Chapter 206: He Looked Like a Bolko

The next day Kasia, Vasil, Bogumir, Vitek and I left for Prudnik. Phisto obviously didn’t join because he ‘didn’t want to’, and Ola could be summoned on command, so I asked her to spend her time divided between Viswa and the cathedral instead of joining us. Knowing me, anything could happen, and I didn’t want any harm to come to her. She did make me promise to call on her whenever I needed something. She’d also agreed to refresh [Ablution] every day so I would always be clean. Needless to say the trek was off to a great start.

Kasia had been pulling out Stabigail at random times, much to my enjoyment. She really liked the glitter, and so did I. I was more than a little proud of how she managed to catch everyone off guard every time. After the fourth time, however, Bogumir had begged her to stop. Kasia being Kasia agreed, so that meant no more glitter for us. While that put a slight damper on the trip, it wasn’t a big one.

I’d gotten her a big, white, furry winter coat, which looked great in combination with her blonde hair and blue eyes. It kind of made her look like an ice princess. I, of course, was wearing my Mayor Aurelia disguise and my beautiful red silk velvet dress.

During the day we’d practice our skills together. Apparently she could throw her needle as well, which was super convenient since she could dispel it and summon a new one without a mana cost. She was getting pretty good at it too, her accuracy improving every day. That little skill was probably ripe for abuse, we just had to figure out some kind of way to completely break it, preferably with a single offering. Though she could always invest skill points in synergistic skills or anything that buffed her needle somehow. I had no doubt she’d become a force to be reckoned with.

In the evenings Vasil would teach her how to read and write. She was getting better at that too, and she seemed to really enjoy it. It was crazy to think about how completely different her life had been less than a year ago.

Prudnik lay south of Opole, at the base of the Opavskie Mountains, and apparently it was famous for its shoe-making, according to Vitek, who, ironically, did not wear shoes. Not even in the snow.

We arrived somewhere in the afternoon and stopped in front of the gates.

“That’s interesting,” Vitek said.

“What is?” I asked.

“Those walls were made of earth and wood the last time I was here.”

I studied them. They were definitely made out of stone and brick now, and featured multiple defensive towers. It appeared to go all around the entire town, so it must have taken quite some time… unless they had some mages… but then it still would have taken quite some time. To top it all off, the whole thing was surrounded by a moat, and the drawbridge was pulled up, so we couldn’t just walk inside.

A guard popped his head over the wall. “State your business!”

I cupped my hands around my mouth. “We want to get inside.”

“State your business or leave!”

Wow. Rude. My business was finding a rebel who teleported out of me killing a bunch of inquisitors, but I probably shouldn’t say that. They might not let me in. Unless this was a rebel town, in which case they would probably let me in. I scanned the walls again, looking for any hints of rebellion, but all I saw was a million Stvora eyes, so I assumed that this might not be a rebel town at all, and if it was it had a good disguise.

“My, uh, business is… spending money. I have loooots of money. I don’t have anything to sell. My pockets are so heavy, though. Could someone please help me so I won’t have to carry all this money around.”

After a couple of seconds the bridge was slowly lowered down and we entered. We walked up to the gate and another guard stopped us. He wasn’t very tall and he had a very thick neck and a neatly trimmed full beard that was kind of reddish. He wore his reddish hair in a bowl-cut. If I had to guess what his name was, it would be Bolko—he looked like a Bolko.

When he saw me, he got a goofy look on his face and steam rose from his head. “Ubbub, y-you must be cold, miss. Please, take my coat,” he said as he took off his coat and offered it to me.

I gave him a friendly smile. “How very kind of you, kind sir, but I must decline. A coat might wrinkle my dress, and I wouldn’t want that.”

“N-no, of course not,” he stuttered. “Could I assist you then? I could carry a torch and hold it close to keep you warm.”

“That won’t be necessary, the cold does not affect me, you see.”

“Is there anything else I might do for you?”

I shook my head. “No thanks. But I appreciate you asking. Is everyone in Prudnik this hospitable? I think I might love this place then.”

He looked around as if he was checking to see if anyone could hear him. “No! Just me! So if you need anything, just come to me. Anything! Anything for you, my Lady!”

“Okaay… I will remember that. What is your name?”

At that the steam intensified and he blinked a couple of times like he couldn’t believe I just asked his name. “Bolko. My name is Bolko.”

“Huh. Alright, Bolko, thank you. See you around!”

“W-wait!” he put his hand out. “You must pay the toll. I—No, not you. But the others. They must pay the toll.”

“And how much is the toll?”

“One silver each. Please.”

I reached inside my satchel to grab the silver to pay for everyone, but the guard stopped me.

“Not you,” he said.

“But they are my people. Of course I must pay for them, even if I don’t have to pay toll myself.”

At that his mouth fell open and he looked from Vitek, to me, to Kasia, to me. “Oh. Then you don’t have to pay. You all go in for free.”

“You’re too kind, Bolko!” I said, gently touching his arm with my hand.

His cheeks flushed and he mumbled something to himself. I thought about asking him if the triangle symbol meant anything to him, or if he recognized it, since that was the only thing Melchior had written on the paper besides ‘Prudnik’, but decided against it in case that was some sort of well known resistance symbol.

I bid Bolko farewell again and we started walking into town.

“W-wait!” Bolko said. “What is your name, my Lady?”

“It’s Aurelia,” I said without looking back, and gave him a little wave as we walked away.

***

We spent about half an hour walking through Prudnik trying to spot any triangles in hopes of catching Melchior. The problem was that we had no idea what the triangle meant.

I pointed up at the huge mountain looming over the town—it looked like a big triangle. “Maybe Melchior simply drew the mountain? Maybe it’s not a hidden symbol at all.”

“Or maybe it’s an inn,” Kasia said, grinning.

“Why would it be an inn?”

She nodded to the side. “Just a hunch.”

I turned to see what she nodded at and read the sign. “The Front End. Right. And Melchior’s inn was called—”

“—The Tail End,” Kasia finished.

I scratched the back of my head. “When you say it like that, it all seems kind of obvious, doesn’t it?”

“It’s even more obvious.”

“Why—” then I noticed the door. The triangular door. It seemed kind of impractical, but it did make one curious. Why wouldn’t they just use a regular door-shaped door? Vitek wouldn’t fit without bending down due to the stupid shape. Kasia and I were short enough to walk through it normally.

The windows were regular window-shaped, which somehow made it even stranger to me that they had chosen the door to be the way it was. Maybe they made the door slightly inconvenient to keep people out?

“I guess this is it, then,” I said.

Vitek grinned. “Good. I was getting thirsty.”

Kasia lightly patted her stomach. “And I’m kind of hungry.”

I waited for Bogumir to say something or complain, but he didn’t. Maybe he was taking a nap inside my satchel. I figured if that was the case I’d better let him sleep. I also hated when someone woke me up when I was sleeping, and I didn’t want to be known as the asshole who wakes people up to ask them a question, especially if the question is “are you sleeping?”

So we walked up to the door and opened it, Kasia and I entering like normal people, Vitek being forced to bend so he wouldn’t bump his head against the poorly designed triangular door.

I don’t know what I was expecting when I entered, but what I saw was definitely not that.

“Huh,” I said.

“Huh,” Kasia said.

“Is it supposed to do that?” Vitek asked.