Memoirs 258 - Pit-stops (Patreon)

After a brief inspection, Scarlett and the others’ carriage exited the large structure housing Elystead’s Kilnstones and entered the expansive plaza surrounding it. To the north stood the Ustrum Assembly, situated in front of a large artificial body of water that seemed unaffected by the frigid January temperature.

Scarlett leaned with her chin on her hand, elbow resting on the windowsill as she took in the sights with a mix of strange pride and nostalgia that originated from the original’s emotions. Those feelings were tempered somewhat, however, by the numerous tents and temporary barracks that were set up at one end of the plaza, large enough to house probably a couple thousand refugees and workers.

Elystead was the center of many ongoing relief efforts, both because it was one of the safest places in the empire and because it had access to four Kilnstones rather than just one.

“So, Allyssa, Shin, how does it feel to be back home again?” Rosa’s voice came from Scarlett’s left.

“Not much different from when we were last here,” Shin replied nonchalantly.

“I’ve actually missed it a bit,” Allyssa added, her gaze fixed on the camps outside the window. “I just wish it could have been under better circumstances, you know?”

“I bet most do,” Rosa said.

Lady Withersworth turned to the two young Shielders. “Have you both lived in Elystead your whole lives?”

Allyssa directed her attention from the window to the noblewoman. “I have, but Shin’s from Wildscar. He came to live with us after my father brought him here.”

“Ah, so your father is also a Shielder?” Lady Withersworth seemed to regard the girl more closely.

“He is.” A hint of shyness crept into Allyssa’s expression under the older woman’s gaze. “He’s, um…kind of a big deal.”

“I thought I recognised your name,” Lady Withersworth said with an amused look. “Your father is Arnaud Astrey, I presume? To think that man had such a charming daughter.”

“C-Charming? That’s a bit…”

“Arnaud often calls her his ‘little seraphim sprout’”, Shin remarked from the side without looking over at Allyssa. “Most at the Guild branch have their own nicknames for her as well.”

A weakly suppressed snort escaped Rosa, earning both the bard and Shin a deathly glare from Allyssa. Lady Withersworth chuckled lightly at the scene.

Rosa, showing at least a flicker of shame, soon cleared her throat and adopted a more serious expression. “Have you heard anything about what your father is doing at the moment, by the way?” she asked Allyssa. “Is he helping the Shields Guild handle everything that’s going on?”

The girl’s expression relaxed slightly, and she nudged some stray locks of blonde hair away from her eyes as she answered. “I don’t know, but I don’t think so. Last I heard from him, he was still over in the Unresting Steppes dealing with Ittar-knows-what. It’s possible he hasn’t even heard of what’s happened here yet. Otherwise, he would probably have returned already.”

Scarlett glanced over at her with some curiosity. As far as she knew, Allyssa’s father had been away from the empire for a while now. There were some game-related quests that would keep a high-ranking Shielder like him in the Unresting Steppes, but she would have expected those to be over by now.

Hopefully, nothing too troublesome was going on over there.

She returned her attention to the window as the carriage rolled across the snowy plaza and onto the wide thoroughfare of the Sunset Way that ran south, cutting through more than half the city. In the distance, Rellaria Lake was visible, where Dawnlight Palace stood like a gleaming bastion on its own island in the bay.

That was where Scarlett would be going this evening. The conclave was being hosted on the palace grounds, meaning parts of the imperial family would also be present.

Although it was still early in the morning, Elystead, as the most populous city in the empire, rarely experienced quiet streets. The current crises had likely only increased its population, as both nobility and common folks sought refuge here. Because of this, there was enough traffic that it took a while for their carriage to reach its destination, but eventually, they arrived in the Eastgate district, where most of the city’s affluent residents lived.

They stopped outside the iron gates of a large building of white and grey stone with three floors. This was the Hartfords’ mansion estate here in the capital.

As they made their way inside, they were greeted by a small group of servants and a middle-aged man with slicked-back hair in a black suit, bowing to greet Scarlett. “Welcome back to Elystead, My Lady. As always, we are honored to have you here.”

