Along the way, Daimon noticed Jeanne and Emily gazing at him as if they tried to tell him "Everything will be fine", he felt somewhat amused that these two had become much more welcoming to him than before, because they thought he was like them.
But it was understandable, it was easy to imagine the kind of difficulties these two should have faced in a world were humans and Ghouls aimed at each other throats, so fiercely, they were in the middle, meaning that they had enemies on both sides.
On the other hand, he was sure that while Emily's situation was somewhat public for those with enough status to know about it, Jeanne not being human was a secret, otherwise Eliot who seem to fear/respect her, wouldn't have made those snarky comments at Emily earlier.
And that also made him wonder what was Reyne's situation like, was she also like them, or was she human, maybe that was why Jeanne had so much things prepared in case they needed to escape.
In other words, things weren't as simple as they appeared to be, besides those two, Reyne also had a somewhat worried and also angry expression on her face, she invited them to thank for having helped her, and they ended up in trouble.
She couldn't help but think that it was just the church involving them in the fight behind scenes, that they had ongoing against the Adjudicators and the Valleris in general, meaning they got in troubles because of her.
"You should worry about them, since they have come for us, their ends won't be pretty~", casually said the crazy girl, making Reyne return to her usual calm self, Eliot on the other hand was fuming right now.
'Even under the current situation why are you getting along with these idiots', he thought as he glared at Daimon who didn't even pay him any attention, unaware that his life was saved by a mere couple of seconds earlier.
With this mix of different points of view of the current situation, they soon arrived at the main hall, where a large table was prepared while the ones who came from the church waited for them.
Daimon casually observed the room which could be said to be divided in half, the left side where guards all wearing white amor and holding halberds were, and the right side where the guards of the castle wearing the gray armor with the emblem of the Valleris, a yellow sword and a blue shield.
Besides them, there were three guys sitting on the table, one was the Archbishop Terrence which Daimon saw once when they visited the cathedral earlier, that guy wearing full white clothes, the other was a tall man wearing golden and red armor, he was exuding the pressure of a peak Arch rank, so he should be one of the s-called Cardinals who are supposedly on par with high rank Adjudicators like Oliver.
And the last one was a young man with white hair who seemed to be on the same range of age as Eliot, wearing also red and golden armor, but much less voluminous than the one of the Cardinal.
'One peak and two middle stage Arch ranks as well as ten peak Lord ranks, less see what is your play', thought Daimon after a quick peek.
The Archbishop Terrence was the first one to look at the newly arrived group, to then say with his fake smiling expression.
"For such important guests who came to discuss important matters, to be left not even in a proper meeting room, I guess the Valleris's are as "free spirited" as always".
Unfortunately for Terrence, Jeanne wasn't in the mood for petty comments, after being interrupted during an important conversation earlier.
"You should be happy that we have actual guests, otherwise you wouldn't have been allowed to enter into my house".
Let alone the Archbishop, even Oliver was taken by surprise after listening at Jeanne be so fierce, she normally is quite easy going, while Emily is the straightforward one after all.
Ignoring the awkward silence that the sudden response from Jeanne caused, Daimon casually took a seat at the table, Sarah of course sat at his right, and to Eliot's displease Reyne took the left next chair to him.
Not only that but as he was about to sit next to Reyne, Jeanne sat next to her, and then Emily, at that point he was between the sword and the wall, because he wasn't going to sit either next to Emily, nor Sarah who casually threatened him earlier.
Oliver sat next to Emily, which had to be the case since this way he was right in front of the Cardinal, while Emily faced the Archbishop, Eliot clicked his tongue and sat next to his father, which placed him in front of the white-haired guy.
"Yo, Eliot, it seems you have gotten more miserable since the last time you lost to me… to the point that a sinner is getting a better position than you", said the white-haired guy with a mocking voice, as he gazed at Reyne.
"Shut your trap Alex, you lost our previous match to that so don't be acting all high and mighty in front of me!", exclaimed Eliot, he was already having a bad y and now this bastard was provoking him, of course he was furious.
Unfortunately for him, this wasn't the time nor the place for him to solve his personal feuds, Oliver cleared his throat and then said.
"Now, Scott, I want to hear it directly from you, why are you accusing us of hosting "sinners", when these two friends visited your cathedral earlier without any problem?".
The Cardinal first of all turned to see Daimon and then pointed at his mask.
"Before we start, take that mask off, you are in the presence of the 365th Cardinal that the Corius family has produced", he demanded only to see Daimon shaking his head.
"So, what, I don't think you and me share beliefs, so why should I follow your rules, tell me what the hell do you want with me or get lost", he casually said.
Not even a second passed after Daimon finished speaking, when the guards from the church all released their pressures as they pointed their halberds at Daimon, that being said their pressures were easily blown away by Jeanne slightly moving her index finger.
