Lígoton was two days travel from Cassadinia. Unfortunately, the MAFT they were driving didn't have enough liquid spirit crystals to last for two whole days. They ended up ditching the car about twenty kilometers out and walked the rest of the way. By the time they arrived in Lígoton, it was already late afternoon.
While the city didn't look that different from the last time they had been there, Caspian immediately noticed the Peacekeepers who were guarding the entrance. They could have gone around and entered from the side. However, that would have looked suspicious, and there was a chance there were more guarding the perimeter.
"It's a good thing Elincia has such a strong bond with Loki," Caspian said. "If she didn't, then maintaining three illusions like this would be impossible."
Caspian, Elincia, and Sylvia were disguised once more. Elincia had changed from a strawberry blond to a woman with dark hair and green eyes. Meanwhile, Sylvia held the appearance of an 18 year-old girl with blonde hair and brown eyes. Caspian's red hair had been changed to blond and his eyes were also brown, making him and Sylvia look like siblings.
The only unfortunate thing was that they did not have any extra clothes to change into. Because they had been forced to leave Cassadinia in such a hurry, they only had the clothes on their backs. Of course, this was a small matter. The chances of someone somehow putting two and two together and coming up with four based solely on their outfits were slim. Even so, it was something that Caspian worried about.
"How long will these disguises last?" asked Christo.
"They will last indefinitely," Elincia said. "The gate I need to keep open for Loki to use this spell isn't very large. That said, the amount of mana I have to use in order to keep it open has cut my reserves by half. If we get into trouble, I won't be able to do any full summonings."
As she spoke, Elincia carressed her bow and the quiver on her back. They were the only items she had been able to take with her. While she couldn't do a full summon, she could ask the spirits to enchant her arrows if need be.
"Steel yourselves," Sylvia suddenly warned everyone. "We've arrived."
"Hold it!"
As if her words were prophetic, their group finally arrived close to Lígoton's main entrance, but they were stopped by the two Peacekeepers, who walked over to them with leery eyes. Caspian had to resist a snarl that wanted to escape when he saw how one of them looked at Elincia. Fortunately, he kept himself to just looking... for now.
"What are you five here for? Business?" asked the man on the left.
"We're just passing through," Sylvia said in that imperious tone of her. Caspian almost palmed his face. "I hope you would not trouble a mere group of travelers. As Peacekeepers, it is your duty to help those who are in need."
"What was that?!" the other man asked.
Grimacing, Caspian slung an arm around Sylvia's shoulder. She sent him a sharp look, but he ignored it.
"I apologize for my sister's behavior," Caspian said with a strained smile. "She has a very high amount of respect for authority figures, but whenever someone doesn't act like her idealized idea of what an authority figure is, she gets a little crazy. That said, she is correct in that we're travelers. We're currently passing through to visit some relatives."
"And you decided to walk?" the one on the left asked.
Caspian shook his head. "We had a MAFT, but it couldn't withstand the journey."
At the word MAFT, the two Peacekeepers felt their eyes light up. Magical Automated Four-wheeled Transports were high-end magictech used primarily by nobles. Very few people outside of nobles could even afford one. In most cases, someone like Commander Klein would have never been able to buy one, but likely his wife had managed to get Crystal Vines to help surprise him with that one.
"I know what you're thinking, but the MAFT technically isn't ours," Caspian said. "Our uncle is a rather prominent craftsmen in Attore who has amassed a sizable fortune. That MAFT was actually given to myself and Ele here as a wedding gift."
Unslinging his arm from around Sylvia, Caspian reached over and clasped hands with Elincia, who got the hint and moved closer so she could lean into him. She fluttered her eyelids at Caspian. Her cheeks were just slightly red. She looked very much like a young woman in love.
"Oh... so that's how it is," the man on the left said in disappointment.
"If you don't mind my asking, is something wrong?" Cassidy suddenly asked with a cute tilt of her head. "I mean, this isn't a very large town. I can't imagine a Peacekeeper garrison being stationed here."
One of them men blushed just a bit when Cassidy looked at him. He scratched his head several times before sighing.
"I suppose it couldn't hurt to tell you. We're currently looking for a criminal. They attacked Duke De'Falco but managed to escape. We're tasked with guarding Lígoton in case they try to pass through."
Caspian couldn't keep the frown from his face as he wondered what sort of yarn the duke was spinning. Of course, he had probably decided to tell everyone that what happened during time he tried to execute Sylvia had been an attack. Caspian was sure the duke would play up what happened, making it seem as if someone had tried to kill him. That seemed to be his style.
"T-that sounds really dangerous!" Cassidy said in what sounded like genuine shock. "I'm really glad we didn't run into these criminals when our MAFT broke down."
