While being near a village was not as dangerous as visiting a town, it was still quite risky. The chance of being recognized went up sharply as the number of people nearby increased, so Fleur avoided towns and large villages entirely. It didn’t help that village dwellers were incredibly weary when it came to visiting outsiders, which made the chance of detection that much higher.

But as long as they kept to small villages, things were mostly fine. They only got caught once, and they only managed to escape by running into the nearby forest and losing the hunting villagers in the trees. While it wasn’t difficult to run away, they lost an entire day making a huge detour around the village. The biggest problem was still the danger of running out of money when trading for essential supplies.

“Do we have enough money to last all the way to the forest?” Fleur asked.

Since they left in a hurry, the only money they had was Justin’s savings. Fleur and Anne didn’t get allowances since the Church provided for them, after all. But had once seemed like a significant sum rapidly dwindled with the purchase of preserved meats to tide over those periods of time when their traps came up empty, and from buying warmer clothes so that they didn’t freeze.

Their ragged appearance made the villagers look down on them. They couldn’t make a scene, nor were they willing to, so they could only grit their teeth and buy everything at an inflated price.

“I’m not sure,” Justin admitted. “I think so, but that depends on how many detours we have to make. I hope no one recognizes us this time. I’d rather not have to run. I’ve never run so much in my life.”

They all laughed at that. While Justin was never fat, he always had on some extra meat, but with their new lifestyle of not having enough food and having to walk all day, all that extra weight was gone by the end of the week. It was a blessing in disguise, because that was now less weight that Justin had to lug around while running.

It’s been around two weeks since Anne first came up with the idea of trying to win over a member of the Church, but the plan hadn’t gone well. They’ve made contact with a few other priests. The first one refused to listen, and they had to knock him out and leave him tied up in a stable. The other played along at first, but then Fleur caught him trying to leave in the middle of the night and he ended up with the same fate as the first.

All the other priests and acolytes they saw traveled in groups, and although the number of the clergy visiting mere villages couldn’t be all that high, Justin didn’t want to take the risk.

Now, they were once again heading toward a small farming settlement. The village didn’t look very big, perhaps only having a hundred people or so.

As usual, they didn’t take the main path, in full view of everyone, and instead came in from the side. As they walked, Fleur suddenly tugged on Anne’s sleeve, bringing them to a halt. She pulled Anne down behind a bush and Justin quickly joined them.

“What is it?”

“Shh! Look!” Fleur peeked over the bushes and pointed over at one of the houses. The spot was empty. Right as Justin was about to ask her again, a flash of white interrupted him. In the sunlight, the white robe of the priest was that much more eye-catching, and the priest quickly disappeared behind one of the houses again, only to reappear between them.

“Do you think he’s alone?” Anne whispered, a hint of excitement in her voice.

Fleur nudged her. “Calm down. Why are you making it sound like we’re going to attack him?”

“…are we not? Isn’t that what we’re technically doing?” Anne asked.

Fleur ignored her and kept her eyes on the priest. After about a minute or so of observation, she concluded that the priest had no other partners with him. “What do you think he’s here for?”

It was a game they played. There were only so many answers, though.

“I think he’s here for the undead,” Anne said, being the first to guess.

Justin shook his head. “I don’t think so. Undead extermination is inherently risky, and the Church will always send more than one. I think he’s visiting relatives.”

“Visiting relatives? That’s a new one.”

“It’s worth a shot. What do you think, Fleur?”

Fleur grinned. “What if he’s here for us? You know since they’re looking for us and all.”

“At a place like this?”

“Why not? We’re not stupid and they know that. It’s too risky to go near where there’s a lot of people, since we’ll get recognized, but it’s a lot safer in small villages like this for us. So naturally, to close the holes in the net, they’ll send priests over just in case.”

“I don’t think your logic is wrong, but if they want to catch us off guard, shouldn’t they at least make an attempt to disguise themselves as a villager? We wouldn’t be talking about this at all if they did that.”

Justin’s words left all of them speechless because neither Fleur nor Anne could find any fault in his logic at first. He was right if people were logical. But shortly after, Fleur found that she couldn’t discount the possibility the priest was just too proud, clinging onto his symbol of priesthood that physically elevated him above the people around him.

She looked at her own clothes. She had long cast off her acolyte’s robes in favor of something more practical, and the other did the same.

“Maybe he’s just stupid,” Anne suggested.

“That’s so mean! But I guess we’ll find out. Should we go now or wait until the sun drops?”

“I think we should just get it over with.”

Since no one else had a different opinion, they went with Justin’s decision and moved out, shadowing the priest. At first, they were worried that he might enter one of the houses and not come out, but thankfully he didn’t. The path in the village was empty too since the weather had gone cold and there was no reason for any of the villagers to be outside.

“Where is he going?”

“Who cares? Just go!”

With Justin’s signal, they rushed out from behind the bushes, keeping their footsteps as quiet as possible while still running. Despite their efforts, the priest still heard them. He turned around at the sound of sudden footsteps, but never in the priest’s wildest dreams did he imagine seeing what he did.

Before he could make a sound, Justin tackled him to the ground, covering the priest’s mouth with his hand. The priest had been caught off guard, so he didn’t put up much of a struggle at first, and by the time he thought to buck Justin off, it was too late.

Fleur and Anne followed closely after, helping Justin drag the struggling man off the dirt path and out of the village. They continued until they were in the forest, with the leaves and tree trunks dampening out any screams that the priest might make, before sitting the priest down on a root.

