Chapter 86: Failed Scapegoat

"What did you hear?"

The silence of the garden was almost overwhelming in the face of Mairu's expression. Tears had stained her face and despite her attempt to wipe them away they were still refusing to fade from her cheeks.

Shaking her head quickly the girl took a deep breath before speaking.

"I didn't hear. I saw," she tried to explain, but only met confusion from her brother's expression. "Like a video in front of my eyes," she tried to describe her words' meaning more accurately and Izaya blinked in mild surprise.

He thought she would hear something. A thought maybe. A convenient truth or hidden secret. But this?

His stomach dropped a little at what Mairu had seen that caused her to actually cry.

"That guy, Balthasar," she started to explain and cleared her throat. "He hasn't been a judge for long. He used to be the oldest brother of three siblings, he had a mother and father and worked in the fields. But he suffered from bad health and they had to do most of the work without his help," she quickly recited what she had seen in those few moments, and her lips turned into a smile, so bitter, and so sad. They were beautiful pictures. Scenes of happiness despite his health and body. Smiles and evenings filled with bliss. "But they didn't care, they loved him. Especially his mum and youngest sister," she whispered and her voice faded away a little at the end of her words.

Almost immediately Kururi moved over and hugged her sister's arm from the side. The story wasn't finished yet.

"I'm guessing they found no happy end?" Izaya whispered slowly and Mairu's eyes narrowed as she swallowed.

"They were burnt alive." Like a branded sword cutting off an innocent's head the words doused the garden into a pool of regret and demise.

"For witchcraft," she whispered, "His mum tried to get some herbs that were supposed to help Balthasar sleep a little better. But the seller was accused of witchcraft and since they bought his stuff-" She faded out, but there was no need for her to continue.

Even Shizuo could guess what it was that had caused her reaction and his own mood downed for good.

"You saw them burn?" Shizuo whispered the truth that the girl couldn't speak aloud and she nodded.

It was a gruesome idea.

As a sister to Kururi and with Izaya as her brother. Seeing a loving family burn alive in front of her eyes had to be traumatizing. Shizuo would be. Just thinking about someone burning Kasuka alive in front of his eyes caused his stomach to rise and his blood to boil.

It was amazing in a way, that all Mairu had focused on was the sadness of that moment that Balthasar must have felt after being left on his own and not the madness of the scene.

Even Izaya seemed concerned as his expression churned. "Sorry, I should have seen this coming."

But all Mairu had to offer was a snort. "How? I didn't think that I would actually see anything," she sighed softly and quickly wiped at her eyes. "But it's fine," she announced with much more confidence than Shizuo had expected from the young girl.

Her behavior reminded her yet again that Izaya and her were in fact related.

"It's the reason he became a judge. He isn't searching for people to burn, but looking for evidence to keep them from meeting the same fate," she announced quickly, revealing the most important part of her insight and Izaya blinked.

So that's why.

His constitution, the way he treated others.

He wasn't looking to make friends but to appear as neutral as possible, or possibly even slightly harsh and cold in order to keep any doubts at bay.

Once a guy like that spoke someone free of guilt the majority was going to believe it.

"So that's why he is staying at the church," Izaya concluded aloud. "I have been wondering why he didn't just move into the village. He would have found more than enough witnesses and people willing to testify that the priest is the devil reincarnated."

Shizuo was met with confusion next as Izaya's words and Balthasar's actions suddenly started to make sense. "Wait, so he is searching for evidence that the priest is innocent?" he asked and Izaya confirmed his suspicion.

"Most likely."

Groaning softly, Namie threw her head into her shoulders. "So Marcius fled for nothing," she suddenly announced, mixing even more confusion into the topic of the priest's actions.

"He fled?" Shizuo repeated and the woman nodded.

"I heard it from the elderly. Apparently the night before the judge arrived he suddenly left the church head over heels." A soft sigh left her lips and her eyes narrowed at the consequent conclusions that his actions left. "Sounds awfully like running away if you ask me. But then again, I can't blame him. If I heard the judge was coming to set me on fire I would run too."

"But doesn't that mean he won't return?" Shizuo asked and Izaya's eyes narrowed as well.

"I think I know about one person who should know more about this," Izaya mumbled aloud and everyone immediately had the same person in mind.

