Chapter 303 - 301 : The Holy Empire (2)

Chapter 303: Chapter 301 : The Holy Empire (2)

Max left the square without looking back.

Arthur followed a few steps behind him.

They crossed a crowded avenue, passed beneath a covered walkway, and entered a narrow lane between two shops.

Then they turned into another alley.

And another.

Gradually, the city changed around them.

The polished stone gave way to uneven paving. The bright storefronts disappeared, along with the flower baskets and carefully maintained shrines.

A drainage channel ran along the edge of the street, carrying water that smelled faintly sour.

Max led Arthur through a passage barely wide enough for two people.

On the other side lay a part of the capital that the grand avenues seemed determined to conceal.

Arthur slowed.

The buildings leaned close together, their walls patched with mismatched timber and old cloth. Blankets hung over doorways, while broken tiles had been stacked beneath leaking roofs.

People sat against the walls with empty bowls resting in their laps.

An elderly woman held out a trembling hand as they passed.

Farther ahead, a man lay beneath a threadbare blanket, coughing so violently that his entire body shook with the effort.

Children watched from the steps of cramped houses.

Their clothes were either too large or too small, and their wrists were painfully thin.

One little boy had fallen asleep beside a basket containing nothing but a few wilted vegetable leaves.

Arthur glanced back toward the distant avenues.

"When I arrived, I wouldn’t have guessed a place like this existed here."

Max’s expression remained unchanged.

"The Goddess doesn’t grace everyone equally, Mr. Arthur."

They continued walking.

Arthur stepped around a broken section of paving.

"That’s why I don’t put my faith in them."

Max glanced sideways at him.

"A person should have the strength to change their own destiny," Arthur added.

For a moment, Max remained silent.

Then he laughed softly.

"Are you certain you can?"

Arthur turned his head toward him.

"Change your fate, I mean," Max clarified.

The broken pendant hanging from his chest shifted as he walked.

"Who knows? Perhaps you’re here because those gods wanted you here."

Arthur considered his words.

The System.

His bloodlines.

The authorities he possessed.

Too many forces had taken an interest in his life for him to dismiss the possibility entirely.

"I can’t deny it," Arthur admitted.

Max looked mildly surprised by his answer.

"I don’t know what they’re thinking," Arthur continued.

His gaze drifted down the narrow street.

"But I know what I want."

He stepped past the sleeping boy.

"That’s enough to keep me fighting."

Max watched him for a moment.

Then his eyes lowered toward the ground.

"I wish I could be like you."

Arthur turned toward him, but before he could respond, a small voice rang out from a nearby doorway.

"Max!"

A little girl appeared at the entrance of a cramped house. Her face brightened the moment she recognized him.

"Max is here!"

Her announcement spread faster than either man could react.

Children emerged from between the buildings, from behind hanging blankets, and from a small courtyard farther down the lane.

Within seconds, they had surrounded Max.

Some barely reached his waist. Others were old enough to pretend they hadn’t run over as eagerly as the rest.

All of them wore clothes that had been repaired far too many times.

"Max, look! I fixed the wheel!"

A boy held up a battered wooden toy.

Another child immediately tugged at Max’s sleeve.

"He stole mine!"

"I did not!" the accused boy protested.

"You did!"

Before the argument could escalate, a little girl pressed herself against Max’s leg, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

"The man at the market hit me."

Max’s expression changed instantly.

He crouched in front of her.

"Which man?"

The girl pointed vaguely toward the distant streets.

Max didn’t press her for more details in front of the others. Instead, he gently examined the red mark near her wrist.

Beside him, a smaller boy finally asked the question everyone had been waiting to hear.

"Did you bring food?"

Max looked up.

For the first time since entering the district, his smile seemed entirely genuine.

"Of course I did."

He reached into his storage space, and several wrapped parcels appeared in his hands.

Bread.

Fruit.

Small containers of cooked food.

"There’s enough for everyone," he assured them before the children could begin pushing one another.

Their cheers filled the narrow street.

Max distributed the parcels to the older children first.

"Share properly. Take some to the little ones who can’t come outside."

One girl nodded with solemn determination, accepting the responsibility as though she had been entrusted with an important mission.

"And no fighting," Max added.

The children responded with a collection of remarkably unconvincing promises.

Arthur watched from a short distance away.

Max continued handing out food, settling arguments over portions, and promising to repair a broken toy later.

The children accepted his attention with the familiarity of people who had learned to rely on him.

Arthur felt no sudden ache in his chest.

No overwhelming wave of pity.

No instinctive desire to comfort them.

For a moment, he wondered why.

He could recognize their hunger.

He could understand their fear.

Yet that understanding remained distant and precise, almost entirely practical.

A problem.

Several problems.

Not an emotion.

His gaze shifted back to Max.

The same man who had casually discussed killing elves for money was now kneeling in the dirt, making certain that even the smallest child received something to eat.

’People are inconveniently complicated.’

Eventually, Max directed the children toward the courtyard.

"Go on. Eat before it gets cold."

They departed reluctantly.

Several waved goodbye, while one boy reminded Max, at considerable volume, about the broken toy he had promised to repair.

Max assured him once again that he hadn’t forgotten.

Only after the children had dispersed did he straighten and turn toward Arthur.

His smile faded.

"Why did you reveal your identity to me?"

Arthur met his gaze.

The lane had grown quieter.

Too quiet.

He sensed the first presence on the rooftop to his left.

Then another behind a shuttered window.

A third waited somewhere beyond the passage they had used to enter the district.

More followed.

Still.

Watchful.

Arthur didn’t turn his head.

He didn’t need to.

Max’s hand rested loosely at his side, nowhere near his axe. However, the amusement had disappeared from his eyes, replaced by a guarded seriousness.

"You saw the reward," Max said. "You knew what this city would do if anyone recognized you."

Arthur’s gaze dropped toward Max’s chest.

"Your pendant."

Max went still.

Arthur pointed toward the broken piece of metal hanging from the cord around his neck.

"A crescent moon."

For the first time, Max’s expression failed to conceal his surprise.

Arthur continued.

"It’s damaged, but not enough to hide what it represents."

Max said nothing.

"It isn’t Freya’s symbol."

The hidden presences surrounding them seemed to grow more attentive.

Arthur lifted his eyes toward Max’s face.

"It belongs to the Goddess of Moonlight."

Max’s fingers moved toward the pendant.

He stopped before touching it.

Arthur noticed the movement.

"You’re one of her followers, aren’t you?"

A long silence followed.

Max stared at Arthur varily.

"You’re making a dangerous assumption."

"Then correct me."

Max’s jaw tightened.

He offered no correction.

Arthur took a step closer.

"I know about the ruined temple of your goddess."

That earned a reaction.

Small.

Immediate.

But unmistakable.

Arthur continued.

"The one the Church destroyed. The one nobody is permitted to enter."

Max’s eyes narrowed.

"Why would you want to go there?"

Arthur held his gaze.

"That’s the job."

The air between them seemed to grow thinner.

Arthur could still sense the people watching from the surrounding buildings.

None had moved.

Not yet.

"Bypass the security," Arthur instructed. "Take me inside."

Max studied him in silence.

Arthur’s voice remained calm and unwavering.

"That’s all you have to do."