Chapter 62: The Blue Cup I

There was still a fair amount of sunlight left in the day, so the group decided to begin restocking supplies. The quicker they got everything done, the better; Leo didn’t want to spend any more time in Alnwick than necessary.

That, and he didn’t feel comfortable walking around with so much money on him. It felt like he was asking to get robbed.

It was still fairly crowded on the streets, and Leo wasn’t a fan of how much attention they drew. He kept the bag of money tucked under his cloak, away from view, but it still felt like everyone was looking at it.

In the actual stores it was better since they had shelves and tables to block them. The little shops and markets were welcome reprieves from the hustle of the roads, even if only temporarily.

“—so we’re supposed to go back to the Pearl before the masquerade starts,” Leo finished quietly.

He, Allan, and Spade stood in the corner of a dusty bookstore with a single lamp dangling overhead. The space was dim and crowded with shelves and stacks of books, but the main reason they’d entered was because it was empty.

Leo adjusted the bag he was holding. He’d barely managed to convince Allan to let him carry something (“My other arm still works fine,” he’d pointed out), and at this point they’d bought most of the necessities. Weapons they would buy tomorrow when their hands were more free and when they had a better sense of their budget.

They’d mostly stopped in the bookstore because other areas had been too crowded for Leo to feel comfortable explaining everything. The shadowy aisles provided a perfect space to converse.

Allan nodded slowly, brows furrowed in thought. “And she didn’t know what item the fragment would be in?”

Leo shook his head, hazel eyes darting around the dark corners to make sure no one was listening. “No, we’ll have to figure that out. We should be able to recognize it, though.”

“How much do you think we’ll need to bid on it?”

“That’s the thing. I was thinking it over, and I really don’t think we’d have enough even if we kept everything from the crest sales. It’s an auction for the upper crust, right? The prices’re gonna be ridiculous.”

Leo saw understanding flash in Allan’s eyes. He leaned closer, lowering his voice even more.

“We just need to see who wins the bid, then steal the fragment from them. If we can win the bid ourselves that’s great, but if not, that’ll be the backup plan.”

Allan nodded, humming thoughtfully. “It’s a masquerade though, right? What if we can’t recognize them?”

Leo carefully didn’t react. He felt a familiar tinge of guilt for not explaining how [Judgement] worked, but he reasoned that he didn’t know what Allan’s personal skill did either. It was normal to keep them private, even between party members.

Leo felt Spade’s eyes on him. After their interaction in the jail cell, the [Executiner] probably suspected what his personal skill did. He could practically feel the amusement in those keen grey eyes.

“We can just follow them,” Leo said. He glanced over at Spade. “You’d probably recognize some of the party guests, right?”

She shrugged. “Some of them, maybe. I wasn’t in Alnwick very long.”

Leo nodded slowly. He cleared his throat.

“Anyway, we just have to lay low until the auction. We can finish up shopping tomorrow, maybe explore the city a little.”

Based on the thin sliver of sky visible through the shop’s cloudy window, it was late enough that they could probably start heading over to the tavern now.

“Oh wait, before we go.”

Leo turned to Allan curiously. The [Healer] disappeared down an aisle for a few minutes only to reappear with a thick, dusty book in hand. Leo squinted down at it, attempting to make out the faded title.

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“A medicine book?”

Allan nodded. He opened it and flipped through a few pages. “It has general medical advice too. The doctor in Clearside had the same one. I never got a chance to finish reading it.”

After the wave had destroyed the village, he definitely wouldn’t be able to use the doctor’s copy again, Leo thought.

“You’re really taking healing seriously,” the [Fragmentholder] observed. Allan hadn’t shown any interest in medicine prior to class selection.

The man shrugged. “Someone has to,” he said. Leo couldn’t argue with that.

They paid for the book and soon exited the bookstore. Allan tucked the book safely away in his bag, and the trio made their way over to the tavern.

Outside, the sun was beginning to set. The blue hues of the sky shifted to warmer shades, and the shadows grew longer until they covered the street in crisscrossing patterns. Leo frowned.

