Another thought occurs to me, as I make my way back to the road. I have given the prisoners the key to their cage, but I haven't done anything about the horses. I can't exactly leave them tied to the carts. This particular road does not see too many travelers. It might be days before someone comes across them. That sounds bad. Thus I make a quick detour to check up on them and release them.

It turns out that my worries were all for naught. When I arrive back at the scene of the short but bloody battle the only things remaining are the cooling corpses and the cage wagons. I don't even have to leave the cover of the woods to take stock of the situation.

The horses are gone. And the same is true for any usable gear the slavers and the guard had on them. Well anything that is not soaked in blood anyway. I guess it's understandable. I wouldn't want to be caught entirely unarmed out here either. And a horse, even one that is beyond its best years is still worth some money. At least no new corpses were added to the tally in my brief absence. That's not much but something at least.

Either way, it is one less thing I have to worry about. Time to turn my thoughts towards other topics. I need to get back to town. Specifically, I need to meet up with Núira, her companions and her cousin at the mill and before that I should wash up at the very least to make sure I don't smell like bloody murder anymore. Thus I make a little detour that will take me to a spot a little upstream of the mill. And I don't take my sweet time getting there either. I don't exactly barrel through the undergrowth of the woods, but I don't move as stealthy as I could either. My current focus is speed rather than stealth.

This is a pretty good workout for my [Running] skill too. That skill is lagging a little behind my other movement skills anyway, so a little exercise will do it and thus me some good. I'm a little out of breath anyway as I reach my destination.

It's still the middle of the night, thus I don't bother to make sure no one is around to see me. A quick look to check my immediate surroundings for any threats will have to do. Then I strip off my things and go for a quick bath in the not very warm water of the river.

Oh, good gods and goddesses, it's cold! I'm a little surprised that I don't earn a cold resistance skill. But then, I probably really shouldn't be. This isn't the first time I get to experience a refreshing bath like this after all. I swim out into the river a little and submerge myself completely before diving back to shore. This results on one hand in goosebumps all over my body and on the other hand in a notification delivered via divine whisper.

[*Ding!* Your skill Swimming has leveled up to level 4!]

This one counts towards the progress of my masked mediator class which is pretty close to the next level up thanks to it. My vitality improves a little too, which in turn improves my health at least a little as well. I can't really dwell on this development though. Instead I hurry to scrub myself down to the best of my abilities. This is not a properly equipped bathhouse after all.

I make sure that I didn't get any blood on my own clothes either. By the time I changed into those it wouldn't have been fresh blood anymore, so it shouldn't be too bad, but I better make sure anyway. I don't notice any suspicious stains or smells anyway. And my [Perception] skill improves a little too.

The real problem comes afterwards. Without the sun's warm rays to help dry me I'm left shivering for far longer than I'm comfortable. I rub my limbs to both help the process along a little and to warm myself up too, but it's still a miserable and cold little while before I deem myself dry enough to get dressed again. And my hair is still wet anyway. For the briefest of moments I consider shape shifting it away. I'm pretty sure I could do it, but it would look weird. I don't even want to think about it to be honest though. The idea of a hairless, utterly bald me alone, doesn't appeal to me at all.

I guess I'll have to suffer the consequences of my actions instead. I just hope I don't catch a cold or anything worse. Oh! I know! I'll hog a spot at the fireplace at the thieves' guild hangout later. That should help. I'll get myself something warm to eat too.

First though I head to the mill. Hopefully I'll find all the people I want to meet there and not anyone else. I don't expect trouble to rear its head, but I can't rule out the possibility yet either. Thus I don't just walk up to the small group of people gathered there in the dark. I circle them first at a distance, doing my best to stay unnoticed, always on the lookout for anything suspicious.

As a result my [Perception] improves again. More importantly though, my [Stealth] finally tips over and earns me my next notification.

[*Ding!* Your skill Stealth has leveled up to level 9!]

This is probably the most important piece of progress I have made so far this night and it already has been a rather busy and rewarding night. I have to actually fight down the urge to smirk.

This is especially important as the group of adventurers in fact isn't out here alone. They have a tail. It's someone I know though. This time around it isn't Matylda who would be uniquely unsuited for covert operations outside the city. No, this time around it's actually Wiktor, which suggests that the guild is taking this seriously.

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It's time to put on a good show. I circle around and approach the waiting group from the direction of the town. I don't stop moving stealthily, but I don't try quite as hard as I could.

