Chapter 171 - Best Course of Action

At this time, a rental carriage pulled by a single horse was rumbling its way through the forest, heading down the path toward the White Maiden’s shrine.

The first of its passengers was Char Char, who was dressed in her previous ‘adventuring’ outfit, consisting of high leather boots, tailored slacks, and ruffled long sleeved silk shirt. Instead of her bulky traveler’s cloak she wore the more official, sharp looking black and red officer’s coat given to her by the Red Lion Security Company, though she’d removed the pinned insignia since she wasn’t on company business.

Her company issued long sword lay in its sheath across the seat. She was becoming far more comfortable with wearing it about, and no longer experienced awkward situations with the sword getting jammed on doorways or banging against things.

Across from Char Char, Reid sat with a quiet, contemplative look on his face as he stared out the window. His dark green cloak shimmered in the early afternoon light, playing with the eyes, causing him to almost fade into the ‘background’ of the carriage.

His coin pouch was pleasantly heavy and plump in his inner pocket, courtesy of Char Char, who was his employer for this excursion. He had noticed Char Char’s new coat and glanced curiously at her sword, but hadn’t brought it up in conversation. Far be it from him to say anything that might embarrass the person filling his purse.

Eventually the carriage came up along the base of a cliff, and the sounds of hammering and voices carried along the wind. They passed by a number of parked carts and wagons. The base of the cliff was bustling with activity as dozens of workers were busy carrying equipment up an incline on the side of the cliff.

Char Char’s eyes were bright as she poked her head out of the carriage, amazed at the explosion of activity. She’d done her best to spread the word of the maiden at the ball, but she didn’t realize how much support she’d actually garnered. Though Char Char had tried her best, her requests for support had only been lightly acknowledged at the time.

But thinking about it now, the appearance of the monster changed everything. The White Maiden had directly saved the Earl’s daughter and her aristocratic friends. Even though the true nature of the event had been hidden from most of the guests, the families of the daughters most certainly would know the truth, and know that the White Maiden had saved many lives that night.

And unlike the Night of the Living Vines which had primarily affected middle class people and merchants, the event at the ball was a direct attack on the upper class.

Though Char Char had been tasked with finding supporters for the White Maiden, it was the maiden herself who ended up having the biggest impact on her own popularity.

Praise the White Maiden!

The rental carriage pulled over and let Reid and Char Char disembark.

“I don’t think we’ll find any trail from Hakuya here.” Reid said with a frown as he looked at the crowd, “There’s far too many people.”

“Trail? What trail?” Char Char asked.

“I thought you said you had a clue to where Hakuya was around here?”

“Er, did I say that?” Char Char put a finger to her lip as she tried to remember her words to Reid, “My plan was to come and pray to the White Maiden, and see if she knew where he was.”

Reid tilted his head in confusion, “You’re just going to… ask her?”

“Hmm?” Char Char returned the look to Reid, “Of course! Why do you look so skeptical? I thought you came from a place full of spirits and Gods.”

Reid cast his eyes up the path, the afternoon sun lighting up his grizzled face as he frowned, “Yes, but the Gods only talk to mortals in riddles and visions. And only when it benefits them.”

“That’s weird.” Char Char shook her head, “I much prefer the White Maiden’s way. It’s far more straightforward!”

The edge of Reid’s lip twitched as he avoided speaking his thoughts. He paused before finally saying, “Suddenly I’m regretting agreeing to search for Hakuya with you.”

“Well it’s too late, you signed a contract!” Char Char chimed in a sing song tone. “It’s fine, I’ll just pray quickly and then we can head out.”

“I don’t have anything to pray for.” Reid said, hanging back. “I’ll wait for you here, if you don’t mind.”

“Suit yourself!” Char Char took off up the path at a clip, nimbly staying out of the way of the workers and their carts.

Reid watched her for a moment, then pulled up the hood of his cloak before stepping back into the shadow of a tree. The sunlight played off the Hunter’s form as he melded into the shadows, disappearing from sight.

~

Yuzu sat on the wide, flat boulder in the middle of the field. The place she had chosen was a little away from the centre of action, allowing her to quietly observe things from afar.

She made Medusa wander through the shrine grounds for a while as she gathered her thoughts.

Yuzu cleared the area around her of strings, ensuring that she wasn’t noticed or disturbed. After this, she twisted a select few strings around her fingers to keep track of them. She had come across the technique by accident the night before, when she had held onto Corbin Nao’s string after bumping into him earlier in the night.

The act of holding on to the string didn’t change its fate, but being able to keep track of it over a distance was what allowed her to bring Corbin over to deal with the monster at a key moment.

This method was too useful not to take advantage of!

Taking a hold of the strings took a small amount of energy and concentration, and the range was limited to the current range of her powers, so there was no chance of holding strings for the long term. However as long as Yuzu was on the plateau there was no reason not to keep track of key individuals, and so she kept ahold of the strings of Xiang, Medusa and the Cloud Peak monks.

It was actually quite peaceful this far away from the construction. The banging of hammers only faintly carried over the wind, and a nice breeze kept her cool. The fresh smell of spring floated through the air and she even heard the birds chirping at times.

Here on the plateau, bolstered by the prayers and the shrine’s aura, Yuzu felt completely in control and aware of her surroundings.

Yet despite this serene setting, Yuzu was filled with apprehension.

Medusa’s flight through the forest was concerning to her, because despite Medusa being clearly terrified, Yuzu did not know who- or what- the cultist was being chased by. There were no strings twisted around or tied to Medusa’s black fate thread, and looking into the past didn’t offer much more insight other than showing her winding path through the forest prior to coming to the shrine to pray.

If Medusa really was being chased, then the fate string of the person or Exalted chasing her should show up. The simple conclusion then would be that Medusa wasn’t actually being pursued.

However, just because Yuzu couldn’t sense any strings didn’t mean that nothing was amiss. No, in fact this convinced Yuzu even more about the unseen threat’s danger.

The Exalted world was a dark, opaque ocean full of mystery. Her powers had elevated her to a position of power and influence, but they weren’t infallible.

As the White Maiden, Yuzu had tasked Medusa to investigate into the man with red eyes who was supporting the Cloud Peak Monastery. From her vision during the ball Yuzu had learned that this man was Markus Gantt. Not only was he responsible for the attempt at Uncle Zhao’s life, he was also responsible for the God of Life’s ongoing attempts at revival.

Therefore, it was reasonable to guess that the identity of the unknown entity was likely Markus Gantt, or related to him in some way.

Yuzu needed to be careful. Argus had assured Yuzu that Medusa was sincere in her words and had not hidden anything or twisted the truth up to this point. This meant that Medusa was her best link to discovering the deeper truth behind the entire situation.

Only then could she figure out the best course of action.

With these thoughts on her mind Yuzu casually slipped down from the boulder, hiding in the tall grasses behind it as she carefully examined the strings around her.

Once she confirmed that no one was watching she closed her eyes and reached out to the shrine. The five interconnected concentric rings on the shrine glowed briefly as her body disappeared from the physical world.

“Did you see that?” One of the workers gasped as he pointed at the shrine.

“See what?”

“The shrine - it just glowed-“

“It looks normal to me. Are you sure it wasn’t just the sun shining off it?”

“Maybe…”

“Stop making things up and get back to work!”