Chapter 128: 128
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With the eradication of the Demi-Human race, the Holy Church felt that they needed to do something to continue to increase their influence. Since their power and influence had reached an all-time high they managed to push and shove the nobility and royalty to helping them increase their influence even further. Their plan was quite simple, but also incredibly effective.
Whenever Reeve arrived at a town that had yet to reach the population required for it to be considered a city, the church would give out money to all of the populace. Every single person in the town would receive one gold square as a reward for being blessed with the appearance of God's Hero. This money was taken straight from the nobles and royalty of the kingdom.
The end result of this plan was obvious. Whenever God's Hero arrived at a town that qualified for this benefit, everyone in the city would celebrate raucously and without hesitation. They would splurge the money they just got and spend it within the month, fueling the economy of the town and driving more merchants to visit for a time. This usually caused the population to increase as well within a year's time. Furthermore, with the increased revenue, the Holy Church would naturally receive more donations while the nobles in the area grew slightly weaker in power.
However, due to the growth of the city, the nobles would eventually benefit and the royalty of the Kingdom would also gain in the end. As a result, after the first few times it was done, no one resisted paying for the Holy Church.
None of this mattered to Altair. She felt a tinge of worry that was stripped from her just as quick as it came and a look of confusion came to her face as she walked away from the boy. She walked past the celebrating people who didn't spare her even a glance as she made her way through the crown, still advancing towards Sief's home.
'Why would he be coming here?' She didn't understand why he would come so far away from the capitol. It could be that it was just part of his route and he was seeing the sights or, perhaps, it had been planned by the Holy Church. However, her gut denied those reasons immediately.
Altair knew about Tracking Magic. The only reason why she wasn't worried about such things was because she didn't sense anything wrong with herself, magically speaking. Because she couldn't sense anything wrong with herself, the thought that he had come for her didn't even cross her mind.
'Well,' she thought to herself as she dismissed his presence from her mind, 'it doesn't matter why he's here. There's no Tracking Magic on me and I don't even look like I used to. Plus, I'm taller than before. There's no chance he can find me.'
How much she had grown was so negligible that no one would be able to tell at a glance.
As she made her way down the street, a familiar boy with rust colored hair abruptly grabbed her arm and tugged her into an alley. He had the biggest grin on his face as he excitedly spoke to her, "Reeve is here!"
Altair gave him an odd look while he tugged her deeper into the alley. She then resisted his pull and asked, "And?"
The boy grinned broadly as he said, "So everyone's going to get a gold square! The more kids at the orphanage the more gold squares the orphanage will get!"
Altair finally understood the reason why everyone was celebrating so much. 'I see. If everyone gets money because Reeve comes around that explains everything.' She then gave the boy a doubting look as an idea came to her mind, 'He can't really be expecting me to, can he? I'm dressed like a noble, why would I help him?'
Just as the thought cleared her mind, the boy excitedly stated, "Come on and act like an orphan so the orphanage can get more gold squares! You'll do it, right? Allie even said that you were super nice!"
Altair's expression deflated, 'He's actually serious…' She looked up at the clear sky and attempted to judge what time it was. When she teleported back to the Kingdom it was morning even though she had left at night. Since that was the case, even if she returned to the Empire now, it would probably still be night. So she did technically have quite a bit of time before she needed to return.
She looked back at the boy and gave him an incredibly reluctant look before she asked, "How long will this take? I have things to do."
The boy's expression beamed as he quickly said, "It shouldn't take long. The priests count the orphanages first for their calculations and they should be arriving soon. Maybe an hour or two in total."
Altair was quiet for a very long moment on purpose. She wanted to give the impression that she was struggling to agree with him. She really didn't want to get bothered by this boy again or even to actually do what he requested. She half-wanted him to withdraw his request.
However, he didn't withdraw it and only continued to give her an expectant look.
Altair finally sighed and said, "Fine, as long as it's quick."
Before she could even complete what she had said, the boy had already grabbed her and started to drag her through the alley he pulled her into. The rest of her sentence faded into the noise from their surroundings and she had no idea if he heard her at all.
The boy didn't seem to have any trouble navigating the maze-like interior of the town. He didn't pause at all as he went through every single twist and turn without hesitating for even a fraction of a second.
