Chapter 38: Chapter 36

“Hmm. He’s not here.”
“Boo~! No cameras, no security network, I can’t do anything!”
“Kuku. If I called forth an army of the dead, none could hide-”
“We’re not doing that.”

There weren’t any signs of anyone returning to the vicarage since they’d left, with everything being just as it was when they saw it last. Ji-Hye and Claire’s nonsense aside, Yuuji still couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t quite right. It was only when he turned towards Gale that he realised where part of the unease was coming from.

“Gale, did you see anyone on the way over here? Or anyone on our walk this morning, for that matter.”

Her eyes widened, and she looked towards both the other girls who wore similarly blank expressions.

“Now that you mention it, it’s very quiet for midday. Even in winter, when the weather isn’t too bad there should be signs of people somewhere at least.”

He’d been so preoccupied with his thoughts that it hadn’t quite crossed his mind until this point. The village wasn’t too large, so it wasn’t like there was a lot of traffic in the first place, but it was still unusual if nothing else.

“At this point, we should just see if we can find anyone at all to question. It’s better than nothing.”

The four of them agreed, and headed outside to begin looking around. The vicarage was on the village outskirts, but there were a few houses nearby that were worth checking out, and they briefly split up to spread out in their search.

Yuuji decided to check out the neighbouring house to see if anyone would come to the door. He vaguely remembered seeing lights on when they walked by it the day before, but this time it was all dark, and the windows and curtains had been tightly closed. Without any reply from his knocks, he followed the wall around the side, only to find that there was a small gap in the brushes between the house and the vicarage that formed a little path.

It was dark and heavily shaded, but it made for a quick shortcut to the gardens behind, and he couldn’t rule out the possibility that the homeowner simply hadn’t heard him as they weren’t inside their house in the first place. He gently pushed through the greenery and made his way down the alley until he reached a clearing once more, but before he could go any further something made him stop in his tracks.

“Still looking for the vicar?”
“-!?”

Yuuji spun around as his hair stood on end. He hadn’t been entirely unprepared, but sitting on the cobblestone wall beside him was a girl who he could have sworn wasn’t there moments before.

“...Who are you?”
“...”

She simply smiled in response to his question. Her grin was uncanny and seemed to be plastered onto her doll-like face, and her eyes bore into him with unflinching attention. Her irises glowed a spectral silver, and as he stared at them he got the feeling he was slowly losing touch with the world around him.

‘Snap out of it!’

He forced his eyes shut for a moment and took a step back as his surroundings returned to normal. The girl tilted her head curiously towards him, but the smile that made his skin crawl still remained. Her hair was ash grey and she fiddled with it as they spoke, though her head never turned away from his direction.

“You should check the church. I think you’ll find some answers there.”
“...”

She brushed her hair behind her ear as her delicate finger raised to a point, slowly but deliberately. He watched every action with intense scrutiny, readying himself for any possible course of attack he could imagine.

Directly in front of them was the wall of the neighbouring house, but Yuuji knew that if he followed the line of her arm as the crow flies, he would reach the church. It was a lead, but it was meaningless in front of the girl before him, who was far more urgent to deal with.

“How do you know?”
“...”

Once again, she remained silent. If she could hear him, she wasn’t acknowledging it in any way, but one thing was for sure:

They could see each other.

“Yuu~? You here?”

Suddenly, another voice from beside him caused him to whip his head briefly. Once again he’d been caught by surprise, but from around the corner of the vicarage, Ji-Hye poked her head.

He turned back to the girl only a moment later, and sure enough, she was gone without a trace.

“Damn it!”
“H-Huh!? Yuu, are you alright?”
“...I’m fine. Where are the others? We need to talk, now.”
“Oh. It was just you missing. We were calling your name for ages, you know~?”

He clicked his tongue in frustration at his mistake, but something Ji-Hye said caught his attention.

“For ages? You only just called me.”
“No way~! You disappeared on us and we’ve been shouting for you ever since.”

He shook his head in disbelief. It had barely been a minute since they’d last seen each other, and he certainly didn’t hear any shouting.

Yuuji looked back once more at the empty spot on the wall where the girl had been. There weren’t any obvious signs that anyone had been there, but he knew for a fact he hadn’t imagined it. If anything, even though the girl didn’t seem to be hostile, he couldn’t shake the feeling that Ji-Hye’s interruption may have saved him.

“...Sorry I made you worry. And thank you for finding me, Ji-Hye.”
“Mmm~!”

Her face lit up at his smile. He’d lost count of the number of times that she had saved his life in the field, but seeing her face in person like this was one in a million.

“Let’s head back right away. You’re all going to want to hear this.”

******

“I can’t believe Reverend Thomas wouldn’t tell us about the Millers. Even if he had, surely the MOD should have said something first?”
“I just don’t know. Something isn’t right here, and it’s hard to know who to trust.”

After the students had left the pub and things settled down, Aoi and Conrad spoke in hushed whispers. They couldn’t move freely if it meant leaving students in danger, but they both couldn’t shake the anxiety of needing to wait to hear reports back in person.

