Chapter 6: Steeled resolve

With a swift movement, Harrison Gondorbrand threw a black cloak over his back and fastened the clasp under his chin before walking out of his current favorite tavern. 

What passersby couldn't observe was the masterful sleight of hand as Harrison concealed an envelope into a hidden compartment inside his armor. 

Leaving the riotous and rowdy atmosphere behind, the burly young man tucked his hair under the cloak hood and quickly disappeared into one of many dark alleys in the capital city of Niliphy. He was light on his foot, almost unusually so even though he was cladded in heavy plate armor, as if he was under the guise of a magic item or he had trained to move silently rigorously. 

Both could be true, for his face now reflected the face of a veteran warrior who had overcome many an obstacle to chase after his own goal. 

No longer was he a battle-happy mercenary.

Taking his usual long-winded and hard-to-track route around the city with a strange pace and gait, Harrison finally arrived at a small gift shop. 

It was a three storey building located in one of the quieter parts of town with a large glass window displaying its goods.

Pushing the mahogany door in with his shoulder, Harrison took a quick look around, nodded to the only clerk in the store and then carefully and meticulously browsed the shelves full of paper flowers, ribbons and stuffed animals. 

After a long while of deliberation and consideration, he grasped an expensive glass bottle of perfume, sniffed it and nodded in approval before bringing it to the counter, where an old man was patiently waiting for Harrison to make his purchase. 

The lone shopkeeper smiled as Harrison placed a gold coin into his palm, he then placed three silver pieces on top of the counter as changes, yet his thumb and pointer finger lingered on the middle and the right coin for but a second longer. But it was long enough for Harrison to catch on.

The human warrior' eyes sharpened with focus as he slowly and silently reached into his cloak, he breathed in a lungful before pirouetting around with immense speed and flinging a throwing axe to the right of his back: the position where the old man signaled. 

Where there existed only air, a sudden stream of blood gushed out staining the wooden floor. A gasping and sizzling sound filled the room, as a faint slimmer, a disturbance of the air appeared when the figure slammed into the shelves, breaking it and pushing all of the merchandise down and crashing onto the floor.

Harrison stood above the now deceased body, his hand still clutching another axe in preparation, but his sneak attack had proven to be fatally accurate. 

A clean cut could be observed on the neck of a ragly-dressed human, now visible, severing both the airway and the artery of the poor soul. At least death came to him quick, for a human brain would shut down fairly quickly without blood or air.

"Well done. These rats… I can not believe these fools actually exist inside the wall of Niliphy… Bloody invisible assassins…" The shopkeeper said as he put on a pair of long-sleeved gloves and took off his glasses - a pair of magically enchanted glasses that allowed him to see the invisible assassin.

"The intel was spotless… just flaunt that you have gold or connections in one of the ten taverns in town and you would get tailed immediately." Harrison picked up his throwing axe and began to wipe blood off the blade. "Any news on the other jobs?"

"Yes actually… Nicko and Murphy both got their targets disposed of, Selena had a struggle because the assassin was an orc, somehow breached the city wall and more surprisingly, somehow managed to be very sneaky. The imitation team is on their way to take over… hopefully we can locate their lair and take out the leader next week."

"And… Do you have any information regarding… what I asked?"

"Uhh… ah, about the missing adventurer? Yes yes, I sent words to Vazdania, Mian and Armiabia once again, I also sent an owl to Mosia and my contact in the Lonan Trade Company. No sight of him yet. In Mankon, there's some hearsays… some talks here and there, but I deemed them untrustworthy. Not yet, Harrison."

A clear disappointment could be seen on the warrior's face as he helped the old man carry the body into the next room.

"I'll… try my best. For now, you get some rest, okay? The bureau needs you to stay tip top. I'll allow you to take two weeks off. You've been working hard."

Harrison nodded and left the premises, cloaked and un-tailed.

He had joined one of the most prestigious organizations of the world of Lumea, an investigation bureau founded by the Kingdom of Gawon, directly serving the crown. However, it was not out of his own volition. 

Harrison preferred never contacting his family - the royals of Gawon, ever again. But his friend was taken, and all of his party's effort in locating the missing ranger was hopeless. They tried prying, but only locating the remains of Charlie's clothes and his bag of holding. 

They tried posters, word of mouth, whatever they could do in their power. Liam Hazelcrest - the representative taskmaster of the Adventurer Guild in Serepike, also sent words and men in official quests all over the continent. 

Yet, not even a single strain of information could be dug up, almost as if the earth had opened up and swallowed their friend. Roselie suggested asking for Lady Immith's help, for she was Charlie's acquaintance, but the arcane caster could not be found after she joined the vampire hunters to take down the remaining vampire lords in the Gawon region. 

That was why both him and his wife - Elluin Silverwind, joined the Gawon Investigation Bureau, in hope of tapping into the vast net of connection and information of the organization. 

Most men would have to partake in multiple tests to prove that they were worthy of joining, but thanks to Harrison's royal blood, however faint and rejected, they were easily allowed to join. 

At first, the couple was discriminated against and could only accept investigating petty thefts and similar low priority tasks. 