"You are quite lucky," one of the Peacekeepers said before stepping aside. "Anyway, you five are free to pass. Stay safe."
"We will," Caspian said with a smile as he ushered his "family" into Lígoton.
They walked in silence for a time. Caspian took note of the tense atmosphere surrounding the village. Aside from almost everyone remaining indoors, the few people who were outside constantly glanced over their shoulders. He wondered if they were worried about the "criminals" who had escaped from Cassadinia or the Peacekeepers.
"Why did you do that?" Sylvia suddenly asked.
Caspian was not stupid enough to not know what she was referring to. He sighed and said, "Because if I hadn't, you would have continued acting like Sylvia de Floresca instead of a regular girl. They might not have figured out who we are based on that. However, if they had decided to give us trouble and accidentally touched one of us, they would have discovered that we're being disguised by an illusion." He cast a glance toward the woman. "I know you aren't used to it, but since we're currently in disguise, you need to try and act like a normal person."
Sylvia's frown, which had the same majestic imperialism of a queen, looked incredibly awkward on her young and childish face. "I am a normal person."
Caspian didn't know whether to laugh or cry. This woman was so far from normal that she probably didn't even understand what normal meant.
"What should we do now?" asked Cassidy. "Should we head over to the train station?"
"It's already late, so the trains won't be running today," Caspian said. "We can still buy tickets, but I believe securing a place to stay should come first."
"Why don't we split up?" suggested Christo. "Cassidy and I can buy the train tickets. Meanwhile, you, Elincia, and Lady Sylvia can get us a room at an inn."
It was a good idea, so even Sylvia couldn't disagree with it. That being the case, they quickly split up, with Cassidy and Christo heading to the train station, while Caspian led the two women with him to an inn.
The inn they decided to rent rooms at was called Twilight Pavillion Inn. It was a quaint inn with only two stories and five rooms. Of course, Lígoton was not a large town to begin with and very few people stayed the night unless they needed to switch trains and arrived late. It was also the cheapest of the four inns located within this town.
"That'll be 120 drachma for two rooms," the lady manning the front counter said.
Caspian didn't quite wince, but he did feel a bit of pain when he handed the woman 120 drachma. He had brought some money along with them. That said, he didn't have much more than 1,000 drachma on him. That was all he'd been able to bring.
"Let's go," Caspian said after receiving the two keys from the lady. Elincia and Sylvia both nodded. However, as they were traveling up the stairs, his ears twitched as a conversation that made him pause.
"I hear the Peacekeepers are pursuing that elf girl who passed through a couple weeks ago. What was her name? Elastic? Eleanora?"
"I think it was Elincia."
"Yes! That's her name. I hear she did something atrocious in Cassadinia! They say she massacred an entire pavilion of people!"
"Really? I don't know... I was scared of her at first, but she didn't seem all that harmful..."
"What are you saying?! She's an elf! Of course she's harmful! She was probably just hiding her true intentions."
"But why would she do that? Don't you think it would have made more sense for her to just massacre us?"
"Obviously it was because she didn't want anyone catching onto her evil plan!"
As the women continued talking, Caspian sensed Elincia's turmoil through the bond. He grabbed her hand and led her up the stairs. He refused to let her listen to anymore of the crap those women were spewing. Also, if he kept listening to them, Caspian wasn't sure what he'd do.
"Do not let anything those fools say bother you, Ele. Everyone who knows you knows that you're nothing like they say."
"I know..."
Caspian grimaced. Even Elincia's voice through the bond sounded dejected. As he led the two women into the room they'd be sharing together, he silently cursed those blasted women for their insensitive topic.
***
Cassidy and Christo arrived half an hour after Caspian bought their room. Since there were two rooms, it was decided that the women would sleep in one room while the men slept in another.
The one that he and Christo were sleeping in had two beds. Caspian was lying on his back, staring at the ceiling. His boots were off, but he hadn't removed anything else. There was no real point. Christo was lying on his side, which was how he normally slept.
"Hey, Caspian?" Christo suddenly asked.
"Yeah?" said Caspian.
"What do you think is going on?" asked Christo. "I mean with that duke and Cleopatra lady."
"Why are you asking me?" Caspian grunted. "It's not like I've ever understood how nobles think. This Duke De'Falco guy probably just got greedy and decided he wanted to take over Arcadia or something."
"Maybe... but I can't help but feel like there's more to it than that." Christo shifted and rolled around. "Like... it's been over one hundred years since the Secession War that took the power of the nobles and made them mostly administrators who helped sorceress govern the country, so why has someone decided to rebel now?"
"You're asking the wrong guy. There's no way I could know that," Caspian murmured.
"Yeah. I guess." Christo gave Caspian a sheepish grin. "Sorry for asking such a weird question."
"It's fine."
