The Circe Deed Trap (2)

After stopping by the church to drop off all of the things they’d gotten at the marketplace, the two set out once again under the late afternoon sun, this time heading straight for Halloway’s town hall. The atrium-like interior was wide and spacious, easily holding the few hundred some odd people going about their business or waiting in comfortable looking leather chairs.

The task Bernadetta had set out to accomplish that day was to have the property deed for the church updated, as it was close to its expiration date. If the date passes without the officially designated owner of a property having shown up to update their deed, then their ownership is revoked and it becomes the property of the town unless it’s purchased by a third party.

The owner must be present for this process though, which is why   against her better judgement   Henrietta entrusted Bernadetta to handle the matter on her own.

“Okay. All we need to do is walk up to the front desk and tell them that we’re here to update our deed. Easy, right?” Micah really hoped she wasn’t talking to herself just then.

“Ya. E’zy”

Taking a deep breath, Bernadetta entered the shortest line to one of the various clerks and, after a short wait, they found themselves at the front of the line.

“Hello! How may I help you?” said the clerk, a young man with the kind of business smile that showed he neither adored nor despised his job.

“Yes, um, hello. I’m here to update my property deed…”

“Excellent! The process should only take a short while provided you have all the necessary information. May I ask which property?”

“Th-The Church of Nor, near the western side. It’s the only building of its kind.”

“And you’re the owner?”

“Yes, I am. My name is Bernadetta Stronoff.”

“I see. And do you have the property deed with you? Some form of identification for yourself and any adults living on the property, as well as written consent forms from those not present, please.”

“Ah, yes. I have it all right here…” Looking nervous, Bernadetta opened her bag and retrieved a small stack of documents before handing it to the man, who accepted them with a smile and turned to verify all of the information. After seeing that there were no immediate problems, she let out a sigh of relief and waited while all of the information was processed. In the meantime, Micah glanced around, idly taking in the sight of a building she hadn’t seen before.

All of a sudden, she met eyes with a woman who seemed to be looking over a list of documents with a bored expression nearby. It wasn’t that they happened to randomly glance at each other at the same time. The woman had clearly been staring at them long before Micah noticed her.

Though rather than saying she met eyes with the woman, it became increasingly clear that her focused gaze was completely locked onto Bernadetta.

Okay, why the heck is this weirdo staring at my mom so hard? What a suspicious person. And she doesn’t exactly strike me as the “old friend” type. Lemme try and spook her.

Activating “Mommy Defense Mode”, Micah put on her best angry baby face and glared at the woman until she eventually took notice. The moment their gazes met, however, her expression warped into something like disgust as she turned away.

Wha-?! The nerve! Who in their right mind makes a face like that at a BABY?! And a pretty darn cute one too, if I do say so myself! Something is definitely weird about that lady...

*Staaaare*

Micah continued to stare hard at the woman who was now actively refusing to meet her gaze.

*Staaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaare*

But as the seconds turned to minutes, she could swear that a bit of sweat was forming on the woman’s face as she physically turned her body away.

-----

“What the hell… You didn’t say shit about a kid…!” Miriam whispered into a small crystal stuck to the inside of her collar. Even now, she could feel the pressuring gaze of that little shit on her back, making her shiver unconsciously.

It wasn’t that Miriam feared children, but this one in particular had really strange eyes. They were big and innocent on the outside, but for some reason they seemed like they saw way more than a child her age should. It felt like their entire plan had been unravelled in the few moments their eyes were locked.

    Relax yourself, my dear.

Barnabel’s voice emerged from the crystal in response, and she focused her glare on the chair directly in front of her at the far end of the room. He momentarily peeked up from the book in his hands where his own crystal lay to return her expression with a charming smile that only pissed her off further.

    An unexpected occurrence, but not one that should change the plan in any particularly noteworthy way. Unless, of course, you happen to be afraid of something as small and adorable as a child?

His tone was mocking as his eyes flickered back down to casually continue reading.

“Shut the fuck up…” she muttered. Daring a glance back, her shoulders hitched at the realization that the brat was staring even HARDER at her.

What the fuck?! Any normal kid would’ve lost interest or gotten distracted by now! She is seriously not normal...

    Just proceed as normal, Miriam. I’m only paying you to do the job you were assigned. Let me worry about the unexpected.

“Y-Yeah… Okay…” With the reminder of just how much she was being offered for what was, all things considered, a ridiculously easy job for someone as skilled as her, she was able to get back into the right state of mind. “I’ll just focus on the job. Nothing weird about that kid at all. Nope. I’m just here to do one thing and one thing only.”

    Exactly. Now pay attention, would you kindly? Your cue is approaching.

