MiP Chapter 33: Watchers

Liafra kept her smile and cheerful facade in place easily with decades of experience, hiding her internal concern. Carlos and Amber should not have drawn this kind of attention this quickly. What had gone wrong? "What kind of information are you looking for?"

The woman in the dark blue dress smiled sweetly back at her. "All of it, of course. I need to know as much as possible to properly evaluate them for my business."

Liafra kept her gaze steady. "I'm sorry, I don't have time to help with such an open ended query. You'll have to be more specific."

"Fine. What is their background, and what is the purpose of their visit to Dramos?"

"I am not privy to the full details. If you have a specific concern, I might be able to help."

The woman ground her teeth for a moment, and glared. "...They arrived by teleport, and could just as easily have teleported to any other frontier town instead. Why did they choose Dramos as their entry point into the Wilds, and will their visit here disrupt normal adventuring activity?"

"Oh?" Liafra permitted one of her eyebrows to rise. "Why would you even think that such a disruption is a possibility?"

"Because of how professional and well equipped their guards are. They clearly have rich and powerful support, and that sort would not send a pair of favored scions on such a trip for anything minor!" The woman loomed over Liafra and crossed her arms. "Is that specific enough for you?"

"I see." Liafra relaxed back into her usual unperturbable smile of helpfulness. "In that case, you would have to speak with Mayor Stelras personally, as I am not privy to that information. Unfortunately, his schedule is quite full at the moment, but I could make an appointment for you sometime next week if that would help?" That was a blatant falsehood - she knew the answer to the woman's question herself very well - but Mayor Stelras trusted her with such secrets precisely because she was so reliable at keeping them.

The woman glared at the mayor's door in the far wall behind Liafra for a few seconds, before turning back to the receptionist. "I have half a mind to barge in there and see for myself how busy Stelras really is."

Liafra just kept smiling professionally. "If you truly wish to spend some time in jail, and whatever other punishments might be judged appropriate, I will be happy to call the city guard to see to it."

Tense silence reigned, as each woman stared unblinking at the other, Liafra smoothly ignoring the other woman's efforts at looming intimidatingly. Finally, the woman huffed, let her arms drop to her sides, and backed off slightly. "Oh very well. Make that appointment, but I will not stand idle in the meantime."

Liafra nodded. "Duly noted. One week from today, at noon. Mayor Stelras will see you then."

The woman turned and stormed out, slamming the door behind her. Liafra waited a few minutes to be sure she was well away, then activated the privacy wards built into the office suite, and unceremoniously opened the door to Mayor Stelras's office. "Sir, we may have a problem."

___

Carlos took a bite of his curry, and closed his eyes as he sighed in bliss. "Mmmm, tasty!" He didn't recognize any individual ingredient in the dish, from the diced mystery meats, to the squarish flakes of an unknown grain, to the assorted diced vegetables, to the herbs and spices blended together that gave it all a mouth watering flavor, but it was delicious. He really should start learning about the local ingredients in this world. There were a lot of similarities, such as the grain tasting very similar to rice, but very little, if even anything, was exactly the same as on Earth. The scrambled eggs and bacon he'd eaten this morning probably hadn't come from chickens and a pig, too.

He opened his eyes, and saw Amber lost in her own experimental first taste of curry. Giving her a moment to experience the taste, he turned to Lorvan, who was standing beside and behind his chair, facing outward and constantly scanning the open air eating area. "Are you sure about not eating with us?"

"We must remain on guard. Meals are prime ambush opportunities, and we would be remiss in our duties if we allowed our vigilance to lapse."

"Do you not get weakened by hunger eventually?"

"Our meals are handled. You do not need to concern yourself with that."

Carlos shook his head and turned back to Amber. "So, how is it?"

"Mmf good!" A little bit of curry sprayed out of her mouth as she tried to answer while shoveling more in.

Carlos grinned. "Glad you like it, me too!" He suited action to words and dug in, in an impromptu race to finish his serving faster.

___

A large man deftly scooped up a forkful of curry, handling the utensil that seemed undersized in his hand with grace, and put it in his mouth without looking as he briefly examined the young pair with guards who were eating a few tables over. He didn't see any sign of the muscles he'd expect if they were practiced with weapons. No calluses on their hands, either, and he would have seen that easily from this close. He could have spotted calluses from ten times this distance.

He turned his gaze back to his own food. Those guards were alert; it wouldn't do to make them suspicious by staring too long. He had other senses that didn't give away where he was focusing his attention on, though. Hearing, for one, though they weren't talking about anything of consequence. They both liked curry, they hadn't had these guards for long, and that was about all he'd learned from eavesdropping on them.