Christo turned over again, and Caspian soon heard the soft snoring of someone who'd fallen asleep. But while his friend went under easily, he could not sleep. While he didn't tell this to Christo, he had been wondering the same thing.
The Secession War was the one in which Sylvia led a rebellion against the nobles of the time. According to the history textbooks, Sylvia had become displeased with how the nobility refused to help the people who served them, gathered a massive force, and smashed apart the noble's own forces. Then she forced them to become subservient toward the sorceresses.
All this had happened a long time ago, and if you asked him, the world was better off now than it had been 100 years ago. All children regardless of status received a basic education. They could also go on to receive a higher education if they chose to. The number of possibilities that had opened up thanks to her actions were infinite. As a direct result of what she had done, Arcadia was currently flourishing.
Of course, he understood there were many nobles who felt bitter over this. They lamented their own lack of power and could only think about what life would have been like before Sylvia took that power away from their families. At the same time, he couldn't help but wonder: why now? Why was there a noble rebelling against Sylvia after all this time?
He didn't know if it truly mattered in the end. Perhaps this Duke De'Falco was just one of those revolutionary people who wanted to change something and actually had the guts to do it. At the same time, he couldn't help but feel like there was something suspicious about the timing of all this.
Sighing, Caspian realized that thinking about this wasn't going to help him, so he closed his eyes and was just about to fall asleep.
"Caspian? Are you awake?"
Caspian opened his eyes when a voice echoed within his mind.
"I'm awake, Ele. Is something wrong?"
"No. I just... was hoping we could go and visit Margarett."
"Now?"
"Um..."
Caspian felt like laughing and crying at the same time as he realized what Elincia wanted. It wasn't super late yet, but it was dark outside. Margarett was probably asleep. He wanted to tell her that, but he also knew that they wouldn't get a chance to see her tomorrow since they had to leave so early.
"All right. Let's go."
"Really?!"
"Yeah. She might be asleep, but we can at least check in on her."
Sighing as he realized he probably wouldn't be getting much sleep, Caspian sat up, climbed out of bed, and slipped on his boots. He walked out of the room and into the hallway. No one was outside yet, but a few minutes after he emerged from his room, Elincia emerged from the room across from him. When she saw him, she grabbed his hand and smiled.
"Let's go. Loki?"
After calling Loki to cast an illusion that changed their appearance, Elincia led Caspian down the stairs and out of the inn. She relied on her memory to take him all the way to the edge of Lígoton. A number of Peacekeepers watched them. However, since they didn't look like the people they were searching for, no one bothered to stop them. Caspian did keep an eye on them, however. He wanted to make sure no one followed them.
After reaching the edge of town, Elincia led Caspian into the forest. She walked by memory alone. About one hour after entering the forest, they emerged into a small clearing with a crystal clear lake and a cottage. The cottage was larger than most. There were two separate sections: one which was used for living quarters and the other was a smithy.
Elincia walked into the clearing. However, just as she took a step forward, her foot stepped on a string that had been lying just a little above the ground. Bells suddenly jingled around them. He and Elincia froze at the sound. Seconds after the noise echoed across the clearing, the door leading into the cottage burst open and someone wielding a crossbow stepped outside.
"I thought I told you Peacekeepers not to bother me anymore! I don't know anything about... Oh... it's you two. What are you doing here?"
The man who appeared before them was large, had messy black hair, and blue eyes. His beard was fairly thick--thicker than Caspian remembered. He was only wearing coveralls right now. They looked like a set of thick pajamas, making it clear that he'd been asleep until just a few seconds ago.
"Er... we were just passing through and were hoping to see Margarett." Elincia rubbed the back of her head as a sheepish expression flashed across her face.
The man, who went by the name Dale Kensington, sighed. "Couldn't you have waited until tomorrow?"
"We're leaving tomorrow," Caspian admitted. "A situation has occurred that's forced us to head out, so we won't be able to stay for even one day."
Dale looked more than a tad disgruntled, which Caspian understood completely. However, before the man could say anything, someone else's voice emerged from the doorway.
"Is that Elincia and Caspie I hear?"
A jolt traveled through Caspian's spine as a woman stepped out of the doorway. Her dark hair reminded him of Raven's feathers. It was long, traveling all the way down to her butt, and some of her bangs were hovering over her right eye, hiding it from view. Her other eye was exposed, revealing a seductive amethyst orb that could bewitch even the most righteous of minds. This woman was clad in a fairly plain white dress, but even though she wasn't wearing something that revealed her amazing figure, she still looked like sin.
Neither Caspian or Elincia were able to say a thing as Erica Demonica de Angelo smiled at them.
"Hello, you two," she said. "It's been awhile, hasn't it?"
***
Erica has returned! Are you surprised to see her here of all places?
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