She knew about the moat.
Of course she did. She had to cross it when she came in, and in her search for a way inside, found it circled the whole castle.
Granted, with all the running around, she didn't quite know which wall of the castle she was at, and so didn't know if it was close enough to the moat on this side for her to be able to reach it.
But luck won out again there.
"…"
Holding her breath, she splashed down into the moat. No belly flop, thankfully, but she wouldn't be scoring any points with her dive.
In the water, which was freezing, she swam as fast as she could, which was pretty slow given her injuries, heading away from the castle and to the rocky edge of the moat.
Reaching the edge, she found purchase on a rock and attempted to cast her invisibility spell again. The only difference was that this time, it worked.
With herself hidden, she managed to climb the rocky edge and sped off into the town.
---
"You went for a swim."
"I didn't go for a swim. I was attacked and fell into the river. Big difference."
"What attacked you. I've never seen you like this before. You always come back in the best of health."
"Oh, just a couple of bandits, some thugs. They caught me unawares as I was getting water from the river. Don't worry, though, as I got them back tenfold."
The man in front of Oriana just frowned. Not really sure where to go after the difficult escape at the Royal Castle, Oriana had just come back to the Inn, looking for a place to rest.
The man before her, Robert the innkeeper, seeing the distress she was in, quickly became a mother hen and got to work caring for her.
He had some experience with first aid, so he was able to take care of some of the damage, but a healing spell would be necessary to ensure a full and quick recovery.
"Well, that is the best I can do. You'd best take a seat, and I'll bring you some food. Then you need to get some rest. You look exhausted."
"Yes, I-I will."
Oriana just sat there and thought about the whole experience in the castle.
How things went wrong so quickly and in such a way that she practically became a cornered rat.
She should have left once she saw the princess enter the room. Too much confidence in her abilities, thinking the princess had only sensed something and not actually seen her, caused her not to worry much when she arrived. That, coupled with the king sending her away as if she was being silly for trying to get into the Ball, just led her to leave her guard down.
Then, the way the mages had funnelled her and the nobles in the room, how the knights had been waiting past the doors, then how they roamed the halls and followed her into the servants' quarters. The latter half of the trip had been a total disaster.
As was evident by her wincing as she moved her arm to eat.
"How was the Princess able to 'sense' me?" She asked herself, as it was because of that, that this whole situation arose.
Sure, it was possible that the king could have thought there was a saboteur at the party and done things the same way. But that was conjecture. It's possible the night would have proceeded, and Oriana would have left with the rest of the nobles and come out unscathed.
But no. The princess had some sort of sixth sense that allowed her to see invisible people.
"Well, I am not going anywhere near her again in the future."
And that was especially true for the next couple of days, having to lie low for a while as she recovered.
After the meal, she did as 'Robert the doctor/mother hen' had said and headed for bed.
A good night's sleep would help her feel better and give her the energy to get things sorted in the morning.
With that, the sun fell, and Oriana slept like a brick.
---
The next morning, Oriana rose, got ready, ate and then headed out into the world.
She winced as she put on her clothes, still having trouble with the gashes on her body. Because of that, she needed a healer.
The only problem with this was the search that had likely been underway since her escape from the castle. With the damage she received, it made sense she would look for a healer of some sort, so it was possible they had been contacted to look out for someone with her injuries.
"I can't just go to the Healers' Guild. I guess I need to find some back street healer…or, maybe I could get one through the adventures guild."
While she was the one causing chaos in the city, her faux job as an adventurer was actually real. She stopped by just enough to meet the rules and regulations for an adventurer, then left the city to complete requests.
These were mainly simple ones, herb gathering, killing a few low-class monsters, that sort of thing. Safe and easy jobs.
Because of that, she was just another common adventurer in the background. That should hopefully be enough for her to request some assistance in terms of healing from the guild. Hopefully, if she stuck to her story of how she got her injuries, she could get a healer's help without issue.
Heading that way, she passed through the lower city and reached the outskirts of the middle city.
The adventurers' guild was open to all, so it had to be mainly in the lower city, but being just by the middle city allowed merchants and higher-class people to use it and make requests.
But it would seem that before she could enter, she would have a rather unexpected encounter.
"So, how have you been after you left the Merchants Guild. Ohhh, not too good as far as I can see."