“I presume all of the preparations I requested have been completed?” she asked.

“Of course, My Lady.”

“Good.” Scarlett turned to Lady Withersworth. “I understand you have chosen to stay with us during our time in the capital, but if you wish to meet with your family, you can simply ask Whiteley here, and he will prepare a carriage for you. We can also arrange rooms if your daughter or any other guests wish to stay here.”

“You’re too kind, dear. I might take you up on that offer, but for now, I think I will spend the morning and afternoon finishing up some work and resting before the evening. I will be seeing my husband this evening, no doubt, and I’m sure it will drain far too much out of these aging bones of mine.”

“Very well.”

After checking in and leaving Lady Withersworth at the estate, Scarlett and the others departed in the carriage again to deal with other matters. First, Scarlett had the coachman take them to the Coins district, where much of Elystead’s commerce took place. There, she paid a quick visit to the various establishments Evelyne had acquired and managed on her behalf, confirming that operations were proceeding smoothly. Despite concerns due to the current situation in the empire, it seemed business was continuing mostly as usual for the time being here in the capital.

After spending a couple of hours on that, Scarlett took the others to visit some of the stores in Elystead to stock up on supplies that were rarer in Freybrook. They then returned to the carriage and began traveling to the other end of the city, where the Old Quarter was located.

Running along the eastern part of the bay on an elevated section of the city, the streets of the Old Quarter were worn by time but had a charm of their own, surrounded by historic buildings while overlooking much of the other districts.

Eventually, they drew close to what looked like an old stone temple with tall vines creeping up its walls and a short flight of stairs leading to its entrance. Two tall statues, their features eroded by time, stood on either side of the stairs with arms raised to the sky.

This was the House of Fire, one of the Followers of Ittar’s temples, repurposed from a shrine dedicated to the now mostly forgotten goddess of fire. Scarlett had been here once before when she first visited Elystead, but at that time, she had only managed a short glimpse inside.

The party exited the carriage and ascended the stairs towards the building, with the others looking around curiously. Allyssa turned to Scarlett as they reached the top.

“Sooo, what are we doing here?” the girl asked.

“Simply paying a brief visit,” Scarlett answered.

“So, no need for me to pull out the bandolier and crossbow?”

“We will see.”

“…Alright then.”

The wooden doors of the temple creaked loudly as they stepped inside, revealing a long hall with high-vaulted ceilings and pillared archways running along the sides. Worn-down murals adorned sections of the walls, though none held recognizable depictions.

A few people were seated on wooden pews with heads bowed in quiet prayer, but Scarlett paid them little mind as she began crossing the hall towards the gallery at the far end, where a marble altar stood. Behind the altar was a tall wall of wooden planks with a single door.

A figure to the side noticed her approach, standing up from where they’d been sitting in front of a low podium. Dressed in thick red robes with gold emblazoning and a hood, their face was hidden by a plain white mask with golden lines on it. An acolyte.

“Ittar’s blessing upon you, visitors. Is there something I can help you with?” the acolyte asked, a man’s voice emanating from behind the mask.

“Yes.” Scarlett pointed to the door behind the altar. “I wish to enter that area.”

Although she couldn’t see the person’s expression, she detected a hint of surprise in their body language at her answer.

“That area is restricted to members of Ittar’s clergy, I’m afraid.”

“I am aware. However, that should not pose an issue in this case. I am Baroness Scarlett Hartford. I believe you should already have been notified of my arrival.”

In her communications with Raimond, she’d asked this as a favor. The man had seemed intrigued about her reason for wanting to visit this place in particular, but he had agreed, even when she had been vague in her explanation.

The acolyte still appeared uncertain, but he confirmed her assumption when he started leading Scarlett and her companions to the back of the gallery and the door there. Bringing out a large key ring, he took a moment to unlock the door before motioning them through.

They entered into a chancel of sorts, which might once have been part of the temple proper, but now mostly appeared to be used as a storage space. Several crates and miscellaneous items were scattered around.

