Jackal and Sword

The next day went as planned. Because Ivan and Olivia were unable to use the De Vere households personal carriage, they were left with hailing their own.

"Where are you going?" Ivan asked curiously as he sat next to her.

"Red Square Avenue," Olivia promptly replied.

Ivan looked to his side and stared at her for a few moments, "Ah, that's not far from where I'm getting off. Doing anything in particular?"

Olivia didn't want to delve too deep into what she was planning to do and only gave a vague reply.

"I'm just going to run some errands."

Thankfully, Ivan didn't probe too deep and allowed the conversation to end there.

Soon enough, the carriage gradually came to a stop.

"Be careful and be safe," Ivan called out from within as Olivia stepped off.

Once she got off, the carriage slowly pulled away, leaving Olivia standing alone on the bustling street.

Without much else, she began to walk to her location. The only problem being that she didn't quite know the directions.

After half an hour of walking around, she soon found her destination. Looking up, Olivia could read "Jackal and Sword Tavern' on the sign board. Just to make sure she was right, she slipped her hand into the small pocket of her dress and took out the piece of paper. Just as she thought, this was indeed the place she was looking for.

Seeing the amount of people walking in and out of the tavern, especially the type of people that they were, Olivia took a deep breath and schooled her expression. Determined, she walked over to the tavern and opened the door.

The first thing that hit her was the strong smell of alcohol that almost drowned out all her other senses. Nevertheless, she didn't dawdle about at the entrance. With long strides, she walked all the way to the bar, before taking a seat.

All around her she could hear the gruff chattering's of the customers.

"I heard the King's doing a charity event. Fancy that!"

"A charity event? As if we'll ever see that money! I bet those old fogies will find a way to get it back into their pockets again."

"Mind you, I heard that he slept with his cousin!"

"Aye… his cousin?"

"Get this though lad, his cousin was pregnant with his brother's child!"

"I promise, I'll definitely make it into the royal guards. No, I'll even make it into the Silver Swords! Just you mark my words!"

"What about you? You going to go and watch The Order's sermon later on? I heard…"

Numerous conversations made their way into Olivia's ears. As usual, the barmaids made their way around the tables while the customers drank themselves silly. Funnily enough, such an environment felt extremely familiar to Olivia, bringing back a rush of memories.

"Hello, young'un. What can I get for you?"

A rough voice snapped her out of her reverie. Olivia turned around and came face to face with a middle aged man. His black her was slicked to the side with a copious amount of grease, while every time his mouth opened, one could see a glint of silver from his false tooth.

Olivia glanced at the man in front as he continued to pour the beverages, "Are you Alban?"

"That's right," Alban replied without looking back.

Olivia took a deep breath before asking, "I heard you sell information?"

Alban finally paused his action, a glint running through his shrewd eyes, "I don't know what you're talking about."

She continued to stare at him as he feigned ignorance. Olivia could feel that the man was rather difficult to deal with. Nonetheless, she couldn't do anything but suck it up.

"6 coppers and a button."

Alban finally looked up at the young girl sitting across the counter, seizing her up.

He walked a bit closer to her before taking the towel off his shoulder and wiping the counter down, "You know Miles?"

At the mention of this name, Olivia's eyes dimmed slightly.

It had been a while since she had heard that name out loud. Alone, she did not dare to say his name let alone any of the others that she had left back in the village.

"Yes… I know him quite well."

"And what did he tell you?"

Olivia looked up at Alban who continued to clean the polished wooden surface, "He told me you owed him a favour."

"That, I do indeed," Alban replied with a quirk of his lips.

"So…" Olivia tentatively started off, "Information?"

"What do you want to know?"

"I want information on two witches."

Alban paused for a while as he gave Olivia a profound glance, "You must know that witches are secretive and their information is scarce."

Olivia nodded her head but still continued to cast the man a hopeful gaze.

"Who do you want to look into?"

"Two witch siblings that go by the name Glenn and Miran," Olivia's lips pursed slightly as she unwillingly said their names. Even thinking about them now, she could not help but feel nauseous from deep within.

