Chapter 458
They'd already made contact with the Heretic Church and rolled into town, huh.
"Liberta, what do we do?"
"Time's on their side. The father's gonna sweet-talk the mother, and the Church will work their connections to pressure the nobles. The debt, finding the mother—it was all part of their plan."
Not much time left.
Those two told me that much without having to say a word.
We kept our voices low, eyes fixed on them.
"We move."
'Got it. Thanks for the info, shopkeep.'
"Uh, sure."
They hadn't spotted us yet. Good. The second sister flicked a silver coin his way and we slipped out.
"What's the play?"
"We get to her before they do."
I caught a glimpse of Barze's father as we walked. Gaunt, hollow-eyed.
He was already deep in the Church's grip.
No point trying to talk him out of anything. They were headed straight for the lord's mansion.
His wife was their mark.
"...But why go through all this trouble for her? Even if she was a noble's daughter, she ran off and got herself shunned. The whole town's gone to seed because of it, hasn't it?"
Nell figured the Church had to have an angle.
She wasn't wrong.
"The way things stand—her bad name, the town falling apart—it's all perfect for them."
I knew what was really going on here. I could lay it out for them.
We kept walking, me scanning the street, ticking off the reasons on my fingers.
"What do you mean?"
Amina quickened her pace to walk beside me. Nell did the same. The second sister up ahead glanced back once before fixing her eyes forward again, but she was listening too.
"They live in the shadows. Can't afford to be noticed. A place like this? Perfect hideout. Not thriving enough to draw outside attention, not so dead that the crown starts asking questions."
The Church was looking to replenish their numbers after the hit they took at the divine mountain. For that, they needed people. Needed a town.
But try that in a busy city, and the temples, the local lords, the crown itself would be all over them.
"No real muscle here either. The lord's drowning in debt. Plenty of openings to slip through."
On top of that, there was a temple here, but it was barely functional.
You could pray, sure, but none of the real stuff—contracts, the merchant god's exchange, anything useful. Just enough priests to keep the lights on.
Even temples have limits.
Only so many people to go around. The important sites get the numbers.
"They're not stupid. They know making noise brings the heat. But they need believers. Need a base. Somewhere with just enough people coming and going to blend in, just enough movement to stay under the radar."
Temple patrols came through, sure, but you could slip past if you knew what you were doing.
"And the town's just off the main road, tucked in past the border. Far enough from the capital that nobody's watching close. Not worth the crown's time."
Put it all together, and this town was ripe for the picking.
"Someday the lord's son takes over, and there's a woman with a bad reputation hanging around? Even better for them. They sweep her out of noble sight, and suddenly the local lord owes them one. He'd be thanking them, not asking questions."
No hard proof, but I was sure enough.
"So why bring him along? If they're doing what you said, do they even need him?"
"They do. To her, he's the man who came back. She'll have doubts, sure, but part of her wants to believe. That's what the Church preys on."
Leave this alone, and this town becomes a Church stronghold.
Stopping it was simple.
Send word to the temple.
They'd come running. They were on a roll hunting the Church these days.
"So we crush their little scheme?"
"That's what they're good at. I drop a message—use my name, the one who made a mess of their plans at the divine mountain—and they'll handle the rest. I don't need to lift a finger."
Aftermath was covered.
Even Marchias wouldn't dare mess with temple business. Officially, they'd be doing the town a favor by cleaning out the rot.
The lord might take a hit, but nothing more.
"Problem is, once the dust settles, getting Barze's mother out gets a whole lot harder. So we move before it hits the fan."
"Wouldn't that just make things worse for the townsfolk? Snatching her out of here?"
"We're not snatching her. Not exactly."
We needed a plan.
"Liberta, you've got that look."
"Heh, thinking about paying back the Church for what they did to me on that mountain."
Simple.
Frame them.
And lucky for us, they'd walked right into town to make it easy. We'd leave a trail pointing straight at them.
"First things first: we get Barze's mother out. Amina?"
"On it."
I wiped the grin off my face and got serious. The lord's mansion was right there, and we ducked into an alley beside it.
I peeked around the corner. One guard at the back gate.
Old leather armor. Wooden shield with iron studs. Spear. Standard issue.
He was alert, at least. His partner, though, was squatting on the ground, slacking off.
"Go, Fuu-chan."
'On it!'
The one standing was barely trying. Even from here, you could see it. Yawning, wishing the shift was over, eyes fixed straight ahead like nothing else existed.
He didn't even notice the little green bird clutching a letter in its claws, flying right past him.
Straight toward the long building behind the mansion.
"Found her."
Amina, linked to the wind spirit Fuu-chan, had spotted the woman I'd described.
"Good. Drop the letter."
"Okay. Fuu-chan, go ahead."
Tap, tap. The bird pecked at the window. Iron bars covered the outside—no way out for her, but a little bird could slip through.
Barze's mother noticed the sound and opened the window.
"Go in. Give her the letter."
"Yeah. Fuu-chan, like we practiced."
Once the bird was inside, we pulled back deeper into the alley.
"Now we wait for her to write back."
'But will she trust us? You humans are supposed to be suspicious of everything.'
"She'll trust this. I made sure to put something in there she'd believe."
"She needs time to read it. Time to decide."
'That picture you drew?'
"It's not a drawing, but yeah. And Barze wrote her something too. She'll know it's real."
The second sister leaned against the wall, watching the mansion. She looked skeptical, but I knew this would work.
The father, maybe not. But the mother—she'd reached out to her family hoping they'd help her child.
She loved him.
A bird carrying a picture of her son, a letter from him. It was strange, sure. But my letter told her he was safe, that we could take her to him.
"Amina, how's it looking? Working?"
"She's reading it. Keeps asking Fuu-chan questions. She's really worried about him."
From where we stood, I could see her clearly. Same silver-blue hair as Barze. Soft features.
She looked like she'd fold under pressure. Gentle.
"She's answering, but she's not sending anything back."
"Show her the letter again. Peck at the window. She'll get it."
"Okay."
The one thing I remembered from every Barze quest was how he talked about her walnut bread.
It wasn't anything special—just bread with some nuts in it. But to him, it was his mother's.
And the lullabies she'd sing to put him to sleep.
That was the only time Barze ever sounded like himself. The only thing that cut through the darkness.
Kids forget most things, but he never forgot that.
His father, though... that memory faded more each day.
"She's got it. Reading it again."
"No pen in there, I figured. If she agrees, just have her fold it and send it back."
"Got it."
While I was thinking back, she'd made up her mind.
I'd guessed they wouldn't leave her anything to write with. The way she folded the letter told us everything.
The window opened, and the bird flew out, letter in its beak. Her mother's eyes followed it the whole way.
"She wants out. Wants to see her son."
I took the letter, folded into a triangle, and read her answer.
"My sister says those two just went in the front. The lord's meeting with them—they've been here before."
"Yeah. The other guy's probably their go-between. They'll talk money. We got here just in time. My letter warned her, so she won't see him today. Gives us a little breathing room. Not much."
We had until nightfall to get ready.
Time to pay back the Church for what they did at that mountain.
"Alright then. Time for some fun."
'Are you okay? You've got a scary look on your face.'
"They did some things to me before. Best to let it go."
"She'll be fine. We're not the ones who'll have to worry about it."
I held back a laugh and started running the plan through my head.