At the crack of dawn the group set off away from Gemma’s cottage. The knights had crammed themselves into Gemma’s cottage during the night to sleep. Except for Julius. He had said simply that he prefers to sleep under the stars. Ril found this statement more than a little strange since it had been freezing regularly overnight for the past few days. No one else seemed to find it weird so Ril didn’t say anything. The rest slept in the living room, which Ril wouldn’t have minded if Orden had also decided that he preferred the stars. Unfortunately that was not the case, so Ril slept angrily and woke cranky the following morning.

In the morning, Evelyn and Ril said goodbye to Gemma.

“Goodbye Gemma. I’ll miss you.” Evelyn said.

“I’ll miss you to little Eve.” Gemma replied, giving Evelyn a hug. “Keep practicing your spells and make sure to keep this one out of trouble.” she continued with a gesture to Ril.

“I will.” Evelyn replied with a laugh.

Gemma and Evelyn separated, then Gemma moved to give Ril a hug.

“Enjoy the capital Ril. It is truly a beautiful place, I’m sure you will love it.”

“Thanks Gemma, I’ll come visit you some time.” Ril responded.

Gemma gave a soft laugh. “I’ll look forward to it. Stay safe, Ril.”

With that the two turned away from Gemma and mounted their horses. The knights had brought an extra horse for Evelyn but since they did not know that Ril would be there they had not brought one for him. So while Evelyn mounted up on a white destrier, Ril was helped up by Felix onto the back of his horse. Then without further ado they set off.

Turns out, it was a good thing that Ril didn’t get his own horse. For one, this was the first time that he had ever ridden a horse, and no matter how easy Evelyn and the others made it look, it really wasn’t. The horse’s gait was uneven and kept bouncing Ril around in a rather uncomfortable manner. Before he knew it, his rear end was throbbing, and he was thoroughly grumpy. It didn’t help that he had to hug Felix tightly in order to stay on the horse. Felix’s breastplate was hard and quite cold.

Interestingly, and perhaps unsurprisingly, Felix’s horse did not appreciate Ril’s extra weight either. It kept snorting every couple of steps which Ril took as a personal insult.

Julius and Orden had taken up the vanguard of the party. They had the toughest job of navigating through the dense undergrowth and clearing a path should no obvious path be available. Evelyn and Cato rode behind them and spent the journey in focused, hushed conversation. Ril couldn’t hear much of their conversation since he and the remaining two guards brought up the rear of the company.

Eren and Felix - and Ril by necessity - were responsible for making sure nothing attacked them from behind. And to make sure that none of the party members got lost during the journey. As a result both Eren and Felix spent the time scanning the forest with bows out and ready. This did not stop them from talking, or more specifically Felix from talking. He seemed determined to alleviate the quiet.

“That over there is a white oak. Beautiful wood if you are able to process it. The sap is corrosive, you see. I have a cousin who works with the stuff. The sap not the wood. Nasty stuff. He uses it to etch silver. Makes jewelry for nobles. Pretty stuff. Bet you would like one of his pieces, eh Eren?” Felix spoke happily.

Eren gave a noncommittal grunt before returning her gaze on the trees surrounding them.

“I knew you would, I could introduce you, get you the friends discount, you know.” Felix paused to take a breath. “Ohh, that’s a weeping carnation. Look, look.” At this point Felix elbowed Ril until he looked up from where he was trying to figure out how to hold onto felix without touching the frigid metal, and found a flower blossoming in the underbrush. The flower was large and blue, and didn’t have individual petals so much as a ball of thin, densely packed petals. It was quite pretty, especially compared to the browns that were so prevalent in the forest during autumn.

“Yeah, I see it. It’s pretty.” Ril said quietly, trying and failing to shift his position on the horse so that it would be more comfortable.

“Beautiful. But also amazing. Did you know that it grows all year round. Even during winter. You can even find these flowers buried underneath a foot of snow and they look just as healthy and bright as they do during summer.”

“Don’t you think we should be a little quieter considering the animals that live here?” Ril asked, slightly concerned as he was getting flashbacks to the last time he had traversed this place.

Eren gave a snort, as if the very concept of Felix being quiet is impossible.