Just a few buildings from the guild, she was stopped by a woman. Someone who knew she had been in the Merchants' Guild. Even though she didn't look like the illusioned disguise she had when working there.
This could mean she was in even more trouble.
But as she listened, she couldn't help but realise that the voice sounded familiar.
Turning to look at the girl who had spoken, she found herself looking at the woman who had helped her the most in the Merchants Guild.
Bethany.
---
"I'm sorry. I think you have me confused with someone else. I'm an adventurer. I've never been to the Merchants Guild."
"Well, of course," Bethany said, "At least how you look now, you have never worked there. But-"
All of a sudden, Bethany changed and suddenly became Michelle, the persona she used when working at the Merchants Guild.
"Wha-" Oriana said in surprise.
"- Michelle has. And I know that she is one of several personas for you."
How did Oriana want to play this? It was likely that Bethany knew she had been the one to cause the trouble in the guild. Would accepting that she had the right person put her in danger? Bethany still worked in the Commerce Guild…right. Had she always? Was she here to use the fact to extort something from her? Or get her arrested?
"Well, that is some pretty impressive magic, but I don't-"
"Oh, give it a rest. Look, I'm not here to 'take down the one that ruined the Merchants Guild' so you can stop worrying, Oriana." Bethany said with a roll of her eyes.
"I didn't tell you my name," Oriana said, crossing her arms. Sure, Bethany somehow knew she was Michelle, but how would she know what her actual name was?
"No, you didn't. Talk about rude."
The silly smirk on her face told Oriana she was just having fun.
"Look, I could tell you had illusion magic on you when we first met. I have it too. I'm just better with it."
"That's quite the statement," Oriana replied with a little venom. Not that she needed to be the best. It just annoyed her a little to hear someone thought she wasn't.
"A true one. I mean, when you saw me in the alley, you actually thought I was being attacked. It was enough that you sent a group of peacekeepers to my rescue. Quite clever using the lot from the Merchants Guild to make it look authentic."
"Wait, attacked?"
Oriana thought back to a few days ago and recalled the scene in the alley. The woman on the ground, being attacked by two thugs.
"Yeah, they were both illusions. I just wanted to see what sort of person you were."
"Why?"
"Well…after that, I followed you back to the Inn you were staying at, had a nice meal while I listened to you and the bartender talk, then went home. But from all that, I learnt quite a lot."
"Stalker", Oriana said quietly under her breath.
"What was that?"
"Actually, no, why do I need to say it quietly?" She thought.
"You're a stalker, is what I said." Oriana said as she stepped back.
"Wha-" Bethany actually looked a little taken aback by that. "I-I am not a stalker. You take that back."
"You followed me home and watched me without me knowing. You're a stalker."
Bethany quickly looked around, a little unsure of herself.
"Look, I'm not a…stalker. I just didn't know how to introduce myself. I also didn't know much about you, and I wanted to, before we spoke properly. So can we just forget about that?"
Oriana just gave a noncommittal shrug.
"Back to what I was saying. I learnt that you like to have fun and cause problems for everyone else."
Partly true.
"But, you are not a monster, and help people if you need to. You also don't try to hurt people when you do cause problems."
True
"And you did it in the merchants' guild to hide all the money you stole."
Not entirely true
"And I should know, since I've been stealing from them for years."
"Wait, really?"
"Yeah, but as I said, I'm better. You did do well in the guild; they don't even know they have been stolen from yet. But you have a long way to go before you are as rich as me."
Oriana felt like she had to clean this up.
"I needed the coin, yes. But I didn't do all that just for the coin."
"Well, sure. It's nice to have a little fun here and there. I was planning to mess around with the Ball before I figured I could let the rookie have some fun." Bethany flicked her hair back.
"Rookie…really."
"Of course. Now, while we could stand around here all day, I think we need to get you fixed up. I know a brilliant healer who will sort you right out."
With that, Bethany, if that was her real name, started to head off and expected Oriana to follow.
She could still head off into the Adventures Guild, but it was still a long shot in terms of getting assistance for Healing, and it was entirely possible that they, too, had been contacted by the royals from the castle.
So, taking a leap of faith, she followed after Bethany, who may or may not be a stalker, hoping for the best.