Back at the inn

---- Verden, Skeldergate Forest, afternoon, 547 DBTR ----

Due to Nates disappointment he spent the rest of their journey back to the inn sulking. Of course he knew this was a childish way of reacting and certainly wasn't a proper way of acting for a prince, as his teachers would have said, but since they weren't around he didn't care.

It took almost an hour before they were out of the woods and then at least half an hour to get to the tiny village in which they had rented a few rooms at the local inn. As soon as they arrived at the inn a boy came running out, ready to take care of their horses. Being used to this kind of treatment Nate simply dismounted the horse and handed him the reins, barley even glancing at him before heading inside.

The three of them had only just entered before they were greeted with a bow by the owner of the inn "Welcome back, Your Royal Highness. I hope you had nice day in the forest.". "Thank you" Nate replied with a polite smile, not showing any signs of his disappointment "We had a fine day, but unfortunately luck wasn't on our side.". "I'm sorry to hear that. Hopefully it will have changed by tomorrow.". Nate just gave a slight nod in reply before him and his two guards were lead to a table already prepared for them.

While waiting for their dinner they chatted about some of the events of the day that had passed, or primarily Matt and the new guard, Daniel, were since Nate really wasn't in the mood for that at the moment. Nate tasted the wine he had been served, only half paying attention to Matt and Daniels cheerful conversation. The wine was surprisingly not as bad as he'd feared, though still far from the same standard they had at the castle. All he could wish for now was that the food would be an equally pleasant surprise, but he didn't count on it and had already had enough disappointments for one day.