A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor
Chapter 1480 - 1480: A Passing Breeze - Part 11

"Am I right in making the assumption that the Lady Felder supposes our assassin to have used the tent roofs as a means of escape?" Verdant said, as Nila busied herself with her detective work, placing her hands on the canvas side of the tents, acting through the motions of climbing it, seemingly trying to put her mind in the head of the killer.

"…That's about the only conclusion that I can draw," Oliver said. "Or perhaps she believes that he really did fly away."

The corners of Verdant's lips curled ever so slightly in amusement. "Well, it would be a fine trick, I do suppose. Enough to confuse even Solgrim's best tracker. To simply free oneself up of the constraints of gravity—"

"There!" Nila said, pointing, finding the smallest splash of mud, three quarters of the way up the tent wall, just before the canvas began to slope in the beginnings of the roof.

"…Mud?" Oliver said.

"Fresh mud," Nila corrected. "His mud. There's no way he could climb it without getting the slightest bit of material on it. Alright. I'm certain now. He used these roofs. I'm going to go up there and have a look, okay?"

"Right," Oliver agreed.

The two stared dumbly at each other for a second, before Oliver broke the silence. "…So how were you intending to get up there?"

Nila twisted her lips in a frown. "He did it… But I can't see how he did. There's nothing to hold on to but this rope."

"If the Lady Felder wishes, she can employ the use of my shoulders. I do believe I should work as good as any chair might," Verdant offered.

"But my boots are filthy," Nila said. "You'd be ruining that fancy coat of yours, Lord Idris."

"Coin can replace this coat," Verdant said. "But coin shall not be able to replace our heads once they are severed for our failure to fulfil our duty."

"A reasonable argument," Oliver seconded. "I'll see to it that Verdant has his coat replaced. But I am once again conscious of the lagging time. If you think this to be a lead, Nila, then we must pursue it as quickly as we can. This man is only putting greater distance between us with each second that passes."

"…Right. Right. I shall then," Nila said, clearly uncomfortable with the thought, but clenching her fists and motivating herself towards it nonetheless.

Verdant kneeled down, with a knee in the mud, offering his shoulders to her. "When you are ready, Lady Felder."

With a delicate boot, she placed the first foot on his left shoulder, grimacing at the muddy stain that she had left. And then the second foot she placed on the right, balancing as best she could, putting the entirety of her body weight onto a crouching Verdant's back.

"I am going to stand now, Lady Felder," Verdant said. "You may use my head, if you so need to, in finding extra purchase."

"V-very well," Nila said nervously. Then the ground began to sway beneath her, as, like a giant titan, Verdant rose her up higher above the ground, shooting rather quickly past the level of the tent roof, giving her an easy full view of it. She had expected the movement, and the swaying that came with it, but she still found herself tittering off balance regardless, and she had to take Verdant up on the offer that she would have otherwise declined. She grabbed a handful of his hair in her panic, and had to shout an apology once she had righted herself.

"Gods! Sorry, Verdant! I didn't mean to—"

"It is quite alright," Verdant said. "Do proceed with your inspection. My Lord has noted our lack of time. I would not see more wasted on account of my hair."

"Right," Nila said. "He has been here, Oliver, I can say it for a certainty now."

There were the faintest lines of muddy boot prints on the tops of the tent canvas. It seemed the man had done all he could to remove his boots from mud, but there was only so far he could go. It was enough to escape the attention of the casual observer, but not enough to escape the attention of Nila.

Balancing as delicately as she could on Verdant's shoulders, she secured enough footing for herself until she felt confident jumping onto the tent's roof. That was an act of bravery for her, for she'd had a particular fondness for heights. When the canvas gave as much as it did in the roof, the second that she landed, her heart rose all the way up into the back of her throat. She was convinced that she would go straight through – but her theory held, and the roof held as well.

Quickly, she traced the killer's path over the tent roof, and eyed the next tent in line, seeing the same footprints there.

"The trail continues over here, Oliver!" Nila shouted down to him.

"It does?" Oliver said. "It does…" He clenched his fist, and gritted his teeth, pleased to finally have something to go on. The truth was, that such clues were far from being guaranteed, and even though they had Nila to rely on, he hadn't dared to bet entirely on the fact that they'd be able to find something. "We'll follow from the ground, Nila. Can you continue along the roofs?"

"Uh huh, I think so," Nila said, delicately measuring the distance between the two tents, wiggling like a cat, as she prepared herself for the jump.

"…She's not going to make that," Oliver murmured. He was about to shout up, to tell her to attempt a different route. The springy canvas took too much power out of a jump for her to make the kind of distances that would let her jump between tents, but the girl tried it anyway, and came up short.

She yelped, as her foot slipped, and she came barrelling down the side of the tent. "Dummy," Oliver told her as he caught her, throwing her own often used word back at her. "Are you making a habit of falling off things? This is beginning to get embarrassing."