Lucina didn't think she'd ever been more happy to see a town emerge from the woods. The walk felt like hours, even though Lucina was sure it had only been a few minutes.
Even with most of her wounds healing up, her arms still hurt like Naga's holy fire. Exhaustion, while not an unfamiliar adversary, was one she was unused to dealing with alone. Usually, she'd catch a ride on Gerome's wyvern or Cynthia's pegasus.
This is why we agreed to never travel alone, Lucina thought with a grimace.
Oh well. No reason to dwell on it now. The best thing she could do was press on.
As she approached, she noticed two guards standing in front of the gate cut into the wall surrounding the town. One of the guards stiffened before she even got within three hundred feet of the town; unsurprising, considering how much her bright blue attire stood out from the deep green of the forest.
What did surprise her was that, when the guard elbowed his companion, stirring him to attention, their weapons lowered to point at her.
"Hey! You!" the gatekeeper said.
Lucina stopped. She pointed to herself, confused. "Me?"
"Yes, you." The gatekeeper cleared his voice. "Do you have any business here?"
Lucina frowned. Normally, people were more than eager to let her through, but she was a mercenary now; not the most trustworthy profession, she'd admit.
"Not really. I am simply a mercenary looking for someone to pay for my services."
The gatekeeper exchanged a glance with his partner. "You wouldn't happen to have any companions hiding in the woods, would you?"
Confused, Lucina looked over her shoulder and scanned the forest. "I do not believe so."
The guards didn't seem satisfied with her answer. They seemed more resigned if anything. As one of the guards pulled a notepad out, the gatekeeper turned back to her. "What's your name, ma'am?"
"Lucina."
The gatekeeper looked over at his partner, but he was already jotting something down. As he lifted his quill off the paper, he mumbled something to the gatekeeper. The gatekeeper nodded. Then he turned to Lucina.
"Alright. We'll let you through."
The guards let their weapons return to their sides. Letting a smile take to her lips, she continued forward under the watchful gaze. As she passed under the gate, Lucina relaxed. She didn't think she had enough strength for another fight, even if there were only two guards.
She entered the town to the sight of a bustling crowd in the town square up ahead. As she strolled down the street, she allowed her eyes to wander to the buildings towering over her, bright and lively in the midday sun. Birdsongs from the forest trailed in behind her, and from the town square, she could just barely catch a whiff of someone cooking meat over the fire.
There was a homey feeling to it all. Just walking through the street, Lucina felt at ease.
It must be nice, living in a place like this, she thought. At least it's a lot less busy than Ylisstol, so the chances of me bumping into someone I know are slim.
"So, what is the plan, boss?"
Lucina almost jumped at the voice coming from beside her. She looked down to find two very bored red eyes staring up at her.
Right. She had almost forgotten about the merchant girl who had up and declared herself her companion.
Lucina opened her mouth, only to realize she didn't exactly have a plan in mind. A place to rest didn't sound like a bad idea if her aching body was anything to go by.
"We need to find an inn."
"Good idea," the Anna said, and she smirked. Or, at least she tried to. On her small, girlish face, she looked more cheerful than coy.
Lucina chuckled.
"How cheap do you think we can get one for?"
That question wiped the smile off her face. She didn't have any money on her. She spent the last of it on her sword. She wouldn't be able to get a room cheap, let alone any room at all.
"We're... not going to look for a place to say," she said. Seeing the Anna's confused frown, she added, "We are going to an inn to find... a tavern. Yes, a tavern."
"A tavern? Why?"
"Because people like to talk in taverns. It's my best bet to find work."
A good drink loosened lips, or so the saying went. It was either that, or Uncle Gaius had been messing with her. It wouldn't be the first time.
"Oh. Alright!" the Anna said, understanding dawning on her face.
As Lucina watched the Anna run toward the town square, she narrowed her eyes, suspicious. Although she'd never met the Anna of her time, she'd met many of her sisters. The only thing they'd ever seemed focused on was making as much money as they could. Surely this one was no different.
