Days passed calmly.
The ring didn't explode, no one came to investigate the apartment, and no one seemed to suspect Baoba.
This was entirely unexpected by the captain.
If course, it was the most probable, better outcome. But that never seemed to stop disasters from coming anyway.
To be honest, the fact that nothing happened only served to stress him out even more.
But he was always stressed out. So really, everything was going great.
And today was especially great. It was awesome. It was beautiful.
Today was another day off.
He actually had a lot of those.
The church technically being a non profit organisation, none of the "employees" were paid -or so they claimed-, so the schedule was very malleable.
That is to say, they could come to volunteer whenever they pleased.
But this was only on paper. In reality, to make things simpler for everyone, proper shifts were put in place. When he enrolled, Baoba said he would work four days a week. This was in the upper limit of what normal, not suspicious piousness allowed. Most preists only wore the robes for two days at most.
But this town was so religious that the damn building was always crowded with preists anyway ! The amount of volunteers was truly baffling.
Even worse, after word of the recently planned ambush on the human team got around, most of them volunteered for that too !
That last part was actually beneficial. Not only did it mean most guards would be gone, it also meant there was no shortage of manpower, and Boaba could simply choose not to go, he could not get drafted.
'And here I was practicing my excuse. I almost feel robbed...'
But he wasn't going let that cloud his temper.
He moved the queen to B7, trapping the enemy king in the corner.
"And checkmate. You know what, you almost made me think in this one. Good job."
Venus groaned, her have buried in her hands. "Euuugh ! How do you always have a way out ? No matter what, all your pieces are always safe."
He snickered with a contemptuous grin. "Well, darling, that's called talent. You'll get there one day."
Inwardly, though, he was relieved.
'Wow I actually lucked out there. I did not see that coming in the slightest. Maybe I should start.... trying. Yuck.'
Out of all of them, Venus was the one who progressed the most since the beginning. Now she often layed traps and strategies that could trip him up if he wasn't attentive.
'It took me way more time to get to that level. Is this the power of a teacher ? Or friendship ? Or physical boards ?'
Regardless, it was scary.
"Welp, miss loser, I'll let you put away the board then. If someone asks, I'm not here, and if it's a friend, I'm sleeping."
Pushing off his knees, he got up while his opponent started cleaning up the table, lightly protesting under her breath.
Baoba looked all around the kitchen, and took out a few cookies from a previously made batch.
Eating them, he enjoyed how calm everything was today. Urtica was hunting as usual, Pando was fully focused on her blessing, and had been for three days now, while Capcsium was outside for once. She had said something about wanting to blow off some steam, and finally accepted to wear the hood before leaving.
It was such as good day, Baoba was only mildly concerned about what she might do to the town.
He opened the window and relished both the fresh hair on his skin and the warm light of the rising sun. His forever messy dark locks rose and fell with the wind, as the elf under them admired the sprawling houses before him.
The park was visible from here. Visible enough to see a bunch of children playing in the grass, under their parent's warm gaze.
The fountain on his street was lively as ever, some ducks were floating in it, drinking the clear falling water and eating the crumbs of bread onlookers sometimes threw.
Baoba took a big breath, savouring the fact that right now, just for this moment, everything was fine.
'I challenge anyone to ruin my mood. It's not possible.'
But apparently, the universe did take that challenge.
"Captain !" Pando's voice, usually reasonably quiet, could be heard from two rooms across, and probably audible on the streets below. "They're meeting ! Right now, five blocks over !"
He hurriedly closed the window before letting out a sigh. However, he caught himself before he became negative.
'No, this is good news ! We needed that, now our operation can continue as planned. The more we wait, the more likely it is for the humans to launch the assault before we're ready.' He forced the frown off his face. 'So, really, my day didn't just get ruined, but it improved instead ! Thanks, Pando !'
Before even finishing this train of thought, he was already on his way to Pando's room, just as she was in her way to the kitchen. They met in the living room.
The time Pando explained some details, and for Baoba to put on a disguise, he was out of the apartment in ten minutes.
This time, he was not dressed as a priest, but not like a normal person either.
This was a stealth mission. He had to go over there and try to glean any info as discreetly as possible. However, if a person just sat somewhere for that long, it would definitely attract some suspicion.
Unless, of course, that person had nowhere else to be...
So today, under the magnificent clouds and glorious sun, Baoba had picked the most ragged, smelliest clothes he owned. He washed his face in liquor, and purposely did not take the magical earrings, instead choosing the hood method to hide his ears.
If there was one thing nobody paid attention to, it was beggars.
'I did not think I would ever willingly put myself in that situation again, but here we are... Should I summon the rat, for old time's sake ?' He thought grimly.
This was not bringing out the best memories.
'But who cares ! It's a great day ! We're progressing in our investigation ! In fact, the simple fact that I can choose to be like this whenever I want could be sort of meaningful, right ? I moved on. After this I have a home to return to. I should be happy about this, really.'
'.... Be happy.'
He marched on, eyes dark, focused on the purpose of this charade. Once again, he was perfect for the job, to his great dismay.
He soon crossed the five blocks and with the help of his precise mental map, found the place on the first try.
The reunion took place in a secret room dedicated to it. It could hardly be called an appartlent. In the back of one building, an old wooden door led to a small cellar which the proper residents probably didn't know they had. The door was in a small, dark alley, the kind of street that had a better counterpart just a couple meters in both directions, and that no one would normally take.
Baoba decided to approach. Acting drunk -even though he didn't drink, he had seen enough to have a convincing impression- he walked past two trash heaps and a leaky pipe before arriving close to the door. He focused on the sounds from it.
Nothing. There were absolutely no sounds.
Not panicking, Baoba feigned to trip and caught himself on the door, sticking his ear closer to it in the process.
Faint voices could barely be heard like this. He could not understand anything. Maybe if he had more time... But unfortunately, he had to come back up, lest he became too obvious.
Passing another leaky pipe, he elected a less dirty spot and dropped down as if his legs gave out.
It was all part of the plan. He didn't really expect to hear anything significant in that small window, but it didn't hurt to try. The real objective was to identify the members. Another reason he was perfect for this job was that he was the one who could recognize potential church members most easily.
So now he just had to wait.
Fortunately, he had some experience in that.
Unearthing some techniques from his early days, he busied himself counting heartbeats or drawing on the stone floor with a white pebble.
Some people passed, not even looking his way. In fact, they were actively avoiding looking at him.
On one hand, it meant the disguise was working well.
On the other hand...
'No. It's just good news. No other hand.'
Prying his mind away from his own head, he busied himself. And waited.
...
Eventually, the sounds of footsteps got closer and closer to the door.
It opened, as the first woman came out. Of course, Baoba didn't look directly at her, but used the reflection in a low window on the opposite wall. He had chosen this spot for a reason, after all.
She was white, medium tall, red hair... No other defining features, at least none he could see in the reflection.
There was one he had to confirm, though.
He risked a direct look.
A oversized grey cloak hid all of her features, but as she closed the door, her hand slipped out of the coverage.
On her hand was a ring. A weird, little brass ring with no jewels.