John fished the three gold coins from his pockets, each from a separate pocket so they wouldn’t clink against one another. Done with that, he then removed his bloodstained clothes and threw them to the floor. Despite magic being commonplace in this world, they seemed to have nothing that even resembled forensic science, so he didn’t fear that the clothes would somehow be traced back to him.

He grabbed the wiping cloth and cleaned the blood from his hands. After that, he looked for a fresh set of clothes from inside the wardrobe as well as a hooded cloak. As for the dagger, he left it on Edgarth’s dead body. It was meant to be found so that it may incriminate Vasilis.

After making sure that he was completely covered up, John grabbed the broom and left through the door, locking it behind himself.

He made his way through the hallway, turning to the right at the end towards the stairs. There, a scrawny boy in gray clothes waited.

“Here you go,” John said, handing the broom back to him. “Did anyone pass through here?”

Tylan shook his head. “I told you, the rooms on this floor are reserved for special clients. Everyone else goes to the ones downstairs.”

That was good. Up until now, everything had gone according to plan, and no one would be able to even suspect John for being the author of this crime. No one except for Tylan himself.

For now, the boy didn’t know all that much about what happened. John kept the three kids he employed as assets on a need-to-know basis, exactly so that they would have nothing to use against him.

But the boy would easily be able to link the dots when Edgarth’s body got discovered. In this sense, Tylan had just become a time bomb that could destroy everything John had worked for up until now.

The smartest course of action would be to take him out immediately. It wouldn’t even be hard considering the differences in strength, just a quick twist of the neck and the boy would fall dead.

It would be easy and safe, the smart thing to do. And yet, John couldn’t bring himself to do it, the very idea making him nauseous. For a moment the air he breathed felt stuffy, filled with the smell of sulfur. He had to find another way.

“Tylan, there’s something you need to know,” he said, dropping to one knee so that they were on the same eye level. “I can’t enter into details, but just know that I did something very bad.”

“Did you steal something?”

John shook his head. “Worse than that. Tomorrow everyone will be talking about it, but the only thing you need to keep in mind is that you know nothing about it. For all intents and purposes, you were just doing your job as usual, wiping and cleaning downstairs, understand?” He placed both hands on Tylan’s shoulders. “I need you to tell me that you understand.”

Tylan’s eyes opened up wide. “You’re scaring me.”

“I know, but I need you to understand the gravity of the situation we’re both in.” Frightening a child also didn’t sit well with him, but that was the best alternative. “Tomorrow, this place will be swarmed with a lot of people making a lot of questions. All you need to do is keep your head down and act normal. Can you do that for me?”

The boy hesitated for a moment, but ultimately nodded his head.

That would have to do. “Good. After tonight, it’ll be better that we don’t meet for a while.” John placed the three gold coins on Tylan’s hand. “These are for you. Tell no one about it, and I do mean no one, or else they might ask questions.”

After giving his instructions, John got back to his feet and descended the stairs. The floor below was a little busier. A working girl passed by him accompanied by a stout client. Ahead and to his right, a door opened, and out came two men dressed in the city guard’s dark gray armor, dumb smiles on their faces.

John recognized one of them from the training grounds, although they never talked to one another. Before they closed the door, he peeked inside and saw a dark-haired woman wiping a fresh stain from her disheveled dress. Her left breast slipping out from the dress.

He recognized the woman as Tylan’s sister. He didn’t stop to look and kept on walking. Neither she nor the guards recognized John all covered up.

He descended the second flight of stairs and came to the brothel’s main lobby. With various filled tables, a counter towards the back, and scantily clad women carrying mugs of ale around, the main lobby served as a pub. John weaved in between the tables, avoiding the people walking around, and a particular customer who reached to grope one of the serving girls.

He reached the front doors where the two big bouncers watched for any signs of trouble. Further ahead, Edgarth’s carriage waited for the viscount’s return. Jacke was likely inside, still naked and wrapped in the bedsheets. John didn’t see the altercation inside, but, hidden inside another room, he watched as the two working girls left the room followed by Jacke himself.

In front of the carriage, a mean-looking bodyguard watched the brothel’s entrance. When he finally starts suspecting something, John hoped to be as far away from there as possible. The road to his left led to Rothar’s church, where Neina and Rud waited for his return, completely unaware of what he just did. As far as they were concerned, John had suddenly found his faith and was now secluded in prayer.

John turned to the right, aiming to circle the block and arrive at the church from the opposite way from the brothel. He wanted to make it harder to be tracked.

The cold night air blew through the gaps in his cloak. The streets were mostly deserted, with one or other passerby going their way. Only the taverns and brothels were open at this time.

John made a turn to the left at the first crossing, walked for a minute, and turned left again. The church’s bell tower peeked from behind a large tree. Before continuing, he glanced around for any signs of other people before heading inside a dark alley in between a general store and a tailor shop.

Behind a large empty crate, likely abandoned since a long time ago if the rotten wood was anything to go by, sat a large burlap sack sealed with a hemp rope. Inside were the clothing and the full suit of armor from the guard that John had used to sneak out from the castle.

After quickly undressing, he put the armor on and hid the clothes and the cloak he brought from the brothel inside the sack. Burning them would be a better option but, not only could a fire draw attention, he didn’t want to risk chanting a spell in here.

Now disguised as the city guard, he left the alley and continued circling the block, arriving at the church around five minutes later. On the outside, the church wasn’t all that different from churches back on earth, with large windows of stained glass and a bell tower that towered over any other building in Rochdale save for the castle itself.

Parked on the street in front of it was the carriage that John had used to sneak out from the castle, its back turned to him. He walked towards it, passing by the door and reaching its front where Rud dozed off.

“Hey,” he said, light nudging the old coachman to wake him up. “Sorry for taking so long.”

Rud sat straight. “Not at all, sir. Did you do what you came to do?”

“Yes, I did. Let’s go back,” he said before walking back to the carriage’s door. While Rud had simply been dozing off, Neina hibernated inside the carriage, lying on the seat with her boots and helmet on the floor. It took more than a few shakes to wake her up.

“W-what?” she said, still groggy.

“Glad to know that you’re always at attention to protect me.”

“Oh, fuck off.” She sat up, bringing a hand to the side of her mouth to wipe the drool away. “You were taking forever in there. It was either sleeping or getting inside to drag you off. Why can’t you go pray in the morning like any normal person?”

“Because Athalia is a staunch follower of Alella, and I’d hate to tell her that I now follow a different faith, especially during this time.” He had already prepared the lie before even leaving the castle.

Neina looked like she wanted to argue but decided against it, choosing instead to groan in frustration. “So now we’ll be sneaking away from the castle every night for you to come here pray?”

“Oh, come on. Sneaking away from the castle for a long at ride at night, don’t you think it’s romantic?” he asked with a wink.

Neina’s answer was a single snort before bending forward to put her boots back on.

John said nothing else, choosing instead to look to the city outside the carriage’s window. Tomorrow, everyone would be focused on the murder of viscount Edgarth by order of Vasilis. It wouldn’t take long until the man was apprehended, judged, and ultimately executed.

JohnnyKbca

Thanks for reading.

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