Soon enough Scarlett reached the mansion's reception hall with the two servants close behind her. Another servant was currently there and making those of the beds that weren't just a make-shift gathering of blankets lined up against one of the hall's walls. Most of the children were gathered over next to Kat at the other end of the room where it seemed like the Shielder was telling them stories. Or rather, showing them with her magic and pyrokinesis, as the woman didn't speak Voneian. Scarlett was certain that the servants appreciated Kat's help with taking care of the kids nonetheless.

Walking over to one of the large tables at the center of the room, Scarlett gestured towards Molly and the blonde servant girl. "Place them here. Then you may leave."

The two women did as she asked and rolled out the two maps on the table, bringing out small pieces of rectangular wood from pockets sewn into their clothes which they placed at the edges of the maps to keep them from rolling up on their own. The both of them then bid her farewell with a pair of curtsies and left the room.

Scarlett turned her attention to the laid-out maps. She touched the edge of the largest one. It appeared to be made out of some kind of fine leather instead of paper, which surprised her slightly. All of the books and documents that she'd read in this world had been paper, so it wasn't as if there was a large deficit of the material in this world. Was it perhaps because of the map's size? It was almost as tall as she was, and slightly wider, depicting the whole of the Graenal Empire with several landmarks on it that she presumed were Kilnstone locations. She glanced at the other map. This one showed the area around Freybrook and the southwestern part of the Empire. It was half the size of the larger one, and it at least seemed to be made out of paper. It also looked newer, though, so maybe that had something to do with it. Well, not that it mattered much.

She put the matter out of her mind and moved closer to examine the smaller map. As expected, Freybrook was the largest settlement on it, located just north of the Innisling Sea that bordered the Empire's southern border. Almost a good third of the map north and northeast of Freybrook was covered by mountains. It read 'Whitdown Mountains' in large dark letters on the map. If Scarlett remembered correctly from the lore in the game it was the highest mountain chain in the empire. It was also home to a lot of end-game dangers.

"What are we doing? Planning another trip?" Kat's voice rang out from next to her. She turned to find that the woman had already walked up to the table and started examining the two maps. The kids stood a short distance away and looked on with curious eyes. Their aversion to her had decreased slightly, at least.

"One could say that, yes," Scarlett said and looked over the map of the Freybrook area again. After a moment of searching, she found the name she was looking for and pointed towards the symbol of a small village that was nestled next to the western side of the large mountain chain. It was a far distance away from Freybrook itself. "This is where we are going."

Kat squinted at the map. "Whistlecreek?" she muttered in a half-surprised voice.

"Have you visited?"

Kat shook her head. "No, but I know of it. It's a pretty small place. Not much happens there as far as I have heard." She looked up at Scarlett. "Is this another place that your 'research' found for us to explore?"

"In a manner, yes."

There were a lot of things she needed to do in the future and a lot of places that she had to visit. One of the most important ones, one vital to her current plans in how to strengthen herself and prepare for the dangers she knew would appear in the future, was a dungeon known as the Howling Gale's Haunt in the game. Specifically, it held one artifact that she needed to get her hands on. But some rather hard criteria had to be met to even gain entrance to the place. One of those involved one of the possible companions in the game — a companion that you could recruit in the capital. But he wouldn't join you just because you asked him to, so she had to find a certain quest item first.

"It'll take a while for us to get there," Kat said as she looked down at the map again. "At least a few days. Even by carriage."

"I was afraid of that," Scarlett said as she inspected the large map with Kilnstone locations on it. She knew from the game that there were several Kilnstones located in the Whitdown Mountains, of which at least one was decently close to Whistlecreek. But from this map, it seemed like almost none of them were part of the current Kilnstone network used in the empire. There was just one, located on the eastern reaches of the mountain chain where it bordered on the Three Streams river. Had the other ones just not been discovered yet? Was it because the map was old? Had they been forgotten? Or maybe they just allowed travel between the cities from the Kilnstones. Whatever the reason, it seemed likely they would have to take the long way round for this trip.

"We will be leaving tomorrow," she finally said. She didn't know how long it might take to find what she needed, but she wanted at least some leeway between when she returned and when she had to leave again for the capital.

"Alright," Kat nodded her head. "I'll make sure to get ready."

The next day they set off from Freybrook's northern gate towards the village of Whistlecreek. The carriage they were in wasn't as ostentatious as the one Scarlett had gotten used to by now. This one was essentially just made out of plain wood, without any real adornments except for the Hartford family crest, which was a silver deer on a grey background. The wood was of fine quality, yes, and the seats in this carriage were at least as expensive as those in the main wagon she'd mostly used up till now, but from the outside, it was definitely less in-your-face. Maybe it was to avoid wear on the more fancy carriage. Or to not bring as much attention to itself. Although as far as she knew this wasn't a particularly problematic part of the empire, so she wasn't sure about that. Well, no matter. It didn't bother her much, and she was happy enough with that.

"You know," Kat spoke a while after they'd left the city behind and was traveling through the thick woods that surrounded Freybrook and its area. "I borrowed an issue of the Empyreal Chronicle from Harriet this morning."

"Harriet?" Scarlett asked with a glance.

