Chapter 163: Festive Mood
With General Gramont and his army now marching towards the Tristain Academy, the trio all leave to attend to their respective duties. First and foremost, was Michael, who activates his invisibility and using his Shadow Dance bonus movement speed, races towards the Royal Palace like a bat out of hell.
There were no magical defences placed in the regular streets of Tristania, but once he reaches the palace the real issues begin. With one side of the palace being collapsed due to Louise explosion spell, there were many more guards allocated to that area, making it a difficult place to enter. This wouldn't usually be a problem for Michael, but as soon as he got close to the palace, his invisibility started flickering, as if something or someone was trying to reveal him.
Michael figured this to be the Palace's defensive enchantments, and was pretty annoyed once he confirmed this by testing the proximity of the defence's effectiveness. This essentially meant that he wouldn't have as much time, or be as free to look for the Prayer Book as he thought... Regardless, Riki's teachings should keep him hidden well enough for now, unless someone was explicitly looking for him.
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While Michael was creeping through the palace hallways, Ralf and Tiffania were wandering around the capital in search of things that'd help them in future, after acquiring the location of Nicolas Grimpt of course, which wasn't hard considering everyone knew to steer well clear of the man and his properties. Ralf was looking for some replacements for his armour, as he'd had to discard most of his own due to the many Albion embellishments that'd been inscribed into it. Tiffania on the other hand, wanted to look for any bookstores, and a gift for Michael, to replace the Faery Fire she had 'misused' on her cousin, Prince Wales.
While she didn't think it was a mistake despite how he'd treated her in the end, she knew that Michael wasn't nearly as forgiving. So while he wouldn't be upset at her, his annoyance at the use of his gift was surely very real.
As for looking at bookstores? Well, she was obviously not looking for spellbooks as such things would be kept under strict lock and key, and in Tristain were all most likely held in the academy for safekeeping. No, she just wanted to buy some books for leisure reading, most of her favourite ones had been destroyed when her cabin had been burnt down, so she was taking this opportunity to explore what Tristain's authors had to offer.
Unfortunately, despite the duo searching most of the smithies in the city, Ralf was not able to find any replacements for his armour. It'd gotten to the point that Tiffania had even taken him to the diseased 'rat-faced' merchants store to see if he had anything of use, which ended up as a fruitless effort anyway.
It seems that most of the armour and a large majority of weapons in the city had been 'requisitioned' for use in General Gramont's army, leaving nothing for anyone else. As a bonus, this also had the effect of almost bankrupting most smithies, as they were unable to pay for the ores and metal to use in their craft, nor for the coal or charcoal to fuel their forges.
With that avenue disappointingly null, the duo went ahead towards their final destination, a jewel shop that supposedly sold enchanted goods to any that had enough gold for it. This was a welcome change compared to the other countries Tiffania had been to, where enchanted items were heavily restricted so that only nobles could purchase them.
Unfortunately, it was here that they hit another problem... All of the offered items were far too expensive for them to afford. Even the cheapest item, a wooden stick with a large flattened top that'd continuously blow air into one's face cost five times more gold than they had in total.
There was one artifact she'd spotted that'd caught her attention, a golden broach that'd protect the wearer until the enchantment gave out. Having him wear something like that would certainly put her more at ease, even if him getting seriously hurt was very unlikely.
Downtrodden and slightly morose at failing at her own objective while Michael was risking himself inside the Royal Palace, Tiffania and Ralf leave and begin heading back to their inn room... Only to be stopped by a young teenage boy, who was presenting to Tiffania an eerily familiar broach...
"Miss, you forgot this!" he says with a smile, almost forcefully pushing the artifact into Tiffania's palm. Ralf hovers over her shoulder to make sure nothing untoward was going on, but was satisfied enough that the boy meant no ill will.
Tiffania can't help but break into a smile of her own, quickly realising that this boy had stolen the broach for her, "Thank you very much for this... What's your name?"
"Jojin." he offers, bowing his head respectfully as if addressing a noble.
Tiffania nods, "Jojin?... I'm Tif-" she starts but is interrupted as the boy can't help but speak up.
"Batuman's friend!" he squeaks, barely hiding his excitement.
...
"Batuman?" Tiffania asks incredulously, only for Ralf to speak up.
"I believe that was the name... The False Familiar was using in Antomiers." he states causing Tiffania to nod in understanding.
Jojin smiles, "He is! Me and my master have been keeping track of his ever since he saved us. We also know who he travels with..." he says, giving a pointed look to the two of them.
Ralf stifles his frown and crooks a brow at the young man, "And what would be your objective if you were to locate these 'travel companions', boy?"
Jojin smiles, "Why, help them of course!"
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