Find Henry VII

Within the Wild Boar Inn, a certain tenant lamented.

"No, no, no! I lost him!"

He had been told by the old hag lady, who was one of his neighbours, to search for someone based on a portrait. Even though she narrowed down the possible locations, it still sounded like a ridiculous request since he could only look at one place at a time, and it took a while for him to switch between locations. Still, he had accepted. It was not because she threatened him, but because the target was the culprit behind the spike in drug addicts and drug-related deaths. Generally, he didn't bother to pay attention to news like that, but even he could tell that his safe haven would be in danger if this man was allowed to do as he pleased.

At first it was stressful and irritating since he couldn't blink while using his ability, but with his neighbour's 'encouragement', he managed to keep up with it until people came to attack the inn.

Although his neighbour went down to deal with them and he trusted her brute strength, the sounds of combat still made his anxiety go up. He became more desperate to find the mastermind and finally spotted him near his new neighbour.

He chased after the man with his sight, but he lost him at a narrow turn, just like his neighbour did. A look at the entrance of the inn proved that the old lady wouldn't be able to help anytime soon since more enemies had appeared. He hadn't thought about it before, but the slums district was the most populated area of the city, so there was plenty of manpower if you weren't picky.

At this rate, it wouldn't be strange if others noticed the commotion and woke up, but the enemy probably didn't care about being seen.

"That's right. Even if I find that guy, what can I do about it?"

The boy almost gave into resignation, but at the very least he wanted the inn to be safe, so he looked in the direction the enemy was coming from. There, far away from the inn, he caught sight of that man again. Afraid to lose him, the boy watched the mastermind with extreme focus as he travelled through the slums. When the man finally stopped, the boy had a frightening thought when he saw what was in the vicinity.

"This damn psychopath! Is he planning on taking down the entire city?!"

A few feet away from where the man hid, there were two people watching one of the only two wells inside the slums. The other well was near the church, so this was the well that most slums residents used. Poisoning this well, as cruel as it was, wouldn't affect most of the city. However, while purification measures existed, all wells in the city technically took from the same water source. This was partially why whenever a plague appeared, all residents had to be careful of using the well water because it might be contaminated.

Nonetheless, given the amount of water that flowed underneath the city, a relatively vast amount of contaminant would be needed to have any significant effects. The boy was likely just overthinking, but he couldn't believe that anything good could come out of allowing this crook to do as he pleased.

"Damn it! Why isn't that old hag ready when I need her?! I have to tell someone, but who?!"

Elsewhere, Carolyn tried to rediscover Henry, but she couldn't find any traces of him. Believing that Lavender or Benedict might have an idea, she decided to head for the Wild Boar Inn on the way to the church inside the slums. A couple of streets away from the inn, Carolyn was forced to stop after noticing a hooded figure rush out before her. They seemed to recognise her, which was strange given that her mask was still on, and their gaze felt familiar, but nothing except their eyes was exposed. Their height suggested that they were a child, but none of the slums children could afford to dress up like this, nor did Carolyn think they had a reason to.

"Are you okay?"

She was in a rush, so she honestly wanted to move ahead, but if this child needed help, then she felt like she could at least lend them an ear.

For a few minutes, the child did nothing but fidget in place. Given her circumstances, this was enough time for Carolyn to begin to lose her patience, but suddenly, the child pointed in a direction and ran off somewhere else. Her first thought was to chase the child, but they seemed to want her to head in the direction they pointed in. Since that direction would take her to the slums, though not where she planned, Carolyn decided to trust the child.

Near the most used well of the slums district, Henry crouched to hide behind the remains of a wall as he watched the two figures lingering around the area. Although neither Benedict nor the children usually came to this well, Henry knew that the priest had people watching it.

Most thought that he was insane, but Henry was a very meticulous person. He had bought and gathered information from a variety of sources in order to carry out his plans of salvation. Surprisingly, there was basically no information he could find about his three main pursuers regarding their time outside the city, but he had a good grasp of their patterns and characteristics. While the priest had only been in the city for a few months, he had subtly taken control of the slums. If it wasn't for the powerful effects of Henry's drug, there would be no way to gain the upper hand on him inside this territory. Even with the information Henry had, he wouldn't have been able to get this close to the well without laying the groundwork because the priest kept a close eye on events within the slums.

After confirming the positions taken by the two watchers, Henry quietly left his hiding spot and retreated from the area. Although he had combat experience from his time as a doctor in the slave coliseum, he had no intention of fighting against these men. As long as they weren't able to interfere with the next steps of his plan, it might even be better that they remain here.

Henry moved from the well into one of the few complete houses in the vicinity. The moment the door was opened, a certain scent escaped, one that Benedict would have surely remembered.

"Good. Everything's ready."

Inside the one-room house, there was a pile of sacks, all filled with Serenity. Benedict thought that his information network had covered the slums, but there was an organisation with even deeper webs spread throughout the city. Henry commissioned this organisation, the Continental Courier Service, with covertly transporting his medicine near the well. True to their name as the best transport service of Falfor, even the eyes that reported to Benedict failed to notice them bringing these goods here. If not for them, Henry would have had to risk making his lambs (addicts) do the task or find a way to do it himself.

With the medicine in place and him in position, there was only one step left for him to complete.

At this time, Carolyn had entered the slums and was in sight of the well and the watchers assigned to it. Her intuition told her that she was in the right place, but she couldn't see Henry anywhere.

"No! Think! Where could he be?"

Desperately restraining her panic, Carolyn searched for a clue and noticed a pair of footprints made in the dirt behind the remnants of a wall. In her mind's eye, she could see someone hiding in that spot before moving away from the well. She snapped her gaze towards the buildings in the area and found one that could be reached from this spot without entering the line of sight of the watchers. Trusting her analysis, she dashed towards that house, and right as her hand touched the handle, she faintly caught the scent of oil and something burning.

Any lingering doubts were blown away as she shoved open the door and saw Henry carrying a lit torch in front of a pile of sacks.

"Stop right there!"

Henry was shocked to see her, but he didn't let her sudden appearance interfere with completing his plan. He tried to throw the torch at the sacks, but Carolyn quickly shot an arrow that knocked it off-target. Unfortunately, she couldn't stop the fire from catching a corner of the room. Carolyn didn't know what Henry was planning, but she hoped that she had at least delayed his scheme and switched her focus back to him.

Once the torch was deflected, Henry placed his hand on the short sword that was strapped to his thigh, but he didn't make any further movements. As long as the fire reached the medicine, his objective would be met, so he just needed to buy time.

"I'm not sure if we've met before. Why don't you take off your mask so this old man can see you better?"