At the back of the mayor's mansion, a beggar could be seen going inside, but no one stopped him. No one dared. While he appeared dirty, he carried himself with an air of dignity as he waltzed his way to the door.
He strode to the corridor, heading straight to a room at the end of the hall when the door to his left opened. Two young men came out. One of them had close-cropped hair who smirked when he spotted him. The other looked more solemn and refined with his perpetually neat clothing that even a simple shirt and pants seemed respectable on him. Maybe that should be expected from a physician like Jeremiah.
"You just can't keep still?" Jeremiah asked, his narrowed eyes already darted on the wounds. He tried to have a closer look but stopped and grimaced instead.
The one with a close-cropped hair guffawed. "You stink, Eldric. Go clean yourself first."
Eldric did not need another telling as he dashed to his room. He reached the bathroom and gave a tentative smell on himself. He did stink. Lin did not seem to mind earlier. He smirked. She really was an odd person.
Once he was done, he headed to the study and found his friends there, having tea. This was originally the mayor's study, but since they used his house as their headquarters, the mayor offered this room to them as well. Though, personally, Eldric preferred to stay in other places than here. The simple exterior of the house was in contrast with the flashy and gaudy interior, much like its owner.
Jeremiah noticed him first. "Your wounds are not even healed. Yet you're out and about already."
Eldric waved them off, settled on a chair, and helped himself with the snacks. He missed proper foods.
"Do you want me to ask for more?" Tim asked, but he was already at the door, talking to a guard. When he came back, he asked, "So what's with this getup again?"
He did not ask why the need for disguise. They were used to that. Their team gathered the information for the military. But more than shadowing or listening to secret conversations, Eldric preferred to act a role and integrate himself right in the middle of things. That way, he got the front-row seat. Not that he enjoyed doing it. He was good so he kept at it.
"You'll never know how careless people get when they are with a... beggar." Eldric snorted. He opted for a wandering rogue look, but she just had to call him a beggar.
"Huh, look at that. Didn't expect you to enjoy that. So?"
Eldric shook his head. "You first. What have you got?"
"Same as last time." Tim leaned back, looking tired and defeated. "The gossips all point to the witch living out there in the woods. Even the mayor and the servants here."
"Still with the witch?" Eldric thought for a while then frowned. "They all have the same story?"
Tim finished his drink. "Suspicious, isn't it? What surprised me more was people still want to get their hands on that 'miracle drink.' Good thing is, it hasn't made its way throughout the town yet."
"Yet. It had crippled a small village not far from here because of the curiosity. Seemed harmless, but it messes with their lives," Jeremiah interjected. "And we don't have a treatment yet for the hallucination. The physicians in the palace believe that those cases are just idiosyncrasies."
Their discussion was interrupted by the arrival of the food. Once the maid left, Eldric continued, "Did they say who brought it to the village?"
Tim shook his head. "Some say it's a trader. Others say from a traveling artist."
"So it depends on who is available to take the blame. In our case, it's the witch. One thing's for sure, there's no witch," Eldric said with finality.
The two looked at him in shock. Eldric crossed his legs, rested his arms on the armchair, and waited.
"There's no witch," Eldric repeated. "I was prowling in the forest for weeks. The only people I found were a mother and daughter and the men of Unknown." Then he knitted his brows, "Did they say what the witch looked like?"
Tim shrugged, his forehead lined with crease, perhaps still processing the vice-general's claim. "That's the thing. No one had seen what she looked like. Just someone with light-colored hair. Or was it blonde?"
"Light-colored hair?" Jeremiah sipped his tea and met Eldric's eyes over the rim of his cup. "Someone from…?"
All of them fell silent, and Tim was the first to speak. "No, it can't be." He turned to Eldric. "Did you say you found a mother and daughter?"
"Yes, but they're not witches," only Eldric heard the hesitation in his voice when he said the last words. But he could not help the surge of protectiveness he felt for the supposed witches even if this were his friends. He had seen the terror in their eyes in front of those men. It was like…
He gripped his cup and finished his tea. "Tim, continue tailing the mayor. Find out what happened to his family. I don't believe they are on vacation in the capital." He turned to Jeremiah, "Continue researching for the medicine."