A flash of white light enveloped everyone’s vision. By the time it faded, their surroundings had entirely changed. From the bright stone walls and vibrant paint that defined the second largest city of the kingdom, to more humble earthen bricks and wooden panels, the sudden shift left everyone feeling disoriented.

“We’ve been doing this for years, but I still never get used to it,” said Delphi, holding her head steady with one arm as her other reached for a nearby railing.

“You only have yourself to blame for this,” replied Nash, making an effort to steady herself with her own two feet alone. “We could’ve gone with the slower and smoother teleport if you weren’t so late. What took you so long anyway?”

“Oh right, about that,” said Delphi with a sigh. She walked out of the teleportation zone and sat down on a nearby bench. “I’ve got some good news and bad news.”

The other three made their own ways over to the same group of benches and took their seats around their boss. While Ted sported his standard uncanny smile, Chudsworth looked curious while Nash was more concerned.

“So the bad news… the spy knows about us.”

“Dammit, Nepo!” shouted Nash. “How was your acting that bad?!”

“Excuse me, but I gave nothing away in my performance!” he shot back.

“Relax, it’s not his fault,” said Delphi, defusing the brewing argument. “The spy knew about us before we even sent Chudsworth to get a read on him. He apparently had a letter to the higher ups ready to go from the beginning that gave to Chudsworth during their meeting.”

“Curious then, why did he not stab Nepo when he had the chance earlier?” asked Ted.

“He probably just wanted to get the message delivered more than anything,” replied Delphi with a shrug. “It said not to bother getting in his way, and that if we try to kill him, he has a deadman’s switch that’ll spill the beans of the organization to the hero and the kingdom as a whole.”

“So if he finds us, either he’ll kill us or put us out of a job,” said Ted.

“Same difference,” replied Nash.

“But that’s where the good news comes in,” said Delphi, reaching into her pocket. “Pancer freaked out when I showed him the letter and he’s the one who kept me for so long this morning.”

“And that’s good because…”

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“Because he used up the influence he got by taking in Chudsworth in order to requisition this baby!” exclaimed Delphi as she pulled out a small, gray device as big as the nail on her pinky finger and about as thick.

“No way, is that-”

“An archmage-rated listening device! The only way we can listen in on the spy without him realizing we’re doing it!”

Nash quickly sidled up to Delphi and stared at the coin-sized object with sparkles in her eyes. “Look at those spell weaves, you can’t even tell they’re there, it’s like they’re… not there at all.” The blonde haired woman slowly looked up at her boss with a look of concern. “I don’t think there’s any magic inside of this thing, are you sure Pancer didn’t lie?”

Delphi bit her lip. “Well, he did look pretty shaken up about the letter, but he demonstrated how to use it earlier.”

She pulled out another device, this one a rectangle as large as her hand, and flipped a switch on it. Sound immediately began to come through the speakers on the front.

“Here Ted, take this and whisper very softly into it such that we can’t hear you. Do it from all the way over there, in fact,” said Delphi, pointing to the corner of a building.

Ted took the coin-sized listening device without a word and walked out of sight.

“…”

“I don’t hear anything,” said Nash.

“Stab. Stabby stab. Stabbity stabbity stab.”

“Yeah, it’s working,” she said.

“Alright Ted, you can come back now!” said Delphi with a shout.

After getting the listening device back and safely stowing them away, Delphi regarded the town around them.

Earthen buildings with wooden reinforcements defined most of the architecture, with any variation reserved for buildings whose styles or construction were older than the town as a whole.

One in particular stood out with its walls being made almost entirely of wooden slats spaced far apart from each other to create massive gaps. A cool gust of wind blew the air coming out of the building towards the group, yet all they could feel was an uncomfortably moist heat.

“So you’ve noticed the silk weavers, huh?” came a nearby voice.

The group turned to look at its source, and found a gangly looking man in his thirties looking at them with a content smile. He had linen overalls dyed sky blue, a brown stubble on his chin, and spoke with a drawl.

“One of many around town,” he continued. “They do a lot of boiling so they need all that space between their walls to get the hot air out. That’s not to say they’ve also got holes in their roofs, but the more of ‘em keeps the place cooler.”

The others politely nodded, but Delphi looked a little more carefully. “Are you our driver?” she asked.

“I’m definitely a driver, ma’am,” the newcomer replied. “Supposed to be taking a ‘Delphi’ and her posse over to Web Forest Village. That wouldn’t happen to be you, would it?”

“It would,” replied Delphi with a smile. She and the others got up as one and began following the man as he led them over to a wooden carriage.

“I hope you packed something to eat, the trip will be a couple of hours.”