What is her plan? Why the acting? Lucina thought.
"Hey! Are you going to make me wait, or do you need another vulnerary?"
Lucina blinked, and she saw the Anna standing down the road, her hands on her hips as her foot rapped against the road.
"If it's the second one, you'd better be prepared to pay up," the Anna said, irritated. "I'm not going to give you another freebie."
"No. It's fine," Lucina said, shaking her head. "I got lost in my thoughts. That is all."
When Lucina stepped through the rough, wooden door, no one paid her heed. She slipped quietly into the crowded room, stepping past patrons without a word.
On the other hand, when the Anna entered the room, everyone turned to look.
"Do you think the inn down the street would charge us less?" was the first thing out of her mouth. "How cheap do you think they'll sell us a drink for?"
From behind the bar, Lucina heard the bartender give an angry mumble. Not too impressed, it seemed.
"That won't matter," Lucina said, turning to the Anna, "because you won't be getting any."
The Anna gave her a long stare, before she said, "Fair enough."
They walked over to the bar at the front to take a seat, the other patrons watching their every move. Lucina pulled out a stool and sat down, but when the Anna tried to do the same, she found her stool rooted in place. She looked up, and she found the bartender reaching across the bar, holding onto the stool.
"No children here," he said. It looked like she wasn't going to get away with that jab scot-free.
"You wouldn't turn down a paying customer, would you?" the Anna said, looking up at him with big, pleading eyes.
"I can't accept money from children either." Without missing a beat, he looked over her shoulder and yelled, "Iris!"
A large shadow fell over them. The Anna turned around, and when she found herself looking up at a giant of a woman, her eyes widened.
Lucina watched as the woman, Iris, hauled the girl off her feet. The Anna kicked and hissed like a little red-haired cat, but the woman didn't budge. Lucina found it strangely entertaining, and as the woman carried the Anna out the door, a smile crept up her face.
"Oi."
A rough voice called her attention from beside her. She turned to look. The moment she did, she froze up, instant recognition keeping her in place.
The short, prickly red hair. The rigid, rectangular face, unblemished by the wrinkles she knew would take to his face with age, but still marred with some of the same scars. His eyes even shone with the same, teasing energy she'd only heard of from some of the other children. There was no doubt about it; this was certainly the Gregor her father had fought alongside with.
Thankfully, she managed to keep her mouth shut before she could blurt out something stupid like she'd done with Frederick. Some of it must have still shown on her face, even through the mask she was wearing, since his eyebrow shot up at an alarming rate.
"You see something you like, no?" he said, his tone teasing.
Thankfully he seemed to have mistaken her intent. Internally, Lucina sighed in relief. She had only seen this man in passing before he'd died, but there was no mistaking that face. He had a rather unique way of speaking, so that only confirmed her suspicions.
When his eyebrow only went up further, Lucina realized that she probably should have responded ages ago. "Ah, no. You simply remind me of someone I met before."
Gregor, or who she assumed was Gregor, barked a laugh. "A-ha-ha! Then you must have met Igor's brother! Him and Igor, we look very much the same, so many people have confusion about who is who."
"I see," Lucina said, nodding slowly. As she let her gaze fall back to the bar, though, a certain discrepancy hit her like the broad side of a wagon.
Did he just say Igor? Lucina frowned, and she shook her head. No, he certainly said Gregor. I must have just misheard it, that is all.
Seeing her look away, it only seemed to make him determined to catch her attention again. "Must be very had, taking care of child, no?" he said, and he motioned to the door behind them just as the giant woman came back through, sans the red-haired girl in her arms.
"Oh, yes. Very much so," she said, not really focused on the conversation.
Gregor seemed to find this very humorous; the laughter rattling Lucina's left ear was very loud, like she had told him some brilliant joke, or, more likely, he'd just made her the butt of some brilliant joke.
