Contrivance 1

It was early morning. The first sun rays hadn't even reached over the horizon and the roads lacked any pedestrians as most of the citizens still hung in their deep slumber.

However, a sole figure steadily walked along the main street. The woman was clothed in multiple layers of cheap winter cloaks but still seemed to shiver from the freezing cold. The fabric of her clothes was rough and tattered, the female's dirty face showed an expression of discomfort.

Her eyes, lacking any focus, were wandering along the endless rows of houses decorating the edges of the road.

Eyna's feet sank lightly into the soft snow which had newly gathered throughout the night. Her cheap boots didn't seem of very high quality and water from molten snow was already seeping in. The muffled sound of her footsteps disturbed the otherwise eerie silence and every now and then several birds, who were jolted awake, flew frantically away from their resting place.

It took half an hour until she reached a small park. A sole bench was placed under a now bare tree. On the wooden surface, a small layer of snow had gathered which was swiftly swept away by Eyna.

She sat down and waited.

"Are you ready?" A sudden voice announced its presence next to her. Eyna wasn't surprised anymore as incidents like this had happened in a similar fashion throughout the past few days. At those times, they had elaborated their plans and mapped out every single action which could occur during the smuggling of the artifact. But today, it was finally the day where it would all be carried out.

"Sure," Eyna answered Leraye plainly.

"You probably already know what things you have to do," Leraye continued.

Eyna detected the presence of two other individuals, most likely the other two demons that always had accompanied Leraye. From one of the disguised men, Eyna received a bag made of rough fabric.

"Potatoes?" Eyna asked with one eyebrow raised up, once she had recognized its heavy content. The bag was filled brimming with these unwashed vegetables.

"It matches your appearance," Leraye replied presumably with a wicked smirk.

Eyna frowned. Had she somewhen offended this demon or why did it seem like Leraye's intentions were evilly condescending?

However, it was true that it would help her blend in with her surroundings. In order to escape the city undetected Eyna needed to assimilate with the masses. Because the appearance of a young and rich noble lady would immediately gather the unwanted attention of others Eyna reluctantly agreed to slip into this rough and uncomfortable set of clothes.

Eyna didn't have much more to do than to change her most outer shell as she almost never used any cosmetics. A rich and blind person couldn't care less about augmenting their looks with unnecessary jewelry. Not that it would bring the opposite effect if she ever put on make-up by herself.

The only other thing she had to do without was the customary combing of her long hair.

"Well actually, the casket is hidden inside the bag. With the angel's overconfidence in the ability of the <Eye of Sin>, they most likely won't try to search all the people's belongings," Leraye ripped the human out of her thoughts.

Having heard the demon's explanation, Eyna dug with her hand into the bag of vegetables trying to locate the object of desire. Soon her fingers enclosed around the sharp edges of the iron casket.

"However, keep in mind, never open the box containing the artifact," Leraye warned.

"Why?"

"This item holds unrivaled power and the feathery pea brains probably took some safety measures too. Therefore, once you open the case with the artifact in it, a whole armada of divine beings would come flushing in. The box itself is able to isolate any aura from seeping out. Without it, one can easily pinpoint our location," Leraye explained. After a few seconds of contemplating Eyna queried.

"If you can't open the box inside the city, how do you know that the artifact is even inside?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

After the question was posed the park was shrouded in silence. Only irregular plopping sounds of snow falling from the bare trees could be heard. The demon trio didn't seem to know how to answer.

"... Do you have any questions?" Leraye asked in an annoyed tone, clearly indicating Eyna to shut her mouth. The human's question was left unanswered.

After shaking her head silently Eyna received another item from one of the demons. It turned out to be a heavy and stiff cloak made out of thick fabric.

"Wear it. With this, the angels will have a harder time detecting the artifact," Leraye said after Eyna put up a questioning expression on her face.

Eyna raised doubtfully an eyebrow but chose to keep the questions to herself.

She then, although reluctantly, removed a few layers of her current clothing as it wouldn't be normal for a common citizen to wear this much protection against the winter's cold.

Eyna put on the heavy cloak and quickly realized that it was even more uncomfortable than the cheap daywear she had worn when coming to the park. Apparently, the stuffing of it even contained some metal plates which explained the weight and stiffness of the article.

Even though Eyna had been blind for five years she had to seriously consider the demon's sense of fashion. With this dull but at the same time unique cloak she most likely wouldn't ever be mixed up with a common citizen.

However, the success of their plan was as important to the demons as it was to Eyna. Therefore, they would know what they were doing. Probably.

・・・

With a loud screech, the petroleum train came to halt. Even though Eyna wasn't able to see she could still feel the imposing radiance of this metallic monster. A warm gust of exhaust air blew straight into her face and disheveled her already uncombed hair even more.

Eyna wrinkled her nose when the impending odor of burning oil damped her sense of smell. The sun presumably had just risen fully over the horizon so it was the first train tour of the day.

Having found an entrance into the first wagon, Eyna turned away from the radiating locomotive and climbed up into the interior of the passenger sector. Not many of the seats were occupied as it was still early in the morning. She decisively steered to the middle of the railway carriage and took a place that had enough space to unload the bag of potatoes.

