The Church's Power

Although Shade and Mr. Barton's group had not left the house through the same door, the bloodstains on "Professor Magis" were so heavy that when Shade circled around to the alley behind the house, the crimson halo was still highly conspicuous.

Especially in this Great Fog, those halos were practically like brightly lit bars in his field of vision:

"Wouldn't a Ring Arcanist from The Truth Society have just finished killing someone before coming here?"

To avoid being discovered while following them, Shade did not hire a carriage. Instead, he traveled through the city on foot with Mia.

He moved quickly. After roughly an hour, he left the city limits and entered the southern outskirts. But the blood trail did not head into the mountains. Instead, it turned toward the estate district where local nobles had built their manors at the foot of Sikar Mountain.

Russell Manor, where the Order of Spiritual Cultivation had opened an Interstice passage for Shade a month ago, was also nearby.

"Could it be that all the Ring Arcanists The Truth Society sent to Middlesburg are gathered in the estates around here?"

Shade leaned against a tree in the woods, thinking in surprise. But precisely because he had considered that possibility, he did not continue forward.

"I should go back into the city and tell the Witches, or inform The Church. If a fight really breaks out, I might have trouble even escaping on my own."

"Meow~"

Mia, whom Shade had brought along, had long since grown impatient with the unfamiliar city. Now, as though she had seen through his thoughts, she meowed in agreement.

"Tomorrow, I still have to go deep into the Interstice with the Witches. Today, I should—"

He turned to leave, but dense hoofbeats suddenly came from beyond the woodland belonging