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Chapter 158: Windfall Gains
🕑 Added 2023-09-24 03:21:35 +0000 UTCStermondt’s chapel was old, even by the standards of the Holy Church.
Were a surveyor to enter the premises, they would walk back out. Crumbling with equal parts time and despair, a cold draft filled each and every corner, seeping through cracks chiselled by the elements and finished off by the rats.
The cozy warmth that all quaint chapels should elicit could not be felt here.
A sad state of affairs. For all the Holy Church’s wealth, little of it was seen outside the grand cathedrals which dominated every balcony vantage across the continent’s capitals. Here, the only silver which existed was that of an empty donations tray, with little hope of being filled tonight.
Within this diminutive hall, no sermons or prayers were being whispered. But it wasn’t because there were no worshippers to be found in this part of the world.
Rather, there simply weren't any seats for them.
The worn pews had been repossessed for a greater task than carrying the sitting figures of the devout.
They now held paperwork.
Mounds and mounds of paperwork.
Ledgers, receipts, reports, notices in lieu of payment, overhead calculations, income and expenditure tallies and quarterly assessments. The tomes which inhabited this hall were gone, the holy texts replaced by the devilry of numbers.
And among it all was a sister furiously scribbling away behind an expression of deep vexation, all the while using a pew as her desk.
Nor was she alone in doing so.
“Sister Rieze! Please check this. I’ve compiled all the reports from the town square!”
“You’re missing a signature. Leave it for now and ensure it’s done first thing in the morning.”
“Sister Rieze, I’ve collated the most recent survey responses from the officers of the Tourism Guild.”
“File it away on the 5th stack from the bottom of the 2nd pew.”
“Sister Rieze, I have the safebox with the earnings from yesterday’s blessings.”
“Excellent. Please leave it behind the altar.”
“Sister Rieze?”
“... Yes, what is it now?”
A pause.
The woman looked up, her tight schedule now at risk as she eyed the considerably younger sister visibly gulping at her.
She held no documents in her hands. A peculiar thing. Rieze was certain this one was responsible for the lost income assessment that’d yet to be done.
Suddenly, Rieze was aware of the silence as every other sister paused.
“Um … Sister Rieze, I wish to thank you for all your efforts in assisting us in our hour of need. I understand that this chapel isn’t the cathedral you’re more used to …”
Rieze smiled warmly, feeling the glances focused upon her.
“The gratitude is unneeded. Beneath the heavens, even a bare field is equal to the tallest spire. I’ve done nothing but answer Stermondt’s call to the best of my limited ability.”
The younger sister smiled. Even so, the fretfulness didn’t disappear.
“And for that, we offer our gratitude, no matter how unneeded. However, some of us … well, there are some lingering concerns. Through your efforts, we’ve been spared the horror of closing our doors, and yet many of our services are paused regardless.”
Rieze’s warm smile remained, even as a spike of irritation shot through her.
Of all the places she wished to be, kneeling before a makeshift desk as she spent her last year of her twenties solving the chronic disparity in the income and outgoings of a tiny chapel was not one of them.
“Your concerns for the people are good and true. However, in order to assure that no circumstance will ever arise in which I may be required to offer my assistance again, measures must be taken to secure the financial health of this chapel.”
“But–”
“But I assure you, this is a temporary pause only. Regular services will continue once the subjugation force arrives to evict the presence from the mines … by which time, even the unbelievable amounts you spend on paid meals on shift won’t make a noticeable dent in the war chest that’s being prepared.”
The younger sister looked hesitant. But not enough to raise her concerns further. Especially as she doubtless wished to be able to keep enjoying the free lunches up to 2 silver crowns per day.
Thus, the younger sister nodded, offered her gratitude and returned to her work. At last. Hers was an important duty. Identifying where potential business was being lost was crucial to maximising how few hours Rieze needed to spend here.
After all, the Kingdom of Tirea certainly wasn’t what she expected.
It was even worse.
A tiny kingdom. The size barely matching any two of Granholtz’s ducal provinces. And while Rieze could forgive much, being forced to don the role of an accountant more than once was not one of them.
Thus, even as the rest of the sisters filed away into the night, offering their bows and their apologies, Rieze stayed behind.
Ignoring the clang of the chapel doors swinging to a close, she sat rooted on the spot, attempting to understand how she was the only person to have thought about aggressively offering their blessings in the face of the town’s plights.
But at least she could do so in peace.
At least until the queues returned again in the morning.
Rieze had to remind herself that this wasn’t so bad. Not as far as her usual tasks went. Her mental pains aside, it was practically a break.
She wasn’t baking alive in the Dunes while fetching an artifact from the bowels of an emperor sandworm. Nor was she locating a runaway cleric who’d actually been petrified by an elder basilisk that she then had to fight.
True, she’d never heard of any of her peers being tasked with entering a nation specifically by climbing up a vertical cliff before. But Rieze wasn’t one to contest the will of the heavens. And especially not the Grandmaster.
Instead, she took this for what it was.
The utter lack of creativity by those who tried to sabotage her climb up the ranks.
And to that, Rieze could offer the only genuine smile of the evening.