The one in charge of the church. "Sister Monica, right?" Mairu correctly stated and Namie hummed.

"Do you think you can use your ability one more time?"

"No." Izaya quickly shot her down. "We can find out another way, this-"

"I'm fine. I was just caught off guard, now I know what to expect!" Mairu quickly interrupted her brother with assurance, but her efforts were in vain.

"No. Who knows what she experienced in her life, Izaya frowned. These were medieval times. What was he going to show his sister next? A live rape of a young child perhaps? Or a murder committed by her own hands? Torture of muliple kinds? These were gruesome times and what Mairu had already seen was more than he wanted her to experience.

"There are other ways to find out the truth of what happened," he announced strictly. "We know now that Balthasar is on our side and not the demon we are looking for. That's a huge advantage in my book."

Causing Mairu to cry once was more than enough in his book.

The visuals of Balthasar's siblings burning in front of his eyes must have hit home too hard, especially with Kururi in mind.

"Can do it," Kururi complained quickly, matching her sister's will. And Mairu agreed. "Yeah. It's fine, really I-"

It was then that the door to the garden burst open like a ripe grape on a summer day.

A bothered expression and annoyance were inscribed all over the woman's face as sister Monica stepped into the garden.

"I heard the laundry fell, is it stained?" she questioned immediately and rushed towards the linen, but of course none of the clothes were blemished in any way.

"It's fine, it was starting to become loose but we quickly fixed it," Izaya quickly lied and the sister looked at him with a narrow glare. She was obviously not believing them. Her entire behavior gave away that much. "And what are you all doing out here?" she asked, referring to Namie and Shizuo.

Namie was quick to come up with a decent excuse as all Shizuo was left to do was blink in mild speechlessness.

"I was searching for my knights. All these rumors about the forests surrounding the church made me quite worried about my safety," she quickly lied and gestured towards Shizuo as if to make a point of just how reliable this knight was. "I had him accompany me as I was looking for his brother. But now that I have calmed down I will retreat to my room, Shizuo if you were so kind as to accompany me?" she asked and looked at the pretentious knight.

Unsure what to act like, all he could do was nod and cast a short glance towards Izaya as if he were waiting for interception. "Of course," he answered, accompanied by a short awkward pause. "My lady."

Leaving Izaya behind was pretty much the last thing Shizuo wanted to do, but considering they were in the middle of the church's grounds and had to keep up the act he followed Namie despite that.

"And you? The laundry is safe, you have no business staying in our garden," sister Monica stated as soon as the two disappeared behind the door leading back into the church.

A smile spread across Izaya's lips as he faced the woman with what he could do best.

Directness.

"You don't exactly like me, right?" he pointed out, and just as hoped the sister wasn't used to people pointing out her obvious thoughts.

Crossing her arms in front of her body she immediately assumed a defensive stance and glared at the so-called knight with narrowed eyes.

"Don't get me wrong, I am grateful to your brother for defending sir Crawl, but liking your character would go too far," she agreed and Izaya showed a quick expression of innocent offense.

"What did I do to draw so much hostility to myself?" But his act only seemed to backfire as the woman grunted.

"That," she frowned. "The way you speak. It tells me just how many people you have deceived in your life and used to your own advantage, knight or not, people like you are wiser to avoid."

Correct.

In terms of understanding human psychology this woman's perception was awfully advanced considering the age and time she currently lived in.

But Izaya wasn't that easy to be overwhelmed just because she had pointed out a fact or two that happened to be correct.

Facts were fought with facts and so he merely smiled as he voiced his best line so far.

"Would priest Marcius think so too?" And the glare she wore grew even worse.

"Why are you bringing him up?" she hissed and Izaya hid a quick smile of victory as he was slowly but surely starting to anger her. Because that's what he had aimed for anyway. Strong emotions were a surefire way to attain information he otherwise wouldn't. And this woman seemed to actually adore the priest of this church.

"I just heard that the royal judge was here to burn him alive and how he coincidentally left just the night before he arrived," Izaya shrugged as he offered the worst implications to his conclusion. "Almost makes one think he ran, don't you agree?"

