"Good morning, you look refreshed?"
"Thank you, I feel refreshed. A good night sleep will do that to you."
"Hmm, the noise didn't bother you? I had a lot of problems getting to sleep."
Lyxia's eyes begin to sparkle,
"Ah, but I put cotton wool in my ears, so that way I didn't hear anything."
Nillian looks at her in awe.
"That ... That's brilliant! I'm going to try that tonight."
After a quick breakfast they make their way to a wooden building, where according to the innkeeper they would be able to hire a carriage for the day. The building is quite a distance away, and Nillian is slightly out of breath when they get there.
The building looks like a small warehouse, with a large wooden double door, painted green and slightly rounded at the top. The doors are still closed, and above them Nillian can see the sign of the company, two coaches facing each other. There are no obvious windows or any other doors that Nillian can see, so he walks over to the doors and knocks.
There is no immediate answer, and Nillian waits for a moment. Lyxia, being impatient, starts looking around, and goes around the corner of the building. A few seconds later she reappears, and motions Nillian over.
As Nillian walks around the corner he is faced with a large courtyard, with dozens of coaches standing at the ready. Most of them are steam powered, though there are several which are drawn by horses. Next to the carriages there are several small groups of chauffeurs talking amongst themselves. They all wear some kind of uniform, with dull blue colours and the same logo as they saw on the building.
Nillian and Lyxia walk over to one of the groups and ask them about hiring a carriage for the day.
"Oh, then you have to go to William, the clerk. Just continue on to the stables, his office is to the left."
"Thank you, we'll do that."
Together they walk in the direction the chauffeur pointed. They pass several carriages standing at the ready, their steam engines quietly purring and hissing. Then they reach the stables, with two rows of stalls, mostly empty. They are all very clean, with fresh straw on the floors and full water basins.
Impressed with what they have seen so far they make their way over to the office. It is an extension of the house they originally approached, a wooden outbuilding as it were. The office has several large windows, and through them they can see the clerk already sitting. He is working hard on his ledgers, sometimes stopping to wipe his pen and continue.
Nillian walks to the door and knocks lightly. Through the window he can see the clerk look up, and hastily closing the ledger and putting it away. Then he moves out of sight, and a few seconds later de door opens.
"Yes? What do you want?"
"Hello. We were wondering if we would be able to rent a carriage for the day?"
"Ah, customers! Of course you can. Let me see... Alright, what kind of carriage do you want to hire? Steam or horse?"
"A steam-powered carriage please."
"Alright, and what is the purpose? Hauling goods, sightseeing, travel?"
"Well, we have a list with addresses that we want to visit. We are ... looking for something, so we are searching all over town."
"Ah, right. Light carriage, chauffeur with extensive local knowledge. Check. I think Thomas is available, let me see ... yes, he is in. That will be ... one gold pound for the day, one pound five pence if you arrive back after six o'clock. Half a gold pound in front, the rest on return."
"Alright, that sounds fair."
Nillian follows the clerk inside, where he gets a small ledger from the table. Nillian pays the clerk and he puts the money in a small safe. He makes some notes in his ledger, then takes off his glasses and leads Nillian and Lyxia outside. He immediately heads to one of the groups of chauffeurs, and nods to them. He looks at one of them and gestures to Nillian and Lyxia.
"Thomas, you have customers. Probably a full day's work, so bring your lunch."
The chauffeur smiles, and heads off towards the stables. Two minutes later he reappears, and leads Nillian and Lyxia to his carriage. It is a well-polished carriage, with a wooden roof and a small steam engine on the back. Nillian and Lyxia get in, and Thomas swings on the dickey and turns around.
"Where to, squire?"
Nillian hands over the map they made the evening before, and soon they are off into the city. Thomas keeps up good speed, and they arrive at the first address in good time. It is a workplace of a blacksmith, and Nillian and Lyxia spent some minutes looking around.
The workplace is what it seems, a blacksmith in a row of houses. They see no way that another workplace can be hidden beneath it, as there the ground is muddy and soft. When Nillian reads the plaque on the wall of the workplace they know for certain, as the blacksmith has been living here ever since the building was build. They return to the carriage, and continue on to the next address.
The rest of the day they spend going from address to address, from neighbourhood to neighbourhood. At each address they go to the same motions: look around, look if the building is what it seems, and try to figure out if a lab or workplace can be hidden beneath it. But every time the building turn out to be nothing special, and they continue on.
They spend all day looking, finishing several large neighbourhoods, finding absolutely nothing. For lunch they got some food from a store they passed on the way, and they ate in the carriage. At the end of the day, as the sun is setting, Lyxia calls it a day and they return to the carriage company. There they arrive just in time, and Nillian pays the clerk the rest of the money.
The next day they spend in exactly the same way, going from address to address, trying to find something. At some addresses they immediately see that this cannot be what they are looking for, other addresses take a lot of looking around. But they all prove to be 'normal', not what they are looking for. That evening they arrive at the Inn disheartened, not sure how long they can go on with this tiring search.
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