For Havenlight's outer district, for the Royal Capital, and even for the entire Hori Kingdom, this was no ordinary day.
"Hey, did you hear? Something happened at the theater! A whole bunch of mages caused trouble there. Lots of people died, and lots more got arrested."
"How could I not hear? My husband went to the blacksmith's shop across from Theater Street to buy a hammer, and he got arrested too. Who knows when they'll let him out. He only went to buy a hammer!"
"Exactly! This perfectly fine Royal Capital—where did so many mages suddenly come from?"
"Shh, keep it down. I heard this had something to do with the Fool Family..."
All kinds of rumors spread from street corners to alleyways. Some said the mages had attacked the city, some said the kingdom's nobles had rebelled, some said the king had been assassinated, and others said the Pope had gone mad... For a time, the entire Royal Capital was gripped by panic. Even the price of wheat had doubled.
The Royal Capital's citizens might not have known what had happened, but they could see the thousand Paladins surrounding the theater and the bloodstains covering the ground.
That gave the rumors plenty of fuel to brew.
As for the thousands of spectators inside the theater—the witnesses to the entire incident—they had also been taken away by the Paladins to an unknown location. Rumor had it that they were being interrogated and had yet to be released. Thus, no eyewitnesses could spread the truth.
Meanwhile, The Church, the force behind the entire affair, remained silent.
It was not until the following afternoon, close to evening, that The Church released a notice explaining the incident and allowed the thousands of spectators present that day to return home.
The Church described the