The deacon and the secretary

There were two people depicted on the glass panel. One of them was a middle-aged man clad in the vestments of a priest, while the other was a young woman, whose eyes boasted of a depth that seemed to transcend Claud's understanding.

The priest cleared his throat. "This is Deacon Gates of the White Church. Representative of Nightfall County, for what reason have you contacted us?"

"I am Secretary Lisa, second secretary to Ruler Istrel. What manner of emergency has occurred in Nightfall County?"

As the two spoke in concord, Claud couldn't help but feel some resistance to the name those two people had given Licencia, but now that he thought about it…

Shaking his head, he and Lily continued their impersonation of a little pebble, which was incidentally how he picked up the inferior variant of Presence Nullification long ago. Of course, the time and place were a lot more different, but the concept remained the same.

"Deacon Gates, Zulan Patra has been murdered in Licencia. His body was discovered not too long ago by the city guard," Caroline replied.

"Zulan's dead?" The deacon's voice, though as impassive as ever, carried a chilling edge to it. Claud could feel a figurative knife trailing on his back from these two words alone, and it took him everything he had to not move a muscle.

"Yes, Deacon Gates," Caroline replied. "Captain Blake of the Licencia city guards was the primary officer onsite."

She nodded at the captain. "Early this morning, some residents came to the local garrison to report a foul odour. One of the guards on duty responded to the complaint immediately, reporting upwards on the spot when the dead body of Zulan Patra was discovered. He was chained down to a chair and killed, but there were too many plausible reasons of death to make a certain judgement."

"Elaborate, captain."

"The upper part of his skull" —Captain Blake indicated the area above his eyebrows— "was missing, along with his brain. His torso was torn open too, with his internal organs missing."

"Missing?"

"Yes, Deacon Gates. "A preliminary search yielded no hint as to where the missing organs went to, but I believe that the murderer intended to make use of Zulan Patra's corpse to fulfil skill acquisition conditions."

"A heretic, then. In that case, I will request the Elder Council to dispatch an inquisition squad to assess the circumstances surrounding the Spear of Fate's death." Deacon's voice, wintry as it was already, took on a freezing slant. "Secretary Lisa, do you have an opinion on this?"

"…A Bearer of Destiny has been discovered in the general area. I believe Ruler Istrel sent a missive to your church regarding that, no? Either way, if you do see it fit to check it out, my master has but one word for the squad dispatched there."

"I'm all ears, Secretary Lisa."

"Moderation," the secretary replied. "His Grace does not want to see another repeat of what happened twenty-six years ago. He paid a dear price to appease Emperor Grandis after that mess. He will not do it again."

"We will take your advice to heart, Secretary Lisa," Deacon Gates replied. There was the slightest subservience in his words, which intrigued Claud. Was it a sign of some hierarchy here and there? He had heard rumours about how close the Istrel Dukedom was to the Church of the White God, to begin with, so it did make sense if these two groups were actually associated with each other.

"Thank you very much, deacon. Caroline, right? Your report has been duly noted. Thank you for your prompt alert regarding this thorny issue."

"Indeed, miss Caroline. Thank you for reaching out to us, despite the possibility of incurring our…displeasure. Honestly, I have no idea where some of our ill repute comes from." Deacon Gates clicked his tongue. "We will send out a squad post-haste; expect the squad to arrive in two days from now."

"Very well." Caroline inclined her head. "That is all."

The glass panel that depicted the two people dimmed, and Caroline swayed on her feet. As Claud and Lily raced over, her wobbly stance straightened up.

"Well. That was unpleasant," Caroline murmured. "That secretary was really scary, if nothing else. Did you see her eyes? They were like pitfalls!"

"I have nothing to comment on that subject, Your Grace," Captain Blake replied, before wiping off some sweat. "Unfortunately, this seems like a turbulent year. The Full Moon months have been this crazy, and I don't think the crazy is going to abate as we move on to next year."

