A Rude Awakening

"So get moving and arrange things already."

"Finn, you drag me out of bed, and that's the first thing out of your mouth?"

It was early. Too early to even call it morning.

She'd come in through the window before dawn and shaken him awake.

True to her word, she'd apparently gone after the ones tailing them and taken them all down.

Not just one or two, either, from the sound of it. All he could say was: impressive.

"You sure it's fine leaving them unguarded?"

"Worried someone'll escape? I've got that covered. Nobody's left the building, and there's no one watching from outside. They haven't caught on to my ambush. They'll have regular check-ins, though, so it'll probably come to light by morning."

"So we need to get them into custody before that."

"Exactly. And I can't exactly be the one calling in the authorities."

She was part of the underworld herself. Poke around and they'd find dirt on Finn too.

The risk of drawing suspicion made it far safer to go through Yohane. That much, he understood.

"Fair enough, then. I do need my sleep to work properly, though."

"Oh, come off it. You've got those three doing all the heavy lifting, and I know you don't have any real work lined up."

"I'm always thinking up new ways to make money in my head."

He brushed off Finn's somewhat-on-the-mark jab and changed into his going-out clothes.

It was still dark, but the guard patrol was active at night too, handling patrols and dealing with trouble.

The old guard patrol used to slack off, but now they actually did their jobs.

Change the people at the top, and the rest followed.

He took his monocle from the desk beside him and slipped it into his breast pocket.

"Let's go."

"I'll watch from behind, but take someone with you. I might not make it in time if something happens."

"Don't scare me like that."

"That's the mindset you should have. I've dealt with the field operatives, but just in case."

If she was that worried, she could just walk beside him, but apparently that wasn't happening.

Finn vanished from the window.

She had to be nearby, so he leaned out to look, but once she melted into the darkness, she was truly invisible.

"Officials and a merchant dealing drugs, huh."

Honestly, it was hard to believe. But Finn wasn't the type to lie.

She'd be watching from some unseen vantage point.

Following her advice, he knocked on Azu and the others' door to get a bodyguard.

Two knocks, and the door opened.

It was Elza.

She'd changed into her nightgown and looked a little drowsy.

"What's the matter?"

"Finn raided their hideout and captured every last one of them. I need to call in someone to deal with it."

"Oh my. That's impressive."

Elza sounded impressed.

"I'm heading to the guard patrol post, but she told me not to go alone. Figured I'd bring someone."

"Understood. The other two are sleeping, so I'll go. Let me get ready."

Elza ducked back inside and started changing.

She shed her nightgown and laid out her usual priest robes.

On went the garter belt, then the innerwear.

Over that, the red priest robes, cinched with a corset and secured with a belt.

Finally, she looped the rosary around her neck and fitted the white headband in her hair. Elza, fully assembled.

Yohane had been watching the entire process from the start. Elza smiled, looking slightly embarrassed.

"It's a bit embarrassing when you stare at me getting dressed like that."

"So that's how you put it on. Looked a little complicated."

"You'd memorize it in one go if you undressed me yourself."

Elza said that and lifted the hem of her skirt just a touch.

Legs wrapped in knee-high socks peeked through.

She was teasing him. Obviously.

"I'll pass."

"Oh, how unfortunate."

With that, Elza pulled on her winter layers over the priest robes.

Once she was ready, they stepped out of the room.

As he turned back for one last look, he caught Alexia and Azu's sleeping faces.

They were out cold.

"They'd wake up if we were outdoors, but the house puts them in a deeper sleep. They must feel safe here."

"That's how it should be. Sleep deprivation makes people careless. Let them rest."

"Right. And I'm the best pick for this anyway. As long as my head stays attached, I can handle just about anything."

"That's a terrifying way to put it."

Yohane instinctively touched his own neck.

True, having Elza beside him meant any injury could be handled with her healing miracle, but the analogy was rather alarming.

Elza reached out with glistening eyes and gently touched Yohane's neck.

"Elza?"

"It's nothing. Come on, let's go."

"Right."

They left through the back door.

Cold wind cut straight through them.

If they dawdled too long, it wouldn't be fair to Finn waiting outside in this cold.

He headed for the guard patrol post with Elza in tow.

On the way, he thought about how to frame this.

Maybe it would be better to drop Jacob's name.

"By the way."

"What is it?"

Elza spoke up while he was lost in thought.

"After Azu-chan and the others came home, you had a sad look on your face. Did something happen? I've heard the gist of what started all this."

"… A little."

He'd figured someone would notice.

Poppy seeds. The raw material for narcotics.

The thing was, they'd been a problem in the Kingdom once before, twenty years ago.

Poppy seeds had been brought in, processed into drugs, and spread around.

The damage was concentrated in a handful of regions, Kassad among them, but there had been a fair number of casualties.

The cultivation methods and processing techniques had probably leaked back then.

The Church of the Sun God had been the ones to resolve that incident twenty years ago, but in hindsight, he had to wonder if they'd had a hand in it from the start.

To the people suffering from the aftereffects, the Church of the Sun God must have looked like salvation itself.

That was when the faith's numbers had exploded within the Kingdom.

Some people got off with just the lasting damage. Others weren't so lucky.

Among the dead was a childhood friend.

Someone he'd been as close to as a sibling. The other half of himself, in a way.