While it took an extra day to get to the city that was at the other end of the road, Jonas felt that the delay was worth it. Not only was there now fewer opponents for them to fight, one of them had been clearly a more significant threat than they had been aware of, but also now he knew what to look for. As each of those he fought had an emblem of an eagle. While it had been made to look innocuous, given how it was the same design for each of those who had attacked them, it was clear it was a way for them to identify each other.
It wasn't all in the same manner. One had it on his belt buckle, a few had a ring with it, some had it as a tattoo, some had it for a pendant, while another had it on an arm band.
While Jonas had considered taking some of them to try and make it as if everyone in his group was a member of whatever group they were from, he couldn't get rid of the nagging feeling that there was more to it than just the insignia. Maybe a code phrase or something, or just something else that they just didn't know about.
In the end, he had to admit that they just didn't know enough about their enemy to be able to do anything about them in that way. While they could still try, there was also a high chance they'd be discovered and find themselves in a lot more trouble than they'd bargained for. That said, he still took one of the rings so he could show it to others that he knew were looking to help stop the assassination attempt, namely the others that were in the competition. It never hurt to try and get more eyes to look for a target.
However, knowing what to look for was at least a big help, as it let them push aside things that they knew would otherwise be more of a distraction. They couldn't say what else might be necessary, but at least they could work out a plan once they knew where to start their search, once they found a place that looked like it was guarded only by people with that insignia on them, assuming any such building would be guarded by visible guards.
Jonas didn't like the path that thought led, but he couldn't deny that it was at least possible. His ideas could only account for so much and couldn't change reality, no matter how much it would be nice to be able to do so.
That also was assuming that they'd find something like that in a city that they passed through. As far as Jonas knew, the group had their headquarters in another city than where the king resided or was suppsed to be when they made their move.
Overall, there were just too many variables at the moment for Jonas to make sense of. As they moved into the city, Jonas couldn't help but notice one of the guards at the gae had the same emblem on his shield that sat on the ground at his feet, where he could pick it up quickly if he needed it.
Though, first thing to do was secure a place to stay the night, even though it was merely the middle of the day. Since they couldn't talk freely in the open with say many people who could potentially either be with those who wanted them dead, or would talk about what Jonas had in mind to talk about, He didn't want the wrong ears to hear what he had to say.
Not that finding a room was difficult. He'd acquired a good amount of the currency of this country from their assailants the day before, which meant that they'd be able to not only be able to afford some more luxurious accommodations, but they'd have plenty left over. Or at least from what Jonas had estimated the cost to be. Which didn't mean it wouldn't be different here as opposed to the village they'd just come from. He was aware that there were too many other factors that went into determining the price for a room in an inn.
"Let's go with that one!" Elin cried, as another sign indicating an inn came into sight. "That one has a dragon on the sign. That's got to mean it's good, right?"
Jonas glanced at Kim who merely chuckled, with a slight embarrassed smile. Elin certainly had an odd notion of what made an inn 'good' or not. Not that he could argue since he was looking at how the inns appeared on the outside to determine what kind of care the innkeeper took for the entire inn, and the one Elin indicated wasn't that bad of an outer appearance. So, Jonas was willing to at least take a closer look.
"Uh, Elin?" Elmo said as they got closer to the sign. "That's not a dragon. It's actually a wyvern."
"What's the difference?" Elin asked, sounding a little confused.
"Well, for one, wyverns are supposed to have a barb on their tail that's poisonous, while the dragons don't," Elmo answered. "Then there's how dragons are also supposed to be stronger and smarter than wyverns."
Elin nodded. "But it's still not ba looking for an inn, right?"
Elmo signed, making Jonas chuckle himself. Elin certainly seemed to be rather exacerbating at times. "I guess it isn't," Elmo allowed, clearly wanting to get out of the conversation he'd trapped himself into.
"Of course it isn't!" Elin replied cheerfully, sounding like she hadn't even heard Elmo's reply. "Even if it isn't a dragon, I still knew it was where we should go as soon as I saw it!"