While it wasn’t truly sunset yet, there were a lot of people still outside. In Sindrey, people would be hurrying home by now.

His eyes shifted over to the clear orbs sitting innocuously atop the city walls. There was no active barrier now, the glow within them soft and faint. This was the difference between places with wards and places without. He wondered if the people who’d grown up in Alnwick even feared the night or if a life without having to worry about the Silence had removed that caution.

Ahead of them, Spade came to a stop in front of a wood and stone building. She nodded. “This should be it.”

Leo stared up at the structure. The Blue Cup was situated in the middle of a busy street, crammed between other stores and buildings. The tavern had four different floors from what he could see, and the glowing firelight beyond the windows seemed to beckon passersby closer. He could hear muffled music and laughter even from outside. It would be fairly busy now that it was dinner time.

“It’s very crowded,” he muttered as Spade pushed open the door. It was even more packed inside, the long wooden tables filled with guests clinking together mugs of ale and eating heaping plates of food.

In the back of the room, a fiddler sat on a stool, his foot tapping in time with the music. The space just in front of him was clear of any tables, leaving room for patrons to dance on the wooden floors. The bar counter stood on the opposite end of the room, and Leo could see a wide staircase leading up to what must be the inn rooms proper.

He was once again struck by how relaxed everyone looked. There was no fear of nightfall at all.

A number of heads turned their direction when the door creaked open, but thankfully a good chunk were too busy with their meals and conversation to care.

Leo speed-walked over to the counter, eager to get away from all the attention. The tavernkeeper nodded at him as he approached.

“Evening,” he said. His voice was gruff and quiet, nearly blending into the background music and chatter. Leo nodded.

“Good evening. We’d like to book a room, please,” Allan said. The tavernkeeper looked between the trio.

“Three? For one night that’ll be—”

Spade stepped forward before the man could finish, handing over the note Lenore had given them. The tavernkeeper raised an eyebrow but took it, his eyes quickly scanning over the words. After a few moments had passed, he looked back up and squinted at the group.

“…Lenore sent you?”

“Something like that,” Spade said. The man frowned, and for a second Leo was worried he’d charge them anyway.

Instead, he slid open a drawer and rummaged around its contents, finally pulling out a small metal key with a numbered tag hanging off its handle.

“Second floor,” he muttered. “Mealtimes’re posted on the bulletin, and the bar opens at noon. Enjoy your stay.”

Leo took the key, turning it over in his hand. It was fairly light, and the number on it read 208.

He nodded in thanks, still processing how easy it had been to get a room with just a note. He wondered if this was what it meant to have influence.

The three ascended up the stairs, leaving the rowdy first level behind them. It was much quieter in the proper inn sections of the building, the hallways surprisingly spacious and well lit with torches. Leo’s eyes scanned the doors, finally stopping when they reached 208. He inserted the key, and the lock opened with a click.

The interior of the room was larger than Leo had expected, with three beds evenly spaced across the clean floorboards.

A round table sat in the corner beside the closed window curtains and a couch, and there was even a washroom connected by a secondary door. He wondered how expensive this room would’ve been normally.

Leo set down his bag and opened the curtain just enough to peer outside. They had a direct view of the main street, and he could see the city gates they’d entered from. If he pressed his ear against the glass he could hear the bustle of the streets, but otherwise the room had much better soundproofing than he’d expected.

“This is a really nice room,” Allan observed, setting down his own bags. The book he placed atop the table, where a small cloud of stray dust rose when he set it down.

“Lenore doesn’t do things by halves,” Spade said simply.

Based on what he’d seen so far, Leo would agree with the assessment. He closed the curtain again.

“The tavernkeeper said we got free meals too, right?”

“That he did.”

It felt distinctly strange to have both food and shelter come so easily after living in Sindrey’s slums for so long. The bag of coins weighed heavily on his belt.

Leo nodded slowly. “I guess we should head down now then,” he said. Odd as it was, they might as well take advantage of the break while they had it. He suspected they’d have less and less time to relax the further into the fragment hunt they went.