“... Extorting the vampire’s evil aura prove a greater success than you anticipated?”
Thwuck.
The sound of a consecrated crossbow being loosed … and promptly missing.
The bolt smashed into the chapel wall, the stone giving way to the force of the silver bolt as the shoddy building further crumbled.
There, sitting upon the end of the pew was a girl whose presence was anathema to any chapel.
Though she was no vampire, her pale skin and scarlet smile spoke only of sin and immorality … even if she was currently praying, eyes closed and palms clasped together.
Rieze raised a brow at the Grand Duchess’s favourite pet.
A beautiful girl with deathly pale skin. Her attire of garter belt and stockings were enough to make any of the sisters in this chapel faint. And for the affront to modesty, the bolt should have struck her.
How curious it didn’t.
Was it magic, or simply … her?
“Redeeming, not extorting,” said Rieze, turning away from the girl to focus on her work. “Because of the creature, the townspeople readily come seeking solace.”
“Offering their crowns in droves while they do so, I see.”
“They offer their faith and their fears. Crowns are a common by-product. And one given often by the merchants and traders who wish for our sacred touch.”
“A poor use of your holy gifts. But effective. The coin you entice for each trinket blessed is as eye watering as it is wholly inappropriate.”
Rieze couldn’t disagree, much as she wished to.
Offering to bless mundane objects was neither proper, nor planned. But Rieze’s job was to see her task through. And here she had.
Almost.
A week, maybe. Two, at most. Then even the most idiotic of the sisters here could understand basic arithmetics. And finally she could leave.
Already, she was looking forward to seeing the faces of the high clerics when she returned again. Particularly when their eyes glanced at each other and sweat rolled down their faces and their skin turned white.
A sight so wonderful that alone made her wish to succeed. No matter what distractions were in her way.
The Dealer opened an eye.
Just the one. Golden as fae wine as she looked at the next silver bolt being prepared in the crossbow. Then, she returned to her prayer, smiling as she did so.
“You should save them. They might be needed.”
“I certainly hope not. Pure silver bolts is an expensive method to decline your forthcoming invitation. I’m afraid I’ve already read the finer points of your brochures.”
“Oh? You believe in company loyalty. A noble thing.”
“No, I believe in payment for employment, a guaranteed holiday entitlement and a recognised career advancement scheme.”
“A pity, then. Lotus House has none of these things. But I’m not here to headhunt you. Especially when it’s such poor conduct for one highly suspicious organisation to recruit from another.”
Rieze had no answer to that. It was true, after all.
“Are you here to confess your sins?” she asked, glancing at the praying girl.
“I have nothing to confess. All I do is lawful in the name of Her Most Righteous.”
A confession which would earn her an immediate place in any prison.
Likely since she’d committed her crimes in every nation.
“Have you merely come to pray, then?”
“For good fortune and good health. Few sisters would abide my presence without calling the guards, such is the scandalous state of my dress. And all eleven of your peers have considerably better aim with a crossbow. No, I’m merely here to observe. And possibly report. It’s a rare joy to see another’s scheme in motion, after all.”
Rieze clicked her tongue at the girl’s impertinence. But nothing more.
“I assume my presence here has wider ramifications on the region. How wonderful that I may assist Lotus House even without joining. In that case, perhaps I should’ve become a full-fledged member. I’m certain you have some benefits.”
“We do. In fact, I can guarantee that had you joined, your life in the coming seconds would be considerably easier. I’d almost be compelled to spirit you away.”
Rieze offered the praying girl a puzzled look.
“From what?”
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Rieze snapped to attention as a set of polite knocks rapped against the chapel doors.
She glanced to the front of the chapel, then immediately returned her gaze to the side. Too late. All she saw was an empty space where the Dealer had been sitting motionless, with not even a playing card left in her place.
She clicked her tongue.
A dangerous girl.
But not one she had to deal with right now.
Sweeping the image of the Dealer and her scandalous clothing from her mind, Rieze penned her signature on another invoice report, then repeated the action for every other document in her stack. Only once she finished did she finally rise, brushing down her knees before making her way towards the chapel entrance.
More worshippers. More merchants. More sinners.
The last group especially so.
Though the doors of Holy Church were always open, that was far more a thing of ceremony than it was of reality. Even sisters needed sleep. And those who struck their foreheads against the pages of invoice booklets even more so.
Rieze stopped when she heard speech from the other side.
Raised speech. Noisy chatter. An argument?
Not just worshippers, merchants and sinners, then. But ones debating on the footsteps of her chapel over who could steal her valuable time first. They’d receive it and more. The sign outside was clear. Visiting hours were over.
Frowning, Rieze reached for the doors.
“[Coppelia Kick]!”
And then she paused, wondering what in the heavens a [Coppelia Kick] was.
The next moment, Rieze ate a pair of heavy wooden doors to the face.
Comments
I was wondering why it was taking so long for Coppelia to kick down the door. I didn’t think she would wait for more than a second. I see that was just her flair for dramatic timing.
The Magician
Since this is the 4th outing of our duo on this particular kind of visit, I feel it is about time to give Coppelia a uniform arm band signifying her deputization as a collector for the "Revenue Ministry"
