IBTRFL Chapter 22

The City's Shadow

The cart bucked like a freshly landed fish.

Aer, seated in the corner of the cargo bed, rose two hand-spans into the air and slammed back down, mercilessly.

She straightened herself without so much as twitching an eyebrow. Like something with no nerves left in it at all.

In fact, she felt no pain. Her lower body, having flown up and slammed back down dozens of times, had lost all sensation.

Aer gazed with a distant look up at the high, clear, cloudless sky.

Her backside was probably a deeper shade of blue than the sky by now.

"You holding up back there, child?"

"I'm fine."

The merchant, sweating profusely, spoke.

"I had no idea the roads into Thescion were this bad. We should be there before long, just hold on a little longer."

"Understood."

Aer answered brightly and readjusted the bag clutched to her chest.

Running into a good-hearted traveling merchant along the road had been a stroke of real luck.

The merchant had been heading to Thescion to buy goods, and once he'd learned their destinations matched, he'd offered her a corner of his cart.

Thanks to him, a trip that would have taken two full days on foot had been cut down to a single day.

Aer glanced at the merchant's back as he held the reins. She wanted to repay him somehow, even in some small way.

The problem was that she was currently a pauper poor enough to make a street beggar pity her. She didn't have a single copper coin to her name to buy so much as a piece of bread.

'Damn it. Should've hit him up for some coin, huh.'

Aer let her head droop, weak with the thought. Her situation was thoroughly lamentable.

The cart, all the while, kept jolting and grinding at her nerves.

"There it is!"

The merchant called out, his voice lifting with excitement.

Aer blinked and raised her head. Where the merchant's finger pointed stood a city wall.

A wall of a scale that made Solbo's look like nothing towered like a giant, standing to welcome visitors.

The merchant pulled the reins to slow the horse. A long line had formed from the very entrance of the city.

Merchants, mercenaries, travelers—all sorts of people tangled together, waiting their turn with expressions of bored patience. Slick, muddy horse dung soaking the road was a bonus.

Aer stared, weary-eyed, at the tedious, foul-smelling hell before her. The merchant muttered gloomily.

"Might be evening before we get in."

She'd known Thescion was a major city, but she hadn't expected it to be quite this much.

The horse of the party ahead in line swished its tail and let loose a hot, rank pile of dung. A stench, familiar but unbearable, jabbed at her nose.

Aer about jumped out of her skin, clamping her nose shut. Her eyes, roving the air like some wandering barbarian, snagged on a different gate.

Unlike the hell unfolding in front of the other gates, that entrance was quiet and clean. It looked, by all appearances, like the sort of place set aside for the so-called important people.

That's the one. Eyes lighting up, Aer called out to the merchant.

"Excuse me, could we go through that gate over there?"

"Ah, that one's for clergy and the big merchants."

"It's fine, just go there. I have a decent way of handling it."

Aer, her hood pulled low, offered up a leisurely smile.

The merchant regarded the smile with unease for a moment, then, seeming to steel himself, steered the cart forward. Whether the child's word turned out true or false, there was nothing to lose either way.

The cart, drawing the fierce stares of the waiting crowd, came to a stop in front of the gate. One of the spear-carrying guards let out a sigh loud enough to be heard on purpose.

Contempt sat openly in the eyes surveying the unqualified rabble.

"Oi. This ain't no place for scum like you lot. Get in that line over there."

The guard gestured with the sharp tip of his spear toward the long, unkempt queue.

The merchant, shifting his feet nervously, turned and shot Aer an urgent glance.

Aer got down from the cart, hands stuffed in her pockets, and walked straight up to the guard, whispering low.

"Could you come over here for just a moment?"

"Runt, you, what— ...fine, but if this is some nothing little thing, you'll catch it from me after."

The guard scoffed as he replied. The merchant watched, sweating cold, as the two of them moved toward a corner.

"Right. What is it."

The guard jutted his chin out lazily, waiting to hear it. Aer pulled out Valor's ring and showed it to him.

A dazzling engraving of the goddess's sigil, set in pure gold, surrounded by finely worked rubies and sapphires. And above all, a faint, sacred glow radiating quietly from it.

The guard straightened up, his previously insolent posture snapping upright.

"Y-you're a... priest—"

"Shh."

Aer cut him off with a gesture, signaling silence. The guard shut his mouth immediately, like a well-trained hunting dog.

Aer scanned the surroundings with a grave expression. Then, covering her mouth with one hand, she leaned in close to the guard.

"I'm nothing but a lowly novice. The ring belongs to the man in the cart over there. He's disguised as a merchant right now, but he actually holds significant office within the Church."

The guard turned to look at the merchant. Honest, kindly eyes, a generous and gentle belly, hair catching the sunlight as it glinted.

Beneath the friendliness there was something indescribably sacred about him. It almost seemed as though a dazzling halo shimmered behind his head.

The guard turned back to Aer, his eyes somehow cleared of doubt. Aer, without a trace of a smile, nodded.

