To Gaius' great surprise, even after a few weeks, Isabella's new living arrangements still weren't revealed as a ploy to get one over on him. In fact, the knight's arrival even helped him out in a way. To a witch like Alessia, a holy knight was poison. And while she was busy avoiding Isabella, she didn't have as much time or energy to be curious about Gaius and his secrets.

  More than used to eliciting strong reactions, Isabella didn't mind this behavior, and in fact, it seemed to Gaius, she found it endearing. Even the imp didn't faze her too much. Or at least she did a good job of not showing her displeasure with the hellish creature.

  And in general, between all the flirting and drinking, Gaius was starting to warm up to the Caladonian woman. It helped that she wasn't too determined to perform her holy duties. Yes, every day she went to the border pass where she diligently inspected everyone coming through, but there was no sign of divine fervor behind that.

  More than once, Isabella admitted that the druid she was looking for must have gone in another direction completely, otherwise someone would have spotted him by then. But such was the burden of a knight, to follow orders even when it was clear there was very little point in doing so.

  And even though with Victor, Alessia, and Isabella, not to mention the imp, the store was starting to get pretty crowded, Gaius didn't especially mind it. He was comfortable enough with being a shopkeeper, and on occasion, he even volunteered to deal with clients.

  He expected to be doing just that when the door opened, but instead of a potion-seeking adventurer, in came Esven.

  Out of inertia, Gaius hit the captain with his well-practiced by that point, "Hi, Gaius Chanter here, but you just call me Guy. How may I help you?"

  Esven ignored the greeting and went straight for a handshake.

  "Mallia's tits, Guy, it's just me," he said. "Save that crap for those not on a constable's wages."

  Gaius invited the captain to the kitchen that for a while now has been acting as his office.

  "I guess this is you getting around to looking into that robbery mess?" Gaius asked after handing Esven a mug of Trogsmasher ale.

  He knew for a fact that the Boars' remains have long since been picked clean. Some of their stuff even made its way to his shop. Not looking to share that with Esven, Gaius simply looked at the captain over a mug of his own.

  "Oh yeah, that. Sorry, no leads there," Esven said, immediately making Gaius curious and a little bit scared. "In fact," the captain paused, "I'm here to ask you for a favor. You know how that works. You come to me for something, I come to you for something."

  "I came to you to report a crime," Gaius protested.

  "See, you're not even trying to deny it," Esven said. "Here's what I want you to do."

  "At least pretend to be uncomfortable when strong-arming me like this."

  "Comfort is an unattainable luxury for a man who spends his days packed in enough iron to forge a bathtub. Shut up, and hear me out. We've got a situation on our hands."

  Only now Gaius noticed that the captain looked concerned. And not concerned like he wasn't sure if he had locked his door, but concerned like he'd seen an alef walking the streets of Siembra wearing a sundress.

  Gaius put away his ale. "What is it?"

  "You know how you keep saying you're not a wizard?" Esven started. "Well, I need you to cut that crap and put on your pointy hat. We've got this big-time Mystlund wizard living in Siembra. And for a while now, things have been tense between her and my people. But today it went from defaced lawn and clumsiness curses to that crazy old witch eviscerating a bunch of kids for the horrific crime of wandering onto her property."

  "When you say eviscerate..."

  "The earth opened up to swallow them whole," the captain explained.

  "And you come to me instead of mounting an assault on that witch why?"

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  You could grind rocks between Esven's teeth when he said, "Because believe it or not, the magistrate wants an elegant solution to this. It would reflect poorly on our nation if we burned one of your wizards without a trial."

  "And because I'm from Mystlund, you're thinking I can go convince her to give herself up? Don't want to disappoint you, but we, Mystlunders, aren't overly sentimental. It's every man for himself out there. I won't fare much better than those kids of yours if I show up unannounced."

  "So go announce yourself," Esven snapped. "I'm a wizard. I'm from Mystlund. I'm here to bond over our shared experience of being a huge pain in captain Esven's ass. From what my sources tell me, the wizard isn't psychotic, just overprotective of her tower. You'll be fine. At the very least you'll scout the place for my men."

  Gaius had to agree there was a shred of truth to that logic. Wizards usually saw their towers as a source of pride and often took extreme precautions to prevent undesirables from sneaking inside. He could definitely see an arcane ward going haywire and mistaking a bunch of kids for a troll incursion.

