Dignitaries, such as those visiting from Yora or Irulon and Brakkt, had dedicated quarters almost directly adjacent to the manor of the lord of the land. Brakkt and Irulon weren’t staying in it, of course, choosing to distance themselves by housing with the guild instead, but they could request housing at any time. The building itself rather reminded Alyssa of a mother-in-law house. It was attached to the manor by a covered walkway, but was otherwise a completely separate building. It had its own guards and its own servants—though they probably had other duties to attend to while it was vacant.

The interior was furnished better than the manor was. Probably yet another way to display wealth to visitors. The craftsmanship of the walls, crown molding, tables, chairs, was all exquisitely done. And, not only that, but it was all smooth as well. Alyssa wasn’t sure when sandpaper had been invented or if some kind of sandpaper analogue existed here, but it sure looked like it. Only Lyria’s palace was quite as nice. Most things there were carved from stone, so Alyssa couldn’t quite compare it to the wooden furnishings here.

Given the rest of Illuna, Alyssa almost expected something a bit more humble. Was it really necessary to impress visitors to this degree?

Irulon, dressed to the nines in her dragon hide armor—completely scrubbed clean to the point where it practically shined—gave a heavy knock on the door of the Yora visitor’s quarters. Alyssa stood at her side, wearing slightly less clean dragon hide armor. Meanwhile, Kasita looked rather like Oxart at the moment. She wasn’t a perfect copy of Oxart, but she was wearing the armor of a highly ranked palace guard and slightly protruding cheekbones clearly took inspiration from Oxart as well.

The door swung open after only a few short seconds. Their coming had not been communicated beforehand. Either they had a guard standing by or one of Illuna’s guards who were watching over the guest house had informed the Yora representatives of their arrival.

Alyssa was leaning toward the former theory. If they knew that the princess was coming, Alyssa would have expected the most important of them to be the one at the door—or at least standing nearby. Instead, some low-level grunt stood in the doorway, looking first to Kasita before his gaze wandered over to Irulon and Alyssa. The recognition in his eyes was slow to start up, but after a double-take on Irulon, he clearly realized just who was at the door.

“P-Princess?” he called out, half over his shoulder and far louder than necessary. An immediate ruckus started up. Feet hit the ground in the room behind him, a door opened, and some out of sight whispering started up.

“My apologies for visiting unannounced,” Irulon said with a smile ripped straight from a viper. “I have been quite busy these past few days. And yet, I thought it would be remiss of me to miss visiting with such distinguished guests.”

“Princess Irulon!” A man strode forward, still slipping into a pressed suit of red velvet with a small emblem of swords embroidered over the right breast. He was a thinner man with dark hair, somewhat messy as if he just got up from lying down. His hands rubbed together as he stepped right up to the door. “We weren’t expecting you or we would have prepared better to greet you.”

“Of course you would have,” Irulon said as she stepped into the room without an invitation. The guy who opened the door stepped aside for her, but looked about ready to protest when Alyssa and Kasita started to follow. A sharp glare from the thin man had him snapping his mouth closed, allowing them entry. “Rest assured, I am not expecting to be treated as a princess. This is merely an informal greeting… and perhaps a request, if you wouldn’t mind hearing me out.”

“A request from the princess?” His smile turned a little strained. “I… suppose it wouldn’t hurt to hear you out.”

“Don’t worry. It is nothing cumbersome,” Irulon said, hands clasped behind her back as she stared around the room. There were three people present aside from the thin man. Two were men. One was a woman. They didn’t appear to be dressed in an official capacity, not like the thin man, but rather were all in something of a casual dress. They clearly hadn’t been expecting visitors aside from perhaps servants.

The group Alyssa had seen approaching Illuna had been made up of more than just the four of them. These were probably the most important of them all. They were, according to Kasita, the only ones staying in this guest house. The others had been relegated to some of the less opulent inns in the city.

It was a nice place, built for relaxation above all. Traveling in this world was a tiring and excruciating, so the comfortable-looking seats were likely welcome far more than any other luxuries of the room. There was a bookshelf with a few dozen books provided by Illuna for someone to pass time with, but it looked untouched. Which made Alyssa wonder just what a traveler like this group might do to pass the time. Tourism around the city? It wasn’t like they had television to sit around and watch.

Irulon’s examination of the room came to a close as she looked back to the thin man. “It’s just a personal request of mine. But I’m afraid you have me at a disadvantage. You know who I am, of course, but I don’t believe you’ve introduced yourself to me.”

“Ah! Forgive me, Princess Irulon. I am the Chief Retainer of Savorous of Yora, Deezer.”

“Chief retainer,” Irulon said with a nod. Stepping further into the room, she moved up to the bookcase and looked the titles up and down. “A high station. How is Yora as a city? I’ve never been.”

