CHAPTER NINETEEN

"Here are the keys to your room"

The owner of the inn shakily handed over the rusty key, he was very careful with his actions so as not to anger the knight standing behind the counter.

"Thank you"

The Knight thanked the owner and headed towards the stairs after giving him a curt nod. Her heavy silver armour boldly sported the emblem of the imperial knight order, it's weight alone caused the floor boards to creak with every step she took.

The inn owner cautiously watched the stairs until the knight disappeared from his view, he couldn't help but wonder why an imperial knight would choose to stay in such a shabby place. He needed no one to point out the horrible condition of the establishment he owned, the floor boards often creaked and there were distinct cracks on the walls along with the fact that the slightest bit of wind was enough to shift the windows out of their places. The inn was just an affordable place that barely served as decent shelter making it obviously far below the level of average so the owner had never dared to imagine that someone like an imperial knight would walk through his doors one day. It was certainly strange to him and he had to admit that he was rather curious, however, mere curiosity was far from enough reason to endanger his life. The Emperor was not a kind ruler and the same could be said about most of his knights. A single mistake was what separated normal people from those locked in the cells of Cheshire prison awaiting their deaths. On the surface, Emperor Grisha was hailed as the hero who united the continent, however, those false praises stemmed from fear. To go against the will of the Emperor the same as surrendering your head to the guillotine and no one was willing to be unjustly beheaded.

Aria walked along the hallway of the second floor, she was trying to find a door that matched the number on the key she was given. Her search didn't last for very long as the inn didn't have many rooms to begin with making it relatively easy to find a particular room. She opened the door and proceeded to inspect every corner of the room behind it. She only relaxed a bit when she was sure that the room was free of any potential dangers and took out a new set of clothes along with the amulet left by Kharis from a void item in the form of a band on her wrist, she placed them beside her as she sat on the bed.

Aria looked around the simple room, she noted that there was barely any decent furniture in the small space and even the ones available had obviously seen better days. The bed appeared to be rather old, the table at the side was on the verge of breaking and the chair behind it was in even worse condition. All things being considered, the room was passable at best, it was so small that it could hardly fit anything more than what was already in it. However, Aria didn't bother viewing the room's condition as inconvenient, her primary objective was to find a temporary lodging to clear her head and plan her next move, she didn't care about the room's condition as long as it was able to fulfill its purpose.

After leaving the palace, Aria had joined the hundreds of people hurrying along the busy streets of Dremos and headed to the southern end of the city. Without permanent residence in the capital, she needed to seek out a place to calm her disoriented thoughts and with the many hotels and inns present within its borders, the southern district was her best option. She already decided to trust Alistair's words and leave the capital so she needed to start making all the necessary preparations, there was also the amulet that Kharis had left her among the other things she needed to attend to.

The southern district was as busy as any other part of the city, the sea of people that surrounded her made the task of looking for a suitable place a lot more difficult that she initially planned. Thankfully, she was able to spot an old building not long after entering the district, it was in obvious bad shape and looked significantly plain but the most important thing was that it didn't stand out in any way from the other buildings around it. She weaved through the crowd and slowly moved towards the inn until she was right in front of it's entrance. Upon entering, she was greeted by a man who identified himself as the owner, he seemed overly cautious throughout their short conversation and she was well aware of it as his odd behaviour did little to hide that fact. She didn't really pay any mind to the man's behaviour or whatever his thoughts were, she only cared about quickly getting a room and luckily enough, the process of checking in was kept very brief making her able to do just that.

Aria switched out her heavy armour for more comfortable clothes before lying on the bed. As expected, the bed was hard but it didn't really come as a shock to her since the state of the other furniture in the room was enough reason to limit her expectations.

She held the purple amulet and stared at it for a bit, she could tell that the amulet was very different from any magic item she had ever seen. Just by looking at it, it was obvious that the small amulet was far from ordinary, she had seen a lot of magic items but somehow she could already sense that none of them were on par with this one. She wondered what it's functions were and why it was left behind for her to find. From the looks of things, the amulet didn't seem bound to an owner yet so she held it in her palm and willed it to activate before closing her eyes.

At first, all she could her was a low buzzing sound echoing through her mind but soon enough, the buzzing turned into voices.

"Is it working?"

"Yes, you can start now"

Aria recognized the first voice as that of her lady, however, the second one remained unfamiliar.

"Okay then"

Kharis continued to speak after replying to the strange voice.

"Aria or at least I hope you are the one listening to this"

"By the time you discover this message, I would most likely be far away from the castle, I have my own reasons for leaving and I decided that it's probably best if I do so"

"I hope you understand"

"Are you trying to sound dignified or something?"

The strange voice that obviously belonged to a man suddenly interrupted Kharis while she was still speaking.

"Can you just be quiet and let me finish"

Aria could imagine her lady rolling her eyes in annoyance.

"Alright alright, I won't disturb you anymore"

"Thank you"

The voice turned silent after that.

"Like I said before I was rudely interrupted, I have some issues to resolve so I'll be gone for a while and I don't know how long it will take for us to meet again"

"I do not wish to get you involved in my problems, however, I know my actions may have put you in some sort of danger and that is why I am leaving this amulet behind"

"If you ever feel like you are in danger due to my disappearance, activate the teleportation function of the amulet, it will take you to a specific location in black forest"

"I will be there for a few days and if we happen to miss each other, activate the item again and it will take you to a place where you will be safe until we are able to meet"

Aria was right when she judged the amulet as a high grade item. Being able to teleport to two marked locations wasn't something that ordinary magic items were capable of. She was a bit stunned at the mention of black forest, it was one of the most dangerous places if not the most dangerous place on the continent. She doubted her chances of survival in such a place, however, the next sentence she heard succeeded in calming her worries.

"As I'm sure you are well aware, black forest is a very dangerous place but I have prepared some measures to ensure your safety so you don't have to worry"

"I do hope that you are already safe and don't have to resort to using this item, if so then I will come find you after I have completed what I need to do"

"In any case, please be safe until we meet"

"Good bye for now Aria"

With that the message ended and the voices disappeared. Aria opened her eyes and sat up, there were a lot of questions swirling in her mind like what made her lady suddenly leave the castle and who was the owner of the other voice she heard during the message. However, the good thing was that she now had a destination and a way to get there, all she needed to do was make the adequate preparations before activating the item. Her lady had truly prepared a way for her to escape just like Alistair predicted, the respect she held towards Kharis grew even more at that moment. She knew that even if there were no threats to her safety, she would still chose to activate the amulet and follow her lady to whatever location laid behind it despite the risks that were sure to follow.

Aria could feel her mind recover from its unsettled state, she now had a clear goal in mind and that was to meet Kharis at the first location before she would leave there.

Aria was determined to complete her preparations within a few days at most and head out to black forest as soon as she could.