The next morning, upon learning of Jorgen's visit, Elro immediately shuffled the papers on his desk into a haphazard stack and moved them to the corner, ensuring he could rest both elbows on the surface, palms clasped together, portraying an air of composed waiting with a faint smile. As soon as Jorgen entered, they exchanged morning greetings, and then Elro commenced discussing the weather and proceeded to inquire about the purpose of the visit – as he had rehearsed in his mind.
Jorgen pushed the door open and entered the office. As soon as Elro finished saying, "Good morning, Lord Jorgen. I hope you had a pleasant night," he realized he wasn't getting the response he had hoped for.
"Mr. Mayor," Jorgen said, "last night, someone threw a stone and shattered the window in Lady Dalia's bedroom."
"What happened?" Elro stood up. "Was there a break-in? Is Lady Dalia alright?"
"A stone was thrown, shattering the glass, and rolled into the room. That's all."
Last night, when Jorgen had hurried to Lady Dalia's room, two guards were already inside. Upon entering, he felt the cold breeze blowing in from the broken window ahead. He then saw a hole in the right window, shattered glass on the table by the window, and a stone on the floor. The white dove inside the cage flapped its wings once. Lady Dalia sat on the bed, looking at Jorgen, her eyes devoid of sleepiness. It made him realize that, at least at the moment the stone had shattered the window, she had been startled. A maid was checking if any glass fragments had landed on her nightgown or hair.
"Escort Lady Dalia to another room," he instructed the maid before joining the guards to patrol around the inn, without any success. This was within his expectations, and the patrol was more of a preventive measure. He already had a pretty good idea about what had happened.
"This behavior is truly outrageous. I apologize for my oversight," Elro said, "I will immediately initiate an investigation... Oh, no, I will provide you with an investigative aide."
"No need for that trouble," Jorgen replied. "I just wanted to ask, where is Miss Althea?"
"Althea? Are you implying..."
"You say this behavior is outrageous, but I don't think so, and neither does Lady Dalia. It's just childish. Moreover, the fact that we're here hasn't been announced to the public yet, let alone the fact that we're staying at the Blood Crow Inn. But, you are aware," Elro lowered his head, pressing his hand against the back of his neck, thinking for a moment.
"Oh, I understand... So, that's what happened... That little brat. It's all my fault, I was too careless."
"Do you remember something now?"
"Oh, Mr. Jorgen, please scold me before punishing her. After all..."
"That's enough." Jorgen interrupted him. "I'm quite tired of your incessant self-criticism, Mayor. You should understand that saying these things too often only raises suspicions about your sincerity, and it's also quite inefficient. There are two things I want to know now: first, how did this happen, and second, where is Althea?"
Elro raised his head, forcing himself to look at Jorgen as he spoke. "Last night, Althea found me. She regretted what happened at dinner and wanted to apologize to Lady Dalia first thing in the morning..."
"So you 'proactively' told her our lodging address?"
"...Yes."
How to begin with you? A big brother who trusts his little sister infinitely. "So, where is your sister right now?"
"She should be at school. At least, I reminded her yesterday to go to school today, and she did leave this morning with her textbooks. Mr. Jorgen, I would really like to go find her on your behalf and even give her a good talking-to, but right now, I'm..."
"I can see that you're quite busy. It's not a big deal. I don't want to interrupt your official duties. Just provide me with the address of her school."
"Well... the place isn't easy to find. How about this, I'll have my secretary, Delta, take you there. I'll also arrange another carriage..."
Three minutes later, Jorgen was on a carriage with Dalia seated beside him. Last night, after Jorgen finished his patrol, Dalia approached him and they talked for a while. At that point, they were nearly certain that Althea was behind the incident.
"I'm going to find her tomorrow as well," Dalia said. "If it truly was Althea, I need to have a talk with her."
"Alright, go if you want to." Jorgen agreed directly; he didn't want to delve into Dalia's reasons for taking this matter so seriously. Now, the carriage was moving through the streets of Darkshire. Dalia was looking out of the window the entire time, and there was no conversation between the two. Jorgen had his arms crossed over his chest, his head slightly lowered. Even though the noise of the moving carriage was loud, he could still clearly hear Dalia's steady breathing.
After a while, Jorgen realized that the carriage was deviating further and further from the town center. He turned to Delta, who was sitting up front, and asked, "How much longer?"
Delta turned around, smiled at both of them, and then said, "Not much longer. Our town's school is somewhat unique, quite different from the schools in Stormwind. I hope it won't displease you."
