Leo

A full two weeks after he’d first arrived in Wolfpine, certain he’d be done with his first Blazer Quest in a day or two, Leopold Argentshade woke both utterly depressed and utterly worn out. Beside his small, spare bed, the first rays of sunlight peeked into his largely unfurnished guest room. The window was clean, mostly, with a perfect view of the house across the street and the town wall beyond.

In other words, absolutely nothing remotely interesting.

In addition to sleeping in Barry Dewcrest’s spare room—Joanne had been kind enough to arrange a lodging contract for Leo with her father, ensuring Leo’s true identity stayed under the radar—he had, of course, hunted Monsters. Hunting was what Adventurers did, and under normal circumstances, Leo enjoyed it. He enjoyed challenging any Monster that came his way.

Yet at Level 10, there was very little in Grassea that gave him a challenge or experience. Even so, Leo had risen at the crack of every day for thirteen days to stride out of Wolfpine’s gates. He’d prowled the Safe Road and the Dewdrop Hills and the Deepscorn Woods and even the Rustiron Flats, anywhere an Adventurer Leveling as a fugitive might gain experience.

He’d been certain he’d stumble across his targets in a few days, perhaps even save them from a dangerous situation and gain their trust. He was just another rowdy Adventurer on the wrong side of the Town Guards. They’d never suspect him of being a Junior Blazer secretly hunting for wanted fugitives.

Yet while Leo had encountered many Adventurers in his two weeks, he’d been unable to positively identify any of them as Anna Bronzelight or Alan Starshine. Many Adventurers wore helmets, of course, which made it hard to tell their hair color or see their faces. Others matched the general descriptions Leo had been given, but without the ability to see their Status Sheets, he could only guess at their identities. He’d tried introducing himself more than once, of course, as was the custom.

“Leopold Argentshade, Level 10 Skirmisher.”

Yet those who responded need not have responded honestly. Some didn’t respond at all. And as Leo spent his first two weeks making absolutely no headway on his first Blazer Quest, one Jenny had given him a month to complete, he was now increasingly certain he’d fail it.

He’d fail Jenny.

Leo realized now, much too late, that his instinctive discomfort with social situations had complicated his Quest. He’d ventured back into The Mead Beast more than once, always receiving a warning look from Sadie the moment he arrived. Given how he’d behaved his first day in her tavern, he couldn’t blame Sadie for being less than welcoming.

Once in the tavern he’d then sat quietly, alone, as he sipped mead as he watched other people having a great time. While he quickly learned to separate the Townsfolk and regulars from the Adventurers just passing through, none stood out. Would fugitives even drink at The Mead Beast?

Leo had made no real friends here, no contacts. He’d learned no juicy gossip. He’d simply spent two weeks sleeping in the spare bed and roaming a zone that was too low Level for him while missing Lakebrooke and his fellow Junior Blazers. He’d never thought to miss Lakebrooke. Yet he did, now.

He should get up and hunt. He knew he should get up and hunt, to ensure he didn’t miss anyone who might be hunting early. Hunting early would be what he’d do if he were a fugitive. Less competition to steal his kills and less eyes to identity him to others.

Yet today, two weeks in, Leo simply couldn’t summon the willpower to spend another day aimlessly wandering Grassea. What he was doing obviously wasn’t working, so rather than continue to sink time into a strategy that wouldn’t work, he needed a new one. He’d have an easier time coming up with that new strategy if he rested in bed and stared out a window at nothing at all.

The sun rose. The town woke. And as the gears in Leo’s head turned futilely, failing to churn out a plan, his eyes remained fixed but unseeing on the unremarkable house across the street. And there, suddenly, the Adventurer he’d unwittingly roped into the incident at the tavern appeared.

Leo had quickly learned from Barry Dewcrest, his host, that Zack Silverstone lived in the house next door with his mother, Beth. An amusing coincidence. Yet given the trouble he’d put Zack through, Leo hadn’t gone over to introduce himself. He’d actually taken pains to avoid them both.