But they were nothing but quality seeds, for they quickly adapted and became two of the twelve pillars holding the middle ring of the bureau afloat.

And life went on for more than two years since the disappearance of Charlie.

Harrison could recall it vividly, Charlie bravely leapt onto a ship in a desperate attempt to stop the slave traders. Harrison would have joined Charlie if not for the busted legs caused by one of the two hill giants, which he regretted daily. 

If he had been able to follow Charlie, they could have overpowered the slavers and anchor the ship, and all would have been well. They would have saved twenty odd trafficked humanoids and be able to push the adventurer guild to take down the slave trading rings on the continent for good. 

But now their friend got captured and probably enslaved, but he was still alive somewhere. Harrison knew the ranger was not dead, for the arcane caster had returned a magic item attuned to Charlie himself to the party in exchange for a book kept in the bag of holding.

The Scroll of Angavir - a magical boon that displays the current status of its owner. And according to it, Charlie was still alive and well.

Mumbling to himself while traversing the busy road with ease, Harrison reached a small, enclosed market bustling with people. With his trained eyes darting around the small opening, the investigator soon located who he was looking for, but it seemed that she had already spotted him first.

Dressed in a similar dark outfit of the bureau, Elluin Silverwind stared at Harrison with her brilliant green eyes from across the market. Behind her, Roselie and Lisa casually chatted. 

The cleric girl was cladded in her usual white vestment, her golden staff kept near as she rested her arm holding it. It was difficult to see from afar, but the little cleric has grown much in two years. She was taller, taller than her halfling friend at least and barely catching up to Elluin's elven height. Her eyes now also reflected a broader knowledge in her faith, a wise and understanding pair of hazel brown eyes. 

Lissa, on the other hand, had not changed much, still dressed in a well tailored blue battle dress and looked the same to herself many years ago. That could be chalked up to the fact that her current body then was only a vessel created by Lady Immith Murnyethera, and her true self was that of a will o' wisp.

Releasing some tension in his shoulders, Harrison approached his party. He exchanged a quick kiss with his spouse, even though the kiss made both of their companions blush, and settled down at the table his party was sitting. 

His portion of breakfast was still warm: omelet, mushroom and thick cut bacon drizzled in hot wine and butter syrup - a new and trendy breakfast served in Niliphy in recent months.

"So, how's work today? Any problem?" Elluin asked him after he had had a few bites.

"The usual. Taking steps to… eliminate the root of the problem." He answered with a cautious low tone of voice and a tankard obstructing direct view of his mouth to eliminate lip readers risk. Discussing confidential business information was not the best activity to be done in a busy marketplace, but Harrison was sure his wife had scouted the area and made precaution beforehand.

"I'm having a week or two off. Approved by the district supervisor."

"Good to hear that, sir Harry!" Roselie chimed in "You've been working hard lately, I can tell."

"You too, Roselie." Harrison smiled "Your Lady Lathander won't go anywhere, you know? You could afford to cut back on the prayers."

The cleric girl's pale face immediately reddened, as if she was caught red-handed doing something inappropriate. But she retorted quickly "It… It's not that much! I only pray to her before bedtime!"

"That would be fine, but you begin praying at moon rise and going to bed near midnight is… well to put it simply…" Elluin gently tapped her fingertip on Roselie's forehead as she flinched "A bit much."

The cleric wilted "I… I just wanted to ask Lady Lathander to protect sir Charlie, you know?"

"We know." Harrison sighed. "My contacts did not yield anything new yet."

"Same here." Elluin said "Yesterday I had a chance to talk to a sentinel from Tacidrian and he agreed to run our painting through his empire's citizen's database."

"What's that? Citizen's what?" Lisa frowned

Harrison took a big gulp of bitter ale to ease the mouthful of egg down and explained:

"The Tacidrian Empire employed a method of identifying its citizen by recording into papers and crystal how that citizen looked like and other personal information, it's a way to combat the espionage war there, for the Tuenian Empire and the Tacidrian Empire are almost at a critical point in their territorial war." 

"Wow… that's… genius?" With an open mouth, Lissa nodded in admiration to the ingenuity of the Tacidrian people. "And… sister Elluin? How did the sentinel do?"

"Nothing came up. No reports of sight, no citizenship application, even the slave market there did not have any record of a slave like him. So…" 

Elluin raised a finger each time she listed a possibility: "He must have never stepped foot inside Tacidrian, or he was smuggled in or under disguise and fake documents. Another way for him to not be recorded by the authorities is by traveling with a royal member, which I doubt because… The royals there are mostly tieflings and they, I must emphasize this, do not like humans interfering in their government."

It was then a girl's voice called out from the market took the party's attention. A young girl, dressed in a priestly outfit similar to that of apprentice clerics, ran through the crowd and headed straight to their table. 

Her face showed great relief when she stopped behind Harrison's back and caught her breath. Her little forehead beaded with sweat as if she had run around the city whole.

Roselie recognized the girl. She was indeed an apprentice of the Supreme church, recently joined to train to become a traveling cleric, just like Roselie years before. Fin was her name, and on her hand was an envelope.

