Chapter 82: Threat or friend?

Maybe it was the fact that he was a sure harbinger of death through executions or the aura of decay clinging to his body like a desperate maiden, but most people seemed to avoid the guy no matter whether they did or did not know about his occupation as the royal judge.

The flock of people having gathered at the front door of the church was now starting to dissipate and returned to their previous actions and locations. Not Izaya.

Seeing him approach, the royal judge called Balthasar was obviously surprised to have any of the people present address him with such casualty.

"We didn't, but seeing who you were sitting with earlier you should be keenly aware of who I am," he corrected sharply and immediately proved a certain level of intelligence. "Why are you approaching me?" His stance remained relaxed, yet his eyes grew cold as stone. He was excessively cautious, and so was Izaya as he closed in.

The smiles he wore all around trying to garner everyone's favor quickly disappeared from his lips as he figured trying to put on an act was only going to worsen his cards against the royal judge.

"I will cut the sweet talk then," he got straight to the point, but only after making sure no one was close enough to listen in to their conversation and his eyes narrowed. "I heard you want to persecute the local priest."

He felt like some kind of second grade dealer on the streets trying to sell a gram of cannabis to a student by the way he acted.

But judging the sensitivity of the topic and the way some people had just tried to burn down the entire church because of it he judged it as an appropriate precaution.

The topic being addressed was one the royal judge seemed to have seen coming and his expression barely showed any movement as he merely nodded with conviction.

"For use of dark magic, yes."

He didn't say it aloud, but Balthasar had obviously already made his decision regarding priest Marcius- and Izaya doubted it was in his favor.

Nodding towards the route the villagers had disappeared into Izaya raised an eyebrow.

"You saw what just happened, do you really think the priest and his people wouldn't defend themselves with that dark magic if it were in their possession?"

Balthasar was a man of logic. Of intelligence and arguments. As little as Izaya cared about the priest, he cared about the destiny and curse he brought about and having him executed the moment he returned was surely not going to work in their favor.

So using plausible arguments was what he deemed with the best chances to turn this into his favor.

Surprisingly enough, Balthasar seemed less stubborn than Izaya had thought as his expression softened for a moment.

A moment that he thought was meant for a change of mind or agreement- but it served none of that.

Instead his expression hardened into unspoken threats and his voice grew colder than before.

"And what if you are part of that dark magic?"

Izaya had expected a lot of answers, but turning the demonic accusations to visitors that just happened to arrive the night before had not been on his mind at all.

And just for a brief second Izaya realized that he was playing with their lives.

Balthasar had all the means in the words to persecute them all if he deemed it as necessary to rid the land of all evil influence.

And the second they started injuring Shizuo and witnessing his healing ability was all they needed to get more than just a few villagers going.

But Izaya was used to negotiations. Even more than Balthasar he suspected, and so none of those avid thoughts showed on his expression as he faked innocence.

Because at the end of the day- they truly were exactly what he had accused them of.

Demons.

"Appearing out of nowhere in the middle of the night I can see your point," Izaya slowly argued and nodded to create a fake sense of agreement, "But appearing with children? An injured one too? I thought demon's are undamageable entities."

By steering the direction of the conversation into a more hypothetical direction he was sure to shift Balthasar's motivation from taking their heads to a safer one.

"They are." The royal judge agreed slowly, unknowingly taking the bait Izaya had provided.

An amused smile, fake as it could be spread across Izaya's face as he faked the humor of a villager that graded this man as dumb. "You saw Leo's wound for yourself I surmise?" Because at the end of the day even Balthasar had a reputation to uphold, and wild speculations that were easily contradicted would only harm that.

"Enough to know that he is under no possession," Balthasar shrugged, but his eyes refused to change as they directed themselves at Izaya with well founded doubt.

"But can you say the same about yourself?"

Izaya had expected a lot. But differentiating their group into a mix of humans and demons was not what he had in mind.

A short unintended paused caused the already cold air to drop to a freezing point and for a brief moment Izaya feared the only possibility he had not wanted to consider so far-

Had Balthasar seen Shizuo's quick healing?

Izaya had made sure to quickly follow up and hide his hand as long as it was showing blisters, but what if he had been too slow?

