Chapter 170 - Precursors and preparations
As their carriage set into motion, moving away from the Followers’ temple, Rosa slumped back into her seat next to Scarlett.
“You know,” the woman began, “with all this talk about ‘research’ and whatnot that I keep hearing from you during these serious talks, it really makes one wonder when exactly you’re doing all of it.” She turned her head to look at Scarlett. “I always see you with your nose buried in papers in your office, but as far as I can tell, most of those have more numbers and figures in them rather than tales and texts from dead holy folk.”
Scarlett arched an eyebrow at the bard. “That is because you do not pay enough attention.”
While it was true that she had been reading more official documentation lately because she and Evelyne were preparing for the Cabal’s upcoming attacks, that was far from how she spent most of her time. A significant portion of her free time at the moment was dedicated to reading books to further familiarise herself with this world, such as texts on old history, the Zuverian civilization, the empire’s nobility, and the nation’s governance and judicial systems.
And she had, in fact, spent these last few days conducting actual research. While it mainly revolved around planning this trip and studying maps of Bridgespell and its surrounding region, it was research all the same.
That said, maybe it wasn’t the best idea to have Rosa spending so much time in her office if she didn’t want the woman to notice that something was off. The notion that Rosa would notice she didn’t do much research related to what she claimed had honestly never crossed her mind.
The bard shrugged and turned away. “Fair enough. I can’t make heads or tails of most of what you keep yourself occupied with.”
Scarlett didn’t entirely buy that. Rosa was far from stupid, and she had demonstrated surprising perceptiveness on numerous occasions, whether it be related to supernatural occurrences or more mundane matters.
As the carriage continued on, the others fell into discussions about the upcoming days, while Scarlett shifted her attention to the passing cityscape.
The older buildings and narrow streets of the Emberwood Ward eventually gave way to wider lanes and newer structures as they entered one of the adjacent districts. It still felt cramped compared to Freybrook, but that probably had more to do with the high volume of people in this area rather than the actual size of the streets.
From what she had learned in the past few days, Bridgespell’s population was more concentrated around the heart of the city—and the four wards that composed its core—compared to Freybrook. But Freybrook was also a bit of an outlier in the empire. Not every city could afford to allocate an entire district the size of a small town exclusively to the residences and estates of nobles and wealthy individuals. She would argue that most cities probably shouldn’t as well.
As their carriage ventured further, entering one of Bridgespell’s main thoroughfares, the traffic intensified noticeably. But it also flowed much more smoothly, allowing them to make swift progress towards their next destination. Tobia, the coachman who often chauffeured Scarlett around whenever she left Freybrook, demonstrated his experience as he navigated around the vehicular maze. She had provided him with directions before they left, and he was familiar enough with Bridgespell’s labyrinthine streets to have a good grasp of how to move about in the city.