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–––Freya’s viewpoint

“So that’s what happened…”

The pope finished telling the story and lay back on his bed, looking tired. It made sense for him to be debilitated if his life force had been taken by Meria. It was best if I let him rest now.

Meria was alive… Hearing that made me glad, but if everything the pope told me was true, then she had already taken the lives of many people. And if she truly was planning something evil now, I felt unsure if I should feel glad or distressed.

“Freya, please… go help her. It’s true she might have committed crimes to get this far, but she had little choice if her life depended on it. Go help Meria, set things right, she can always work at the temple to atone for her sins later. It was our responsibility as priests that she became like that, if we explain the story I’m sure no one will blame her. So go… save her…”
“Alright… I’ll try to do my best to help her. Try to rest until then.”

The pope stretched out a trembling hand towards me, which I grasped and smiled at him, trying to reassure him. He fell asleep soon after, so I let the priests care for him and left the temple. I did not know what Meria was planning, but I had to find her soon and talk her out of it. I had a strong premonition that if I took too long, she and many more people would end up suffering.

I could understand why Meria hated me. If our roles were reversed and I had been abandoned… I could not say with certainty that I would not have been filled with hatred as well. I always felt like being able to care and be considerate of others is something only possible for those who are already in a good position in their lives, I knew that from my time as an orphan.

I was going to save Meria now, no matter what.

§　§　§

Having analyzed what the pope told me many times, I headed out to the slums of the city. Meria had mentioned there were other people who shared her ideas, she did not mention how many, but I could assume it was a considerable number since they wanted to overthrow the world. The larger the group was, the more varied their members would become, some of which would likely talk more freely about their group than others.

I could also assume that they had infiltrated various places. Some might live like regular people in the city, and others could be disguised as priests in the temple. I had no way to lure them out though, so there was little I could do about them for now.

But the more dangerous parts of the city had to be swarming with them. I walked through the slums, streets I knew all too well while pulling down my robe far enough to conceal my face. These streets were always filled with a foul and rotten odor, rats could be seen scurrying around everywhere, and oftentimes there was a stray dog’s body being eaten by crows in a corner. The curb was lined with hungry vagrants, crooks trying to extort money out of people passing by, and hungry orphans fighting over scraps of food.

“This place hasn’t changed a single bit…”

I sighed as I was reminded of my harsh past. I had once lived like that as well.

The church will regularly organize cookouts and offer jobs to the people there, but the majority end up returning to this part of town. Meria and I happened to have a high aptitude for magic so it went differently for us, but many others find helping stores or doing manual labor to be too intensive for them. If they keep going their wages go up and things get easier, but most of them give up before they reach a comfortable position.

All of them knew that there was always some food to find for less effort here, even if it did not satisfy their hunger, so that was always a more enticing offer for them. Personally, I did not want people to continue being homeless, but that was hard to change unless they themselves put the effort in. I could not force them to live in the way I dictated.

“Hey, you. Got any money?”

Just when I entered a small alley, a homeless man blocked my way. His clothes were still in good shape, so he probably only joined this side of the city recently. I was about to reply when another person appeared from behind me.

“Stop, don’t try anything on her.”

The second person’s voice was low, but had so much authority that the first one recoiled and walked away. The second person had a large muscular body, not something common amongst vagrants, but resembling more of a warrior.

“It’s been a while, Kayl.”

I found myself smiling when I saw him, my old friend Kayl.

“It truly has, Lady Freya. What can I do for you today?”

Kayl answered with a serious tone, not smiling in the slightest, which made me unable to contain a wry smile.

“I need your help. You have authority over the vagrants here, so I want you and them to help me find someone.”

He raised an eyebrow hearing that.