"Yeah. Both months of the New Moon are definitely going to be filled with war and whatnot too," Caroline replied. "Not fun at all, if you ask me. Geez. Aran has to be out for that stupid war too! Can't he just say no and come back home? We're supposed to be married this winter! And he has the nerve to say 'When I come back, we'll get married'. Doesn't he know that's just going to lead up to a tragedy?"

"Well, His Grace is a fortunate person, so nothing—"

"That doesn't mean he should tempt fate!" Caroline fumed, and then turned to Claud and Lily. "I want to commission your Moon Lords to head over to the battlefield and drag him back here."

"Please do not be impulsive, Your Grace," Claud replied. "Besides, Count Nightfall is a tri-folder. The chances of us dragging him back to your side is slightly higher than Zulan Patra's murderer being a little rock."

She rolled her eyes. "You could at least entertain me. How about you, Lily?"

Lily squirmed under her stare. "I-I think so too."

"Well, if you put it that way, I can't really say anything, right?" Caroline let out a sigh. "The next few days are definitely going to be fun, though. The White Inquisitors aren't the most gentle of folks. Right, for you two…I suppose I should give you some immunity against those fellows."

She took out a small plaque. "This here is something you should hang on the front door of your organisation. The squad of White Inquisitors won't bother you once they see that."

"That's useful…probably."

"Don't look at me with that doubtful expression, Claud." She shook her head. "The inquisitors of the churches are quite the, uh, thorough lot when it comes to seeking retribution and sniffing out heresy."

"Incidentally," said Claud, "what does that Bearer of Destiny thing have to do with those inquisitors? I thought the Third Bearer of Destiny would be chased by the city guards and everything, not people from the churches."

"Hmm. There's a very complex set of relations between those guys and the Bearers of Destiny. I'm not too sure about it myself, but the Third Bearer of Destiny is probably far away by now, so there's really no point in egging the deacon on." Caroline paused. "Wait. How do you know of…oh, right. You guys were the ones who handled that Absolute Domination case."

"Yes, that's us." Claud replied, before frowning in his mind. Clearly, the Absolute family of skills was only a secret from the masses. In that case, what was with the odd remarks on his status? Did the entity that settled the status screen not know about them? If so, why?

"I keep forgetting about little details like this. My apologies." Caroline shivered, clearly unaware of his thoughts. "Let's go out. The cold is really getting to me, and we're still in the middle of summer."

In silence, the others followed her out of the room, which was the cue for the soldiers assembled outside to enter and search the place. These soldiers were probably investigating the Monochromatic Twins — did they come here to just enjoy the cold, or did they have something else in mind?

Either way, that wasn't Claud's business. It was best to let urban legends lie — he didn't want a nocturnal visit by those twins, which would probably give him a panic attack or something.

"Do you need us for anything else?" Claud asked.

"No, thank you. That said, it's possible that I might call on the Moon Lords to help out with the investigation, once the inquisitors from the White Church arrive. Do prepare yourselves adequately."

"You do know that Zulan Patra is a tetra-folder, right?" Claud asked.

"Yes," Caroline replied. "That's why I don't think he was defeated in outright combat. No, he was probably schemed against. Tetra-folders are still very much human — they can be poisoned, schemed against, backstabbed and worse. Given the Spear of Fate's martial ability, I can only assume that underhanded means were used to dispose of him."

She paused. "It's easier to investigate things from this angle. Let the inquisitors handle anything else. I am told that the origins of the Moon Lords are that of the criminal world; you people might be able to sniff something out."

There really wasn't a choice regarding this, so Claud and Lily could only reluctantly nod their heads. Making a mental note to mention this bit to the others, Claud and Lily made their excuses and hurriedly left.

Claud clicked his teeth as they passed through the palace gates. "My life has been rather eventful, but now that I look back, all that seems rather small compared to the events of the past few months."

"Yeah…" Lily had a rueful look on her face.