Morning came with the chirping of birds right outside the trio’s window as Elaine was the first to wake up with the rays of sunlight brushing her face.

“Nngh…” She attempted to get up but her right side was stuck. “Huh?” Looking to her right, Rionara was sleeping right on top of her forearm, keeping her from moving freely. She muttered. “Oh this girl…”

By carefully lifting her head and slipping the arm beneath the small gap between her head and the pillow, Elaine was able to free herself and climb out of bed. She stretched for a few minutes before putting on the longbow on her shoulder, the quiver attached to the belt alongside the shortsword on her hip and the high leather boots that were sitting by the bed.

‘Well now…’ Her eyes wandered to the window to check the streets below, but seeing how it was empty she thought maybe it was a bit too early so she pulled out the cracked pocket watch from her gambeson pocket. ‘...seven in the morning,’

She took one last look at both of them sleeping peacefully before heading out of the room. Upon stepping out she felt a familiar scent coming from downstairs. She silently made her way to the ground floor and noticed there were a few patrons inside already, though none of them paid her any mind, the innkeeper was quick to take notice of her, proceeding to approach her with a smile on his face.

“Good morning Miss.”

“Morning, innkeeper. You’re up early.”

“Well, someone needs to put this place in order eh?” He had a piece of cloth that he was using to clean the tables. “Say, do you need that breakfast ready?”

“Huh… no, not really. I don’t think they’ll wake up soon so I came down here to get some fresh air.”

“Ah. I see.”

As she was about to leave the inn, he called her.

“Listen miss, there was a murder last night. Might want to avoid the central street in case you want to go to the dungeon today.”

She raised an eyebrow as she looked at him.

“A murder?”

“A gruesome one on top of it. The sick bastard hooked those poor people on a lamp.”

“I see… thank you for warning me.”

He gave her a thumbs up before resuming the cleaning. Elaine on the other hand wasn’t bothered by it, in fact she wanted to know more about it.

She walked out of the inn with her left hand on the short sword handle whilst keeping a brisk pace as she made her way towards the central street, it was a short walk to the murder scene and it didn’t take long until she noticed the crowd gathering by the side of the street.

‘So it was there.’

She thought for herself as she carefully approached the side of the crowd as all that was visible from that distance was the tip of the halberds held by the knights around the perimeter. As she did so, she noticed the corpses were already taken off the blood soaked lamp that was coiled in chains with sharp hooks by the end of them.

“Clear out now! If you haven’t seen anything related to these victims then be on your way!”

One of the knights shouted to the crowd as he pushed the curious bystanders away with the pole of his weapon.

As the people dispersed, Elaine managed to catch a glimpse from the crime scene and the first thing she noticed was the words painted in blood on the side of the building near the lamp, ‘false priests.’ With a bit of footwork around the people, she got even closer and noticed the three victims’ faces.

‘Let’s see…’ Her eyes went wide for a split second since she recognized who they were. ‘Those were the men that kept demanding more and more coins from us… weren’t they part of the church after all.’

Back in the inn, Reinhardt was just waking up as his eyes blinked a few times to adjust to the sunlight coming from the window above his head.

“Nngh…” He slowly stretched out his arms and legs. “That was a good sleep…”

He looked around and didn’t see his friend, only Rionara was beside him sleeping rather peacefully. Wearing a faint smile, he got off the bed and after a few cracks of the back and elbow joints, he prepared himself for the day, donning the armor, belt with satchels and his old, trusty arming sword.

“Now… where did she go off to this time?”

He opened the door and headed downstairs. The bar area was starting to fill up with morning workers looking to get their first hot meal of the day before doing their daily commute to work or in his case, dungeon delving.

“Good morning lad.” The innkeeper greeted him from the bar area as he was still wiping some of the tables clean. “The lass went outside for something, but I’d figure it would be better to warn you as well, there was a murder yesterday in the dead of the night. Might want to avoid the central street, ‘less you want knights rounding you up for inspection.”

