How has it been two months?!?! Aargh. Okay, I will update faster next time!

Raine: Don't worry, he means it. Because if he doesn't… (holds staff menacingly over Kusabi's head).

Heheh…anyway, here is Chapter 3! Oh, and thanks to leons-shadow7 for her suggestion regarding The Wife Of The Canas. XD

Karel had decided to stay in the town of Badon. Canas was having trouble figuring out why; surely the swordmaster had a home to return to, or some sort of new adventure to go on. The people who worked at the inn – Anna in particular – had kept him as up-to-date as they could on Karel's activities, but so far it had basically been predictable.

"He gets up at around five-thirty every morning…" Anna began.

"How odd," Canas interrupted. "I wonder if he is an insomniac? Perhaps I'll have Legault keep track of his sleep cycle…"

Anna blinked. "You're going to ask Legault to watch him while he sleeps?" she asked incredulously. "Isn't that a little…"

"Oh, don't worry; I'm sure it will be perfectly safe. If Karel reacts adversely to it, Legault can always run away."

Anna tugged at a strand of hair. "I was going to say it seems creepy, but okay…

That's the second time someone's been unnerved by this study, Cana thought to himself. Is it really that controversial?

"He makes himself some breakfast – some mix of herbs and rice, I think; he won't let anyone else make it for him – and then he leaves at six or so for the arena."

Canas nodded and took some notes. "Have you seen him make this dish? Maybe it's a Sacaen breakfast."

Anna shook her head. "He doesn't like people to watch. Apparently it's a big deal to him that nobody else cooks it. He'll eat just about anything for lunch and dinner, though. I was talking to my friend Genevieve who works at the Milk Bucket, and she said that he's come in a few times for their beef."

There was a small creak as the front door opened. Geitz and Dart walked in together, muttering to each other about something. Anna waved at them, and then began to walk off toward the kitchen. "That's about it," she called back to him. "He goes to sleep at midnight and wakes up at five thirty the next day. I don't get how he can function with that little sleep."

Canas added that final bit of information to his notebook before closing it. "Thank you, Anna!" he said, turning around just in time to see Karel entering the inn. The swordmaster glided past the few occupants towards his room.

Karel walked into his room and sat on the bed, thinking over his plans. He had interrogated several of the arena fighters, and one of them had finally told him where the Saldon brothers lived. Apparently, they had a mansion in the woods nearby, roughly a day's walk from Badon.

"Should I go tomorrow?" he murmured to himself. "Is there a reason to wait longer?" He paused. "Yes, tomorrow is good."

The door suddenly flew open, revealing a certain pink-haired cleric on the other side. "Hi, Matthew!" she called. "It's been such a long day, I…whoa…" Her eyes bugged out as she saw Karel, staring at her with something that might have been amusement. "Why are you in our room?" she demanded.

"This is my room," Karel answered. "Your stay in room fifteen, do you not?"

Serra pushed the door open farther, revealing the numeral 15 scratched into the wood. "Yeah…that's why I came here." She peered around the room. "Have you seen Matthew, by the way?"

Karel barely heard her; he was still staring at the door number. "That's…impossible," he breathed. He stood up and strode out of the room, tuning our Serra's irate yells about how it was rude to ignore girls. He entered his own room, stopping to make sure that the number was correct.

"That was…odd," he muttered.

"Canas, wake up!" Legault whispered.

The druid's eyes opened as he woke up. "What?"

"Karel's leaving Badon!"

That woke him up immediately. "What?" he exclaimed. "Do you know where he's going?"

Legault shook his head. "I don't know what his destination is, but he just walked out of the inn. We'll have plenty of time to catch up, if you hurry."

Canas stood up and walked over to his pack. "Alright, then! It will be fascinating to study Karel when he's traveling!"

Legault stared dubiously at the small bag Canas had. "How are you going to fit all these books into that pouch?" he asked, gesturing at the small library Canas had created in his room.

Canas grinned. "I've created an interesting spell for this exact purpose," he said, his eyes sparkling gleefully. "You see, the spell allows the caster to manipulate the space an object takes without changing its size. It's a bit abstract, but…well, look." He held the bag out to Legault, who looked inside. An entire stack of books had already been put in, and somehow they didn't seem to be taking up any room – as though there was more room on the inside that there was on the outside.

"That's interesting," Legault said. "I'm going to go return our keys, okay?"

"Right," Canas answered. "See if you can get some breakfast for us, too. Something we can eat while we travel."

Legault nodded and ran out of the room…and into a sleepy-looking Serra.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" she snapped. Legault continued past without acknowledging her. She glared at his retreating figure. "Why do people keep IGNORING ME?" she yelled.

Canas poked his head around his door. "Oh, good morning Serra!" he said cheerfully. "How are you today?"

Serra turned toward him, her angry expression abating slightly. "I'm fine," she said. "I just wish people would listen when I talk to them! Why, just last night Karel was in me and Matthew's room, and when I asked him what he was doing there, he walked out without telling me!" She took a deep breath. "Isn't that mean?"

Canas raised his eyebrows. "He was in your room? How unusual."

"I know!" Serra yelled. She shook her head and turned back toward her room. "Well, I'm going back to bed."

"Oh. Goodbye, then." Canas said. She turned back around as he reentered his room.

"Huh? Are you leaving?" she asked as she walked into his room.

"Yes, I'm afraid so. Legault and I have to catch up to Karel before he gets too far away." Canas picked up a Restore staff and carefully placed it in his pack. "Of course, he'll probably be going at a leisurely pace, so it shouldn't be too hard…"

"What? Why are you following Karel?"

"Well, you see, I'm doing a study on sociopaths, and Karel is the focal point, if you will."

"You mean like a specimen?" Serra looked at him doubtfully. "Isn't that kind of…"

Canas started to say that it wasn't dangerous, but stopped. Every time someone had started a sentence like that, it hadn't ended with dangerous.

"…weird?" she finished.

Canas cocked his head. "I suppose it could be considered weird, yes, but many of the sciences were considered to be strange when they were started. For example, the first person to surmise that the world was square was widely discredited, but it was proven true."

"I wasn't talking about the science part…Well, I guess this is goodbye, then!" She charged over to Canas and gave him a brief hug. "Make sure you visit Ostia sometime, okay? I wanna show you everything!"

Canas laughed as he put his final book into the bag. "I'll be sure to stop by eventually."

Thus ends chapter 3! I made it extra long to make up for the ridiculous wait time…anyway, I hope you all like it!

Valete!