Liora had left him to his own devices—though, Linnie was sure it wouldn't be for long. Taking advantage of this time, he fished the strange stone from his pocket. It was shiny and black, like a piece of obsidian. Much less fragile, though.
Linnie had tried to treat it with care, but he had already dropped it a few times. Once, right on a rock. The supposed conduit hadn't chipped in the slightest, to his pleasant surprise.
It was a bit of a challenge keeping it a secret from the others. The stone was sitting in his pocket, right there in front of them, this entire time, after all.
He often took it out at night, when he had nothing to do, and turned it around in his hand, fiddling with it.
It was pretty sizeable. He couldn't wrap his hands around it completely, but it's not like it was so big it was unwieldy.
He wanted to see it in the daylight. Like he expected, it wasn't much different. There was, however, a very faint glow of orange where the light hit the rock. Very slight.
The rock wasn't actually black, but a very dark orange, revealed by the light which passed through its semi-translucent form.
This, while a revelation, was a completely useless one. So what if it was orange? He still wasn't sure what it did, so why's the color matter?
Linnie had a theory that the stone could be utilized with mana. The only problem was, he didn't want to try it. He was scared of a few things.
What if it hurt him? He didn't really trust that deity from beneath the ground, and had no idea if what he held in his hand was even actually a 'conduit.'
Even if it did work, he was sure Alwyn would notice the strange 'conduit's' activation. He wasn't sure how Alwyn would react.
He could've just asked Alwyn about it, but... he was scared the wizard would take the strange rock. The boy was pretty foolish.
So, he decided to keep it within his pocket. At least, until he could get further answers. Answers he hoped he'd find in Corvailles.
A naive hope, perhaps. Who did he think waited for him in Corvailles? Certainly not 'Saint Pischt.'
Not long after, the sun started to set, and they set up camp. Linnie was disappointed that they would need to travel another day, especially when the city was only a few hours away.
But Alwyn insisted against traveling at night. Aliza, too.
"Phew, I can't wait for Corvailles!" Aliza said, stretching out on a log next to the fire.
"What're you so excited for?" Linnie asked. His tone was a little ruder than he'd meant.
Even Lady, who was sprawled comfortably in his lap, looked at him in surprise.
The more days that went by without him sleeping, the more often he found himself in a rotten mood. He didn't like feeling rotten, so he fixed it when he could. But it came out without his intention, sometimes.
"Uh, civilization? I like you guys. Well, you two kids, ha. But a girl needs a bed! And a tavern! Oh, I can't wait to finally have a drink..." she trailed off, imagining the sweet beer that awaited in Corvailles.
"What's Corvailles like, anyway?" Liora asked.
Linnie hadn't thought about it, but both Alwyn and Aliza had already been to Corvailles. Presumably multiple times, too. He was curious about the city as well, and urged her to speak.
"Well, it's a port city. The biggest one, in fact. They have water everywhere. Canals run all throughout the city, all leading to the ocean. There are some buildings way bigger and more expensive than either of you have probably seen, too. It's an incredibly rich city—I'm pretty sure it's gonna be richer than the capital in a few years. Well, if they let it."
'I bet they'll just castrate the city, but there's no need to tell them that,' Aliza thought.
"Wow... that's incredible! What's a canal?"
'Tch, she doesn't even know what a canal is?...Actually, what the hell is a canal?' Linnie thought, furrowing his brow.
"It's basically like a river, but man-made. They're pretty cool, since you'll see people in boats rowing past. The water is nasty, though, so you better not jump in, even if you really want to. I learned that the hard way..."
"Are there fish in the canals?" Liora asked.
"Obviously not, they're man-made. Didn't you hear her?"
"No, there are, actually. Isn't that unbelievable? Those fish swim in the filth and shit. Literally, by the way. Their plumbing drains into the canals. Eugh, Not even Saint Pischt's blessing cleans it perfectly." she said, shivering.
'. . . .What did she just say!?'
Linnie could barely contain a gasp. He was about to ask more about the saint, but was instantly interrupted.
"Hey, I've had some really delicious fish that came from the canals," Alwyn said, appearing beside Linnie and taking a seat.
"That's disgusting," Aliza said, covering her mouth and looking at Alwyn with disgust.
"Whatever you say," Alwyn scoffed. "But, Corvailles... it's an interesting place. We're gonna be staying at the duke's estate while we're there, so behave. Or don't, I don't care."
He laughed mischievously, staring into the air. He was clearly thinking about something humorous.
"The duke? Like the duke of the city? Wouldn't that be a crazy-rich and important noble!?" Linnie asked in disbelief.
"Indeed! He owes me. Or, he will. And he's sort of a friend of mine. Though, I do have some words to say to him..." he said, glancing at Liora. "It's true, though. He's the most powerful noble in the nation, right under the members of the royal family."
"What's he like?" Liora asked.
"He's... supposedly a 'good' man? That's how he acts with me. But you can never be sure what nobles are doing behind the scenes."
Aliza laughed bitterly. "Yeah, say that again. Uh, not all nobles, though."
She was a noble herself. Or, she was, once. She had become estranged from her family when she was banished from the tower.
'Really, what the hell did she do that was so bad?' Linnie often wondered.
"Will we be safe in Corvailles?" Linnie asked.
It was a harmless question, really. Maybe a little childish. But it wasn't coming from a place of innocent fear, like Alwyn and Aliza thought.
He was just curiously making conversation.
"Yeah, we should be. I mean, I've been checking every night. You've noticed, haven't you? Well, no one's on our tail as far as I can see. And even if they were, we're going to be protected by the duke within the city's walls. There isn't much better protection than that."
Alwyn ruffled Linnie's hair with reassurance, causing Linnie to snarl and swat his hand away.
"Um, I guess I'm out of the loop, but what're we running from?" Liora asked, tilting her head in confusion.
"Oh, that's right, I guess I forgot to tell you," Linnie said. "It's really nothing to worry about. A furious knight lady is after us, and also a few... what are they? Terrorists? I don't even know who they are, really, but they're super strong, too."
"They're not terrorists, they're spies. I'm not really worried about them, though. It's that damned knight that won't give up. She's so relentless, it's seriously annoying," Alwyn cursed.
"That's why I hate knights," Aliza said, rolling her eyes.
They continued talking some more, but Linnie excused himself. He needed to go pee.
'Saint Pischt, huh? Well, that's lucky!'
He walked far from the camp and found a small, dark area to relieve himself.
Soon, though, he became distracted by the beautiful fireflies. In fact, they were so pretty flickering against the backdrop of the starry night sky, that he decided against going back to the camp just yet.
The boy was already tired of talking, anyway.
And so he lay down, staring up at the stars and the fireflies, and just enjoyed the peaceful, relaxing night.
'This is pretty nice.'
From inside his pocket, he brought the conduit out and held it up to the sky.