A few minutes after the creepy greeting, I could finally see a bunch of carriages coming our way.
By the ti the carriages arrived, the rest of the survivors had already gathered.
Judging by their expressions... they knew who was responsible.
But none of them said a word.
They just entered their carriages and, after giving so instructions to their coach drivers, they left one by one.
I didn’t get these kinds of people.
Why wouldn’t they stand up for themselves?
"Mikael, let’s go as well."
Clentine gestured at a nearby carriage.
Just then, Kai tapped on the shoulder.
When I turned around, I was t with a wide smile.
"Why don’t the four of us take one carriage? I want to get to know you both a little better."
It looks like he doesn’t know how to read the room.
"Sorry, Evangeline and I want to have so alone ti. I’m sure we’ll have so ti to chat in the Harper Citadel."
Kai pouted slightly, but then gave in.
Turning around, he tapped Vincent on the back, and the two of them entered their own carriage before finally leaving.
There was definitely sothing off about their relationship.
Obviously, Vincent wasn’t very comfortable around Kai, and if I had to guess, Kai had sothing over Vincent.
Maybe sothing having to do with demons?
Could Kai be a demon?
I entered a carriage with Clentine and sat down beside her.
After telling the coach driver to head straight to the Harper Citadel, I leaned down and rested my head on her thighs.
Our eyes t for a mont.
"What did you think?"
She tilted her head slightly.
"Vincent’s soul shook when Kai arrived. As for Kai, his soul is very, very dark. Even darker than the demons and vampire nobles we’ve faced. But sohow, he isn’t a demon."
A soul darker than a demon’s, yet he’s not a demon...?
"Does that ring any bells?"
I shook my head.
"There’s a few, but none of them match Kai’s description. I think we’ll only really be able to find out more in the Harper Citadel."
She let out a sigh.
"True. Also, I think we should keep an eye on that Vincent guy. I rember you told about what kind of people you wanted to be your companions... I think he matches your description."
She raised a single finger.
"I saw he was using illusions. His gun was an illusion, and even the rock formation that fell onto the train. I think if he was on our side, we could deceive the demons."
I thought about it for a mont.
His illusions were really impressive and realistic, but they suffered from the fact that if soone looked closer, they didn’t feel real.
But what if he got over that hurdle?
What if Vincent sohow manages to make his illusions near-perfect?
"We could fake our numbers and powers... Yes, it’s really useful."
Much more useful than I had first thought.
"But if we want him on our side, we need to figure out what the deal is between him and Kai."
Clentine pinched my left cheek.
"Thankfully, we have a lot of ti in the Harper Citadel to find out. Don’t we?"
"..."
That we do.
So, with that in mind, I made myself comfortable on Clentine’s thighs and decided to finally catch up on so sleep.
***
I felt soone tickling my chest, and once I opened my eyes, I was t with Clentine’s warm smile, as well as the sunlight out of the window.
"We’re here."
Sitting up slowly, I glanced out of the window, and it was just as Clentine had said.
Thousands of well-dressed priests walked the clean, paved streets.
So of them glanced at our carriage and continued on ahead, doing whatever they had set out to do today.
I glanced a little past the houses and saw that we were also completely surrounded by a tall, reinforced brick wall.
It was like I was in so sort of reinforced fortress, which, honestly, the Harper Citadel was pretty close to.
It was a holy establishnt for the most part, but during warti, it becos an impenetrable bastion, guarded by paladins and even so Grade 60 Holy Knights.
Back in the ga, it was one of the few remaining safe zones.
Clentine and I stepped out of our carriage and montarily admired the simple architecture before finally glancing ahead.
In the very center of the Harper Citadel was a massive cathedral, where every one of the 32 lookout towers had a powerful Templar protecting it.
And because of the request, we had free access into that place.
Anyhow, I did a quick little stretch and turned to Clentine.
"Did you see where Kai and Vincent went?"
"They kept making stops along the way, so we eventually passed them. If I had to guess, they’d arrive in a few hours at the earliest."
Oh?
That’s perfect, then.
"Do you want to eat first, or should we go et Arch Priest Fivien and get the mission started?"
She shook her head.
"I ate in the carriage, so I’m not hungry. We can start the mission."
I nodded with a smile.
Since that was settled, I interlocked my fingers with hers and started walking toward the cathedral.
We got so strange looks, but they were mostly ones of envy, since soone as beautiful as Clentine was holding my hand.
Heh.
These guys believed in higher beings and worshipped them, but most of them were basically the sa.
The Sun God, Moon God, Fire God... There were a bunch of gods involved, as well as the ceremonies these people ca up with.
Glancing through the window of one of the buildings beside , I saw soone slitting their wrist and letting the blood fall into a cup.
After that, they raised the cup and drank their own blood.
...There were also controversial beings that supposedly liked blood too.
Since I wasn’t really a fanatic, I didn’t get into any of that stuff, and while ignoring the gazes of the priests, the two of us finally reached the gates of the cathedral, which were guarded by two paladins in golden full-body armor.
I approached one of them and smiled.
"Hello, we’re here to et Arch Priest Fivien in regards to the request he asked the Assassin’s Guild. Could you please tell him we’re here?"
The paladin lifted his helt up slightly.
"A priest asked for help from an assassin’s guild? Couldn’t you have co up with sothing a little more realistic?"
Although I was kind of in the mood to escalate the situation, Clentine tugged at my sleeve and shook her head.
Seeing that, I rolled my eyes and pulled out the request letter before handing it over to the paladin.
Thankfully, he wasn’t an idiot.
"This handwriting... I see. Just a mont."
He pocketed the request and nodded at one of the nearby paladins to take his post.
Then, he nodded at us and began slowly jogging through the gates of the cathedral.
Clentine and I backed off and sat on a nearby bench.
Noticing the silence, it seed like we both had the sa concern.
And Clentine was the first to address it.
"Should we cover for him?"
"It depends on what we find..."
I firmly believed that there was so good reason an Arch Priest was hiding such information from the rest of the Arch Priests and higher-ups in the many churches inside and outside the citadel.
But I would only get my answer after talking to him.
Clentine and I chatted a little more about the citadel until, finally, I saw that very sa paladin from before run back and approach us.
With a curt bow, he said:
"Arch Priest Fivien has requested your presence. Please follow ."
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