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"Wonderful. Here's how to get to the tomb, which is located..." The Duke leaned toward Fezz and whispered him directions, so that no one, even divine spectators from side-dimensions, couldn't hear it.

"I would like you to take 'Sir Charles' with you. He might be not sure of himself normally, but he is a skilled warrior. Now, we need to go down to some details."

"There are basically three ways you can get to the mountains near Eren. One is crossing the border with Empire and waltz through their border lands. That region is mostly farmland, but Imperial patrols show up often. Next, we have the border between Empire and County of Garaz. There's a forest called 'The Dark Glades', which stretches basically from the location of Triangular Borderstone to just few kilometres shy of the mountains. Only few roads go straight through it to the border. The third option would be crossing into Garaz County and circling the Dark Glades from the south. It's a hilly area with nowhere to really rest nor gather supplies. I heard there is a monastery somewhere there of some sort, but I can't tell much about it."

"Which route you are going to take? Of course, I can ask in the morning, after you can sleep on it..."

"Splendid! Now, shush shush, the rest of you!" He did a little twirl and Charles and Iva took the others toward the guest chambers. Immediatelly, Duke sighed in relief.

"Finally." His tone of voice suddenly became perfectly normal for a male. "I hope you don't mind? Going with the high-pitched voice is quite exhausting, especially that late in the day. Now, where were we? Ah yes. Can you, hmm, vouch for your group? As in, can they remain loyal to one person?" He asked in a whisper.

"Splendid! You shall ride out at dawn! Well, you could go now, but 'at dawn' makes this so much theatrically dramatic! Oh, I can faint from mere anticipation of your quest!"

"Meanwhile, you should get some rest. By the will of the owners of this castle, I can lend some guest chambers to you and your friends. Iva and Charles can lead you there! Meanwhile..." The Duke twirled about for a moment before he stopped in front of Alec.

"Hmm, too shady." Then he went up to Sheila, and tilted his head.

"Mmmm-no, too unrepresentative." Then he spotted Fezz.

"Aww, I could fall for that shaggy head! You, robed one. I would like to speak with you in private. It will take just a moment!" Iva and Charles, as if on cue, arrived and motioned toward one of the unlit corridors.

"Thank you, Iva, Charles, you might leave us now. I want to speak with these fairy worshippers!" The girl went without a word. The knight hesitated briefly, but then left for one of the corridors as well. "Dear fairy boy, you must be the leader of this exquisite mercenaries! Therefore, I shall speak serious business only with you! Pardon the secrecy, but with all those Imperial advisors prancing about my bubbly butt in Moss, I had to take some precautions before we met! Ain't these chambers lovely, though? Such rustic appearance, oh, my aesthetical sense is making me faint!" He waved his hand at his own face akin to a fan or something.

"But, anyways. You must be very curious about why I have asked you to come here, yes? Ask away! I shall reply in my modest ways!" The Duke clapped his hands together several times in quick succession.

"I cannot say I did, sir." The brown-haired knight spoke with expression of confusion on his face.

"_{Are they coming or not!? I'm bored!}" A distant, feminine voice called from deeper inside the castle.

@Alec:

Alec managed to gain on to Iva and get to the door just as this little conversation have occured.

"...oh, oh I'm so relieved to hear your voice, Sir! Can I come in? Is Duke safe?"

"...Password?"

"Oh, um..." Iva glanced at Alec. "Ummm... _{do we have to? These are... absolutely embarassing!}"

"_{Duke made these up for purpose... you know the rules, and so do I.}"

"Um..."

"..."

"..."

"...Password?"

Iva let out a loud, defeated sigh before covering her face in her hands for a brief moment of despair, and then cleared her throat.

"...Two salmon fillets and a cup of warm milk, please." She blushed fiercely moments after saying these words.

"The password is correct. The Duke is safe, and I'm glad those others are gone, he was worried we might be found." The door made a 'clunking' noise of something heavy being moved, and then it was opened slightly, allowing passage and for Alec to see the doorkeeper.

"You may... wait, where are the others? Duke said there would be a group?"

"Um, um..."

The tiny girl looked at all the mercenaries, and blushed. She kept blushing for a while, before her shyness got away finally.

"Um... well... I don't have a husband. I have a master. I'm a kitchenmaid of... um... well you're gonna meet him anyways so, well, I work for Duke Sepin. He wanted to meet you and he asked me to take you here because it was the most secret way he could think of. The imperial spies shouldn't even be here... Oh! Oh no, what if, what if they are already in the castle?! My lord could be in danger!"

Meanwhile, Ram bent down and lifted something of the grass. He inspected it, looked around, and then moved up to Alec.

"Here, music man, I believe that's yours." He passed a small badge to the musician, and then walked away to tend to other people.

Alec gets Artist's Mark!