Chapter 163 - Poor And Lost In An Unknown City (R-15)

R-15 (Death and crime scene description)

A dark street even in daylight, with half-rotted wooden crates and rubbish strewn around them, the walls of crumbling buildings and windows tightly closed with thick boards should be the biggest indication that no one would inhabit those crumbling buildings.

Yet on a fateful night a cruel criminal and a thin, poor little boy, the rats approaching the swooning body to have a feast, a small human life ending there and discarded as if it were worth far less than the rubbish found there.

The rainwater of the autumn morning washed away everything but the brutal marks left on the fragile body.

The little boy screamed for help and everyone played deaf?

Could it be that the boy was silent because of the possible money he was offered, but he only won a cold and cruel death?

Had his throat been slit as he begged for mercy?

Or when the "service" was over the weak boy had his hair pulled and his throat cut without realizing until the final moment that there would be no money, just a sharp blade in the throat?

What that child went through was something that Gianni couldn't help but imagine, as a soldier who went to defend the country and saw the ugly side of the war, he considers himself cold and even vile, but the child's disfigured face made him angry, hatred and shame of self and the city.

The first to find the body, no one knew, but very well the poorest could have seen the body still dressed and deprived the poor child of his small belongings.

Generate some money, who knows?

Or dress an even poorer child?

Gianni when arriving at the decrepit place, there were many people with strong odours and sunken eyes looking at the body with horror, which would overcome the sadness and apathy that many felt living in that place.

"You can just call me Bellini. Delegate Esposito, I'm also an investigator sent by the church on a mission, so don't bother talking directly to me without the social flourish" Bellini said, pulling Gianni out of his dark thoughts.

"If that's what you want, Father Bellini" Gianni said, opening a cold smile, pulling on the soft, luxurious black gloves that clashed with the whole poor and dismal affair.

At the Abbey Matteo, Abbot Eurico who was dark under his eyes from a restless night unable to communicate with Zariel tried every way from the simplest such as mentally calling to even picking up a secret item that would allow him to communicate with supernatural beings.

However, there was not a single response from Zariel which made him age five years in one night, which is saying a lot for a man like Eurico who already looked quite decrepit.

On the other hand, he received a message from Father Bellini that they were going to spend a few more days in the city because of an accident on the way, which caused people in his group too injured to continue the short half-day trip from the city to the abbey.

Which was a good thing since Zariel was gone.

"Abbot! Abbot Eurico…something terrible has happened…" Father Marino said with an urgent tone in his voice.

Abbot Eurico felt a headache coming on, what else could have happened now?

"Bishop Darcy and his disciple are gone!" Father Marino said in anguish, people dying, others disappearing, and even now the hero guest Bishop of the empire was gone.

"Calm down, are you sure he disappeared and didn't just leave without telling anyone?" Abbot Eurico asked the priest to sit down and take a deep breath, his faithful assistant was much paler than usual.

"Can someone like Bishop Darcy go silently and unnoticed?" Father Marino muttered with some hope but hearing himself speak, it seemed even more impossible to believe.

Now, not even Abbot Eurico believed that. So, how did his Bishop and Disciple disappear without a trace?

"What about their stuff?"

"The room is as clean as if it had never been inhabited before," Father Marino said with genuine puzzlement.

"Has no one really seen Bishop Darcy? Who have you asked?" Abbot Eurico with a severe headache asked, hopefully.

"Before I came here, I had already sent for Bishop Darcy, but no one has seen him or known him since he returned from his office last night."

"That..."

"How are we going to explain it to the Darcy Family?" Father Marino asked with clear fear in his voice.

A war could break out over them, the Aurore Empire would waste no time in investigation and would only attack the Kingdom of Dawn.

The Archduke's son and a national hero disappearing in the midst of assassinations... with a high probability of being dead... Even the central church would not support them against the fury of the Aurore Empire.

"Don't despair, first let's send some holy knights to look around and go to the nearby towns, he might still be gone to find a brothel, or just got really bored locked in his room all day"

Abbot Eurico calmed down after saying this, as it could be true what he said. This was not the time to despair.

"Your Excellency, Count Bianco and the Marquis of Borneos are here waiting for a meeting" a priest knocked on the door and called.

"Marquis de Borneos?"

"Yes, an envoy of the most excellent Duke Byrne of the Kingdom of Northern Lights"

"But what could Duke Byrne want here?" Father Marino muttered to Abbot Eurico, who had the same puzzled look as he did.

And now this one!

On the other hand, Emery, Bryan, Mattias, and Naill had woken up in a dark street not far from the main street that led to Laison Town Square near a bar, the strong smell of vomit and urine awakened the Bishop who was unconscious in the slightly damp floor, luckily with such high-quality clothing the moisture did not enter the clothing so easily.

Emery felt strangely full of energy upon waking, but with his head aching and his nose being offended by such a stench, he staggered to his feet and looked around, the dark street not helping much but the vague daylight that penetrated the darkness it gave him a sense that he was no longer anywhere in Matteo Abbey.

What had happened last night?

Emery didn't remember anything, he had done things... well adult in porn movies with a Zariel if he wasn't mistaken, that must have been the name since Azarphy had snarled shortly after he ended things with Zariel.

He remembers Aillil and one novice dragging the other... but his memory was fuzzy on that part, and everything else was a big blank in his mind.

"Arabeth and Bao... Are they okay?" Emery thought, remembering that the two demons were in danger of disappearing from his life forever.

Emery looked around and saw a few bodies lying down, but it was too dark to know who they were, he just knew none of them were Arabeth.

The hellish obsidian ring was on his finger and was as lustrous as ever, he could feel the bond between him and Arabeth even stronger, just as he knew without even seeing that Bao was alive and well.

However, where was he now?

And what happened?

Why couldn't he call Arabeth or Bao?

Azarphy also didn't seem to hear his calls.

The cold morning breeze howled through the alley and some broken wooden windows banged loudly, the day had just dawned, but in that place, the street of a Pub that was frequented by the poorest people and destitute travelers in the region, it was still little light and everything around it seemed half gray and half green from the slime of the recent rains that quickly formed in such unhealthy environments.

Emery luckily was dressed in long clothes and refined fabric, which even though he was used to sleeping didn't make him cold and didn't even make him look like he was in his pajamas.

However, as the cold spread to his bare feet, he reached for the leather bag he always carried around his waist. That was the magical dimension Louis had left with him.

Unfortunately, there was nothing left with him.

Emery: (...)

He was poor and in an unknown city.

Ah, a real horror even for modern people.

He sneezed hard at the chill that came from his feet, his nose quickly turning red, the stench was still noticeable, and he felt even more disgusted being barefoot in such a place.

A feeling of sadness gripped Emery, as it seemed to him that the fate the character must face in penury was coming to fruition even sooner than expected.

"Don't be afraid human, I'm still here!" the spirit of light Anael spoke, appearing and lighting up the entire dark alley.

Emery narrowed his eyes against the strong light, he unintentionally raised his hand to push the light away and ended up throwing Anael into the alley wall, which caused rocks to fly all over the place and the dust just didn't rise much because of the weather was cold and damp, which made the stones of abandoned buildings wet.

Anael's body made a hole in the wall, the poor spirit of light with all its glorious and shining beauty slipped weakly through the wall.

Anael: X_X *K.O*

I just wanted to help!

Emery looked at his hands in amazement, since when was he this strong?