Arc 2, chapter 6: Planning the route

“Wake up, Wally!” Maxie said, aggressively shaking the snoozing Kirlia to no avail. Somehow, Wally had been asleep the entire time since they’d arrived, which meant he had somehow slept well over sixteen hours at that point—assuming Maxie had been properly keeping track of time, anyway.

 

“Don’t we need to check out soon?” he asked Blaise.

 

“Not until noon, which is still a good few hours out.” Blaise stretched. “I wouldn’t sweat that too much, though. The innkeeper is quite lenient with these matters. The real problem is making it to Petalworth by sundown…”

 

Maxie, agitated, turned back to the sleeping Wally. “What the hell is your sleeping schedule, dude? Get up!”

 

As it turned out, Wally didn’t need much more motivation.

 

“Whhhaaaa…?” He groaned, opening his eyes. “Is it lunchtime yet?”

 

“Dude, it’s the next day. How did you even manage to sleep for that long?”

 

Wally blinked, seemingly needing a moment to process what he just heard. “…Wait, what? Was I actually out cold for that long? That’s crazy!”

 

“It’s what happened,” Blaise corrected. “Now let’s go eat breakfast and hit the road. The innkeeper probably has something laid out for us by now.”

 

“That’s considerate of him…” Wally mumbled, throwing off the covers. “Well, I’m starving, so now’s not the time to be a picky eater.”

 

Again, the innkeeper proved to be a beacon of hospitality, guiding them towards an already set table, and bringing out piping hot soup and warm bread, served with fresh berry juice.

“This is delicious,” Maxie commented, digging into the meal. “Did you make all of this yourself?”

 

“I pride myself on quality service,” the Tropius answered. “Naturally, that includes complimentary breakfast. Thank you for the compliments.”

 

Wally slowly slurped up some of the soup. “Honestly, I didn’t consider soup for breakfast, but this really is something. This might be the best complimentary breakfast I’ve ever had.”

 

Blaise chuckled. “Everyone in this town is a fantastic chef for some reason. No matter who you ask, you’ll probably get something worth remembering. In any case, let’s start discussing where we’re going for the day, shall we?”

 

“Whatever we’re doing, it can’t be as bad as the last one, right?” Maxie asked.

 

“It’s just a short hike through a dungeon that doesn’t even have a proper name,” Blaise replied. “It’ll barely be an inconvenience, really. I’d be shocked if we run into a feral along the way.”

 

“That’s good news,” Wally commented. “After the day before yesterday, I don’t think I could’ve handled doing another one of those monsters.”

 

“You do realize that we’re going to do another one of those when we return in a few weeks, right?” Blaise asked.

 

“I don’t even know if I am going back with you, personally…” Wally mumbled.

 

“Right, your parents…” Blaise trailed off. “Anyway, we’re doing a lot of walking today, but it should be fairly easy. Nothing you two haven’t been broken into by now.”

 

“We’ll have to do a lot of talking just to fill the time, won’t we?” Maxie asked in between spoonfuls of soup. “We should probably leave the second we’re done eating, no?”

 

“If you feel up to leaving right away, then that’s preferable,” Blaise replied. “The sooner we arrive at Petalworth, the better. I have someone to meet there by the end of the day.”

 

“Oh, really?” Wally asked. “Who is it?”

 

“Just an old friend who’s going to help with our investigation. I work with him all the time. But I’m getting ahead of myself.”

 

One rather good breakfast filled with small talk later, the trio was on the road, looking back at the town they just left behind.

 

“It’s kind of a shame that more people don’t come here, no?” Wally asked once they were well outside of the town. “There are some great people here. They could use the extra attention.”

 

“If they got foot traffic, then a lot of those great things would be lost in the influx. Besides, not everyone wants to live in a busy city,” Maxie pointed out.

 

“Ah?” Blaise asked suddenly.

 

“What is it?” Maxie asked in kind.

 

“Oh, nothing,” Blaise said softly. “It’s just that I didn’t expect a young man like you to hold a viewpoint like that.”

 

“I guess it is a little weird for me to say that, huh…” Maxie muttered.

 

“For the record, I agree. That place is the way it is precisely because it is small. There’s always something lost whenever a community gets above a certain size. Not that there’s anything wrong with the city, of course.”

 

Wally looked between them, as if there was something he couldn’t quite understand about what he was hearing. “Man, you guys are easy to please. Aren’t you out for revenge right now, Maxie?”

 

“What the hell does my personal quest have to do with my beliefs about small and large communities?”