As their surroundings grew more and more cluttered with random objects that blocked their path, Altair found that the way he was pulling her through had been well traveled by other children. The paths were conveniently cleared just enough for children to pass through with no issue. If an adult or someone a few years older than the boy that was tugging her along tried to go through them, they would have trouble as they almost tripped over the barrels and boxes. However, for someone of their height, it was easy to go through.
Altair immediately realized that the path she was on was an escape route.
She thought back to when she chased the urchin that tried to steal from her. In the moment she was chasing after him she didn't have any time to pay attention to her surroundings. However, now that she thought about it, she quickly realized that he had run through a similar alleyway. In fact, the alleyway that she was ambushed by the horde of children was one such alleyway.
'These kids are smarter than I thought,' she thought to herself. However, she quickly added, 'Except that one idiot who tried to steal from someone who wouldn't be affected by fighting in such tight quarters like them.'
Altair was soon brought to a rundown building. It was, like every other building she had seen in town, made of stone. But that's where the similarities with the other buildings ended. It was a three storey building that had a damaged wooden door for its entrance. The top of the door was an archway instead of the normal rectangular doorway. The windows had no actual windows. The front of the building was facing the alleyway that they were still traveling on, along with the street it connected to.
The street itself was more rundown than others Altair had seen. The cobblestones had obvious signs of disrepair and there were boxes and barrels strewn about at random. The other buildings on the street were in similar quality to the orphanage and there wasn't a single person celebrating on the street here.
All in all, the area was oddly quiet as the cheers from distant areas echoed into the place.
Altair's hair stood on end and she immediately went on her guard, 'These stupid boys can't be planning something unsavory, can they?'
Another boy leaned out from the building when the sounds of their footsteps drew closer and his expression brightened up upon seeing them, "You convinced her?!"
The rusty haired boy nodded his head confidently, "Why else would she be here?"
The boy shouted back into the building, "Rusty succeeded guys!" A bunch of cheering echoed from within the orphanage, which caused Altair to frown deeply as she was pulled to the doorway.
The front room of the orphanage was mostly clean. There were a few stools and a couple of damage chairs sitting in the front room, but that was all. There were stairs leading up to the next floor on the far wall and a door below the stairs leading further into the building. There were no signs of other people in the room other than the two boys before Altair.
Suddenly, the door on the far end opened and a middle-aged woman wearing an apron over her dress walked out while rubbing her hands over her stained apron. She had an incredulous look on her face and she eyed Altair with suspicion before she asked in a no-nonsense tone, "Where are you from, girl?"
Altair scoffed loudly at her while the two boys at her side attempted to put distance between her and them. They were obviously scared of the woman to some degree, but Altair wasn't fazed. She replied in an indifferent tone, "That isn't needed for this, is it?"
The woman narrowed her eyes at Altair, "We will be keeping the gold square completely and you won't be getting a share of it. The children here need the resou-"
Altair waved her hand dismissively towards her, "I don't care. I'll be leaving the town by the end of the day anyway and I don't need the money."
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With the eradication of the Demi-Human race, the Holy Church felt that they needed to do something to continue to increase their influence. Since their power and influence had reached an all-time high they managed to push and shove the nobility and royalty to helping them increase their influence even further. Their plan was quite simple, but also incredibly effective.
Whenever Reeve arrived at a town that had yet to reach the population required for it to be considered a city, the church would give out money to all of the populace. Every single person in the town would receive one gold square as a reward for being blessed with the appearance of God's Hero. This money was taken straight from the nobles and royalty of the kingdom.
The end result of this plan was obvious. Whenever God's Hero arrived at a town that qualified for this benefit, everyone in the city would celebrate raucously and without hesitation. They would splurge the money they just got and spend it within the month, fueling the economy of the town and driving more merchants to visit for a time. This usually caused the population to increase as well within a year's time. Furthermore, with the increased revenue, the Holy Church would naturally receive more donations while the nobles in the area grew slightly weaker in power.
However, due to the growth of the city, the nobles would eventually benefit and the royalty of the Kingdom would also gain in the end. As a result, after the first few times it was done, no one resisted paying for the Holy Church.
None of this mattered to Altair. She felt a tinge of worry that was stripped from her just as quick as it came and a look of confusion came to her face as she walked away from the boy. She walked past the celebrating people who didn't spare her even a glance as she made her way through the crown, still advancing towards Sief's home.
