For the next two days, we enjoyed delicious breakfast, lunch and dinner at the inn. We were also allowed to roam about in the shopping district, but although we were not directly tailed or escorted, I could tell we were being watched from time to time. I expected this, and although Flora acted like she didn’t mind it, Tasha was starting to feel annoyed on the second day.
At first, Tasha would just grumble slightly about doing nothing again for another day. As the day went on, though, she started to complain to me a bit more loudly. In fact, it was almost at the point where I thought she even wanted the people monitoring us to hear her complain. I asked her to be quiet and she complied at the moment, but it seemed obvious she would complain again soon enough. Perhaps foolishly, I also offered to buy her a gift which seemed to upset her, although she didn’t say anything other than ‘no’.
As we ate dinner together in the same room on the second day, Tasha finally vented. I understood her complaints, and although I thought we could afford to be a bit more patient, I would have at least liked if Zalae or Pascal had given me an update on their investigation. Or, at least some sort of a time frame on when we could expect to hear an update would have been nice.
“Okay, I will talk with Pascal tomorrow.” I didn’t know what would come of such a talk, but I felt I needed to say at least this much to appease Tasha.
The next morning, when they came to deliver us our breakfast, I went to seek out Pascal. I convinced Tasha and Flora (mostly Tasha) to eat first while I talked to him alone. At my request, the two of us spoke privately in a staff room.
“How may I help you, Mister Braith?” Pascal asked, wearing a poker face.
“Well, there are a lot of ways you could help me, but first of all, do you think you can provide me with any updates as to your investigations?” I asked. Pascal paused for a moment.
“I am afraid there are no updates I can relay to you at this time.” I stared at him to see if there was something more to his words.
“Is that so?” I asked.
“Unfortunately so.”
“Do you have any idea on when there may be an update?” Pascal stroked his chin a bit before answering.
“I don’t want to give you an inaccurate estimate.”
“A range or time frame would do for now,” I responded.
“Is there…perhaps a certain time frame that you need to be meeting?” Pascal asked. At first, I was just going to say ‘no’, but then I stopped myself.
“I have certain…tasks that I intend to fulfill. I don’t think they would conflict with complying with your investigations, but I wanted to make sure of what to expect.” Pascal took some time to mull over the words that I just strung together.
“We do not wish to cause you undue delay, and in the unfortunate situation where that occurs, the Merchants’ Guild will be sure to provide you with reasonable compensation.”
“I thank you for that, but I would prefer to know now whether such undue delays could arise.”
“Of course, we understand you have your own circumstances. Unfortunately, I do not believe I can provide you with a very reliable estimate for a time frame.”
“Perhaps you could provide a partly reliable estimate, then?”
“Well, if you are concerned about missing a deadline, I can provide you with some forewarning. Provided you tell me about when this deadline is.” What the heck is even going on in this conversation anymore. How did this become such a difficult subject?
“I…feel that I cannot share the specific details of my tasks with you. Do you think you can just tell me how long this may take, assuming things do not progress smoothly?”
“Unfortunately,” Pascal began, “it is too soon for me to give you a reliable estimate on how long it will take for the investigations to be completed.” I suppressed a sigh of frustration as I stared intently at him. “Is there anything else that I can help you with?” Again, I was about to just say ‘no’, but I stopped myself. I needed to get at least something out of this. Maybe I can provide Sir Emmerick’s letter now? That should at least give us a wider range of movement. Oh, hold on…
“Pascal, I understand that we need to remain in Deimos until you conclude your investigations. However, does that mean we need to remain in this area, near the Merchants’ Guild?”
“No, of course not.” Ah, well, at least if there are other places to go to, maybe we can find somewhere to keep ourselves preoccupied. “However, the shopping district is probably the safest area in Deimos. In particular, I would say there are various parts of the city that I would not recommend taking children to.”
“Oh?” I think Timber Gain also mentioned something to that effect. Something about there being very dangerous parts in Deimos, I think?
“Yes. Although many of the mercenaries in the city can behave themselves for the most part, I would still advise steering clear of the area where the Mercenaries' Guild is located. Also, there are some more unsavoury sorts both inside and outside of the Mercenaries’ Guild in which you would be better off not associating with.”
“Are you talking about bandits and the like?” I asked.