 

“I don’t know, it just seemed odd that the same guy who dropped everything to bring the one who killed his mother to justice have such a laidback attitude.”

 

“What does that even mean, Wally?”

 

“I don’t know, it made sense in my head!”

 

Perhaps sensing the ugly direction the topic was headed in, Blaise decided to steer the conversation away from Courtney. “To be extremely pedantic, Fort Dale and Petalworth were once part of the same duchy before becoming a part of the larger kingdom on the Eyelash Isles, so you could say we are in the city right now. Hence ‘Duke of Fort Dale’ and not ‘Duke of Petalworth.’ I don’t think I need to explain why that’s a ridiculous viewpoint to hold, but you could make that argument.”

 

“How the hell do duchies even work?” Maxie asked.

 

“They don’t. They’re the end result of ancient bureaucracy and should’ve been reorganized a long time ago, but the Dukes have a stake in the status quo, so they stay. If you looked at what the borders actually were, you might have a stroke.”

 

“It seems like a lot of things need to change in these Isles…” Wally commented.

 

“That’s why I do what I do, my boy. I make things better one agonizingly small step at a time.”

 

“That seems like it would be low on the priority list…” Maxie commented.

 

Blaise laughed. “You would be surprised at the tiny advantages nobles have squeezed out of nonsensical borders. Sometimes they try to make it worse! Did you know…”

 

Jacob found himself impressed as Blaise proceeded to talk for nearly two hours about duchy and district borders, their implications, and the shady behavior that surrounded them. By the time they reached the mystery dungeon, he felt like he’d read a thesis paper on the topic.

 

“…And he even managed to—” Blaise started, before stopping himself. “Ah. Hold that thought. We’re at the mystery dungeon.”

 

“I thought you said it was going to be easy?” Wally asked.

 

“Oh, it will be. Just trying to make sure we don’t drift apart as we enter. It’s important to stick together in a mystery dungeon.”

 

“But this place will be easy,” Wally replied.

 

“Habits don’t stick if you don’t practice them,” Blaise replied. “Let’s stick together, now.”

 

---

 

 

Fortunately, Blaise was right about this particular mystery dungeon. It was over so fast that Jacob could’ve sworn they were in there for twenty minutes at most.

 

“I don’t think I saw a single feral that entire time,” Maxie observed.

 

“That checks out,” Blaise replied. “I hope you’re gaining an appreciation for the route I chose.”

 

“We still had to go through that other dungeon,” Wally pointed out.

 

“True,” Blaise replied. “But we still saved at least two days from not going around. Most people hear that this route will take you through two dungeons and decide that it’s not worth the effort, but it’s really only just the one.”

 

“Well, It was a pretty bad one…” Maxie pointed out.

 

“I’d argue that it’s still better than two normal dungeons. Again, I must stress that we got particularly unlucky that time. It’s not normally anywhere near that bad.”

 

“I almost don’t want to believe you,” Maxie replied. “I have no hard evidence whatsoever, but my gut’s telling me that something is wrong.”

 

Blaise sighed. “Not to ruin our lighthearted mood, but trusting your gut is a great way to run headlong into danger with no plan and die. Don’t do that once we reach Rusty Boroughs. If you go with what you think to be true instead of looking at the world around you, you’ll lose sight of the basics.”

 

There was a brief pause in the conversation. “…Sorry,” Maxie replied after a few seconds.

 

“No need to apologize,” Blaise replied. “Just be thankful that you’re getting that lesson from me instead of learning it the hard way.” Blaise shuddered. “I had to.”

 

“…What happened?” Wally asked.

 

“Bad things. Very bad things,” Blaise simply said. “Another time,” he added after a brief pause.

 

Eventually, Petalworth started to come into view. It was nearly the same size as Root city, if a little smaller. In fact, if it wasn’t on a river instead of near the ocean, Maxie might’ve called it a copy.

 

“I guess this place is pretty busy, huh?” Maxie asked.

 

“More busy than Fort Dale, anyway,” Blaise replied.

 

“I think I was here once,” Wally added. “I think it was a business trip or something?”

 

“You go on a lot of business trips, don’t you?” Maxie asked.

 

“Yeah. It’s honestly a miracle I spend as much time as I do in Root City. Honestly, this trip has been kind of refreshing.”

 

“How so?”

 

“Well, it’s just that I’m used to being… is isolated the right word? Either way, just walking down the road like this is pretty different for me.”

 

“I suppose wandering around the wilderness isn’t an ideal mode of transport,” Blaise commented. “It gets the job done. We’re on pace to arrive in Rusty Boroughs sometime tomorrow.”

