...most people would assume the church would act with impunity towards all crimes against humanity from demons. However, there are a few notable exceptions in which planned dealings, and possibly even hybrids, have been ignored by the state in order to pursue more important leads. To admit this, however, would likely be tantamount to heresy.

“So what, you’ll let him go if we give you some evidence against Koshchei or something? Are you saying you’ll walk back to the city and throw the king in there instead of my husband?” Lilith asked.

“No, my offer is much more sane. What I want is some proof that Koshchei was willingly affiliating with demons and in return I can offer some amnesty to you and Gwindon.” Daylon said, pulling aside the key to Gwindon’s cage.

“I think you’re still missing the part where you tell us why you want the proof. Do you think you have the power to take him on directly?”

Daylon glanced over to the group of men watching the three of them and took a step closer to her. Putting his weapon aside, he beckoned for her to get closer. She kept her feet firm and pointed to the cage Gwindon was pressed against. The paladin gave a grumble of malcontent before her moved their and lowered his voice to a whisper, enough that the two of them had to strain to hear.

“He’s obviously got some scheme cooked up with that companion of yours, the one pretending to be a dead princess. What I’m hoping for is a way to pin him before he gets any stronger and keep him from pushing the church out of his sphere of influence any longer. I can already tell he has some secular goal of removing us entirely, and I want to keep that from happening.”

“So you’re going to try and blackmail him? I feel like that would give him a stronger reason to resent you and the church if you tried that.” Gwindon said, shaking his head.

“Of course I wouldn’t act so underhanded or passive. Instead, we’d invite him to the holy city for diplomatic reasons and give him a shot at defense with the high council. He’s got too much power to outright kill, so the church will likely demand some kind of tribute or they’ll denounce his claim to the throne as illegitimate. If he were a legacy heir, that’s next to meaningless, but since his unusual rise to power—”

“He’ll look like he used some demonic method to steal it all.” Lilith finished for him, nodding at the plan. “Seems too realistic for a priest though, I’m amazed you came up with that plan on the spot. I was all prepared to go into hiding with Gwindon and my men.”

Daylon shares a glance at the caged knight and Gwindon sighed at the suggestion of imprisonment. She took the keys from Daylon and set to unlocking the cage to Gwindon’s cart and chains. Once he was freed, Gwindon took a shaking step out onto the ground and rubbed his head.

“Get me some evidence by the time I come back or I’ll be hauling the both of you out of here next time. If it comes to that, I’ll probably have to break your legs as well.” Daylon warned them in a casual tone.

Lilith snapped her fingers and waved one of the men closer. As he approached, he moved a sheath off of his back and handed it off to her with a grin. She gave the mercenary a motherly pat on his head and took the weapon. Lilith held it out for Gwindon to take, but his eyes seemed transfixed on the sword enough to keep him from moving.

“Doesn’t feel right, taking it back up again after having handed it off to you.”

She grit her teeth and forced it at his chest, making him reflexively catch it when she pulled her arms back to cross them over her chest. “I told you I was only going to keep it safe for you! Now put it on and let’s get out of here already.”

He ran one hand over the sheath itself before slinging it over his shoulder. The weight felt natural to him, nostalgically tugging into his shoulder. The knight moved to Daylon and stuck out a hand to him, one the paladin took quickly. Both of them flexed their grip onto the other with stoic stares, sharing a moment of appreciation. With the shake ended, he turned down the road and headed back down the long path towards the city. Lilith chased after him and caught up, followed by her men in a small band.

Daylon moved back to the front of the cart and climbed in before nodding for the driver to keep moving. He cracked the reigns and kept silent for the bizarre transaction that had occurred, the arch-priest beside him staring up into the sky while the passed down the road.

Gwindon and the others walked side by side in little pairs, weapons lazily swinging with their movements. He felt nostalgic again, remembering the times when he went to war with newer soldiers. The way their weapons would bounce and shake with every unbalanced step. More than just lacking experience with marching with the weapons, they likely savored the feeling of having one at the ready. Squeezing the handle of his own sword in its sheath, he couldn’t deny the safety. Any smile that might have creeped over his face then was cut down by a shout from Lilith.

“Oi, shape up! You’re looking like common thugs again. Just because you did good at hiding doesn’t mean you have to the right to stagger your way back home like you’re draped in gold.” She shouted at them, waving a fist around.

The men responded with a few muttered lines of complaint, but they still followed her command and straightened their backs. Gwindon looked to his wife with surprise and she grinned proudly before wrapping an arm around his shoulder.

“Oh right, you haven’t been properly introduced to my men yet. With the burst of newcomers scrambling around with weapons looking to fulfill the job of mercs, I stepped in and took care of the youngest bunch of them! Had to rescue the little pups before they got their heads split open. We used an abandoned manor from the last Alastair expansion as a base pretty well. Whole place has been ransacked, but there’s a lot of good spaces for beds, not to mention it keeps in the heat during winter.”

