Chapter 108: A Late-Night Visit from Mom

Once he'd stopped laughing, Uriel got dressed and headed to the front desk. The girl still looked shaken by the possibility that she'd sent an academy senior and her supposed boyfriend into the same bath by mistake. Her hands trembled as she collected the bathhouse supplies.

Uriel was in an excellent mood, and a student working to pay her way deserved a break. He left her ten silver as a tip. She accepted the coins like an absolution she'd never expected to receive.

Over the next two days, he explored Trido: relics of past pontiffs at the Museum of Miracles, then the view from the great clock tower. Its staircase was barely wide enough for one person.

He also visited the Adventurers' Guild. Its local branch was smaller and far less frantic than the one in the capital. Instead of a queue of adventurers turning in jobs, he found a group of young members playing cards in a corner. One had so many paper slips stuck to his face that he'd clearly been losing all afternoon.

The bartender picked out his capital accent as soon as he spoke.

"From the capital? We don't see many of you here."

That brought the card players over to ask about the capital's academy. The one with the paper-covered face bought a round of drinks.

"Silver-rank students? Even gold-rank? And they haven't graduated?"

The lanky adventurer's hair stuck out in every direction. He looked at Uriel as though the academy bred monsters.

"That's some serious talent."

There was no envy in the shorter man's voice, only admiration. An older adventurer with a ragged beard took a long pull from his mug.

"Barely a month on the job, and they're already at ranks it took us years to reach."

Uriel steered the talk toward the Hero's Ascent. He wanted to check Seraphina's account against local knowledge and learn where the event would take place. The younger adventurers waved off the idea of entering.

"We're not strong enough. Two stone- or iron-rank adventurers going at it? You'd get a better fight outside a tavern at closing time."

Watching was another matter. The arena stood just outside town, and when the Hero's Ascent began, half the city's adventurers went to see it. The number of guild jobs fell by half during the event.

A freckled swordsman gave him directions. Uriel recognized the landmark: the enormous coliseum he'd mistaken for a historic ruin. So they still used it. It was big enough to rival a modern stadium.

The event would begin the day after tomorrow. He counted on his fingers. Two days. I've come all this way. Might as well stay for it.

Mom and Lumina can wait a few more days. I made myself clear before I left.

That evening he ate the local specialty, Bobo beef steak, at a small restaurant near his inn. He bought honeyed figs from a dessert stall on the corner and took them back for later. By the time he returned, the streets had emptied and the cathedral bells were sending their last notes down the alleys.

He'd spent the day walking all over Trido and come back drenched in sweat. For once, he was early enough to take a long shower. He let the hot water run over his shoulders, then reached for his clean clothes. He hadn't brought them in.

It hardly mattered. He was alone in the room, so he could dress there. He wrapped a bath towel around himself and opened the door.

His feet stopped. Galatina stood beside his bed, carefully smoothing each crease from the sheets. She wore a small smile and hummed the lullaby he'd heard a hundred times.

One thought surfaced. I'm not dressed.

Galatina heard him and turned. They stared at each other for a heartbeat, and his mouth moved before his brain caught up.

"Why are you here?"

"Oh, little Uri. Put some clothes on before you catch cold."

Her smile widened. She picked up his clean clothes from beside the bed and handed them over, then launched into the routine she'd been perfecting his entire life.

"Are you hungry? Are you getting used to the food here? Should I make you something?"

She crossed to the table and inspected the unfinished box of figs.

"These are sweet. Are they enough? Would you like something else?"

Uriel pulled his clothes on as fast as he could, ignoring the questions about food.

"Why did you come? Did something happen, or did you just pop over to check on me again?"

Galatina tilted her head. A stray lock of hair sprang up as she wore the vacant expression of someone trying to remember why she'd entered a room. Then she struck her palm with her fist.

"I remember! Lumina was worried about you, so I came to check on you first."

Uriel dropped onto the bed. Lumina? Worried? She practically snapped to attention when she cornered me outside the bathroom. I didn't see any worry on her face. What did she actually tell Mom?

"Worried about what? I told her I was here to sightsee. I mean, gather intelligence. It's safe."

"But Lumina said Trido might be another gathering place for the Curse Cult."

Uriel froze. It took him several seconds to find his voice.

"What?"

"After you left, she dug up a lot of information about Trido in the capital. There were several important discoveries. I can't remember all of them..."

Galatina pressed a finger to her chin. Her eyes brightened as one detail came back.

"Oh, yes. The pontiff hasn't appeared in public for years. Representatives handle public events now. Only the winner of the Hero's Ascent gets an audience with him."

Uriel waited. Some religious tradition, probably.

"But some of the winners who met him vanished afterward. No one knows where they went."

He frowned. The pontiff's long absence and the winner's private audience matched what he'd heard people discussing in the cathedral square. The disappearances were new. The adventurers who'd bought him a drink hadn't seemed to know, either; they'd spoken of the Hero's Ascent with unguarded excitement.

"What about the others? You said only some disappeared."

He was looking for a hole in the theory. Galatina nodded, still speaking in the gentle tone she used for discussing dinner plans.

"Lumina is investigating the others."

Uriel had nothing to say. Several winners had vanished after meeting a pontiff who hadn't appeared in public for years. He couldn't dismiss that as coincidence.

Maybe they went looking for tougher dungeons and died there. He tried to think of a less alarming explanation. Nothing came.

He sat on the edge of the bed, frowning. Galatina clapped her hands softly. Having finished her report on the disappearances, she went back to asking about his dinner.

"Little Uri, are you hungry? I could borrow the kitchen downstairs and make you a late-night snack."