After finishing their sightseeing, Ras and his companions booked a room at a small inn near the center of town. Due to the approaching summit, fares were high, and any cheap rooms were quickly scooped up by the merchants and mercenaries coming in droves to profit off this international event.
Because of that, there was only one room available, and Ras, Koko, and Elmira were forced to share it.
“Everything on this side of the line is my area,” declared Elmira, marking a boundary on the floor with rope. “Make sure not to cross it. You try anything with me, and Her Majesty will soon know about it!”
Ras could tell she wasn’t thrilled to be sharing a room with the Stallion. She seemed like a mother bird protecting her chicks.
“I know, I know. I’m not going to try anything, I swear. Besides, it’s not like we’re alone; Koko’s here, too.”
“Yes, but she is your Chasseur, is she not?”
Elmira shot Koko a dubious glance. Though she looked like an innocent girl, she was in fact Ras’s property. If Ras tried any funny business, it was hard to think she’d intervene. She was more likely to aid Ras in his efforts instead, no matter how immoral they were.
Of course, Elmira’s worries were not completely unfounded. She was the spitting image of Princess Fiarca—Ras’s lover. Perhaps Ras would get lonely not having the real thing by his side and look to take advantage of an imitation instead.
However, in reality, Ras didn’t see the resemblance between Elmira and Fiarca at all.
“I have a favor to ask you, Elmira,” he said.
“Wh-what is it?! I’ll tell you right now, I’m not going to fall for your charms! I am loyal only to Her Highness, and no one else!”
Sitting on the edge of her bed, Elmira crossed her arms over her chest. If Ras didn’t know any better, he’d say it was almost like she was the one trying to proposition him.
“That’s not it. I want you to look after Koko for me. I’m heading out.”
“Where could you be going at this hour?” asked Elmira, peering through the window at the darkening skies outside. Then she gasped. “Don’t tell me you mean to visit the brothels while Her Highness isn’t watching?! Is this because I refused you?!”
“No! I’m going to the taverns to collect information! Isn’t that obvious?”
Ras sighed, while Koko, splayed out on the bed, registered Ras’s words and suddenly sat up.
“The taverns? Don’t they serve food there? Yummy! I wanna go, too!”
“Then I shall come as well,” said Elmira. “That shouldn’t be a problem, should it? So long as you weren’t actually planning to visit the brothels, that is.”
She leveled a glare at Ras, who just shrugged as if to say “Do what you want.”
And so the three of them headed into the night.
“You realize, you could have told me up front you meant the tavern in the Mercenary’s Guild and prevented a misunderstanding,” said Elmira with a peeved look, sipping a glass of watered-down wine.
The place was a far cry from the seedy establishment she had envisioned. It was bright and clean, more in line with a common restaurant.
There was still a smattering of light in the dusk skies, but most of the stores in the town square had shut their doors. The clientele there mainly consisted of mercenaries and their apprentices, and many of them were armed. A pretty woman like Elmira and a beastfolk girl like Koko stuck out like sore thumbs.
“I didn’t mean to cause confusion,” said Ras. “That’s just what we mercenaries usually mean when we say ‘tavern.’”
“I’ll believe you, just this once,” said Elmira, sighing at Ras’s complete lack of guilt. “But don’t expect me to be so trusting next time.”
The Mercenary’s Guild was an organization that connected freelance aura knights and mages with their clients, offering mediation and support to both sides. Each country had their own independent guild, but they all shared information on their members with one another, so that a mercenary could go into any branch, even one in another country, and have access to the same services.
For some reason, it was customary for the guildhall to possess a tavern, and it was here that local mercenaries often gathered. Not only was the food and wine considered good quality for the price, but it was also an excellent place to pick up rumors and leads.
The Charlgian guildhalls were even stranger in that they all offered an extensive dessert menu. Koko was busy stuffing her cheeks with one of the offerings.
Just then two men who were clearly mercenaries approached Ras’s table.
“Ho there, strangers. Haven’t seen you around before,” said the first, a tough-looking guy probably around his midthirties. He wore a set of light armor commonly associated with aura knights, with a large ceramic sword strapped to his back.
Elmira responded immediately to their approach by shifting her sitting position slightly, allowing swift access to the dagger hidden up her sleeve. It was a finely honed maneuver, suitable for one trained in the arts of assassination as much as she was. However, the two men immediately threw up their hands.
“Whoa, whoa, we’re not looking for any trouble,” said the second man, a tall and lanky fellow. From the way he was dressed, he seemed like an auramancer, not a knight, and he must have been fairly adept to pick up on Elmira’s subtle intentions.
“The young lady’s not as delicate as she looks,” said the first man. “And as for Prince Charming…well, I can’t quite tell, but I can say for sure he ain’t normal. What an enigma we’ve got here.”
Looking Ras up and down, he gave him an affable smile.
“You’re more perceptive than you let on,” replied Ras. “So much for my plans.”
“Ha. So I was right, then. You’re the one tryin’ to start a fight around here, bringing a woman and child to a place like this.”
The aura knight shrugged. Ras had come here to gather information, but there was little chance any self-respecting mercenary would go around blabbing to a complete stranger from a foreign country. If they did, it would likely only be misinformation. Anyone who had the kind of intel Ras was after was sure to understand the value of even the most insignificant-sounding gossip.