Their coach arrived in the morning and after saying goodbye and stowing their gear they were on the road. Using a coach for this trip cut their travel time short by a large margin. In addition to that, the roads west of the capital were in a much better shape than the ones following the river inland. Largely because they were traveling through plains and building and maintaining a road here was a lot simpler.
Traveling at the same pace Luna had when coming to Laven, the trip would take at least 5 days, but now it would only take them two days to get to their first stop. Their coach driver, a quiet man named Lennard took care of the two horses drawing the coach and Joan spent the trip teaching Luna about the area and telling her of her own experience traveling the kingdom in the last two years.
They met some group of travelers and merchants on the road but they did not report anything suspicious, no news of bandits anywhere in the area. The trip was eventless and they arrived at Dreisen, the farming village, in the evening of their second day.
The first thing Luna noticed that this village was much bigger than Creek Springs. It was more a small town with many outlying farmsteads. The main street up to the village center was paved, even if it was not the same high quality Luna had seen in the capital.
They were greeted by someone from the village council, who had been expecting a visit from a Pathfinder at the beginning of spring. He offered them refreshments, asking them to be patient until the remaining members of the council had arrived.
It took them over half an hour to arrive, which was understandable considering that many of them had to come in from the fields, spring season required all the help possible to prepare the fields.
Joan introduced herself and Luna and then got straight to the point. She recounted what she knew about the trouble the village had faced over the recent years. Some of their carts had been robbed on the way to the capital and one farmer's daughter had been kidnapped. While they still had a few Hunters in the village, none was able to find any tracks of where she might have gone and none of them had wanted to risk their lives trying to find bandits near the roads.
After three days the farmer had received a letter for ransom in the middle of the night and he had paid without informing the village council. His daughter had been returned unharmed, but she had no idea where she had been kept or who might be responsible. All she knew was that she never left the village, which was troubling but not helping much either.
Joan told them that the city guard had raided a bandit hideout west of the village and that those were the likely suspects for the robbery. The kidnapping was another issue, but without any leads or witnesses to talk to Joan could not do anything to help either. There were many possible culprits and with her being held in the village the chances of an outsider being responsible were slim.
With those two topics discussed, the meeting was already over. Luna was a little disappointed that there was nothing they could do here, but a village without recent problems was good news. They spent the night in a guest house, enjoying a proper bed and food.
The next day they were on the road to Middingfurt to start their investigation into possible locations for border crossing. The traffic on the road between the capital and Middingfurt had picked up, but despite many quick stops to talk with people, they did not gather any meaningful information. When Luna complained about the idle time Joan surprised her by fishing some locks from a bag under the coach bench. Apparently Michelle had planned ahead and added some extra training material and books for Luna, just in case she got bored.
With Luna busy the trip was quick and on their fourth day they arrived at the border town. Dreisen had been a sleepy farming outpost, but Middingfurt was clearly a city planned for defense. Surrounded by a high wall and watchtowers it was an imposing sight, especially when standing right beneath the city gates.
The guards were a lot more vigilant here as well, searching the coach and questioning both Luna and Joan about their business in the city. When they identified themselves as Pathfinder the captain of the guard was called and Joan handed over an official writ to him, signed by the Pathfinder Guild and the king. It named both Luna and Joan as Pathfinder on a mission to discover enemy activity near the border. The captain was rather happy to have extra help with checking the border and land. As he had put it,”the guard is good for securing a town, but they might as well have two left hands when it comes to tracking down anyone in the countryside”.
They packed the gear and supplies they needed into their backpacks and stuffed the rest into a trunk to be taken back to the capital. The coach left shortly after, being only hired to bring them here and with the job done the driver was more than happy to leave.
Following the captain's advice they checked into a little inn near the central marketplace, which was run by the captain’s sister.
Over dinner Joan explained to Luna how they would proceed from here. “Investigating if there is a possible way to smuggle people from the western of the city, across the river, into the eastern part is pointless. I am pretty sure it is happening, but if the city guard cannot prevent it, neither can we. We will instead focus on the river north of the city. What would you suggest we do?”
Luna thought about it and came up with options to gather information first, instead of just heading out blindly. “We should visit some of the local merchant companies and find out which of them travel in that area. I am sure that they would know if they met suspicious travelers on the road or had seen weird things happening along the river, especially at night. We should also find out where logging camps are in the forests around here, if there are people sneaking through the forests, they might have seen something.”
Joan nodded in agreement. “Good thinking. Yes, we must find people who might know things. Without knowing the bigger picture many people do not realize that something they saw in passing might be relevant to the security of the kingdom. Being robbed, now that everyone will report to the guard. But seeing people on the road or near a forest? That is too insignificant and can be easily explained.”
Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.
Joan handed Luna a list of names. “There are three major merchant companies operating here and some smaller businesses who transport goods. Tomorrow we will go and talk with them. I will talk with the important people, but I want you to find out if the normal employees know things. We will travel there together and split up, you wait outside while I go in for the meeting.”
It made sense to Luna. The more mature Pathfinder would have a much easier time talking with the senior people and she, the young girl could easily sell herself as a trainee, which she basically was and strike up conversations with the normal people outside. After all, who would be on guard when talking to some girl?
When Joan paid for their rooms and food Luna realized something. “Joan. Do I also earn money?”
