The Eldorian delegation was enormous.
There were twelve of them.
Twelve.
This was supposed to be a courtesy tour before the formal audience with the emperor. A courtesy tour. So why was I escorting what looked suspiciously like half the Eldorian court through Marisport?
"..."
No. Complaining wasn't going to make them disappear.
I walked at the front with Jane on my right and Anna on my left. Behind us, the delegation followed in an orderly line, every one of them dressed in ceremonial robes that looked far too expensive for streets that smelled like grilled fish and seawater.
The contrast was almost funny.
Almost.
Their representative, Sera, walked a few steps behind me. She carried herself with the kind of composure that only came from years of diplomatic work. Nothing surprised her. Or, if it did, she had become frighteningly good at pretending otherwise.
"This district seems rather lively," she observed.
"It always is."
That wasn't even an exaggeration.
Marisport never really quieted down. Vendors shouted over one another from both sides of the road. Somebody was trying to sell brightly dyed cloth. Somebody else was arguing over shellfish. I could hear hammers from the harbor even from here, mixed together with gulls that sounded offended by existence itself.
...
I had to admit it.
The city looked nice.
The colored windows caught the morning sunlight and scattered little patches of blue and green across the street. The roofs curved upward at the corners in a style you almost never saw in the capital.
I liked them.
Enough that I'd bought a cheap sketchbook earlier that morning.
Might as well remember something from this vacation besides paperwork.
I flipped to a blank page and started sketching one of the rooflines while we walked.
Jane glanced over.
"My Lady..."
"I'm watching the road."
"You are drawing."
"I can do both."
"..."
She didn't look convinced.
Honestly, the lack of faith was a little insulting.
I had barely finished the outline before something changed.
The noise.
It wasn't louder.
Just...
Different.
Crowds had a rhythm to them. After spending enough time around cities, you learned to hear it without thinking.
This wasn't normal.
I looked up.
About thirty meters ahead, people had gathered around an overturned cart.
Someone was shouting.
...
Ah.
Standing in the middle of it, looking exactly like someone who had wandered into trouble less than five seconds ago—
Isn't that Julius...?
...
Of course.
Of course it was Julius!
I specifically told him not to come on my vacation.
So naturally he appeared anyway.
Why did I even bother expecting otherwise?
By the time I reached the edge of the crowd, the whole picture had already assembled itself.
An elderly vendor.
An expensive merchant.
Several hired guards.
Julius standing between them.
Too clean.
Way too clean.
...
No.
This wasn't random.
The merchant's clothes weren't local.
The cart had fallen over almost perfectly into the middle of the road.
Even the crowd felt wrong.
People weren't wandering over anymore.
They were already here.
...
Someone arranged this.
The moment that thought crossed my mind, the rest followed almost immediately.
If Julius defended the old man, people would say the crown prince interfered with local commerce.
If he sided with the merchant, people would call him heartless.
Either way...
Someone won.
I handed the sketchbook to Anna.
"Hold this."
"My Lady—"
I was already walking.
There wasn't enough time to explain.
Julius had opened his mouth.
The merchant was raising his voice.
And if either of them said one more sentence before I got there...
This was going to become tomorrow's political headache.
By the time I reached the crowd, Julius had already stepped between the old vendor and the merchant.
"...Please, everyone, calm down."
I almost sighed.
It was the wrong way to begin. Normally, Julius's habit of trying to calm people down first wasn't a bad thing. Most ordinary arguments cooled off once someone reminded everyone to stop shouting.
This wasn't an ordinary argument.
The merchant immediately pointed at the old vendor.
"That old man stole from me! My goods were damaged because of him!"
"I didn't steal anything!" the old man protested. "You were the one who knocked over my cart!"
The guards took a step forward.
Julius naturally moved to stand in front of the old vendor.
And there it was.
He had stepped exactly where they wanted him.
The more I looked around, the less I believed any of this had happened by chance. The merchant didn't look like someone from the South. His clothes were too new, and they looked expensive enough that I doubted he had spent much time walking around a working harbor. More importantly, they were strangely clean. Even merchants with money picked up dust after spending a morning in Marisport.
Then there was the cart.
It had fallen almost perfectly into the center of the road. It was almost as though someone had carefully decided where it ought to land before pushing it over. Real accidents were messy. This one looked far too convenient.
The crowd bothered me as well.
Nobody was still gathering.
