[NR] Gems! - Chapter 785 (Patreon)

Alexander laughs, “Oh yeah! Certainly not normal. These are tiefling horses. I don’t know how they managed to get a horse to make a deal with a fiend. Well, I guess there are more spicy methods of getting a tiefling horse. Like, there are horse fiends, after all.

“But as for going faster? Eh, technically possible. The limit is more structural. You’d have to ask Ref-ref, but I’ve heard rumors of temporary magical reinforcements available to them if they need a bit of speed.”

Rosha sighs, “Well, we might be able to go a tiny bit faster if not for the crowd.”

And she isn’t wrong. The crowd that had been around the carriage hadn’t followed them. However, that didn’t mean there wasn’t still a crowd. It was simply that new people joined in as others fell off behind them.

So as they slowly proceed through the city, Rosha and Robby play a bit of “I Spy”. Which, admittedly, is quite unfair. Rosha is, after all, a trained scout and ranger. Though to make up for this, Rosha stuck with spotting bigger features, while Robby tried hard to spot the smallest, out of the way, nonsense items.

Robby, “I spy with my little eye, something triangular.”

Rosha scratches her head as she looks around. “Hmm, that’s a hard one. There aren’t many triangles in the area. Is it one of the gaps at the bottom of the decorative fence?”

Robby shakes his head, “Good spot, but no, that isn’t it.”

Rosha, “Double hmm. Oh! In that alley, someone stacked up some rocks in a pyramid. Is that what you meant? Because it is quite a rough ‘triangle’, if you want to call it that.”

Robby frowned, “You are way too good at this.”

Rosha, “Hey, I’ma scout! Spotting things is what I do!”

Robby, “Well for one, you’re trained as a ranger. Sure, a scout of the wilds, but we aren’t in the wilds, now are we?”

Rosha shrugs, “Can’t really help it. You spend so long looking around for an item, I can easily follow your line of sight.”

Robby’s head snaps over, glaring at her. “You’re cheating!?”

Rosha frowns, “What? No.”

Robby, “Yes you are! If we were playing hide and seek, you wouldn’t watch as others hide. Not watching what I’m looking at for ‘I spy’ is like that.”

Rosha snorts, “That’s just silly. It isn’t like your eyes are laser pointers. I still have to make an effort to figure out what you mean. Honestly? What helps more outside of a general direction? It’s the fact you’re being predictable now.”

Robby reared back, “Predictable?!”

Rosha rolls her eyes, “Very much so.”

Robby, “How could I be predictable! I’m putting in a lot of effort to pick unique things that are out of the way.”

Back on the carriage, Alexander breaks into an uproarious laugh.

Robby glares back at him, “What’s so funny?”

Alexander shakes his head, “Ah! The mind is truly bad at randomness.”

Robby, “What do you mean?”

Rosha sighs, “You’re doing the opposite of random. With each thing you become even more predictable.”

Robby, “But I’m trying to pick out new things each time!”

Rosha nods, “Exactly. Which means I now have an extensive list of things you won’t choose. Random is when you roll a six-sided die six times and it lands on six pips, three times. In trying to be random, you’re actually doing the opposite. Oh, sure, you could roll a six-sided die and have it come up a different side every time, but chances are you’re going to get repeats.

And when it isn’t actually random? Rather when it is someone picking which side is faced up? Well, then you throw randomness out the window.”

Robby frowns, “Well, I still feel like that’s cheating.”

Rosha shrugs, “We’re almost at the gate, anyway.”

Back in the carriage, Alexander shakes his head and chuckles, “Games like that always end this way! Even with just two people, someone in the group will have an ability the other will feel is cheating. You really shouldn’t take such things so seriously. These types of games aren’t meant to be taken so seriously!

“Well, in a situation like this. I’ve heard of people who take them too seriously. Though if you’ve decided to join an I Spy competition? You bloody well know what you’ve gotten into!”

From there, things settle down and they continue on through the city. Then the gate is upon them. Though being there with the Royal Inspector means they get to skip the lines and inspections.

Oh sure, the kingdom doesn’t assume their inspectors will never use the privilege to smuggle things or what have you. However, they balance the risks and presumably there is an organization doing the whole “watching the watchers” thing.

For Rosha and Robby? All of that nonsense is out of sight and out of mind as they easily walk through the gate. Then they are free of the crowds and are onto the moderate crowds. Because yeah, they’re still on a main road during the day.

However, the carriage did manage to go a bit faster. As while there are still a lot of people around? Those people are going places and so the number of rubberneckers has reduced significantly. So without people blocking the way, the carriage can get a bit of momentum going.

Not that there aren’t still people getting an eyeful. It is simply that those who have the time to stop and gawk are out in their fields.

Robby stretches, “Ah, much better!”

Rosha, “Meh, things are still crowded.”

Robby gestures upward, “But I can see the sky without looking directly up. The skyline isn’t made entirely of buildings.”

Rosha looks around, “Huh, fair enough. I’ve just been in forested areas a lot as of late so the restricted vision didn’t really bother me.”

Alexander, “Heyo! I see a bit of a crowd coming up and I have a sneaking suspicion that’s probably our destination.”

Rosha frowns and hops up next to him. “Oh yeah. That’s. That’s not cool. At least they seem to be keeping a bit of distance.”