'Why would he be coming here?' She didn't understand why he would come so far away from the capitol. It could be that it was just part of his route and he was seeing the sights or, perhaps, it had been planned by the Holy Church. However, her gut denied those reasons immediately.
Altair knew about Tracking Magic. The only reason why she wasn't worried about such things was because she didn't sense anything wrong with herself, magically speaking. Because she couldn't sense anything wrong with herself, the thought that he had come for her didn't even cross her mind.
'Well,' she thought to herself as she dismissed his presence from her mind, 'it doesn't matter why he's here. There's no Tracking Magic on me and I don't even look like I used to. Plus, I'm taller than before. There's no chance he can find me.'
How much she had grown was so negligible that no one would be able to tell at a glance.
As she made her way down the street, a familiar boy with rust colored hair abruptly grabbed her arm and tugged her into an alley. He had the biggest grin on his face as he excitedly spoke to her, "Reeve is here!"
Altair gave him an odd look while he tugged her deeper into the alley. She then resisted his pull and asked, "And?"
The boy grinned broadly as he said, "So everyone's going to get a gold square! The more kids at the orphanage the more gold squares the orphanage will get!"
Altair finally understood the reason why everyone was celebrating so much. 'I see. If everyone gets money because Reeve comes around that explains everything.' She then gave the boy a doubting look as an idea came to her mind, 'He can't really be expecting me to, can he? I'm dressed like a noble, why would I help him?'
Just as the thought cleared her mind, the boy excitedly stated, "Come on and act like an orphan so the orphanage can get more gold squares! You'll do it, right? Allie even said that you were super nice!"
Altair's expression deflated, 'He's actually serious…' She looked up at the clear sky and attempted to judge what time it was. When she teleported back to the Kingdom it was morning even though she had left at night. Since that was the case, even if she returned to the Empire now, it would probably still be night. So she did technically have quite a bit of time before she needed to return.
She looked back at the boy and gave him an incredibly reluctant look before she asked, "How long will this take? I have things to do."
The boy's expression beamed as he quickly said, "It shouldn't take long. The priests count the orphanages first for their calculations and they should be arriving soon. Maybe an hour or two in total."
Altair was quiet for a very long moment on purpose. She wanted to give the impression that she was struggling to agree with him. She really didn't want to get bothered by this boy again or even to actually do what he requested. She half-wanted him to withdraw his request.
However, he didn't withdraw it and only continued to give her an expectant look.
Altair finally sighed and said, "Fine, as long as it's quick."
Before she could even complete what she had said, the boy had already grabbed her and started to drag her through the alley he pulled her into. The rest of her sentence faded into the noise from their surroundings and she had no idea if he heard her at all.
The boy didn't seem to have any trouble navigating the maze-like interior of the town. He didn't pause at all as he went through every single twist and turn without hesitating for even a fraction of a second.
As their surroundings grew more and more cluttered with random objects that blocked their path, Altair found that the way he was pulling her through had been well traveled by other children. The paths were conveniently cleared just enough for children to pass through with no issue. If an adult or someone a few years older than the boy that was tugging her along tried to go through them, they would have trouble as they almost tripped over the barrels and boxes. However, for someone of their height, it was easy to go through.
Altair immediately realized that the path she was on was an escape route.
She thought back to when she chased the urchin that tried to steal from her. In the moment she was chasing after him she didn't have any time to pay attention to her surroundings. However, now that she thought about it, she quickly realized that he had run through a similar alleyway. In fact, the alleyway that she was ambushed by the horde of children was one such alleyway.
'These kids are smarter than I thought,' she thought to herself. However, she quickly added, 'Except that one idiot who tried to steal from someone who wouldn't be affected by fighting in such tight quarters like them.'
Altair was soon brought to a rundown building. It was, like every other building she had seen in town, made of stone. But that's where the similarities with the other buildings ended. It was a three storey building that had a damaged wooden door for its entrance. The top of the door was an archway instead of the normal rectangular doorway. The windows had no actual windows. The front of the building was facing the alleyway that they were still traveling on, along with the street it connected to.
The street itself was more rundown than others Altair had seen. The cobblestones had obvious signs of disrepair and there were boxes and barrels strewn about at random. The other buildings on the street were in similar quality to the orphanage and there wasn't a single person celebrating on the street here.