  It never stopped with Siembra. Perhaps the town simply hated him and was determined to do everything in its power to prevent Gaius from having a quiet year.

  But then again, if he were to be honest with himself, Gaius would have to admit that after the last few weeks of doing nothing but slinging potions, he actually welcomed a chance to go out.

  There was one thing, though. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't remember Siembra having anything even remotely resembling a wizard's tower.

  And so, driven by boredom, curiosity, and a desire to stay on Esven's good side, Gaius agreed to help the captain out.

  A regiment of Siembran guards held a perimeter around a decent plot of land on the far side of the mountainous basin. A chest-high hedge was the only visible deterrent from anyone stepping onto what looked like a grassy meadow decorated by numerous statues.

  These statues weren't the chiseled work of any sculptor and instead looked like odd-sized rocks stacked together to resemble vague humanoid shapes.

  And still, Gaius couldn't see any tower. The only building in sight was a low-to-the-ground cottage with a tiled roof that evoked the image of a giant mushroom cap.

  It was most unusual for a wizard to not live in a tower. Gaius didn't know how this tradition started, but by his times, pretty much every wizard who wanted to command respect had one. The more physics-defying the better.

  With Esven's men keeping their distance, Gaius walked up to the sign hanging off a flimsy metal gate inserted straight into the otherwise all-natural hedge.

  The sign simply said, "Trespassers will be eviscerated."

  That at least explained Esven's choice of words earlier.

  "I thought you told me there would be a tower," Gaius noted, thinking back to Mystlund's urban skylines and their innumerable exquisite spires.

  Esven glanced over the hedge at the flat plot of land. "The town records say there's a tower here," Esven said. "I'm not going to question that. For all I know it can be invisible. What do I know? To me all this magic stuff looks weird and unnatural."

  "You want weird and unnatural? You go get yourself a mirror."

  "Careful now, that duel's still not out of the picture," Esven said after huffing through his mustache.

  "If you're so fond of duels, why don't you just go duel the wizard, save us all some trouble."

  "I would if I could, Guy, trust me. But I doubt the magistrate would appreciate that," Esven said. He then made sure that the two of them weren't within earshot of the other constables. Only then, he added, "It's incredibly frustrating, man."

  "How so?"

  "Being a captain can be such a chore when everyone knows you're supposed to follow all the laws and decrees you're enforcing. Back when Lucius was still on the force, he would threaten to bash a scumbag's head in, and the scumbag would buy it, even though the captain didn't truly mean it. When I do the same, they just laugh and think I'm playing. And I actually do intend to fuck them up." Esven cursed. "Like I said. Frustrating."

  "You know what they say. An iron fist is only worth something when it's connected to a strong arm."

  "And what, in Nova's name, is that supposed to mean?"

  "Look, I'm just saying. I've never met that Lucius fella, but I've known guys like him. I'm willing to bet you my axe he didn't climb the ladder up from the streets like you did. He must have come from a respectable family and had all these connections up high."

  Esven offered no objections.

  Gaius continued. "That alone makes him scarier to commoners than anything you could threaten them with. But even beyond that. Esven, brother, you're the captain now. What are you even doing here on the scene? If something goes wrong, you'll be the one taking the blame regardless of who screws up. You need to delegate. If you personally threaten some lowlife, he knows that if you go through with your threats, he'll report it and that's going to be it for you. And in his shifty little mind, bringing down a captain is worth everything you do to him and more. But if you send a few expendable goons to do your dirty work, that's when he knows you mean business."

  "That's some interesting words, coming from a merchant," Esven said.

  Gaius let out a sigh. Slipping like this always made him feel incredibly stupid. Even if it wasn't a big deal and didn't raise any actual suspicion.

  "You know I was a traveling merchant before settling down here. You spend enough time on the road and you're bound to learn things," Gaius said.

  Esven was perfectly content with this explanation.

  "Well then, stop stalling and go show me some of those things, merchant," he said. "The wizard won't scout herself."

  "Fine, fine, I'm going," Gaius said before stepping up to the hedge.

  Peeking inside, he announced his presence.

  "Hi, I'm Gaius. For you, just Guy. I've heard that a fellow Mystlunder lives here and decided to pay you a visit."

  When no reply of any kind came, Gaius took a deep breath and stepped past the hedge. A narrow dusty path led to the cottage.

  Story Facts - Chapter 18