Their party had gasped when the wall came down. The town was unlike any they’d seen before. They should have reasoned that by the roads, in hindsight.

  The first thing Ratface noticed was the town didn’t have a physical wall. Instead lines of runes surrounded the edge of the place. That must have been what created the blue wall. It seemed wasteful but Ratface figured it was another statement like the roads had been. Here was a nation of power.

  The town itself had buildings that looked similar to the villages she’d seen, sort of. It was like she’d always been seeing inferior versions. These ones were all stone for one thing and there was no spot for chimneys on them.

  “People use runes for heat instead of logs,” Abigail explained. The streets were littered with lanterns that lit up without fire as well. Ratface’s eyebrows raised, so this is what a town with access to so much mana looked like. She looked around and noticed the guards had on lighter armour than she’d seen in most. It was all fabric apart from the buttons which had small engravings on them. She bet if she tried to stab one that that would stop it.

  “How have they not conquered everything with all this?”

  “Resources partly, something like this expands slowly. The other part is their neighbours.”

  “Hmm?”

  “The demons are no slouch, and you know the elves’ influence is extensive.”

  “But elves don’t have a system like this.”

  “They also have the highest volume of land that they own, and it will fight you the entire way, even Claudette’s Forest pales in comparison. It’s why you need the license to enter their lands.”

  Ratface hummed. She knew that elves were powerful, but it was one thing to know that and quite another to see a land with this sort of power be wary of them.

  “How did we beat Amaranth?” she mused.

  “She was young,” said Abigail. It made her look sad for a moment, but she shrugged and moved on. It was odd being reminded that for as kind as the knight was, a graveyard stood in her shadow.

  The rest of the group didn’t hear Abigail and Ratface’s conversation, they were too buys checking out the sights. Halmir had gone off with Albert and the two were haggling with a store owner over a sweet treat. The street vendors looked the same as elsewhere, minus the smoke of a stove. Carts truly were the ultimate street food container. Kryssa and Tiffany were looking through at two different shops that were close together. Tiffany was looking at the different seeds available while Kryssa was looking at different outfits and changing into them. The glamour had no intention of buying those, Ratface knew, she was just going to update her image with whatever outfit she liked.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Abigail walked and joined Kryssa. The shopkeeper looked delighted to have collected another customer. Ratface as the only one still wandering got some odd looks. She was sure to keep her helmet on, but it did still look like a rat on it. At some point she should really give this to Halmir.

  She’d put on gloves and covered her green skin when they entered but all that did was make her look like she had something to hide. Ratface smiled.

  “Well, they’re not wrong,” she said.

  “Excuse me, are you a squire?” asked a voice from behind her. Ratface turned around and found herself looking at a child. She was proud to say that she was taller than them. The little girl had blonde hair like most people in the town. Her eyes were too wide in Ratface’s opinion. They made her look like a goblin child.

  “I’m an adventurer,” she told the kid. The girl’s eyes widened.

  “Wow we don’t have that here; we only have the Lady’s servants.”

  “They’re like really gaudy knights,” said Ratface. The girl giggled at that. Her eyes looked a little red and crusty. Ah, she’d been crying. Ratface looked around and realised the girl was alone.

  “You parents aren’t around? Do you need a-” She paused as she tried to come up with the right word, “servant of the lady.”

  “Of the Lady,” said the girl, somehow hearing the lack of capitalisation by Ratface. “I’ll keep looking.” She went to turn away, but Ratface touched her shoulder before she could. There were probably other people could help this girl, but the eyes made her feel responsible.

  “It’s an adventurer’s job to help people too, let me help you in the Lady’s absence.” She held her hand out to the girl and after a moments hesitation the girl took it.

  She dragged Ratface through the streets and it was only after it was too late that Ratface considered the girl could be luring her into a trap. She’d already separated her from her friends. A thing Abigail had been very clear shouldn’t happen.

  She led Ratface into an alley which only made Ratface more suspicious. The girl stopped before the paranoia could get too much for Ratface. She’d stopped just before the alley ended. She held her hand up to her face then motioned for Ratface to look around. Ratface did so and found herself staring at a nice establishment with some decidedly out of place people hanging around it. The people outside the place were still well dressed but made it look dangerous. Ratface couldn’t put her fingers on it exactly, it was like their outfits were sharp or something.

  “My mum’s in there,” the girl whispered. Ratface looked at the place again. She groaned internally. This is exactly the sort of problem Abigail had warned her not to get into and yet here she was.

  “It looks pretty well guarded, we might need more people,” said Ratface. The girl shifted in place and Ratface glanced at her. “What is it?” she asked.

  “I overheard them talking, they said how lucky it was they found my mum so quickly or they would have had to leave her. They said they’re moving out today. You’ll help her wont you?” The little girl looked up at Ratface with her wide goblin-like eyes. Ratface knew she was done for.

  “Go and get the knight I was walking around with,” she said. The girl nodded and went running which left Ratface alone with the problem.

  She looked at the place and winced. She could do this right? Just had to get out a woman from a heavily guarded building.

  She’d ask what could go wrong but there were too many options to count.