NOVEL WEB Chapter 61: Mana Signatures Detected
"The agitators are all around! Open thine eyes my people, the rotten falloff of demons has infiltrated our great society and poisoned the minds of many! Crusade! Crusade!" A man on a podium speaks to the crowd outside, he is dressed like a member of the church of life. People from every rung of society except nobles are attracted to the speech, peasants selling their goods, guards on patrol, workmen wondering what the commotion is all about.
"People have gone missing! Kilograms worth of Adamantine gone! Demons south of us as if it is normal! The local cemetery in revolt as our fathers and mothers are corrupted by vile magic! We are being preyed upon by vile things, but worry not! Belluzoar's avatar has arrived to strike down the heathens! He can protect his flock with much greater ease if the faithful were to make a small donation for the cause, all profits go to purchasing supplies for our crusaders." Esstrey munches on some mystery meat she found in the kitchen while looking outside of her window at the shameless preacher. Sure, plenty of the profits would be going to crusaders, but he never really specified what kind of supplies to which crusaders. Who knows, maybe the hard-working priests need to hire a girl to keep them warm at night as they worry in their comfortable beds as the cemetery they were sworn to protect is trying to eat the visitors.
As interesting as the zealot shouting outside is, Esstrey is more worried about the avatar of the war god, that one has caused plenty of trouble according to some very illegal books. Books that speak of a terrifying being with six arms, all with adamantine swords. A lithe golem so heavily armored that it actually takes off the armor in more public environments as to not scare children too much. A being that wraps itself in flames, punishing anyone daring to get close, quite the cause of conundrums for the close-quarters favoring Esstrey.
Not that Esstrey has to fight him, officially the gods are friendly with all the civilized races, and Esstrey is a subordinate of the duchess. Officially, Esstrey doesn't know anything about any demons or missing people cases, but officially there is no war in Ba Sing Se either. Officially, Esstrey and her entire team were pronounced dead after having gone missing, and most of her life was spent as an apprenticeship to a carpenter. In reality, the gods are suspicious of the mortal races, and Esstrey's real resume looks kind of like documents on the relations right-wing politicians have with Israel.
"Esstrey! Were you listening?" Jake snaps his fingers to get the mermaid's attention, who stops looking outside the window.
"Huh? Uhh... what if, hypothetically speaking, I wasn't?" She faces Jake properly now, who simply massages his forehead.
"An expedition was called for, a demon has taken control of a church to the south. Ronald said that while some of the demons around are related to his cult, the one that took control of the church is not. When the demon was initially spotted, it wasn't a cause for a large fuss, but that adventurer group that had caused so much trouble for you guys revealed evidence that this demon is trying to summon... something. They also revealed that resistance would be heavier than any predictions, and the longer it takes, the worse it gets. Belluzoar corroborated this, stating that [The Veil] is thinnest around churches, and any major summoning taking place there would have an easier time. Malencia was drafted by the king to provide aid, but I need to return to Malencia as my mother doesn't want me near Belluzoar when anyone of the paranormal division or their activities are close. The other members of the paranormal division will be returning as well, and I would like you to represent Malencia in this expedition. Quick expedition, in and out. No big deal." Jake says the last part with more hope in his voice than certainty.
Esstrey bites through something hard from the mystery meat, bone maybe? As is crunches under her teeth, she taps her shovel, pondering on what Jake said. "Right, I think I have some time, will I be getting reinforcements?"
"A captain and his men are assigned to you, but your participation is mainly formal, the duchy has no interest over spilling blood over some clearly blown out of proportion issue. I'll take my leave so you can prepare now." Jake leaves Esstrey behind, who goes back to looking outside the window, the moment the door closes, a figure moves out from beneath the closet.
"Are you [planning/plotting/scheming] something?" The shoggoth takes her usual form, and Sofia begins to form enough to listen in as well.
"I'm always planning something, but telling too soon would ruin the surprise. As a matter of fact, I think I may be plotting something extremely devious. Say, the preacher said kilograms of adamantine was stolen, that doesn't sound like a lot..." Esstrey tries to think of what the paranormal division is planning as well, but as expected, trying to decipher the thought processes of the insane is a fool's errand.
"The [tales/stories/classification] of adamantine was no idle boast, it is incredibly light. I wasn't [spotted/seen/observed] while acquiring this, as commanded by the lady." Cathy spits out a LOT of adamantine from some pocket dimension, or in other words, roughly a few kilograms worth of adamantine.
"Good, with that we are almost ready. I'm guessing we won't be able to stay for very long here when shit hits the fan, but we won't be leaving empty-clawed. Get the adamantine in a barrel and assign it under 'special provisions' before handing it off to our dear captain. Sofia, I need you to track the movements of the paranormal division until they leave for Malencia as well, can't have their interference making things any more dangerous as they are. As for me? I'm making our guest of honor some 'high quality padding'.