 

---

 

Petalworth wasn’t really anything Maxie wasn’t used to from back home. The streets were paved with cobblestone, the street lamps were simple metal, and there were vendors lining the streets. It really did feel like a perfectly normal city.

 

“Are you boys hungry?” Blaise asked. “There are some pretty good restaurants around here that I know.”

 

“Not yet,” Wally commented. “I’d rather get settled in at wherever we’re staying.”

 

“Very well,” Blaise replied. “I’ll be leaving you two there for a while, then. I have to meet with my friend.”

 

The inn itself was nothing special, although fancier than the once they’d stayed at the previous night. Maxie could tell that whoever ran the place had significantly more money to spend on it.

 

“I guess this place would be more your speed, huh?” he asked once Blaise had left them in their room.

 

“It’s certainly closer to what I normally get, that’s for sure,” Wally replied, opening the small icebox they’d been given. “Not high-end enough that they’d give us an electric refrigerator, though.”

 

“They make those?” Maxie asked, Jacob genuinely a little surprised. I thought we were lower on the tech tree than that… I guess we do have electricity, but still.

 

“I have one at home, anyway…” Wally mumbled, shutting the ice box and plopping down on the bed. “Do you think Blaise’s friend is gonna come with us for the rest of the trip?”

 

“Probably not,” Maxie guessed. “For all we know, the meeting is completely unrelated to my cause.”

 

“You mean our cause?”

 

Maxie sighed. “I don’t know about that.”

 

“What?” Wally asked. “I’m helping you out, aren’t I?”

 

“I’ll just come out and say it, because it’s been seriously bothering me. Are you helping me out because you really want to bring the killer to justice, or are you helping me out because you want to make yourself useful?” Maxie asked.

 

“Maxie, I— dude, why does that even matter to you? It’s clearly important to you, so I want to help! Is that not enough?”

 

“So it’s the latter then?” Maxie replied.

 

There was a brief pause after that.

 

“To be clear,” Maxie said, breaking the silence, “I’m not saying that I don’t appreciate the gesture, but you’re clearly not that invested in this whole thing. You said it yourself. Your parents had a business trip to Rusty Boroughs, which makes this convenient for you. It’s a little hard for me to put my trust in you. Especially after you basically just abandoned me once things started to get hectic that night.”

 

“You made me scan the entire town and Manor for over an hour! I had a headache! I needed to lie down!”

 

“Yeah, and so did I, after I saw my own mother’s mangled corpse! You were barely at the funeral, too!”

 

“Can you really blame me for—”

 

“If you really did feel someone leaving the town that night, then you could’ve told someone! Anyone! My mom might’ve survived!”

 

The silence that followed was even worse as Maxie finally got what he’d been thinking off of his chest.

 

“But you did and said nothing,” Maxie said. “You were given a chance to save my mother and squandered it because you were feeling a little tired.”

 

Wally didn’t seem to know what to say. It was as if he hadn’t even considered this. “…Maxie, I… I’m sorry.”

 

Maxie, frustrated, sat on the bed, facing away from Wally. “If you want to help out, that’s fine. You’re still my friend. But don’t pretend that you’re anywhere near as invested in this as I am. And you had better not fuck anything up because ‘you were just trying to help’. Understand?”

 

“…Yes.”

 

More painful silence followed. Clearly, Wally hadn’t known this was bothering Maxie that much, which made the Zangoose feel bad about yelling at him like that, but there was a part of him that didn’t feel inclined to apologize about it. More than anything, he just wanted a change of topic. “…What kind of business trip are your parents on, anyway?”

 

“They didn’t tell me,” Wally responded. “They never do. It’s probably something related to real estate, since that’s what the company does, but they seem to think these things are too important to trust me with.”

 

“Real estate… I guess that duchy borders matter a lot to a business like that, huh?”

 

“Actually, I hear my parents complain about it a lot. I would’ve brought it up when your uncle was giving us that whole lecture about it, but he seemed like he was really in his element. I didn’t want to stop him, you know?”

 

“I didn’t either,” Maxie said, turning around. “He always has the most interesting stories to tell. One time, he gave me and Tabitha an entire lecture about how people smuggle contraband into the country. He made it sound so interesting…”

 

Wally chuckled. “I guess you’d expect him to have the good stories, no?”

 

“Oh absolutely. One time…”

 

---

 

 

Meanwhile, Blaise was walking through the streets of Petalworth, looking for a certain pub. The Stinking Trubbish… Why can I never find this place? It’s not like they ever change locations.