Kat gave her an amused look. "She's one of your servants. The one with frilly brown hair."

Scarlett thought back to the servants of the mansion. Yes, she did recall there being one like that. She was starting to get to know most of their names, but there were still a few that she hadn't interacted with much, or just hadn't overheard the names of yet. Although she was considering just asking some of them straight out soon. It probably wouldn't be too out of character compared to the original Scarlett, honestly.

"Anyways," the Shielder continued. "There was a pretty interesting article in this week's issue."

"I am aware," Scarlett said as she leaned back slightly in her seat and turned her attention to the window. "I do not know where they got their information from, but it does not appear to be a reliable source."

Kat laughed. "You sure about that? I don't know... Maybe you are Freybrook's little public hero. Saving the city from those terrible criminals."

Scarlett frowned. She'd read the article about her in the Empyreal Chronicle and it was almost offensive to call that puff piece news. They'd essentially single-handedly singled her out as the main actor behind the whole ordeal, acting on the behalf of Count Knottley. The Shields Guild was only briefly mentioned. In addition to that, they had also considerably exaggerated the magnitude of the Grey Dog Gang's operations. They had quite literally painted her out as Freybrook's hero, which was problematic in more ways than one. If she were to guess, then the count himself was probably the reason behind that. She wasn't sure exactly how much he gained from it, but obviously he had chosen to lean into that whole angle she'd given him. The only silver lining was that it wasn't a front-page news story, a story about the imperial princess's visit to the eastern front taking precedence. Though that didn't seem to stop people from reading about it that much.

"You think they might give you a medal?"

Scarlett looked at the grinning Kat. "I do not see the amusement in this scenario. Is it not your achievement that has gone ignored?"

The woman just shrugged her shoulders. "I don't mind. I don't think I'd want that kind of attention anyway. And the Guild'll be fine without it."

"But you assume I would be more pleased with the attention?"

"Well, aren't you?"

"I am not."

"Huh," Kat made a somewhat surprised noise, looking at her for a moment. She seemed to consider something. "Has anyone told you you're a bit weird for a noble?"

"They have not," Scarlett replied. "Although admittedly, I have not given them much opportunity to."

Kat chuckled. "Sounds about right."

Scarlett raised an eyebrow. "I was under the impression that you did not have much prior experience with nobles. Yet you seem an authority on the matter."

The Shielder gave her a sheepish grin, leaning against the window sill with her elbow. "I didn't mean that. But everybody knows nobles are a bit...you know." She waved her hand in the air. "They're supposed to only care about status and all that. So it's a bit weird that you don't, isn't it?"

Scarlett felt the side of her lips move up just a bit. "I see you have a very favorable impression of the nobility. But you forget that we are also calculating. A momentary increase in status does not hold much value if its effects can be detrimental in the future." Well, at least she assumed that's how the nobility in this world thought. In some ways, she probably knew less about them than Kat did.

"What, so the attention somehow messes with some grand plan of yours?" Kat asked.

Scarlett remained quiet.

"Wait, seriously?"

"I believe 'grand plan' is somewhat of an embellishment, but it does have the potential to interfere with some of my plans, yes."

Kat stared at her. "I was joking, you know."

Scarlett nodded. "I presumed as much. But it was close to the truth nonetheless."

Giving her a long look, Kat said, "Are you comfortable with telling me this much?"

Scarlett leaned her head slightly to the side. "I have barely told you anything? I would be impressed if you could infer my plans from merely this much."

"No, but." Kat moved her arms in front of her. "Before you were all 'I just found it in my research' even though we both totally knew it was a lie, but now you're admitting to having these secret plans without even trying to hide it."

Scarlett felt a small smile force its way onto her lips. For seemingly being upset with it before, it seemed Kat had quickly grown comfortable with the fact that she was lying to her. "Now I am curious as to what it is you believe my 'secret plans' to be."

Kat paused, giving her a measuring look. "Isn't it...you know."

"Yes?" Scarlett prodded.

Kat opened her mouth as if she was about to say something, then she closed it and leaned back in her seat with a sigh. "Ok, fine. I can't really think of something that would fit. Unless you're doing it for money?" she said, throwing a glance toward Scarlett.

"Money is part of it," Scarlett admitted.

Kat's eyes widened. "Really?"

"Yes. But I do not believe that to be especially surprising. There are not many people who do not strive for increasing their own wealth."

"But there's more to it?"

"Of course."

Kat grew a thoughtful expression, looking out the window at the passing trees. "You're gathering all these rare artifacts and earning money for something. You're getting ready, right?"

"I suppose that much is clear."

"And you even struck a deal with a devil because of it, so it's probably pretty dangerous."

"Although that situation was entirely under my control, I will admit that it is indeed dangerous."

Kat stopped to glance at her. "You're being surprisingly open right now. Just a day ago you were a lot more quiet about this," she pointed out.

"Call it a fancy," Scarlett said. "There is not much risk of you discerning too much anyhow."

"Is that so..." Kat mumbled, her gaze moving back out toward the forest. A moment later her eyes shot open. Springing out of her seat, she screamed "Get down!" as she pushed Scarlett away from the window towards the floor. Then the whole carriage shook as something slammed into it.