They were already here.
That was what finally convinced me.
Someone had arranged this.
If Julius defended the old vendor, the story would become that the crown prince had interfered with local commerce. If he sided with the merchant instead, then everyone would remember the day the crown prince ignored an elderly commoner in public.
Either outcome was useful.
In other words, Julius had already lost the moment he walked into the crowd.
How troublesome.
I handed my sketchbook to Anna.
"Hold this for me."
"My Lady..."
"I'll only be a moment."
She still looked worried, but by then I was already walking toward the center of the argument.
Julius noticed me first.
"Lady Josephine?"
I pretended not to hear him.
The merchant turned toward me almost immediately instead, and that alone told me enough. He had been looking for someone important to complain to. Julius had been acceptable, but someone escorting a foreign delegation through the city was even better.
Well...
If that was what he wanted, then I could certainly indulge him.
"What seems to be the problem?" I asked with a smile.
The merchant immediately launched into his explanation. The old vendor had damaged his goods. He deserved compensation. Several witnesses had apparently seen everything happen with their own eyes.
"I'm sure they have," I replied.
I stepped a little closer.
Only one step.
There was no need for more.
"My apologies. I should probably introduce myself first. I'm currently escorting the Eldorian delegation through Marisport under His Majesty's direct orders."
The merchant blinked.
I continued smiling.
"Naturally, any incident that interrupts today's diplomatic tour will have to be included in the report I submit afterward. That report will also contain the names of everyone involved."
I watched his face carefully.
There.
His confidence had finally cracked.
"I imagine His Majesty would be very interested in hearing why an international diplomatic visit was interrupted over a commercial dispute. If necessary, I'm sure we can all explain the matter before him tomorrow morning."
For a brief moment, nobody spoke.
Then the merchant coughed into his fist.
"...Perhaps," he said carefully, "there has been some misunderstanding."
Of course there had.
There always was once the emperor became involved.
"I'm relieved to hear that," I answered pleasantly. "Misunderstandings are much easier to resolve."
The merchant bowed stiffly before signaling his guards.
The four of them disappeared into the crowd with remarkable speed.
Honestly, they retreated much faster than I expected. I had prepared another few sentences if they insisted on arguing, but apparently invoking the emperor had been more than enough.
That certainly saved me some effort.
The old vendor looked back and forth between me and the street where the merchant had disappeared.
"My Lady..."
He seemed unsure whether he was allowed to speak.
"Thank you."
"There is no need," I said. "Please put your cart back together before someone actually trips over it."
"...Right!"
He hurried off immediately.
The crowd began losing interest now that there was nothing left to watch, and people gradually returned to whatever they had been doing before.
Just as expected.
People loved drama.
They rarely loved staying afterward to help clean it up.
I resumed walking as though nothing unusual had happened.
There wasn't any reason to linger. The delegation had already stopped because of the commotion, and keeping foreign diplomats waiting in the middle of a market street wasn't exactly ideal.
"Lady Josephine."
I turned toward Sera.
She was watching me with the same composed expression she always wore, although I thought I caught the faintest hint of curiosity behind it.
"You resolved that matter rather quickly."
"It wasn't particularly complicated."
"Was it not?"
I shook my head.
"If it had really been about damaged goods, they would have been arguing over the goods. Instead, they spent more time watching who was watching them."
Sera was quiet for a moment.
"...I see."
Whether she actually agreed or was simply being polite, I couldn't tell.
Diplomats were frightening people in their own way.
"Shall we continue?" I asked.
"Of course."
The delegation started moving again.
Thankfully.
If another incident happened before lunch, I was going to start suspecting the gods were bored.
...
Actually.
Knowing them, that wasn't impossible.
We had barely walked another few streets before someone quietly matched my pace.
I didn't even need to look.
It was Julius.
Of course it was.
"Lady Josephine..."
"Not now."
"I only wanted to thank—"
"You can do that later."
He fell silent.
...
That was unexpected.
Normally he would insist.
Perhaps he had finally learned something.
No.
That thought disappeared almost as quickly as it arrived.
Julius learning when to leave well enough alone felt slightly less believable than dragons learning proper table manners.
The silence lasted for several minutes before he spoke again.
"...Can we talk?"
I looked around.
The delegation was still close enough to hear us, and several members had already begun glancing in our direction. Even the local officials escorting us looked as though they were pretending not to listen while listening very carefully.
