"It's good to see you again Sir Henrik. Found any good battles to take part in?" Chronos greeted him.
"Several but sadly none good enough to take my life," Henrik sighed. "I don't suppose you might know of a place to die?"
"I'm afraid not, old knight, but if you start looking around, I think you'll find a few tears to fight in. Just make sure to take a priest with you, without a blessing you'll turn to stone before you have a chance to fight."
Henrik perked up at that, "Thank you for the encouragement."
While they were talking Chronos heard something concerning from Lyla's side.
"You've travelled with Lord Ulv for some time now, haven't you? He seems remarkably talented at finding unusual situations," came a somewhat mellow voice.
"Indeed, I have been with him for a couple of months now and it's been one adventure after another," Lyla responded.
He glanced over and found that Lady Katrine Falk, daughter to Count Falk, Earl Malric's right hand man, was looking for gossip. He'd heard that she knew almost everything going on in the eastern plains and was always on the lookout for more gossip.
Looks like it was true.
What's worse was the looks she was getting from some of the nearby nobles. They were definitely planning on taking advantage of their conversation to stir up trouble.
"That looks like a bit of trouble. I'll get out of here first," Sir Henrik said.
"Running away already?"
"Even I'm not suicidal enough to get involved in that fight," he laughed.
Sure enough, once their conversation came to when she and Lyla were being tailed in the city a troublemaking baron came up to cause a problem.
"Lady Katrine. Priestess Lyla," Baron Albrecht approached them with a pleasant smile and bowed his head. "I hope I'm not interrupting."
"Not at all," Lady Katrine replied. "We were only discussing the recent excitement in the Dragon Church."
"Ah, yes. It's difficult to speak of after what happened." Albrecht's expression turned appropriately somber. "Though I imagine some parts of the affair are more difficult to discuss than others."
That got the attention of the nobles listening in on their conversation.
Lady Katrine's smile cooled slightly, "What are you referring to, Baron?"
"Roland, of course," Albrecht sighed. "A terrible business. For an earl's son to fall so far, only to meet his end at the hands of the very man he'd already been defeated by..."
He shook his head. "I can only imagine how Earl Malric feels having his son's killer as an honored guest beneath his roof."
Several nobles whispered in excitement casting glances at the Earl and Chronos.
But Lyla's golden eyes settled on him with an unspoken reproach, "That's an interesting choice of words."
Albrecht raised his eyebrows. "Have I misunderstood what happened?"
"Considerably," Lyla replied.
"Then Lord Chronos didn't kill Roland?"
A couple of nobles tried to get closer to them while making it look natural.
"Chronos captured him, although he might have died from the effects of the forbidden drug whose effects he was under afterwards. I heard that the Dragon Church was taking care of him. But as for what happened afterward, that's a matter for Earl Malric and the Dragon Church," Lyla informed him.
The surrounding nobles relaxed, comforted that there wouldn't be any trouble between Chronos and the Earl.
Albrecht's smile faltered for only a moment, "Captured? How fortunate. The rumors coming from Dragon Church city have been considerably darker."
"Rumors often become darker when people find the truth too boring," Lady Katrine replied.
"Quite so," Albrecht shamelessly said as he gave her a shallow bow. "Then I shall be more careful about what I repeat."
"That would be wise," Lyla said pleasantly.
Albrecht studied her expression, apparently searching for something more, before smiling again.
"Of course, Priestess. I would hate for an innocent question to cause Earl Malric any unnecessary grief."
"I'm sure you would," Lady Katrine replied, giving him a thin smile.
Chronos admired the way that Lyla and Katrine had handled that. They had given enough information to disprove the baron's statement and warn the other nobles about a dangerous drug without giving away too much.
As Baron Albrecht took his leave Chronos found himself standing next to the Earl again.
"Earl Malric, you should keep a closer eye on Baron Albrecht. The rumors shouldn't have made it this far yet, but he clearly knew most of what happened."
"I'm aware, he and Viscountess Elsbeth Varling are constantly causing problems and sadly they have the money to find out almost anything they want."
Hm, so they were the cautious type that liked to stick their nose where it didn't belong. From the Earl's tired tone of voice this wasn't the first time they had tried targeting him or his family.
Having a reoccurring annoyance like them was like having a constant migraine in the back of your mind.
Chronos felt sorry for the Earl.
In the Ulv Territory people like them were usually killed off in the once a decade beast tide, whether by accident or on purpose nobody really looked into it.
As they were talking Count Falk entered the garden, seeing the Earl he made a beeline for him.
He whispered into the Earl's ear, but Chronos was close enough to hear it.
"Milord there is a confirmed tear 7 kilometers from the city. It just appeared an hour ago."
"Have the priests been gathered?" Earl Malric quietly asked.
Count Falk nodded.
"Good," Raising his voice he addressed the garden. "Friends I apologize but an emergency has taken me away from you this wonderful afternoon. Please enjoy my house's hospitality while I'm gone."
The nobles thanked him as he turned to leave.
Before he could make it far Chronos asked, "Would you like some help?"
"No, you're a guest today. My knights can handle it."
Chronos nodded, returning to the luncheon before he could be missed. As he went back Sir Henrik passed him determinedly following the Earl.
Once he was back in the garden he was approached by a young man. Well young in comparison to the other guests, he didn't look or smell like he was twenty yet to Chronos, who was even younger than him.
He introduced himself as Tobias Rosenfeld, not to be confused with the Rosenholm family, apparently that had happened to him before. He spoke hesitantly even when his brother Lord Rosenfeld joined them.
After ten minutes he hesitated before asking a somewhat questionable question, "...Is it rude to ask how much larger you become when transformed?"
Lord Rosenfeld looked like he would throw himself into the decorative pond to avoid the coming conversation.