Thankfully their room was on the other side of the floor as Ercole’s private one as Dyo certainly didn’t want to hear what was going on in there. So that left him with a very nice and soothing night’s sleep, only interrupted by his own thoughts. The loose brick, the possibilities of where else it could be, the size of the city, and if they failed what they could do to avoid the wrath of the mayor to get out without any tricks. He especially didn’t want anything to fall onto Val or to have to throw himself off a roof again. His demigod physique had given him a surprising amount of durability and he’d recovered quickly from the bruises and cuts he did get, but it still wasn’t pleasant.
The thoughts followed them all throughout the night and came again when he woke up, staring at the warm brown ceiling. They could go to the bathhouse again after getting permission from the mayor to tear up the furnace and see if it was really in there. Though he reckoned if there was nothing there they’d be trouble, even if it threw their opponents off or uncovered a minor clue. After all the thing must cost an awful lot.
He could ask Ercole and Agrippa to keep watch by the bathhouse entrance today to see if Drusus went in. Agrippa could probably turn into a bird and fly over to tell them if they saw him go in, but at the same time, he needed Ercole for his historical knowledge. He could send Shani perhaps? She’d be able to keep Agrippa safe and herself, but at the same time, all her knowledge was with the battlefield and with dealing with slimy merchants and nobles in negotiations, not keeping a low profile.
Dyo groaned again, a hand moving to stroke his horns as he thought. Those options weren't great but what else did they have? They could try unsuccessfully tailing Drusus while looking for clues with all the speed of looking for a needle in a haystack! It wasn’t like the forest where he had some expertise in what they were trying to find and it was concentrated in a small grove. Nor was it like finding bandits when the villagers could point to the forest where they were hiding. Instead, this was nothing any of them had experience with and no intuitive way to solve it, it’d been missing for hundreds of years after all! How would they be the ones to solve it!?
Some sheets rustled next to him, his head flicking around to see Hreysti rousing. His friend turned to him, his ruby-red eyes looking at him. “Still wondering what we should do?”
Dyo nodded. “It doesn’t seem like there’s anything we can do to get there first… If want to keep and eye on Drusus we don’t have anyone who’d be good at it either without being noticed, especially because we need Ercole with us to answer our history questions.”
Hreysti shuffled over, the hairs on Dyo’s back bristling as he felt him get close. “I- I think I might have a plan, a new one.”
He swallowed. “What sort of plan?”
“I’m very… Notable…” Hreysti murmured in a strained and pained tone, “So if I went with Agrippa right now and got to the inn where Drusus is staying and we followed him, looking like we were going to make a move… It may get him to act, and then Agrippa can send then tell you where he’s going while I pursue him and try to delay him once he gets-”
“To the treasure, but, that’ll be putting you by yourself in danger! You said you’d try to delay him, not just watch him!”
“Because if I don’t he might get away and we’ll have a lot more to deal with, I can see on your face that you know that.”
Dyo’s teeth gritted together as he pulled himself upright, his gut churning. “It’s still dangerous, and you nearly died the last time we were in a battle!”
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“I’ve fought in many a battle before and I doubt Drusus has an orc with a sword and armour like that.”
“He has at least five Armatae, they’re well-armoured swordsmen and know how to fight together!”
“They haven’t fought a vampire before and I can crack through mail with even the wood axe I have here! I can handle it! Let me do this for you! For everyone. You’ll not be that far behind with Shani and Ercole, and if he doesn’t bite, you three can keep searching while I and Agrippa keep an eye on him.”
Dyo bit his lip, slumping on the bed. “Fine… I’ll- I’ll let you do it as long as Agrippa agrees. I’ll get Shani and Ercole together a bit later to ask the mayor if we can investigate my clue.”
Hreysti grabbed Dyo’s hands and pulled him in close, “I promise, I will succeed in this and come back to you.”
----------------------------------------
Drusus looked down at his notes and smiled. It had all fallen together. Turns out it payed to have local contacts after all! From the muttering and fish wives’ talk around town a certain adventuring group first entering the governor's palace, then exiting out, spending the night at a local tavern before splitting up to scour over town. They also seemed to have sent someone to keep track of him while the vampire mutt and divine demigod that the bitch had somehow managed to get to her side, alongside the brutish mercenary bodyguard, had gone to investigate the town and interestingly the bathhouse.
That had matched with some information he managed to gather yesterday and before he set off looking through his house’s version of the family records. In those records, it noted some of Vibius’s more… Colourful yet typical hobbies. All typical of a man of nobility far away from home but useful all the same.
Some of his research had suggested some… Unpleasant revelations, however. If he was correct on where it was hidden and why it was hidden, then the hoard could not be that large, something he desperately needed not to be true. The “transgression” of his house years ago when they let slip their support for the Imperial Emor had forever tarnished their name, despite the validity of their words. Really, could people not accept the righteous social order and the need for autocracy to bring back the empire in full? It didn’t matter all the much now, with the money he’d be able to put a few coins in the right pockets and run a campaign to resort his house’s honour.
That was what was needed, for things to return to the natural order where his house could fight against that whore’s for the control of the city. Where the provincial militia would respect him. Yes…
He let that thought stew in his mind for just a little longer before he got up and exited from his room. As he walked out his personal guards saluted him and stood to attention with a clank of armour.
“Do you have your plan for the day m’lord?”
“Yes,” He said shorty, “Four of you, with me, you stay and guard the baggage.”
“Yes, m’lord!”
It couldn’t hurt to leave one behind to keep an eye on his belongings. After all, one of the whore’s sons after him may try a break in and would hopefully be rather surprised by an elite swordsman bearing down on them. Similarly, four troops plus himself should be plenty to take care of anyone trying to stick their nose into his business at this most crucial of points. He would now prove to all the other nay-sayers in his house that he was not a fool for chasing this prize!
They all marched down the inn’s stairs, walking past the pale faced Buto and out onto the street and into the early morning crowds. Gradually people were leaving their homes to go to productive work or to fuel the city’s commerce. It was a glorious sight and with the sun, it was all shaping up to be a very pleasant morning.
“M’lord,” an Armatee coughed, “Look behind.”
“What is it!?” He hissed.
The man looked ashamed, even under his visor, “I’m sorry for not being clearer. We have two people following us, one pale man, and one lady. The pale man may be a vampire m’lord.”
Drusus’s head snapped around.
Red eyes, bone-white skin, raven black hair. It was the demigod’s vampire all fucking right. He was there, and he was bearing down on him.
Seems like she really doesn’t want me getting too it then…
“What should we do m’lord?”
He chuckled, “Just keep walking, if I’m right on where our objective is, we’ll have a nice choke point to bring the fucker down. The barbarian probably only knows brute force. Then, once he’s dealt with, the woman should fall easily.”
“M’lord..?”
“Yes!?”
“The woman is gone.”