With the letters now safely in the hands of the merchant’s guild, we left.
I thought that sending three letters at the same time might hint at their final destination, but the prince assured me that they would all be forwarded through other routes. Not only that, but the actual missive could not be deciphered without the ciphers contained in the other two letters.
I couldn’t say I really understood his explanation, but at least I was convinced it’d be fine.
With that errand squared away, it was time to do some shopping.
The reason I had paid for us to stay three nights in Helenna was not only to give ourselves a break from the hard traveling, but mainly to ensure we had enough time to get our preparations in order.
For starters, the prince needed more clothing, and I had already used up all the fabric I had on hand. Armor magically resized itself to suit its wearer, so anyone could equip it. But that wasn’t the case for regular old clothes.
I thought I might be able to share the clothes I had with him, but when he tried some on, they still hung a touch too loose on his body. And besides, my clothes were all pretty heavily worn out. I figured I could use a wardrobe change as well.
But man, I ain’t gonna go buy some premade, pre-owned clothes off a store rack—I’m a craftsman, after all! Why should I wear something made by someone else when I can tailor my own clothes?!
Plus, if I made the clothing myself, I could make improvements. To be perfectly honest, making crazy upgrades was practically the whole point of doing it myself!
So, we went shopping for textiles. He and I both chose patterns we liked, and we purchased several different types too.
Then, after buying a ton of various and sundry other goods, we stopped to enjoy lunch at a restaurant situated on the second floor of a building. We had an excellent view of the town plaza from up there.
Given that the restaurant and its seating area were designed to appeal to sightseeing visitors, they even let us two highlanders in. We were, at a glance, nothing more than travelers.
Knowing that highlanders would ordinarily be seated in a dark corner inside the restaurant proper, I slipped the host a few loose coins to earn us our terrace table. From there, the plaza fountain and its immediate surroundings were clearly visible.
After a moment of searching, I spied the loading bay for public stagecoaches. “There it is, the stagecoach stop.”
I pointed past the fountain with my fork.
The prince, who had been delicately cutting a piece of roasted meat, turned to look in the direction I’d pointed.
“See that adventurer in leather armor? The one sitting on a barrel a little way away? She’s been drawing sketches of all the people waiting for carriages. I’m certain she was put up to it by the guild headquarters.”
“I suppose that means they’re trying to discover if I’ve ridden one or where I might be headed,” said Wald thoughtfully.
I nodded. “They’re probably searching all the towns with established branches. I’m sure that, by having their staff report back in full force, they’re hoping someone will spot a youth who looks like you. At that point, they’ll probably mobilize.”
“Then, Khrasiel would send their transmigrators ahead to the stagecoach’s destination and lay in wait for my arrival...”
I shared the information I had managed to suss out at the adventurer’s guild yesterday with the prince. When he heard it, his expression darkened.
“We couldn’t purchase our own carriage or horses, could we?”
“Maybe, depending on the situation. But in an emergency, we’d have to Jump,” I said.
At that point, any horses we owned would have to be abandoned. There wasn’t any way we could get around that, and the thought made me feel terrible for the horses. It’d be one thing if someone happened to find the horses, but it was entirely possible they’d end up being eaten by monsters instead.
I explained all this to Wald, and he frowned as he put a forkful of meat into his mouth. He must’ve been torn between feeling sorry for the horses and wanting to return home as soon as possible.
“Well,” I began, thinking of how to allay his concerns, “horses are expensive anyway. If we buy them several times, the guild could easily track us through our purchases, so let’s keep that idea for when we really need it. For now, we’ll stick with traveling on foot and with Jump.”
I paused, noticing that a mercantile family was sitting down at an open table nearby. “Let’s stop talking about this. There are people around now,” I said in a low voice.
The family was dressed in clothes that looked suitable for long-distance travel. The children were happily watching the water fountain in the plaza, but the two parents were speaking tersely to each other.
“What will we do? We can’t go east anymore.”
“I knew war would break out eventually, but I still can’t believe it really did...”
The country they were discussing was one that I had seen mentioned in the adventurer’s guild—the guild had posted requests for mercenaries to go there.
This traveling family had no choice but to change their itinerary. We eavesdropped on the couple as they lamented the state of affairs.
The prince whispered to me. “Big bro, would you mind if I made some notes on your map?”
“I only have one map, but you could copy the map onto another piece of paper. Even a thin sheet of paper over the top of the map would do, actually.”
“Thanks. If you have paper thin enough and some colored pencils, that’s good enough for me. Let’s head back to the inn once we finish eating.”
I nodded in agreement to his proposal.
Come to think of it, I’d been under the impression that this was his first time seeing everyday city streets, but he had apparently been exposed to city life plenty of times before. Under the pretext of learning about the greater world, he had secretly snuck out to wander the streets of Altiuccia and other provincial capitals. He hadn’t told me who exactly had spirited him from the castle, but he mentioned visiting a town I recognized as being in the Cautley demesne.
As he reminisced about his travels with his old swordsmaster, sounding both bitterly nostalgic and heartrendingly sorrowful, I recalled who exactly had taught him to fight. Whisking the prince out on an adventure sounded just like him.