After the operation and the following bluff, the party entered another period of calm.
Urtica, or rather, the purple blade, continued taking a scary amount of small missions and bringing money to the household. He was also the one doing all the groceries and stuff that needed one to leave the house.
He had to, he was the one who looked the least suspicious.
In this climate, a weird guy was just weird, but a weird woman would more quickly be called a witch.
The risk was still extremely close to zero, but it wasn't worth it.
Baoba, on his side, kept going to the church and acted his part. He did catch some tensions and inquisitive looks, but he was powerless to stop them.
At least, no one was following him anymore. Pando had reported a lot of the Ring's items were found, and they were still hard at it. New members had been revealed.
The number was huge, but it didn't actually surpass the latest estimations. This time, Baoba believed they had pretty much found all of them.
He had made a list. Every detail about every known Ring was recorded in it, and currently, he was also studying that one every night before bed.
His team, however, was once again reluctant for some reason.
'Weird.'
Today, he was working outside the church. It was a volunteering job. In this city, shops and businesses could ask for help from the church if one of their employees suddenly fell ill or had an accident, for the time it took them to actually get a real replacement.
This system only worked because this town was so religious. There were many volunteers, and businesses would not even think about abusing the church.
It was how he had managed to be a server in that bar the humans had talked to Dow, the "new adventurer", who was also secretly a priest.
'Now that I'm thinking about it.... This church really is everywhere, huh ? It would almost be scary if I wasn't also a part of it.'
Today's job was tending to the park. Watering flowers, feeding ducks...
Shoveling shit. Also for the flowers.
He had shed his robes, and wore a gardener's uniform complete with an dark green apron and a yellow armband that had a sun emblem, to mark his identity. He was currently fervently cursing this less glamorous part of the job.
He had to enrich soil, then carefully apply it to the flowerbeds. His shirt had seen cleaner days.
His nose probably had, too, but at this point he couldn't remember.
"...This time, I would believe in a coincidence."
A familiar voice behind him made the secret elf freeze.
'No.... No ! Not him ! Not now !'
The world disregarded the heartfelt plea, for the man was indeed here, and now.
Baoba turned around, still crouched, as slow as he could.
"... Why are you talking to me then ? I said you were an bloodthirsty maniac, and played it off like we were in bad terms. Not to mention, you're not fun to be around."
Evans silently regarded him from above. He was expressionless as ever. The temporary botanist was increasingly certain something was actually wrong with that guy.
"I had important information to share. But if you want, I can go."
Baoba resisted the urge to say 'Good, go then'or something of the sort. Sadly, his mission was more important than his time. If this ...human said he had something to report, then he probably did. Small talk did not appear to be in his skill set.
'What am I saying of course it is. Everything's in his skill set. More like he doesn't feel the need.'
Regardless, this guy never did anything pointles. So, instead of shooing him away directly, he got up and dusted his apron, only smearing the mess. "I'll be right with you."
"No. It will only take a moment. The thing is, we're leaving for the hunt in five days. If you have any preparations, any kind of ritual you need the general's blood for, I'd advise you to start now. That's all."
Baoba raised his eyebrows in surprise. It hasn't been unexpected, this period of time was about exactly the norm, but a precise heads up did help a bit.
'Took him long enough.'
"Took you long enough. What the hell was the hold up ?"
"None of your business."
"That's right. Don't even think of telling me, I won't listen. Well, then, this has been a productive transaction. Sadly, it would be best if we never saw each other again, oh, what a shame..." He said monotonously.
Evans once again paused. "We still need to give you what you asked for."
"Right, but you can just deposit it here." He took off his dirty gloves and reached past the apron, fishing out a map from his pocket. He opened it and gave it to the human. "I imagine you'll be busy licking your wounds, so you can just put it here anytime. I often pass by this place."
The map pointed to some random alley. He did not in fact pass by it often, but both captains knew that was just a pretext. Being too connected would be dangerous for the two of them.
Although, it seemed Evans still had another doubt...
"Please tell me it isn't another treasure hunt."
Baoba was genuinely surprised this time. It sounded like a joke, but his face looked dead serious as always.
"...It's not. Trust me, we don't have the time for that anymore."
After that, they didn't have anything to say anymore. An awkward silence was once again settling.
Baoba wouldn't let it.
"Well, if that's all, good luck on your hunt, and farewell." He turned away with a sincere smile. He was glad about never talking to this human again. It was the little things like this.
But, as always, his dreams did not last long.
"Wait a second."
Stopping abruptly, the elf immediately frowned and turned, not concealing his expression at all.
"I just have a question. Why did you make the treasure hunt ? It must have been difficult. You went through multiple difficult challenges just to set it up. And in the end, I got a result that could have easily been on the first paper. Why would you do that ?"
Bob was surprised by the sudden question. It wasn't like this guy to ask anything.
He thought about it a little, looking for an excuse, a reasonable explanation that wouldn't sound too pointless or fake. But then he figured, this was the last time, telling the truth once surely couldn't hurt.
So, he answered honestly.
"I just thought it'd be fun."
'For me.'
With that, he left.
***
"I just thought it'd be fun."
And then the strange man whose proclaimed cover name was Bob turned and left, as if he gave an acceptable answer.
'Fun... For him, no doubt.'
For all the lack of a poker face this man had shown to have, this question has been knawing at Evans' mind for the past week. It didn't make sense. There was no plan that could benefit from such actions.
But it seemed he had overestimated him.
'Just to have fun, huh...'
Going to such lengths, putting in that much effort, just because he thought it'd be fun ?
Evans could comprehend it, but he didn't understand. He knew people like that existed, he knew how they worked, was able to make accurate predictions on them, and kept the possibility in mind, but he didn't get it.
Why didn't they just make the better choice ? Not all of these people were stupid. Some deliberately chose to go the harder way.
Why ?
This was the part he didn't understand.
But it was alright. He didn't need to. Understanding would bring him no benefits. Putting too much thought into it was the pointlessly harder route.
So, he dropped it.
And he realised he had been staring blankly over the lake. That same lake which lit up that night, on the treasure hunt.
He didn't put too many thoughts into it.
Thinking about the next course of actions instead, he started moving at a steady pace.