As Miriam peeked back at the target, she was thankful to see that the child had finally broken their gaze and faced back towards the clerk as he offered them some papers. “Right. I’m ready.”

-----

“Here you are.” The man offered another textbook smile as he returned the stack of papers. “All of the information checked out. The page at the very top of the stack is your updated property deed. Please come back before the end of next year to have it updated again.”

“Yes, I will. Thank you very much.” Bernadetta gave a small polite bow as she picked up the stack of documents and turned to leave the building while reaching around to put them in her bag. However, in the same moment…

“Whoa!”
“Ah!”

She ended up colliding with a man as he was walking past, spilling her papers all over the floor and nearly dropping Micah in the process.

“Oh my, you have my deepest apologies, Madam!” The man apologized with a worried look on his face as he gazed at the mess of pages scattered all over the floor.

“N-No, I’m the one who should apologize! I wasn’t paying attention at all as I was walking. I’m known for being rather clumsy among my friends, so I should’ve been more attentive. Are you alright, Micah?”

“S-Scawwy!” Almost being dropped from your mother’s shoulder may as well be like falling headfirst off of a bunk bed when you’re body is that of a two-year-old child’s. Truly terrifying.

“I know. I’m sorry, babe.” Bernadetta hugged Micah close, placing her head on her shoulder and rubbing her back to soothe her. “Ahhh, and everything was going so well too~”

The man looked hesitant to interrupt their moment, but still hesitantly cut in. “Excuse me? About your papers…”

“Ah, let me,” A third person suddenly approached from the side, bending down to pick up the scattered documents. “Don’t worry, I’ll get them for you. Please, look after your daughter, Miss.”

“Yes, thank you…” Bernadetta gave her a grateful smile as she focused on calming Micah, who’d started glaring daggers over her mother’s shoulder. Why?

It was the woman. The one who’d been glaring at Bernadetta earlier had been the one to approach and was now digging through all of the papers she’d received from the clerk.

For some reason, that gave her an extremely bad feeling.

But Bernadetta didn’t seem to notice anything strange at all as she continued talking to the man. “My name is Bernadetta. I hope I haven’t hurt you, Mister…?”

“Altheon.” The man gave a friendly smile as he reached out to shake her hand. “But my friends call me Al.”

“Haha, I can’t imagine I’ve earned that privilege after what just happened...” Bernadetta chuckled awkwardly as she returned the gesture.

“Nonsense. It was I who collided with you. I’m afraid I’ve misplaced my glasses recently, so I’ve been stumbling around this building in an attempt to locate them.”

“Oh no! Are you alright? Would you like me to help you find them?”

“No no, that’s quite alright. A delightful woman such as yourself must have an endless amount of better things to do with your time.”

“Ahaha, n-no that’s not true at all…” The flattery was clearly having an effect on the pliable Bernadetta, whose face turned a light shade of pink as her head dipped down to stare at the floor.

Tch, who the hell does this poser think he is? Talking to Mom all casually like that. He better be thankful I can’t see him, or he’d get a taste of my baby-glare too. Man, no wonder Henrietta doesn’t like Mom going out on her own. She draws so many weirdos to her.

In the midst of her bitter thoughts, Micah remembered the suspicious woman who was picking up the scattered documents, and looked down from over Bernadetta’s shoulder to see what she was doing.

“Ah.”

And right at that moment, before her baby eyes, the woman quickly swiped up the page that had been on the top of the stack before it fell, and exchanged it with another similar-looking sheet from inside of her coat.

Eh? Eh? Excuse me? What was that?

Confused, Micah turned her head back to see if her mother had noticed, but she was still caught up in her conversation with the Altheon guy who’d bumped into her. And right at that moment, he casually glanced over her shoulder to meet eyes with the woman, who nodded quickly and stood up as she put the papers together in a stack.

No way… You’re kidding me…

“Here you go,” she said in an awkwardly cheerful voice. “Sorry, I did my best to put them back into the order they were in before, but-”

“Oh no, I’m grateful for just this much. Thank you so much for helping me!”

“Yeah… No problem.”

She handed the stack over, and Bernadetta quickly scanned through it before bowing deeply to her. “Phew, it looks like nothing’s missing. Once again, thank you for your help.”

“It’s wonderful to hear that all is well. On that note, I’m afraid I must excuse myself. It’s getting rather late, and I would like to locate my glasses before I’m forced to walk home in the dark.”

“Oh, that’s right. Are you sure you wouldn’t like my help?”

“As much as I would love to accept your offer, Miss Bernadetta, you have someone you should be looking after first and foremost, don’t you?”

