Mielle? No, surely not...
I carefully approached them, using the stealthy method of walking I’d come up with to avoid catching the attention of any Ducalursi when I was in Patia Forest.
I had to take care where I stepped, since the hotel’s wooden floors were at least a hundred years old, but I managed to sneak up behind them without making a single sound.
I held my blade to their throat so they couldn’t move, just like Mielle had done when she’d ambushed me.
The visitor flinched, finally realizing I was there. They must have figured out that there was no chance of resistance, because they just gave me a single nod.
“Don’t move. And don’t speak either,” I commanded. Then, to Ralph, I said, “Open the door, Ralph.”
At my signal, Ralph did as I asked. Grabbing the robed visitor by their right arm, I led them into the room.
“Ralph, pull up their hood so we can see who they are. Hester, be ready to use your magic at a moment’s notice. And you,” I said to the visitor. “If you move even an inch, I’ll break your arm. I mean that, so don’t test me.”
“Hey, isn’t—” Ralph began to say.
“Just pull back their hood already,” I interrupted, curtly.
Ralph moved to do as he was told.
I couldn’t see the visitor’s face from my position, so I was relying on Ralph to tell me what he saw.
“Well? Who is it?” I said.
Ralph looked startled.
“Whoa, let go of him, Chris! It’s the old man from the Seven Fortunes!” he exclaimed.
This set me into a panic, but I paused when I remembered how Mielle had been an expert at disguising herself. There was a chance that she was just pretending to be Lugentz. What’s more, she could even disguise her voice.
“Ralph, I need you to just calm down for a moment and do as I say. This might be someone in disguise,” I said.
“Nope! That’s definitely the old shopkeeper!” Ralph argued.
“Again, I need you to calm down and listen to me. Does he have a ring on his index finger?” I asked.
“No!”
“How about a scar on his left hand?”
“No!”
Those had been the two features that Mielle hadn’t been able to hide with her disguises, and our visitor had neither of them.
Oh... I think it really is Lugentz, I thought. I’ve screwed up big time.
I let go of him and immediately apologized.
“I’m so sorry for ambushing you like that. We haven’t had any visitors the whole time we’ve been here, so I just assumed you were someone bad.”
“No, I should be the one apologizing for paying you a visit so late in the evening,” Lugentz replied.
“Please don’t apologize. You’ve done nothing to deserve what I just put you through.” I bowed my head deeply as I spoke.
“You’re way too paranoid, Chris! You almost broke old man Lugentz’s arm!” Ralph exclaimed.
“You’re probably right about that... But if it hadn’t been Lugentz, and I’d waited to restrain him until I knew that, it would have been too late. I’m not ready to die just yet.”
“Now, now. Let’s just put this all behind us, shall we? It was my mistake for stopping by unannounced. You’d do well to continue keeping your guard up, Chris, just like you did tonight,” Lugentz said with a smile, trying to mediate the argument breaking out between us.
At this, Ralph and I dropped it.
I could see where Ralph was coming from, but Mielle’s ambush was still fresh in my mind. I absolutely couldn’t afford to let my guard down.
That was the one thing I couldn’t budge on. Not if I wanted to survive, at least.
“Well... I’m sorry that Chris came out of nowhere at you like that. So, what brings you to our room at this hour? Do you need something?” Ralph asked him.
“Actually, I’m here because there’s something I wanted Hester to have,” he replied.
“Huh? Me?” came a surprised yelp from Hester, who had been left completely in the background until now.
Something for Hester...? I wondered. I honestly had no idea what it could be.
“This used to belong to my parents, a long time ago. I can’t bring myself to sell it, so I brought it for you as a parting gift. Consider it a token of my thanks for all Chris has done for me,” Lugentz said.
“Are you sure you want me to have it?”
“Oh, I’m sure. I’ll be much happier knowing that it’s being put to good use than I will be letting it gather dust in my house.”
Lugentz handed her the long staff that he’d been carrying with him.
It had a beautiful red gem embedded into the tip, and it looked like it must have been pretty expensive.
“Thank you so much, Lugentz! I’ll take good care of it!”
“I hope you will. And pop into my store again sometime while I’m still on this earth, will you?”
“We will. We’ll bring you some souvenirs from our travels, and I’ll make sure to pay you back for the staff,” I said.
Lugentz chuckled. “I’ll look forward to that.”
With a little bow of his head, Lugentz bid us farewell.
The Seven Fortunes has been a lifesaver from the beginning of my journey here in Realzahd to the very end, I thought.
Not only had Lugentz bought those stolen goods from me after only just meeting me, but he’d trusted me enough to let me defer payment for that life-changing botany book.
And tonight, even though I’d ambushed him by mistake, he didn’t even get upset. He’d just laughed it off.
We may have had very different aspirations, but Lugentz was the only elder that I respected.
One day, when I’m older, I swear I’ll repay the debt I owe him, I thought to myself as I watched him leave.
After Lugentz’s visit, the days leading up to our departure passed without incident.
Whatever friends Ralph and Hester might have had, none of them saw us off on the day we left. We simply hefted our heavy bags onto our backs and prepared to leave our room at the Shangri La Hotel.
I’d originally planned to stay at this ridiculously cheap hotel only as long as I needed to in order to save up some money adventuring, but in the end, I’d ended up staying from my first day in Realzahd to the last.
The whole place was run-down, and by no stretch of the imagination was it spacious. We’d huddled up in our three-person room like sardines.
I couldn’t even remember how many times I’d thought about switching rooms, but now that we were finally saying goodbye, I knew I was going to miss the place.
“The day’s finally come to leave our hometown, huh?” Hester said.