It has been a few days, maybe weeks, since I first started travelling with my new companions and I learned a lot about them and their way of life over our short time together.

For one, they weren’t as much a ‘touring-circus’ as a band of treasure hunters.

The way I see it, they simply made use of the inherent adventuring skills to entertain people in towns. It did make a pretty amount of coins from onlookers, but it was also an opportunity to showcase the spoil of their ruin delving.

As I came to learn, the many ruins were both a source of danger and riches. When they were abandoned, there had rarely been opportunities for their owners to properly clear out the place of supplies. I was curious as to how the group could always find more goods even after so many years, but as Pearl had put it;

-Before all these ruins run out of treasures, many more wars will have passed and twice as many castles will stand to replace them.-

It was a strange thing to think about.

Lionheart had told me that this land had been the site of many battles, but it was only now that I was exploring the very husk of what remained after that I understood the scale of how troubled the Duchy of Lowland was. According to Tattoos, the nickname I gave to the man with the tattoos covering his entire body, the Lowland went to war almost every 5 to 10 years. It was almost unusual that this place wasn’t at war.

To me, it was even stranger to see so many villages scattered across the landscape. In a single day, we could visit as many as 3 towns, yet we never stayed there for long. My travelling companion seemed to prefer the open road to the comfort of inns for some reason.

Despite having travelled across a dozen towns and asked around, seemingly no one had encountered or even heard about the caravan I had been part of. The name Ashbrook meant nothing to them and my own name meant even less. Because of that, my mood steadily grew worse.

I started thinking that perhaps things wouldn’t be alright.

Perhaps Lionheart had given up on me. Perhaps I was so lost he couldn’t find me. Or perhaps, worse than anything, the monsters had…

No. I knew that was impossible.

Lionheart was strong. He had protected me against the shadow monsters from the basement in Evergreen…

Even if they didn’t really exist in the end…

I shook my head trying to scatter the thoughts away from my head.

-Are you alright?-

Pearl asked before helping me off the horse.

[Uh uh…]

I let out while nodding.

-You were making the sound again.-

He signed after having let me back on my feet.

I felt a wave of shame run through me.

Making ‘the sound’. It was something I had never realised before meeting Pearl. Apparently, I often let out noises from my mouth when I felt sad or anxious. At first I thought he meant crying, but he seemed pretty insistent that it was different. More like a whimper or a groan.

Anyway. it didn’t sound nice, that was for certain.

I looked up toward the paved street, the first I had encountered since leaving Evergreen. According to Pearl this was one of the biggest town in the region, so there was bound to be someone that knew about the caravan or my name, but I felt guilty. It was obvious that they had had to take a detour to come here since they didn’t stop at any of the ruins on the way here . Seeing how hard they worked for a few coins in each town, it couldn’t have been an easy decision to make… Though I do wonder what they do with all of it. After all, they seemed focused on spending as little as possible.

Now that I was looking around the more familiar urban streets, some part of me was excited at the prospect of maybe finally finding a hint of where my dad had gone, but another part had grown weary of having my hopes brought up and then let down.

Like we had done at every other town, the group split up into pairs and started going around the city. As had become common place by now, I was walking around while holding hand with Pearl and, for today, it was Nose-bandage who was tagging along.

We greeted the others before heading out toward what Pearl told me would be the town square, the place I would be most likely to find anyone familiar to me. Although there weren’t a lot of those around in the first place… Beyond my dad and Uncle Cook, I was only vaguely familiar with the aunties and a few knights, and I doubt they will just happen to walk by.

It took some time, but we finally reached the town center.

It was busy with stalls and people standing around, but not as busy as the market in Evergreen. Here, I could at least see across the crowds just fine and I doubt I could get lost.

Nose-bandage led us toward the center where a billboard stood with a variety of papers covering it. I was familiar with these by now. Apparently they were used by locals to post news or advertisement. Although unusual, according to Tattoos, they were sometimes used to look for missing people.

While they read through the countless notices I let my eyes wander over the crowd. I noticed the flow of people started changing as the attention of the crowd became focused on two women seemingly shouting at each other. Although curious, I had learnt my lesson and, like the other bystanders, only watched from a distance.

Suddenly, one of the women drew a short sword. The other then did the same while they glared at each other.

Confused and worried, I started pulling on Pearl’s sleeve while pointing urgently at the women who had now begun striking each other’s blade violently.

-Oh don’t worry about them. They’re just arguing.-

He signed dismissively.

Arguing?! Is it the same type of ‘arguing’ he did when he thought I was a Solomon’s eye?!

[Nu-uh!]

I tried to communicate my disapproval at his explanation, which at first only earned me a shrug, but after a bit of a back and forth between him and Nose-bandage, he ceded and elaborated.

-I guess you’re not be familiar with the Steihnner culture… To make a long story short, it’s customary amongst kins to resolve arguments through armed combat… And in case you’re worried, no no one will get hurt. Steihnner’s blessings make extensive uses of what’s called the ‘law of war’. The law of war prioritized defeat of the oponent over their death and in so doing, prevents killing an opponent who has whole-heartedly accepted defeat.-

He then let out a sigh and seemingly shrugged.

