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[...Are we done…?] (Eva)

Blood soaked the rags that covered their clothes.

The fight wasn’t a clean one.

After the initial wave of surprising killings, everything became far more chaotic.

No one wanted to go down easily. Once the fact that simply stabbing the invader wasn’t going to work, everyone started firing their elemental attribute in every possible direction.

[Yes, we are done.] (Syrus)

Syrus was seated on a chair that they had dragged out of a building into an area without smoke as she wiped the blood off her sword.

The corpses would make a good meal for the local wildlife, and it would be the last free meal they would be getting. The deep carven next to the camp had an eerie sight of bones that had piled over an unknown amount of time.

That wasn’t the only sight Eva found deeply sickening, but she wasn’t doing her best to keep her mind off them.

The whole assault on their part wasn’t something she wholeheartedly agreed with and had many mixed feelings about. Though she didn’t know if the sights made those feelings better or worse.

Once the clean-up was done, they got up, ready to leave. Syrus did a quick look around for anyone else in a secret room or passage, but they didn’t find anyone else. Maybe some people had gotten away or weren’t here when they attacked, but that didn’t matter; the large bandit camp was no more. There were no more threats of them attacking a weakened city or continuing with their usual endeavours of pillaging and looting.

Finally, it was the early morning again, and Anlesa had already ditched the bloody cloth they used to protect and disguise themselves.

It had taken another day of travel to reach the town again, but it was finally within their sights.

[Everything is still together.] (Syrus)

[Not the time for jokes, Syrus.] (Luna)

[Only if you make it so.] (Syrus)

It was a simple act of entering town among all the hustle and bustle of moving carts and people in the morning.

Everything seemed normal.

People were moving to work.

Eating food at the diners.

Chatting on the streets.

And Anlesa was simply headed home. But they did have their eyes out for the changes in the city.

After a slow walk, they finally reached home.

“Sigh…” Eva groaned. They were home, and she slowly turned and sat on the bed.

Syrus took control and began taking their boots off.

[Syrus, city report?] (Luna)

[There is practically no church vermin around.] (Syrus)

[Practically?] (Luna)

[I didn’t see any obvious ones around, but there could be some around.] (Syrus)

With the boots off, then their remaining supplies unpacked, Eva took control and moved to her work table. She pulled out her stool and rummaged through her supplies, taking notes of what she had remaining.

There was a rack of potions they had left behind on the table and minimal ingredients remaining. She wanted to begin restocking as soon as possible, but leaving the city in these potentially troubling times brought forth a fear inside her.

[...So, either we have missed them because they are hiding away or just out of our sight, or their numbers have actually decreased.] (Luna)

[What does that mean…] (Eva)

[The good option is that they have retreated and we are all good, the bad option is that they have simply removed themselves in preparation for the attack.] (Syrus)

[I see…] (Eva)

Eva fiddled with the items on the desk.

[I don’t think I can understand why…] Eva sadly mumbled in a despondent tone.

[The church?] (Luna)

[Hmhmm.] Eva confirmed.

[That’s good. Don’t try to understand those bastards.] (Syrus)

[But learning and understanding the unknown is how people grow…] Eva was a scientist at heart. Learning, understanding, and creating were what she found joy in.

[I don’t think that also relates to people.] (Syrus)

[...] Eva already had trouble understanding why the Aurora Church had even conceptualised the idea of attacking an innocent city.

She understood, in simple terms, people could be bad; she had met plenty who made her starving stomach crawl. She even understood countries could even declare war on each other for stupid reasons. But seeing these events up close was a different experience.

The Aurora Church attacking a small village for likely no good reason was a permanent shock to her system, one that she would never recover from.

And now, seeing the plan to attack the city and the unpleasant disgusting sights in those bandits' dens, she had unwantedly learned how far a person could stoop, and her brain wanted there to be a justifiable reason.

But as Syrus kept telling her.

There would never be any.