"I can't believe it," Robin said, his voice muffled by the countertop pressed to his face. "I was wrong."

Behind him, patrons milled about the bar, going about their normal lives, while up on the stage, a group of musicians sat on a group of stools arranged in a half-circle. Suima sat beside him, patting his back slowly. She didn't say anything, but she did glance around with a worried frown. A few people stopped to give them looks. No one said anything, though, so he was thankful

"Is this how it feels to be you?"

Sumia stopped. She gave a huff and looked away. "Why am I the lowest bar for you?"

Robin just sighed, waving a hand behind him. "Just... forget that. I'm sorry, I shouldn't be saying things like that. I should be thanking you. You found the secret hatch, after all."

"Oh. Yeah, that was me."

They fell back into silence. Over on the stage, the minstrels began to play.

As Robin pulled his head back off the counter, staring off into the distance, Sumia pulled the log out. She flipped to a new page, the name Smith, Jane, scrawled over the top. Out of the corner of his eye, Robin noticed this.

"So, what do we know about this Jane Smith?" he said.

"Not much. She's the daughter of a poor blacksmith."

"Can we talk to her family, then? To see if we can find any suspects? Or does it already have any suspects listed?"

"It lists the Red Herrings under suspects. Does that count?"

"Well, they're a criminal gang in this area. Of course they'd be a suspect. Even a mindless beast could have made the connection."

"Animals aren't mindless. They're–"

Behind them, the minstrels hit a particularly high note. From the way Sumia but herself off and winced, it must have bothered her quite a bit. Panne, he might have expected with her sharp hearing, but Sumia?

"Problem?" he asked.

"I don't do well with loud noises," she replied, her lips drawing down.

"I'll tell them to stop," Robin said. If the noise bothered her, it would make discussion hard.

"No, no," Sumia said, and she pushed her chair back as she got to her feet. "I can do it myself, Robin."

Robin watched as she walked to the stage, her shoulders hunched. It was a little unsettling to see the normally so quiet Sumia so irritated, but he hadn't held a conversation with her before. He hadn't ever seen this side of her, let alone any side of her at all.

"Having girl troubles? Need Teach to help you out?"

Robin looked over his shoulder. Vaike's grinning face met his gaze, leaning against the bar with a wooden mug in his hands.

"Vaike? Why am I not surprised?"

"Come on, Robin. You know I can't refuse a good drink." Vaike wrapped an arm around Robin's shoulders, and he pulled him into his side with a laugh. "So, you and Sumia, eh? I never could've imagined, since you never had the best opinion of her, and she was always so busy ogling Chrom."

"We're just working together," Robin said, narrowing his eyes.

"Yeah, sure," Vaike said, giving him a smug smirk. "Don't try to deny it, Robin. I can tell."

Robin just directed a flat stare at him. "Vaike. Just because you're married doesn't make you an expert at love. Sumia and I are trying to solve a case."

"Really?" Vaike laughed, and he slapped Robin on the back, forcing the breath out of his lungs. "Whatever you say, boss." He waved over to the bartender, and he yelled, "Hey George! Get this guy a drink!"

"I really can't drink on the job," Robin said, shooting a sideways glare at Vaike. The bartender must not have heard him, because a mug slid into the spot on the counter in front of him, spilling flecks of foam onto his coat.

"Your job, right." Vaike winked. Robin's head fell into his hands.

On his other side, he heard the stool draw back on the wooden floor, quickly followed by the thud of a book dropped against the desk.

"Okay, I think I got them to stop," she said.

Robin let out a sigh of relief, unusual considering who it was for. He pulled his face from his palm, but he saw Sumia's attention on something else.

"Are you drinking?" she said, frowning. "I don't think that's a good idea, Robin."

Behind him, Vaike stared at the open journal. "You were serious about the job thing?"

"Yes!" Robin said, his voice rising a pitch. "Why would I lie to you?"

"So it's a job date? Wow, you're even more of a stick in the mud than I thought."

"A date?" Sumia said, and a bright blush flared up on her face. "O-oh no, this isn't a date, it's a–"

A brass squeal echoed in the room, scraping the inside of Robin's ear like the sound of a rusty hinge. All conversation in the room dropped dead, and everyone turned to look at the minstrels on the stage. None of them seemed to notice, however; all their attention was focused on Sumia, their lips pulled back in a nasty sneer.

