Chapter 246 – Day of Expedition

In the early morning of the expedition, Anlesa packed her bags, hid some items away, and double-checked that everything they prepared was in its correct location. 

Mostly everything was prepared before the day even started, but Eva had been working on positions late into the night before finally being forced into bed by Syrus. 

In the morning, they did a quick run around the block to say goodbye to everyone again. The children were sad but excited, as it meant more stories from her later. Anlesa also gave them one more round of warnings and wished them well in all their crafts and fun. 

Lavender wished Syrus the best and told her she would keep an eye out for any trouble. Anlesa appreciated Lavender’s effort and promised to buy a meal when they returned. 

However, they ended up circling the area for a little while as they searched for Ash. She was one of the people needed to talk to as they planned for some future business which they hadn’t finished discussing. 

“There you are, Ash. Still have time to talk about potions, or would you now rather wait until after the expedition." 

Ash let out a long sigh. “Let’s wait until after; my brain is overloading from the shit I just had to deal with.”

Eva raised an eyebrow in worry. “Is everything fine?” 

“Mostly… Have you been busy?” Ash asked.

“Well, these last few days have mostly been me going on back-to-back conversations with you and Lavender. One day I talk to her, the next you, then vice versa until the world ends or something.” The last few days had been quite mentally exhausting, all things considered. Anlesa’s talk with the children and Elly lasted a while, since this was going to be a larger mission and with the known risk and the city’s plans to mitigate them. If things did go horribly wrong, they needed to make sure that the children had a plan to try and save themselves.  

“Yep, that sounds right.” She sighed again. “Well, I will tell you about the mess, but warning… it is not fun.” 

“You are not helping yourself by delaying it.” 

“Shut it, I know.” Ash groaned and began the tale. “So it started during a meeting with the city council; everyone was talking about the usual stuff, then of course there was a long talk about the expedition. A few people were afraid while the rest tried to reassure them that it would be fine. I also learned that a member of the council is going along, he was one of the ones who was a hunter then guard at various stages of their life, so not going to turn into a full escort duty at least.” Ash paused as she realised she was still drifting around the annoying part. “Then… trouble arrived. There was a flock of priests from Aurora Church.” 

Ash didn’t know the information Anlesa had about the church’s influence in the previous attack, but also had a negative reaction 

However, her words caused a shock in Anlesa’s system. 

[The Aurora Church was here….] (Eva)

[Well, ain’t that concerning.] (Syrus)

[And it sounds like they were trying to throw their weight around again, most likely for some scheme again. No way the act would be for simple profit at this point.] Luna kind of hoped she was being overly negative. In the past she regretted underestimating the church, but she knew if her thoughts differed too far in the opposite direction and believing the worst in every encounter, there was the chance of her making a mistake that could cause them harm.

[I do really miss dealing with normal religious organisations.] Syrus looked back at the different ones that existed on the Vita continent. Some were helpful, others a little annoying, but actively malicious, not really. 

The group immediately made plans to dart back to give Elly another warning that there were hostiles in the area.  

“I’m not sure why, but the city’s reaction to them wasn’t the greatest.” Ash whispered, realising the discussion wasn’t exactly public-friendly, “They weren’t hostile in any way, but they were clear out of the gate that they wouldn’t be accepting the church's offers for assistance. From what I heard from the people spying on the church’s envoy, it seems the church believes this is because of the city’s pride in reclaiming and showing off their strength in the face of disaster. However, I have a feeling the council was untrusting for a different reason. They usually aren’t so blunt with others, especially from the church, but they have been mostly blunt with most external offers for the expedition, but their eyes at moments felt… hostile.”

“Do you think the church's group noticed the hostility?"

“A little? They were warned that they weren’t the first to have tried to weasel their way into the expedition, I think that cleared the suspicion of personal bias, but I never realised that the city council wasn’t exactly fans of the church.” Ash kept her theories to herself. 

Anlesa processed Ash’s words. There was a lot to be concerned about if they were true, which of course no reason to doubt them… but thinking about them again led to an obvious question. 

Luna felt the need to ask. “...Why were you even in such a meeting…?” 

Ash froze. “Hu… yeah… that was a strange series of events.” She scratched her head and explained the long series of events that led to it. So, because she was a local apothecary, that put her in the pool of ‘local business’ which would get called on to participate in council meetings. Normally, she would refuse if they offered her a seat on the bench, as it wasn’t the type of place she liked to spend her mornings in. However, due to the back-to-back incidents and potion and medical supplies being more important than ever, they needed more people from that field to be in all meetings, not just representatives from the major businesses. 

Thanks to her growing reputation for being able to supply potions—which she thanked and blamed Syrus for—and the aid she gave to people in recent incidents, she had been directly nominated to be in recent meetings. Such a direct nomination was hard to refuse, and so she had been stuck going for the last few meetings. 

“That explains why I haven’t seen you in the mornings as often.” Syrus mused. 

“Yeah, hopefully they will stop asking for me soon.” Ash crossed and tapped her arms. “I’ve tried not to ask many questions so they would hopefully not ask me back again in future sessions." 

“...I wish the best for your future success.” Anlesa had no idea if Ash’s dream could come true. 

The two didn’t keep each other waiting for long. Ash needed to set up her shop, and Anlesa had moved to prepare for the expedition, but made the detour to see Elly one more time. Her warning returned the expected reactions, but they also told her to not be afraid about leaving. 

Everyone who needed to be warned had been, and the people remaining in the city were ready.

[What an awful event…] Eva was glad they found out the church was nosing around, but it also meant they were leaving in a worse mood. They spent a long time running around confirming the purpose of the church's visit and warning people about what could happen. 

[It could be worse, and if everything goes to plan, we will be back in five days.] Luna replied. It wasn’t perfect, but from a combination of asking, spying, and eavesdropping, it did really seem like the church’s visit was to try and participate in the expedition for future leverage. 

[The city would laugh if you heard you.] (Syrus)

[Well, our plan is more important than the city’s timeline.] Luna answered. [Nothing we can’t handle.] 

The expedition force finally departed, leaving the city behind to set up the foundation of new opportunities for the city of Arisea Station. Though perhaps, if the operation was a success, a new name would be required for the collective of settlements.