Absolutely not.
Whatever Julius wanted to say, this wasn't the place.
"Fine," I answered.
His expression brightened just enough for me to regret agreeing.
"But somewhere private."
He nodded immediately.
An alley between two market buildings presented itself a short distance ahead, narrow enough that the noise from the harbor softened the moment we stepped inside.
The difference was immediate. A moment ago the market had been overflowing with voices, merchants, and gulls. Now there was only the distant sound of waves striking the docks.
Julius turned toward me.
He looked as though he had rehearsed this conversation several times already.
That was never a good sign.
"You didn't have to step in back there."
"I know."
"I had the situation under control."
I looked at him for a moment.
"...No."
He blinked.
"You didn't."
"I was handling it."
"You were standing exactly where they wanted you to stand."
His brow furrowed.
"What do you mean?"
I folded my arms.
"It was arranged from the beginning. The merchant wasn't local, his story was too convenient, the crowd gathered far too neatly, and even the overturned cart looked as though someone had placed it there for maximum attention. The moment you stepped between the merchant and the old vendor, the only thing left to decide was which version of the story people would spread afterward."
Julius became quiet.
Good.
At least he was thinking about it.
"I only wanted to help."
"I know."
That wasn't the problem.
Helping people wasn't a mistake.
Helping people inside someone else's trap usually was.
"I stepped in because your reputation still matters," I continued. "Mine has already survived worse rumors than whatever they planned today. Losing a little more doesn't change very much."
Julius's expression tightened.
"...That's exactly what I don't like hearing."
I sighed.
Of course.
We were having this conversation again.
Honestly, honest people really were exhausting. They always insisted on treating every sentence as though it reflected how you actually felt, instead of recognizing that sometimes it was simply the most practical way to describe a situation.
"Josephine," he said quietly, "you don't have to carry everything by yourself."
"I can if it works."
"That isn't an answer."
"It solved today's problem."
"It solved today's problem by putting yourself in front of it instead."
I opened my mouth to answer.
Before I could say anything—
Movement caught my eye near the alley entrance.
Movement caught my eye near the entrance of the alley.
I stopped talking.
Julius noticed the change in my expression almost immediately and turned his head as well.
Four men stood across the entrance.
They hadn't bothered pretending to be passersby.
That alone told me they either felt very confident or very stupid.
Perhaps both.
They were built like dockworkers. Broad shoulders, thick arms, calloused hands. The kind of strength that came from carrying crates every day instead of drilling with a sword.
That didn't make them harmless.
It simply meant they would fight differently.
Julius's hand had already settled on the hilt of his sword.
"...Josephine."
"I see them."
The man standing in front smiled.
It wasn't a pleasant smile.
"Lady Josephine. Crown Prince."
His tone was almost conversational.
"Our employer would like to have a word with both of you."
I looked at him.
Then I looked behind him.
No obvious escape routes.
The rooftops were too high to bother with.
The alley itself was narrow enough that trying to rush past them would only turn into an awkward brawl.
"...Would like?" I repeated.
"Strongly."
"I see."
That answered absolutely nothing.
"Who is your employer?"
"I'm afraid I can't tell you that."
"Then your employer clearly isn't trying very hard."
The man smiled again.
"I wasn't asking."
"I noticed."
Honestly, this was becoming tiresome.
The setup at the market.
Now this.
Whoever organized today's schedule certainly wasn't lacking in persistence.
The only question left was whether they were competent.
I didn't think so.
If they were, they wouldn't have cornered both Julius and me at the same time.
That was simply greedy.
Julius shifted his stance.
"I'll handle this."
I looked at him.
"...Why?"
He blinked.
"What do you mean why?"
"There are four of them."
"...Yes."
"So?"
He stared at me for a moment.
The four men also seemed slightly confused.
Good.
They deserved to be.
"I can fight four people," I continued. "You can also fight four people. There are only four of them, not eight. Unless they've suddenly learned how to split themselves in half, I don't really see the problem."
"...Josephine."
"What?"
"This isn't the time."
I frowned.
"I agree."
I looked back toward the men.
"So, are you planning to attack, or are we all going to continue standing here pretending this conversation is productive?"
The leader sighed.
"I was hoping you'd cooperate."
"So was I."
He lifted one hand.
The other three moved immediately.
As expected.
Talking had only been a formality.
