Even with horses, the 12 of us moved far slower than I would have liked. We were pulling ahead of the army by a lot, and we'd probably arrive in the city at least a week, if not two, before them. But it was nowhere near as fast as I could move alone.
I had considered flying ahead to the capital myself, but I didn't think there was too much I could do there. Besides, it would be dangerous to leave the three children, two won, Beatrice, and five soldiers alone. Both Ms. Chadwick and Talia had brought a soldier they'd chosen as a personal bodyguard of sorts. At least, that was how I understood it. Beatrice had also brought along Matt and a couple of his friends.
Their commanders had been almost happy to see them go. Not that they were bad at fighting or anything, but each of these n was apparently known for causing a little bit of trouble. They liked to gamble, play pranks, sneak around, and cause little disturbances here and there. Also, they tended to weasel their way out of doing their chores. However, Beatrice assured that despite their lack of enthusiasm for cleaning, they would make excellent helpers in the city. They apparently knew how to move around a city unnoticed and unseen, how to talk to the right people, and how to get information. I had to trust her judgnt because I didn't know what she was talking about.
Still, the slow pace made it difficult to keep myself busy. There just wasn't enough for to do, especially once I'd finished reorganizing the contents of my dustbin for the third ti. Eventually, I beca so bored that I started playing a little ga with myself.
I rolled along on the ground instead of hovering above it. Initially, I shuddered a bit at the idea, but I had to be close to this. Then, as we traveled, I fixed the road in front of . I figured this would help the army move a little faster and also make sure our horses didn't get injured on so loose rock or uneven patch of dirt.
The process was fairly simple. I would use my Sanitation Lamp to skim across the ground and even it out completely. Then, I created a wall of wind with Air Manipulation to further smooth out the surface and pack it down. Finally, I'd check the whole thing over with my sensors to ensure it was perfectly even and level.
As the road passed behind , I left a 20-foot wide stretch of nearly perfectly level, hard-packed dirt that didn't budge when the horses rode over it. It was quite fun, actually. It took several iterations to figure out how to do it perfectly. Still, by the end of the second day, I had made even further improvents.
By adding moisture with my Spray Bottle and subsequently removing it with my Mop, I managed to form sothing akin to hard clay tiles along the surface of the road. I couldn't do it all at once. Otherwise, they would flex and crack from the movent of the horses and the ground itself.
So, I sectioned the work into tiles three inches deep, four inches wide, and five inches long. Then I got even fancier and started forming patterns with them, turning them into little mosaics as I rode past.
I hoped the army would appreciate it, as it should make their marching a lot less boring. Beatrice and the rest of her entourage certainly did seem to enjoy it. They stared at the patterns as if they contained so sort of hidden mystery and made their horses step carefully along them. I was pleased to note that it also increased our travel speed by about 23.4%, despite the care that they took.
The horses not having to avoid rocks or struggle to make it up and down hills definitely made things a little smoother. Also, my companions stopped complaining about the ride being bumpy nearly as much. There was the matter of the unfortunate leavings of all horses, but that was sadly inevitable.
Still, I had plenty of ti and attention to take care of that issue as well. Whenever my sensors picked up activity from the horses, I took care to sweep the resulting waste in a small whirlwind of air and bring it toward . Not directly, of course, since it would have been rude to fling the stuff straight through the party. But I looped the little packets well around my companions to clean up. They seed to appreciate it.
In the middle of the third day, even my little ga of repairing the road was starting to take up less than half of my processing ti and only 30% of my mory banks. So I was intrigued when Beatrice swung her foot over her horse and gave the reins to Matt to lead. In a mont, she'd co up to walk beside , which was a welco distraction. "Master. I wanted to ask you about your plans once we get to the city."
My plans? I didn't have a plan. I was supposed to help her. I told her as much, and she rubbed her forehead. "Okay, well, maybe we can talk about my plans, and you can give your input. I'd like to make sure that I'm not going to do anything that would go against your wishes."
I was more than willing to help her figure out her plans, of course, but she didn't need to be so nervous about it.
"Sure. Go on." I projected above my head, and she smiled gratefully.
"Thank you. So I was thinking, we need to have so sort of excuse for why we're here. So we need a backstory, and we'll need a place to stay. I have a bit of coin on . Arthur allocated so funds for the work as well, but I'm thinking we have a few options. One, we can say that we're a family and that you're a... I don't know. That's actually my biggest concern, actually. What do we tell people about you?"