Scarlett’s eyes were immediately drawn to the far end of the area, where what looked to be a tall statue stood covered by a large cloth.

She turned to the acolyte. “You may leave now.”

The man hesitated for a few seconds longer, but then bowed his head and left. He probably wasn’t the biggest fan of leaving strangers be in the temple like this, but whoever had informed him about Scarlett’s arrival was likely far more important than he was.

Also, it wasn’t as if the Followers had anything of particular importance here that they needed to protect from Scarlett — to their knowledge.

“Poor guy,” Rosa said, strolling over to one of the crates and sitting on it, leaving her legs dangling over the edge. “He’ll spend the rest of the day worrying about if he messed up or not, and he didn’t even get a thanks in return.”

Scarlett glanced at her. “…I hardly treated him poorly.”

“Oh, no. For you, that was practically like baking cookies and wishing him all the best. There’s just a rather wide gap between your heart and your manners, if you get what I mean.”

“Unfortunately, I do.” Scarlett turned her attention from the bard and crossed the room, heading towards the covered statue. Once there, she motioned at it. “Fynn, if you would.”

Fynn stepped up beside her and pulled off the drapery, releasing a cloud of old dust into the air. Covering her mouth with a slight frown, Scarlett examined the worn statue before them. It depicted a woman encircled by flames, her hands reaching upwards, holding a large, empty silver brazier. At the base of the statue were three smaller bronze braziers, each engraved with a rune.

Most of the statue’s details were almost entirely eroded, seemingly neglected for ages. Perhaps that made sense considering this was now a temple to Ittar, but Scarlett wondered if the goddess of fire ever felt sorrow over how small her following had become in this part of the world.

Did the gods even think about those things that much? In the game, their role had been pretty distant, so she didn’t really know. It was probably for the best if they didn’t care too much, since Scarlett preferred not to attract their attention at the moment.

Pushing those thoughts aside for now, she focused on the three smaller braziers. Thanks to Thainnith’s legacy, she didn’t even need to bother with trying to translate their meanings. One said ‘Birth’, another ‘Death’ and ‘Rebirth’, and the last ‘Ascension’.

First, she conjured a weak flame to light the ‘Birth’ brazier, which ignited despite a lack of any sort of fuel or kindling inside it. Almost immediately after, a flame also appeared in the ‘Death’ brazier, which Scarlett promptly smothered with her pyrokinesis. She then reignited it, following the ‘Rebirth’ command, before turning her attention to the third one labeled ‘Ascension’.

This one you were supposed to ignite with a powerful pyromancy spell, but Scarlett felt pretty confident her abilities were enough. Focusing on the center of the brazier, she willed it to ignite. The fire that burst forth was even more intense than even she’d been expecting, prompting surprised reactions from the others as its flames reached almost a full meter into the air.

“Okay, I wouldn’t have said no to a warning for that,” Allyssa said, shielding her face as she stepped back.

“My apologies,” Scarlett replied, though she wasn’t finished yet. Using her pyrokinesis once more, she controlled the third flame, separating a portion and guiding it towards the large brazier in the statue’s hands. There, it settled, and all four fires suddenly turned blue.

From each brazier, a strand of blue fire streamed out to touch down on the floor in front of the statue, drawing a wide circle. The stone inside that circle soon evaporated into motes of ash and dust, revealing a steep, dark stone staircase leading straight down.

“That was impressive,” Fynn said.

“Sadly, yes.” A sigh left Rosa as she jumped down from her perch and walked over. “I wonder if we’ll ever enter an ancient crypt that doesn’t end up having a secret hidden section for you to reveal dramatically. I’m starting to suspect you’re just going to these places the night before with a chisel and hammer just to have the joy of looking all clever in front of us ordinary mortals.”

Scarlett resisted rolling her eyes at the woman’s melodramatic comment, simply gesturing for the others to begin the descent. “Come, let us proceed. As I said, we will make this short.”

She still needed to return in time to prepare for the conclave this evening.