Still, it was amusing to see Zack apparently sneaking out of his own bedroom window. Zack was dressed in the same [Dusk Leather] he’d worn the day Leo accused him of stealing his coin purse. It looked considerably more scuffed now, suggesting Zack had been busy Leveling.

Zack’s bedroom window was high enough that he had to drop to the ground, so why wouldn’t Zack just use the door? Was he stealing from his own mother? That was almost too ludicrous to be true.

Yet Zack didn’t slink away. He turned back to his window instead, and reached up. And then, a long, pale, bare leg clad in a dark boot emerged. Leo’s eyes widened.

That leg and boot were followed by another, and then both boots landed atop Zack’s raised hands. As the two exchanged all but inaudible words and laughter, Leo sat up further. Zack had a woman in his room, and obviously one he didn’t want his mother to know about!

Leo chuckled quietly to himself. Zack’s morning escape was both amusing and, also, made Leo a bit jealous. He and that woman had no doubt had an enjoyable night right under the nose of Zack’s mother. Leo knew from his investigations that Beth Silverstone was a successful local Merchant.

Or did Beth know what was going on with Zack and the woman? Leo couldn’t guess what might be going on in her house. She might be fine with her son sleeping around. There was no shame in that.

His curiosity piqued, Leo’s eyes lingered on the shapely young woman who soon dropped into the alley. She had short brown hair and wore a blue [Cotton Robe]. He felt vaguely creepy watching them both from his window, inside a dark room into which neither of them could see, but he had two weeks of failure under his belt. Two weeks of boredom. Zack’s life, at least, was interesting.

When Zack pressed the woman against the wall of his own house and started kissing her, Leo quickly looked away. He didn’t want to spy on that. Yet the soft sound of gentle speech told him the two were now headed out, and Leo took one last look.

That was when the sun caught the woman’s short brown hair from behind. It glowed as she fluffed it while making honey eyes at Zack, and by her ear, Leo caught a tuft of golden blond. He sat up so straight he nearly hit his head, then crept to the window as quietly and stealthily as he could.

The woman was already walking away, with Zack. And as the two of them did so, a third man emerged from the front door of Zack’s house, a muscular man with pale skin and ratty brown hair. He hadn’t come out of the window. He hadn’t been in Zack’s room, but he had been in Zack’s house.

Why would a young man who looked nothing like Zack or his mother be living in Zack’s house?

This man looked resigned, not dour, like he’d long ago given up on talking either Zack or the woman out of sneaking out the window together. The man was bit older than Zack, but still younger than Leo. Moreover, his ragged hair looked like he’d cut it himself. Leo knew that look, since he’d often cut his own hair when he was still pinching crescents on the docks of Lakebrooke.

The brown-haired man wore a large shield strapped to his back and wore armor that looked quite battered from constant use. He carried a mace. That obviously made him a Brutalist, while the woman wore a [Cotton Robe]. Harmcasters wore [Cotton Robes].

The three of them walked off the town gates—the Shadower, the Brutalist, and the Harmcaster—and as Leo assured himself what he’d seen had been no trick of the light, he smiled in shocked and sudden triumph. While most of that woman’s hair might be dyed brown, he’d clearly seen blond roots as she playfully fluffed her hair out for her paramour.

And the man? He’d likely dyed his hair brown as well. If two fugitives knew they were known to all hunting them as two people with golden blond hair, changing that hair’s color would be one’s first priority. Changing its style would be the next.

As Leo considered this, several facts that had lingered two weeks in the back of his mind slotted together like tumblers in a lock. An excitement he’d not felt in that long invigorated him.

First, there were the copied guest logs from The Mead Beast and The Scarlet Rose, both of which he’d discreetly received from Joanne. In all, they hadn’t proven much help. Despite Joanne’s claims that Glenn Redwood was the son of a scribe, the man’s penmanship was atrocious. Leo had spent two days just trying to decipher the names on the sheets.

