myuri said, and immediately went into the first workshop. After a while of asking around, Col and Myuri came to a bridge that crossed one of the canals, and Myuri stared into the water with a frustrated look. “They stopped calling the lord here the ‘mercenary king’ during the previous lord’s reign.” Her voice was quiet not because the prince-elector might catch wind of their conversation—she was simply disappointed. There was no need for them to lower their voices, anyway, considering how even Col began to look around in worry when the merchants and craftworkers spoke so ill of the prince-elector. “I know the merchants and artisans were saying mean things about him because he threw all their friends in jail, though.” Vadan had told them the prince-elector was throwing anyone who seemed remotely suspicious into jail in his search for his personal astronomer. And of course, his tyrannical actions was causing a great deal of unrest in Wobern. The ones treated the most unfairly were the smithies who had built the tools the astronomer needed for observation. They often had contact with the astronomer as they made those specialist parts, and so they were the first to be suspected. When the many hot-headed smiths saw their colleagues were being mistreated, they became incensed; they banded together and apparently thronged Prince-Elector Duran’s house. These were the same men who would take up the spear and work as mercenaries if push came to shove, so their strength and skill must have been a sight to behold. Though they did not end up attacking the jail and breaking everyone out with brute force, it did force Prince-Elector Duran to compromise. Now, they had come to a strange arrangement where the craftsmen would rotate, so there would be a certain number of them in jail at any given time. This clearly would not accomplish the prince-elector’s true goal of finding the perpetrators. It was nothing more than a compromise with the smiths so the prince-elector could save face. Additionally, they learned the merchants, who had a lot of connections with the outside world, were also suspected of the kidnapping and were also being thrown in jail, but they had a similar story. Grain harvests were not especially rich in the mountain region—meaning merchants were crucial for the city to make it through the winter, so the prince-elector, fearing the merchants would pack up and leave Wobern in protest, had not even bothered to conduct house searches on them. And yet he could not let them off completely, so now, a certain number of merchants were being forced to conduct business inconveniently from jail, using their cells as offices. It was an awkward, half-baked situation, but there was reason for that. “People call him the mercenary king who has never gone to war, no?” Col remarked. The prince-elector was born sickly. On top of that, he had fallen off a horse as a child and used a cane to get around ever since. Even though it was quite a long time ago now that the Duran family claimed the position of prince-elector as a result of their battle prowess, tradition was a powerful thing. Every Lord Duran was sought to have authority as a warrior, and so everyone who had sat on that throne had been great men with great muscles. And it was said his martial might had always been the powerful glue that kept the fiercely independent mountain people together. “It’d be like if you took Uncle Luward’s spot, Brother.” “It would be like if you were a priest.” “I could pull it off, though.” Col was briefly astonished—who did she think she was?—and then returned to the topic at hand. “From what we’ve heard, Prince-Elector Duran has no authority, and he seems to be aware of that. He’s in a painful position—he cannot simply have his way due to his lack of authority, but he cannot show that weakness as a ruling lord.” From what the craftworkers and merchants said, they all had a similar opinion—Prince-Elector Duran was at risk of losing his status. There was a family that branched from the Duran family long ago, and they apparently now lived in a community to the east of Wobern. They supposedly controlled interests to the mines, and the head of the household had always been interested in the seat of prince-elector for himself—there were even rumors he was presently looking for the right time to start an uprising. “If no one on this mountain is on the prince-elector’s side, then anyone could have kidnapped the astronomer.” “Out of spite, right?” “Possibly. Those who want his seat as prince-elector would say he could not keep even one of his own personal scholars safe, so it would be impossible for him to protect the people of this land—it would be the perfect excuse.” Lords ostensibly collected taxes to protect their territories from threats. The reason the Kingdom of Winfiel raised the flag of rebellion against the Church was because the Church had continued to collect taxes for a war against the pagans that ended a long time ago. “Which means, the prince-elector’s suspicion the Church is the culprit…,” Col murmured, and Myuri turned her red eyes to him. “…Might be something he does not actually believe at all.” “What do you mean?” “Maybe the prince-elector cannot actually name anyone he thinks is the true perpetrator.” If he were to pin the blame on someone local, then there was a very good chance that would become the spark that would light everything aflame. The smiths had already threatened to rise up in open rebellion before. On the other hand, in this day and age, anyone could easily criticize the Church. It was a bit underhanded, but it was a practical decision. “This isn’t going to turn out like a story,” Myuri remarked. The rambunctious girl likely held high expectations for the bright and shining mercenary king. Now she looked disappointed, as though she had been woken up from a dream. “But then why did Miss Ilenia call us here?” Col asked. Myuri glanced over the bridge and to the water; her expression lightened, as though she had not considered the question before. “Maybe because if we save this king, then he’ll owe us.” Ilenia knew, of course, they were looking for powerful allies in their fight against the Church. Perhaps she thought there were various ways for them to take advantage of Prince-Elector Duran in that regard. “From what we’ve learned, the prince-elector has questionable martial skill, but he did sound fervently faithful. Which means he would certainly agree with our thoughts and may prove to be a reliable ally in our fight against the Church, but…” Myuri stood and kicked a pebble at her feet. It landed in the water with a plop. “There’s no real point in helping a king with a rusted crown.” She did not mince her words, but she was correct. And judging by the city’s circumstances, even if they did somehow manage to help the prince-elector, he sounded terribly unreliable as an ally