 

Eventually, he popped his head into the right door, and spotted his key confidant: a coy-looking Reuniclus, floating off in the corner, and sat down next to him.

 

“Escorting kids across the countryside? What, are you gonna adopt them, Blaise?” the Reuniclus asked.

 

“So, you were watching, Joshua?” Blaise asked. “The Zangoose is my sister’s son, Maxie, and the Kirlia, named Wally, is his friend. You get two guesses as to why they’re here.”

 

“Oh, they want in, huh?”

 

“You’d better believe they do. Honestly, I might not be able to restrain Maxie in particular. He doesn’t show it, but there’s a fire in his heart.”

 

“Heheheh…” Joshua looked to the side, seemingly at nothing. “I remember when that part of me snapped. It’s like your entire world comes crashing down, and you need to make things make sense somehow. You know the feeling.”

 

“That I do. And quite honestly, I’m worried Maxie’s going to bite off more than he can chew. The only reason I agreed to bring Wally is that he might be more levelheaded than Maxie is. If he’s not, then, well…”

 

“You made a massive mistake?”

 

“That’s my exact fear,” Blaise confirmed.

 

After a bit of silence, Joshua looked back at Blaise. “It seems like they just had an argument.”

 

Blaise sighed. “That’s a bad sign. You overhear any of it?”

 

“I’d probably have to actively read one of their minds to do that,” Joshua said with a stretch. “Probably not a good idea if one of them is a halfway competent psychic. Not exactly why we’re meeting today, anyway. Who are our candidates?”

 

Blaise handed over an envelope containing pictures of everyone he thought was suspicious, complete with notes explaining why. “The primary question I want to answer is, ‘why kill Courtney Vaporeon’? These are my best answers to that question for now.”

 

“Wouldn’t it be funny if it was just the church again?” Joshua said, using psychic to shove the envelope into a bag.

 

“When aren’t they involved?” Blaise asked. “I can’t really think of a motive, and we’ll probably have to look into it at some point anyway, so I don’t think it’s worth considering for the culprit.”

 

“Ah, there’s the rub…” Joshua mumbled. “It is a shame to see kids like that get into business like this so young though.”

 

“Same age I was,” Blaise pointed out. “If they don’t get themselves killed with ambition, they’ll probably do a lot of good for these Isles.”

 

“Honestly, sometimes I can’t believe how you manage to stay this optimistic about things after this long. Your late sister’s cynicism would probably be the more expected outcome.”

 

“It’s quite simple: I look at where I started, then look at how far I’ve come. No matter how bleak things get, I can always at least say that I made the world just a little bit better.”

 

“Careful. If you say something that corny in the company of adults, you may actually get laughed out of the room.”

 

“Wouldn’t be the first time,” Blaise admitted. “If I gave in to something like that, I wouldn’t be where I am today.”

 

“Right. Do I have to go meet with the kiddies now?”

 

“I think you might,” Blaise agreed. “Don’t worry. They can carry a conversation fairly well.”

 

One trip to the hotel later, Blaise found himself walking in on a relatively calm discussion of his own exploits.

 

“So he just sat down and talked to the guy?” Wally asked. “And he agreed? Just like that?”

 

“Apparently, yeah. The guy didn’t even realize what he was doing. He—”

 

“He definitely knew what he was doing, he just thought I was giving him a better deal for his trouble,” Blaise interrupted. “Assuming that you’re telling the story I think you’re telling.”

 

“Oh, you’re back…” Maxie observed. “What was the mee—” Maxie paused when he spotted Joshua. “Erm, hello—”

 

“Joshua. You can call me Joshua. I’m going to help in Rusty Boroughs, since I owe your uncle nearly seven favors at this point. Good to meet you.”

 

Wally stared at Joshua for what felt like a full minute. “You’re incredible…” he finally said.

 

Joshua laughed. “Thanks. I spent a long time getting good.”

 

“Is it really that easy for psychic types to tell when they’re meeting someone who’s better than them?” Blaise asked. “I can never understand what that’s like.”

 

“I don’t even need to try communicating with him,” Wally replied. “I can tell that he’s incredible just by feeling him out.”

 

“So, this guy is going to be doing most of the mind-reading, I assume?” Maxie asked. “I don’t know why else you’d bring a really good psychic.”

 

“He’s probably going to be doing more work than the rest of us combined,” Blaise replied. “And quite frankly, the things guys like him do are very necessary in this type of work.”

 

“I mean, I guess it’s painfully obvious why. I just feel a little outclassed here…” Wally commented.

 

“You probably should,” Maxie observed.

