Chapter 186: Lay of the Land
Simon was gone before Ennis emerged from the tower, but he preferred it that way. He’d done a good deed, but there was no knowing how it would all play out from this point forward. The best of intentions could still have horrible effects, and Simon didn’t need all of those on his conscience.
His only regret in all this was not finding out if the Viscount would have paid him or not. Simon would have bet not, but now he would never find out. Not that he needed the money, of course; it was just the principle of the thing.
He had a good horse, a full purse, and overflowing saddlebags. Other than a good backpack and a book to write things down in, he was in pretty good shape. Still, the roads only got worse as he made his way to the coast, so it was good he was traveling light.
Simon saw evidence of beastmen at one point. They were fresh enough that he shifted camping sites, but he never did encounter them. Civilization all but disappeared until he reached the coast.
Once there, he was never out of sight of a fishing village. They dotted the coast and were never built far from the next one. Bigger cities than that took a little longer. Though it took him almost a week to reach the coast, the first town of any size, Coramin, took another three days to reach.
Simon took that in stride and adjusted its position on his map. When he arrived, he took on the role of a trader waiting for his ship to come in. That worked well since there were always ships coming and going from its broad harbor. Coramin wasn’t even half as nice as Ionar, but it was big enough to have a lighthouse, two markets, and even some gardens and an amphitheater.
He was in no rush here and took his time eating seafood and getting to know some of the regulars at a few of the most popular taverns over the next week. It was men like that who had what he really needed: information.
All of it was useful, and he didn’t try to stop anyone from talking about news from abroad or even the political climate between the governors of the different cities. He even spent hours listening to someone trash talk Elthenna and what a poor job she was doing in ruling the nation. What he was really interested in, though, were the myths and legends of the region.
Some of those people seemed inclined to talk about it. They would tell him about mortal demigods who had walked the world in ages past. Apparently, some people considered Elthenna’s grandfather, who had founded her dynasty, to be a demigod, making her divine in a way. That thought made him smile.