A few minutes after paying up, the warden led a group of four out from within the cells of the prison.
Leading the group was a young man in his early twenties- probably a year or two older than Edol. His hair was dark blonde and he had a short, well-maintained beard. Right as he'd been walking out, his visage had been a picture of embarrassment and depression, but as soon as he saw the group there to pick him up, he just looked confused. Even now, his eyes still followed Edol as the Brit walked down the stone steps at the entrance of the prison.
Next was a young lady of a similar age and hair color as her team's leader. A pair of scholarly-looking glasses rested on her nose, and she gave off the aura of someone who knew what they were doing. A certain… self-confidence. This self-confidence disappeared after she laid her eyes on her rescuers, replaced with confusion.
The third member was a younger boy, probably only seventeen years old. A backpack was strapped around the kid's shoulders and another two were cradled in his arms. His freckled face was tense, and his eyes darted around like he was perpetually afraid. Despite his obvious uncomfortability, he still tried to stand tall, doing his best to stay in between the warden and the fourth member of their group.
The fourth member walked out from the prison doors, and the warden muttered something under his breath, just loud enough for Edol and the others to overhear.
"Filthy slut."
The girl turned to the warden and winked, a mocking smile creeping over her face.
"Hmm, want some? You're too old though, and not my type. What a shame. Your son was much better. How is his marriage now, by the way?"
The warden clenched his fists, barely managing to resist the urge to attack the girl. Ignoring the warden's visible rage, the fourth member of the relic team turned to observe Edol and the crew.
"Sick bro, an eagle! Damn, that thing is huge! How'd you manage to tame it?"
The final member to exit looked to be a similar age to the first two members of her party. Her hair was very light blonde, nearly white, and despite her casual and somewhat crude speech, her accent sounded oddly sophisticated.
"I'm Tori, by the way. Does your eagle always sit on your head?"
Tori strode up to Edol, reaching her arm up to stroke Ghost's feathers. Now, it was the bird's time to be dumbfounded. The plan, "make an impression" had been going so well. Edol looked like some kind of bird-mancer, having a giant grey eagle perched atop his head.
"Ah, no, actually. We were doing this for a joke, but I think it's ruined now. I'm Edol, by the way."
"Shucks man, I love jokes. Hold on, I can fix this."
Tori quickly backpedaled to stand with the rest of her team, then began staring off blankly into the space above Edol's dome.
"H-hey, my eyes are down here… Yea, it's ruined. Oh well. It worked on the warden earlier, I guess that's enough."
"Better luck next time, I guess. Ah, my friends haven't introduced themselves yet. Here, let me! As I said before, I'm Tori. The dude in the front is Pierre Jr, the pretty lass is Seph, and the kid is Will. Together, we're the Four Nincompoops."
A chorus of complaints broke out from behind Tori, and eventually, Pierre Jr. stepped forward.
"Sorry about her, she's from the big hill, their culture is a bit different up there."
Pierre Jr. opened his mouth to continue speaking, but Tori cut in.
"Nah, can you imagine that? A whole city of people like me? It'd be amazing! Chaos, but amazing. Most of the folks up there are boring, a bit like Pie-boy here."
"It's Pierre! Pierre! Ugh, we're lucky you left Easthill City. I have nightmares sometimes, and you're always in them. Tori, commander of one of Easthill's mighty legions. Nope. Sounds impossible. There's no way you were ever a military officer-in-training."
Rather than defending herself, Tori grinned and gave a big thumbs up.
The group had already left the prison and now headed for a house on the outstretches of the city. Pierre Sr, the hunter from Hearth, bade farewell and split from the group, heading for the marketplace. He only had a few coppers left, but that would be plenty to replenish his supplies.
As soon as the older hunter departed from the group, Pierre Jr's shoulders relaxed a bit.
Willow also decided to break away, her destination being the marketplace. She knew a few of her father's connections in Edain and planned to meet up with them before departing for Miaan. Now, it was just Edol, Ghost, and the relic team left.
"So, Edol, was it? What brings you to Edain?"
"I want to learn more about spellcrafting. By the way… your father said I could join your relic team. I'm good at fighting and have some experience in tombs, but I don't know much about traps or spells yet."
Pierre scanned Edol up and down, nodding after he noticed the budding callouses on the Brit's hands.
"Sure. We can take you with us on our next run to see if you're cut out for it."
"Sweet! We're the Five Nincompoops now!"
Pierre rolled his eyes, then turned back to look at Edol.
"So, how are you liking the city so far? Probably a lot cleaner than you're used to, right?"
Edol's history classes back on earth had at least briefly covered how cities operated in the past. Despite lacking vehicles, this one certainly resembled one of present-day Earth (some) more. The roads were clean, the canals busy, and it had a general peaceful vibe.
"Yea, it's pretty cool. I was a bit worried when I had to leave my horse back at the stables, but now I see why. No horses on the streets, no horse poop to clean up!"
Stationed in a few areas on the outskirts of the city, a number of massive ranch stables provided places for travelers and merchants to leave their rides while inside the city. At each ranch, an Easthill-appointed official watched over to assure that there would be no issues.
The ranch stables even provided space for travelers to store their goods. It made traveling to and from Edain extremely easy and convenient.
Eventually, the group arrived at the small, one-story house in the outskirts of the city. All the surrounding houses were nearly identical, and it gave the feeling of big city suburbs.
As they entered the house, Edol decided that he'd waited long enough. It had been nearly two weeks since he arrived in this world, and he'd been waiting for much of that time, desiring to start learning about spellcrafting. Now, he finally had a team who could teach him, and the Brit was pretty sure he knew which member of the team was the spellcrafter.
Seph's scholarly glasses and confident look betrayed her! She was the only one who fit the image of a mage! Edol turned to the girl to ask.
"Can you start teaching me about spellcrafting now?"