“Not really,” Felix responded cheerfully. “In general yes, but with the horses, every monster within a mile already knows we are here just based on the smell. Also we have Julius here to protect us so there is nothing to worry about. Anyway, the weeping carnation is a really gorgeous flower. In general they have large flowers that tend to be various shades of blue. Their leaves are sharp and thin, almost like the needles of a pine tree.”

“You really like plants don’t you.” Ril said, as Felix stopped talking for a moment and the silence deeped. He said it mostly because he felt like it would be awkward if he did not try to maintain the conversation, but Eren gave him a dirty look that clearly said not to encourage Felix, so maybe he was wrong.

“I do! Ever since the calamity everything has been different. Animals weren’t the only ones that have been affected by the chromium. So many plants have changed drastically from what they were to the degree that they might as well be different species. Like for example, did you know that the weeping carnation can be used to heal people?”

“Really,” Ril said in surprise, “I did not. How does that work? Do you eat the petals or something?”

“No. Well yes. But that’s wasteful. The healing part is the nectar, not the leaves or petals. What you can do is squeeze the bulb and the flowers' red nectar will dribble out. The stuff is pretty amazing. It can heal wounds nearly instantly. And you barely even feel tired afterwards.”

“Huh...When Gemma healed me I was knocked out for days afterwards.” Ril said skeptically.

“Ha! Magical healing is terrible. Useful for training, but not so much for actual combat where you need to be up and about instantly. That’s what makes the carnation such a useful flower. I have a cousin who farms the flowers and sells the nectar to the military. Once he tried distilling the nectar and managed to create a potion that was able to reattach a man's leg after it was chopped off by a scorpion powder beast.”

“That’s...pretty amazing.” Ril said, eventually. Felix was saying some pretty unbelievable stuff. Of course, Ril had heard of healing potions that soldiers used during the war to stave away minor injuries, but he would have thought that if there was a healing potion that could reattach limbs he would have heard of it. There were plenty of gossips in Elkshire, and it wasn’t that much of a backwater.

“It’s quite challenging to extract the nectar, since there are so many petals you have to carefully peel them away so that you have access to the bulb. If you do it badly, you can damage the flower and it will die. Fickle little flower, but oh so useful.” Felix continued, blithely unaware of Ril’s skepticism. It may have helped that Felix could not see Ril’s face. “Of course if you are out in the wild and not interested in preserving the flower, you can just eat the entire bulb.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Ril said. Ril was watching Orden and Julius talking quietly in the front. What happened yesterday was imprinted onto Ril’s mind. A flash of embarrassment passed through him as he remembered the lecture he had received.

Before Felix could expound more about the intricacies of nature in the Dread Thicket, Ril interrupted.

“Hey, Felix. Do you think what Orden did yesterday was fair. I mean, I don’t think I deserved... well I was just wondering why he hates me.” Ril said unsure of what he really wanted.

“Well,” Felix hesitated, then continued tentatively “I don’t think he hates you exactly...” Felix trailed off.

“He was justified to a certain degree.” Eren said, finally joining the conversation. Up until this point she had spent the entire time watching the forest, and periodically twisting in her seat to look behind the party. “What the princess did was irresponsible considering the situation in Anduin.” She hesitated. “Although Orden could have phrased it better.”

Ril slumped. He didn’t know what he expected from these two, but considering that they were Evelyn’s guard’s he figured that they would side with Evelyn and therefore against Orden in this manner. “So what is going on in the capital that makes it so that the princess has to be super careful about what she does?”

Eren gave him a look, “How much do you know of the politics of Elendial?” She asked.

Ril frowned. “Not much to be honest. I know that the Glotz family owns Elkshire, and that Evelyn is going to be the next queen once the king steps down...or dies.”

“Well, ever since the Chromagnum fell from the sky and the lands have been swarming with monsters, the political situation in Elendial has been ... tense to say the least. Basically lots of noble families are collapsing because all of their land is useless without the military might to defend it. They simply don’t have the private armies needed to protect their expansive holdings.”

Eren paused for a moment, a dark look crossed her face. “Several noble families tried to force the issue by hiring mercenaries to protect their lands, from the invading powder beasts. Not many succeeded, and subsequently became bankrupt. The roads between cities are basically the only places outside city walls that are reliably keeped clear of the monsters. Even then there are frequent reports of powder beasts being spotted on the major thoroughfares.”