"I would not know," he said between peals of laughter. "Igor has never raised child. If anything, he is child, because he is baby brother."
"I... see," Lucina said again, a little slower.
Now that she'd stopped to take a look at him, she saw that he looked to be older than her, if only a little bit. He had been the oldest of the Shepherds, after all. Not only that, but he'd been a mercenary before he joined the Shepherds, and Lucina realized that if anyone could give her advice on this whole "being a mercenary thing", it was him.
He opened his mouth to speak, but Lucina beat him to it.
"How can I become a mercenary?"
Not expecting the question, Gregor shifted back. A frown marred his face, and he glanced away momentarily. "You are mercenary too?"
"Not for long, but yes. I am a mercenary."
Gregor had a laugh at that. "Oh? Why is girl out, selling sword to people instead of having sword sold to her?"
"I... I am sorry, I don't follow."
Gregor rolled his eyes and gave a long sigh. "And the people say Igor cannot understand Ylisse-tongue." He paused, mulling over his words, before he said, "You have much money, yet you do not look like knight, and you wander like wild pig."
Lucina stayed quiet. After a moment she asked, "How did you know?"
"That is easy. You have soft blue coat. No sellsword has enough gold for coat such as that."
Lucina cursed. Of all the things to give her away, her clothing, obvious as it had been, hadn't crossed her mind. The only problem was; she didn't want to get rid of it either.
Bundling up her coat and clutching it to her chest, Lucina said, "This coat was a gift from my father."
"And what would father think if such a pretty coat was blemished with many cuts?"
"He would not have minded. Not that whatever he might think matters much now."
"Ah." An understanding dawned on Gregor, and as he pulled away from Lucina, he said, "Igor understands. He is much the same."
"You lost your parents as well?" This had come as a surprise to Lucina. None of the other children had mentioned it.
"To bandit-scum. Igor's brother, Gregor, is all he has left."
"Your brother's name is Gregor?" Now Lucina was sure she had gotten something wrong.
"Yes. Is there something that is confusing you?"
"No. It's just... I was sure your name was Gregor."
"Then you have old-people memory." Gregor, sorry, Igor, jabbed her with his elbow. "Igor–apologies, I–thinks he has mentioned his name is Igor very short time ago."
"You have. I just misheard it. The fault is entirely my own."
"If you say so." Igor glanced around and hummed like he was making a very hard decision, before he turned and looked her dead-set in the eyes.
"Very well," he said. "Igor will share you some of his secrets."
"You will?"
"Yes. It is not easy, caring for little one with no help from mother and father. It will not be good if Igor left you alone. He is gentleman, after all." Leaning close to her, like he was helping her plan treason, he whispered, "It is good idea to take any job you get, even work for free."
"For free? But does it not go against the whole idea of being a mercenary?"
"It is," Igor seemed a little downcast, admitting it to her, "but people, they are not so trusting of a new baby face, like Igor. They will hire if people talk about you, but if you want people talking about you, you need to do many jobs, and even if you are young and have baby face, people will ask for work if you work for free."
"That doesn't sound very bright."
A familiar voice came from Lucina's other side, and when she looked back over, she had to rub her eyes to make sure she wasn't seeing things.
"What are you doing here?" she hissed once she was sure the little merchant girl sitting beside her was not simply a mirage. "Didn't the bartender kick you out?"
"Oh, that old barrel of booze?" The Anna shrugged. "As it turns out, he didn't pay Iris over there very well. Don't tell me I'm going to have to buy your silence as well."
"Do you have any money with you?"
"No. Mom always kept her money with her, so I would've never gotten a chance to lighten her purse." She sounded more disappointed in the fact that she'd never get to do it than the fact that she'd come up with the idea at all.
"Then how did you pay for her silence?"
"With a vulnerary." The Anna motioned to her backpack, which, Lucina noticed, had one last odd lump sticking out of it. "Apparently, she'd been saving up for one for her brother. I offered to give her one, in exchange for a generous deal."
