Chaper Chapter 213 - Back to the city
After Scarlett’s talk with Raimond, things progressed smoothly. Scarlett and her entourage lingered near the outskirts of Sir Home’s camp while a steady stream of people arrived from Bridgespell. Among them were more of the duke’s men, the Followers, a handful of Solar Knights, and crown officials. None Scarlett recognized personally, but she kept an eye out where possible.
At one point, she found herself sought out by individuals clad in white robes and featureless gold masks, who were investigating the ongoing situation. Those were the Inquisitorial Auditors Raimond had warned her about.
Surprisingly, they weren’t as intimidating as one might have thought, though perhaps her noble status might have played a part in that. Still, she managed to evade much of their scrutiny, providing answers that adhered to the narrative she had agreed upon with Raimond. Mostly, that meant leaning on her cooperative relationship with Duke Valentino and her ‘expertise’ on demons to justify her actions and presence following the citadel’s emergence.
The Auditors did try to probe into her past encounters with demons, but she’d deflected by recounting that time she’d run into one with Kat outside Ambercrest, which seemed to satisfy their inquiries for the time being.
Once they ceased bothering her, Scarlett and her companions returned to simply waiting while recuperating their energy. It was somewhat fascinating to sit on the sidelines and witness the gradual expansion of the camp around them throughout the day as more people arrived to address the perceived crisis.
Which, in a sense, she supposed it was. But the crisis itself had already mostly passed.
Scarlett did note the absence of the Dawnbringers’ return to the camp. In fact, most of the people who remained in the camp were either the duke’s men and similar factions, while the Followers of Ittar appeared to proceed past the temporary camp, heading directly in the direction of Anguish’s citadel. Presumably, they had set up their own base there.
Raimond’s prediction that investigating the citadel would take a while seemed to be correct. The man in question had vanished after their conversation, likely joining his order in their ventures. Whether he was doing that under the guise of ‘Father Abraham’ or ‘Deacon Abram’ was uncertain.
While waiting for things to calm down, Scarlett immersed herself in the journal she had found in the Sunfire Shrine — the one penned by Arlene’s sister. It proved a decent enough distraction, sparing her from having to engage in pointless chatter. Although she didn’t mind the company of Allyssa and the others, it got somewhat tiring being cooped up inside a cabin with them for a prolonged duration, especially with some of the quirks she had acquired since arriving in this world.
At least it was noticeably quieter than usual, with Rosa spending most of the time asleep. The woman did wake up now and then, engaging in some light conversation with the group, but that was about it. Scarlett suspected that the others, particularly Allyssa, were intentionally avoiding heavy topics with the bard for now, which was understandable given the current circumstances.
Finally, after about a day’s wait and the second began, Scarlett judged that things had stabilized enough around the camp that their presence no longer mattered. New arrivals continued to flock in, now ranging from soldiers and priests to mages and wizards, but a semblance of order had emerged among it all. While Sir Home and his people acted as the local security, it was clear that the Followers and the officials serving the crown were the ones in charge.
Before departing, Scarlett sought out Sir Home to inform him of her intentions to leave. He wished her well, though she wasn’t sure how sincere he truly was, given their past interactions and what happened with the Abyssal Vilewyrm.