“Thank you, I’ll keep that in mind.”

“No problem kid. But say, you don’t happen to be a mercenary do you?”

“Hm? I wouldn’t say I am, but if it is help you need I wouldn’t mind giving a hand.”

“Oh no, it’s nothing that important. If you happen to come across a certain mercenary, tall fellow, black hair, grumpy looking, tell him to come to the inn to pay up. He left his baggage here but never bothered to come back for it.”

“I see, I’ll let them know if I ever come across this person.”

“Will be hard to miss. He stands out like a sore thumb in these parts.” He stuffed the rag that he was using to clean the tables inside one of the pockets of his apron and went behind the counter near the front door. “Well now, do you want to order anything?”

“Do you happen to bake pies?”

“Pies? Now that is an odd request first thing in the morning.” He turned towards the kitchen as he shouted. “Mika! Come here will you?!”

“Coming dad! Just let me finish this- ack!”

The sound of clanking metal came right after the woman’s short yelp.

“Is everything alright over there?!”

“Yes! Don’t worry!”

A minute passed and a young woman came out of the kitchen with her left hand bandaged.

“What happened to your hand, girl?”

The innkeeper seemed genuinely worried as he noticed the blood stained cloth that she held.

“It’s just a small cut, don’t worry about it dad.”

“Wounds like that can infect easily.” Reinhardt showed a bit of concern as he extended his open hand to her. “May I?”

The young woman looked at him with a puzzled expression

“Huh…?”

Her father however, moved his head hinting for her to trust him. She reluctantly placed her hand on top of Reinhardt’s as he started to chant.

“O graceful goddess of light, bestow your mercy unto this child, Heal!”

Upstairs, Rionara came into consciousness, after scratching her eyes and looking around the empty room a tinge of anxiety began to overcome her senses. It felt similar to when she was taken away from her home in Londria and instinctively she ran off the room in a hurry. The moment she reached halfway of the staircase leading to the bar area of the inn, she was met with a faint soothing golden glow as Reinhardt was holding a young woman’s hand between his.

It was like nothing Rionara had seen before, the light seemed to caress her small body even from that distance like a mother’s warm and gentle embrace. However at the same time there was an uncomfortable tingling sensation on the base of her nape as if something inside her wanted to avoid that light.

“Ngh…”

She held her right arm as the sensation began to spread to it. Similar to a shadow avoiding the light, she turned her left side towards it and said sensation began to subside.

“Here you go.” She could hear Reinhardt’s voice as the light diminished. “Be careful around sharp objects next time Miss.”

The young woman removed the cloth that she haphazardly enveloped her hand in only to find her stained but no longer bleeding palm.

“Ah, thank you sir. Are you a priest?”

“No, nothing of the sort. I just serve in the name of the goddess Eleonora.”

“Anyway I can pay you lad?”

The innkeeper asked him but he was met with his shaking head.

“No need.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m-.” There was a brief pause before he continued. “Although if you could grace us with a favor you deem of equal value our group would appreciate it.”

“That’s more like it.” He smiled. “Sit down, I’ll go get your breakfast.”

After finishing talking to the innkeeper, Reinhardt noticed Rionara standing by the staircase looking at him with a strange expression.

“Rio?”

When he approached her the empty stare in her eyes were gone.

“Ah? Yes?”

“Are you okay?”

She nodded once.

“Yep.”

“Want to eat breakfast?”

“Mhm.”

They sat down by the table near the entrance and while they were waiting, a familiar face popped in the doorway.

“Oh, you two are awake.” Elaine pulled a nearby chair and sat between the two. “Did you hear from the innkeeper about a murder?”

He nodded.

“Murder?”

Rionara looked at Reinhardt and then at Elaine.

“Remember those three halfwits that came looking for us from the church?” She asked him and the moment he nodded she couldn’t help but chuckle shortly. “So apparently they were scamming people saying they were from the church, but in fact they were exiles from Arcadia. Someone must have gotten fed up with their lies and shanked them in the dead of the night.”