If Balthasar had seen Shizuo's ability then-

But then the royal judge sighed, and Izaya's thoughts came to a halt.

A few coughs joined the sickly man's attire and he pushed himself off the wall he had been leaning upon.

"Just don't meddle too much or you might really regret it." Soft. Gentle.

His voice had taken on an entirely different note from one second to the next, and Izaya found himself actually dumbfounded.

Not much more words were wasted- hell Balthasar didn't even spare him another glance as he moved back inside the warmth of church.

This guy-

Izaya blinked as his eyes followed the mysterious royal judge.

He had taken Izaya's silence as a sign of struggle to find evidence that proved him innocent of Balthasar's accusations. A sign that he had probably seen in a lot of people over the years. Was it the truth of fearing execution that convinced him?

Or the way Izaya did not come up with an immediate prepared response?

He didn't know what it was that had convinced Balthasar of his humanity, but apparently he had already judged him in just the right way.

And left him off the hook just like that.

And action too nice for someone that was rumored to kill innocent people like the priest. For all the hatred Balthasar received from Kestor and the rest of the church he had to have put quite a lot of effort to appear in the worst way possible.

Was he putting up a front?

Then again being in charge of burning women and men alike he had probably seen the most horrors in this area.

And his cough-

… tuberculosis?

The slightest urge to back away from the royal judge and anyone nearby crawled into Izaya's mind, but he resisted.

He was vaccinated from modern times. Same applied to his sisters and Shizuo was safe with this healing ability of his. As for Namie- well, as a scientist researching all kinds of biological processes he believed she was probably protected against most viruses that traversed this planet.

If anything they were the only ones not in immediate danger.

Only Leo proved an unstable variety and Izaya noted that he would have to tell him to stay away from the royal judge later on.

It was when Balthasar had left, that Shizuo joined Izaya in his spot beside the church's entrance.

"You good?" he whispered quietly and Izaya nodded.

"I'm just thinking things aren't quite as they appear to be."

His answer was a bit too ambiguous, it seemed as Shizuo paused in his steps and turned to look at Izaya. "Is that good or bad?"

"I don't know yet." Sighing softly, Izaya turned to follow the rest of the believers back into church. "Come on." he announced quickly, and smiled. "We need to take the sister up on her offer don't we?"

Awkward silence had spread across the hall when they entered. The people present may have survived the attack of the villagers and the church had not been set aflame again, but this moment of peace was what it was.

Just a moment.

A singular occurrence that might as well change from one minute to the other and everyone was aware. It certainly downed the mood for good as most of the earlier chatter had died down and anxious whispers traversed the halls instead.

Namie was one of the few familiar faces that Izaya recognized and with a quick glance he met her eye.

A simple nod was all that she gave and Izaya knew what he needed to know. She had heard about their new cover and the way Izaya and Shizuo had proceeded to act as her knights.

No more time was wasted in the hall as Izaya moved towards the kitchen. After all, there were two more people that really needed to know about this newest turn of events.

"Izaya, what was that?" Mairu's voice reached Izaya's ears as soon as he entered the kitchen and the children all around stilled in their various tasks as they held the same level of curiosity.

"People tried to set the church on fire." Izaya quickly explained, with no care to sugarcoat the current situation. They kids currently present might have been young, but at this day and age it would serve them best to know what was truly going on at all times.

Insecure glances were quickly exchanged and even Kururi looked towards her brother with a certain amount of anxiety.

"Danger?"

"Shizuo drove them away," Izaya quickly assured, and the girl breathed a breath of relief while the others seemed fairly impressed by Shizuo's feat.

"They know now that we are actually knights," Izaya quickly added and the twins looked at each other in a moment of quick understanding.

His short hint was enough for them to understand that they had to improvise their earlier cover on the spot and so Mairu nodded with a quick smile.

"That's okay, I never understood why you had to hide that anyway."

"Real knights?" Maya's tomboyish eyes glittered with absolute fascination, and Izaya deduced that the profession of a warrior or knight was probably what she was striving for as the oldest and strongest one of this group.

"Where are your swords?" One of the twin boys asked and the other quickly followed up. "And armor?"

Izaya had yet to learn their names, but Shizuo easily answered their question before he could ask.