He’d found no Alans or Annas, at least none that he could identify. Jenny had told him the fugitives might have been in Wolfpine for more than six weeks, but if that was the case, he’d have to request and parse even more guest lists. Ultimately, he’d decided going back further than six weeks wasn’t worth the effort, since Anna and Alan obviously weren’t staying at The Mead Beast now.

Secondly, there was the conversation he’d witnessed the first day he’d arrived, just before he picked a fight with Zack Silverstone in the tavern. Randi Callowshade’s taunting words to Zack played back in Leo’s head, as clear as when she first spoke them.

“After you stole our only long term investments? You owe us a round or six.”

At the time, Leo had no idea what Randi had meant by “investments”. Her wordplay had thrown him, and it had seemed ludicrous at the time that anyone, let alone Zack, could steal literal investments. But guests—people who paid for an inn every day—could be considered as such, especially if they had initially signed up to pay for a room for some time, then changed their mind.

Like a pair of fugitives might. Once they remembered someone would eventually check the guest rosters at The Mead Beast. And so, Leo now suspected, those fugitives had found alternate lodging with a private citizen who had no responsibility to either keep or share guest logs.

It was Zack Silverstone. Zack had been the key to his Quest along. Leo had met Anna Bronzelight’s local co-conspirator in Wolfpine the first day he arrived, and he had completely missed this obvious connection.

Worse, he’d spent two weeks sleeping directly across from the man and his quarry. Two weeks! Yet he’d never once seen a blond-haired woman who’d cut her hair and dyed it brown sneaking out of Zack’s window, because always he left at the crack of dawn. He’d always left before they did.

Zack and the woman he suspected was Anna Bronzelight slept in every morning, most likely. Or ... they weren’t asleep. They could be doing quite a number of other things, but Leo wouldn’t speculate on how they occupied their mornings. That wasn’t any of his business.

What was his business was his Quest. His fugitives. All of this felt right.

Zack knew Anna Bronzelight. Zack was sleeping with Anna Bronzelight. And Anna and her cousin, Alan Starshine, were lodgers living with Beth Silverstone. Leo had finally found his targets.

So ... now what?

He had to follow them and verify his suspicions. He didn’t even bother shrugging on his armor, which would take too much time and require rousing Barry Dewcrest to help him with the straps. Leo simply left his armor where his was, snatched up his [Steel Spear], and hurried out the door.

Being without his dependable [Steel Armor] left him feeling a bit vulnerable, but he moved faster without it. He was also Level 10. He could handle Grassea’s low Level Monsters without armor if it came to that. But could he handle a Shadower, a Brutalist, and a Harmcaster?

Leo made up his mind as he hurriedly left Barry Dewcrest’s house—and Barry, who was snoring loudly—to their own devices. He wouldn’t attempt to arrest Anna or Alan today. Jenny hadn’t ordered him to arrest them, simply to find them, and things could turn violent if he tried. Leo might have stolen food and coin when he was younger, to survive, but he had absolutely no desire to hurt anyone.

He would simply track his targets. He would verify they were who he thought they were beyond a shadow of a doubt. And then ... he would contact Jenny in Lakebrooke, via phantom correspondence, and tell her he’d located his fugitives.

He’d actually completed his first Blazer Quest!

Leo reached into his [Unfilled Bag] and removed his [Steel Helmet]—that, at least, he could easily don himself—and slipped it on. As with all Adventurer gear, it fit snugly, and it also completely hid his face. It did look a bit odd without armor, but some Adventurers couldn’t afford to purchase a full set of [Steel Armor] all at once time. Few purchased a helmet first, but was possible.

And with the successful completion of a three week long Blazer Quest ahead, it was all Leo could do not to whistle as he hurried toward the town gates of Wolfpine.