The Unveiling Ceremony

A crowd had formed in the center of the plaza.

The Sun God statue had been pushed through rather forcefully by the lord's son and the Church of the Sun God working in tandem, but people had gathered just to get a look at it.

The lord's son was already waiting in front of the statue, barely able to contain himself.

Beside him stood the figure of Evris, the Temple Knight Azu had encountered in the Ore Labyrinth.

A person who appeared to be a high priest was also present.

The cardinal, however, was nowhere to be seen. Even if it was a statue of the Sun God, a mere bronze statue in some Kingdom town probably wasn't worth attending.

Despite the large turnout, the mood was anything but pleasant.

Naturally. Craftsmen conscripted for the statue had disrupted daily life, the lord's administrative duties had ground to a halt, and on top of all that, some creature had been roaming the streets at night.

Taxes had been raised, too, squeezing those already struggling to get by.

The lord's son himself couldn't care less about any of that.

The high priest whispered in his ear. The lord's son nodded.

He puffed out his chest and raised his right hand.

"I thank you all for gathering here today. Let us now unveil the Sun God statue. I, Abaus Baden, shall have the honor of performing this duty."

With that, Abaus grabbed the cloth covering the statue and pulled.

It caught on something and wouldn't come free.

Evris ordered his subordinates to help, and the cloth was finally removed.

What appeared was a black bronze statue.

It depicted a stately man of imposing build, bald-headed.

He wore robes and gripped a khakkhara in his right hand.

Numerous ornaments adorned it, giving it a lavish air.

Its eyes were closed.

Given the budget and the sheer number of craftsmen mobilized, it was remarkably well-crafted for the short timeframe.

Abaus had clearly expected thunderous applause, but the crowd merely murmured among themselves.

That clearly displeased him. His mood soured by the second.

"Why do you not rejoice?! This is a tremendous honor!"

"Now, now."

Abaus stamped his feet in a tantrum.

Evris calmed him down.

"Hmph."

Just like that, Abaus reined in his anger.

Seeing this, someone in the crowd muttered under their breath.

"Won't listen to us, but he listens to the Church of the Sun God."

The words reached Abaus. He flew into a rage immediately.

"Who said that?! Do you mean to insult me?!"

Abaus scanned the crowd, but everyone kept their heads down.

That remark was more or less the consensus of the entire town.

"… Heh heh."

Behind Abaus, Evris watched the scene and quietly laughed.

A clownish lord's son and subjects forced to play along against their will.

"Mm-mm-mm-mm-mm. How foolish."

Evris's voice reached no one and faded into nothing.

Master and his group watched from a distance.

"All that money, for that… If the lord had paid for it out of his own coffers, at least the town would have benefited and nobody could've complained."

Master glared at the statue, his irritation rooted in a slightly different reason than everyone else's.

Azu had simply tagged along and had little interest in the statue itself.

But the moment she laid eyes on it, a brief pain shot through her right eye.

It was gone in an instant.

Gazing at the statue, Azu was reminded of the four-armed skeleton she'd seen in the catacombs.

What she felt looking at the statue wasn't holiness; it was the same imposing dread she'd felt from the Four-Arms.

Elza had said the Four-Arms was an apostle of the Sun God.

If that was the case, it wasn't strange to feel the same impression.

But this was supposed to be a bronze statue symbolizing the Sun God.

Was that really the right impression to have? Azu wondered.

Beside her, Elza simply stared at the statue.

"An idol, huh. Close enough that it can show its form."

Only Azu heard those words, but she couldn't quite grasp their meaning.

"… Nothing impressive. Let's head back."

In front of the statue, Abaus was still ranting as people began to disperse.

Had it been the lord himself, it might have been different, but this was merely his son, one who hadn't even inherited the title.

Worse, he'd been exploiting his father's bedridden state to declare himself acting lord and do as he pleased.

Even Master could see that a person like that would never earn the townspeople's respect.

Having seen enough, Master's group left the plaza.

"What a waste of time."

"Having that thing stare down at you every time you cross the plaza is a bit unsettling."

"Aren't statues of gods usually more… peaceful-looking?"

"Really? I haven't seen many, so I wouldn't know."

Master and Azu chatted as they headed home.

Elza simply followed along with her usual smile.

That night.

Azu and the other two went out on patrol again.

In Master's room, the only sound was the scratch of pen on ledger.

As the night deepened and the world outside the window went fully dark, a noise came from the window.

Three knocks, as if someone were tapping on the glass.

Master opened the window, and someone slipped inside.

It was Finn.

Black hair, black outfit. At night, no one would spot her unless they shone a light directly on her.

"There we go. Nice place you've got."

"You're done with the investigation already?"

"A backwater lord's manor like that? Piece of cake. Here's the details."

Finn handed Master four sheets of paper.

"Thanks for the quick job. But hey, what's going on with that place?"

Finn said as she headed toward the window.

"That's not a lord's residence anymore. It's practically a temple."

With that, Finn's figure vanished into the night.

Master looked over the papers he'd received.

… What was written there was worse than he'd expected.

The lord was alive, but most likely being kept that way by force.

The lord's manor had already been taken over by the Church of the Sun God.

The interior was being converted into a temple.

The lord's retainers had almost certainly been removed from the premises.

That was the gist of the report.

In effect, the town had been taken over.

At the bottom of the report, a postscript read: Why not just move?