Reinhardt scratched the side of his head.

“Then that must explain this.” He pulled out the letter and sack of coins he got the day before and slid on the table towards Elaine. “The innkeeper said a person left this with him yesterday for us.”

She picked up the letter and began to read it. At first her expression didn’t change, however as she turned the letter around and noticed the strangely different handwriting, one eyebrow began to rise.

“Rein, you didn’t happen to read this closely with a candle, did you?”

“No, I read it when you were taking care of Rio. Why?”

“I think there might be more to it than just this.”

She discreetly glanced around before evoking a small flame in the middle of her left palm and holding the letter in front of it. Just as she predicted, words began to be slowly etched into the paper as the flame lightly burned the letter.

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

“Woah…”

Rionara was leaning sideways looking at the paper that suddenly became engraved with new words, her eyes opened wide in surprise.

“Let me see…” Elaine cleared her throat and squinted her eyes a bit. “I’ll read it now. ‘If you are reading this, be it from someone capable or by pure chance, I have a personal favor to ask of you honorable paladin of house Lorraine. Seek a man that calls himself Marcus Avellion, if you find him, put an end to his madness and even if you are unable to, notify the guild member that goes by the name of Lucina, we’ll send support immediately. Burn this letter after you’re done.’ Hmm…”

Reinhardt held the side of his jaw while staring at the middle of the wooden table. Suddenly the room felt colder as beads of sweat began to form on his forehead.

“This isn’t good.” He muttered as his eyes met with Elaine’s. “We can assume this is from Lady Leona then…”

She nodded in response.

“No doubt about it.”

“And she’s looking for Dame Priscilla’s father…” Color began to drain from his face. “What must he have done for her to be personally looking for him?”

“Nothing good most likely.”

At that point the innkeeper’s daughter brought a tray of food to their table. It consisted of three thick slices of bacon on a plate, a small basket of bread, bowls of potato soup and sunny side up eggs on individual plates for each of them. As the barmaid began to serve each platter of food, Rionara’s eyes brightened as she stared at the plate with the fried egg in front of her.

“We should keep an eye out then. This person she mentioned in the letter, Lucina wasn’t it? Do you know who that is?”

While talking he took a slice of bacon and bread before placing it on Rionara’s plate.

“She’s the receptionist that we met the other day.” Elaine sliced the bread and stuffed both the egg and bacon inside of it before taking a big bite out of it. “We were a bit in a hurry so I forgot to introduce her.”

“Oh.”

Meanwhile, staring at how she was eating her breakfast, Rionara attempted to do the same except she was struggling to cut the bread open with the dull knife.

“Nngh…”

“Rio-”

Reinhardt was about to help her, but his companion intervened and shook her head silently as if suggesting to only watch what she would do. His heart weighed heavily seeing the girl struggle with her food, but it was the only way Elaine knew how to teach, from trial and error.

In time, she managed to dig the point of the blade through the bread only to nick her index finger which was holding the loaf on the other side.

“Ow!”

She instinctively let go of the loaf which would’ve fallen on the floor if not for Elaine’s quick reflexes. After placing the aforementioned bread back on the plate, she inspected the wound and tended it with a piece of cloth and then proceeded to teach her how to use the knife without the risk of cutting herself.

“Here, Rio.” She grabbed the bread from one side and forced the blade parallel to her hand in order for it to slide inside the loaf without risking injuring herself. “See?”

Rionara nodded while holding her finger and watching her fill the bread with food before leaving on the girl’s plate.

“...thank you Elaine.”

They finished their meal without any issue and headed outside the inn.

“First things first, we need to go to the blacksmith.” Reinhardt mentioned as he pulled the helmet affixed on his belt and inspected the loose visor. “I need to get this fixed. You, I believe, need more arrows and Rio needs a weapon.”

