Not too long
after the thugs had made themselves scarce, a city guard arrived to the scene,
Ayi noticed his presence because she could actually feel the intense stare upon
them.
The guard
stood within the same tunnel Feugan came from, even though he had said nary a
word it could be easily seen he was without a doubt part of the inner city
guard. With the main factions of guards involved in the city being the City
Guard, the Royal guards and the Holy knights [XS1] . He stood there, wearing a simple
yet well maintained studded leather armor, bearing the colors of the city guard,
a hauberk underneath, unadorned simple yet sturdy gaunglets and greaves, with a
hand placed on the hilt of a longsword at his left hip, a small shield bearing
the City’s shield of arms strapped to the left arm. A quick glance at him told
Ayi this man was no pushover. While seemingly just standing still, Ayi was
certain she was already engaged in a battle of sorts, the two of them measuring
each other. Without breaking eye contact, the imposing dark haired man lifted a
hand pointing towards Feugan.
“Oe. Is
your lizard mount here poty trained?!”
And there
it went, all sense of danger and combative pressure whatsoever, washed away in
the so ever constant waves of randomness that kept slowly eroding at Ayi’s
sense of normality. She truly believed that even in fantasy worlds, there would
have to be a modicum of normality, but this very day in which she was given the
chance, everyone just kept trampling over her beliefs.
“He-He
certainly is!!, He might not look like it but Feugan is properly educated and respectable
citiz… er... dragon!” exclaimed the little wolfkin maid.
Ayi found
herself again at a loss of words, not because of the whole exchange, truly it
was praise worthy for Zoey to be standing up for Feugan, as he himself had no
way to defend his own honor on the matter. But, truly, Feugan, are you a little
kid? One doesn’t really need to be a beastmaster or a dragon expert to realize
you are angry and fuming over there.
“What does
she mean ‘might not look like it’?, I am but a gallant noble warrior dragon at
the service of my master”
Ayi, slowly
covered her face with her hands, she took a couple slow deep breaths, then she gently patted
the little wolfkin girl’s head and earnestly replied to the guard.
“Yes… he is…
But more importantly, some lowlifes just attacked us, they tried to rob us and I
had to defend us until Feugan came to assist us”
She tried
to not sound angry while stating her words, she half-expected the guard to find
them guilty of something with no fundaments, or accuse them of lying to him just to avoid some sort
of ticketing, execting bribery of sorts to let Feugan roam the streets. The guard stared
at her again, then he turned his gaze to a spot on the paved floor, there was a
big puddle of blood, most likely from the offender. The guard took a few steps
drawing closer to Ayi, disregarding Feugan completely almost as if a dragon the
size of a midsized car (and quite possibly the same weight) was no real concern
at all.
“Ok now,
hear me out here, I ask of Y’ALL to please not be usin any’all skills of tae ‘Brutal
Series’, at least within the inner city walls, I daen care if ya do it outside
tae walls or even in da palace, but dis is de sort of stuff that scares tae
citizens, ill hafta do a lotta paperwork everysingle time to boot too. There
already bein some discontent on why is ‘adecuate’ for dem adventure’s ta use
selfdefense when dem taxes be payin for us guards. otarwise tae general population
will think start thinkin any (and all) adventurer could be the infamous vigilante…”
At this point
the guard kept staring at Ayi, she then realized he has been leading the
conversation to this specific point, quite possible suspecting of her being the
aforementioned vigilante, after retaliating on the local criminals. Being
targeted and attacked by ruffians was bad enough, but suspected of being an ill
reputed character (and on day 1!) by local authorities was a really bad twist
of events.
Facts that
were not as disturbing as the guard’s intense gaze fixed on her, or as how it
seemed like he was blowing steam through his nostrils while he kept impatiently
taping his foot on the stone floor, or was he scrapping something off his
sole?, while looking at her with eyes full of suspicion. Wait, what is he? a
bull? The intense glare on her made it feel like she was looking straight to
the face to such a fierce animal somehow…
With a last
exasperated blow of steam from his nostrils (just how?!), the guard looked to
the side with an annoyed look on his face, taking a leather-bound notebook from
his pack, upon opening and flipping past a few pages he proceeded at writing
something in it, tearing the sheet and giving it to Ayi.
“Its ways
difficult tellin dem good ‘venturers from bad ones, please daent be commin here
makin mah job non any hardr!”
With that
said he just went and left, not the same way he came from, but rather following
the path the thugs went away. Ayi was barely able to do anything else but to
watch him leave as she was still very confused by the huge change in the
guard’s manner and way of speaking , did he just drop all formalities once he
deemed her not to be the supposed vigilante?