The man’s eyes were wide with fear, and when they sat him down, his eyes widened with recognition.

Given how roughly they treated him, Fleur decided to be more friendly to make it up to him, so she put on her widest, brightest smile as she squatted down in front of him. “Hello! Don’t be scared. We’re not going to hurt you. But we can’t let you go unless you promise to not scream or try to hurt us, okay?”

It was such a classic “bad person” line, but coming from her lips, it sounded sincere.

The captured priest hesitated, the panic fading from his eyes, and then he nodded. Immediately, Justin let him go, although he still kept an eye out for any sudden movements. The priest knew the situation he was in, so he wisely didn’t try anything. But his gruff tone betrayed his attitude. “You—”

“You know who we are, right?” Fleur interrupted. When the priest nodded, she shook her head sadly. “You were lied to. You were told that we’re traitors who colluded with the undead, right? I know you might not believe me, but it’s not true.”

The man in front of her squinted with a scrutinizing gaze. “I don’t believe you.”

Behind him, Anne nudged Justin’s side and Justin leaned down. Anne laughed and whispered into his ear. “I don’t think he really knows what kind of trouble he’s in. I’ve never seen a captive this brazen before. Shouldn’t he be begging us to spare his life?”

“Probably. You should be the one to talk to them next time. Fleur is too nice and gives them the illusion that we can be walked all over.”

Their brief exchange lasted only a few seconds, and by the time they finished, Fleur was still smiling at the man.

“You don’t believe me?” she repeated. The man nodded. “Why not?”

“What do you mean? Why should I believe you?”

Fleur sighed. She knew that things won’t be easy, but it had been a nice thought. She already knew that this man would be hard to deal with, since he seemed like the proud, arrogant type. Pavlor’s type. She could tell by the way he carried himself, but she had to try.

“We’re on the run, that’s the truth, but we have our reasons. We’re running from our own branch because we discovered that there were some dark elements hidden within. Justin here is the apprentice of an archpriest. Well, was. Justin?”

Justin took over then. “Correct. You probably haven’t heard of him, but I’m the student of the archpriest Pavlor. He specializes in powerful bombardment magic, and I do too.”

At the mention of Justin being the former student of an archpriest, some of the pride faded from the captive priest’s eyes, replaced by respect. But that was that. “So what?”

“Well, as you know, with my status I have everything I could ever want. I’m only twenty-three this year, so I have a long future ahead of me. Why should I toss away everything to join the undead? And Fleur and Anne too. They both have bright futures ahead of them.”

Most actions were driven by something, and without a proper motive, there was little reason to betray. The priest didn’t say anything, his eyes downcast in thought.

Fleur cheered a little inside. Perhaps she was wrong, and this priest is actually pretty easy despite his attitude? That was for the best.

The priest looked back up, having completely processed everything Justin said. The skepticism was still clear in his eyes. “That may be true, but why would the Church lie?”

“Because they are the ones colluding with the undead!”

“What?!” The priest looked shocked. “How dare you?!”

“Wait! Justin, think before you speak!” Fleur said, stepping in once again. “We’re not saying that the whole Church is involved in the collusion, but if just a few of the leading figures are compromised, then it shouldn’t be hard to lead the unsuspected to play into the undead’s hands. I said that Justin was the student of Pavlor, meaning…”

“My teacher is dead,” Justin muttered, his eyes flashing and the sound of teeth grinding came from his mouth. “He was one of the traitors, as well as one of our more elderly archpriests. However, whereas my old teacher died, that old man is still alive. While we’re young and have many years ahead of us, he only has a few. You should know what we’re trying to get at, right?”

“…No one wants to die,” the captive priest said.

Justin nodded.

“But… that still doesn’t prove anything!” the priest said. “Don’t try to mislead me.”

However, his voice seemed to shake. His heart wavered. Fleur looked at Anne and blinked twice, signaling for her to say something. The whole time, Anne had stayed silent. It was kind of suspicious, as if she were hiding something. If they wanted the priest to trust them, they had to act open.

Luckily, Anne understood her intentions. She reached out and put her hand lightly on the priest’s shoulder. The priest stiffened, but Anne did no more than that. Her touch was light, gentle. Empathic.

“You don’t have to take our words at face value,” she said. “Think for yourself. If you were the leaders of the Church. If two acolytes and one priest betrayed the Church and escaped, what would you do?”

“Hunt them down,” the priest replied without any hesitation. “What else?”

“Naturally. But how much effort would you put into it?”

“As much as I can spare, of course.” The priest hesitated this time, sounding uncertain despite his words. He seemed to be trying to convince himself as much as he was answering Anne’s question. Fleur looked down, hiding a smile.

“We’re way out of Moltrost’s sphere of influence. Yet, they chased us here. Your branch isn’t very friendly with Moltrost, right? So why are you putting in so much effort? In fact, was it your bishop who ordered a search of this scale, or was it someone else?”

At this point, Anne was just guessing. She was betting on the fact that the priest’s bishop wasn’t compromised. Sure enough, her gamble was right, and the priest’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“You’re right! It was… it was… not…” The priest faltered as his heart was swayed. He was torn between his belief in the Church, and his perceived reality.

Sure enough, Anne’s words were sufficient as a tipping point. Although the priest’s perceived reality was one created and fed to him with Anne’s guidance, everything was based on fact. The priest’s own experience was the last piece of the puzzle.

Looking at the priest whose face had gone white, the lump in Fleur’s throat finally dropped and she broke out in cold sweat as she finally managed to relax. They finally managed to gain an ally… probably.