Sumia opened her mouth to speak, but before she could say a word, another one of the minstrels rubbed the bow of his violin on the strings, and another sharp sound pierced their eardrums.

"Sumia, we're leaving," Robin said quickly.

Before he could think again, he jumped off the barstool and headed for the door. It took a second for anyone to move, but after a second of hesitation, he heard Sumia get up and follow him. He pushed the door out of his way as they left, and Sumia just barely managed to slip through before it closed.

"It looks like we'll have to talk out here," Robin said, shooting a glare back at the door. "I'm sorry I dragged you out."

Sumia's eyes fell to the floor. "It's fine," she said. "They wouldn't have listened to reason, so the reasonable thing to do was leave. If anything, I should be sorry for bringing attention to us."

"The minstrels shouldn't have focused their attention on you, so it's their fault. Not yours."

Behind them, the door creaked open and shut. They both turned around to find Vaike standing in front of the door, looking sheepish.

"Hey, I just wanted to say sorry for ruining your work date, or whatever it is you guys were doing," he said, and he ran a hand through his wild blond hair.

"If anything, those minstrels should be apologizing," Robin said. "Are they always like that?"

"Oh, yeah." Vaike frowned. "I come here a lot, and I can definitely say those guys can kill a mood fast."

"Why doesn't the owner throw them out?"

"They're the only entertainment he can afford. The guy's cheap like that. Not the greatest place you'd want your name over, but hey, what can I do."

"You have a place named after you?" Sumia said, doing little to hide the disbelief in her voice.

"Yeah!" Vaike motioned to the sign over his head. "Ogre's teeth, It's called the blond berserker!"

Sumia and Robin exchanged looks.

"Since you come here so often, then maybe you could help us," Robin said, stepping forward.

Vaike shrugged. "Okay, what do you need me to tell you?"

Sumia held up the journal, and she pointed to the sketches of Luna and Jane. "Have you seen either of these two girls? Or maybe someone who looks like Anna?"

Vaike leaned in. His eyes flicked between the two pictures, and he scratched his chin. He was really thinking hard about this.

"Can't say I've ever seen these two. Haven't seen anyone who looks like Anna either."

"What about the Red Herrings?" Robin said. "Does that name ring a bell."

"Isn't that a fish?"

"No! Well, I'm not sure, I haven't eaten a lot of fish. Have you heard of a criminal gang called the Red Herrings?"

Vaike pointed at Robin and grinned. "Oh, I know who you can talk to if you want to talk about the Red Herrings."

"Who?"

"Gaius. Chrom said he was friends with a bunch of people in the Red Herrings. If you want to learn about them, go to him."

"Gaius, got it." Robin wrote it down in his notebook, and then he turned to leave. "Sumia, let's go."

Suima didn't move, though. Instead, she turned to Vaike and took a moment to say, "Thank you."

"Oh yes, thank you." Robin chided himself for forgetting that when Sumia didn't.

"Not a problem," Vaike said. He gave the two of them a smile, before he slipped back into the tavern behind him.

Of course, it was Gaius. With how long the thief had spent around the Shepherds, it was easy to forget that he was formerly a criminal. Now that he was no longer robbing people, Gaius stayed up in the castle, so it would be easy to find him.

"Should we get back to the castle?" Robin said, nodding back to the Castle.

"Already?" Sumia said. "Why are we leaving so soon?"

"Soon?" Robin pointed to the sun sitting just over the horizon. "The sun's going down."

Sumia choked. "Oh wow. I didn't realize. Yes, I think that's a wonderful idea. My legs are getting tired."

Robin hummed in agreement. They set off toward Castle Ylisse, and as they passed through the crowd of people beginning to gather in the crowd, Robin said, "Frankly I'm surprised you haven't already passed out, considering your... poor physical condition."

"The weapons you buy for me are always too heavy. And at least I can run!"

Short chapter today. I was going to do a second scene, but where that scene ends is just an awkward place for the chapter, so I moved it to the next chapter.

And I know I went for the obvious with "the Red Herrings". But what if I told you that they really were behind everything?

You probably won't believe me, which is completely understandable.