All of their followers waved their hands in response to the explanation, smiling warmly at the knight while they moved. He looked at Lilith once again as she beamed with pride and confidence. A single laugh managed to escape him and she quickly frowned.

“What? Sure it’s not the castle grounds we used to live in, but it’s definitely not bed living.” Lilith said, folding her arms.

“No, it’s not that, I was just thinking you looked like a proud parent there. Never really thought of you as the motherly type.”

“You know, that sounds a bit offensive considering I’m your wife.” Lilith said and punched his shoulder lightly. “Besides, it’s not like I rescued them all as kids or something. Just took them under my wing after all the recent expansions of Alastair. One of the reasons I came here was because of that, actually.”

“To join the war effort?” Gwindon asked with a raised eyebrow.

Lilith shook her head and jutted one thumb to a pair on her right. “Mercenary work is pretty thin in other countries, but Koshchei has a weird system about them. After he encompasses a poverty or rebel strewn area, he cuts the military presence in the region down a lot. After that, he sets about hiring in mercs to maintain the piece and go after convicted criminals. It’s real nice for me, considering I can just ride on these border expansions and get reliable amounts of work.”

The knight paused in thought for a second, his eyes locked on the movement of his own feet. With frequent expansions, the building of a massive wall for defense around the city seems more logical. On the other hand, Alastair seemed a popular enough trading hub, but he couldn’t recall seeing massive amounts of arms deals going on. When he finally did regain his focus, he looked over to Lilith’s men on either side of him.

“So wait, are all of you conscripts from expansions then? Don’t you feel odd serving the country that took over your land?”

“Hardly call it taking over.” One of them replied with a shrug. “Wasn’t long after they grew that border of Alastair apples that things got hectic in my homeland. Crops starting drying up, people got into fights all the time, so the land owners got all panicked about revolt and... well, things didn’t go well after that.”

“Same for me. Feels like once that border of trees are in place, that’s all it takes for the other land owners to get spooked into making crazy decisions. Maybe it’s got something to do with being able to see your neighbors lining up outside your home?” Another man added.

He looked at Lilith with a serious expression and she put the pieces together herself. There was definitely some kind of foreign element to these expansions, and it couldn’t just be explained by political intimidation by any measure. Something that was consistent enough to form a trend was more than just good governance. With what they knew about Koshchei, there was bound to be some sort of foul play in all of it.

A few more of the men shared their stories of how they joined the profession, but they all held a consistent theme of Alastair coming in as a savior of some kind. Whether the land was doing poorly financially, rebelling, or there was some sort of continuous land dispute going on, Alastair seemed to always find its neighbors afflicted with something that their king could quickly remedy. All it would cost is being folded into his growing sphere of influence. By the time they arrived back at the gates, they were both in silent agreement to figure out what he was doing.

The second they got past the entrance, they found Cherno sitting on the side of the street. He stood up as the group entered and dusted himself off, offering a hand out to Gwindon when he got there.

“Any trouble in getting him back here, Lilith?” Cherno asked.

“Nothing we didn’t expect. We’ve even got a way to secure both of our names forever if we can just get some dirt you-know-who. Have you actually got something like that handy, or...?”

“What, physical evidence? No. He’s obviously a very calculating foe we’re dealing with here, so we’ll have to tread carefully. Having said that, I might actually be misspeaking a little... what we need to do is very simple. Get him in a position where he can’t refuse to take a blood trial.” Cherno said and folded his arms.

“He had to pass one when he first got the throne, right? Surely if he could cheat the system then, or if something was off about his results, you’d have some kind of evidence of it from that.” Gwindon said.

Cherno gave a grin and opened one palm upwards. “That is the case, but not in the way you’d normally suspect. When he first took the trial, there was no traces of energy inside his blood.”

“So he really didn’t consort with demons...?” Lilith asked, looking a little disappointed.

“Just wait, I said no traces. As in, nothing at all. Humans normally have some small amount of the stuff as a baseline, but nowhere near the visible amount you’d get from royals or people in pacts with demons. He was on the complete opposite side of the spectrum, almost like the energy was sucked straight out of him not long ago. If he still has no energy inside of himself, that means there’s definitely something fishy going on.”

A guard broke their conversation before Gwindon could ask another question and held a piece of parchment in his hand. He checked it once more and nodded before a few other men stepped forward, politely pushing Cherno away.

“Excuse me, sir and miss, I was told to bring you to the castle directly if we found you in the city near this entrance. The king, Koshchei, has summoned you for an audience and has put us under orders to bring you there immediately.” The guard explained, stepping to the side and gesturing up the road with one arm.

Gwindon looked back at Cherno as the alchemist gave him a thumbs up. He sighed and nodded to the escorts, following after them as they were told. A slight chill ran over his skin when he passed the church, and he remembered his betrayal to Icara. On top of that, the obvious mystery of how Koshchei knew he and Lilith would come back is odd. He balled his feets in stride, mentally prepared to get to the bottom of it as fast as possible.