"That's right. We've been dispatched from Candesco on a matter of the utmost secrecy. We've come to investigate an extremely dangerous, terrible calamity that has taken root in this city."

"A... a calamity, you say?"

Something serious enough for the Papal See itself to dispatch a high-ranking priest directly.

Sweat beaded on the guard's face. His hand, gripping his spear, was tense enough to be visible.

Oh. This actually works. Aer marveled inwardly, keeping the act flowing smooth as water. Watching the young cleric struggle, unable to finish her sentence through her anguished expression, the guard's eyes shone with pitying concern.

Aer, having drawn things out just long enough, finally spoke.

"For us to complete our mission, we'll need your cooperation."

"M-me?"

"Yes. Let the priest and myself pass through. And never—under any circumstances—speak of us to anyone. If you don't, the calamity will swallow this entire city whole."

The guard swallowed hard and nodded solemnly.

"If my cooperation can save the city."

"Good. Now hurry and open the gate. And don't acknowledge us if you happen to see us in the city. For reference, the priest and I will be moving separately."

"Yes, Father."

Leaving the guard's answer behind her, Aer turned and walked away.

The merchant, who had been waiting anxiously, asked timidly.

"So, so, how did it go?"

"It's all sorted out. Look, they're opening the gate."

"Wh— how?"

The merchant looked back and forth between the wide-open gate and Aer. Aer shrugged as though she knew nothing at all, then gathered her bag from the cart.

"Thank you for the ride. I've already had a word with him, so you should be able to get through fine."

"Ah, I see. Travel safely, then."

The merchant waved, seeming a little sorry to see her go. Aer gave a light bow and turned to walk away.

No sooner had she stepped past the gate than the living, breathing city hit her all at once.

The chatter of women in the street, the calls of hawking merchants, the arguments of idle men, church bells, a horse's snort.

Sounds that had no business belonging together came together anyway, forming an ordinary day.

Hungry. Aer placed a hand over her stomach. She'd managed a piece of bread from the merchant, but it hadn't been enough to fill her empty gut.

Her body, still growing, demanded food—and plenty of it.

Aer looked around, taking care not to press too close to the multi-story buildings.

Densely packed stalls lined the streets. Handcarts and display boards were piled high with roasted meat, pies, bread, dried fruit, and salted herring.

Children with missing front teeth wove through the crowd, shouting.

"Chicken pies here! Hot enough to scald your tongue!"

Chicken pie. Her stomach, already lamenting its emptiness, let out a mournful groan. Aer clutched her belly and murmured.

"Wonder if there's a tavern around here."

"Of course there is. If you want, I could show you the way."

A harsh gust of perfume hit her all at once. A woman with her face painted white stepped into her path.

"You. First time in Thescion? No family, either. Dangerous, wandering around alone. Word is monsters have been turning up lately, too."

So that's where that gaze had been coming from, since before—Aer clicked her tongue, openly, and made to shove past the woman.

The woman's eyebrows, only a few hairs left of them, twitched, and she draped one arm around Aer's shoulder. Beneath the long, voluminous sleeve, something with a sinister sheen caught the light.

"I ain't a bad person. Could even set you up with good work, y'know."

A cold blade dug hard into the tender skin of her throat. Aer lifted her eyes to meet the woman's gaze.

Red-painted lips curved into a wicked arc as the woman issued her warning.

"Don't want that head of yours rolling off, you'd best behave and listen good."

Aer thought it over for a moment, then nodded, an expression of boredom on her face.

Putting on her nicest, kindliest smile, the woman took Aer by the wrist and led her off somewhere.

As time passed, the crowds thinned and the surroundings grew filthier.

The woman finally stopped at the mouth of a dim alley. From inside the alley, where not a single ray of light reached, came a vile stench of urine.

"Right, let's go in."

The woman shoved hard at Aer's back. Aer stumbled forward a few deliberate steps.

A man waiting in the darkness stepped out.

The man, a scar running across his face, looked Aer over. A calculating, filthy look, the kind you'd size up livestock with.

"…..Face ain't bad. Age looks about right too."

"This ain't my first time at this. Got lucky this round—anyway, offload her at a fair price... what."

The woman couldn't finish her sentence at the unexpected sight. The man, kicked in the shin, screamed and rolled on the ground.

Aer kicked the man's stomach to still him, then ground his hand under her heel. A sickening sound of crunching bone rang out through the alley.

The woman instinctively tried to bolt for the street. Aer, refusing to let her escape, grabbed her by the hair and flung her to the ground.

"You—you! Do you have any idea who I am!"

The woman, sprawled on the ground, screeched and pulled out a knife, leveling it at her.

Aer, looking thoroughly sick of it, kicked the woman's wrist.

A shrill scream rang out, and the knife, sent flying, clattered noisily across the ground.

"Was just gonna rob you and go."

"...s-spare me."

"Worse scum than I figured."

Aer stared coldly down at the woman writhing on the ground.