The first man reached for my wrist.
It was a straightforward grab, and because it was so straightforward, avoiding it was almost disappointingly easy. I turned my body just enough for his hand to pass beside my sleeve before catching his elbow with my own.
There was a dull crack.
He cried out.
His balance disappeared with it.
I stepped past him before he finished falling.
The second man threw a punch toward my shoulder.
Too wide.
Too slow.
Honestly, I wasn't sure whether he expected me to stand still for it.
I caught his wrist, redirected the momentum past me, and drove my elbow into the side of his jaw.
He collapsed almost immediately.
The first man was still trying to stand.
Persistent.
I appreciated that.
Unfortunately for him, persistence wasn't the same thing as ability.
I struck the side of his neck with the edge of my hand.
He dropped again.
This time he stayed there.
A blade flashed somewhere to my left.
Julius.
He had already drawn his sword, although he was using the flat instead of the edge. The third man stumbled backward after taking the blow across his forearm, while the fourth wisely decided that charging a royal swordsman head-on had perhaps not been his greatest idea.
That wisdom arrived slightly too late.
Julius swept his legs out from under him.
The man hit the ground hard enough to drive the air from his lungs.
Silence returned almost as quickly as it had disappeared.
I looked around.
All four men were on the ground.
"..."
That was faster than I expected.
Honestly, I had been prepared for at least another minute.
Movement caught my eye near the entrance of the alley.
I stopped talking.
Julius noticed the change in my expression almost immediately and turned his head as well.
Four men stood across the entrance.
They hadn't bothered pretending to be passersby.
That alone told me they either felt very confident or very stupid.
Perhaps both.
They were built like dockworkers. Broad shoulders, thick arms, calloused hands. The kind of strength that came from carrying crates every day instead of drilling with a sword.
That didn't make them harmless.
It simply meant they would fight differently.
Julius's hand had already settled on the hilt of his sword.
"...Josephine."
"I see them."
The man standing in front smiled.
It wasn't a pleasant smile.
"Lady Josephine. Crown Prince."
His tone was almost conversational.
"Our employer would like to have a word with both of you."
I looked at him.
Then I looked behind him.
No obvious escape routes.
The rooftops were too high to bother with.
The alley itself was narrow enough that trying to rush past them would only turn into an awkward brawl.
"...Would like?" I repeated.
"Strongly."
"I see."
That answered absolutely nothing.
"Who is your employer?"
"I'm afraid I can't tell you that."
"Then your employer clearly isn't trying very hard."
The man smiled again.
"I wasn't asking."
"I noticed."
Honestly, this was becoming tiresome.
The setup at the market.
Now this.
Whoever organized today's schedule certainly wasn't lacking in persistence.
The only question left was whether they were competent.
I didn't think so.
If they were, they wouldn't have cornered both Julius and me at the same time.
That was simply greedy.
Julius shifted his stance.
"I'll handle this."
I looked at him.
"...Why?"
He blinked.
"What do you mean why?"
"There are four of them."
"...Yes."
"So?"
He stared at me for a moment.
The four men also seemed slightly confused.
Good.
They deserved to be.
"I can fight four people," I continued. "You can also fight four people. There are only four of them, not eight. Unless they've suddenly learned how to split themselves in half, I don't really see the problem."
"...Josephine."
"What?"
"This isn't the time."
I frowned.
"I agree."
I looked back toward the men.
"So, are you planning to attack, or are we all going to continue standing here pretending this conversation is productive?"
The leader sighed.
"I was hoping you'd cooperate."
"So was I."
He lifted one hand.
The other three moved immediately.
As expected.
Talking had only been a formality.
The first man reached for my wrist.
It was a straightforward grab, and because it was so straightforward, avoiding it was almost disappointingly easy. I turned my body just enough for his hand to pass beside my sleeve before catching his elbow with my own.
There was a dull crack.
He cried out.
His balance disappeared with it.
I stepped past him before he finished falling.
The second man threw a punch toward my shoulder.
Too wide.
Too slow.
Honestly, I wasn't sure whether he expected me to stand still for it.
I caught his wrist, redirected the momentum past me, and drove my elbow into the side of his jaw.
He collapsed almost immediately.
The first man was still trying to stand.
Persistent.
I appreciated that.
Unfortunately for him, persistence wasn't the same thing as ability.
I struck the side of his neck with the edge of my hand.
