Even after Pedro disappeared into the darkness, Edric remained seated on the white birch bench, lost in thoughts while listening to the rain.
The old man's words still echoed in his skill. His devotion hammering against his mind. Penitence, a God he had never heard about, a life willingly surrendered to sin if sinning meant killing evil. The golden cross. The Roman numeral LX. The quiet fire in those sky-blue eyes. It had all felt too real to dismiss, yet too alien to accept.
It wasn't as if Edric would convert from a single conversation. He wasn't that fragile. But Pedro had left him with far too many questions. Not only about this unknown God, but about why he had never heard of Him at all.
Sure, Gallon had no obligation to say anything about Him, especially since he formally didn't partake in the Order anymore. Yet, it was weird. According to Pedro the members never let their faith fade, so if true, then Galleon should still believe in this Gold…so why had he never mentioned it? Was it supposed to be a secret?
"We should also go, sir." Tina said quietly.
Only now Edric remembered her presence. Tina had been utterly quiet through all the conversation, not even making a single noise.
Edric nodded.
"You are right…we should go."
As always, Tina helped him to his feet, slipping her arm beneath his with practiced care. Together they left the pavilion and passed one last time by his mother's grave. The bouquet of white lilies Pedro had left was still there, already beginning to wilt in the endless rain.
***
There was no question of returning to the mansion tonight. The storm showed no sign of easing, and the roads would be treacherous in the dark. Edric could stay in a room at the main family estate, but the thought of spending the night under that roof made his stomach turn, so instead he went to a common and simple hotel.
Parking the carriage in a secluded place, no one recognized him and the process of check-in went smooth. To save what little coin they carried, they took a simple room with two beds. Nothing luxurious. Just four walls, a roof, and the beds.
After taking a bath and changing into some mundane dark clothes, Edric sat on the edge of one narrow bed, his cane resting against the frame a little out of reach. Tina moved quietly around the room, her usual crisp uniform replaced by simple nightclothes. The two small beds felt strangely intimate after the vast emptiness of his own mansion.
Edric was once again staring at the raging rain through the window when Tina sneaked up on him, silent as ever.
"What are you thinking about, sir?"
He took a moment before answering.
"Nothing."
And it was true. One might assume he was still turning Pedro's words over in his mind, that he felt some kind of remorse toward Galleon or Tina for never mentioning this previously unknown God or the Order. But truly, why would he? They had no obligation to tell him anything. His obvious ignorance of it was completely his own fault, born of years spent cloistered away from the world. This new knowledge hadn't changed his life in any meaningful way.
"I see," Tina said, accepting the answer without question. "Are you ready to sleep then?"
Edric nodded. He was indeed tired.
She turned off the lights with a soft click. The room plunged into darkness broken only by the glow of the lightning outside. Tina moved to her own bed beside his and lay down quietly, the sheets rustling once before stillness returned.
For a long time, the only sound was the rain.
Edric lay on his back, golden eyes open in the dark, glowing with an unnatural, faint luminescence.
He had no idea how much time had passed. No matter how hard he tried, sleep refused to come. Something inside him refused to settle—a persistent, crawling unease, like a sixth sense warning him that something was deeply wrong.
Then a deafening crack of thunder ripped through the sky, shaking the building. In the same instant, the window exploded inward with a violent shatter of glass.
Everything happened too fast.
A black figure burst through the broken frame like lightning given form—dressed head to toe in dark clothing, face hidden behind a featureless mask. In the blink of an eye, the assassin was already upon Edric's bed, a wicked knife flashing downward.
Before the blade could strike, Tina was there.
She moved like a shadow given lethal purpose. Two long, gleaming weapons—resembling oversized crochet needles forged from dark metal—appeared in her hands. They clashed against the assassin's knife with a sharp, ringing sound, sparks flying in the darkness. Tina tried to counter-attack, but the intruder was faster. He jumped backwards avoiding her leg that came fast as a bullet, ripping the air.
However, even as he flew backwards, the attacker ignored her completely.
He raised two fingers in the shape of a gun, pointed straight at Edric. From his fingertips, raw electricity began to gather, crackling with vicious blue-white light.
Before Edric could even process what was happening, the lighting shot forward.
Yet once again Tina's weapon was in the way. The lightning struck the dark metal needle and was caught—absorbed, channeled, harmless. How Tina wasn't electrocuted to death on the spot was a question Edric would carry with him for the rest of his life.
In the same heartbeat, Tina became a blur.
She reappeared directly in front of the intruder and drove her foot into his gut with brutal precision. The impact was catastrophic. The assassin was launched backward like a cannonball, his body smashing straight through the wooden floor with a deafening crash of splintering wood and plaster. Dust and debris exploded upward as he plummeted through the hole, falling all the way to the ground floor below.
Even from where he lay, Edric could hear the heavy thud of the body hitting the lower level. If the assassin was still alive after that, it would be a miracle. The sheer destructive power of that single kick spoke volumes about Tina's strength.
Tina took one step toward the jagged hole, she stopped, feeling something was still missing…
"Tsk, a Farmer." a voice suddenly came from the wall, no, it was more like the wall itself was talking.
Before Edric could even turn his head, the entire front wall of the room rippled like liquid metal and then erupted outward in a forest of razor-sharp spikes. They surged toward him and Tina in a lethal wave, faster than any human could react.
Yet, Tina didn't move. Instead, she opened her eyes.
It had been a while since the last time Edric got to see her honey-gold irises in full display. However, the situation didn't let him appreciate the beauty within them. With a casual flick of her wrist she threw one of the needles forward.
The weapon shot out like a bullet, impossibly fast–faster than the spikes–and struck the wall. But Edric didn't see the wall shatter in pieces, not even a hole. The needle simply went through the wall like it never existed and then suddenly, all the spikes disappeared. The wall itself began to fade and soon enough Edric could see the entire hallway, a dead body pinned on the wall with Tina's needle impaling its head.
The room fell utterly silent once again, broken only by the rain and the distant shouts from the lower floors. They must have been quite surprised.
"Are you hurt, sir?" Tina asked, her eyes already closed.
Edric simply shook his head. One may expect him to panic or at least fear for his life in a moment like this, but this wasn't his first assassination attempt. Neither was his first time seeing Tina kill them. His heart still raced, sure, but his expression remained motionless.
"I am fine," he looked towards the hole in the ground. "...Do you think we can throw the bill onto the Farben's back?"
She herself looked towards the hole, her ear turned slightly red.
"I sure hope so. Otherwise Galleon may kill me…"