"Seems like you had a great time over there. It's a tragedy that I interrupted such a... romantic scene?"
"You know that's not what happens right? Explain it to her, otherwise, I will lose my finger." Said Vaterian, as there had blood started coming out from his finger.
"Why don't you do it yourself? Afraid of being scolded or something? but anyway, I will help you explain it."
Igor walked beside Viridiana lifted her teeth with his hand. "Sorry about the act of impolite, but he was a pianist, losing his finger would have a big impact on him. Also, I need to say, unlike most romance described, biting your tongue won't lead you to death, only bring you endless pain by not being able to speak and eat, but someone will take responsibility right ?" Igor looked at Vaterian. Viridiana loosened her jaw, after knowing not everything stated in the book was true.
"Her father will take the responsibility, not me. Better watch out for the word you used, I don't want to be taken as someone who helps anyone without a price." Vaterian was not happy about what Igor talking about him.
"But still, you saved her from suffering for the rest of her life, is not something that will affect us right? But you still did it anyway."
"Stop talking something non-sense, just explain everything to her." Vaterian ran out of patience and give his order.
"Fine Miseur. Miss Viridiana, long story short, we knock all stalkers to the ground and saved you." As Igor explained what they did, Vaterian loosen his grip and let Viridiana free.
Viridiana eye was dazzled by the sunlight, luckily most of them were blocked by the building around them. After a couple of second, she got a clear sight of what happened in the alley.
Two men was lying on the ground, their weapon was fell beside her, as she saw the sword held in Igor's hand, she had a bad feeling. The adrenaline went away quickly, she lost all control of her body and fell off, but before her cloth touch the ground, she was supported by an arm, it's Vaterian.
"Don't be worried about them Miss Viridiana, I'm sure you won't scare by a bunch of living human being right? Both of them are still alive, but they may need to lay on the ground for a couple of hours." Igor sweeped away Viridiana Imagination. Viridiana slowly regain her control and stood up by the helping hand given by Vaterian.
"But what surprised me is you didn't kill them. I thought that's why you draw your sword out?"
"I'm not a Blood-thirsty like you do! I pulled it out just to make them less aggressive under the blade!" Igor argued with Vaterian.
"Sorry Miss, but we need to let them believe we are not protecting you, so we used some trick to lure them in, they won't be that dumb to rush in and face all of us at the same time." Vaterian explained to Viridiana because Igor's "brief explanation" obviously won't provide a clear sight of what happened.
Viridiana didn't reply but remained silent. A touch of pink climbed up to her face, but Vaterian didn't see it.
"So? What do you find? Let me have a look." Asked Vaterian.
Igor looked at Viridiana and saw her reaction, "You always had the luck to find something... extremely rare, pls don't let it fly away from your grip again like it used to be." He shook the thing he found in his hand with a smile, it was a letter.
"I know you are still salty about what I did during the expenditure exam in Heiligen, but it's 2 years ago, and I bear all the responsibility." Vaterian take the letter from Igor, opened it and read it out. Igor sighed, he felt disappointed that Vaterian just ignore his words.
"Beloved Mister, the family de Montferrat had yet again come to Talismania to get the permission to trade with the Barbarian, although the Stadthalter won't give them the pass, the Grand duke would. Keep their hand from our trade. Remember to keep the member from de Montferrat safe, otherwise, they will meet the Duke in court, no bloodshed unless it's necessary."
"It seems like the Merchant from the league is not happy about your trip, what is your thought about that?" Vaterian folded the letter and talk to Viridiana, who's now gained her mind back. "Is not a big issue, as long as we get our pass, we are fit and ready to go. The Von Nassau will leave this city today, by that time, the duke will have time to approve our demand, It's just a signature."
"Oh is it? I recommended you to had a look in this newspaper, what it called again, Einhaven?" "Relation aller Fürnemmen und gedenckwürdigen Historien, just called it RAFUGH as usual, dont force yourself to remember it." Vaterian picked up the newspaper on the ground, which might be dropped by one of the newsboys running around, it's covered in mud, but still readable. He passed it to Viridiana, but he struggle to remember what the newspaper called.
Viridiana looked at the first page, It only consist of the title of the paper, she turned to the next page.
"The Grand duke called for an emergency council over the death of Heideriech von Weißburg, today is the last day of the secret sounding, the representative of Von Nassau would meet with the Grand duke."
"It looked alright? What's the problem?" Viridiana was confused about what Vaterian meant, the boys didn't reply but give her the sign to continue reading.
"The successor of Von Nassau shown up in Musikverein! By the newest Opera from Wagner "Der Ring des Nibelungen" came out, "The Avant-Garde Prince" had rushed to the Musikverein to enjoy it. The Grand duke had no choice but to delay the meeting."
On the next page of the paper, shown this rather underwhelming news with the timetable and ticket price from the Musikverein, It's looking more like an advertisement than a piece of news, but Viridiana's face turned pale as she saw the news.
"How is the feeling on knowing the Duke won't have the time for you, Miss? still calm?" Said Vaterian with a smile hanging on his face. "Now we need to find out who send out this letter, so we can solve this issue. "Take it Einhaven! Try to extract some information out from it." Vaterian threw the letter to Igor.
Igor take the letter and investigate it, "the envelope is rather clean without any dirt on it, It didn't travel for a long time, might be sent from this city to the receiver. And beloved Mister, It didn't have a specific receiver, just looking for anyone who can do the job, It's either sent to a lot of people or hang on board wait for anyone to collect."
Igor takes out the letter and started looking at it, " It's written in Hellandic script, which only commonly used by a commoner, but it's written too hard, the word even can be seen from the back, and it's too standard, might be someone who not used to using Hellandic script, A Noble man or who work under them." Igor gives his conclusion.
"Nice, you had improved a lot in this department, but you missed out on the most important part. The writing is rather smooth, all action that inflicts the muscle in purlicue was fine. He is not a person who trained to used a sword, at least not Longsword. Practising Half-swording would always leave some scars on your hand." Vaterian showed his hand to Viridiana, that's a lot of tiny scars on his purlicue and finger.
"So, what is the conclusion Sir?" Asked Viridiana, that was the first word that came out from her mouth.
"First, this letter was not sent by the Stadthalter, at least not directly from them. Second is the sender is more likely a Citizen of this city and working under the Stadthalter, depending on what was written in the letter, his boss had no idea about the arrival of your family and the action made by the Merchant. But most importantly...."
Vaterian stopped his sentence, and tidy up his cloth and warp his finger with some cloth torn from his cloak. Igor cleaned up his sword with the cloth hung alongside the scabbard and slide it into the sheath.
Viridiana had no idea what happened and was a bit panicked, Vaterian voice flew to her ear. "More people are searching for us, might also for your caravan, we need to go fast and reach the place you stay."
Without further discussion, Vaterian dragged Viridiana and run toward their destination. Igor followed them at the back.