The four of them argued a little longer about whether or not it was a trap but reached no consensus. Lucas was of the opinion that even if the city guard didn’t get him, the Brass Knights still might. But Kar’gandin disagreed mightly on that front. “One of the reasons I think these are the right boys to do the business with is because they cling to their honor like some gaudy decoration. If they decide to murder us, they’ll send a bloody declaration of war about it first. It’s the silliest shite ye ever did see.”

Lucas had heard similar things before, but still, he was unconvinced. Before he left their little hideout, he dug through his growing stash of potions for a few that he might want, just in case he ran into trouble. A healing and antidote potion were a must, of course, but he grabbed a few other odds and ends, too, just in case.

While he didn’t disagree with the dwarf’s assessment that he was the least likely to be caught, that chance wasn’t zero exactly, and he was painfully aware of that fact. Lucas dwelled on those ideas as he walked to the main house and asked Gerwin for a servant’s uniform he could borrow.

The butler looked at him stiffly and said, “I trust you’ll be returning it in good condition then? No mysterious stains, blood or otherwise?”

“Me? Why, I would never.” Lucas said with a sarcastic smirk.

It was clear to him that the manservant didn’t care for him much, but it was also clear to Lucas that the man liked him more than his mistress’s brother, so on the whole he took their uneasy relationship in stride. He probably wouldn’t like it if a bunch of criminals started cooking up product in his backyard, either.

“I’m sure I have something in your size you can borrow then,” the older man said as he walked through one of the servant's doors into the narrow side passages that threaded through the house.

The clothes that Lucas wore normally had seen better days, and though he washed them as often as he was able in the stream, they were looking pretty rough. They’d definitely mark him as a troublemaker to the guards. The clothes that Gerwin provided him, by contrast, were much nicer, even if they were just black slacks and a white button down shirt that had been bleached within an inch of its life until it was stiff and scratchy.

The old man escorted him to a small privy so that Lucas could get changed, but when he saw that the large wooden tub was full of water, he decided to give himself a quick scrub with a bar of harsh soap. The water was tepid, and if he’d planned things better, he certainly would have arranged to have some warm water brought, but it wasn’t frigid river water. That made the whole thing good enough to overlook the fact that this was almost certainly someone else’s dirty bathwater, even if it looked pretty clean to him.

“God, I miss running water,” he sighed as he rinsed off and toweled dry. “My bar is definitely going to have a hot shower and a flush toilet, I swear to god. It doesn’t matter how much money I need to make.”

He kept grumbling as he started to get dressed, and after getting his pants on, he stopped to take a look at himself in the mirror. His patchy stubble was threatening to become a full-blown beard, and he desperately felt the need to shave, but since it made such a good disguise, that could wait until after his trip into the city. Honestly, he barely recognized himself.

When he heard a knock as he was putting on his extra scratchy shirt, he yelled, “Come in” without thinking.

That brought him unexpectedly eye-to-eye with Danaria, who opened the door. “Oh, Lucas, I’m glad I caught you. I heard from my maidservant that you were going into town today, and I…”

Her words trailed off as her mind seemed to lock up, and for a moment, Lucas wasn’t sure what happened. It only occurred to him when her face started to redden, and she suddenly turned away that it was because his shirt was off.

“B-but you’re not decent,” she stammered.

“Guilty,” he agreed with a chuckle. “But seriously, it’s fine. It's just a shirt; you guys need to learn to relax about this stuff.”

“Relax?” she asked, horrified, “You… you… how would you react if you were to come into a room and see me shirtless, mister Sharpe?”

Lucas didn’t answer with the first thought that came to his mind or even the second. In fact, he wasn’t able to work out an answer that had the proper decorum before she noticed the lewd smile on his face. That was enough to make her sigh heavily and turn around to face the hall as her blush deepened.

“And to think I was just coming in to wish you well and ask if you might be free when you return,” she said, talking quickly. “And instead, I have to face this… depravity.”

“Depravity?” Lucas chuckled. “Denaria, I’ve seen depravity and can assure you that… no, you know what? Never mind. What did you need me for anyway?”

“Need you?” she asked, confused before she finally put everything together. “Oh, my brother said that you might be attending some of the balls this season and that we would have to fetch the tailor and engage in some dance lessons. I was just wondering when you wanted to do that and thought we might have tea and discuss some appointments.”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Uhuh,” Lucas said as he did up the last button. Well, the last button he planned on buttoning. He was going to leave the last one undone so he could breathe. Adin hadn’t mentioned anything about this to Lucas in the last couple of days, but long term, that was definitely the plan. “Sure, let’s work on the details after I go into the city. I have a delivery to make.”

