Rue, with a basket full of vegetables by his side, approached and pulled out a chair to sit. Then he began to slice the asparagus. I purposely asked the Head Maid the question, pretending not to see him. This cunning guy.
—In the past, the Rogue Church was divided into two parts: the Northern Rebel Church, located in the north and centered around the Northern Deus Mountains, and the Southern Rebel Church in the south. Today, when we refer to the Rogue Church, we mean the Northern Rebel Church.
Northern Rebel Church.
—What did you say Rogue was?
It was no wonder I felt I had heard the name somewhere, but I couldn't place it. It was still called the Northern Rebel Church back then; it seemed it had now completely changed its name to Rogue.
—The Southern Rebel Church… At first, it was a religion with nothing special about it. They didn't get along badly with the Holy Church either. Above all, the Southern Church had no leader. Most of the allied forces, including the Penrotta Empire, followed the Holy Church, which was the state religion. However, the Church's power within the empire was very weak, and religious ceremonies were held in shrines built only in large cities like Midwinterre.
—Then they joined the Grand Mage Mephisto and were simultaneously destroyed by the Allied Forces in the Magic War. They have been practically erased from history entirely.
Most of the mages who followed Mephisto were from the Southern Rebel Church. When we marched south, we burned all visible temples of the Southern Church. Traces of gruesome massacres were often discovered in the underground basements of the temples, and when ambushes were necessary, they hid alongside decomposing corpses.
—Perhaps due to their roots with Rogue, the Northern Rebel Church also faced significant criticism from the people. Predominant public opinion questioned if the Southern Church was the only one that had been making deals with Mephisto. However, after the war, it was revealed that the allied forces benefited greatly from the Northern Church, receiving help in the exterminion of demons and various magical practices.
The maid's words were true. Natasha had also tried several ways to subjugate the demon army, and all of them were so complicated it would take me 100 days to explain just one of them. Then we began to work with a new magical theory, and I remember that all of them were transmitted by the mages of the Northern Rebel Church.
—According to the Northern Rebel Church, the Southern Rebel Church was a group of mutineers who ignored the doctrine and fled. It was an independent organism and should not be recognized as a branch with the same roots as them. The Magic Alliance recognized the claim and changed the name of the Northern Rebel Church to Rogue. The Southern Rebel Church is now registered in history books as Mephisto's army.
There was a very long process after the war. I nodded, asking the second most important question.
—Do you know what Calepa is?
—Calepa? Of course I know. That is…
At that moment, a strong wind blew in through the kitchen window and knocked down some of the bedding hanging in the backyard.
—My goodness! Such a sudden wind! I'm sorry, Daisy, I'll tell you next time. Don't follow me, go help Rue. Good heavens, I wonder if it will rain...
How could it rain when the sky was so clear?
Rue played a trick on me.
The maid hurried out. I took a seat and asked Rue, who trimmed the asparagus very meticulously, without changing his expression.
—Mr. Rue, don't you have anything to say about Rogue?
Rue ceased his delicate act of peeling the skin of a vegetable, tilted his head, and looked me in the eye before parting his lips to speak, breaking his silence for the first time.
—Miss Daisy.
Eh? Suddenly, my heart began to beat wildly, waiting to hear what he was going to say...
—Cut it in half so it tastes good.
What… do you mean? I pulled a kitchen knife from the drawer and, very carefully, cut in half the asparagus Rue had been working on anyway. He might be a weird guy, but he was an expert cook, so I obeyed. I would surely find out what Calepa was!
That day, I ate the delicious dinner prepared for me and planned to go to the pub at midnight to meet the assassin butler. But I forgot and fell back asleep.
The next day. Contrary to her promise, the maid didn't tell me what Calepa was.
—Today's class is canceled.
—What? Why?
—I think there's a problem with the water pipe in the backyard. I'm going to check it and call someone. If you need water just in case, use the water from the garden.
With that comment, the maid went out to the backyard.
—Suddenly there's a problem with the water pipe in the backyard?
I stood on the porch and stared at Rue, who was clearly the main culprit for this. Rue, who was spraying water in the garden, smiled and touched his heart.
—Why is Miss Daisy staring at me so intently again? Are you going to confess to me again? I'll reject you in advance.
—Don't bother me, old man. Why do you keep interrupting us?