He dropped again.
This time he stayed there.
A blade flashed somewhere to my left.
Julius.
He had already drawn his sword, although he was using the flat instead of the edge. The third man stumbled backward after taking the blow across his forearm, while the fourth wisely decided that charging a royal swordsman head-on had perhaps not been his greatest idea.
That wisdom arrived slightly too late.
Julius swept his legs out from under him.
The man hit the ground hard enough to drive the air from his lungs.
Silence returned almost as quickly as it had disappeared.
I looked around.
All four men were on the ground.
"..."
That was faster than I expected.
Honestly, I had been prepared for at least another minute.
I watched Julius disappear into the crowd before looking back at the four men lying in the alley.
"..."
Honestly.
This vacation really had ended before it even started.
I crouched beside the nearest man again.
The guild mark was still there.
It had been tattooed on the inside of his wrist where most people would never think to look unless they already knew what they were searching for.
The Marisport chapter.
That simplified things.
If the men belonged to the local chapter, then someone already established in the South had hired them. Bringing in outsiders for something like this would have attracted unnecessary attention, and thieves' guilds generally disliked strangers wandering into another chapter's territory without permission.
Whoever commissioned today's little performance understood that much.
Which meant...
This wasn't the work of an amateur.
I stood slowly.
"The market first," I muttered. "Then the alley."
Neither incident had actually been meant to kill Julius.
If that had been the objective, they would have chosen a much cleaner method.
No.
The important part had been the witnesses.
The market had been arranged so people would watch.
The alley had been arranged so people would disappear.
One ruined his reputation.
The other removed him from the board.
Either outcome would have been useful.
So who benefited?
"..."
I still didn't have enough pieces.
That was annoying.
The gods, meanwhile, had become suspiciously quiet.
Far too quiet.
Whenever all of them stopped talking at the same time, it almost always meant they were trying very hard not to say something.
[Eros is exercising unprecedented self-control.]
[Xipe has wisely decided not to encourage him.]
[Hecatia has covered her eyes.]
...
Honestly.
They were all impossible.
'You aren't even involved this time.'
[That is a matter of opinion.]
'Nobody asked.'
Silence returned immediately.
Much better.
I brushed the dust from my sleeves.
Thankfully my dress had survived the fight without so much as a tear.
That would save me several conversations.
People became strangely dramatic whenever expensive clothing was involved.
I stepped out of the alley.
Anna was waiting nearby.
The moment she saw me, her shoulders relaxed so visibly that I almost felt guilty for making her worry.
Almost.
"My Lady..."
"I'm fine."
She looked past me into the alley.
"...Are they dead?"
"No."
"...Should they be?"
I looked at her.
"...Anna."
"I'm only asking."
"They're unconscious."
"I see."
She nodded as though that answered everything.
Perhaps it did.
"My Lady..."
"Yes?"
"The delegation is beginning to wonder where you went."
That made sense.
I had disappeared rather abruptly.
"Tell them I had to take care of an unexpected matter."
Anna hesitated.
"...Will that satisfy them?"
"It will satisfy Sera."
"And Lady Jane?"
...
Right.
Jane.
That was a different problem.
"Don't let her come looking for me."
Anna blinked.
"My Lady?"
"That is an order."
"..."
She sighed.
"...Yes, My Lady."
I almost apologized.
Almost.
Instead, I simply nodded.
"I'll rejoin the delegation later."
"And until then?"
I looked toward the lower harbor.
The streets there became narrower, older, and considerably less welcoming than the merchant district. Warehouses replaced markets, and respectable businesses quietly gave way to establishments that preferred not to ask questions.
Exactly where a thieves' guild would choose to settle.
"I have a conversation to attend."
Anna followed my gaze.
"...With the thieves' guild?"
"They've interrupted my vacation twice in the same morning."
I smiled.
Very pleasantly.
"I think it's only polite that I return the favor."
Anna didn't say another word.
She simply stepped aside.
Probably the correct decision.
I adjusted my gloves before starting toward the lower harbor.
The chapter house wasn't difficult to find.
Trynda's report from the previous evening had already narrowed the location down to this district. All I needed to do now was confirm it.
Honestly.
This would have been much easier if people had simply allowed me to enjoy my vacation.
Apparently that had been too much to ask.
And, for reasons I still intended to investigate thoroughly—
I was still irritated about the cornbread.