Find Henry

Although the little boy was small, he was starting to eat a decent amount of food daily, so he didn't struggle with the weight of the suitcase. Seeing that he could handle it, the old man led the way at his normal pace. His destination was a small house squished between two stores in the mixed district, which they reached after less than an hour of walking.

Though he was healthier than when Carolyn first spoke to him, the little boy was still exhausted after carrying the suitcase for so long. Once the old man confirmed that they were at his destination, the little boy put down the suitcase and struggled to catch his breath. He didn't even notice that the old man left until he came back with an appetising smell in his hand.

"Here. Your payment."

When the little boy looked up, he saw a bag of meat skewers in the old man's outstretched hand. There was a food stand nearby selling the same skewers, so the little boy assumed he bought it from there. Buying and eating something from a food stand was a dream that many slum children shared, so the little boy felt no reluctance at the idea of accepting this payment.

"Thanks!"

After taking the bag, the little boy left while waving at the old man. The old man kept a frown on his face as he watched the boy leave, but that frown turned into a gentle smile once he was gone. Yes, a smile so gentle, it was almost ominous.

The next day, Carolyn was hard at work distracting herself from the issues of the slums district. When it was time for lunch, Rome forcefully got her out of the room, but she would have preferred to keep working. Still, her guilt directed her towards the slums.

Shortly after leaving the office building and reaching the mixed district, Carolyn heard someone calling her.

"Carol!"

The voice was very recognisable, so she was only mildly surprised when she saw Derrick running towards her.

"Derrick? What is it?"

"We don't have time! We have to go to the church!"

Both Derrick and Lety had recovered significantly, but Carolyn knew that Lety was prone to illness, so she ran with Derrick while worried that something had happened to her. There wasn't much of a difference in their speeds as they ran through the crowd, but once the road became clearer, Carolyn grabbed Derrick by his waist and ran while carrying him. Derrick frowned at being moved like luggage, but since this way was faster, he swallowed his complaints.

There were no longer any vulgar men lingering at the edge of the slums, so Carolyn could head straight to the church without being chased. When she got there, she immediately noticed scattered bodies of men lying outside the entrance. She didn't recognise them, but based on their attire and complexions, she guessed that they were drug addicts.

"Did these men attack the church?"

"I don't know. They weren't here when I left."

'So there's another problem.'

The uneasy feeling in Carolyn's chest grew worse as she heard groans coming from inside the church and rushed to the sealed door. She knocked heavily three times before stating her name. The door soon opened, revealing a sight worse than what Carolyn imagined.

"Augh!"

"Ahh!"

"That taste, I need that taste!"

"I'm so hungry..."

Children lied on the ground, groaning in pain and despair. Those doing better only seemed lethargic, but those worse off were being held down to stop them from hurting themselves. If it wasn't for the lack of adult helpers, the scene wouldn't be much different from a hospital during a plague.

"The children...?"

Barely able to comprehend what she was seeing, Carolyn looked at the scene in a daze.

"They're suffering from withdrawal symptoms."

Even though he had been near the door the entire time, Carolyn only now noticed that Benedict had replaced Derrick next to her and was closing the door.

"Withdrawal symptoms? Then you mean—"

"Yes, it's Henry."

Carolyn felt a rush of emotions at his confirmation. At first, she didn't know how to feel, but she soon settled on anger and self-hatred.

"He gave the children, those damn drugs?!"

"According to them, it seems he disguised himself and gave them drugged food as payment for helping him. In most cases, he bought the food from a stall, and they didn't see him doing anything to it, so they let their guards down."

Carolyn knew that the children wouldn't thoughtlessly accept gifts from a stranger, but if it was through the process Benedict described, then even she wouldn't have thought there was anything wrong with it.

"Will they, be alright?"

Even though she had seen what awaited the drug addicts, Carolyn still held out hope and asked this question. Fortunately, Benedict provided good news.