—People become more narrow-minded as they age. I'm twice as old as the average elderly person, so I'm twice as narrow-minded. Keep that in mind.
The shameless Rue watered the "Rue" flower pot with a face that seemed to have not an ounce of conscience. Seeing the flower petals tremble healthily made me gnash my teeth. When I went up to the bedroom to relax, a new note, which wasn't there until this morning, was stuck to the window.
[The Pub. By day.]
It was a coded message from the assassin butler.
—I've been putting it off for a while.
I went to the market to run an errand with the excuse of buying a new broom. Before entering the market, I checked on the old potato seller. The old potato seller was snoring loudly, asleep with his back against the wall.
—Good. You sleep very well.
The potato seller's role was to locate any suspicious person approaching the pub. There was no better way to cause your opponent's carelessness than by falling asleep in the middle of the busiest time of day. After entering the market and buying a floor cleaning brush at a general store, I walked through the fruit stand next door and asked if they had ever seen anyone from Rogue around here.
—Rogue.
The fruit shop owner, who had been chatting with me, gestured with his chin.
—Hmm… I've heard of it somewhere.
—Isn't that that sect? They took many children from here back then. Aren't they the ones who helped that assassin, Mephisto?
—No, no. That's their sister religion. Rogue is probably the church that helped the Allies.
Information half wrong and half right. I don't think I can get information about Rogue from them.
—Ah, is that so? I don't know much about them. Anyway, miss, did you hear this? The person who overthrew the merchants' association... I think they turned those thugs into real people. No one has asked them to do it, but they clean the streets every morning.
I was hearing it for the first time. It seemed they were cleaning the market now.
—But that's not all! Do you know that grandpa who sells potatoes in the alley? They say the thugs apologized to him and bought him a stall. They offered him a better one, but the grandpa refused. My goodness, now that he's old, shouldn't he accept it if it lets him do his business comfortably?
—Isn't that the old man's business philosophy? There's nothing we can do. Let's just help him from time to time.
The merchants nodding vigorously smiled at me.
—Anyway, thanks to that hero, our market has once again become a good place to do business. No matter who they are, I wish them the best.
—Of course! Ah, miss, come, take a bite. Today's strawberries are very tasty. I'll give you a basket, so take it.
I refused and chewed on the large strawberry he put in my mouth.
—I don't have any money.
The smiling fruit seller gave me a handful of strawberries and replied.
—Oh, money! Not necessary. Take it, it's a favor that can't be paid with money anyway.
—Favor?
—No, it's a slip of the tongue, a slip. Go on, I have to sell fruit. If you don't have enough strawberries, come back, miss.
—Besides strawberries, if you need photographs, come to our studio! I'll take a cool picture. Up to ten photos are free, so don't worry about money, okay?
One should not say no to a gift. I held the strawberries in my arms and carefully entered the pub using the "I left something in the pub" technique. There was a "closed" sign on the door. As soon as the door opened, the members of the former merchant association rose from everywhere in the club.
—Ah, you're here!
—Yes, of course. Be quiet.
Observing the lively atmosphere, it seemed as if the interior was being renovated. The lights and the place in general seemed to have become brighter.
—You cleaned the streets and bought a stall for the old potato seller, didn't you?
Violence also made the world a better place. It was possible that in the future I would have to exercise more violence. I gave the strawberries to the bartender as a gift.
—Eat them.
The bartender looked at me in wonder.
—These precious strawberries… Thank you, miss! Hey everyone! Don't forget to thank the miss for buying us strawberries!
—Thank you, sister. Thanks for the food!
—Thank you!
I moved away from the noisy association members and headed for the warehouse. As expected, within the dimly lit confines of the warehouse, the assassin butler, with the curtain drawn, was waiting for me. He asked me in a gloomy voice.
—My request?
His request was for me to strip Jean Berkley Gratten of her right to succeed. Although I had won the duel in exchange, due to the sword master's ambiguous attitude, I wasn't sure if it was actually going to be done. I answered frankly.
—I don't know.
The assassin butler's voice became even gloomier.
—You don't know? Should I interpret that you don't care about your partner?
—No. Instead, I brought you a gift you might like.
—A gift?
—Jean Berkley Gratten. Hired as a servant for the Weatherwoods.