Dalia spoke up, "Unique? What's special about the school here?"
"It's a bit embarrassing to explain... but Mayor Elro instructed me to give you both a thorough answer, so I'll be honest. In truth, Darkshire doesn't have its own school building. Instead, it rents an almost abandoned private estate."
"Why don't they even have a school building? Is it a lack of funds?" Dalia continued asking.
"Funding is one aspect of the problem, but it's not unsolvable. The key issue is that Darkshire hasn't been able to expand its territory or construct new buildings for decades. You both know that Darkshire was established in a secure zone between two low mountain ranges. Beyond that lies the perilous Darkshire, so there's no way to open up new land. If we were to do so, it would not only drain our resources but also require a significant number of well-trained soldiers for prolonged defense until the beasts realize that the area is no longer theirs. With the establishment of the Night Watch, we have this condition, but..." Delta seemed somewhat hesitant and stopped.
"Go on," Jorgen said.
"...Because the Night Watch didn't have legal status before, any armed activity outside the town could be considered an act of aggression against the kingdom's territory. At least that's what Stormwind officials warned us about, so the matter was put on hold. Moreover, we couldn't hire good teachers; who would want to teach in an environment like Darkshire? So, the townsfolk with some means usually send their children to boarding schools in Lakeshire or Moonbrook. Those places have much better conditions, are regulated, and safer. Some kids even prefer not to come home. Over time... the plan for a new school was abandoned. Actually, the abandoned private estate isn't entirely without benefits. It's close to the main road leading to Redridge Mountains, and there are more patrol guards..."
"Why doesn't Mayor Elro send Althea away then?" Dalia said.
"That's because..." Delta lowered his head, adjusting his glasses. Jorgen thought he seemed like a junior version of Elro. "Miss Althea doesn't want to go. No matter how much we persuade her, she won't budge. I shouldn't speak this way about the Mayor and the Night Watch Commander's sister, but she despises studying. To be precise, she's only interested in playing with swords. She's too wild, even when facing boys a year or two older, she'll gladly take them on. Trying to get her to sit down and read is harder than licking her own nose. There was a time when Mayor Elro planned to send her to Moonbrook again, and she oddly obeyed. But halfway there, she ran off. It was only after half a month that a border guard from the Westfall informed us to pick her up. Turns out, she was starving and had sneaked into someone's granary. After that incident, Mayor Elro never dared to suggest sending her away again."
"You're describing her desire to imitate her father," Jorgen remarked.
"You're absolutely right, that's exactly it. She wants to become an adventurer and get honed like Lord Gondore when he was young, then come back and become a Night Watch member. But no matter what, she's too young at the age of fourteen. Mayor Elro plans to let her join the Night Watch training at the end of this year; it seems to be the only way to settle her down. Even if she tries to run away again, at least she'd have some combat experience under her belt."
After Gondore's passing, Elro's role shifted from a brother to a father, Jorgen thought.
"So, Lady Morticia can't control her daughter either?" Dalia said.
"That's not entirely true; Miss Althea only listens to Lady Morticia's words, and she happens to be quite lenient with her. She has said that since Althea admires her father so much and wants to follow his path, she should be allowed to. But it could also be because Lady Morticia is there, preventing Miss Althea from running away. This family really makes me, an outsider, envious. Even true blood relatives hardly have such strong bonds..."
"...What?" Jorgen interrupted.
"I thought you both knew already? I assumed that MI7 had already investigated the Everlok family thoroughly. Actually, it's not much of a secret; everyone in town knows. I doubt Mayor Elro would hold it against me for mentioning it... In short, both Elro and Joseph were born to their previous wives who have passed away many years ago, and Althea is the adopted daughter of Mayor Elro and Lady Morticia. So, Miss Althea has no blood relation with anyone in this family. This might be one of the reasons she yearns for adventure—despite having an amazing bond with her family, she still wants to find her own roots. Ah, we're here. This place used to be called Mistrmantle Manor."
Jorgen and Dalia got off the carriage. Although it was called a "manor," before them were just a few unkempt lawns and a few small gray-blue houses, at most two stories high. Only the weathered carvings on the eaves and walls showed some signs of what might have distinguished it from regular homes in the past.
"Mistrmantle was the earliest settling family in Darkshire and the only nobility, even though now there's only one heir left," Delta said. "His name is Staven, and he's quite a peculiar person. Frankly, I don't like seeing him around the town's children, but what can be done? He charges a very low rent."