 

“Anyway, I assume you two are getting hungry by now,” Blaise continued. “Why don’t we go out to get a bite to eat?”

 

The restaurant they chose was one just down the road. It wasn’t exactly the most fancy place in the world, but it wasn’t low-end either—the group quickly found themselves surrounded by rather posh-looking individuals.

 

“I’m guessing we’re just going to not talk in a crowded place like this, huh…” Maxie commented.

 

We still can, just like this, a voice they all heard replied.

 

Ah, like this? That makes a lot of sense… Wally’s voice said in turn.

 

“W-wait, I don’t—” Maxie started before having his lips forcibly shut.

 

Relax. I’m not going to invade your personal thoughts, Joshua said back. I’m just going to make it so we can all hear each other. You do hear all of this, right, Blaise?

 

Yes, I do, Blaise thought back. Just don’t dwell too much on anything you would rather us not hear, and we shouldn’t be able to do so. It’s not quite the same as mind reading.

 

After a long silence and a sigh, Maxie finally gave in. Fine… That had better not be a lie, though.

 

You’re very stingy about your secrets, Joshua observed. That’s a wise attitude. Unfortunately, you don’t get much of a say in this one. With that out of the way, what’s on the docket first?

 

Prince Noland, Blaise replied. Quite frankly, he’s such an obvious starting point that it’s a little bit suspicious, but he’s got the clearest motive.

 

I feel like I haven’t heard much about him recently, Joshua commented. That could be cause for concern in itself.

 

Honestly, my gut says that he’s not crafty enough to pull off an assassination, but there’s always a chance that I could be wrong about that… Maxie replied. This is so strange. How do you guys do this?

 

You get used to it, Blaise replied. In any case, Prince Noland will likely be hovering around the city center, possibly even in the same place we’ll be staying at. He should be fairly easy to get ahold of.

 

Do we question the church? Joshua asked. They’re almost definitely playing a part somehow.

 

We’ll find time for that after Prince Noland, Blaise replied. When a good opportunity arises, I’ll let you know. Wally, you should be scanning for minds that feel similar to the ones you felt that night while we’re in the city and you have a moment to spare, especially while Joshua’s dealing with the church. There’s definitely a chance that they’ll be in Rusty Boroughs.

 

I’ll need some rest the day before… Wally admitted. Scanning a whole city like that will take a lot out of me.

 

I could show you ways to minimize the strain if you like, Joshua pointed out. I got headaches after scanning for too long when I was your age too. There are lots of ways to make it easier.

 

I’d greatly appreciate that, thanks, Wally replied. Honestly, I’ve always wanted someone to help me get better at using my psychic side.

 

Are we going to be hanging around for what I’m assuming will be a sham trial? Maxie asked. Maybe there’s someone worth paying attention to over there.

 

I wouldn’t count on it, Blaise said. It’s probably worth making a note of who decides to attend, but there’s no reason to be in attendance ourselves. That’s just going to attract unnecessary attention.

 

Fair enough… Maxie replied, looking over the menu. It was mostly uninteresting to him, despite the fact that he was hungry. “If you don’t mind me asking, what do you guys normally get here?”

 

“The steak. It’s heavenly,” Blaise replied. “They sauté it incredibly well, and the seasoning is to die for.”

 

“Why is this place called the Black Boar, anyway?” Maxie asked.

 

“I don’t know. You’d have to ask the owner that,” Blaise replied. In any case, I feel very strongly that we should confront Anabel Theivul last. She lives in the city, and we’d probably have weeks to get around to her.

 

It’d be more than easy for you to pull the necessary strings to get a meeting with her, right? Joshua asked. You seem to have something of a working relationship with her, too.

 

Really? With her? Maxie asked.

 

It’s complicated, but yes. Naturally, this would represent a change in that relationship, but it’s easy enough for me to get in touch with her when necessary.

 

That leaves Tucker Weavile, right? Wally asked. What’s the plan for him?

 

We’ll probably resort to espionage for him, Blaise replied. From what I can tell, he’s a bit paranoid. It’s unfortunate that we can’t read his mind directly, on account of him being a dark type, but that doesn’t stop us from getting to his men.

 

So, do we have anything else to cover? Maxie asked. Because I feel like we’re missing something here.

 

There’s a lot we could be missing here… Blaise replied. We’re operating under at least a few assumptions here. But that’s largely out of our control. At the end of the day, we’ll have to change course once we actually find a lead.

 

Blaise could only hope that they’d have an easy time finding said lead. In hindsight, he wished they didn’t.