Danaria peeked to see if he was decent yet, and when she saw he was, she turned around and smiled at that. “Excellent. That’s good to hear,” she said, pausing for a moment as she looked like she was about to shake his hand with her white, lacy gloves. Instead, she took a step back, and continued, “Well, you be safe then, and I’ll see you later.” Then she was gone, like a skittish deer.

Lucas had to force himself not to laugh at that reaction. Instead, he tugged on his boots, took one more look at his shaggy hair in the poor-quality mirror, and headed back to fetch his cargo.

I’m never going to look like a noble at this rate, he thought with a smirk. Adin and Danaria are going to have their work cut out for them.

By the time he returned to the cider house, the donkey was loaded up and waiting for him. “Looking Sharp for a human!” Hura’gh said as Lucas approached.

“Whatever, man,” Lucas responded.

That wasn’t enough to dissuade everyone else, though. “Nay, lad, ye clean up well - maybe we’ll be able to attract a higher tier of clientele sooner than we would have thought.”

“Yeah, well, before we worry about that, how about we worry about finding someone to make these deliveries because I really don't want to be going to Lordanin too often as long as there’s still a price on our heads, Kar’gandin,” Lucas answered as he grabbed the lead of the animal.

“Aye,” the dwarf agreed. “We need to work on that too, but more members of our little club means more chances for cheats and traitors.”

Lucas nodded at that, but said nothing as he started walking back toward the main house, and beyond it, to the road that lead to Lordanin. On the main roads, he had nothing to fear but the guards. This close to civilization the only monsters lurked deep inside the Greenwood, and this close to the city there was no such thing as bandits.

Instead, the only things that barred his way were the outlying villages that grew steadily larger as he got closer to the walls of the city. The Parin household was close to Meadowin, which was only barely large enough to have a greengrocer and a few small shops. There were two other villages he passed through on the way to the east gate whose names he hadn’t bothered to learn yet.

So, he enjoyed the sunshine and led his mule down the road toward the east gate while he whistled a little tune and tried to tamp down his nagging worries. No, he reminded himself, I couldn’t bring Kar’gandin or Hura’gh with me. Two or three people off the same wanted poster would look a lot more suspicious than a single guy with a donkey.

As it worked out, though, he had nothing to worry about. No one even tried to stop him. Only one of the gate guards gave him the barest of glances before the man’s dull eyes slid off Lucas, looking for someone better to harass. Because I look like I belong, he thought to himself as he walked through the gates. Because I fucking do. This is my town. Well, at the rate we’re making money, it will be someday, anyway.

Those were his thoughts as he made his way to the street of hammers, on the far side of the foundry district. Lordanin was a big place. It was big enough to get lost in, but more importantly, it was big enough that it was hard to be found in, and as he walked through it dodging traffic and the occasional third story resident emptying their chamber pot into the stinking gutters, he found himself thinking about money.

If things went smooth with the Knights of Brass, then Lucas and his growing gang might have forty dragons a week flowing into their coffers sooner rather than later. Even after operating costs and a four way split, that was still a year’s worth of money every week. They were going to have to think bigger than better equipment and fancy clothes if they wanted to put all of that to better use.

Well, it wouldn’t be enough to start construction on the bar of his dreams tomorrow, but they could probably start buying shell companies and maybe consider moving their operations into the city if they really wanted to. What would make the most sense, though? An alchemist shop would be noticed, but maybe a cooper or a glassblower would work instead?

The dwarf was still hard at work on making a kiln that would be big enough to bake a couple dozen clay potion vials at a time. For now, their biggest cost was buying glass vials, and fantasy worlds hadn’t invented the technology of buying in bulk yet, unfortunately.

Lucas heard the street of hammers long before he saw it. He’d woven around the Gray Bottom district just in case, but it hadn’t taken too much longer. Soon enough, he was surrounded by smiths, all working on armor or blades. That was probably a good business, too, but they didn’t really need to buy weapons in bulk. Not yet, anyway.

Lucas kept going until he found the Small Courtyard off the street. It was ironically named because the place was quite large and set aside for duels and testing their brand-new weapons. Here was in the heart of someone else's power, and he was well aware that the average brass knight could kick the shit out of him. They were big dudes that knew how to use weapons.

Even more important than that, Lucas kept any worry or concern off his face. People like this… like him, could smell fear and weakness, so he strolled in like he didn’t have a care in the world, and as soon as he found a man wearing the brass broach of the knights on his cloak at the entrance to the courtyard, he said, “Hey, man. I’m here to talk to your boss,” with a shit-eating grin that practically dared the other man to try something.