Unspeakable Secrets The Alchemist Series (A Dark Medieval Progression Fantasy)

Chapter 76 The Skree

"I'm sorry," Adelia said. Though she didn't sound it.

"It doesn't matter. I'll find us some rings in the morning," Connor said, "just, please... don't do things like that to me. We need to work together on this."

He let it drop though. She was right that it was soon enough that it shouldn't be a problem. And, perhaps she'd thought of some reason why it was a better story to go with.

As long as it served them, and kept her from being discovered, it didn't matter what story they used. And the more he thought about it, the more he believed she was right.

After all, the role of the dutiful husband staying with his horribly scarred wife and protecting her from being seen in the smallest way ought to better place him to cover for her while avoiding drawing suspicion.

If anything, it might even earn them some measure of sympathy.

That was certainly better than the armed mobs and soldiers that'd descend on them should anyone find out what she was.

His skin prickled at that, the space between his shoulder blades itching as though someone was about to put a crossbow bolt through them. Knowing her secret certainly made for a more nervous experience being around civilization.

Not that there was much they could do about it except conceal it as best they could.

It didn't take long to find a suitable inn and there they learned the city was called Baloch and that they were indeed in Lokmedae. Far to the south of Lestria and even the orcish lands of Druguar.

It wasn't as far south as he'd feared, but still far enough away that getting back to Vigil was going to take some doing.

Though, he supposed it wasn't the distance that would take the longest to traverse so much as all the things they needed to do to even stand a chance of facing the Syndicate and rescuing Victor.

"That ship must've been moving at an impressive speed," Connor said to Adelia as he bathed in the wooden tub in their room.

It was what passed for a private bath in the place and he'd sorely missed enchantments to conjure hot and cold running water when he'd been lugging buckets of the stuff himself.

Being a gentleman, he'd let her bathe first and had averted his eyes away from her, focusing on the door and ensuring that nobody barged in and discovered her.

He'd barely seen more of her than her face and hair. The latter of which was turning white at the roots and was in dire need of some hair dye to help hide her ice-elven heritage.

People likely wouldn't react as badly to it as her demonic side, but ice elves were viewed with enough hostility and distrust that it would create further issues for them should it be discovered.

Adelia, however, seemed to have no qualms whatsoever about studying him with her violet eyes. He'd called her out on it of course, but that only seemed to amuse and encourage her rather than deter her.

So, he'd given up and let himself focus on the wonderful sensation of scraping layers of travel grime off his skin. With the added bonus of not having to worry about something trying to drag him beneath the water and devour him.

"Does it change anything?" Adelia asked.

"Not the broader ideas," Connor said, "but it gives us details to work with. There's a dwarven city to the northeast. It's a massive trading hub between north and south. It should be a great place to operate out of while we get set up."

"Ugh. Dwarves hate... you know what... more than most," she said with a look at the walls of their room as though they were filled with ears.

Connor nodded. "It'll be an issue no matter where we go," he said, "and if I'm going to learn to work with metal... there's no better place for it than a dwarven city. And their focus on trade should allow us to build a robust network for me to get the materials I require."