Jonas glanced at Kim again, who merely shook her head with an amused smile on her face. Elin certainly seemed in high spirits this day. Not that Jonas was complaining. He definitely preferred elin this way than to when she'd been depressed. If nothing else, her enthusiasm was a little contagious, even if it wasn't enough to get Jonas to be as cheerful as Elin seemed to be right then.
When they walked thorugh the doors to the inn, into the common area, Jonas couldn't help but notice that there were already several patrons inside. Most of which looked like they didn't have plans of leaving any time soon.
Jonas looked around as he heard more than saw the rest of his group sitting down at a table nearby. Eventually he saw what looked like the innkeeper, who seemed busy dealing with either some complaint or other with one of the patrons who didn't look like they liked what they were hearing.
"…try to do this again," the man said to the innkeeper. "You know who we are."
The innkeeper looked like he was sweating bullets, but didn't seem like he was ready to back down. "I don't care who you work for, who you are, or how much you've spent in this establishment in the past. If you don' have enough money to cover what you're asking for, then I'm not going to serve you anything."
The man who was arguing with the innkeeper stood up. "If you're going to be like that, then I guess I don't have to hold back any," he said. Jonas also had the impression that this man was merely looking for an excuse to cause trouble.
"Excuse me," Jonas interjected, hoping he wasn't getting himself into more trouble. "What's this about?"
"Stay out of this, this doesn't concern you," the complainer informed Jonas.
"Ah, but that's where you're wrong," Jonas replied amenably "You see, I need the innkeeper here unharmed for what I need to discuss with him. So, I thought if I could help resolve this situation, then maybe I could get what I want."
"I'm listening," the complainer said.
Jonas then turned to the innkeeper. "What's the problem here?" he asked.
"He wants me to serve him another tankard, but he doesn't have enough for it," the innkeeper said, glaring at the other man.
Jonas nodded, as if he expected that to be the case. "How much is another tankard?"
"Two silver."
Jonas pulled out two silver coins from his pocket, not caring that it was almost the same as throwing the money away. Though, in this case it was more buying a temporary peace. Although, there was the chance that it might get him more, but he didn't care if that turned out to be the case or not. He just wanted to secure a room before the innkeeper got beaten too badly.
"here you go," Jonas said, nodding to the man who now looked pleased and much more friendly.
"Now bring me my tankard!" the man ordered, going back to where he had been sitting.
The innkeeper nodded to one of his waitresses who tentatively went to fill the order. Once that was taken care of, the innkeeper turned back to Jonas.
"So, what do you need me for?" the innkeeper asked.
"I was wondering how much to rent a room here was," Jonas said flatly. Not caring to exchange pleasantries or anything. Just business at the moment.
The innkeeper nodded. "Well, it's 2 gold per room per night, 3 silver per meal, and 5 copper if you want to just sleep in the common room."
Jonas felt like the prices were a little too spread out, but he wasn't going to complain. Also, while he had a few gold coins, he had a feeling that flashing any of that around would draw too much attention towards him. So, he looked like he was thinking it over, when he'd already calculated how much it would eat out of the money he'd acquired from their assailants.
"How much silver would it take to get a gold?" Jonas asked, wondering if that might be a feasible method.
"7 silver makes 1 gold," the man said without missing a beat.
Jonas nodded, and counted out 28 silver pieces. "We'll take two rooms," he said. Then after that he pulled out another twelve silver pieces. "And we'll have four meals."
The innkeeper nodded, clearly happy with Jonas. "I'll get you the keys in a minute and your meals will arrive shortly," the innkeeper said pleasantly.
Jonas nodded before he turned to return to the others in his group. This place as more expensive than he'd expected. Just that one transaction had eaten through most of the silver he'd gotten. Maybe he should have pulled out some of the gold he'd gotten, but he still had a bad feeling about doing something like that in this room.
However, since they only planned on staying a single night, he didn't think that it would prove to be that big of a problem. Although, he also had a feeling that this innkeeper wouldn't accept labor in lieu of payment for the rooms or meals. Yet, the rooms would be a good place for them to discuss some other business that were best to not have overheard by others who could prove to be enemies. Like the man who looked willing to beat the innkeeper for pretty much trying to do his job.