"Yes. Thanks to their frugal nature and some of the children stealing from the others, all of them only ate small amounts of the drugged food, so they should be fine once they can get over the withdrawal symptoms."

"Thank the Goddess."

"You can take some of the praise as well. If the children hadn't been eating more because of the ingredients you sent, it's likely that some of them wouldn't have been able to resist the food and would be in worse condition."

"Really?"

"Yes."

Hearing that made some of her self-hatred ease up, but it also allowed her to focus more on her anger.

"I'm glad that I was able to help the children, but I still can't forgive that man."

"I'm the same. I knew he was troublesome, but he's more cunning than I thought."

"Right. Did you get attacked by drug addicts?"

"Yes, before I mention that, let me start from this morning..."

Benedict was usually the first to wake up in the morning, but on this day he was awoken by the sound of a groan coming from outside his office, which doubled as his bedroom. He quickly left the office to investigate and found three groaning children. It wasn't strange for the children to have nightmares and whine in their sleep, but all three of these children seemed awake, so he found it odd. Dawn had yet to arrive, but using a candle seemed like a waste, so he approached one of the children using his limited sight to check their condition.

At first, the child just seemed to have a fever and a headache, but when Benedict saw another child reach for a bag he had hidden under the floorboard, he became suspicious. Benedict took the brown bag from the child and found that it contained three meat buns.

"Priest, it's mine," the child weakly begged.

"Where did you get this?"

"An old man, gave them to me, for getting a package."

"I see."

Benedict was about to hand the bag back to the child when he noticed something familiar but off-putting about the scent. After quickly skimming through his recent memories, Benedict's eyes widened in realisation.

"Charlie. When you ate this meat bun, did you feel light-headed but strangely happy?"

"Priest..."

"Please, Charlie. I need you to answer me."

The child, Charlie, slowly nodded his head, but his eyes remained fixed on the bag. When Benedict saw his response, he no longer hesitated and wrapped the bag in a leftover newspaper before putting it in his office.

"No!"

The boy rushed after the bag, but Benedict easily caught him and gently relieved him of his consciousness.

"Everyone! Wake up!"

With the boy in his hand, Benedict roused the other children awake. None of the children were heavy sleepers, but some of them found it hard to get up even though they were awake. Benedict quickly identified these children as well as any other children with bad complexions and asked each of them what they had eaten recently. Some of them were reluctant to say where they got their snacks from, but their victims were glad to expose them. As such, Benedict was able to find the 11 children with early withdrawal symptoms along with the drugged food that was left. Five of the children had stolen the food from the children that brought it, but considering that they had gotten their 'just deserts', Benedict wasn't inclined to add further punishment.

Benedict was naturally upset that he had been fooled by Henry, but he didn't let his emotions control him. After treating the ill children and making the other children watch over them, Benedict began thinking of how to return the favour to Henry. He hadn't planned on facing him directly, but this provocation couldn't be ignored, and he was also concerned that Henry was trying to force him to stay at the church so that he couldn't intervene in what he was planning next.

Once he had a plan figured out, Benedict sent a message to one of his people so that they could contact Lavender, while he had Derrick go for Carolyn. He chose Derrick because he didn't want to make any suspicious moves near the Continental Courier Service. Fortunately, Lety was supportive, and the boy was eager to help.

"So the addicts attacked after Derrick left?"

"Correct. They basically just missed him. Honestly, subduing them was the easiest part of this mess, but I suspect it was a warning from Henry."

"A warning?"

"Yes. I can handle myself just fine, but if I leave, the children might have trouble."

The cowardice to use the children to restrain Benedict made Carolyn so upset that she started getting light-headed. Only the bandits who had murdered her parents and slaughtered her village could make her feel more fury than this. She cursed herself for not beating Henry up when they met, but she knew there was no way she could have seen through his facade. Still, there was a chance to make up for that missed opportunity.

"What do you need me to do? I'll help however I can to ensure we catch him."