“If we had some damn network access Ji-Hye would have made this situation a breeze.”
“Fufu, that girl is impressive, but we can’t rely on her too much. It’s a lot of pressure for a 19-year-old.”
“I know… I know. We just need to think about what we can do on our side. I can’t help but feel restless sitting here doing nothing.”

“If you feel that bad about it, you could help me look after those three? They could do with some more water, or maybe even a light meal by now if they’re ready.”

Aoi gestured sneakily towards the three students who had mostly recovered from their night of drinking but were still looking a little queasy.

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“Hah. Any other day of the damn year, it would have been fine, but they really had to pick now to act out? I’ll go ask the landlady if she’s got something for them to eat.”

Conrad snorted and hid his smirk. He couldn’t find it in him to blame them too much, but at this moment he was still their instructor and needed to use a firm hand to chastise them for going too far at such an important time.

“Wait…”
“What is it?”

Something began to dawn on him. The night before, the landlady had been taking care of the building while they had their briefing, but he hadn’t seen her since the morning. She also lived in one of the rooms inside the pub, and they’d been posted near the door all day, so she couldn’t have left without him noticing.

“Has Mrs Bailey been out of her room yet?”
“...I haven’t seen her.”

Aoi’s eyebrows furrowed, and the two shared glances. Conrad rose from his seat and went into the backrooms of the pub where the lodgers stayed, before finding her door and knocking on it.

*knock* *knock* *knock*

“...Mrs Bailey, are you in there?”

Silence.

“Mrs Bailey? I need to ask you a few questions.”

Once again, there was no response. Conrad ground his teeth together and balled his hands into fists.

“...Last chance, or I’m kicking the door down.”

*THUD* *Rumble* *Rumble*

The sound of iron latches quickly jingled, and within moments the door was pulled open by a very red-faced older lady.

“Please, don’t!”
“...Now that wasn’t so hard, was it?”

His gamble had fortunately paid off, and the two of them headed downstairs to continue their conversation with Aoi included. The students had been left aside for now, but they all cast curious glances at the table where the three adults were sitting.

“Care to tell us what exactly is going on here?”
“...”

The woman sat with her head lowered, avoiding eye contact. Conrad’s patience was wearing thin, but this seemed to show that she did indeed have information - she just wasn’t willing to tell them.

“Mrs Bailey, please. We came here to help the village, but we need to know what’s happening. If there is any danger, we need to make sure our students are safe.”
“...There’s no danger-! Not to you!”

Her outburst caught them both by surprise, but there were tears in her eyes as she spoke. Conrad’s harsh tone would only make matters more difficult, so he stayed quiet as Aoi handled the situation delicately.

“Not to us? Mrs Bailey, what do you mean?”
“Henri never would’a hurt a fly. She were the sweetest girl I ever met.”
“...Could you tell me more about her?”

She began to cry quietly as she looked at them.

“That girl, the one with the horns. She’s a spittin’ image. Bright and cheerful, always had a smile on her face.”

Conrad and Aoi made eye contact briefly as she continued.

“We all loved her like a daughter. Arty-, Mr Miller, he’d already lost his wife and son. She were all he had left.”
“...”
“...”
“We told her the riverbanks were dangerous. Everyone did. All because of that bloody Henridge.”
“...”
“...Henridge? Who’s that?”

Mrs Bailey’s face scrunched up, and she glared towards them both. She’d only treated them with kindness since they arrived, but now her eyes were filled with hatred.

“Money-grubbing scum. River would’a been shored up if it weren’t for him. Paid off all the workers, and for what? So he could sell his land for a couple extra quid. He’ll get what’s coming to him.”

“What do you mean?”

She made no attempt to hide her threat. The woman they had met the day before was gone, and now she spat bitter curses towards a man they didn’t know. Conrad leaned forward as his hands gripped the table, and they both hung on every word she said.

“He said it’d lower the value. He said he didn’t care if it floods. Now he’ll care - when next the rain comes, Henri’ll have him. And it’ll come.”
“Where’s Reverend Thomas? And Mr Miller?”
“We ain’t stupid. We know what you’re here for.”

The oak table creaked under his grasp, and Conrad bit his lip. The woman wasn’t only trying to protect the demon, she was actively hoping it would kill.

“Conrad.”
“I know, damn it! Mrs Bailey, I’m placing you under house arrest. You do not leave this building.”
“You’re not the police. You can’t do that.”

*SNAP*

The thick wood finally couldn’t take any more, and a chunk of the table fractured away in his palm.

“...Mrs Bailey, I would advise you do as he says.”

At Aoi’s suggestion, she rose to her feet and returned to her room. Even as she left she stared at them resentfully, but Conrad refused to budge.

It wasn’t too long before Leona’s group returned from their unsuccessful venture, and soon after, Yuuji’s group returned as well with important information in tow.

As the sun began to set, storm clouds rolled in over Marlbourne.

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