All in all, the area was oddly quiet as the cheers from distant areas echoed into the place.
Altair's hair stood on end and she immediately went on her guard, 'These stupid boys can't be planning something unsavory, can they?'
Another boy leaned out from the building when the sounds of their footsteps drew closer and his expression brightened up upon seeing them, "You convinced her?!"
The rusty haired boy nodded his head confidently, "Why else would she be here?"
The boy shouted back into the building, "Rusty succeeded guys!" A bunch of cheering echoed from within the orphanage, which caused Altair to frown deeply as she was pulled to the doorway.
The front room of the orphanage was mostly clean. There were a few stools and a couple of damage chairs sitting in the front room, but that was all. There were stairs leading up to the next floor on the far wall and a door below the stairs leading further into the building. There were no signs of other people in the room other than the two boys before Altair.
Suddenly, the door on the far end opened and a middle-aged woman wearing an apron over her dress walked out while rubbing her hands over her stained apron. She had an incredulous look on her face and she eyed Altair with suspicion before she asked in a no-nonsense tone, "Where are you from, girl?"
Altair scoffed loudly at her while the two boys at her side attempted to put distance between her and them. They were obviously scared of the woman to some degree, but Altair wasn't fazed. She replied in an indifferent tone, "That isn't needed for this, is it?"
The woman narrowed her eyes at Altair, "We will be keeping the gold square completely and you won't be getting a share of it. The children here need the resou-"
Altair waved her hand dismissively towards her, "I don't care. I'll be leaving the town by the end of the day anyway and I don't need the money."
With the eradication of the Demi-Human race, the Holy Church felt that they needed to do something to continue to increase their influence. Since their power and influence had reached an all-time high they managed to push and shove the nobility and royalty to helping them increase their influence even further. Their plan was quite simple, but also incredibly effective.Whenever Reeve arrived at a town that had yet to reach the population required for it to be considered a city, the church would give out money to all of the populace. Every single person in the town would receive one gold square as a reward for being blessed with the appearance of God's Hero. This money was taken straight from the nobles and royalty of the kingdom.The end result of this plan was obvious. Whenever God's Hero arrived at a town that qualified for this benefit, everyone in the city would celebrate raucously and without hesitation. They would splurge the money they just got and spend it within the month, fueling the economy of the town and driving more merchants to visit for a time. This usually caused the population to increase as well within a year's time. Furthermore, with the increased revenue, the Holy Church would naturally receive more donations while the nobles in the area grew slightly weaker in power.However, due to the growth of the city, the nobles would eventually benefit and the royalty of the Kingdom would also gain in the end. As a result, after the first few times it was done, no one resisted paying for the Holy Church.None of this mattered to Altair. She felt a tinge of worry that was stripped from her just as quick as it came and a look of confusion came to her face as she walked away from the boy. She walked past the celebrating people who didn't spare her even a glance as she made her way through the crown, still advancing towards Sief's home.'Why would he be coming here?' She didn't understand why he would come so far away from the capitol. It could be that it was just part of his route and he was seeing the sights or, perhaps, it had been planned by the Holy Church. However, her gut denied those reasons immediately.Altair knew about Tracking Magic. The only reason why she wasn't worried about such things was because she didn't sense anything wrong with herself, magically speaking. Because she couldn't sense anything wrong with herself, the thought that he had come for her didn't even cross her mind.'Well,' she thought to herself as she dismissed his presence from her mind, 'it doesn't matter why he's here. There's no Tracking Magic on me and I don't even look like I used to. Plus, I'm taller than before. There's no chance he can find me.'How much she had grown was so negligible that no one would be able to tell at a glance.As she made her way down the street, a familiar boy with rust colored hair abruptly grabbed her arm and tugged her into an alley. He had the biggest grin on his face as he excitedly spoke to her, "Reeve is here!"Altair gave him an odd look while he tugged her deeper into the alley. She then resisted his pull and asked, "And?"The boy grinned broadly as he said, "So everyone's going to get a gold square! The more kids at the orphanage the more gold squares the orphanage will get!"Altair finally understood the reason why everyone was celebrating so much. 