He greeted Priest Augustus familiarly. Without batting an eye, the middle-aged priest hid the novel that clearly should not have been in a church beneath his desk. After checking Shade's two documents, he asked them to wait a moment and went out. He soon returned, handing back the deed and house ownership papers he had kept in a document bag.
"Later today, the church will send professional property assessors to inspect the house's current condition and determine whether you may open the sealed areas."
Naturally, as Shade left the church, Priest Augustus saw him off on the stone steps outside and quietly told him that the "professional property assessors" were Ring Arcanists from Dawn Church.
Worried about Little Mia's dinner and the storybook he had obtained from Miss Louisa, Shade did not continue chatting with Priest Augustus and headed straight home. Since Dawn Square, where Dawn Church stood, was very close to Tobesk City's center, the sunset had only just appeared on the distant horizon when he arrived home. Unexpectedly, a group of young people were enthusiastically feeding pigeons with breadcrumbs in Saint Derain Square outside his door.
There were many pigeons in the square during summer. Sometimes, they even perched on the windowsill of the second-floor bedroom at No. 6 Saint Derain Square early in the morning. Little Mia liked watching the pigeons on the sill through the window, so Shade never opened it.
After dinner, Shade had originally intended to immediately look through the book he had borrowed from Miss Louisa. But Dawn Church's "Building Safety Inspector" arrived sooner than he expected, showing up in the evening.
That safety inspector was named Mr. Franchi. He was an elderly gentleman who appeared to be about the same age as Priest Augustus, dressed in a somewhat outdated brown checkered coat.