“Ah, that’s right!” Bernadetta squeezed Micah’s frozen still body a little closer. “She hasn’t napped all day, so I’m sure she must be tired. I’m sorry, but I have to go. I hope you find your glasses!”

Waving goodbye, Bernadetta quickly made for the entrance while shoving the papers into her bag, all the while Micah continued to stare from over her shoulder with a blank expression on her face as Altheon spoke a bit with the woman. Soon a third man joined them, and the woman discreetly handed him the property deed that she’d stolen. After looking it over for a while, he nodded in satisfaction and he and the woman exited while Altheon continued to hang around.

…

…

I can’t believe it. My mother was just conned.

-----

The entire time during the walk back to the church, Micah had been mulling over in her head how she was supposed to convey the idea that her mother had just been conned. Not only was she not supposed to be smart enough to know more than about fifty words at her age   ‘con’ likely not included   but she wasn’t even technically able to form a full sentence yet.

So naturally, Little Baby Micah was beset with quite a bit of worry as they arrived back inside of the church.

“I’m home~”

By now the sun had long begun to set, bathing the interior of the chapel in a gentle orange hue. It looked like Henrietta and Josefine had just arrived themselves, as they were still in the process of sorting through their groceries and ferrying them into the kitchen next door.

“Ah, they’re back!” Josefine took notice of them as she emerged from the kitchen, her green eyes widening before she turned to call back into the room. “Miss Henriettaaaa~, Miss Bernadetta and Micah are back!”

“Good,” Henrietta poked her head out of the kitchen momentarily. “Welcome back you two. I’ll get started on dinner once we finish putting the groceries away,” she said before vanishing once again.

Instead of following her right away, Josefine turned back to them and offered a wide, grinning smile that stretched the mess of freckles dotting her nose. “Welcome back, Miss Bernadetta. Welcome back, Micah~” Without waiting for a reply, she scurried back into the kitchen.

Left with a lingering smile, Bernadetta moved to take Micah back to their room, and once she realized this, her heart began to beat more rapidly.

What were those conmen planning to do with the deed they’d stolen? What would happen if Bernadetta and the nuns never learned about what happened? Micah couldn’t simply sit quietly after having witnessed that. She had to do something, had to warn them… But how? It honestly didn’t take as long as she figured it would to find a solution.

Henrietta. That woman was definitely the smartest of the nuns (for whatever that was worth), so she’d notice if there was something wrong with the papers. It was a long shot, and depended largely on the skill of the forger and Henrietta’s own keen eye and memory, but it was her only shot.

First she reached over to Bernadetta’s bag and pulled it open, gently, so the woman wouldn’t notice. Then the real act began.

“Uwahhhhh!!!!” Using her expertly honed baby skills, Micah burst into tears for seemingly no reason at all, throwing her arms around until she “accidentally” pushed the bag off of Bernadetta’s shoulder, causing it to fall to the floor and scatter all of the papers once again.

“O-Oh no, not again!” Bernadetta’s brows furrowed with slight frustration that all of the documents were spilled a second time. But still, her first concern was Micah. “What’s wrong, babe? What is it? Please calm down…”

“Waaaahhhhhh~!!!”

“Shh… Shh… It’s okay… It’s okay…”

“What happened?” Both Henrietta and Josefine emerged from the kitchen, and even Brunhilde had come out of her room to see what the commotion was.

“It’s Micah, she’s gotten upset for some reason… I dropped the papers again, can you pick them up while I calm her?”

“Again?” Josefine tilted her head, but her question went ignored as Henrietta moved to fix the stack on the floor.

“This is the updated property deed and the other stuff we gave you, right? I was planning on taking a look anyway to make sure you did it right,” she said as she set about organizing everything, with Josefine joining her shortly after.

“I-I did do it right!” Bernadetta protested. “I mean, I did drop it once before, but I properly checked to make sure everything was there before I came back-”

“...Eh?”

“Hm?” Josefine raised her eyebrows at Henrietta’s confused noise. “What is it? Something wrong?”

“...What.”

“Henrietta? What’s wrong?”

“Bernadetta.” The blonde nun stood up while clutching a single sheet in her hand. “What is this…?”

“The… property deed?”

“Bernadetta,” Henrietta’s gaze was ice-cold, teeth gritted and fingers digging so hard that the page had become wrinkled. “This. Is FAKE.”

“It’s-, w-what?”

“FAKE, Bernadetta! It’s a fake document!”

Bernadetta’s brows furrowed at her friend’s statement, and she marched up to have a closer look, while Micah silently cheered on the sidelines while pretending to settle down from her tantrum. “Eh? No way, that’s impossible. I already checked; the seal is definitely there.”

