In Search of Kasena (ONC 2024) | ✓

Interlude 2

"Dear Mr. Kardin,

I hope this letter finds you well. There haven't been any significant breakthroughs since my last report, but there are still a few things I would like to inform you about.

Recently, I met an adventurer from Calle, called Alarie Deville. She is the same age as me, and has decided to leave her father's farm and start traveling the kingdom a few months ago. She arrived in Avisir a few weeks ago, and was already growing accustomed to the city when I met her. In fact, she was the one who told me that people were slowly catching onto your search for Kasena. I must also say she is very knowledgeable when it comes to swords, and she could tell at a first glance that Kasena's sword was custom-made (and even praised its intricate design).

I was very suspicious about her when she first offered me her help in the investigation (even though she didn't know any details), but she assured me she was already used to doing all sorts of odd jobs for other people, although she has no prior experience in this line of work. Despite that, she's very sharp, and she managed to guess exactly who I was looking for based on the rumors, so I decided to accept her help for the time being. It will be much easier to keep an eye on her and stop her from revealing too much to other people if I keep her by my side as much as possible.

Don't worry, she assured me that she wants no compensation for her help, but if she truly proves to be useful by the end of the investigation, I decided I will share a portion of my reward with her, so her involvement will not come at an additional cost to you.

When it comes to your sister, there are still no signs of her in Avisir. Alarie has been helping me look for the people in question, but neither of us managed to find anything. Since the tournament in Villart is about to start soon, we decided to go there next and see if Kasena might be there. It is possible that she sold some of the jewelry to pay for her traveling expenses, or perhaps even for the entry fee of the tournament, in case it requires one.

As always, I will keep you updated on my progress. However, due to the increased distance, my letters might take longer to arrive than usual. I hope I will have more good news to share with you in my next report.

N. Sarfort"

Kardin stared at the letter, scanning over its contents again and again. There was always something endearing about the way Sarfort tried to sound as polite and cordial in his reports as his manners would allow him to, but perhaps his best quality was his attention to details.

He rose from his chair and paced to the window, then right back to his bookshelf. There, he pulled a nearly invisible string, painted in dark brown to make it indistinguishable from the dark wooden shelves.

When he sat back down, he read the letter once again. Adventurer... Tournament... Villart... Kasena... He sighed. She had to make things complicated.

The door of his office glided open. "You called for me, my Lord?" Abiril asked as he quietly closed the door behind him.

He handed the letter to his butler, watching intently as he carefully read over its contents. Once he finished reading, they shared a single look.

Kardin nodded. "You know what to do."