"Fin! Are you okay? Are you looking for me?" Roselie roused from her seat. Harrison recognized a little bit of pride in her voice, as if she was happy that her party could see her being a direct superior.

"Archdeacon Tressel! An emergency letter from Todoryre addressed to you arrived an hour ago… The messenger said that I must hand this to you as fast as I can, so I asked the Bishop to allow me to run for you. Here!"

Fin presented the letter with both hands and showed an extremely happy face when Roselie gently grasped her wrist and thanked her deeply. But the apprentice cleric couldn't fully observe Roselie's emotion as well as Harrison could: Roselie showed instant hesitation and anxiety - her irises slightly expanded and her cheeks flushed. 

"Here, take this coin and get yourself a treat from the market, okay? Don't tell the others!" 

Sending a grateful apprentice cleric on her way, Roselie returned to her seat and placed the envelope squarely on the table and stared at it absentmindedly. Both of her hands gripped the golden staff tightly.

"From your family?"

Elluin spoke up after a prolonged period of complete silence. Her pointy ears lightly flicked: she was curious. 

"Pr…probably. But I don't recognize the handwriting on the address."

"Hmm… the writer is left-handed, probably a male and… is a city guard." Elluin raised her eyes from the envelope to a surprised Roselie. 

The elf archer smiled, but of course, Roselie did not have intense training in espionage abilities, she did not have to forge writings for hundreds of hours as part of the bureau foundation skillset. Elluin pointed to the envelope as she explained "That smear on the writings is caused by a left-handed person writing in a hurry. Quite a messy type, so male, stereotypically. And that strange brown dirty mark on the corner there, that reeks of polishing oil for armor and weapons. And finally, that red rectangular seal in place of the stamp - that is the official stamp of Todoryre city guard post. So, a male, wears or works with armor and has access to the stamp equivalent of the guards of Todoryre."

As the cleric girl listened, her brows further furrowed, her lips slightly pursed and her eyes showed concern.

"I don't know why… the guards sent a letter to me. When I left Todoryre, I did not know anyone. I was just a student of faith, so it's expected. I only know my mum, my dad and my brother. And I sent a letter back home last weekend because their usual letter arrived later than expected… so unless…"

A deafening silence.

Lissa the halfling gasped and covered her mouth with her hands from the implication.

Roselie and Elluin also realized.

With a deep breath, the cleric grasped the envelope and unsealed it before revealing a yellowish paper of poor quality. She read.

A moment passed.

The market goers and the shoptenders kept on with their hurried beat, as a group of adventurers, tucked in a corner of a small cafe, pointed their eyes towards a cleric girl.

Roselie choked then. From shock and from pain.

Tears streamed down on her reddened face, blurring the sights of her comrades and the market behind.

The elf archer and the halfling immediately went to her sides and hugged and consoled her.

Every cleric, every paladin, every squire and apprentice, all would have a period of doubt.

Some doubt themselves. Some doubt their gods and the teachings they consumed and spreaded, in the name of their religion. And there are a plethora of causes for this to happen: disasters, hunger, war, unfortunate events that exceed the capability of a mortal mind to process.

Some of these children of faith would go on many years to find answers, traveling far and wide into the world, to figure out if the gods they once worshiped were genuine to the teachings they passed down.

Some, unable to rekindle the faith they once had, gave up and just… disappeared. They became ordinary people, farmers, guards, merchants, never letting others know they once were a faithful religious person. But their hearts ache every time the church's bell tolled, their souls wrenched as they saw clerics and paladins helping the poor and the sick. 

Some… turned to a more sinister path, a path most vile and evil, as a "get-back" at their religion.

And Roselie, in the middle of her friends' arms, gripped her staff tight.

She was a child of the Warden. She was the archdeacon of Lathander - goddess of birth and renewal.

She was a gold-ranked adventurer, a traveling cleric worth hundreds in platinum. 

The letter broke her heart. It simply stated that her family was brutally murdered inside their little chapel in the countryside, by members of a cult, of those who opposed Lathander's teaching - the teaching her father and mother preached daily to the little town outside the wall of Todoryre. The guards beckoned Roselie Tressel - the last member of the Tressel family, to come back and claim what was left, as well as to see to the building of graves for her parents and her brother.

Why them? Why must they die so soon?

She wanted to scream, but her teeth sunk into her lips, unmoving.

They have done good their whole lives, they brought hope to those downed on their knees. For what?

Roselie drew blood in her mouth. It was salty and stenched of grief.

Mom… Dad… Tom…

The cleric of Lathander raised her head to face the deep blue sky above. It was a beautiful day indeed.

Lady Lathander… they have served… and now, they must have returned to the Cycle, to be born anew. Pl…Please take care of them.

Yes.

Roselie Tressel was a child of the Watcher, as her parents and brother once were.

Her faith - unmoved. A flame was stoked in her heart, fueling and fanning it - an anger and hatred she never knew she could feel.

The cleric girl grasped the elf's arm currently wrapped around her and with a shaken, but steeled voice, Roselie said: "I have to get home."