“An honorable thing coming from a god which preaches constant conflict, but if you actuallt read the scripture, you will actually figure out that it was created to prolong warfare by preserving worthy warriors… Anyway, enough babbling from me, these two girls are just fighting over some pretty boy. Nothing to actually worry about.-

Just as he said that the sword of one the women bounced off her opponent’s blade and stopped an inch away from the other girl’s hand.

As if it had hit a wall.

The otherwoman dropped the blade she was holding and, seemingly, gracefully accepting her defeat by sitting down on the ground, while the other woman, proud smile plastered across her face, pranced away from the battle and grabbed some beffuzled man’s hand and whisked him away.

I felt short of words.

[They never talk about these kind of things in fairytales...]

I mumbled to myself.

“I guess it’s just not as poetic as a knight in shining armour going against evil king.”

Darkie responded from within my arms.

I nodded my head in agreement and turned back to my two companions.

Pearl had gone to talk to a nearby man. From his attire and trumpet like apparatus, must have been some town crier. Meanwhile, Nose-bandage softly shook her head to herself while reading the billboard before turning to me with a sorry smile. She kneeled down while looking at me and gently patted my head.

I used to think that it was a bit of an odd thing to do, but seemingly all my travelling companions enjoyed playing with my hair like that. From what Pearl said, I apparently have very soft hair… Well he doesn’t have any to speak of, so it’s not much of a comparison in his case.

After a moment, Pearl came back to us.

-The town crier recommends heading to the ‘Glḽ’. It’s a popular spot amongst travellers.-

Nose-bandage and I nodded. She asked for some additional direction to the town crier before started heading out.

The cobblestone road was definitely something I was grateful for. Although I was lucky to be able to ride on one of the horses most of the wa, the time I spent walking the steppes or towns was less than enjoyable. The ground was uneven at the best of times and I would constantly trip on holes in the ground.

As I was appreciating the quality of the road, I noticed its quality suddenly increase sharply. Curious, I looked around and noticed that the building had also became much more beautifuyl. It almost reminded me of our home in Evergreen.

Well.

These house weren’t AS big as in Evergreen, and there were only a couple of them, but they did contrast strikingly with the rest of… Well everything I had seen in Lowland up until now.

My eye were then drawn to something else.

A symbol or maybe I should call it an insignia. I stopped in my tracks and looked at it.

Stuck in the middle of a metal gate, it felt familiar, but I couldn’t place it… A green flower surrounded by golden leaves… It was flashy in colours, yet dull in appearance… And for some reason I felt sick while looking at it.

There were very few things that made me feel that way, it made me a bit confused as to why such a pretty looking flower would make me feel so wrong.

As I fiddled in my coat’s pocket to fetch Darkie from his nook, I felt a slight jingling and the cold sensation of something metallic. It immediately came to me.

I knew this flower, in fact I knew it very well.

I released Darkie and it instead let my fingers fiddle downward into my pocket. It took me a moment, and in the meantime Pearl and Nose-bandage had walked back to me, but I ignored them as I finally grasped the small metallic object and pulled it out of my pocket.

It was the brooch from that day at the theatre. A signet as dad had called it.

I recalled his words from that day: ‘Think of it like a key, but to a noble’s estate’.

So with this, I could…

I decidedly started walking toward the gate.

Reflexively, Nose-bandage tried to stop me, but I simply shook off her grip and made my way to the metal bars of the estate’s entrance.

I gripped the heavy gate and shook it lightly to grab the nearby attendant’s attention. He looked annoyed, but came up to me nonetheless.

I suddenly felt nervous as I looked up at the large burly man. What if dad was wrong? What if they just took it from me?

As i hesitated I could see the gatekeeper becoming impatient, and I could start to feel Nose-bandage tugging on my sleeve.

Realising I had no time to waste, I showed the gatekeeper the signet.

His reaction was pretty mild.

Actually he didn’t really react much at all since he was too busy talking to my companion to notice what was in my hands.

Only when he was about to tell me off that he seemed to catch a glimpse at the small emerald badge in my hand.

He tried to take it from me, but I reflexively pulled my hand away without breaking eye contact. He eyed me for a second before turning back to my companions and asking them something.

They spoke back and forth and after some hesitation, the man nodded and indicated to wait there for a moment.

Immediately, Pearl spun me around.

-What do you think you’re doing? You can’t just bother a noble household like that!-

Pearl began scolding me, but I ignored him and simply showed the signet to Nose-bandage and pointed at the emblem on the gate.

Nose-bandage’s eyes widened and she quickly explained the situation to Pearl.

-So are they your masters?-

Masters? As in, me being their servant?

I let out an annoyed grunt while shaking my head.

-Oh? Then are they friends of your family?-

Friends.

Me friend with some dirty green-haired and pink-eyed man… The very memory of snake like face was giving me shivers… But denying Pearl’s interpretation now would just cause unnecessary confusion.

I nodded while letting out an approving grunt.

After that, we waited in silence for the man to come back. I wanted to ask Pearl what he told the gatekeeper earlier, but communication with Pearl was strained at the best of time, so I awkwardly waited.

Some time later, the gatekeeper returned and, with great strain, opened the iron gate and allowing us into the estate.