The Mad King of Hyrule

"The message has been sealed and we've been forbidden to open it." said Ritter. It was a true enough statement, never mind that they had brazenly ignored those measures. "As for payment, I think we can spare..."

He counted up to five on his fingers and waved back to Miles. Miles responded in kind, though hesitantly and a little bit confused. Ritter turned back and concluded, "Yes, five hundred ruppees for the pair of you."

"Well I have no idea where he is, so sorry..." Nuala said with a shrug and went to leave.

"I'll do it." Blake said. "If she isn't doing it, give me her share and we have a deal."

"If the madam is unwilling to help us out, then we'll gladly give you her cut. Though if I'm not mistaken, she seems to know who we're looking for if not where he is."

He sat back smugly in the saddle, and waited to see if this would illicit a response.

Nuala's jaw tightened at his smug expression, but she did her best not to react knowing that was what he wanted.

"I knew she knew who and where he was a soon as she heard his name." Blake said, looking over at her. "I've done this sort of thing before. There are little things you can't help but show when you lie through your teeth."

Nuala just threw Blake a look. She wasnt lying, technically, just not telling the whole truth.

Ritter's smug expression stiffened. While he appreciated that half his work was being done for him, he didn't much like the idea of being around someone who could read tells better than he could.

"Perhaps if I mentioned that princess Zelda herself sent us you might be more amiable?" he ventured.

"Show me the letter, then I'll see if I can help you," she said bluntly and held her hand out.

Ritter hesitated, then retrieved the letter from his coat pocket and handed it over. He had made doubly sure that their tampering had been invisibly mended, but perhaps there was some sort of invisible sign that he didn't know to look for. Magic was tricky like that.

Nuala opened the letter and raised an eyebrow. "This letter is blank..." she said, expecting some kind of explanation.

Blake looked at the letter, and raised an eyebrow. He looked back at them. "Is this some kind of hoax?"

Ritter feigned surprise "What? Let me see that!"

Nuala sighed and handed the blank letter back.

Ritter looked the blank piece of paper over, even holding it up to the sun to check for a watermark or something. "Blank..." he murmured. "Oh no, don't tell me this was just a ruse to get us out of her hair." groaned to the world in general.

Miles cautiously approached and cleared his throat. "Ah...is something wrong?" he asked.

Nuala cleared her throat. "Are we done? If there is no message I assume you no longer need Konbei."

Blake narrowed his eyes when he saw Ritter's fake surprise.

"...I think its about time someone comes clean." he said.

"I'm afraid you don't understand the dynamics of our situation." said Miles, "Regardless of whether nor not there is a written message, we're still bound to our orders and have to deliver it."

Deflecting Blake's accusation, Ritter gave Nuala a look and said, "Yes, I think it's time someone does."

"No, idiot. I mean you." Blake said darkly.

"You really want me to deliver a blank piece of parchment to someone..." Nuala said. "That's ridiculous."

"It's not just a blank piece of paper." insisted Miles, "Perhaps merely delivering a blank message is a code in and of itself. Even if it's not, we are upholding a promise and fulfilling our duty. It's not for us to decide whether or not to do something just because it's strange."

Ritter gave Blake an affronted look. "What? We've been telling you the truth this whole time."

"Yes well this whole thing seems a little shady to me..." Nuala commented.

"You were't surprised. I know you weren't. You knew it was blank." Blake said. "What aren't you telling us?"

The lone man noticed someone enter the forest nearby, he looked oddly familiar, he took out the parchment and looked upon it one more, it was his target.

He smiled, he drew up his hood, hiding his left eye that was covered by an eyepatch and began making his way.

"Well seeing as Blake here said he'd be happy to do the job for you, I guess you don't need me anymore..." Nuala said, backing up before turning and walking away from them. Her plan was to find Konbei and ask him about this letter before anyone else got to him.