The three-day trip from Revlon to Leyden was mostly uneventful. Deciding to keep the identity of Tavlon for the duration of my travel, I had joined up with a caravan of merchants heading towards the academy city under the pretext of protection. However, ever since the improvements to the roads made under the regency of Duke Leyden, highwaymen had become incredibly rare. You’d be more likely to be robbed in town than on the roads, as I was intimately familiar with. Frankly, it was just convenient for me. Not only would I likely be welcomed if I presented myself as someone with money to spend – which I did have – but I had also noticed that one of the merchants was carrying a variety of cosmetics.
These cosmetics were something that was much easier to produce in the outlying towns due to access to things such as dye materials and the space for large production setups. Combine the ever-present desire of high society to improve appearance with the new access to major cities such as Leyden that were offered by the improved roads and you had a growing market for the products. And, for someone in my line of work, new creations that worked to temporarily change hair color and more common techniques to alter appearance were both extremely useful when assuming a new persona.
As such, I immediately became fast friends with the caravan’s cosmetic merchant. Pleading the need to please a sweetheart in Leyden, I re-stocked my supplies of dye and makeup in order to prepare for the coming job. I owed a lot in this area to Phillip’s training. More specifically, the contacts in the various pleasure houses that had made due with far worse prototype cosmetics to help please their clients. Without their lessons, I would’ve been lost as to how to properly utilize the newer, improved products effectively.
Besides that, I didn’t do much on my journey beside think. My return to Leyden was something I hadn’t really planned to do. By now, my time there held almost nothing besides pain. I had learned the things I needed to begin my new life, true, but both those lessons themselves and the events that prompted them were things I would rather never revisit. But here I was, returning to the place I had never wanted to come back to, to once again work for a man I had many more reasons to hate than love. Praying to whatever god might be out there, I hoped that this trip would be worth it.
*******
The Next Day
As the caravan neared the gates of Leyden, I observed the city as best I could. It appeared that the pattern remained much the same, only moving outwards from where it once was. The wooden outskirts of the town, indicative of newer development, sat outside the walls of the city, rather than in. It was possible that the walls had also been made higher as well. From the one gate I could see, traffic in and out of the city had increased as well. It looked like the rumors I had heard about an increased importance since the old king’s death had some merit to them.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Approaching the guards at the gate, I pulled out the identification papers I had for this identity. While I hadn’t needed to use them in Revlon, I had papers for most of my major personas that would stand up to at least cursory examination. While I planned to go by Ren again once I re-entered the city – after all, it was the name that had become synonymous with my work under Phillip – there was no need to confuse this group of merchants before then.
After quickly being waved through the gates, I attempted to orient myself in the new city. At first glance, Eric was right. Things had changed, and rather significantly. The sections of the city that were once wooden had been mostly replaced by stone buildings. Further, the refuse that plagued cities like Revlon was conspicuously absent from the streets here. I suppose political power did bring some benefit to the general area, after all.
I approached a nearby vendor and, after buying a fresh hot cake off of her, I flashed her a smile and asked “Would you be able to point me in the direction of the lower quarter? I’ve been out of the city for a number of years and need to meet up with an old friend.”
Giving me an almost offensively small amount of attention, she replied “Head straight down this road to the academy district. There, you’ll see the main road running south. Just walk down that and you’ll arrive in the lower district.” Throwing me a sideways glare as if to question my actual motives for heading to the seedier area of town, she added “And watch out for the carriages. They’re much more likely to run you over without a thought than they were a few years ago. They have more ‘important’ business than making sure to not run over citizens. Nobles,” she ended with a snort.
Thanking her for her help, I made my way towards the academies while contemplating her words. It spoke to the changes in Leyden in a way that wasn’t easily observable. Carriage traffic was mostly associated with very wealthy merchants and the nobility. That, in combination with the fact that it sounded like there were enough people getting hit to be a noticeable issue, reinforced what Eric had said about the wealthy and powerful migrating here. I couldn’t help but think this job may be more interesting than anything I’d done in a while, if that was actually the case.
Walking past the academy district, however, showed me that at least one thing hadn’t changed about the city I had left behind. The constant scrambling of students to-and-fro the various academic buildings was reassuring, even if it did have an echo of a more peaceful time in my life. Shaking off the melancholy thoughts, I instead chose to focus on the rising anticipation I had surrounding this job. For all of the bad memories, there was something to be said for being in a city that felt so alive – and full of potential wealth. Passing by my old haunt, I turned south in order to make my way towards the Crimson Barrel and my new job.