"Lady of the Valleris, should we take that movement from you as a declaration of war against us?", asked the Archbishop.
"Should I take the fact that those amateurs would have affected my daughter with their annoying pressures, as a declaration of way against the Valleris?", she answered back, making Terrence frown.
They lost the first move, ever since the moment Reyne sat next to Daimon, they were rendered unable to move against him, as the other party will be allowed to block using that same reason as justification.
Of course, Reyne didn't do it because of that, nor Daimon had a need for it, but things played out that way.
"Enough Scott, this isn't your church, as the hosts we allowed our guest to keep his mask for personal reasons, so you don't have anything to say in that matter, as for his way to answer you, what did you expect, you suddenly came and demanded to take him prisoner for investigation", said Oliver, the guards on his side didn't act before as they were told to move only on his order, but now they unsheathed their swords waiting for their master's instructions.
The Cardinal raised his hand and then, the guards retrieved their auras, the captain of the guards didn't move, since he was a middle stage Arch rank, him using his pressure would mean a direct declaration of war, which is also why Jeann didn't retaliate but just blocked.
"I wanted to make this a thing only between ourselves, but since you are so set in interfering with justice, we'll make it the hard way, just know that you won't get away from this for free, bring him here!", said the Cardinal as he pointed at the door behind of him.
The captain of the guards nodded and then opened the door to let in a man wearing white robes, which Daimon recognized easily as the guy who told them what the value of exchange for sinners was, back at the cathedral which made him finally understand what was happening here.
But he didn't say anything yet and waited to see where all this was going, it's also worth mentioning that the guy was now missing an arm and his face was grim, as if he was poisoned.
"Were they the ones who attacked you?", asked the Cardinal to which the man immediately nodded.
"Yes Lord Cardinal, they used some sort of device that momentarily nullified all the formations in the room, and then asked me about the Caraste and Raydol families, luckily the formations reacted after that but they still knocked me out, I suspect they are hunting dogs of the Blood Earl Raydol, and are looking for his son, who we were informed is currently lost", said the man.
"That is a lie father, they were only around five minutes in the white room, to do that they would have taken more time than that", said Reyne, to which the man snorted.
"You don't know how terrifying can the hunting dogs of those monsters can be, young miss, in that short period of time you mention, they managed to suppress and interrogate me", added the man.
Before anyone could say anything else, a sudden familiar voice made them all turn to the left, it was familiar because it was the voice of the man, what was happening is that there was a projection of what happened in the white room when Daimon entered, being reproduced on the air in front of him.
One mut give it to Reyne, the clip lasted exactly five minutes and showed what happened in the white room up to the last detail, Daimon felt hostility the moment he entered the room so he filmed what was happening with a small magic camera.
"Unless you want to revise your improvised story, to correct the amount of time we spent in that white room, I think we are done here luckily I used this one-time treasure to record everything since it was the first time, I visited a cathedral in a city".
The Archbishop felt his lungs fill with anger, but as he was about to reply, he saw the Cardinal stand up and wave his hand, making the head of the evaluator explode in flames, without leaving even a drop of blood stain the ground.
"It seems we had someone trying to make us fight without any reason City Lord, take that as my apology, if you don't mind, I'll take my leave", said the Cardinal as his sharp gaze landed on Daimon who didn't let him off the hook yet.
"For someone with such a high rank, I would believe you were going to arrest that guy and interrogate him, in fact I think you owe me a proper explanation so why don't you leave behind that Archbishop for interrogation, unless you want to kill him on a "whim" too", he said.
The body of the Cardenal leaked out orange mana as he slowly spat.
"Don't take things too far kid, unless you want to bid war against the church, I suggest you to keep your imaginary scenarios for yourself, we are going!", shouted the man as he turned to leave only to hear Daimon saying.
"Let me tell you what was the biggest hole in your plan, if I actually would have attacked that guy, he wouldn't be here to testify against me, and your cathedral would be a pile of debris at this point".
The Cardinal stopped in cold, his body trembled for a second but he didn't turn around and just left followed by his subordinates, who also took the corpse of the evaluator, the white-haired guy coldly glared at Daimon as he said.
"Eliot you are pathetic, if you don't do something then I'll take the "matter" in my own hands".
Once the people from the church left, Daimon saw a fake notification popping up in front of him.
[Failing to fulfill the mission will result in a penalty, starting in 3-2-1…]
He limited to inwardly snort, what a joke, those guys wanted to kill him, of course he wasn't going to cooperate with them, on the other hand he now knew what was happening here and that worked in his favor.
"City Lord, now that this proves I'm in no way working with the flesh eating demons, I have an interesting deal for you, are you interested?", he said as he looked at Oliver.
The City Lord frowned but it would be a lie to say he wasn't interested in what someone who easily outplayed the church in schemes, had to say.
"Sure, let's but let's go the meeting room instead", he said.
