Volume 1 Chapter 22 Sin Clearing Brigade

The young Yao Stout stood before the entrance of Glor’s Sin Clearing Brigade, the ten year old kinda looked like an eleven year old if one didn’t pay close attention.

After a deep breath of “fresh” air, Jack finally mestured the courage to enter his future home and got back into his pampered son persona.

He mumbled: “Come on Jack… Yao Stout I mean, you can do this.”

The kid took a couple more breaths of air, he looked at the sky. The workers had already been working in the factories for a good three hours, the dust from the manual work had filled the sky in the distance.

Jack did not feel glad, he was there… of course he had made a friend in Therio but he should have been with Father Alger, with his friends in Pavv.

Yet here he was after half a year of torture, this very morning he had killed some eight men and had faced a Bala-level Frostblight’s member.

Some say that the greatest motivator was fear, some say that the greatest factor of change in someone's personality is the environment they evolve in.

Then the dyad of the two creates flawed monsters or maybe if Jack hadn’t received Cardinal Joseph’s help and had stayed in his cell he would have become a perfect monster, the perfect dog and the perfect servant.

After these few minutes of standing in front of the Sin Clearing Brigade’s building, Jack finally pushed the door open and entered the Church’s outpost.

It was underwhelming, Jack didn’t see a wild variety of warriors, all worshiping the Goddess. He didn’t see a wall of trophies taken from different groups of sinners and criminal organizations.

All the boy saw was a girl in her middle adolescence behind a desk, writing a boring report.

Jack came to the desk, because he was too small his head wasn’t fully visible when he stood before the desk.

His eyes could be seen when he was standing on his tiptoes, it was a pretty comical situation.

The boy started speaking: “Umm, I am Yao Stout… I… I was called to Glor’s Sin Clearing Brigade by my duties toward the Radiance of the Goddess.”

The girl looked at the top of his face and said: “Yao Stout? Are you sure you are really him? Because I checked your document this morning, I am pretty sure it said you were fourteen.”

Jack's thoughts were going at a thousand kilometers a second, he answered: “Actually I’m thirteen but I am close to fourteen.”

“A very undergrown thirteen year old then, you think I am going to believe that? You should simply go home, the Sin Clearing Brigade is for older people than what you are trying to pass off as.” She said,

“Well, I was called here, I think there is a reason behind that. It must be because I am very mature for my age.” Yao tried saying.

“Ok sure thing kid, so you are part of the Stout family right?” The girl said after finally giving in.

“Yup”

“Then the one you should be looking for is the Vice-Captain, you see the last room on the left of the corridor to your right? ” She told the young kid as she pointed with her left index finger.

“Yes, thank you very much.” Jack said with his most serious voice.

The girl could some innocence in the kid’s eyes she told him her name: “I’m Livley don’t forget that as it seems like you are forcefully going to become my co-worker in the near future.”

Jack nodded before walking at a moderate pace toward the office that Livley pointed out earlier.

After knocking on the door and waiting a few seconds, Jack quietly opened the door.

He saw a man in his early thirties, looking out the window, his gaze piercing the dust clouds toward the noble’s district.

“I’m Roberto Mosla, Vice-Captain of Glor’s Sin Clearing Brigade. May I know if you are Yao Stout?” The man asked as he turned toward Jack.

A surprised expression showed on his face: “I expected you to be a little bit older.”

Jack had already answered a similar sentence today: “Well, I’m here now. I was directed here, you can’t really send me away now.”

“Don’t misunderstand me, I’m not saying we don’t need you, it’s just that I frown over the use of child soldiers.” said Roberto.

He continued: “I would say that the perfect age to enter a Sin Clearing Brigade’s division is fourteen or fifteen.”

The man’s gaze inspected Jack from head to toes before concluding that Yao would need a Sin Clearing Uniform that fit his small stature.

“Anyways, ask Livley to give you the key to your room. Once you’re settled in, go help the poor girl with her paperwork, she has a lot to do and a “small” help would be needed.” He said as he sent Jack outside of his office.

Jack walked back to Livley’s desk as she started talking to him: “How was your meeting with Steel Gaze Mosla? You didn’t get eaten alive?”

Jack looked at her with an inquiring look.

“You don’t have to worry, I don’t think he has ever eaten a human before.” She said with desperation.

Livley pulled out a green key numbered twelve before giving him instructions on how to reach the dorms.

With his key in hands, Jack thanked her before heading off in the strangely large building.

After some wandering he had found a training room, a cafeteria and two small meeting rooms.

Jack’s inner compass proved itself to be pretty bad once again, only after wandering for a solid ten minutes did Jack find his dorm room.

It was small but was only slightly smaller than his cell back at Cardinal Francis estate.

He had access to a single bed, a closet, a coat rack and a wooden desk.

He dropped his bag, changed clothes and checked places to hide objects as Livley had explained to him the procedure of safekeeping keys.

To avoid losing a key during a mission and having to break a door open, the Sin Clearing Brigade’s members had to give their dorm key to Livley each time they were heading out.

As such, if a Sin Clearing Brigade’s member found something that they didn’t want others to know about they always had the fear of having their room searched.

Fortunately for Jack, there was a small cavity under his desk in which he could hide either a coin pouch or a small number of tiny objects.

He hoped he would be able to get his uniform soon but he imagined that his small size was either rare in the Sin Clearing Brigade’s inventory or they simply didn’t have one that fit him.

He found a stack of paper, a quill and a vial of ink.

Maybe he should practice his calligraphy when he has free time.

With his room disposition figured out, the kid headed out without forgetting to lock his door and went to help Livley with her work.