The Crown's Entrapment

Continuing on with his quest for a person that held the gift of clairvoyance, Calypso now found himself deep within the former Kingdom of Zion’s territory. It pained him to leave yet another broken heart behind, but it was all but necessary for the success of his plans.

Besides, he hadn’t gone far from where he knew she lived. He might have some use for her yet, and he might just have another lay with her if he so desired.

“Princess Katalina, huh…”

Walking through what was formerly the capital of Zion, he made sure to keep himself scarce as he pulled on the shade of his cloak, shielding him from most eyes as he traveled the city streets.

Despite the invasion that ravaged the kingdom, it seemed as if the capital itself had been spared from much of the destruction. The markets still seemed as lively as the ones back home, albeit with much lesser quality in the available wares due to the kingdom’s supply lines being rerouted solely to benefit Helion’s needs. Still, it was a welcome sight after seeing the ruins by the outer reaches of the kingdom.

“Time to get to work…”

With an instinct honed from years of travel, Calypso made his way to the nearest tavern he could find. From there, he’d listen in on some of the local gossips, cherry picking the best ones he could find and going off from there.

“A drink here, if you please.”

Taking a seat, Calypso gestured for the bartender to give him a pint of ale, letting himself get situated as he kept his ear on the ground. With it being in the middle of the day, there weren’t that many patrons out drinking at the moment. Sure, there were some who were clearly experts in getting drunk in the middle of broad daylight, but overall, what he’d get here would probably be more in line with the current happening in the kingdom.

“Hey… have you heard about that former princess of ours?” one of the men in the bar talked aloud.

“What about her?”

Calypso found himself leaning forward, his lips pursed against his drink as he covered his eavesdropping with the completely normal behavior of drinking.

“Heard she escaped from captivity,” the man gossiped, his tone slurring from intoxication. “Dunno where she went, but she left her brother, supposedly.”

“That’s kinda off,” the other man hummed in thought. “Surely Helion wouldn’t let that happen all of a sudden.”

“Eh, I can believe it,” the drunk man scoffed. “Hell, she might’ve just sacrificed that little brother of hers in favor of escaping with her own life. Sounds like something she’d do.”

Calypso frowned. While the slander was clearly false, there was still some merit to listening to them. Usually, there was still a bit of truth in them even if they were outright incorrect. And if the princess did indeed escape in favor of leaving her supposed brother to die, then perhaps he’d have to exercise caution in dealing with her once she found him.

Not satisfied with what he found out, he decided to hang around just a little bit longer, ferreting out as much gossip as he could from the populace as possible. And as soon as he felt that he had completely tapped out the well for the moment, he stood up, left his payment by the bar, and promptly left the tavern without another word. What he got would have to do for now, even if he still wanted just a bit more information on where this princess could’ve gone.

“At least I won’t have to assault some castle or whatever,” he chuckled to himself as he walked out into the streets. “Still, where could this woman be?”

From what he had heard, Princess Katalina was out and about all on her own. There were bits and pieces about her making her way back to the capital before striking it out on her own to find help, but those were more unsubstantiated rumors often than not. Besides, he didn’t see a reason for the princess to go back to their own castle, what with the entire royal family of Zion having been supposedly murdered during the invasion for resisting the occupation.

No… If he wanted to find more valid information, he’d need to do a bit more digging than listening to the local drunks. In the same way that he did with all the others, perhaps he’d need to find a way inside some of the higher-ranking officials present…

“Another day of skulking among the shadows then,” he let out a self-deprecating chuckle. “Not that there’s anything new with that.”

With his mind made up, Calypso shrugged as he resigned himself to a few more days of stealth and espionage. For now, he had to find some place to stay.

Absently, he began to stake out his position, his brows raising as he eyed the nearby castle. From the looks of it alone, he knew that sneaking in would be a massive pain. Still, it was a viable option if push came to shove.

“Oh? What’s this?”

Calypso narrowed his eyes as he spotted something rather familiar by the castle’s gates. He immediately hid his presence using some spell. Years of wandering around and meeting different people helped him a lot to learn important things like some spells and creating potions.

He frowned while glaring at the familiar man. It would seem that Nasser’s right-hand man, Bulun, had just met with some people from within the castle. And it didn’t even seem like he was accosted. If anything, he was being treated like an ally of Helion.

“I suppose I’ll have to report this to Darius somehow,” he sighed, absently scratching the back of his head. “Great… That’s another thing to think about…”

Taking out a piece of parchment, Calypso scribbled out his report to send for later, along with a few other observations he noticed on his recent travels.

“Have to find a way to find a portrait of the princess as well,” he sighed in annoyance. “Ugh… I have so much to do these days…”