“Yes, that would be one group.”
“I see. Actually, there is something else I wanted to ask you. Do you happen to know a bandit by the name of Timber Gain?”
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
“...I do,” Pascal answered after a long pause. “I suppose you happened to come across him on your way to Deimos?”
“Yeah,” I answered simply, not wanting to elaborate for now.
“I see. Well, I believe I know the intention behind that question, so please allow me to clarify something. Yes, both the Merchants’ Guild and the Mercenaries’ Guild are aware of Timber Gain and his group of bandits. Now, this does not mean either guild condones banditry. Although that man and his group are bandits, they serve an important role. They regularly patrol the outlands to the west of Deimos and drive out most other bandits. They also assist in capturing other criminals and they do not collect tolls during the winter months nor do they rob the outlanders that live in small villages in that area. There is also a bit more that I do not feel is appropriate to say here, but the Merchants’ Guild feels it is overall more beneficial to simply observe them for now. At this time, we feel it is unnecessary to expend resources and manpower in apprehending them or more likely completely driving them out of the area since they would be sure to flee instead.” I did not expect to hear such a lengthy explanation, so it took me some time to fully comprehend everything Pascal had just said. However, before I could respond, Pascal continued speaking. “However, as we have stated, they are certainly not official agents or employees of either the Mercenaries’ Guild nor the Merchants’ Guild, and therefore their acts are ostensibly criminal. May I ask how much the toll was? The one they requested from you?”
“The toll…yeah, I think they were asking for…nineteen silvers.”
“Did they explain how they came to such a number?” Pascal asked.
“I think it was…three for each person and five for each horse,” I answered. Pascal nodded. Did that mean the amount was something they implicitly agreed on?
“Alright. I will be sure to relay this information. Even before the conclusion of the investigations, I believe we can process a request to have that amount reimbursed for you.”
“Okay,” I responded quickly. “Wait, what?”
“Is something the matter?” Pascal asked.
“No, I mean…well, technically I didn’t pay the toll.” Some people may have suggested staying quiet here and getting a bit of free money, but I wanted to try and be as honest with the Merchants’ Guild as I could, especially as it did seem that there was a real connection between Timber and them.
“You didn’t pay the toll?” I nodded in response to Pascal’s question. Upon seeing that, his expression shifted slightly. But, only for a second. “That is some very capable riding on the part of you and your companions.” I shot him a confused look, and I saw his expression shift a bit more. “I am referring to how you managed to ride past Timber’s bandits without paying the toll.”
“Ah, no, that’s not what happened,” I began, “Timber kept challenging me to a duel, and I eventually accepted it. We just passed through after I won.” Pascal finally revealed a bewildered expression. “Was I…not supposed to do that?” I asked, genuinely confused by his reaction. With the way Timber acted, it sounded like he challenged people to duels all the time. I mean, he was stronger than a lot of people I’ve fought, but there were also several people I encountered that I would say were stronger than him. Silence dragged on for another moment before Pascal recomposed himself and let out a small cough.
“Excuse me, Mister Braith, that was…sorry. As to your question, there are certainly no issues with accepting one of Timber’s duels. He does that quite often. I was just…he just rarely loses. Did he perhaps modify the duel in any way?”
“What do you mean by that? It was a one-on-one fight. Does he normally duel differently?”
“They are normally one-on-one. However, did he impose any special rules?”
“Special rules?” Am I not understanding how dueling works in Midgard? Well, that wouldn’t exactly be a big surprise. As far as challenge requests go, that would have been my first duel. The other fights were generally just people coming to kill me or the people around me. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think I fully understand the question.”
“Ah, my apologies. Then, allow me to be more specific with my questions. Did you both fight with weapons?”
“Yeah, he used a shortsword to match mine.” Pascal nodded after a short pause.
“And what were the conditions to winning the duel?”
“Until one person surrendered.”
“...and Timber surrendered?” I didn’t verbally answer, but my expression made it quite obvious how stupid of a question I thought that was. “My apologies. I simply did not know that you were such an adept fighter. Most of the veteran mercenaries have never even won once against him.” Really? Although…ah, thinking about it again, did I really beat him? We seemed pretty even at the start until I started having difficulty maintaining my power. And then, I just completely outsped him in the last attack. Timber was going on about how I had figured him out, but I still didn’t know what he meant. “Is there something more that happened?” Pascal asked, possibly getting a glimpse into some of my doubts.
