Kobayashi Yuzuriha now accepted herself by her new identity in this world, Yor Drapes.

  She walked beside Arthur with her small hand slightly clammy in his grip. For all her nerves, she didn’t pull away. On the gentleman’s shoulders was the pitiful sight of the boy who didn’t leave them alone.

  Still passed out, he hadn’t so much as moved since collapsing in the street. The weight in his breathing told her he was still alive though.

  They could have chosen to leave him on the street and let that be the problem of the locals here, but they couldn’t. Arthur would have done it if it wasn’t for Yor’s plea to bring him along.

  Call it guilty conscious because it was her fault that he ended up like this.

  Yor’s lips pressed into a small pout as she stared at the hero wannabe.

  ‘Idiot…what on earth were you thinking?’

  By no means did she not appreciate his gesture back there. That in a way, he had wanted to stand up for her when no one else did. But he was obviously ill equipped to deal with such a situation.

  His words might have been loud and boasted bravery, but his trembling astris exposed how he truly felt. It was bravery built on fear, and that made her chest twist in a way she couldn’t describe.

  She wasn’t angry, why would she? But she still called him an idiot in her heart with an endearing smile.

  The journey back to the tavern hadn’t been long, it was only a few meters away before they reached it. The temperature had dipped, the winds picked at her skirt and the clouds above had begun to burn with the fading sun.

  Dusk was not far. It really showed how long she and Arthur had been gone, but that didn’t matter now because when they reached the tavern, there was a crowd.

  ‘Oh, no!’

  For a breathless moment she thought it was them, the same gawking faces from before, the ones who had watched her humiliation in full display. Panic bit at her chest at the thought that they may have tracked them down to this place.

  She hesitated, gripping Arthur’s hand with more force.

  “Lets go, Miss Drapes”

  Arthur’s voice cut through her panic, tugging her hand firmly and striding forth with her through the crowd of villagers, who all seemed to be surrounding Duskfall.

  “Yor!”

  That was Marcille’s delighted voice. Before Yor could respond, she threw her arms around her in an embracing grip that was both affectionate and suffocating.

  “You’re alright! Bless the Stars, I was worried sick. Did anything happen?! Are you hurt anywhere…?!”

  She followed with a bunch of other questions while inspecting every bit of her body. Yor wheezed into her chest, basically fighting for her life at this point.

  “I’m fine! Nothing happened, really. You’re smothering me…!”

  This went on for quite a bit before Marcille was able to confirm for herself that she was indeed fine and regain her composure, realising Yor from her bear hug. This gave Arthur the opportunity to ask.

  “What’s all this? Looks like half the bloody village’s camped out here”

  Marcille tore herself from her little sister, long enough to give the gentleman an answer.

  “They are folks from around this street. We tried to ask about the drowned chapel of St. Vicar, but you can see for yourself how that turned out. One or two came to talk, then a few more, and now half the street seems to be out here”

  She stood back on her feet and looked back at the crowd.

  “However, they won’t tell us much. Everyone of them keeps warning us not to step foot near it. If we value our lives, they said. A cursed ruin, no one goes near it”

  Marcille wasn’t wrong, even from a distance, Yor could hear the faint murmurs of the villagers giving out their ominous warnings.

  “Don’t set foot in that chapel, strangers. Cursed, it is. Cursed!”

  “You value your lives, you’ll stay away. Nobody who goes there returns”

  “Don’t go there. It's not worth your skin!”

  Through all of those murmurs, none of them was brave enough to point the road. The fear in them was too deep. At least they were considerate of others, that at least earned them some points in her book.

  Marcille’s attention shifted from the villagers, to Arthur, or rather, to what he was carrying.

  “Who is that?”

  She gestured to the boy hanging half dead on his shoulders.

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  Arthur merely shrugged without revealing too much and said.

  “A stray”

  Yor nearly snorted, but she behaved herself. Marcille didn’t press on it either, she didn’t seem to exhibit much interest on the topic anyways.

  Eventually the village people drifted off one by one until the streets went quiet. Temperance and the other members of Duskfall stepped closer to them, their astris pinched with frustration and exhaustion.

  Temperance gave off a loud sigh.

  “That was a waste of time! They told us nothing. Not a soul willingly breathed a word of where the drowned chapel is. We could press harder, of course, but…”

  She let the thought be filled in by their imaginations. All of them came to the conclusion that threatening the villagers would only bring them greater trouble.

  And so, they collectively agreed not to go with that path. As Vultures they were still criminals in a sense, but they didn’t need to glorify that.

  “Fens is too broad. It could take days to search by ourselves”

  Cried Agnes, who seemed just as tired.

  “Then we split our efforts. That way we can locate it much faster. Any objections?”

  Temperance asked and waited for the opinions of the others which didn’t come. With nobody speaking up, she was about to announce that as official. However, Yor immediately raised her hand.

  “Um. I…I might have a suggestion”

  She lowered her arm and pointed it at the unconscious figure slumped across Arthur’s shoulders.

  “His name is Elias Darren. He said his great grandfather was Saint Vicar Darren…the same name as the Saint Vicar chapel, isn’t it? If he’s telling the truth, then he must know something”

  For a moment, there was only silence. Everyone seemed to be stunned at her suggestion, and more importantly about the discovery of the Saint’s descendant. Arthur face palmed himself for missing such a detail earlier.