Daimon nodded in response before saying.
"Everyone but him can go", he said as he pointed at Eliot, which made him clench his fist.
"What did you…".
"I second that", Jeanne was the first one to speak, Eliot turned to see his father who shook his head at him.
"I'll have to agree this time, you lost your cool earlier, as your father I understand your standing, but as the City Lord I can't be so soft with my future heir, this will be your punishment for the previous scene, understood?", said Oliver.
Eliot gritted his teeth but seeing that no one was standing up for him, he stood up and left the room.
Only then Daimon stood up from his seat and then Oliver guided them to the meeting room, while he inwardly sighed, he already talked with his son but it didn't do much.
…
Once they were inside of the meeting room, they all took a seat and then Daimon casually dropped a bomb on Oliver by saying.
"What will you do if you had solid evidence that there are some in the church working with the flesh eating demons, will you be able to convince those stubborn guys to go all out against them?".
Oliver's eyes widened a bit, he gazed at Jeanne but saw her shaking her head, she didn't mention any of it to Daimon, Emily was the one who helped the City Lord understand what was happening.
"He was able to tell the real appearance of the informant… I don't know how though, but it seems like his senses are really sharp, which again makes sense seeing what he dealt with the church", said the dark gray haired woman.
Oliver felt his hear stop for a second, being able to tell the real appearance of an informant was something serious, little did he know that he was in for a big surprise when he answered.
"Okay, I won't pry into why you know about the conflict among the high echelon of the Adjudicators and the Church, but yeah there has been some rumors that some of them are working with them, but we have never been able to catch them red handed".
"Recently, they have been more active due to a certain situation… if you are able to provide said evidence then those old fogeys won't be able to complain anymore, we'll purge those traitor bastards on the spot", he said.
Daimon nodded satisfied with the answer, to then say.
"Very well, in that case, I can give you a 100% guaranteed to work evidence, but you'll have to pay for it, here these are my requirements", Daimon handed a piece of paper to Oliver, who felt his legs weakening when he read it.
"Kid, I know we didn't have the best start, but isn't this a bit too much…", said Oliver as he read the list of things Daimon put there.
After strolling around the black market, he understood the overall level of the things he could get, and he was of course unsatisfied with it, so he then thought that if he wanted treasures why not go directly to the source.
Recipes, blueprints, a ton of mana crystals and of course beast equipment and beast cores of the highest rank available, those were his petitions.
"You are not the only one who needs my "evidence", so just divide it among all your friends, the amount is non negotiable by the way", casually said Daimon.
Oliver let out a defeated sigh, as Daimon said, if all the Adjudicators chipped in, then the amount each will have to put will be bearable, what they will be able to achieve is something that has been postponed for quite a few thousands of years.
Just when Oliver had come to accept, he was being practically blackmailed, Daimon's voice made its way to his ears once again, nearly making him vomit blood.
"I want you to take me to the Alzac Volcanic region as soon as possible, and you'll have to grant me the authority to enter in the first batch".
"Hey, that's going overboard, to begin with, why do you even think I have that kind of authority!", exclaimed Oliver to which Daimon smirked as he pointed downwards.
"Because of the old man isolated deep down below the castle, and because you are the one who has the "key" needed, and that is why those idiots would have tried to kidnap Reyne, and now messed with me, am I still missing something", he said.
Seeing Oliver be at a loss for words, Reyne couldn't help but softly laugh, it is the first time she sees someone being able to make her father be frustrated like that, besides her mother of course.
"I accept on his stead with one condition", said Jeanne, taking Oliver by surprise, but he didn't say otherwise.
"You two have to show us your real appearances, of course we can swear to not reveal anything to anyone, but we'll need at least this if we are going to make such a deal, since we'll be fighting together", said Jeanne, to which Emily and surprisingly also Reyne nodded.
Oliver shrugged and then stood up from his seat, he no longer had a say in the negotiation so he proposed himself to leave since he had to contact those who were allied to the Valleris and Tiria.
"I'll leave everything in your hands, I have to wake my father too", he said as he left the room.
Daimon turned to see Sarah who nodded at him.
"This way we can reach that place faster than on our own, besides I have been waiting too long to show her who I the best~", said the crazy girl as she gazed at Reyne who had a smile which wasn't a smile on her ace.
Daimon decided to ignore whatever was going on between those two and nodded at Jeanne.
"Deal, but we'll add a few more conditions", he said.
"Mm, we'll have to add a few more too, leaving that aside can we continue what we were discussing earlier?", asked Jeanne.
Which put Daimon in a predicament, since he isn't like them, but he decided to first hear their story.
"I want to hear how you two ended up like that, then I'll decide whether I tell you my story or not", he said.
Surprisingly Jeanne an Emily both agreed, in fact they had expressions of "It must have been tough for you" on their faces, which made Daimon bitterly smile.
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