Chapter 50 : Church Envoy Enters Town
The town square had never been so clean. Even the cobblestones had been scrubbed until they shined like wet river stones, which probably meant half the children in town had been conscripted for forced labor. A cheerful sign read, WELCOME TO OUR HUMBLE TOWN, MOST HOLY INQUISITOR, in letters so large they looked afraid not to shout.
Elias squinted at it. "Did they have to use red ink?"
Behind him, Rhea snorted. "It's dried tomato paste. Smells like guilt."
He didn't ask how she knew. These days, Rhea was growing into her strange intuition like it was a second skin—one stitched from old fire and forgotten names.
The bells rang at noon. Not the usual bells either, but the old brass ones no one dared ring unless the mayor's wife fainted—or someone important came to town.
And someone very important did.
A procession marched through the gates, flanked by gold-clad paladins and a banner bearing a blinding white sun against a sea of flame. Horses stomped. The crowd went quiet.
Rhea stiffened beside Elias. "That symbol," she whispered. "It hates me."
"You mean you hate it?"
"No. It hates me."
From the crowd's reaction, that wasn't entirely inaccurate.