It's Núira who notices me first, followed only moments later by her cousin Lofn, who indeed made it here safe and sound. She still looks a little angry though, probably because she is still lacking her usual gear. The guards didn't bring anything along for their meeting with the slavers after all. She hasn't burdened herself down with any of the less than stellar equipment of the slavers as far as I can tell.

Wiktor only takes note of my approach when the reaction of the two elves points him my way. I'm willing to cut him some slack though. His job probably is to observe the group of adventurers sneaking out of town during the night. His reaction, or rather the utter lack thereof, suggests that he was made aware that I might be involved. Good. Anything else would have had me question the competence of Matylda and Sylwia.

I for my part act as if he isn't there. The elves might be aware of his presence, but if they are, they don't let on to it either. I greet the group of adventurers with a little wave as I draw closer.

Rami and Aila seem to only have the barest grasp of the situation. Especially the cleric looks a little uncomfortable too. The duo seems willing to leave Riverrun together with their elven ranger, at least for a while, until the worst has blown over, though.

Good. I would be seriously disappointed otherwise. I'm half tempted to go along with them too. I rather like them after all. I turn to the new under-geared member of the group, pretending that this is the first time I see her up close. And well, it is the first time I have a moment to seize her up properly. The family resemblance with Núira is impossible to miss. At the same time I'm pretty certain though that she is nothing like the ranger at all. Where the ranger is athletic, she seems rather delicate instead. I can't be sure, but she might just be a spell caster.

"So, I guess you are Lofn? Núira's cousin?"

She frowns, or rather her frown deepens as I address her, but in the end she nods. Her answer is short.

"Yes."

Then curiosity gets the better of her though.

"Núira said, she wanted to break me out until you talked her out of it?"

She asks the obvious question, but what she really wants to hear is how I did it. Good. That suggests that she is not seeing through my ruse so far. She might in years to come, with a little more experience under her belt, but that's alright. At worst it'll be a problem for future me.

I cringe inwardly. Sorry, future me. Outwardly I just flash her a smile.

"Yes. I did."

There, that matches her own blunt tone. She seems to realize it too, as she actually cringes a little. Finally she deflates and asks the question she really wants to ask.

"It's not that I'm not grateful, but how did you do it? And why did you do it?"

I motion towards the path leading away from Riverrun and we get going at a leisure pace. I only answer once I'm certain we are out of earshot from Wiktor. He'll have to sweat a little if he wants in on the juicy gossip. Or what he probably assumes to be juicy gossip. I have no intention of actually sharing any such thing though.

"I did it because I like Núira. Because I didn't want her to have the blood of city guards on her hands. I suspect it would have been entirely too easy for someone to connect her and you, if she were to break you out, possibly leaving behind bodies riddled with arrows."

Both Rami and Aila wince at that, shooting Núira a look, who in turn has the decency to look sheepish.

I just keep going.

"As for how I did it. That … is a secret."

I'm pretty sure that Wiktor just missed a step behind us. And the only reason why none of the others notice is because they are too busy groaning themselves.

I look them over and shake my head.

"No, seriously, don't burden yourself with knowledge like that. None of you want to walk the path I'm walking. I did what I did to make sure Núira wouldn't have to! So don't ask questions that only have troublesome answers."

I focus on Lofn again.

"What exactly happened anyway?"

She looks perplexed, but decides to humor me in the end.

"One of the guards, a woman, turned on the others and the slavers they intended to sell us to. In the end she was the only one left alive and made off with the coin intended for the deal."

I nod and clap.

"There you have it. All you need to know essentially. Typical for corrupt guards. Greed makes you do stupid things. The guard can go and try to uncover what else there is to the story on their own time if they are so inclined. Although, to be honest, I doubt that they'll ask many questions. They'll probably just hunt her down and make an example of her."

Afterwards I decide to steer the conversation in a different direction.

"Say, Lofn , you are a spell caster of some kind, aren't you? Could you help me out with a little problem I'm having? I'm short on Mana too damn often. Is there a skill I could learn to help with that? I mean, there has to be a trick, right? I have seen Ediva cast spells that have to eat Mana like crazy time and again after all. How is she doing it?"

The young elf blinks in surprise at the sudden change of topic. She seems to have warmed up to me enough to answer though.

"Well, I don't know how exactly Ediva does it. She is well beyond anything I can hope to achieve anytime soon. She might be guzzling potions. It's discouraged by responsible teachers though. You can get too reliant on them after all. My teacher taught me to meditate instead. You won't regenerate vast quantities of Mana in an instant like that, but still much faster than through regular sleep."

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