A Glimmer of Hope

The sound of whatever had likely attacked the horse grew fainter as it fled.

Master picked himself up and brushed the dirt from his clothes.

"Sorry for pulling you like that."

Azu apologized as she retrieved the lantern and handed it back.

She looked deflated, clearly feeling bad about it.

The lantern appeared intact, but the flame had gone out.

"It was an emergency, so don't worry about it. You saved me."

Azu looked relieved to hear that.

Master relit the lantern and swept its light over the surroundings.

"That was…"

"Let's get back to the house first."

"All right."

Alexia had started mulling over what just happened, but Master cut in and urged everyone inside.

Staying outside any longer wasn't wise.

They went inside and lit the darkened room.

As a precaution, they decided to stay in the same room. Master went to the slaves' room, and the four of them stayed together.

None of them were remotely in the mood for sleep.

"About what just happened."

Alexia spoke up just as silence was about to take hold.

"My detection magic didn't react at all, right to the very end. What was that thing?"

"It was taller than me…"

"I think it was the same thing that was outside the window before."

Starting with Alexia, each shared what was on their mind.

"I don't think we need to dance around it."

Elza said this and ran her hand along her mace.

"I mean, sure, but you can't seriously be suggesting…"

"Exactly…"

"Can statues move?"

Azu asked, genuinely puzzled.

To her eyes, it had clearly looked like the statue.

"They don't, Azu-chan. Not normally."

Elza petted Azu's head as if to say good girl.

"If it were being animated with magic power as a golem, detection magic would catch it. There's no way a statue can just move on its own."

"The impossible is precisely what's impossible, Alexia-chan."

Elza said.

"What's that even mean?"

Alexia made a face that was hard to describe.

"That said, nobody's going to believe us based on eyewitness testimony alone."

"Yeah, you're right. And even if we did report it, the only ones to tell are the guards. They wouldn't take it seriously."

"We'll have to catch it in the act. Given how it's been escalating, the next target will be a person."

Master found the whole idea absurd, but the image from earlier refused to leave his mind.

That blood-smeared mouth and those blue eyes. He could almost swear they'd been grinning at him, as if to say you're next.

If he'd been lying in bed alone, he might have had nightmares all night.

At times like these, not being alone was a greater comfort than he'd expected.

The lights stayed on, but one by one, they drifted off to sleep.

Elza watched the other three fall asleep before closing her own eyes.

The next morning, the four of them got ready and went to the plaza to see the statue.

Two guards were permanently stationed there, and if anyone stared too long, the guards would glare at them.

Judging that the guards would come over if they lingered any longer, they took a good look and withdrew.

"No sign it moved."

"Its mouth was clean."

The blood from the other night had been wiped spotless.

"Its eyes are closed, so we can't tell from looking…"

"Well, it wouldn't be stupid enough to leave obvious evidence."

They each shared their observations.

The site where the horse had been attacked was cleaned up, but the stable stood empty.

The owner had apparently taken their remaining horse and evacuated to a relative's town.

A reasonable decision, he thought.

On their way back, they spotted some guards.

They didn't seem very motivated, but at least they were making rounds.

Master hoped this would improve the situation, even if only slightly.

With patrols ongoing, quests couldn't be fulfilled.

The Adventurer's Guild's backlog was growing by the day.

If this ridiculous situation didn't end soon, the town's economy would only continue to freeze over.

Master glared at the statue from a distance.

To him, it was nothing but a harbinger of misfortune.

Sun God or whatever it was, every encounter with that statue had brought nothing but trouble.

Most people in town probably felt the same.

The occasional Sun God devotee would stop to pray before the statue, but the plaza was otherwise deserted.

Even the food stalls had been evicted on the grounds that they ruined the aesthetic.

The plaza that had once been so lively was unrecognizable.

That evening, Master was summoned to the merchant guild and learned that contact had finally been made with officials in the Kingdom's capital.

This town was starting to be seen as a problem by the Kingdom.

Taxes weren't being remitted.

Minor discrepancies were tolerated at first, but prolonged non-payment was another matter entirely.

Until now, the taxes had always been properly submitted, so the Kingdom hadn't sent any envoys. But at last, things were moving.

The news that an official would be dispatched for an inspection drew sighs of relief from Master and the others.

The lord's son could act as tyrannically as he liked, but his power only extended within this town.

And that power existed only because the Kingdom's central government had been looking the other way.

Failure to remit taxes would be flagged as a clear problem.

The nighttime incidents remained unsolved, but just seeing a path forward on one of their major problems was a significant relief.

At the earliest, the official could arrive in a few days.

Ideally, the nighttime incidents would be resolved by then too, a sentiment shared by many. With the guards having finally gotten off their backsides, the guild master rallied the group to put an end to it.

Support was widespread.

Master went along with the others, but he couldn't help wondering: what if the statue really was the culprit?

Would the Church of the Sun God, which had all but seized the lord's manor, simply sit back and watch?

Master couldn't bring himself to celebrate the good news without reservation.