I arrived back at prince Gideon's camp during the early morning hours. The sentry spirits had detected no assassins or any other kind of threat during my absence. I cleaned up all the defensive measures I had placed before leaving and took a seat on a tree branch.
About an hour later the camp began to slowly wake up. Another hour passed and the camp was buzzing with activity as people prepared to leave. Tents were dismantled, campfires put out, and horses were saddled.
Prince Gideon was always in the middle of it, organizing, helping, and sometimes being a nuisance.
But honestly, horses, really? They lived in a world filled with magical beasts and monsters but still choose to ride ordinary horses! I myself had horses too but they had all gone through magical changes making them much cooler.
Riding an ordinary animal in this situation was an insult to tamers across the realm. If there were any...
I had half a mind to take the issue up to prince Gideon. However, at the moment I was still seen as nothing but a helpful stranger. Bringing up topics like what was an adequate mount in a fantasy world wouldn't earn me any trust. Quite the opposite in fact, they would think me weird or disrespectful.
So I kept my silence until I was approached by the prince. The camp had now been completely torn down and the prince's retainers had finished the last preparation.
"Good morning to you, lord Raven. I'd like to once again thank you for staying up all night in order to keep me safe."
So he had ordered people to watch me. It was a foolish thing to let me know but that seemed to be just who this prince was. I hopped down from the tree and landed before him.
"It was no trouble at all. Now, should we be going?"
"That is our intention."
We traveled through the boreal forest for a while longer until we reached a primitive road. Primitive in the sense that it was little more than a swathe cut through the forest. The ground had been smoothened out by the countless carts and hooves that had passed over it throughout the years.
Now that we had a road to travel on the speed at which we were going picked up. Before I had been able to comfortably walk next to prince Gideon as we talked about this and that but after reaching the road I had to choose between getting on a mount or jogging to keep up.
I wasn't a fan of jogging so I summoned a horse made of darkness. Doing this was not only great practice for my magic manipulation but also a way to impress the prince.
Prince Gideon was truly fascinated by my mount to the point that he kept pestering me with all sorts of questions. I answered the ones that wouldn't conflict with this realm's common sense too much while dodging the others.
While talking we passed the city I had scouted at night from a distance away. Prince Gideon explained to me that he didn't want to enter a city so soon since the checks at the gate would cost them far too much time.
Lunch was consumed in the saddle and most of the people present had to make do with some dried meat or hard bread. Not me though. While no one was looking I snuck in a ham sandwich with mustard from my food storage.
Two hours after lunch we passed another city. Prince Gideon looked tempted to enter it but eventually decided to keep going. As the city left our field of view I discovered a faint red mist in the air.
Tristan must have passed through here. However, based on how faint the most was now I reckoned that he had passed here quite a while ago. He was clearly in front of us. Was he preparing a more elaborate trap to kill the prince without fail?
"If we can keep up this pace we should arrive at the capital by noon tomorrow. Then I will tell my father what happened and my brother will be punished! Let's see if he continue his violent plans after that."
And there it was. The most probable reason for this Tristan fellow to be hurrying back. If prince Gideon was unable to prove that what he claimed had happened he would be the one in trouble instead of his brother. If the acclaimed assassin had an alibi and was in the capital much sooner than the prince that would make for a good counter-argument.
"Prince Gideon, this may be out of bounds for me to say but you should be cautious of how you address this issue. Accusing your brother without strong evidence to back you up will likely result in your loss. Your brother will portrait it as you trying to frame him to advance your political agenda."
"What do you mean by evidence?! Is my word not enough?!! My father will certainly not let this injustice stand."
"I can do no more than warn you, prince Gideon. If you choose to believe in your own judgment then that is your choice."
We rode on and as night approached we reached another city. This one we entered and settled down in an inn that prince Gideon had wholly rented. Nobles and their spending habits...
We ate at a restaurant and prince Gideon insisted on showing me around the nightly city. After we finally retired to our respective rooms I couldn't help but notice a female knight from prince Gideon's retinue slip into his room. Well, she certainly wasn't going there to guard the prince.
Nightly services were considered rather normal in this place. During dinner, I had seen a few waitresses give out very meaningful looks to some of the prince's knights. They seemed to be something like celebrities in this place. Maybe the reason the prince had rented the entire inn wasn't as simple as I had thought.