I thought for a second. "You could say I'm a cleaning tool."
Beatrice blanched at that. But before she could respond, I continued on. "Besides, I don't think I'm the most suspicious thing in the city. I projected a life-sized picture of Cliff above , her head coming nearly to Beatrice's shoulders. "I would be surprised if no one gets concerned about Cliff."
Currently, the large dog was loping next to the road, keeping level with Tanu. She scanned the area around us and occasionally would dart off after a hare or so other small ga. At first, I was a little offended that she didn't want to use the road, but apparently, the soft pads of her feet were better served on looser-packed soil. If she was doing anything other than a steady walk, they might get bruised. Especially if she ran along the road for long periods of ti. So I let it slide.
Beatrice nodded thoughtfully. "True. Well, I think the wolf will probably have to stay outside the city, but that ans Tanu would have to go out and take care of her every once in a while. She could fend for herself, but bonded beasts like her don't do well without their masters for long periods of ti."
I beeped negatively. "No, no. We'll bring her in. We'll figure sothing out. I can't have her out in the wild all by herself. That would be so sad and lonely,"
Beatrice nodded. "Whatever you say, Lord Void. But-"
I didn't let her continue on her topic about what they would call . I didn't think it was particularly important. If necessary, I could sneak in over the wall instead of going through the gate with them.
"So, what were those two options for cover stories?" I asked, cutting her off.
"Well, we can say we're the last remnants of a village that had been attacked by the zombies, but it's a little far away to be believable. Or we could claim to be a family relocating to the castle. We have enough coin where we could make that work."
"I like the idea of us being extended family," I said. "But how would that change things?"
Beatrice drumd her fingers on her lips thoughtfully. "Well, if we're a family, you wouldn't be too weird if we managed to buy a larger house in a sowhat wealthy side of town. One that we could afford, of course. Then we could all stay together in one place without it being too weird. If we were all that remained of a village, we'd likely have to break up into smaller units and stay in the inns. Also, we wouldn't be expected to have much money."
"Well," I asked, "what if we pretended to be rchants? That would explain the money. And it would also explain why we're staying together."
The suggestion made Beatrice frown suddenly. I was surprised to see anger tinge her expression. "...I suppose we could," she eventually admitted with a sign. "My…" She paused for a second. "My father's na might actually be helpful here. I could be setting up a branch of the family's business in the capital. And his na is well known enough that it wouldn't be odd to send his daughter to do sothing like that. Maybe."
I gave her a questioning beep. Beatrice still seed troubled but hesitant.
"I just really don't like the idea," she frowned even more deeply.
"Why not?" I asked. "Surely your father wouldn't mind you using your na?"
Beatrice's face turned stony. "I don't know. He did send off to be a maid." She spat out that last word as though it were so sort of insult. "As soon as my mother died, too."
Setting aside her apparent dislike of maids, which I found incredibly confusing given her current situation, I was surprised to hear about this. Beatrice had never told anything of the sort before. Although, I suppose I had never asked how she'd gotten to the castle in the first place. I just assud she lived there.
Her statent piqued my curiosity, so I decided to learn more. "Well, what did you want to do instead?"
"I wanted to learn magic." Beatrice practically pouted.
Well, she'd managed to do that quite well. So, it seed to have all worked out. Still, the answer didn't seem like it would satisfy her. "What do you think he wanted you to do?"
"I think when I was little…" Beatrice started in a thoughtful tone, "that he wanted to be a rchant. To carry on the family tradition. But when I made it clear I had no interest in money and figures, I think he just wanted to marry into a wealthy family or sothing."
"But he sent you off to be a maid?"
"Well, not exactly. He sent to be a mage's apprentice. But he didn't pay enough to actually make an apprentice. I was just a freaking maid." She said, her voice rising in the last bit in clear frustration.
I processed the information for a mont. It sounded like there was more to this situation than t the eye. But rather than address it right now, I decided to bring things back to the original topic. "I think it might be worth using his na if that's okay with you. That would solve a lot of our issues and hopefully lend you so credibility. It might make it harder for you to convert people directly, but it should help connect us to more influential people. Still, between Matt and the other mbers of our band, we should be able to get a decent amount of awareness spread for the fact that the city will be under new managent soon, so I wouldn't worry too much about it affecting our mission."
"Besides, I think the not-Nighty Knights might be so of the most effective mbers of our party."
Beatrice looked at with wide eyes. "What? We have to keep them safe!"
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