NOVEL SIMPLE Chapter-130 Abnormality
Early dawn.
Their ship docked at Drarith a few days later. The sailors unloaded, the captain oversaw, and Ewan accompanied Kiev out of the port. Yet, the hubbub he expected there failed him. This was the time of the day when the restaurant owners bid for the fresh catch, when the dealers dumped large shipments of spices in the market, when the ladies of the houses shopped for groceries, when men went to work and came back from. From the docks through the spice market to the streets—the city stood unusually stale today.
“Is this normal?” Ewan asked.
“Not really…” Kiev looked around, frowning.
“Doesn’t look like something big happened,” Ewan said, checking out the people walking the streets beside them. The numbers were down but the city wasn’t a ghost town; something did happen, but it shouldn’t be drastic. Ewan sniffed, the smell of rusted iron in the air from the bloodshed was still the same as when he first came here. So, he ruled out a large tide of Astylinds and a bigger war.
“Forget it,” Kiev said. “No use wondering about it, I’ll have to read the reports anyway.”
“I’ll head home then,” Ewan said. “Call for me if you need anything.”
And they parted with a nod.
…..
The days on the ocean hindered his element bath. But now he was home, he could resume where he left it off. So, after settling in, cleaning up, and letting his Astylinds out to train, he prepared another tubful of Astylind blood and dipped in. The baths took a good chunk of his daylight, and he still lost his sense of time even after bathing many times. And the more he spent on it, the more his expectations soared.
He came up, breathed a lungful of air, then sank down again.
By the time he finished the bath, drained the useless blood, scrubbed the tub clean, a guard came knocking on his door—Kiev called for him. A stocky body with a baby face, and his childish light-hazel hair falling over his ears only enhanced that contrast. When he showed his proof and the signed note, Ewan followed him out, closing the protective shield behind him.
And they met in the Ensil Villa.
“What happened?” Ewan asked, entering the main office while the guard—Lance—stood outside. “Anything serious?” A faint earthy and woody smell mixed with a hint of vanilla lingered in the air. Biblichor—the smell of books; it created a comforting atmosphere with the gentle light from the lamps.
Kiev sat on one of the sofas instead at his desk—his naked feet rubbing against the coral-red furred carpet—and handled a few neatly pinned papers with a frown on his face. “Nothing we can't handle,” he said. “I just needed a second opinion. And also wanted to let you meet the guards, they’ll follow your orders too from now on.”
“Second opinion on?” Ewan flumped on another sofa across him.
“What we saw this morning, it was because of that church you talked of on the ship,” Kiev said. “They’ve become a headache in the few days I was away.”
“That fast?” Ewan raised his eyebrows. “Do you want to take them out then?”
“That’s the last resort, I don’t want to use that right now.”
“Things might go out of hand if you let them, it’s better to root them out while we still can,” Ewan said. “If a few days can make them a headache, imagine what a month would do, or a year.”
“We still can't confront them like that. They added quite a few believers to their ranks, and all are our people. It’ll only lead to civil strife.”
“We don’t attack them then, but there are other plays,” Ewan said.
“I was thinking of making some of the tax laws stricter for such establishments. What do you think?”
“Could work.” Ewan nodded. “Won't the bias be too obvious though, unless you apply that to all large businesses. But then you’ll have another problem at your hand, you might even lose those traders’ support.”
“Being obvious is no problem, let them find out. As long as things don’t devolve into a full-blown riot, we’re fine,” Kiev said.
“Well, I personally think you’re putting too much importance on these believers. Most of them are Kyrons and the rest should be Ashevas with no hope, I’m assuming?” Ewan said. “Kyrons are important as our foundation, but correctly estimating their value is also crucial. Treat them as kings and they might just think they’re wearing the crown.”
Kiev chuckled and leaned back, putting the papers down on the table and massaging his forehead. “You sound a bit irritated. Bad experience with Kyrons?”
“A bit…It happened where I lived before,” Ewan said.
“Your hometown? You never talked about it.”
“You never asked,” he said. “Wait. Did you make sure I wasn’t a spy before you let me in?” The thought just occurred to him; their talks triggered it.
“Vetting our people is obvious, no one will trust us otherwise and we can't trust anyone either. In your case, grandpa did it personally,” Kiev said.
“Ah, so all my secrets are out.” Ewan said with an exaggerated expression. Under that guise though, his heart actually skipped a beat and his nerves tightened. That was a Step-2 Severynth. What might he have found? His <Transmute>? Frost’s identity? Toast’s special skill—Luck Roulette? His inheritance? Or the blood he got from that Nine-Tailed Fox?
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