“It’s not all dark,” Felix jumped in. “There are plenty of us who are going out and making a name for ourselves. Lots of demand for good soldiers nowadays. It’s one of the reasons that I am here and not working with my cousin on the coast. He owns a brothel if you know what I mean.”

Eren gave Felix a disgusted look before continuing. “As disgusting as he is, Felix is right. Exceptional soldiers are in extremely high demand. So high that it is very possible to become a noble yourself if you are good enough. All the dungeons popping up everywhere has essentially created a new profession. They tackle dungeons and collect the chromium that accumulates in them. They call themselves adventurers because they spend most of their time walking through the countryside searching for dungeons. The land has never been mapped more accurately than it has in the last few years because of them.”

“So Ril, are you planning on becoming an adventurer? You already tackled that dungeon with the princess. How much dust did you manage to collect? Is it a lot?” Felix said, turning back to look at Ril.

Ril leaned back to try to put some distance between himself and Felix’s face which had materialized to close to his own. “Well I don’t know it might be fun. But I would like to explore the capital first. I wanted to attend the academy. Maybe make my way closer to the front and battle the powder beasts at their source.”

“A worthy goal for sure. Although I think you will regret that if you actually go to the front.” Felix said with a laugh.

“Why, is it that dangerous?” Ril asked, curious.

“Dangerous, ahh, yes, but that’s not the reason. More like there is no good food and no pleasant company to keep.” Felix said, flippantly, “Since the roads are so bad, no one but hardened veterans risk going there even if there is an opportunity to make money. All the soldiers end up eating lots of monster meat and they cook it on fires that are fueled with dried dung. Not the most appetizing locale if you know what I mean.”

“Huh,” Ril said. He paused for a moment as he digested this information. Perhaps going to the front isn’t the best idea. “Wait, what does this have to do with Orden?”

“Ahh, Orden,” Felix said, with a blank look on his face “it doesn’t?”

Eren sidled her horse closer, and gave Felix a slap on the shoulder, which elicited an indignant yelp from Felix. “It has to do with Orden and Evelyn because people are starting to oppose the idea of primogeniture.”

“The what?” Ril asked, unfamiliar with the term.

“The idea that Evelyn is the first - and only - daughter of the king so when the king dies she will succeed him as the next Queen. Since so many competent fighters are self-proclaiming themselves as nobles, royal primogeniture has come into question. The people are saying that the strongest warrior should become the next leader of the country, rather than Evelyn.”

“That’s... bad, isn’t it. For Evelyn that is. Will she lose the throne?” Ril said, thoughtful. He had not realized that Evelyn might not become the next queen.

“There are plenty of nobles who say that the next ruler should be a noble since nobles already have the training to take care of this country. Evelyn will probably still be a candidate for the throne but it’s likely that she will have to prove herself somehow. That’s one of the reasons she was working with the Witch Gemma over the summer, and why she will join the academy for combat training when we arrive at Anduin.” Eren continued.

“How will she have to prove herself? Will it be a tournament of some sort?” Ril asked.

“A tournament?” Felix replied, scratching his chin. “Could be. They might repurpose the Silver Spires tournament for that. Could also be a dungeon delve of some sort. Hasn't been decided yet seeing as the king is still alive and healthy.”

“Is there some way that I can help her?”

“Train with her when she is available, but don't distract her. Also try not to put her in danger.” Eren said bluntly.

Ril sighed. Maybe Orden was in the right yesterday. “So why was Orden so mean yesterday? Does he just hate commoners? Or does he just hate me in particular?”

Felix hesitated. “Well....” he said, drawing the word out. “There might be another reason why he was so curt with you yesterday.”

Ril waited a moment, but when it was clear that Felix wasn’t going to elaborate, he said. “Well, out with it.”

“Well, I heard that, and mind you this is just a rumor, but that the princess was going to get engaged to Lord Orden in order to solidify her position as the next ruler. Since his family is a military power house.” Felix glanced back at Ril. “He might have felt a tad annoyed that you had put his potential fiance into mortal danger.”

Ril frowned, storm clouds descending on his face. Or maybe. Orden was just plain evil.