The Prince, the Thief & the Artifact

Chapter 4: Found

As soon as Felix gave up hope on finding his lost purse, he and Al went back to the inn.

The only guard they could find in the market had simply shrugged and said that perhaps Felix had just dropped his purse, and there was nothing they could do about it if someone was lucky enough to find it.

Felix then thought it wise to get back to the inn when he saw the murderous expression on Al's usually good humored face.

"They should be ashamed to call themselves guards," Al told Ida and Leon when he joined them in the inn's reception hall, which also served as a dining area. He relayed the morning's happenings and the guard's reaction. "I would've loved nothing more than to bash the idiot's nose into his head."

"That wouldn't have achieved anything. Besides, it's hardly the sole responsibility of the guards. They're the bottom of the structure. The problem comes from the higher ups. The magistrate, the local lord, the governor, everyone is responsible," Ida said coolly. "Where's Felix?"

"He went up to his room."

Al leaned closer to his two companions. The three of them sat side by side at a table with their backs to the wall, their attention seemingly on their food but nothing in the room escaped their notice. "Things are really bad in this town. How did it get this far?"

"It's isolated," Ida said, "which makes it much harder to monitor regularly. The problem is that some parts of town are in good shape, while the vast majority is obviously struggling to live. The sorry sights Leon and I have seen this morning in some neighborhoods did not bode well."

Leon and Ida had taken a tour early in the morning. The only parts of town that were decent were the market street and one particular neighborhood.

Everywhere else, sickness and poverty hung in the air like thick fog. Dilapidated houses and half starved children, half dressed women with dead eyes and stooped shoulders struggling to even stand. The social discrimination was as glaring as the summer sun.

"It's rotten," Leon said, cutting a burnt part of his roasted beef with careful precision. "The rotten parts have to be cut out, otherwise it'll spread, and it won't be just one town that suffers."

Leon never thought a place like this existed in the kingdom. It only went to show how little he and people in the capital truly knew about the farthest corners of their land.

Leon scanned the room as he ate. The hall was sparsely occupied by a couple of merchants. Maids scurried around, cleaning tables for the upcoming wave of diners, no doubt.

Al popped a piece of bread in his mouth as a group of men walked into the inn. "Ah, the mystery of the local guards is finally solved."

The dozen men were all dressed in the formal attire of a town guard. A dark blue uniform with red edged sleeves and collar, golden buttons, knee-high boots and a sword strapped to the hip.

"You made sure no one knows who we are?" Leon asked. Ida and Al both nodded. "Good. Keep it that way for now."

Leon kept his head down, he didn't believe anyone would recognize him this far south. He also looked vastly different than he usually did in the capital, with his heavy beard and longer hair. But one could never be too careful. And people tended to talk when they didn't know his identity.

The guards proved no exception. They barely glanced at the three of them as they took seats in groups around the hall. Their tongues loosened easily enough.

"Hey, new guy!" One of the guards called out to Al. "Did your friend find his coin bag?"

"No," Al said with an easy smile. Leon knew his friend enough to see past the friendly facade to the calculation in his gaze. "I guess he dropped it, like you said. I take it you don't have thieves in this small town."