They both nodded but Elaine followed with a question.

“Do you know where there is a blacksmith?”

“I do.” He raised the sheathed arming sword tied to the belt with his left hand. “I had to sharpen this blade before we went to that hunting job.”

“Huh… that is why you were late.”

“Apologies.”

“No, it’s fine. Let’s go to this blacksmith then, lead the way.”

He nodded and took the front of the group. As opposed to heading towards the center of the city, they headed out in the opposite direction further in the slums, there were beggars, people living on the streets and thugs, some of which stared at the group as they passed but none of them dared to attack a seemingly well armored knight.

After navigating for what seemed forever through the narrow labyrinth of haphazardly built houses, they reached the smithy’s place, which at first didn't seem like much.

“Are you sure this is the place?”

Elaine was skeptical.

“Huh… yeah. Why?”

“Just look at it.” She pointed at the mud hut in front of them, it was devoid of windows only having a door made out of twisted and woven in between wooden sticks and the tall roof was made of dried hay with a chimney puffing out smoke. “Do you want me to believe a blacksmith works here?”

As soon as she said that, the sound of metal being hammered came from inside which made Reinhardt only give her a glance with a smug face.

“I told you.”

“Bah.”

He carefully lifted the twig door and pushed it revealing the way inside, Elaine begrudgingly entered, however Rionara seemed reluctant to go in.

“Hm? Rio?”

“I… I think it might be better for me to stay outside…”

He approached her and knelt down so they could be on the same eye level.

“Is this something you don’t want to do?”

“No… it’s just that…” She swallowed dry, beads of sweat began to form on her forehead as she had both of her clutching hands near her chest. “This place reminds me of when I was in Londria…”

He lowered his head.

“I see, but I still can’t just leave you outside, it’s dangerous out here.”

“Then…”

He extended his open left gauntlet to her.

“Here, hold my hand, we’ll head inside together. I promise you I won’t let anything happen to you.”

Her right hand slowly opened as she reached for his and after a bit of hesitation she finally held him. She could feel his warm touch beneath the metal gauntlet, it was a bit strange if not reassuring.

“Mmm…”

Reinhardt smiled as he slowly stood up.

“Let’s go.”

Despite the courage she had built up, Rionara could feel a surge of cold coming from her belly, the cold sweat dripping from her forehead and the same tickling sensation she had felt this morning was now on her entire back. She was walking at the same pace as him but the open doorway into the darkness of an unknown place reminded her too much of the time she had spent as a test subject for unspoken experiments.

“I…”

The fear and terror was about to consume her when she felt a light squeeze on her right hand as Reinhardt looked at her with a reassuring smile.

“It’ll be okay if you want to close your eyes.”

“Mhm.”

She nodded and took a deep breath as they went right up against the doorway, with her eyes closed, she entered the hut.

The first thing she felt as she stepped inside was the heat, a warm sensation that enveloped her body in a way that reminded her of the few good times she got to spend with the orphans in Londria, kids cuddled up against a corner of an old mansion sharing a fire crackling in the open wooden floor. Second was the smell, the predominant scent of coal and soot hit her nose but it wasn’t like anything she had felt before, it was strangely reassuring alongside the faint bit of iron as it was being worked. Lastly, the sound, the rhythmic hammering against the metal echoed briefly in the small hut and with each strike a waff of heated iron would come her way.

“You can open them now.”

Rionara began to open her eyes slowly as one loud strike made her eyelid twitch in response as she noticed sparks fly from the faint bit of view that she had until she fully opened them. Despite being a hut without windows the burning coals in the makeshift forge emanated enough heat and light in the vicinity for her to see everything in the room.

“Wow…”

The walls were adorned with racks of different sizes holding swords, axes, maces, bows, there were also quivers strapped to some of the bigger weapons which held arrows, a few bits of metals and ores were lying on the beaten dirt floor as a tanned muscular bald man wearing nothing but shoes, thick leather mitts and brown trousers was hammering down a piece of metal on an anvil with his right arm while the left hand held the orange hot piece with pliers.