"Stolen," he announced, and outraged gasps filled the kitchen for a moment as all children seemed equally offended by such an evil deed.

"How mean," the small girl wearing a scar of burns whispered quietly and funnily remained the only one to vocalize their disapproval of the bandits.

It was then that Izaya realized he was only looking at four, not five children.

"Where is Elaine?" he asked, easily remembering her name as he had only been told two of the kids' so far.

"She isn't feeling too well so she stayed behind to sleep some more," the small girl quietly answered and Izaya hummed.

Made sense.

She didn't look healthy to begin with.

Malnourished.

Maybe she carried a defect no one was aware of yet.

"This is Kale, Ketil and Aldith," Mairu suddenly announced, filling in the rest of the present children and Izaya nodded shortly before the girl looked at her twin.

"I think sister Monica said she needed help with the laundry. Would you help my sister with that?"

Quick glances were cast towards the timid sister and funnily enough it seemed Kururi had already gathered her fair share of fans.

"Of course!" Maya quickly agreed, and moved to the door leading to what Izaya knew was the personal garden of the church. Within a couple seconds the kitchen was empty and Kururi gone with the vast majority of kids.

Only Mairu remained for just a few seconds longer as she glanced at her brother.

"Did you discover something new?" she asked right off the bat, acting just like Izaya expected her to.

"The contract has probably already been made. I don't know what the payment was, but the kids recovered from chicken pox overnight. Were locked in with the priest and nobody knows what happened." Izaya summarized what he had learned in under ten seconds. Shizuo learned the newest revelations at the same time and blinked with mild surprise at how quickly Izaya had already started to investigate the subject of the priest's demon summoning.

"Got it." Mairu declared, as if she had received some kind of invisible order and Izaya grinned.

"Very reliable as usual."

And with that she was gone. Fast as the wind without drawing any suspicion to herself and Shizuo couldn't help but snort.

"You really are blood related," he said and Izaya hummed.

"Why do you say that?"

What a question.

"It's just the way you seem to know exactly what the other is thinking," Shizuo explained and glanced into the direction of the door leading to the garden.

He knew Izaya well enough by now but he still ended up confused more often than not by his orders and deductions.

A stifled laugh was all that Izaya had to offer as he closed in. It was then, in the fresh light of day streaming past a single window inside the kitchen, that he noticed a slight shade of brown.

Shizuo's natural hair color was starting to show.

"Shizuo come here," Izaya announced while reaching into the cold fireplace.

Black coal found its way into his palm and Shizuo blinked mildly confused as he did as he had asked of him.

The coal suddenly rubbed into his hair came as a surprise but by now he trusted Izaya enough to just let it happen.

"Your roots." Izaya filled him in shortly, "They are starting to show. Don't want anyone asking questions why your hair color is changing."

Right-

Izaya's sisters had dyed it black- but with short hair and the amount of time that passed it was only natural that the color was showing.

But Izaya was quick with his action and before long he was gone from his head.

"Done?" Shizuo asked, and Izaya nodded.

"Done." And leaning forward Shizuo smiled as he closed the awfully short distance between them with a short kiss.

Almost immediately Izaya's head turned left and right for anyone present that might have seen them, but Shizuo only laughed.

"Relax, no one is here, I'm not stupid."

Izaya was doing so much for them. And especially after yesterday it was a sight that just made Shizuo want to shower him with the affection he deserved.

"So you say, but are you sure?" Izaya snorted quietly and Shizuo snorted.

"Hey," he chuckled, "I'm not stupid," and with that he leant in once more. This time longer. Gentler.

Like a bumble bee having found its fresh source of nectar.

"What's that for?" Izaya whispered as soon as the lips left his own again and Shizuo hummed, as if he had yet to search for a reason.

"Just a small thanks," he answered after a while and Izaya laughed.

"For what?"

"Everything?"

Right.

Izaya had almost forgotten how eloquent Shizuo was in voicing his intentions. His actions really told so much more than his words and Izaya smiled at that implication before meeting his gaze.

He truly was lucky to have Shizuo with him.

"Come on, let's get to the altar and find out some facts that you can actually be grateful for."

to be continued~

C: hehehehe Gotta say I love writing a few mysteries xDD Merry Christmas to all of you~! Cx And see you next week 3