“Look!” She practically thrusted the thing into her face, pointing to the printed red seal of Halloway’s mayor’s office on the bottom right corner. “The seal is empty! There’s supposed to be a design inside the red circle, remember? A gold one!”

“Yeah, I remember seeing it around a lot at the library. It’s really not there, huh.” Josefine pursed her lips as she peered at it.

“Wha-... I… I don’t know what happened, I…” Bernadetta recoiled in disbelief, but Henrietta didn’t let up, instead issuing a stern command.

“Tell me everything that happened today,” she said with arms crossed. “Don’t leave out ANY details.”

“Um… okay. I went with Micah to-”

*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*

The sound of three sharp knocks on the front doors of the church interrupted her. The nuns exchanged a quick glance before Josefine shrugged and trotted over to open it. The moment she did, in stepped four familiar faces.

“I-It’s you!” Bernadetta’s eyes widened at the sight of Altheon, as well as the woman who helped pick up the documents when she dropped them. And strangely enough, the official who updated her deed was also there, standing off to the side. She didn’t recognize the final person, but Micah did.

It was the man who the thief gave the real deed to after Bernadetta had already left. If it hadn’t switched hands since then, then it was likely that he still had it on him.

Micah felt a scowl tug at her features as the pieces fell into place, as well as waves of dread as she began to suspect what was about to happen.

“There! It’s that thing right there!” The woman immediately spotted the property deed with the fake seal in Henrietta’s hand and pointed it out, clear as day for all to see.

“I see. So it was true after all. Hello again, Miss,” Altheon began with a polite bow that made Micah sick to her stomach. “I do hope you’ve been well since our last encounter.

“Mister Al… What’s going on? Why are you and… all of them here?”

“Well you see, it’s rather simple,” he started. He briefly gestured to the woman, and she stepped forward. “This young lady told a most interesting tale after you left the town hall. She told me that, as she worked to set your documents straight, she noticed something rather peculiar.”

“You’re kidding me…” Henrietta whispered, her face a mix of disbelief and anger.

“She said, that your property deed was fake. That the seal on it lacked the internal design associated with our great mayor. Now what do you have to say about that?”

“E-Eh…? That’s…”

“Huh? Um, what exactly is going on here?” Josefine looked to be the only one not in the loop, looking around for an answer.

“Excuse me,” the second man said as he too stepped forward. Placing a hand on his chest graciously, he introduced himself. “My name is Barnabel. I'm rather influential in this town as a noble, and Altheon happens to be a close friend of mine.

“I too was present for young Miss Miriam’s confession,” he continued. “And after hearing that such… tomfoolery was being performed in this great town, I simply had to take action.”

He walked over to place a hand on the town hall clerk, who flinched slightly at the contact. “Now, I’ve already interrogated the clerk that you conducted your business with. When asked whether or not he had given you a fake document today, he claimed innocence.” Barnabel glanced at him momentarily, and received a short, hesitant nod in response. “To be very frank, even before I questioned him, I already had my doubts that he was guilty. Why would someone who works in the most reputable location in Halloway want to commit such a crime as forgery? It simply made no sense.”

He retreated from the man, causing his shoulders to relax slightly, and returned to Altheon’s side at the front. “I can only assume, then, that this was your doing alone, Miss Stronoff-”

“Oh go shove it! That’s ridiculous!” Henrietta cut in with a loud voice. Her gaze landed on the clerk. “If you’re innocent, that means you must have noticed something fishy yourself right? Was it during the document exchange? Or maybe after? You must have seen it happen!”

“I, um…” The clerk nervously glanced at Barnabel, who returned a neutral stare, seemingly awaiting his answer. Eventually, he responded with, “I… didn’t see anything strange.”

“Then, a replacement...!”

“Without the original document, there’s nothing I can do. Sorry…” As he dipped his head down, Micah nearly screamed in frustration.

The original document is two feet away from you, idiot!!!

His eyes suddenly flickered towards Barnabel guiltily, and Micah realized that there was no way he couldn’t have known what was really going on. It happened right in front of his station, for crying out loud!

In that case, are they threatening him? I don’t really know too much about nobles and stuff, but maybe that Barnabel guy’s too big or something? He looks like the kind of pompous prick that would do that kind of thing. How do guys like him get to be nobles anyway, while the nice people like Bernadetta are stuck in poverty for the rest of their lives? It’s totally unfair.

But like she was coming to understand, there wasn’t anything they could do in this situation. None of the nuns had the power to prove that any of them were lying, and Micah couldn’t tell the truth without exposing herself.

It was hopeless…

“Well, now that we seem to have come to an understanding, I would ask that you forfeit your right to ownership of this property immediately.”