'I see. If everyone gets money because Reeve comes around that explains everything.' She then gave the boy a doubting look as an idea came to her mind, 'He can't really be expecting me to, can he? I'm dressed like a noble, why would I help him?'Just as the thought cleared her mind, the boy excitedly stated, "Come on and act like an orphan so the orphanage can get more gold squares! You'll do it, right? Allie even said that you were super nice!"Altair's expression deflated, 'He's actually serious' She looked up at the clear sky and attempted to judge what time it was. When she teleported back to the Kingdom it was morning even though she had left at night. Since that was the case, even if she returned to the Empire now, it would probably still be night. So she did technically have quite a bit of time before she needed to return.She looked back at the boy and gave him an incredibly reluctant look before she asked, "How long will this take? I have things to do."The boy's expression beamed as he quickly said, "It shouldn't take long. The priests count the orphanages first for their calculations and they should be arriving soon. Maybe an hour or two in total."Altair was quiet for a very long moment on purpose. She wanted to give the impression that she was struggling to agree with him. She really didn't want to get bothered by this boy again or even to actually do what he requested. She half-wanted him to withdraw his request.However, he didn't withdraw it and only continued to give her an expectant look.Altair finally sighed and said, "Fine, as long as it's quick."Before she could even complete what she had said, the boy had already grabbed her and started to drag her through the alley he pulled her into. The rest of her sentence faded into the noise from their surroundings and she had no idea if he heard her at all.The boy didn't seem to have any trouble navigating the maze-like interior of the town. He didn't pause at all as he went through every single twist and turn without hesitating for even a fraction of a second.As their surroundings grew more and more cluttered with random objects that blocked their path, Altair found that the way he was pulling her through had been well traveled by other children. The paths were conveniently cleared just enough for children to pass through with no issue. If an adult or someone a few years older than the boy that was tugging her along tried to go through them, they would have trouble as they almost tripped over the barrels and boxes. However, for someone of their height, it was easy to go through.Altair immediately realized that the path she was on was an escape route.She thought back to when she chased the urchin that tried to steal from her. In the moment she was chasing after him she didn't have any time to pay attention to her surroundings. However, now that she thought about it, she quickly realized that he had run through a similar alleyway. In fact, the alleyway that she was ambushed by the horde of children was one such alleyway.'These kids are smarter than I thought,' she thought to herself. However, she quickly added, 'Except that one idiot who tried to steal from someone who wouldn't be affected by fighting in such tight quarters like them.'Altair was soon brought to a rundown building. It was, like every other building she had seen in town, made of stone. But that's where the similarities with the other buildings ended. It was a three storey building that had a damaged wooden door for its entrance. The top of the door was an archway instead of the normal rectangular doorway. The windows had no actual windows. The front of the building was facing the alleyway that they were still traveling on, along with the street it connected to.The street itself was more rundown than others Altair had seen. The cobblestones had obvious signs of disrepair and there were boxes and barrels strewn about at random. The other buildings on the street were in similar quality to the orphanage and there wasn't a single person celebrating on the street here.All in all, the area was oddly quiet as the cheers from distant areas echoed into the place.Altair's hair stood on end and she immediately went on her guard, 'These stupid boys can't be planning something unsavory, can they?'Another boy leaned out from the building when the sounds of their footsteps drew closer and his expression brightened up upon seeing them, "You convinced her?!"The rusty haired boy nodded his head confidently, "Why else would she be here?"The boy shouted back into the building, "Rusty succeeded guys!" A bunch of cheering echoed from within the orphanage, which caused Altair to frown deeply as she was pulled to the doorway.The front room of the orphanage was mostly clean. There were a few stools and a couple of damage chairs sitting in the front room, but that was all. There were stairs leading up to the next floor on the far wall and a door below the stairs leading further into the building. There were no signs of other people in the room other than the two boys before Altair.Suddenly, the door on the far end opened and a middle-aged woman wearing an apron over her dress walked out while rubbing her hands over her stained apron. She had an incredulous look on her face and she eyed Altair with suspicion before she asked in a no-nonsense tone, "Where are you from, girl?"Altair scoffed loudly at her while the two boys at her side attempted to put distance between her and them. They were obviously scared of the woman to some degree, but Altair wasn't fazed. She replied in an indifferent tone, "That isn't needed for this, is it?"The woman narrowed her eyes at Altair, "We will be keeping the gold square completely and you won't be getting a share of it. The children here need the resou-"Altair waved her hand dismissively towards her, "I don't care. I'll be leaving the town by the end of the day anyway and I don't need the money."
