Triiffic-Soul: Can I Be In Control?-Chapter 134 – Drums of Violence

Chapter 134 – Drums of Violence

Two days had passed since the training with the children. Afterwards, they were begging for Syrus to stay with them in their house, but due to their personal circumstances, Anlesa still chose to stay in the inn.

[We are not staying around for much longer… are we?] (Eva)

[No, we have to get back to moving. We need to make more money, among other things.] (Syrus)

It was hard to say it wasn’t nice spending time with the children. Even if it felt weird sometimes. These were people Anlesa grew up with. She knew them, even if she couldn’t act that way around them anymore.

Anlesa was walking through the overcast city, having this conversation.

“An-Syrus!” Elly ran up towards Anlesa, panicked.

Syrus quickly grabbed her to stabilise her. “What’s wrong?”

“Susan, Jerry, and Billy are gone...!” The words escaped her mouth with the last bits of air.

Anlesa and Elly slowly went to the ground as Anlesa held Elly tight.

It took a moment, but Ella calmed down just enough to speak to Anlesa.

Luna asked, “Elly, what happened?”

“They... went to spy on the new priests in town.”

“There were more in town?” Luna asked. This was news to Anlesa, as they hadn’t seen any outside the two that ran the local church.

“Yes... They came in a few weeks ago and have been staying with a local order.” Ella's answer made Syrus raise an eyebrow. This was information she would’ve preferred to have known when they had entered the city, but nothing could be done about that now.

“Why were they taken? Why were they spying?” Luna and Syrus asked.

The three captured were Jerry, Susan, and Billy. Anlesa didn’t initially believe it must be due to something they possessed. Attribute-wise, sure, Susan had pretty useful ones, but that was no reason to abduct someone. Jerry had Lightning, which could be an issue; that was something they had warned him about the other day, but even if the church did learn of it, it wasn’t a kidnap-on-sight deal. The Aurora Church liked the Lightning attribute because it was a spectacle, but it wasn’t something that years of reaching in. The two big unknowns in this question were Billy, whose Attributes were still unknown, and Jerry’s unknown second attribute.

“I-I was only able to get some crumbs from the other children. Elly began to explain how she learned of the children's disappearance–from the other children. That had run up to her in a manner not so dissimilar to what just happened, crying about what had happened.

The children explained that the trio grabbed the priests, who noticed them, and they were examined. Afterwards, there was a rush of different but similar stories of the kids being knocked and thrown into the church, and they hadn’t been seen since.

[Examined? Okay, never mind, it is Attribute related.] (Syrus)

[Why would they immediately capture them?] (Eva)

[Greed, opportunity, stupidity, maybe.] (Luna)

[Could it be Jerry’s other attribute?] (Eva)

[How could it? It just seems to make him more accurate, which, to be fair, his accuracy makes him much stronger than an ordinary Lightning user, but I wouldn’t call better accuracy something to kidnap children over.] (Syrus)

[Who knows, they might just be desperate.] (Luna)

Luna believed the reason could be as stupid as possible for the Church to have taken the children. She even hypothesised they wanted to at least have a ‘small victory’ after their recent failure.

Syrus had seen cases of organisations trying to recruit promising individuals before; that wasn’t uncommon. Though they weren’t on the Church’s level of going after toddlers, she had seen many people strong-arm young folk, and in rare instances, kidnap people.

Elly wasn’t able to explain the reason why, as she didn’t even know that. There were far more important worries, like getting those children back, which was why she went to Anlesa first. She didn’t know exactly how long ago it had been; it could be anywhere from thirty minutes to an hour.

“It’s okay.” Syrus pulled them both up. “I will handle the situation.”

The pain and worry were leaking out onto Elly’s face.

“You guys, get over here,” Syrus called out. The group of children nearby didn’t escape her senses.

Quickly, four children, including Elliot and Tom. Elliot was the same age as Billy, only older by a few months, and Tom, Ella’s one-year-younger brother.

“I need you to take Elly home now. You better not stop for any reason.” Syrus ordered.

“Yes, Boss!” The response came out of their mouths instinctively.

As the kids rapidly supported Elly, Syrus turned towards the direction of the church.

[Why were they even here in the first place?] (Eva)

[Potentially a staging ground for them.] (Luna)

[That’s right.] (Syrus)

[But it is not even close to Arisea Station?] (Eva)

Greenvale was practically on the opposite side of the country. It was near the north, while Arisea Station was near the southern border.

