{-Noa-}

“Do you think anyone’s told Empress Shaerra about this..?” he couldn’t stop himself from nervously asking. “I slightly know how things like these are supposed to be dealt with. Even if King Merith thinks he has it figured out, he should probably still tell her that a council member has gone missing…”

“He probably doesn’t want to draw any more attention to it,” Seldir remarked. “I got the feeling that things like this are just a part of the politics here. Unless it becomes a problem, I doubt King Merith is going to be doing anything more than what he’s doing now.”

Kaylin nodded. “Besides, whatever he’s doing and whether or not it’s proper protocol isn’t our problem. Our only concern should be finding Lady Mira and getting the Goddess’s Shield. In my experience, it’s never a good idea to meddle with foreign governments for any longer than you have to…”

Noa nervously nodded, but still mumbled, “I’m just a little nervous. There’s just as much of a chance that something like this escalates instead of getting better…”

“I’m sure we’ll sort it all out before then,” Lyrei decided confidently. “I mean, we know where to look and what we’re looking for. From there, it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out where she’d be, right? I mean, we might not be the goddesses’ chosen ones because of our detective skills, but it’s got to count for something.”

Seldir sighed. “I really don’t think you understand just how messy all of this can get…”

“Whatever King Merith decides to do, it’s not our problem,” Rennyn muttered. “We should just focus on what our job is—finding Lady Mira again. Everything else is his problem.”

Noa very much felt like that couldn’t really be all of it, but he knew there wasn’t much point in arguing with them. “You’re probably right,” he mumbled, just as much to end the conversation as he did to try to trick himself into believing it.

…

Despite the crowd that had formed to hear King Merith’s announcement, the news of what had happened didn’t seem to spread very far. Or, at the very least, it was intermittent patches of worried citizens than the whole city. Maybe they understood what it meant, and kept the knowledge to those who they knew would be responsible with it; it was related to the disappearance of the one good member of the court, after all… there were undoubtedly a lot of people who would take the idea and run with it.

Though that meant that Merith’s apathy could be seen as simply trying not to escalate the problem, and that definitely wasn’t the case.

Without any other specific locations, they just went to one of the towns just outside of the capital. If Noa had to guess, these people didn’t know what had happened at all—he still caught one or two whispers wondering about where Mira was.

“Let’s try to get some information,” Rennyn said, breaking their silence. “But we have to make sure we’re subtle. We don’t want to cause a panic.”

“We should probably split up a little, too,” Seldir offered. “We’ll be a lot less obvious if we’re not just a bunch of strangers sulking around together.”

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Rennyn definitely didn’t like that. “We don’t know who could be causing this. I want all of you somewhere I can see you—there’s a good chance Dhymos has some of his minions involved.”

“Then we can go in small teams,” Lyrei suggested. “Seldir and I, you and Kaylin, and we get to fight over Noa since he’s the odd one out.”

The odd one out, and yet another team member who most likely wouldn’t be any help outside of cheering the actual fighters on…

Noa understood Lyrei’s light-hearted intentions, but he couldn’t help but consider the truth of the matter: that he really couldn’t be a lot of help. Not like, if any of them were like Aymer, they’d allow him the chance otherwise. But that wasn’t exactly a reassurance.

Rennyn only muttered something. Kaylin looked between him and the others and made an answer for him, saying, “Noa can go with you and Seldir.” She continued to whisper something to Rennyn, but he didn’t seem all that keen on listening to what she had to say.

“Might as well get started, then…” Noa mumbled. He forced a nod in order to seem at least somewhat more assertive, glancing at Seldir and Lyrei. “Where do the two of you want to start..?”

Lyrei shrugged at first, then gave a couple of moments to look around. She gestured to a group of people near what must have been a bakery or bar. “Maybe there? Seems like they might be able to help with something.”

“Look more like travelers,” Seldir remarked. “But that doesn’t mean they might not know something. Looks friendly enough, at least.”

With a mumble and nod of agreement, he led the way over to them. The group must’ve noticed the three of them pretty early on, but they didn’t say anything.

Once they were close enough, Seldir prompted, “We’re travelers and we’ve heard some rumors we wanted to follow up on. Could you try to help us out?”

“I don’t see why not,” one of them, possibly the oldest, said. “I’m new to this area too, but this one”—he jerked his head towards one of his companions—“grew up in the area, so she’ll probably be more helpful.”

She nodded thoughtfully. “What do you want to know?”

Seldir was actually pretty good at the whole half-truth thing. “We’d heard about Lady Mira and wanted to see her for ourselves. Someone told us she’d been seen around here. Would you know anything about that?”

The woman’s eyes lit up and she enthusiastically nodded. “Yes! Lady Mira visits here a lot, actually. She does all that she can for the people around here, despite everything—I certainly know I’ll never be able to thank her enough. She’s given us hope for a better future.”

“And have you seen her recently?”

“Unfortunately, I’ve been out of town the past few times she’d apparently been here.”

“So I’m guessing you don’t know where we’d be able to find her now?”

She shook her head, though gestured to the house across the street. “I don’t, but the folks over there might. They keep track of everything that happens around here—they’ll certainly know when the last time Lady Mira visited and where she said she was off to next.”

“We’ll ask around there, then. Thanks.”

“Oh, it’s not a problem at all! But if you do end up seeing her, could you thank her for all of us? We’d really appreciate it!”

If only they knew exactly why the three of them were asking for this kind of information…

“Do you think someone’s going to tell them eventually?” Lyrei prompted after they’d walked far enough away. “I mean, they deserve to know…”

“I have a feeling that things are only going to get worse if they do, though,” Noa pointed out nervously. He liked the concept of everyone knowing, of course, but the talk of Rennyn and Seldir had forced him to acknowledge there were times when a bit of secrecy was needed.

Seldir nodded. “That’s undoubtedly what’ll happen. So let’s hope we can get this done and over with before then, for everyone’s sake.”