“A minute. Just finishing this piece.”

His countryside accent was clear as he continued to hammer down the piece of metal. All the while seeing the sparks fly off from the anvil made Rionara feel strangely at home as opposed to how she felt before entering the hut.

“This place does seem like it has everything we need.” Elaine turned to Reinhardt who stood about a meter behind her holding the girl’s hand. “Which is surprising given it’s in the slums. No offense.”

“None taken lass.” He dumped the piece of heated metal in a metal bucket and turned to them. His sharp chestnut eyes quickly glanced over all of them. “Now, how can I help you lot?”

“We would like a number of your services, but first and foremost do you have armor for her?” Reinhardt gestured to Rionara. “Something light but protective would be great.”

The blacksmith settled his hammer down and approached, kneeling beside her.

“Hmmm…”

“Ah and if you happen to have clothing that can fit her, I’d like to buy some.”

He turned an eye to the knight and raised an eyebrow.

“I’m a blacksmith, not a tailor, boy.” He stood up and patted his trousers. “Although, I do have a few pieces of cloth here and there that are too small to make proper armor.” He pointed to one open crate in the corner of the room full of the aforementioned textiles of different colors and sizes. “I think I can make something for her but that’ll take about a day. What else did you need?”

At that point Elaine went ahead to inspect the broadhead arrows. They were roughly similar sizes which was surprising for something made by hand, the shafts were also sturdy and flexible enough alongside the fletching.

“How much for these arrows?”

“Ten coppers per piece.”

‘Only ten?”

She thought before inquiring further.

“Do you mind if I ask where you get the metals you use here?”

“Akrapocalis, I won’t say more than that.”

“Oh.”

Akrapocalis, the dwarven citadel past the mountain range to the east, it’s also the largest trading kingdom in ores, metals and jewels.

“If you’re worried about the quality of them, feel free to pick one and test it.”

She took his invitation and pulled one of them out. In the meantime, Reinhardt was taking the broken visor off his belt when he noticed Rionara staring at the rack of weapons with glistening eyes.

“Do you want to see them?” He asked and she replied with a simple nod. “Excuse me, can she take a closer look at the weapons?”

“By all means.” The blacksmith replied by stepping to the side in order to create more room for her. “Just be careful with the blades, they are very sharp.”

She nodded and approached the display. Longswords, battleaxes, warhammers, longbows, most of the weapons were far bigger than herself however it seemed she was less interested in the arms and more how they were made as she turned towards the burning forge.

“I wanted you to fix the visor of my helmet.” Reinhardt showed him the helmet and loose visor. “If you can repair this for tomorrow as well it would be preferable.”

“I’ll see what I can do.” He picked up both of the items and settled on a wooden table nearby. “Anything else?”

“A dagger for her, if you can find a suitable one.”

By that point Rionara had already seen through everything in the workshop and seemed somewhat in a good mood as she walked back to Reinhardt’s side with a faint smile on her face. The blacksmith nodded slowly as he took off his thick leather mitts and left it on the anvil before turning around towards the table beside the weapon rack.

“I’m assuming it’s just for self defense?”

“Yes.”

“Then here.” He picked a fairly plain scabbard and as he unsheathed the blade it revealed a double edged dagger. “Durable, sharp, reliable, it’ll leave a mark on whatever tries to attack her.”

“Hmmm…” Reinhardt turned to Rionara. “Is this good for you?”

She received the dagger. As her fingers enveloped around the handle her happy expression suddenly darkened with her brows frowning and a bitter taste began to form in her mouth as she swallowed dry.

“Mhm.”

He noticed her change of behavior and knelt beside her.

“Are you okay?” She nodded slowly which prompted him to stand up and turn to the blacksmith. “How much would this cost?”