"How is child knowing so much already?" Igor whispered into Lucina's ear. "Igor fears nothing but this... he might have to make exception."
"I do not know," Lucina replied. She turned back to the Anna, arms crossed, but she'd already moved on before Lucina could scold her.
"So, what were we talking about? I just heard 'free' and assumed it was bad."
Igor looked none too pleased about the interruption. "Oi. Child should not speak when adults are speaking. Is not polite."
The Anna's mouth opened to protest. A dull thud from upstairs interrupted her. Lucina glanced over to the side, leaning back to look past Igor. A set of stairs sat beside the bar, going up to the rooms upstairs, she assumed.
She heard another thump, and a young couple emerged from the stairs. From the way their bright clothes stood out from the drab greens and browns of the common folk scattered around the room, Lucina could easily tell that these two were nobles. The light, blue-striped armor padding the man marked him out as a cavalier, but nothing else about them seemed to stand out, although she could have sworn she had seen that shade of red hair before.
Igor saw them too, and the second his eyes landed on them, they lit up like Inigo the moment some unsuspecting lass entered his line of sight.
"We need to go. Our boy needs us," the man whispered, his voice just barely carrying over to her.
The woman, his wife, Lucina assumed, threw a wary glance around the room. "Are you sure it's safe to take the roads alone? With all the bandits watching the paths, I fear we may not be able to make it back to Themis unscathed."
"I'm afraid we can only afford to go alone. Unless we meet someone willing to accompany us for free, we wouldn't be able to pay them." The man shook his head, clearly distraught.
Igor turned to give Lucina a wink. That didn't bode well. A worried frown crossed her face, but before she could stop him, Igor turned back to the couple and raised his hand.
"You two! With funny dress!"
The couple looked over at him, his chest puffed out like a bird. He opened his mouth to say something, but when his hand fell to his side and grasped the air, his brows drew down. His mouth closed, and his eyes fell to the floor around him in a frantic search. It seemed he had lost something, a weapon, from the looks of it.
As he searched, his eyes rose from the floor to look about the room. Whatever it was he'd lost, when his gaze stopped at the table of the corner, Lucina could tell he'd found it. And from the way he scowled, he didn't look too pleased about it.
"Oi!" he called to the other side of the room. "Hands off! That is mine!"
Igor stood up out of his chair and strode across Lucina's vision. As he disappeared into the crowd of patrons, Lucina heard the Anna to her side clear her throat. She turned to the small girl, who only motioned to the couple at the stairs.
"Now's your chance!" she said, giving her a look that was just a little too innocent.
Lucina's eyes narrowed. As much as she didn't like merchants, though, she did have a point. She spun herself back to the couple, only to find them already heading toward the door.
Her stool slid back with a loud creak as she got to her feet. Waving her hand, she called after them, "Hey!"
When they turned to face her, she said, "So, what's this I hear about bandits?"
The couple glanced at each other, a little pensive. "I'm sorry," the wife said, stepping forward, "but we would not be able to pay for your services."
"I don't believe I mentioned pay, did I? A bit of experience is all I need for now."
The couple looked surprised at that. They looked at each other again. The wife frowned. The husband nodded. The wife's frown softened, and she shrugged. A silent conversation passed between them, and by the time they turned back to Lucina, it appeared that they had made a decision.
"Bring your things. Themis isn't exactly a half-hour ride from here," the husband said.
A small part of her hissed at the prospect of having more to do. She'd been through worse, having spent days marching through Risen-infested territories.
A princess, forced into the life of a mercenary. When she'd been sent to the past, she never considered her life would turn out like this. But this was how her life was going to be now. The only thing she could do was steel herself for the journey ahead, and press on.
Hey, I managed to not burn out for once!
Also, I finally have somewhere to go. Well, more focus on where to go, anyway. Unpacking some plot bits, setting things in motion. Normal people things.
That's all I really have to say. I'll see you all some other Monday.