[Correct, but it is close to the Nevald Kingdom border. The road from here down the south is very straight.] (Luna)

[Staging ground may not be the best term, but they did have additional people on hand. Likely for the strike on Arisea Station. We don’t know the reason why they were here; maybe there were additional people in all the towns and cities with a church along the road. We don’t know, so let’s not worry about it.] (Syrus)

The city’s sky darkened further as the crackle of lightning simmered.

Syrus went to storm the church; as she neared, off in the distance, she saw some of the children. She gave them a small glare and indicated with the swing of her head to move out of the area.

The church was small, more of an office than anything else. If there were meetings or services for the public, they would happen outside.

She turned back towards the doors, violently entering, and Eva’s wires put them back in place and locked them. Because the priest wasn’t looking in their direction. Eva swapped the colour of their hair and eyes to purple and made their face sharper.

“Huh?!” The priest, who was seemingly organising something in the distance, looked up in surprise. It was a different priest than the one they ran into the other day.

[...We should’ve asked more questions earlier…] (Luna)

They didn’t even think about the possibility that the priest who harassed the children was from outside the town. The only assumption at the time was that they were a pest.

“Would you mind answering some questions about children?”

The priest flinched for a moment. “Children? Do you have one you would like us to bless–”

In an instant, Syrus leapt forward and grabbed the male priest by the neck and slammed him into the ground, interrupting his generic speech.

“ARGH!” The priest cried out, “Wwhay?!”

“You will answer my questions.”

Crack

Syrus’s fist became bloodied after slamming it into the priest’s shoulder.

“ARGH!” The priest swallowed the pain. “Ple-ase! Stop this!”

“Let’s try again,” Syrus said calmly. “Where are the children? The children who were taken away. Don’t act like you don’t know. They were seen being thrown like sacks into this building, and your early attempt to hide your reaction was pathetic.”

Tears fell from the priest’s eyes. “The lords won’t forgive such beh—”

Syrus picked up the man’s body and threw it into the stone wall.

Bang!

“I couldn't care less about what your god thinks.” Syrus glared fear into the priest's very soul. “You have one final chance to tell me what I want; otherwise, there will be a new addition to the city’s body pit.”

There was no proper graveyard in the city; there wasn’t much of a custom to respect the deceased bodies in Cancole. So, more often than not, dead bodies were thrown into a deep pit, and dirt was sprinkled over the top. This process was repeated until the pit was full, and a new one needed to be dug. Due to the smell and other factors, no one paid close attention to these city body pits.

“I–”

“Think very carefully about the next words you are going to say.” Rage dyed Syrus’ eyes red.

“They–Are gone.” His breath left his body defeated. No matter what he was told, he knew that the woman in front of him was about to murder him.

“More. Details. Now.”

“Th-hey were taken on a carriage, I don’t know where it is.” He answered.

He figured that would be a good enough answer for the brute in front of him.

Luna asked, “Were they taken on full-express?”

The priest, confused and concerned, asked, “How do you know about—Argh!” Syrus placed her hand on the priest's injured shoulder.

“You're not supposed to be asking questions now; answer.”

“Yes! Yes! They were!” He cried out as his bones creaked.

[What does that mean?] (Syrus)

[‘Take no major stops until destination is reached’, don’t expect whatever horse and cart they’ve taken to stop anywhere else for twenty minutes.] (Luna)

Luna may not have known about the secret operations, but she did have knowledge of the church’s normal operations and orders.

[Oh no...] (Eva)

[How would that work? Even the horses would have to rest.] (Syrus)

[A partial-express means allocating time for driver and horse rest, a full-express means they have a solution to those problems.] (Luna)

[Any solutions specific?] (Syrus)

[No. Partial-express is given in most situations; full-express is only used very rarely when it is needed and possible, so it is rarely used or known outside the church.] (Luna)

The reason for Luna’s question was to let the man know she wasn’t an idiot and push the rest of the information out of him.

Knowing how they were capable of performing a full-express would be useful, as it could help them with the chase, but that information might not even be known to the priest, so it was low on the priorities.

“Okay, the question was answered, good. Luna lightened up on the pain. Now, I have a few more, and remember–you have already used up your lifeline.”

Syrus and Luna extracted the remaining information from the priest, but the issue was still there; the children had already been moved from the city. The external priests were already on their way out when the incident occurred.

[Looks like you got your wish, Luna; we are going to the Nevald Kingdom.] (Syrus)

Luna didn’t immediately respond.

[Then we need a different disguise.] (Luna)