Sensing mana told him a bit more significant information, especially with their mana being less dense than Dramos's ambient mana. If not for that, they wouldn't have been passively absorbing ambient mana, at a rate that told him they had pretty damn high soul rank. They might conceivably be platinum rank, if they were at the absolute peak of platinum, but he thought they were probably higher. He'd sensed a newbie platinum ranker or two passively absorbing mana before, and these two were doing it much faster. Nobles. The idea was worrisome.

He focused on the currents of mana in the air, how it swirled around the two funnels of those undeveloped souls before falling in, as he absentmindedly continued eating. How ambient mana reacted to the simple presence of a soul could reveal some of the more general aspects of what capabilities the person had built into their soul. Nothing too detailed, and nothing about the number of structures or what synergies they had, but the mere existence of a soul imprinted faint and vague impressions on the mana around it of each major effect the soul had the ability to prompt mana to do. Impressions that a particularly perceptive person, such as himself, could sense and potentially interpret.

The impressions he sensed around the two youths... were a mix of baffling, and painfully familiar. Mages. Why did it have to be mages? Useless, stupid, helpless mages. He'd seen so many of those idiots, and not a one could hold a candle to a real adventurer, even with mana density only equal to theirs. He held back a disgusted snort. Were they really going to have to watch the valuable mana of the nearby Wilds get consumed just to empower a pair of visiting noble mage children? What a waste.

He took a deep breath, pushed his instinctive scorn aside, and forced himself to consider it rationally. That Sandaras guy they all talked about so much was no slouch. Competent mages did exist, even if he'd never personally met one. And surely nobles, if that was what they were, would have access to the right training to be competent. Right? It made logical sense, but he had difficulty actually believing it.

___

Ressara nervously picked at her food, hoping that those exceedingly vigilant guards wouldn't notice and recognize her. She did not want to find out how bad their second warning would be. She'd tried waiting out of sight, but her stomach had started grumbling, and the delicious smells made it worse. So, she'd picked a table on the very edge of the area - but not a corner, worried that a corner spot might attract notice like it had in the Adventurer's Haven - and hoped it was far enough.

She hunched over her bowl of curry - she could hardly forgo investigating the food her quarry had specifically sought out, after all - trying to pretend it held all her attention. It was an unusual taste she had not encountered before. Tasty, but probably foreign, or at least made with spices that didn't grow locally. Maybe Carlos and Amber were foreign nobles, and this was a taste of home for them? It would explain why they were hiding their status, at least. She should look into where this type of dish came from.

It was hard to ignore the ever present feeling of those guards, though, with their disguised souls constantly pulling her attention toward them. It was making her feel jumpy, like they were looming over her and glaring menacingly, even though as far as she could tell they were paying her only the same amount of attention as they did to everyone who walked into their sight. Ressara shook her head, and focused on identifying as many of the individual spices as she could, trying to push her probably-irrational concerns out of her mind.

It was a shame she couldn't hear what they said, between the distance and the constant murmur of other conversations obscuring theirs. Not that they really seemed to be saying much, actually, since every time she dared a quick glance at them she just saw them devouring their food at a rapid rate. They'd even gotten second servings for each of them, though they had at least slowed down a bit after that point. Even so, they were still putting her own nervous eating pace to shame.

Ressara sensed Carlos's soul move backwards a little, probably leaning back in his chair, just as a belch sounded from their direction loudly enough to cut through the background chatter for just a moment. She glanced over, and saw Carlos stretching in his seat, a satisfied smile on his face. Amber shook with laughter Ressara couldn't quite hear, looked down at her bowl that still had about a third of its contents remaining, then sighed, nodded, and pushed herself back from the table. Ressara looked away again, sensing the upward movement of Carlos's and Amber's souls as they each stood up, and she tried to shrink away from any attention. Those two guards would likely make an extra vigilant sweep of the crowd before leaving.

She forced herself to keep eating, despite the nervous dryness in her mouth, until she finally sensed all four of the souls she was watching walk away and out of sight. Ressara let out a deep sigh of relief when she was sure they were gone, then rushed to finish her food. It was easier to focus on eating without the danger of possible discovery hanging over her head, and she needed to be done here in time to follow their aura trails. Though, she did have a bit more time before the trails would fade than yesterday, thanks to Carlos and Amber advancing to the second compression. The auras of more powerful souls, with higher density mana, were brighter and left trails that took longer to fade.

