Chapter 109: The Brigade Assembles

The question of whether Uriel was hungry never did get an answer. Galatina couldn't sit still, so she went to wash his clothes instead. That left him alone to think.

The pontiff hadn't appeared in public for years. Some of the winners granted private audiences with him had vanished afterward.

Seraphina had come for the Hero's Ascent. If she won, she would be next in line to meet him. If the Curse Cult was involved, she could be walking straight into its hands.

A chill ran down Uriel's back. He forced himself to breathe slowly.

Wait. Calm down. I don't know that the pontiff's involved. I don't even know what happened to those winners.

But if he waited for proof, Seraphina might already be inside the pontiff's private chambers by the time he found it. He could tell her to withdraw. She would ask how he knew the event was dangerous, and he had no convincing answer.

As for finding some excuse to get her out of Trido—he gave a dry laugh. He could barely get through an ordinary conversation with her without being caught out.

He could enter himself and win the audience first. His ordinary-student act would last about as long as his first match. And if Galatina had to intervene, the kingdom would have another crisis before it had recovered from the last one.

Better to watch, as he'd planned. He could study the pontiff's representatives and find a way to speak to the winner before the private audience.

Then he could decide whether to act. For now, he didn't even know what he was warning Seraphina about.

"Mom. Let's go watch the Hero's Ascent and see what's happening for ourselves."

He raised his voice toward the bathroom, where Galatina was doing his laundry. Her answer came back at once, bright enough to fill the room.

"Of course! I'll go with you!"

"Wait, no. Go as Tian. Student cover. Roommate mode."

He had no idea what records the church kept. If the pontiff had ties to the Cult, someone might recognize the Holy Sword Witch. There was no reason to take that risk.

Tian was just a mild-mannered boy in an academy uniform. Two students on holiday could ask questions without looking as though they were conducting an investigation. Unless the pontiff likes pretty boys. Let's hope not. Galatina emerged beaming, as though he'd finally announced he was going to make some friends.

"Little Uri, that's so thoughtful. Being around someone your own age will make you seem more approachable. You might make new friends, and perhaps even meet some girls! All right, I'll be Tian. I'll watch the Hero's Ascent with you."

Uriel let the matchmaking pass. The next day, he barely left the inn. He spent it hunched over his desk, writing scripts as quickly as his hand could move. If the pontiff really was hiding something, Uriel needed enough plausible lies prepared to survive whatever happened next. At the very least, the Witch needed a few lines of dialogue so she wouldn't improvise under pressure.

He ate lunch and dinner in the inn's ground-floor restaurant. Both times he chose a table near the middle of the room and listened while he ate. On the eve of the Hero's Ascent, nearly every visitor in Trido seemed to be there for the tournament, and no one felt any need to discuss it quietly.

At one table, traveling merchants argued over the favorites. At another, a family of three debated how early to claim seats. Around them, guests sampled local dishes and traded predictions loud enough to spare Uriel the trouble of asking. When Uriel mentioned his academy in the capital, a diner at the next table looked up.

"A student from the capital? Are you competing too?"

Uriel answered with his most harmless smile. He kept his voice light.

"No, just watching."

Between bites, he asked Tian when Lumina and the others would arrive. Tian answered in the mild, slightly reserved voice Galatina used for her male-student persona.

"They're coming later. Lumina needs to finish arranging things for the Magical Girl Brigade, and there are still a few matters to wrap up in the capital. The magical girls have been training harder than ever since they heard they'd be traveling."

Uriel exhaled. A normal carriage took several days to reach Trido from the capital. Even if Lumina finished her work quickly and set out at once, she and the others couldn't arrive until a day or two after the tournament began. Not everyone could open a portal and skip the journey; the household had exactly one person at Radiance rank, and that person was sitting across from him eating dinner.

On opening day, Trido was loud before sunrise had properly cleared the rooftops. The lanes filled with people streaming toward the arena outside the city. Some waved little flags bearing contestants' names, while vendors pushed carts alongside the crowd, calling out prices for snacks and chilled drinks.

The church bells rang more often than usual. Their overlapping notes traveled down the lanes until the whole city seemed to be moving to the rhythm of one enormous orchestra. Uriel wore a plain shirt, and Tian followed him out of the inn in the academy uniform she wore for the disguise.

The disguise was perfect. In a crowd like this, no one would give Tian a second look. Uriel had barely finished congratulating himself when he saw three familiar figures waiting across the street.

They spotted him and started walking over. A surprise boss encounter? I haven't even reached the arena. Weren't they supposed to arrive tomorrow? How did they finish everything and get here so fast?

Uriel waited until they were close, then stepped aside with them to let the crowd pass. Lumina dipped her head and spoke quietly, though she could hardly hide her anticipation.

"Scribe. You've spent days investigating this dangerous city on your own. You must have uncovered vital intelligence. What action should we take?"

Uriel's gaze slid away from her face. He had no useful report to give.

Investigating? Uncovering intelligence? I've checked the spring's temperature, the local guild, the dessert stalls... and counted the guards outside the cathedral. That's my report.

Everything useful he knew had come from Lumina, through Mom. All he'd done was sightsee. Now Lumina was waiting for orders, with Fenria and Kira standing ready beside her.

Fenria's tail wasn't even wagging. Kira wasn't even stealing glances at Tian. They were both taking this seriously.

Think of something. Quickly.