"You must be the pair of my little Fools. Good timing," said the woman who looked like the owner of the wagon standing in their way.
She wore a wide-brimmed hat, folded on one side with a few feathers of some exotic bird that Keziah didn't recognize stretching out from the folded side. She had white hair, not light blond or grey, but white. As white as snow. Keziah had a hard time judging her age from her face. Her facial features told him that she could be just a couple of years older than him, but her eyes made it hard to come to that conclusion. Her red eyes were deeper, pierced, stronger, and seemed to know more about you than you yourself. She carried herself like she didn't know what danger was. Not in an oblivious sort of way, but seemed to have genuinely forgotten what it means.
She wore a well-put-together outfit that could be compared to what Keziah usually wore, just more expensive. Dark, clearly over-used leather coat, under which was an elegant vest and a white shirt. Her boots were almost knee-high and fit well with her fitted pants. They were clothes made for someone who traveled and moved a lot but still wanted to look good. Overall, black with a few colors popping out on stitchings and some embroidery. They made her hair stand out somewhat less, though Keziah thought that she didn't really care about that.
She didn't have any obvious pieces of armor or weapons on her, which was the biggest difference from Keziah's usual get-up. He had pieces of studded armor under his coat, covering the shoulders and the forearms. Although, similarly to her, he didn't have any chest armor. Keziah hated having his movements restricted in any way, so you only allowed for a slightly thicker vest that could only soften a blow dealt with a fist, but still looked and felt decent enough for him not to feel embarrassed. He didn't really know why he would feel embarrassed by that, but he just did.
Augustus rarely commented on any strong adventurers that Keziah had met over the years, so for him to be warning Kez about her meant that it was serious.
Keziah started to make a quick apology for bumping into her wagon and interrupting her shopping at the stall and tried to move on, but was preceded by Sebastian running out of the alley behind them.
"Stop right there!" he ordered.
Keziah panicked. His escape plan relied on a lot of trust in Sebastian to follow the "customer safety first" rule of the city and not make a scene out of arresting them in the middle of the busiest street in the continent. Well, Keziah wasn't sure it was the busiest street, but it must've been top 5 at least.
He hoped to push through the crowds and into the middle of the road and there blend into the crowd, but they were just close enough that Sebastian might risk it.
He was out of ideas. He couldn't fight, his mana was exhausted and his body was much better. Besides, it would bring all the City Knights on his head. Keziah suspected that they weren't under Sebastian, as he was responsible for the Palace, thus they couldn't take orders from him. It didn't matter who they took orders from if someone starts to fight on Main Street, though.
Not to mention the woman who could wipe the floor with him 3 times over, standing right ahead of him. He turned from Sebastian to her, afraid that she might be spiteful about bumping into her wagon. Instead, she looked amused at the situation. She smiled at Annette and Keziah in an almost motherly way.
"That's where you went! I've been waiting for the two of you for hours. Did you get lost?" she asked, relieved at seeing them, but stern in her apparent dissatisfaction with the pair.
Keziah was momentarily stunned, unable to process what she had just said. D-did she mistake us for someone else? The bizarre situation was somewhat blocking his logical thinking until Augustus brought him back to reality.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Play along? Play along with what? A few seconds passed before Keziah organized his thoughts and realized what the woman was trying to do.
"We are so sorry, ma'am. We stepped out of Main Street, lured by a merchant promising good prices on jewelry for our mother. I mentioned how she has not been feeling well, and we wanted to surprise her with a present," Keziah skillfully made up some imaginary story. "We must have gotten lost getting back."
The woman smiled. "That's fine. Just be careful next time. Some parts of this city can be dangerous!" She waved her finger at them. "Did you buy anything for your mother, at least?" She motioned with her eyes at the stall they were right next to and the merchant she had been previously talking to.
Keziah quickly understood her intention. "Unfortunately, no." He shook his head. "The merchant turned out to be a snake oil salesman. In hindsight, I should have spotted it." He lowered his head with regret.
"Don't worry, big brother! He could have fooled anyone. You are not to blame. In the end, nothing bad happened." Annette smiled at him, joining in on the game. It made Keziah feel weirdly proud that she was being a little liar; he knew her for barely a day and hadn't even started teaching her as promised yet. Maybe Augustus was right that he took pity on her because she reminded him of him.
The woman looked like she had the same thoughts as Keziah, as her smile got wider. "Well then, a trip to the Beautiful City can't go without spending some money, can it?" She took out a pouch with coins and started to hand it to the merchant. "I will take that bracelet that you talked to me about, good sir."
"Stop this farce!" Sebastian seemed to have had enough. "Hand over those two at this instant!"
The merchant looked at the Captain with disdain. "Captain! Control yourself. These good people are paying customers and I would not have them have bad memories of our city!" The middle-aged merchant boomed. "And so would the king! Wait until he hears of this matter!"
Sebastian had a look that suggested second thoughts, which gave Keziah hope, but his words were still true to his initial goal.
"I'm afraid this is too serious of a matter to ignore, sir. I'm sorry that it had to happen at your stall. We have to proceed—"
"Proceed with arresting apprentices of an S-rank adventurer just trying to make a purchase? I would advise against it… Captain, was it?"
Keziah almost spun in place to glare at the woman but managed to stop himself. The merchant did not, though. A look of almost reverence plastered on his face, which was expected. Adventurers were divided based on accomplishments into ranks ranging from F to S, with S being the highest rank. Usually, adventurers were shunned and thought lowly of, but that was the case with only those of a round rank B and below. Those higher were revered as heroes and "true adventurers", and not some parasites that prayed on the poor and did nothing but eat and drink in taverns. Keziah always thought the treatment of those lower-ranked adventurers was idiotic, as they were the ones dealing with the most pressing, mundane, and remote problems that villagers and townsfolk always had. Bad reputation travels way further than the good, he thought.
Sebastian now looked terribly perplexed. "S-rank, my lady?" he gulped. "Could I see your adventurer card?"
With feigned exasperation, she reached down one of her pockets on her waistcoat and took out her card, which was impossible to fabricate. It stated that her name was Lucia Dracus and that she indeed was an S-rank. Technically, she didn't outrank the Caption of the Roy Guard as the Adventuring Association wasn't a country or a sovereign government, but it was respected enough that being an S-rank adventurer basically equaled the highest military position in any of the nations of the continent of Erythia. Definitely higher than a mere captain, even if it was a position being directly responsible for the safety of the king.
To Sebastian's credit, he quickly composed himself, realizing that he had no positive outcome of this situation. His face turned defeated and resigned. With remorse he said, "I'm sorry to bother you, my lady. This must have been a mistake. My apologies to you as well," he said, while turning to the shopkeeper. "Hopefully the rest of your night will be more pleasant." He gestured to the stupefied watchmen to follow him and left, leaving the three of them with the shopkeeper.
That was… easier than I thought. Keziah couldn’t believe their luck. Saved at the last moment by an S-rank adventurer. She must want something from them, but that was an entirely other problem that they would have to deal with. Hopefully a less dangerous one, although, now that quiet life was out of the question at least for the foreseeable future, Keziah wouldn’t mind some danger in his life again, just a little, though.
Lucia still paid the man for the bracelet, presumably not to make another scene and just move on, which Keziah was grateful for. Lucia gestured for them to get on her cart, which they had no reason to refuse; she helped them already, and there would be no point in doing so if she was trying to hurt them in any way. They quickly exchanged names, though Keziah had a weird feeling that she already knew their names, and drove through the Main Gate, out of Avinea.