“What?!” Henrietta shouted. “You-! You can’t do that!”

“I can, young lady, and I will. Well, even if you refuse, I’ve already taken the case to the mayor’s office and obtained the real deed. This church belongs to me now.”

“Th-That’s…!”

“Hey, hey, is that true?! Miss Bernadetta’s not the owner anymore?!”

Tch! These bastards! They did all of that just for this moment! I can’t think of anything else they would do with that kind of power other than…!

“...” It seemed only Brunhilde was able to keep her composure in the face of this distressing news.

However, as Micah dreaded, the worst was yet to come.

“Forty-eight hours,” Barnabel announced. “That is how long I am giving you to vacate this building before I have it removed.”

Bernadetta paled. “F-Forty…”

Henrietta spat out a curse, glaring daggers at the four people who so quickly arrived to give them a verdict no different than a death sentence, and Josefine looked to be on the verge of tears.

“Please, do not try anything foolish. If you are still here by the time the workers arrive, I will not hesitate to have them smash this false church to smithereens with you in it. Good day.” With Barnabel in the lead, the others piled out of the church, leaving the door to slowly swing shut.

Micah could swear that as it did, she could hear the sound of church bells ringing in the distance.

-----

“How could you be so STUPID?!” Later, after the situation had truly sunk in, the nuns were in complete despair. Josefine had run into her room with tears in her eyes, Brunhilde had gone to bed early, and as Bernadetta tried to do the same, Henrietta finally exploded, unleashing all of her pent-up frustrations on her longtime friend.

“I-I’m sorry…” she murmured from her spot on one of the chapel seats.

“You’re ‘sorry’? You’re ‘SORRY’?!” Henrietta echoed. “‘Sorry’ isn’t going to get us our home back! ‘SORRY’ isn’t going to keep us from getting put out on the STREETS in a couple of days! How the hell are we supposed to live from now on!” Face flushed red with emotion, she began pacing back and forth rapidly. “We can’t afford to stay in an inn every day, and we certainly don’t have the money to buy a new home. Without a bath, our clothes will get dirty over time and we’ll start to stink, which will affect my job and may even get me fired! And if that happens, how are we going to make money to eat?! HUH?!”

“I-If we just keep kindness in our hearts, then I’m sure-”

“ENOUGH WITH THE NOR CRAP!!!” That last comment seemed to push Henrietta over the edge. The next thing either of them knew, she’d lashed out with her hand, striking Bernadetta so hard across the face that the noise echoed within the large room.

“Ma-ma!” Micah immediately whined, frantically squirming in Bernadetta’s lap while checking to see if she was alright. “Ma-ma! Ma-ma!!!”

“It’s okay, Micah… Mama’s okay…” she whispered as she held her cheek. “Auntie Henrietta was just angry with me because I did something bad. But she’s calmer now.” Her eyes flickered to her friend. “Right?”

“I… Y-Yeah, I am.” Henrietta let out a deep sigh, the fire in her eyes dissipating as she slowly came back to her senses and realized what she’d done. “Bernadetta, I-”

“I don’t forgive you,” Bernadetta cut her off. “Because there’s nothing to forgive. I completely deserved that, and everything you said was true. I’m such a fool...”

“No, Bernie stop.” Henrietta leaned down and encased her friend’s shoulders in a tight hug. “I was just raging at you, and it was wrong of me. You were tricked by professionals; you didn’t do anything wrong, and I had no right to yell at you or hit you. I’m sorry.”

“Henrietta, what have I done…” Micah caught the shine of tears in her mother’s eyes as she buried her face in the blonde nun’s neck. “Because of me, I… everyone… My family owned this church for generations… My father loved it so much that he cried when my grandfather gave it to him… I promised him I would protect this place, Henrietta...”

“I know. I’ll figure something out…” she whispered in reply. “Tomorrow I’ll go and… ask for some help from my coworkers and my boss. And Josefine and I are pretty well known in the marketplace, so I’m sure I can find someone who can give us a place to stay until we can find a solution.”

“Uuu…~ Henriettaaaa~”

“Hey, remember? I also promised your dad I’d look after this place, and that I’d look after you too. Plus I’m not one to give up without a fight. Those bastards won’t get away with this, I promise.”

Bernadetta broke down into a mess of sobs after that, and Micah used the opportunity to slip away from them in order to not ruin the moment they were having. Though she was largely uncoordinated on her feet, she still managed to stumble and crawl her way into the bedroom she shared with her mother, where she climbed onto the bed and sat, waiting patiently for night to fall and the streets to darken.

Because that, she decided, was when she would make them pay.