As the
guard became closer to the alleyway, Ayi could almost swear she heard him
sniffling once he got to the alley, but she wasn’t quite sure, as the guard
just left with a swift bold pace as if he was convinced he wouldn’t get lost in
the labyrinthical inner streets and countless alleys within the kingdom’s inner
city.
Still
somewhat confused by the sudden rush of actions and responses performed by the
guard, Ayi took a look at the torn paper in her hand, it only said a name and address.
She was of course again confused on what would all (and she basically meant ALL
of the guards actions meant) mean, then again she just had begun to accepting
this was a different world just before the guard appeared, so by now she was
just coming to terms on accepting the unexpected and be prepared.
It’s quite
remarkable how even though she prepared her mind and heart for this, on such an
almost unhuman degree, that it would have set her as a top poker player in her
former world (if she could play cards at all, that is). She would never be able
to accomplish an estate where she wasn’t utterly confused by the actions and
plans of her friends within this new world.
“It is most
likely the address of a healer, Mistress”
Now again,
quite confused, just now by a whole different person, Ayi looked to Zoey with a
big bright, bold-lettered and non-existent (yet so very present) "How do you
know this" sign on her face.
“I-I could
feel the intention of the guard to have your injuries treated, after he was not
suspicious of you anymore that’s it. He was quite fixated on the zone where
that scoundrel landed a hit on your face!” answered the little Wolfkin maid, to
the very obvious question plastered on her Mistress’s face.
Ayi nodded,
taking her cute child’s words at face value, completely disregarding the fact
that Zoey didn’t actually answer the “how” in the question, she just repeated
“It’s ok, it’s a fantasy world” in her mind a couple times to calm herself [XS2].
So she took the little wolfskin’s
hand, then nodded to Feugan acknowledging the gallant dragon mount and then they headed to the address they were
given. They would need to stock on medicines at some point anyway, or at least
she was sure that even if she had some in her mannor, but not being sure of
anything anymore, it would be wise to get an idea of what the local medicines
were like, how much they cost and even the scarcity of them. Items to keep your
health top notch were always in demand for those involved in the adventuring
business. So, all in all, this was a very agreeable turn of events. Thank you…
nameless mister Guard… shoot…
“Zoey, did
you get the name of that Guard that came just now?”
The little
Wofkin girl perked up her fluffy ears and her eyes widened upon realizing what
entailed on that question, after being given such favorable treatment by a
guard with which they might end up meeting on a common basis, it would be
rather rude to just call him “Mister Guard”. Upon putting her head onto the
task, she realized she had been calling him “Mister Guard” for over a couple
weeks by now. Awkward.
“N-no, I
didn’t… b-but! We could introduce ourselves properly and give him a 'thank-you gift' of sorts for all his help!”
Yosh. Good
save Zoey!
“I-I see.
Hmmm… yeah, it’s a good idea, thank you, Zoey” Ayi smiled warmly and gave the little maid a
gentle pat on her head. Such a good little girl.
In reality,
all the guards on the southern side of the kingdom knew fairly well who Zoey
was, just like all the merchants in the south district too. An unknown new face
like Ayi’s would have required a lot more inquiries about where she came from
and what were her business and intentions in the kingdom, it was not uncommon
to see new adventurers come to the kingdom or to stay within the city, but they
were to be properly questioned, then guided to the closest guild, so they could
fill in their paperwork and be at either the adventurer’s guild or even the
mercenaries guild, someone would fill in the adequate forms so they could be
reluctantly received at the internal affair offices, filed by triplicate and
most certainly lost in the inner archive. Ah, bureaucracy.
[XS1]It is worth mentioning that while
the Holy knights had as much authority as the other 2 factions, they were
rarely seen within the city and more oft than not would be found in expeditions
and holy missions. On the other hand, Mercenaries hired by nobles were easier
to find within the inner city, but their authority or lack of it, lead them to
just be figures of order within the territories and neighborhoods of their
employers.
[XS2]This would turn into a sort of
Manthra for Ayi, repeating it over and over the craziest the situations turned
around her.
[XS3]Without knowing of it, Ayi had the
vouch of one of the most influential persons within the kingdom. The “Snow Maid
Princess” fan club had an extensive list of good natured people (and quite a
number of doting idiots among their ranks too) with connections built on years
of trust and care for others. Meetings held on Tuesdays and Saturdays, must
have a recommendation.
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