“Um…” Deezer looked over to one of the others in the room, only to receive a shrug. “Beautiful, your highness. We have lush, fertile land and the highest mountains. An impressive sight for anyone to see?”

“Really?” Irulon looked toward him, violet eyes piercing. “You don’t sound too sure of yourself.”

“No… I mean yes! It is very impressive. But… I’m just not sure where this line of questioning is going.”

“Just curious as to what kind of place it might be,” she said, turning away from him. “How are the people? Do you have much problem with crime?”

“Crime? Your Highness?”

“Lyria doesn’t take too kindly to criminals. You might not be aware of this, but just recently, we, along with some help from guests—” Irulon waved a hand toward Alyssa. “—rooted out one of the largest gangs in the city. Most are dead. Some wish they were dead. The rest might be able to be rehabilitated, but that is someone else’s job.”

“Um… Congratulations?”

“Thank you!” Irulon’s voice turned from unnecessarily chipper to a sinister drawl. “Which brings me to my problem here today. You see, someone entered into my private room last night and pilfered a private journal of mine. For anyone else, they might never see their journal again. But you see, my journal calls to me.”

Deezer blinked. “It—”

He didn’t get a chance to finish. Irulon snapped her fingers together, a motion that left her pointing directly at the bookcase. Kasita moved, crossing the short distance through the room in an instant, moving straight to the bookshelf where she said she had found the notebook in the first place. After sliding a few of the books to the side, she pulled out a much smaller notebook.

At the same time as she removed it from the shelf—a tricky bit of slight of hand in actuality, having stored the book within her body—Alyssa cast a series of Spectral Chains. In an instant, all four of the Yora representatives were wrapped in ghostly chains. The one closest to the door lost his balance and fell to his knees, but the other three managed to remain on their feet.

“The favor I am going to ask,” Irulon started, voice perfectly neutral once again, “is for you to explain yourself. I’ll give you one chance to deny that you know anything about this. One chance to claim that you are being framed right now.” Deezer opened his mouth, eyes wide, but Irulon clamped a hand around his face. “Lie to me and I will know. Lie to me and I’ll see you hung from your ankles off the walls of Illuna’s highest building under the effects of Rigor Mortis for twenty-four hours. But… tell me the truth and I might have a modicum of mercy.”

She waited a moment without drawing her hand back, looking around to the other four in the room. She paused on each of their faces before moving onto the next. “You are all welcome to speak up. If your leader refuses to answer or has an answer that I don’t like, you’ll all be joining in his fate unless you decide to tell me what I want to know.” Turning back to Deezer, she slowly removed her hand from his face, crossing her arms in the process.

Deezer didn’t even wait half a second before he opened his mouth. “I don’t know what that is or why it’s here! But when word of this… this indignity gets back to Savorous, you’ll regret ever approaching me!”

Irulon gave him the flattest look possible. “So,” she said slowly, drawing out the word. “You have chosen death.”

Alyssa raised an eyebrow, but decided to not comment on the tone with which Irulon spoke. At least not now. Perhaps later.

Deezer’s mouth clamped shut, face turning a paler than it had been. “It really wasn’t… I didn’t…”

“Does anyone else wish to make an application to save their own hides?” Irulon said, looking around to the others. Her eyes locked onto Alyssa for a moment as she turned and, pausing, she gave the slightest shake of her head. “Or shall I send you all to Tenebrael’s embrace with all due haste.”

That slight shake of Irulon’s head had Alyssa frowning. Deezer was telling the truth, at least as far as Irulon could tell. And Irulon could tell quite a bit.

Kasita seemed to get the message as well. Standing just behind the sole woman among their chained party, she nodded her head toward the woman. At a raised eyebrow from Irulon, Kasita nodded again.

Irulon didn’t immediately walk over to the woman. There wasn’t a direct path to her with the chains in the air. So she clasped her hands behind her back and slowly stepped around the room, stopping at the man who opened the door. “Have anything to say? Perhaps you saw how my book found its way to the shelf in this room?”

“I—I don’t know, your highness. I was at a tavern last night, drinking with some of the others. I only woke up a few hours ago,” he said with a slight grimace.

But Irulon nodded her head. He couldn’t see it, not with how he had fallen on his face. “I see. I believe you,” Irulon said.

The tension drained from his shoulders as she stared walking away. His large body practically melted into a puddle in her wake. Both Deezer and the woman gave him rather nasty glares. The other man probably would have as well, but he had his own problems at the moment.

Irulon stood in front of him, not speaking this time, just staring.

He blinked first, ducking his head to avert his gaze.

“Hm,” was all Irulon said as she walked on to the woman Kasita was standing behind. Again, Irulon didn’t say anything, but rather than stare as she had previously, she slipped the notebook into her satchel and reached for the tome chained to her hip. Slowly, deliberately, she started paging through it. Alyssa couldn’t see the spells from her angle, but the woman could. And the woman clearly had a background in magical knowledge.