  “See, I told you guys, she’s bright”

  Temperance said. Yor gave Elias another pout as he remained motionless.

  ‘Idiot or not, you might be useful after all’

  ***

  Yor was in quite the dilemma.

  Interrogating Elias was her idea, so everyone left that to her for some reason. She didn’t understand why they put faith in a 13 year old blind girl but she rolled with it.

  She tried being gentle at first but that proved to be fruitless.

  A wiggle to the boy’s shoulders, a few soft shakes and even a couple of light taps against his cheeks did nothing. It really showed how exhausted he was but they couldn’t wait for him to wake up on his own either.

  So, drastic measures had to be taken.

  “Sorry”

  She muttered as she raised her hand. In the next moment, the sound of a slap cracked through the carriage like a pistol shot.

  Fortunately, that did the trick cause Elias immediately jolted awake with a gasp and clamped his palm over the side of his face.

  “Ouch! What the hell was that for?!”

  Yor looked at the loud boy with a frown.

  ‘So much for that brave and heroic tone he had earlier. That slap couldn’t have been that painful right?’

  Her palm didn’t have the usual sting after slapping someone, it felt fine, as if she touched nothing at all. The Sacrament Azure Ooze had altered her body dramatically, so perhaps that smack was a bit more painful than it should have been for him.

  Yor sighed and curled her lips into a warm, apologetic smile.

  “I’m sorry for smacking you. You just wouldn’t wake up. I figured this was faster.”

  She felt the need to apologise to him, and somehow, it worked to soften his indignation. He still looked like he wanted to complain, but his shoulders eased and let out a shaky breath.

  Elias’s body relaxed for a tiny bit before stiffening up again when he took in the proper sight of where he was.

  Currently, they were in a cramped carriage. The leather seats creaked under the weight of people he didn’t know. He was seated in the middle between Arthur and Tobias, two men who weren’t exactly gentle on the eyes or the spirit.

  It certainly didn’t help that Tobias still had that creepy looking plague doctor mask. And the fact he already had a bad run in with Arthur wasn’t setting him at ease either.

  Across from him, on the other side of the carriage, Yor sat centered with Temperance to her right and Marcille on her left. Not exactly the most comforting arrangement but thank goodness all of them were relatively slim.

  It would have been suffocating if Agnes, the giant woman with the most well endowed body out of all of them, had decided to join them.

  Waking up to a smack and being surrounded by strange people scared the poor boy. Yor could tell by the way his astris shivered, flushing hot with fear and shrinking like a hare cornered by hounds.

  Of course he was afraid, who wouldn’t be? Heck, she knows she would have been scared out of her wits by the sight.

  Yor braced herself for him to start thrashing, shouting, or maybe even trying to throw himself out the door, not that it would matter cause Agnes and twins would stop him before he could get far.

  But Elias surprised her. He didn’t try to escape, he sat rigid and asked in a tight voice.

  “Where am I? Who are you people? If you’re hoping to ransom me, don’t bother. I’m not worth the trouble, you vile scum"

  He tried to sit up straighter to showcase his bravery, but the effort made his whole body tremble. It was painful to watch.

  His attention settled onto Yor. His astris flickered between relief and shame upon realising the girl he tried to save was caught alongside him.

  He leaned in closer to her and whispered.

  “...Please, forgive me. I couldn’t save you. And now we’re both captured by these filthy scoundrels. But don’t worry, I’ll get us out or die trying. I swear it”

  As much as Yor wanted to believe in his false bravado, she just couldn't. Even the tone he whispered those words to her sounded as if he didn’t even believe in his own promises. If they were in real danger, they would be screwed.

  But still, she had to acknowledge his efforts in some way.

  Arthur chuckled and leaned forward closer to the boy.

  “The lad's got a mouth on him. Want me to shut it?”

  “I don’t stink”

  The two men both said in a menacing tone that caused Elias to shriek, an ugly and strangled sound he tried to choke down. The boy balled his fists at his knees.

  Even after that threat, he refused to drop the act of courage.

  “Easy, Art, Toby. Let Marcy’s little sister handle this”

  Temperance defused the situation before it could escalate. And Yor exhaled a breath of relief before leaning toward the boy.

  “There’s been a misunderstanding. You don’t have to fight or die for me, Elias. I appreciate what you tried to do, I really do…but you don’t need to save me”

  Elias took a moment to process her words before he asked.

  “A misunderstanding? But in the street, you were—”

  “It’s nothing! Nothing. I just…overreacted. It’s nothing troubling. I promise”

  Yor immediately cut him off before he could reveal what happened earlier. If Marcille were to find out, she didn’t know or wished to know what her doting older sister would do.

  Elias on the other hand wasn’t taking it just as well. The words seemed to have landed harder than the slap had. He sat there frozen, his heartbeat thudding unevenly, like he couldn’t believe what he had just heard.

  Or perhaps other thoughts were racing in his mind. Like he had failed so badly that the damsel in distress was pretending to be fine to make him feel at ease, or she had already resigned herself to her fate, with no hope of being saved.

  ‘That must be it’

  Even so, that didn’t change her original intention with him. She lifted up his sweaty palm and clamped it with both of her, flashing that endearing smile of hers then asked.

  “Elias, my name is Yor Drapes. I need your help. Where is the drowned chapel of St. Vicar?”