Chapter 145: 149. Mortal Part 3

"Hm. No. No, I don't believe you. You're lying to me."

"I'm not lying, that's why–"

Shaula calmly places her hand on Tom's shoulder. He stops speaking.

"You're lying. Do not go further than this." She speaks softly.

"Ok. Ok. A-Actually, I had a theory about his true identity and I wanted to verify that."

"What? A theory?" She raises an eyebrow.

"Well… I believe, and my lieutenant Yin, the man you… just killed… gave me information that Barden is likely a high member of the church of Panaphon and Savitarius. If we could just capture him, we were hoping to root out their underground troupe within our city."

"Church…" She wonders how things are going to go for Prisca and Barden if the guards have already pieced together this connection. A connection to an underground church, even one that has Osva as its head, is a punishable offense for both humans and demihumans.

But, really though… What evidence do they even have? This is just an accusation, isn’t it? No fucking proof at all? I bet he’s lying about having information too. He’s just trying to create an excuse to capture him.

"Why are you against me here?" The Captain asks. 

Now, his expression is one of genuine confusion and annoyance. However, it returns to its more quiet face after realizing how he was raising his voice against a noble. He continues his questioning, stoically while sweat drips down his brows.

"I'm sure the nobility would be very interested in quelling that group too, right? Even here in Tritol, a backwater city like ours, they've been instrumental in interfering with the Baron's efforts to get the demihuman workers to make potions for the war effort! They keep crying like greedy little children about wanting more pay, more this, more that… We know that they're being pushed by groups like that wretched church! That's why we went so far…"

Shaula considers his words for a few seconds. He waits in fear of her response. Is she going to believe him this time?

So it's really just a way to quell a worker uprising? I didn't know Barden was also involved with things like unions and shit… Though, this guy’s just making a conjecture as it is, he knows even less about Barden than I do.

Shaula has heard the people among Barden mention a church a few times already at this point. He had assumed that Barden was the leader of their congregation. But, from what Tom is confessing, it's not just a simple church; the church is more like a focus point for demihuman workers to fight for better rights.

She would like to learn more about this group in general, but she can simply learn more about it from Barden… at least if she feels like she's interested enough to pursue this further. She sighs, not letting her thoughts show on her face.

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"You did go quite far, didn't you… Tell me. What were you planning exactly? Don't leave out any details. As you've said, this could all be useful for my family, we're facing our own problems with demihumans and their cries for higher wages and dignity. So annoying…"

She tries placating him by pretending as if she's just another noble helping subjugate her own population of demihumans who would rather fight for their rights than work for their cruel masters. Tom feels slight relief.

"Ah… I would not be averse to explaining the tactics I used as well as the lessons I learned today. It started off quite poorly but, well if you hadn't interfered, I could have captured that instigator, that old draconid."

"Started quite poorly? How did you start moving to intercept and capture the old man if this wasn't your first plan?" Shaula asks. If the guards decided to capture Barden after he gave his speech, why did he not try any kind of plan in the several hours between his speech and the statue's destruction?

"Well… if I'm being honest here, I had tried to use a certain subordinate of mine who had a connection to an organization called the Twin Moons. I was planning to use their group to cause a distraction. However, what they ended up doing was… an unfortunate tragedy."

A tragedy? What does he… Wait.

"I had asked the group to find a way to pull attention away from the square, to lure some demihumans away from Barden. If he had too many around him, our force would face heavy pushback. But, the fools… they completely misunderstood my instructions. Well, I honestly blame my incompetent sergeant. After today, we're going to be restructuring our precinct so that…"

Tom trails off seeing Shaula's expression that makes it seem as if she's trying to piece something together within her own mind.

"Tom… Explain to me what you meant with the Twin Moons. Who are they exactly? I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the 'players' in this region." Shaula admits. She wants to know more about the "tragedy" while using her persona of "out of city / province noblewoman".

She has a bad feeling about this.

Tom takes a deep breath, not quite understanding the extent to which he's digging his own grave.

"Yes, I'm sure… Well, the Twin Moons is a group that started out as an extremist organization. They've been doing certain things under the radar… killing a few demihumans here and there, mostly whores and the homeless. They've held some mass lynchings outside the city walls, but they've been good for the guards because they only ever target demihumans, mostly undesirables on top of that."

Her heart starts beating faster and faster the more Tom explains about the Twin Moons. He gives her information quite easily about their group, how someone among the guards infiltrated them and how the guards were even providing weaponry and funding to them.Shaula feels unsure of where she is currently. How did she get to this point? He's speaking so casually about killing demihuman men and women. He's not guilty in the slightest about any of it. He's not even taking pleasure in it, he's just saying what he and his guards force have participated in for the "good" of the Barony.

"...but today, they really failed to meet our expectations." He finishes. "It is so disappointing. You put so much time and resources into a project and then at the moment of truth, it falls apart. You know, I was hoping we'd get boys, you know? Osva looks at all our plans and throws out whatever he wants, just like that."

He scoffs at his run of bad luck.

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