“No…I mean…no.” I’m still not sure what exactly happened, but I did win, and Timber, at least, seemed to think it was because of some special reason, and not just because he gave up the win. Well, if it had to be for any other reason, the only thing I could think of would be a guardian spirit power. Maybe something tied to dueling? “You can ask him if you have any doubts,” I said, doubling down confidently. Pascal finally seemed satisfied.
“You are right. I apologize for doubting you, Mister Braith. It is just rare for a traveler to have your level of strength despite being neither a mercenary nor a knight. Although, we also have the clear exception in Timber Gain, as well. Although his situation is- ahem, in any case, thank you for the information. This may aid us in our investigations.” I thought that was a rather abrupt change, but I decided not to question it.
“Well, is there anything else you can think of that I can do to help with the investigation?” I asked, grabbing onto the last thing Pascal said. He might have only said that to change the subject, but I will hold him to it if I can.
“Anything else to help? Ah, well…that depends, I suppose.”
“Depends on what?”
“On how much you feel free to tell us,” Pascal spoke his words rather slowly. “I understand that there are some things you feel you cannot share, and it would be difficult for me to say whether or not such things are completely unrelated to helping our investigations.”
“...I see. Well, I would just say again that everything that I told you about Dennis and his killers is the truth.” If they could put some trust into Timber Gain, I hoped they could put at least as much trust into me. Of course, I feared saying something like that could make things worse.
“We will just carry on dutifully, then.” I said nothing in response. “In any case, I believe we went a bit off-track. You were asking about visiting the rest of Deimos, correct?”
“Ah, yes.”
“Knowing of your capability now, perhaps you could consider visiting some places that the mercenaries frequent. Although, I still would not think they would be good places to bring children.”
“Just tell me about those places.”
“Well, I’m assuming that you do not intend on joining the Mercenaries’ Guild, but you may wish to go there anyways. They post bounties and commissions that non-members can also take. Perhaps, you can consider one of them after the investigations are done. Also, we would most likely submit a commission to them regarding Dennis’ assailants in the future, so it may be worth getting to meet some of their members. Well, some of them would be better off avoided, but overall, we can usually rely on them to quickly complete our commissions.”
“I see.” Yeah, that makes sense. Obviously, if everything proceeds smoothly, the Merchants’ Guild would put out a bounty and it would be the Mercenaries’ Guild that would probably go on a manhunt to claim it. I guess the odds of me getting a hand in this any further are even lower than I thought.
“There is also an establishment where patrons go to drink and gamble on fights. Ah, I know you are not familiar with duels, but I would say such fights are…well, I suppose you could still say they are duels. I’m not sure how fond you would be of such entertainment.”
“What kind of fights are they?” I asked.
“They have several fights throughout the day, which include both armed and unarmed combat. The rules for winning also vary from fight to fight. They also sometimes have rounds where patrons can fight as well.”
“Do you mean that random people can just go and fight there?”
“Yes. It is sometimes used for the pugilistic sort to quickly settle arguments.”
“...To be clear, are these fights ever to the death?”
“An accidental death can occur, but fights to the death are strictly prohibited throughout Deimos,” Pascal responded with a hint of distaste in his voice.
“Oh, that’s good,” I responded, wanting to make it clear that I was not looking for such a fight. “Um, any other suggestions for places I can visit?”
“...Is there perhaps something specific you are looking for?”
“Ah, no, not really. Just any other places that you think would be…fun or interesting.” Tasha might like going to that bar he mentioned, but I would prefer to go to a place that Flora might also like.
“Well, outside of drinking, gambling, and fighting, there are a couple other areas that mercenaries and their kind frequent.”
“Oh, what are they?”
“I’m not sure I would say they would be fun or interesting for you.”
“Why not? What are they?” I repeated my question.
“One would be where the blacksmiths are located, as they need to regularly maintain or replace their equipment.” I wouldn’t find it particularly interesting, but maybe Tasha would like it?
“And the other area?” I asked. Pascal looked at me for a few seconds before answering.
“The brothels,” Pascal responded flatly. We stared at each other for several seconds.
“Tell me more about that fighting establishment.”
