Two days later, Stone Wall Inn.
Snow drifted outside, neither heavy nor light, dyeing Holder City's streets gray-white once more.
The inn was livelier than it had been a few days ago. Several local drinkers who had just returned from the manor were animatedly boasting to newly arrived travelers about that hair-raising wedding farce.
"You didn't see it! That axe! It was this big! One chop—crack!"
"Did you hear? The bride was a Demonic Beast in disguise! The Holt Family would do anything for money!"
He Xi sat by the window, listening halfheartedly, though his thoughts had long since drifted elsewhere.
Over the past two days, undercurrents had surged through Holder City.
Zander had gone out with Priest Ashir early that morning.
After the wedding debacle, the church's prestige in the city had soared to unprecedented heights. Striking while the iron was hot, they followed the clues and arrested several isolated Black Robe People throughout the city.
The interrogations revealed that this group of Kareen Cult members in the city appeared to be merely a small squad responsible for outer operations.
Their main task was to seek out suitable targets in the slums, then send them to a patch of woodland outside the city.
There, another group of Black Robe People would handle the handoff.
But the disturbance at the wedding had apparently leaked the news. Over the past two days, the contact point in that woodland outside the city had long been abandoned, leaving behind only traces of a hasty retreat.
Meanwhile, He Xi had spent the past two days quietly disposing of the gems and jewelry he had taken from Serina.
Including the Gold Shields and loose change he already had, the total came to 190 Gold Shields and 20 Silver Scales.
He gave Zander and Trist 65