“What do you mean by that?” Joan relied. “Of course you earn money. I have no idea how much a trainee or new member gets, wait. Michelle did not tell you how much you earn and you never thought to ask until now? Oh Luna, you precious girl.”
Luna was visibly embarrassed. Once again her village upbringing was showing. “We never used much money in Creek Springs. There was no need for it there and in the city I did not need any. It was only really useful when a merchant visited, but other than that we simply traded things. With you paying for the room and food I just realized I only have like 20 coppers left. I spent the rest when we were walking around the capital. 20 coppers would not even be enough for a single night and food!”
“So what you are saying Luna, is that you left on a mission without any money?” Joan teased further.
Luna simply hid her face in her hands, too ashamed to even look at Joan or reply.
Joan burst into laughter. “I am just messing with you. Michelle told me that you never really used money before. This was just too perfect a teaching opportunity. Do you remember when Michelle explained about missions? We always get enough money to travel around. As the party leader I have the money, but when you travel alone you will have to carry it yourself. And before you get any funny ideas, you will have to account for your expenses during the mission.”
Luna looked offended at the suggestion of stealing money for herself. “I would never!” She exclaimed.
Joan interrupted her before she could pick up steam. “I know you wouldn’t, but you have to start thinking about what other people might do. It is our mission to find criminals and the sooner you start understanding that, the better. You are so naive sometimes it is adorable and scary at the same time.”
“There were no criminals in Creek Springs.” Luna replied meekly.
“See, that is what I mean. Maybe you did not have people making a living as a career criminal in your village. That does not mean people did not try to take advantage of each other. It is adorable that you seem to not have a single evil bone in your body, but it is scary that you seem to still believe all people to be good at heart.” Joan told her and proceeded to hammer home the life lesson. “I trained you personally to detect it when people try stealing from you. You can draw a hidden dagger in a moment's notice and I am quite sure that you are good enough with your weapons to defend yourself if you have to. You were trained to use Identify on every person you meet, while not being obvious about it. I know you have been doing some of the things, but you must now learn to apply all those lessons. Always be vigilant, you are not in your village any longer.”
With that lesson to swallow they went to their room and Luna lay awake for quite some time. Normally she would be reading in the library at this time, but the books and training locks had left with the coach. The additional weight simply too much to carry around while on foot.
Joan woke Luna early in the morning, telling her to get dressed and put on her armor. They left their bows and larger weapons at the inn, but both carried their throwing knives and Luna had strapped her machete to her lower back. If needed she could easily draw it from there, where it was hidden from view by the cloak she was wearing.
After breakfast they made their way across the marketplace, their first destination the ‘Amble & Sons’ trading company, was just a short walk away from their inn. They arrived at a compound surrounded by a stone wall. The gates were closed, so Joan knocked on the door set into the gate. A small window opened in the door, a guardman peering through. “What do you want?” He demanded in an unfriendly tone, as if blaming them directly for the ill fortune of standing watch.
“Good morning to you too. We are Pathfinders from the capital and would like to speak to someone in charge. We are currently investigating some suspicious activity in the border region.” Joan told him.
“Pathfinder, huh? Don’t see many of you around these days. I apologize, but I cannot let you inside just like that. Let me find someone who can make the decision.”
Just like that the peephole closed again and the guard was gone. Joan shrugged and stepped back to wait. “Guards are not the friendliest people around. I don’t blame them, it is more or less their job to look unfriendly and scare away people.”
After a short while the door in the gate swung open and they were invited inside. “Master Amble told me to let you in. Don’t try anything funny, we got enough guards around here to handle you two. Just head over to the main building, someone will lead you from there.”
Joan and Luna walked over, looking around the little courtyard. It was nothing special, just pressed dirt covered with gravel. On the left side stood what seemed to be a warehouse and the right side a stable. Straight ahead was the main building, a simple two story structure made from stone with a timber roof structure covered by clay tiles. This seemed to be the predominant building style in the town, as nearly every building looked similar.
“Why are the buildings here so much lower than in the capital?” Luna asked.
“Simple, no house may be high enough so that archers could shoot down on the military fortifications. Two stories is all they are allowed here. It is a military town now, securing our border. It used to have houses higher than that, but they were torn down about 20 years ago when the city fortifications were improved.” Joan explained.
After the short walk across the courtyard to the main building they were greeted by a man in fine but nondescript clothing. “Welcome to Amble & Sons. I am Thomas, the youngest of the sons. I was told you were Pathfinder, may I know your names?”
[Thomas]
Level 17, Human
“Good morning Thomas. My name is Joan, a Pathfinder from the capital. This is my trainee Luna. We were wondering if you had the time to talk with me about the roads north, the border and the river. We are on an investigation into suspicious activity in the area.”
“Certainly. My father should be up and about by now. Will you join us for breakfast?” Thomas replied courteously.
“Gladly, do you mind if Luna waits outside and talks with some people?”
Thomas looked a bit confused about the request, but allowed Luna to wait outside. After Joan vanished inside, Luna strolled over the courtyard and started looking around. The people working here started to arrive shortly after and Luna had plenty of opportunity to talk with some of them, even if not for long. She did not find anyone who had relevant information, but it would have been a bit too much luck if she had.
Luckily Joan did not take long inside and returned after only half an hour. Luna had started to get bored again, as people had to work and had no time to make smalltalk. They quickly left through the now opened gate and started towards their next destination.