___

Carlos walked with a bit more purpose to his steps than in the lazy morning, looking at the people and buildings around him with a more searching gaze. They seemed to be transitioning into another district, though without the sharp demarcation of a formal boundary. There were still occasional stalls selling food, and stores advertising adventuring gear, but they were getting scarcer. The homes and workshops that were increasingly prevalent weren't what he was looking for either, and Amber was losing some of her excitement. Even when she did spot another potentially interesting store, she would walk to it instead of running, briefly walk a tour of the store's shelves and displays, and leave again, sighing and shaking her head in disappointment that they didn't have anything meaningfully different or better than everything she'd already found in other stores.

Finally, Carlos spotted what he was looking for. He pointed at someone who was wearing armor and clothes he was pretty sure were identical to what the guard at the teleport arrival building had worn yesterday, and spoke quietly to Colonel Lorvan. "That's one of the city guard, right?"

Lorvan nodded. "Yes, sir."

"So he..." Carlos squinted and looked closer. "She would be a good person to ask about where the city guard's headquarters is, where they can tell us about the details of Sandaras's visit."

Amber laughed. "Really? That's what you've been looking for? Why not just ask anyone who lives here? I'm sure we've already passed dozens, if not hundreds, of people who could answer that for us!"

Carlos flushed and stammered. "I, well... Asking some random person could be embarrassing, especially if they don't know the answer."

Major Ordens interjected, "She's still right, sir. Also, being from out of town is nothing to be embarrassed about, and is practically already revealed by our presence as your guards, sir."

Carlos threw up his hands and sighed. "Fine, whatever, I'll keep it mind for next time. But seeing as I've already found a city guard, I'll go ahead and ask her this time."

Lorvan responded in perfect deadpan. "As you say, sir."

___

In one of the small suites at the Adventurer's Haven, four people gathered. Sitting at a desk, with the desk against a wall but his chair turned to face more of the room, sat a tall and lanky man with a sharp nose, with several daggers readily visible and several more hidden. He casually rested his left arm on the desk beside him. A short woman wearing trousers and a woolen shirt leaned against a wall, holding her well muscled arms crossed over her chest, and tapping her foot lightly. A much taller woman with long hair and a dark blue dress sat on another chair, her hands resting motionless in her lap as she waited.

They were calm, but not happy. They looked at each other in solemn silence until the last of their number arrived. A large man walked in the door with utterly silent footsteps belying his size, and closed it behind himself. The group heard not even a whisper of moving metal, no click of the bolt settling into place, but they knew the door was now locked.

The large man clasped his hands together in front of his chest and bowed slightly. "My apology for my lateness. They kept speaking of inconsequentials, when they spoke at all, and I followed longer than planned in hopes of hearing something important."

The lanky man with all the daggers waved calmly at him. "Apology accepted, and I agree with your decision. Now, what have we learned?" He nodded towards the short woman leaning against the wall.

"Our guess about their transportation was correct. They arrived by teleport yesterday. Moreover, when they arrived their escorts were wearing superlatively good armor. Top of the line, expensive stuff, sounds like. Presumably heavily enchanted. I'd guess the enchantments include something for disguise. And they went straight to the mayor." She fell silent and nodded towards the taller woman in the dress.

"My turn next?" The woman idly brushed off her lap a little. "Liafra was evasive. She kept deflecting and asking me to be more specific. She finished with directing me to Stelras, but refused to let me see him sooner than a week from now. When I pushed, she threatened to call the guards." She shook her head. "Whoever these people are, and whatever they're doing, Stelras is in on it."

After a momentary pause the big man, who had now soundlessly seated himself crosslegged on the floor, picked up the thread of the reports. "Whatever they are here for, they seem in no hurry to do it. They spent most of the day wandering aimlessly. However, I sensed that they are very likely nobles, and they are definitely mages. The only thing of note I heard them actually speak of was that they want to know details of Sandaras's visit. If we're lucky, maybe they're just curious about the legends, but I doubt it. Nobles have servants to find out such things for them, they don't come themselves."

The lanky man at the desk nodded sharply. "I agree. They're most likely noble scions on a secret expedition to harvest the mana of our local Wilds, too ambitious and impatient to accept the rate of development achievable in their own domain. No wonder that scholar woman found them interesting. They plan to return home greatly empowered, leaving the areas near Dramos stripped of mana and valuables. At best, we'd have to relocate for years until these Wilds recover, if they ever do. At worst..." He shook his head. "So. Give your suggestions. What are we going to do about it?"