Chapter 52: Hearty Meal Before The Ordeal
I suppose it would be a better bet to simply wait until those two showed up at our place, but Nila explained that they were currently staying at the church. Riaz was a priest, after all, meaning that he was able to save money by overnighting there. For this to be a fair deal, he probably did communal work inside, meaning that they would not be free anytime soon, thus, we were the ones to make an assertive move. I was still quite taken aback by Nila's unexplained greed, she never seemed like someone who would care about finance and here we were, doing monkey's business for the sake of a few coins. Of course, money was as much if not more important to me, in the end, it was the sole reason why I hated my stay in the Schöltum region, but I would rather prefer stealing it or completing a worthwhile task, at the very least.
Regardless of my companion's greed, the task was still at hand, and I agreed to give my support. I did not want to do it, leastwise I did not have to do it with a smile, since Nila never left a comment regarding my gloomy expression. Overtime, my face muscles loosened up, and I began observing the surrounding area, trying to memorise the path to our place of stay, calling it a hotel was rather jarring.
Even though it was early morning, there were still quite a number of people going out of their shelters to work. Most of them were not dressed too flashy, their clothes did not have many details, but at least plenty of colour such as yellow and blue. Some folks were still yawning, but others were smiling, contrasting the majority who had bored expressions. No one really paid us any mind, only rare glances were directed either at Nila's ears or her dress, but other than that, we were not in the centre of everything, which was a comfortable position to be in.
Unfortunately, I was not really able to find an opportunity for a snatch, thus my attention slowly diverged to the narrow streets of the city instead of people. And some were truly narrow, I doubted that a carriage would fit them as even bikes would take up too much space in them. Usually, these kinds of alleys served as a place for illegal trade, but I did not see anyone like that this early in the morning. Although there were quite a number of individuals sleeping by locked doors on the cold stone pavement in ragged clothes, sometimes with dogs by their side. A pitiful sight, but their numbers dwindled the deeper we went towards the city, until there was practically no one around with the reason being patrolling guards, general cleanliness of streets and building facades, along with people of clergy and nobility passing by. Even at this time of the day, they were flashing their frilled garments and giving off judgemental glares at the ones who should not be here.
Once I glanced over Nila's expression, I sighed as she remained aloof and ignorant of her surroundings no matter the pressure of others' gazes. No wonder she always lost her way, those adventures through her own mind seemingly often sabotaged her. I pointed forward to snap her back to reality and said, "We finally arrived at the church, but is not this place too pompous to house crooks like them?"
The church at the centre of the city towered above all else, its huge sizes allowed designers to run wild with its appearance. It was made out of stone with only roof tiles made out of copper and shaped in a spherical shape, forming several domes. These domes divided the church into many sections, but its highest point was reached by two square towers that were sticking out of the back of the whole building. Per usual, the tips of these towers were occupied by symbols of sun and crescent, just like at the village.
Riaz and Faust admitted to being broke, which made it highly unlikely that we would find them here, as only the wealthiest were scattered around the centre of the city of Wohr. There could be smaller churches around the town, which would make a more suitable place for those two. However, Nila remained resilient, she shook her head to my question and turned to me to say, "Nope, they are definitely here, I can tell."
I raised my brow at her certainty, "Did you already use that spell to search for living beings?"
"Not yet, I do not want to overwork myself before we actually begin the search for cats. I just feel that they would be here."
I huffed at her answer, just how naive she could be? But before I could say anything, the backdoor of the church suddenly slammed open and the one who came out was Faust. He was wearing his full equipment and to his impressive presence were added yellow gauntlets and an irritated expression, which loosened up immediately as he noticed us.
"Oh, you two! You came early here, huh?"
He came forward while glancing over his shoulder and clicking his tongue, "Sorry that we kept you waiting, but Riaz is only now awake… You can wait inside, it is quite stuffy here. Oh, by the way, did you already have breakfast?"
"You see, Dusk, having breakfast is essential for an adventurer." Nila turned to me with an all-knowing smile, to which I crossed my arms and mumbled, "Just because you two are doing it does not mean that everyone does it."
Faust chuckled at my words, further bolstering my displeasure, but then walked back into the church while calling us with his hand. Nila turned to me and said, "It would not hurt to have breakfast, moreover, I did not wash my face yet."
"Why didn't you wash it back at the… hotel?" I asked while following Faust's lead, to which Nila replied, "You should not know an answer for that."
I suspected it to be a female-related issue, thus I did not try to press her further. Instead, we dived deep into the church's premise, observing its exquisite interior. The more marble and huge canvas and wall painting I saw, the more I was surprised by the fact that Riaz and Faust were staying here. Free of rent as well! We passed by several more priests, to whom Faust introduced us. They were not too keen on seeing us at their place, but once they heard humility and respect in Nila's greeting, their stern expressions loosened up, and the priests welcomed us.
Faust led us through the dormitory and to the kitchen, where Riaz was busy cooking with his eyelids still half closed.
"At least you are up now, make two more portions, please." Ordered Faust, to which Riaz jerked his chin and said, "Are you trying to be an overweight hero?"
But once Riaz turned to us, his eyes widened slightly, showing a hint of embarrassment. He continued cooking the morning omelette in complete silence while Nila and I washed our faces in the bathroom and made ourselves comfortable by the kitchen table. Afterwards, we had a great meal along with small talk neither me nor Nila were enthusiastic about, however, we could not help but compliment Riaz's cooking skills, as I never expected for a simple omelette to be this rich in taste and texture, even its yellow colour was more akin to Sun, not pale at all.
Perhaps, joining this expedition in search of cats was not such a terrible idea… although, the more I tried to justify myself being there, the more I felt like a fool who was wasting my own time. Fortunately it would not last for long, we were done with the meal and as a result, ready to embark on a mission.
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