Teeth were grit and the woman's mood seemed to worsen even further as she spat,

"Priest Marcius has saved countless souls in his lifetime, including mine when I was still a young and naive girl. What would you, a double tongued knight with no armor and no land to protect know, to judge a man of his character?"

Her words flowed quickly and her tongue moved in the same way as Izaya finally got what he had been looking for.

"So he really fled?" Izaya asked, and the sister's expression fell for the sole second in which she realized she had unconsciously admitted to Izaya's accusation.

Furious was an underestimation to describe her current state as she uttered just three simple words with slow and angered control.

"He did not."

It was Mairu who cleared her throat next to them and reminded Izaya as well as sister Monica of the twins' presence. "Sister Monica, how is Leo?"

The sister looked aside, as if only noticing now that they were still there and sighed annoyed, before turning on the spot.

"He is fine, you are free to visit him any time you like," she announced, and with that she left, ending the conversation on her own.

A short moment of silence followed in which Izaya wondered what to do with the piece of information he just received.

Priest Marcius fled the church because he didn't want to get burned alive. That seemed to be a fact. One that wouldn't exactly serve their purpose.

"She lied," Mairu suddenly said and Izaya nodded. "Of course she did."

It was only after a few seconds of silence that Izaya actually looked at his sister and saw her smile.

A knowing smile.

Clicking his tongue he frowned as he turned to her, "I thought I told you not to use it-"

But all Mairu had to offer was a shrug, "Stop me if you can." And izaya groaned.

These two really…

Concern swayed his eyes as he looked at her, but to his relief Mairu seemed nowhere near as disturbed as she had been after talking to Balthasar.

"... what did you learn?" he sighed and Mairu's expression lit up as she was finally asked what she meant to say.

"She was the one who learned that the royal judge was coming and told priest Marcius to leave."

"Heard?" Kururi asked, but Mairu shook her head, "No I saw him. Just a few frames of them talking inside the dark church when she tried to convince him. It was blurred this time compared to Balthasar for some reason."

Izaya nodded slowly.

Probably because she used her ability twice in a row.

So it had a limit.

Good.

"What did priest Marcius seem like?" Izaya asked and Mairu tilted her head thinking.

"Honest Iwould say. Not like he wanted to leave at all. But," she hesitated for a second, "I think he knew he was dealing with a demon when he saved the kids. The way he looked, he wasn't bothered at all that the royal judge was coming, actually he seemed more like he was waiting for him."

Izaya frowned at that.

That didn't make sense. Sister Monica had just more or less confirmed that he fled the church, so why would he wait for the royal judge?

To accept punishment?

But then why was he gone? And why was she-

Ah.

And suddenly the puzzle pieces made sense and Izaya's expression lit up in enlightenment.

Balthasar's presence, Monica's meddling and the priest's disappearance.

"Won't return?" Kururi asked and Izaya smiled broader than he had since they skipped back in time.

"No, he will," Izaya assured, "I think I'm starting to understand what it is that Monica is trying to do."

Of course.

She was the angel depicted on the church's walls that was still missing as of now. He had been wondering why of all the paintings inside this church it was the only one missing.

Because it was yet to be painted.

"Balthasar will have the choice to either burn the priest and the kids along with him, or to kill the one demon that's admitting to its own deeds," Izaya concluded aloud and the breeze around the garden picked up as if to confirm his idea. "She is trying to get herself burned in priest Marcius' stead. That's why she sent him away, to appear as the number one entity that the church needs to be rid off and keep priest Marcius from interfering." A smile spread across his expression as he realized just how much Shizuo's actions had thwarted her plans. "But we already messed that up."

Mairu blinked at that, not really following Izaya's idea. "How so?"

It was then that the sudden sound of cheering was heard all across the church and the twins turned towards the walls as if expecting to learn more about the sudden commotion. Only Izaya seemed to be perfectly aware of what was going on as he hummed, "By keeping the villagers from burning this place, sister Monica never got to act as the evil presence she wanted to present."

The door to the garden flew open and all of a sudden Ketil and Kars rushed to fetch Mairu and Kururi, "He is back!" They cheered and Izaya smiled.

"And now priest Marcius is back, with Balthasar still here."

to be continued~

The plot is plotting~ xD Now with the priest back, what will happen? :3

See you next friday everyone xD