when Col would be going up against an organization as great and powerful as the Church. Of course, the astronomer’s kidnapping was a plot deliberately put together by someone, and if the legal prince-elector was at risk of becoming a casualty in a malicious grab for power, then helping him would be the right and just thing to do. But was that enough for Ilenia to get Col involved? She could easily carry out justice herself if she put her mind to it. “We’ll find out when we see him,” Myuri then said, her voice oddly sharp and clear. Despite how much she loved fairy tales, she was more realistic at her core than anyone else Col knew. “Indeed,” he agreed. “Let’s return to the inn. I imagine Archivist Canaan and Captain Vadan have collected all sorts of information.” He began to walk with purpose in his step. But for some reason Myuri did not move. “Is something the matter?” he asked, turning around. The wolf girl gave him a flat look. She pointed in the opposite direction and said, “The inn’s this way.” Col and Myuri reunited with Canaan at the inn, and they put together all the information they had along with Vadan. The circumstances in Wobern generally aligned with what Col expected. The people themselves were rather faithful, but since there was little contact with the outside world, they considered the Church to be outsiders. And since this land was so remote, the Wobern church itself tended to stand apart from the rest of the ecclesiastic organization. As a result, there was nothing their church could do in particular to fight back once the prince-elector accused them of being kidnappers, and several members of the clergy remained in jail. Of course, that did not differ much from the way the merchants and artisans were being treated—they were free to come and go from their cells if they had business to take care of—which meant the prince-elector exercised little power here. “The prince-elector himself sounds like a pleasant person, however.” All the artisans Col and Myuri spoke to unanimously called him a wimp; the merchants praised him for being a hard worker, but all generally agreed he was a pushover and unreliable. What aligned with all their stories was their livelihoods were at risk due to the prince-elector’s lack of strength. “There’s a whole load of dirty, thieving nobles on the river that flows from Wobern because the prince-elector’s authority is so weak. They levy all the taxes they want, so prices on imported goods are wildly high, and profit from exported goods are being shaved away.” As a result, the fledgling merchants would come to the city with their cargo on their backs through the mountains to the south where the terrain was too treacherous to build tollhouses. “I’m sure the prince-elector is a kind man. I find it terribly ironic the best people do not often make for the best rulers,” Canaan said sadly. This was a lord with a personal astronomer, after all—that meant he was likely a man of learning, one who was more interested in academic questions and poetry than the idea of swinging a sword. Perhaps he could have been a great ruler if his city sat in the pastoral plains. Instead, he was in these mountains, where simply surviving was the priority of the day. “But as I was talking with the church,” Canaan continued. “There was one thing I thought strange. And the other members of the clergy had the same question.” “What might that be?” Col asked. “That is, why the prince-elector is so attached to this astronomer.” Myuri looked back and forth between Canaan and Col and said casually, “It has to do with…face? Right?” She asked this with the odd intonation of a question, likely because she had never used that word in that sense before, but she was not incorrect. “You are correct. But the prince-elector was said to have panicked almost excessively once it was clear the scholar was missing. And that was when people started gossiping about him relentlessly.” “How so?” Canaan dropped his shoulders, tired with how vulgar the world could be. “The astronomer is reportedly a young woman.” A love affair. Myuri’s eyes glimmered slightly. It was a very easy-to-understand reason why the prince-elector would be so obsessed with what happened to the astronomer. And yet things made even less sense in Col’s mind. According to Vadan, Prince-Elector Duran had some sort of secret, and his analysis of the situation was that he could not do anything about the kidnapping not only because of his lack of authority, but because of this secret. Was this typical of a love affair, where the one having the affair himself was the only one who thought it was not obvious? Which led Col to his biggest question—why did Ilenia call him here? “Captain Vadan, I’d like to speak with Miss Ilenia directly.” Vadan stood in the corner of the room, leaning up against the wall, his arms folded as he listened. He stood up, said, “Wait here a sec,” and then left the room. When hearing the word jail, Col pictured a damp cellar built at the foot of a bridge along a river. But the letter he received had such an easygoing tone, and what the artisans and merchants said did not make it sound like a very grim place. And when they visited the jail for themselves, he saw it was less like a prison and more like a converted storehouse or some other similar building. The jail was on the grounds of the prince-elector’s palatial residence, but the Wobern palace also hosted public functions, acting as the place where the city council had their meetings; the cluster of different buildings meant the whole place was rather big. Generally, people were free to come and go as they pleased, and it was not out of place to see people walking around during the daytime. It seemed a very easy place to kidnap a single person. Vadan guided them through the palace grounds, where they walked out in the open, and no one took a second look at them. The door to the jail in question was left open, and no guards stood watch—some artisans sat on long, low-back benches nearby, concentrating on their work. What looked to be merchant house errand boys were busily running in and out of the building, carrying bundles of paper in their arms,. “Where’s the jail?” Myuri asked Vadan, her head cocked curiously. The mouse boss shrugged. Vadan then stepped inside the building. Not long after, a lone girl stepped outside and squinted, her eyes not yet adjusted to the light of the outside world. “Miss Ilenia!” “It’s good to see you, Myuri.” Myuri leaped at Ilenia for a hug, and Ilenia cheerfully wrapped her arms around her. Even though they knew she was all right before this, both Col and Myuri had been a little worried about her until they saw her in person. Ilenia seemed very healthy, and there was nothing to suggest she was confined to a cell. It was almost as though she was having an extended stay at a strange inn.
Chapter 127
56 min read