“Twenty silvers for the dagger, fifty silvers for the helmet repair and whatever many arrows your elf companion there will get.”

“Fifty of these arrows.”

Not a moment after he said it, Elaine brought a bundle of arrows on the table.

“Then another five silvers. For a total of seventy five silvers.”

He concluded while giving the scabbard to RIonara. Elaine glanced at Reinhardt who took out a pouch from his belt and removed a gold coin from inside.

“Here.”

“Let me get your change.” He went to the corner of the hut and grabbed a large leather sack filled with coins clinking against one another. “Twenty five silvers…”

He muttered under his breath as he took out the aforementioned amount.

“Thank you.” Reinhardt said as he took the coins and pocketed all of it inside the pouch before tying on his belt. “One last thing I forgot to ask while I was here last time since I was in a hurry. What is your name?”

“Geralt.” He answered shortly before getting back on the metal that he was working on. “Now, is there anything else you need?”

“Ah, no not really. Thank you sir Geralt.” He nodded and continued to heat the metal he had previously dunked into the bucket of water. At that point Reinhardt turned to the group. “Shall we head off?”

They both nodded as they stepped out of the hut. Rionara held the sheathed dagger with her left hand as the leather strips hung from the side of the scabbard.

“So… do we head to a tailor now?”

Elaine asked.

“That was the plan. There is no way I’ll make her wear something made out of bits and pieces from leftover cloth.” He seemed a bit annoyed. “Though I don’t remember anywhere that we could find clothes for Rio.”

“There was a place that Lucina mentioned to me once when I was looking for someplace that sells cloth.” Elaine said. “It’s somewhere in the central square near the guild.”

“Let’s head there then.”

They began to walk but Rio stayed behind staring at the sheathed dagger on her left hand.

“Rio?” Elaine glanced over her shoulder seeing how she wasn’t hearing footsteps behind her. “Come on, let’s go.”

She subtly nodded and started to walk, head hanging low behind them.

A few minutes passed as they traversed to the other end of the city using other streets to avoid the murder scene that had taken place in the previous night, they reached a place that was located in the central square called Jean’s Boutique, it was a rather simple store inside a two story building. It had clear glass windows that allowed potential clients to browse the most popular products from the street.

“Is this the place?” Reinhardt had a skeptical look on his face. “It seems a bit too fancy.”

“Clothes shops are usually like that.” Elaine commented. “At least we’ll be able to find something for her size.”

She placed her hand on Rionara’s back as she gently pushed her forward towards the shop as they entered together. The interior itself was well lit due the size of the front window allowing plenty of sunlight to get in.

“Welcome to Jean’s Boutique, how can I help you?” A well dressed man of gray pompadour hair around his forties greeted them with a formal bow. He wore a tight suit with shoulder pads which made him look elegant for a store clerk. “I have many options regarding day to day clothing, underwear and even something a bit more functional for adventurers.”

He stepped to the side a bit and gestured with an open hand to the mannequins showing the diverse sizes and colors of clothing.

“We came here looking for something her size.” Elaine spoke as she gently pushed Rionara that was behind her legs. “Something comfortable for the road.”

Without asking any questions he leaned closer to her, apparently measuring her only using his hazel eyes.

“Right, right…” He muttered as he turned around to fetch his products. “Come with me, I’ll show you my personal recommendations.”

Elaine glanced over Reinhardt who nodded once. The two girls followed the store clerk inside while he decided to walk outside for some fresh air.

“Nngh…” He stretched his arms wide, arching his back and moving his head a few times side to side, the sound of his bones and joints cracking up in a sigh of relief. “Well…”

He began to go through each strap of his worn plate armor to make sure they were in good condition, inspecting everything else about his gear to kill time. However as soon as he knelt down to check his greaves, someone’s shadow covered him. Glancing up, he noticed it was a familiar blonde young woman, Priscilla was looking at him.

“Sir Reinhardt?”

She had a puzzled look on her face as their eyes met.