"I don't even need to ask around for information about those two. I remember that they had caused a big ruckus in the capital, so much so that all the royal guards were after them, but they suddenly disappeared around 7 years ago. Since then, no one has heard about them," Alban frowned as he recalled the information.

Olivia too, couldn't help but furrow her brows.

A big ruckus in the capital?

Even the royal guards couldn't catch them?

"Anything else?" Alban asked. He quietly looked at the young girl before him. Her beautiful and fresh face would cause anyone to gaze at her for a bit longer.

Olivia though for a while and hesitated before asking in a quiet voice, "Do you know about any people that wear gold masks?"

Alban was silent for a while before he solemnly shook his head, giving Olivia a wry smile, "Although I owe Miles a favour, this information weighs much more than what he did for me."

Olivia gave a sigh. It seemed that those golden masked people from her visions were extremely mysterious.

"Let me give you some advice on the house, lass." Alban suddenly drew near.

"Don't go snooping around for those gold masks any longer. And… be wary of The Order," Alban vigilantly looked sideways multiple times, as if he were afraid of a terrible beast listening in on his words.

"The Order?" Olivia repeated, confused.

"I'm telling you. It's for your own good. Stay away from them or you'll soon know the feeling of being a foot away from death," Alban warned sincerely once more before leaning away.

"Anything else?" Alban asked as he went back to cleaning the surface.

"No, thank you." Olivia replied absentmindedly as she pondered over the bar owners' earlier words.

"How's that lad Miles doing?"

Olivia suddenly stopped thinking as her mind drew blank at his words.

How was Miles doing… She too, would like to know.

"I haven't been in touch with him," Olivia quietly replied.

Olivia didn't quite know when she left the tavern. She felt dreary and downcast as she walked through the streets in a daze.

But soon her eyes cleared up from her hazed fog.

Looking around she felt slightly puzzled. Where on earth was she?

Just as she was going to flag down a carriage, someone bumped into her. To be precise, a small child bumped into her.

Olivia quickly reached out her hand and grabbed on to the child's arm just as they were about to run away.

She gave a small sigh before stretching out her palm, "Return it."

The child's face was originally hidden under a hat but now that Olivia spoke to them, they looked up, revealing their dirt ridden face.

Because the child didn't reply, only merely staring back at Olivia, she took it upon herself to ask once again, "My things, return them."

Olivia took this time to find out that the young child was in fact a little girl. Her cheeks were sunken in while her skin was wan and pale.

The young girl resignedly handed back the small pouch. She harshly bit her lip as she watched Olivia sift through the pouch to make sure everything was there.

Once she was sure nothing was missing, Olivia looked back at the downtrodden girl.

"How much do you want?"

The girl looked up in astonishment as if she couldn't believe her ears. Gazing at Olivia intensely, she could see that what she heard was true.

"Ju-Just two coppers is fine. Even one!" The girl pleaded her best.

Earlier, Ivan had given her eight coppers. Although she insisted she didn't need that much, he resolutely insisted. Seeing that the carriage ride would only be about three coppers at most, Olivia decided to give the girl four coppers.

"Thank you so much! Thank you!" The girl bowed profusely as her eyes glimmered at the meagre coins in her hands.

Olivia gave her a small smile. Looking at the beaming young girl before her, she couldn't help but remember her younger self.

"Next time don't-"

"I know, I know! I shouldn't steal because stealing is bad. But I didn't have a choice," The girl interrupted with a pout as her eyes teared up slightly.

Olivia leaned over so she was eye to eye with the girl, "No, what I was going to say was next time don't rob those who aren't rich. If you rob those who look rich, it's more likely that they'll let you off because to them, it's embarrassing to run after thieves."

The girl's mouth opened slightly, an expression of enlightenment on her face. She quickly nodded her head as she listened to the pretty miss in front of her.

"Miss, you're really kind," The little girl fawned over Olivia as she gave a wide and bright smile.

Olivia's eyes dimmed however.

"Hurry along now," Olivia waved goodbye as she tried to reign in her emotions.

Nice?

She no longer associated that word with herself. She couldn't afford to either. She knew that the world had no place for such 'nice' people to exist.

As she watched the back of the young girl as she ran off, a wisp of melancholy shrouded her eyes before she turned away.