Chapter 11: So anyway, it was the church.

Julius did not get enough sleep.

He spent the night patching the shop and calling in favours to get it rebuilt as soon as possible before the water damage gets inside. By the time he tidied up and set up more wards around the building, it was already dawn.

The police didn’t bother him after whatever Diedrik did but other people gathered on the street and kept asking questions. A few of them even tried to walk inside to get a better look and since it wasn’t malicious, the wards didn’t keep them out.

Around that point, McPherson showed up. Julius gave everyone the day off but she insisted on staying as a guard. With the shop in good hands, Julius took a power nap and then woke up to guide the contractors around so they could start construction.

Now, Julius is sitting in his office as people bang around downstairs and the building creaks ominously every so often. He has the mirror set up on his desk, fingers tapping a beat on the desk as he waits for Chloe to pick up.

Diedrik will arrive in an hour maybe, and Julius really needs to not be on the backfoot with this. Julius was expecting a child that he knows, not a man who apparently has people blatantly trying to kill him. He thought he knew what Diedrik has been doing since all the products came through Julius’ shop but the boy has been busy it seems.

Diedrik has been forthcoming so far and has never lied as far as Julius could tell, but there’s a lot going on in the background that Julius doesn’t know. If it leads to attempted murder, that’s a problem.

“Julius!” Chloe greets happily, leaning forward on her elbows, chin resting on laced fingers peeking out of her jumper’s sleeves. Her eyes are practically sparkling. “Wow, wasn’t that exciting?”

“Sure,” Julius offers up blandly. “I’m glad you’re up to date because I want to know who those people were and how Diedrik pissed them off.”

Chloe hums, tilting her head side to side. “Diderik paid premium for me to not hand out his information.”

“You’re in talks with Diedrik?” Julius asks in shock. “When did that happen?”

“A while ago,” Chloe says carelessly. “He gave me your name actually, that’s why I bothered talking to a little kid instead of funnelling him through my minions.”

That is admittedly unexpected since Chloe is a smaller information broker with a shorter reach and longer wait times. The upside is that she digs deeper than Julius normally asks for and has loyalty. With Diedrik’s ambition, he should have gone straight to Chloe’s family and their informants.

“Fine,” Julius dismisses. “Just who the magicians are then.”

“He said not to tell you,” Chloe says with an exaggerated wince. “He wants to tell you himself.”

Julius says nothing for a long moment and then huffs out a laugh. What was that about loyalty?

Chloe sits back in her chair. “You see, Julius, I was going to tell him to stick it because I like you. We have a good relationship.” She purses her lips. “And then it turns out you’re not 2^nd class.”

“I see,” Julius realises. “Because you failed at your one job, you’re now taking it out on me and ruining a good relationship of over a decade.”

“Are you 3^rd? Or are you going to claim that gold spell last night was someone else?”

“I think we should stop here. Once you’ve thought over how you want this to go, call me back.”

Chloe watches him closely. “I’m not going to tell anyone. This isn’t a threat, I just wish you’d trust me.”

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“Everyone knows I’m a 2^nd class magician,” he denies. “Whoever you sent last night-“

“It was one of my crows, calm down,” Chloe dismisses. She pauses. “No one else knows? Not even Buttercup?”

Julius rolls his eyes. The shocked anger is exactly how she reacted when she realised, several years after meeting him, that Julius is missing an arm and she didn’t know.

Chloe smirks, a bit smug. “So why are you hiding it?” She gasps, eyes going wide. “Wait! Are you seriously hiding your class so you don’t have to do community service?!”

Magicians over 2^nd class are mandated to do a certain level of community service for the kingdom like stopping forest fires, defeating stronger beasts, and sometimes even just being at the beck and call of wealthier nobles who can influence the kingdom to get favours.

“I’m 2^nd class,” Julius repeats firmly.

“Are you over 3^rd?” Chloe asks in excitement.

Julius hangs up and thumps his head on the desk. It’s fine. It’s fine, Chloe would have found out eventually. She has no proof though even if she did tell someone. The only other person is Diedrik…

And for some reason, Julius doesn’t think Diedrik would care to use that information. Every time Diedrik has talked about high-class magicians, it’s either uncaring or mocking. Even last night, Diedrik scoffed at Julius for hiding it. The boy is arrogant and always making casual references to growing into a high-class like it’s a given.

The mirror calls again and Julius sits up to answer. “If you keep asking, I’ll hang up.”

“I’m done,” Chloe promises with a laugh. “So anyway, it was the church.”

“Who?”

“The people who attacked you,” she explains. “It was the church of The Wildflower -basically an extremist cult with more money than usual- and Diedrik pissed them off.”

Julius blinks. “Oh, wow he’s really going for the gods. For some reason I just never took that seriously.”

“He’s doing what?”

“Nothing, it’s ridiculous,” Julius huffs. “Why are you telling me this now? I thought you said he paid premium?”

“He said I could tell if you asked, I just didn’t want to tell you,” Chloe admits. “The church is doing a lot with the slave trades that are coming in. Diedrik got one big base out in the Govain lands shut down and then he’s been messing with other markets. They discovered his identity recently so the attacks have ramped up.”

“I had no idea this was happening!” Julius complains.

“You can get tunnel vision.”

“What, and just no one felt like telling me?”

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