Waiting for a Crisis

While Carolyn was at the church with the children of the slums district, two men conversed in an alley inside the mixed district. Both were dressed in worn and dirty clothes and had cloaks over their heads, but while one seemed destitute, the other had the appearance of a scholar who had fallen on hard times.

"So she followed her into the church?"

"Ye, ye, ye, ye, yes. Tha, tha, that woman only le, le, left a while after."

The destitute man had a strong stutter, but it was still clear enough for the scholar to understand what he was saying.

"I see. Thank you for your hard work. Here's your reward."

As soon as the scholar showed the white packets, the destitute man quickly snatched them and bowed in gratitude before walking off with an expression of crazed bliss. The scholar looked fondly at the man as he left, but his expression grew solemn as he recalled the information he provided.

"So they've joined forces. I had hoped that that girl would help spread the medicine, but I must have underestimated him. It might be best that I move on from the slums, but before that I should make one more attempt."

With a smile on his face, the scholar also left the alley and removed the cloak over his head, revealing a grey ponytail.

Elsewhere, Carolyn returned to Wild Boar Inn shortly after the lunch rush. The staff had managed to keep everything under control, but Carolyn still apologised for not making it back in time.

"It's fine. Like I already said, you're a tenant so there's no problem if something comes up and you can't make it. Besides, we had your friend here to help."

"That's right. You don't need to worry about it."

Kanna looked rather exhausted, but she had seen when Carolyn left in a hurry in the morning, so she figured that there was some emergency and didn't blame her for her absence. Additionally, unlike the previous day, she was now an official employee, so she had resigned herself to the heavy workload. She wasn't completely over her guilt, but by looking at their faces, Carolyn confirmed that they didn't resent her for leaving suddenly.

"I see. Thank you, I'll try to warn you in advance next time."

"It's alright. By the way, do you do any special training?" Marco asked.

"Special training? Why do you ask?"

"I heard from some customers that they saw someone zoom out of the inn this morning. That was you, right?"

The other women started to glare at Marco with the implicit message to shut up, but once he got heated about something, he naturally tuned out the rest of his surroundings. His eyes made it clear to Carolyn that he was genuinely curious, so she answered since there was no point in hiding it here.

"Yes, I guess it was."

"Woah. I did think that you worked out, but from what they say you were bouncing and flying through the street. Were you an acrobat or something?"

"Ah, well..."

"Stupid brother."

"Ouch! What was that for?!"

While Carolyn was trying to come up with a response, Mila slapped the back of Marco's head. She was grateful for her interference but also felt bad for Marco since she knew he wasn't asking with any malicious intent.

With Carolyn back, they made it through the dinner rush with relative ease. They were still receiving many customers, but the staff was starting to get used to the crowd. The next day, Carolyn went to the Continental Courier Service and had a quick talk with Rome before heading to the slums to cook for the children again. Given the predicament she found herself in last time, Carolyn brought a messenger bag to carry the ingredients with her. This time, some of the children wanted to help her, so she had them decide amongst themselves who would be her two helpers using rock-cloth-scissors. She then prepared chicken soup, and it was another hit with the children.

While watching them eat with smiles on their faces, Carolyn quietly discussed with Lety regarding the results of her announcement the day before.

"We got information from five people, with three of them sounding like what the Priest wanted. He only paid for two pieces of information, but it seems I was on the right track because he said he was already aware of the remaining piece."

As much as their plan involved testing the informants, it was also a test for Lety as well since she had to discern what information would be profitable.

"Okay. Before you tell me the price, what were the five pieces of information?"

"Two of them were about how there are more outsiders in the slums that don't know how things operate here. One was about finding a bunch of sleeping men laying on each other in an alley. Another said that they sometimes spotted someone shady lingering around the church and the last one was about an increase in violent incidents in certain areas."

As someone who knew more about why Benedict might need certain information, it was easy for Carolyn to make accurate guesses.

"Did you tell him about the last three and he rejected the second of those three?"

Derrick and Lety were left astounded after hearing Carolyn's answer because she was correct.

"How did you know?" Lety asked.

"First, tell me why you chose those last three."

"Okay. It wasn't hard to exclude the first two because while they were mostly true everyone knows about them so I didn't think the Priest would pay for them. As for why I stuck with the rest, they all seemed like true pieces of information that he might not know about."

"Good, we had the same thought. This is just me guessing, but the reason why he already knew about that person lingering around the church is because this is his territory in a sense. Think about it, do you really believe someone could be watching the church for so long without him noticing?"

"You're right. I must have thought that since neither Derrick nor I had noticed them, that he wouldn't have either. Thanks, I'll keep that in mind for next time."

"You're welcome."

Feeling proud of Lety for understanding her mistake and planning how to prevent its reoccurrence, Carolyn gently patted her head. Usually, only Derrick was allowed to do this to her, but perhaps because of Carolyn's gentle, warm touch, Lety didn't have a problem with it. However, that didn't mean Derrick was of the same opinion.

"Oi, don't treat her like a pet!"

Both Lety and Carolyn returned confused expressions, but then they nodded in understanding with cheeky smiles.

"Don't worry, Derrick. I'm not trying to steal your precious sister."

"That's right. You'll always be my brother."

With a burning blush on his face, Derrick exclaimed, "That's not what I meant!"

The smirks on the two girls' faces remained, but they didn't tease him any further. After checking Lety's condition and changing Derrick's bandages, Carolyn went to give rewards to the two children who had provided the pieces of information that were sold. Both pieces were sold for 1 silver each, so Carolyn planned to give each child 25 bronze coins. It was a hefty amount of change, but she had come prepared. The only problem left was how to deliver the reward to the children.

They had approached Derrick and Lety openly after Carolyn left, so if Carolyn approached them then it would be obvious that they received something in exchange for their information. She wanted to help the children, but she knew that she couldn't expect them to be little saints with zero greedy thoughts, so she had to conceal who received money. Fortunately, Lety had already started a plan before Carolyn arrived at the church.

Since she knew that Carolyn would be bringing food again, Lety had Derrick quietly approach the five who had given them information and told them different places to meet Carolyn after breakfast. All five places were near the church but far enough that they wouldn't be overheard. Carolyn liked the sound of Lety's idea, so she agreed to it without much fuss.

While the bowls and pots were being collected for washing, Carolyn discreetly left the church. Lety had pointed out the informants to her earlier, and she had noticed them leave after drinking the soup. The locations that Lety had given them were easy to find, so while watching her back to ensure that she didn't have any tails, Carolyn went to each of them to impart the good or bad news.

She imparted some encouraging words to the three who wouldn't be given a reward, but it would be difficult to call any of them grateful for that. On the other hand, if the child was one of the two winners, she handed over their payment and swore them to secrecy. The five children weren't told much, but since they were sent to different locations and Carolyn ensured that their paths didn't intersect, if anyone talked about what happened, it would be easy to figure out who it was. Carolyn felt guilt for laying this trap for them, but she swallowed those feelings. In order to bring Lety's plan to fruition and make these children's lives at least a little better, generosity alone wasn't enough.