The price for third-class seat tickets had enormously declined in recent years which allowed even poor families to use this means of transport. Because up to now only the persons themselves were charged, it became economically cheaper to transport goods as a passenger's baggage than the use of carriages or transport wagons. This loophole was a well-known fact and its benefits were fully drawn. Therefore, the sight of Eyna moving a bag of potatoes wasn't that uncommon for other people.

Eyna's eyes moved lazily around as if she had never lost her sight and was a completely normal citizen. An infant was loudly crying in his mother's embrace one row in front of her. Eyna could already feel a rising headache when the fresh mother wasn't able to soothe her sobbing child. Instead, the noise seemed to become even louder.

A middle-aged man behind her snorted loudly seemingly having the same problem as Eyna. However, in contrast to her, he didn't even try to hide his contempt. From the periodic rustling of a newspaper, the man was probably trying to concentrate on the written articles without much success.

Eyna herself just tried to remain as unnoticed as possible and just pretended to stare outside the window. It was pretty black.

The locomotive's whistling indicated the upcoming departure of the train. It took a while until the train finally built up its speed and the wagon began to shake slightly when the wheels rolled over the rails.

Because the acceleration of this metallic monster was really slow, there weren't many stations throughout the city which would else slow down its overall speed dramatically. Just seven stations were built in total as the train couldn't leave the surrounding city walls.

Eichstätt was a medium-sized town built along the shores of the river Altmühl that gave the settlement its elongated shape. Therefore, a train connecting the two opposite sides was still practical even if it just stayed inside the defensive facilities.

Eyna, who seemed to be lost in her thoughts, was patiently waiting for something to happen. The train had already covered two-thirds of the tracks leading to the southern gate. There, she would exit the city whilst smuggling out the artifact.

Suddenly, a deafening screech let all passengers jolt up their heads. Eyna reflexively covered her aching ears with her hands. She could feel the strong deceleration from the train's emergency brake being pulled. The engine of the gigantic locomotive leading the array of wagons was rattling in an abnormal tone as if it would blow up at any moment.

The passengers were agitated. A few even tried to stand up but nearly fell to the floor under the influence of inertia. Eyna, who had used her hands to cover her ears, flew headfirst into the seat in front of her.

Only after the train had finally stopped did Eyna let out a painful groan. As it was the train compartment of the lower class, all seats were made out of rough wood and without any soft paddings. She could already predict the forthcoming bump on her forehead from when she had crashed into the seat in front of her.

Even though this turn of events didn't catch her off guard completely she was still surprised by the sheer force exerted by the train. Therefore, just like the other passengers surrounding her, Eyna was staggeringly trying to stand up.

Right after the tumult had calmed down a little the angels appeared.

Eyna detected two high-pitched noises having appeared from two different directions. They seemed to be hovering above the halted train while scanning the surrounding for any incoming enemies. Their quick reaction time was predictable as Eichstädt was a city under their command near the border to the demon territory. Any unforeseeable incidents needed to be investigated without delay.

If Eyna's face wasn't contorted in pain from her head bump she would have been unable to hide a satisfied smile. The woman with her crying child and the man reading his newspaper had disappeared without a trace.

Eyna had already assessed the two of them to be demons tailing her to monitor each action she would take. Their disguise was flawless and undetectable if one didn't actively search for their presence.

It had already been strange having a mother and her infant board the train this early in the morning. Additionally, it was a widespread rumor among humans that the exhaust gases from the locomotive could harm a child's body. As a loving mother one would prefer to enter a wagon at the back of the train. Except, she wouldn't know the intricate customs of mere mortal humans.

The case of the man reading his newspaper was more obvious. The latest edition of the daily news was always distributed at around eight or nine o'clock in the morning, two hours into the future. The man appeared to be such a diligent reader as he was openly complaining about the loudness of an innocent child. Therefore, he would never wait till the next morning to read the news of the day before.

Up to now, everything that had happened was in her scope of expectation. Only if she could discreetly attract the attention of the heavenly forces she would be released from the tight surveillance of the demons. Of course, the demons had swiftly escaped once the incident happened. A direct confrontation in the angel's territory would be fatally disadvantageous for them.

Eyna had initiated this happening by making full use of her godly ability. The day before, she had thrown a cube of ice containing a drop of her blood into the tank of the petroleum train.

The definition of touching a liquid to convert it was very broad as even drinking water with her mouth would initiate a response. That was why a droplet of her blood was acknowledged as "touching" a fluid too. However, the effect would automatically wear off once it was separated from her body for more than a day.

The ice itself acted as some sort of timer. Frozen water naturally didn't count as a fluid while being in its solid state. Only through the heat of the engine would the cube slowly melt until the contained drop of blood would come to light.

At the moment her blood would be set free, it would immediately come into contact with the fuel of the locomotive. Petroleum was in a liquid form, hence it was affected by her ability to turn any fluid into wine. Consequently, the train engine was feeding on incombustible wine which finally led to exactly this incident.

Eyna had to praise herself for the ingenious plan she had come up with. The only residual evidence was a train fuel tank filled up with common house wine. Nothing could be traced back to her.

The angels themselves naturally didn't care for mortal humans and instead searched for any traces of demons. Therefore, Eyna was completely unsupervised by the two divine forces.

Eyna's hand unnoticeably slipped into the bag of potatoes and pulled a hand-sized iron casket out. For a few moments, she held this seemingly invaluable box, contemplating over the following set of actions. Thereupon, she opened it.