Irulon stopped on a page, tapped it twice as if considering it. The woman’s eyes widened as she looked down at whatever spell Irulon had stopped at. When Irulon moved forward after one more tap of her finger, the woman almost sank to her knees in relief. She was obviously trying to keep her composure, but the relief leaked out…

That composure lasted right up until Irulon stopped on another page.

“I…”

Irulon looked up. She couldn’t meet the woman’s eyes; the woman stared only at the spell. “Yes?”

“I might know how that book came to be here.”

“You what?” Deezer shouted.

“Silence,” Irulon said. A card appeared between her fingertips, aimed directly at Deezer, as she spoke. It burned up before the word even fully got out.

Deezer tried to shout something, but no sound came from his mouth. A fact he only noticed after trying for several more words. Looking down at himself, he started struggling against the chains binding him, but failed to get anywhere at all.

“As you were saying?” Irulon said slowly, staring without having ever broken her gaze with the woman since she spoke.

“I… The book…” Her head lifted just enough for her to shoot a look around the room. “Deezer,” she started, focusing on him.

He tried to shout, but the silencing spell was still in effect, resulting in him looking like a scene from a horror movie on mute.

“And just what does he have to do with this?” Irulon said, tapping her foot hard enough to make loud thumps echo through the room. Each one made everyone but Deezer wince. “Spit it out. I’ve already been forced to come down here while I have other work to be doing, stand around and talk, and now you’re making me listen to your hesitation while you try to think up a good cover story, while you try to think of how to phrase stealing the princess’ private journal in a way that makes me less likely to kill you where you stand? Pathetic.”

“I didn’t know it was the princess’ book!”

Alyssa had seen flat looks on Irulon’s face before. But this… It set a new standard. As soon as the woman spoke, Irulon’s entire face lost all emotion. She just stared, no longer glaring, but simply flabbergasted.

“Ufu~ Ufufuwahhaha. I don’t think that was the right response.”

“Look. I’m an espire. My job is to keep us and our interests safe by knowing everything.”

“Clearly not very good at your job,” Alyssa said.

“I received word that someone had been holed up inside the guild for weeks without being seen. Someone who might be a threat. The book was supposed to be back where it came from before morning, but… I… misplaced it.”

Alyssa shot a glance at Kasita. That had probably been her doing. If not for her, Irulon could have looked around her room and… well, Irulon probably would have noticed even a slight misplacement of the book—and, as long as she noticed soon enough, Retrograde Cognition would have shown someone placing and stealing the book—but someone else might not have noticed.

“So you ordered it stolen?”

“No! It was… offered to me by one of my contacts in the city. I didn’t realize it was yours or I never would have accepted it.”

“Hm.” Irulon stared at her for a moment before lifting her gaze ever so slightly.

Kasita, still standing behind the woman, shrugged.

“I see,” Irulon said, turning. “I appreciate your cooperation thus far, Retainer Deezer. I believe we will be relieving you of your espire for the time being.”

“W-What are you going to do?”

“For now? Simply talk. And if I like what I hear, perhaps you’ll return to Yora in more than just an ash box.” Looking to Alyssa, Irulon gave a slow nod.

Three of the four Spectral Chains ended. None of the three formerly chained representatives moved, though Deezer looked as if he was about ready to march forward and give Irulon a piece of his mind. A glare from the princess kept him at a distance.

“Come,” Irulon said. “You can walk under your own power… or would you prefer if I brought—”

“I can walk!”

“Good.”

Kasita dropped a hand on the woman’s shoulder and started leading her out of the room. If the woman actually struggled, either Alyssa or Irulon would have to step in, but so long as she didn’t, Kasita was perfectly capable of directing her through the city.

“Deezer was shouting after us as we left,” Alyssa said as soon as they closed the door behind them. She kept her voice quiet. The woman was several paces in front of them with the way Kasita was leading her, so she shouldn’t be overheard…

“I know,” Irulon said quite a bit louder.

“Shouldn’t we have removed that silencing spell?”

“It will wear off. In a day. Maybe two. I always forget these things, you know?”

Alyssa could only raise an eyebrow. Being so overly stressed that she half-slept through someone breaking into her room? Possible. Forgetting the details of a spell? Shaking her head, Alyssa asked, “What are we doing with her?”

“She’s an intelligencer. As she said, it is her duty to know things. Perhaps we’ll find out some things that Kasita was unable to.”

“Sounds good, but—”

“After I make her regret being born.”

Alyssa pressed her lips together, shooting the princess a glare that went completely unnoticed. “Can we please find out why they are here before you render her incapable of speech?”

“Hm. Maybe.”