"N-No. W-Wait. I-I didn't do anything wrong!" The encircled merchant howled out loudly, desperately trying to soothe the situation. As a matter of fact, it was the same traveler that had carried his cart at the other lane right next to Eyna. However, his composure was now broken, trembling uncontrollably and wailing for his innocence. He seemed to fruitlessly try to rack his brain off what he could have done wrong.
"Silent! Surrender yourself or we will resort to violence. You have been judged conclusively by the divine court. Criminals must be persecuted," the presumable battalion leader of the soldiers ordered. No trace of pity or sympathy could be found in his voice. Decisions taken by the angels are flawless and must never be questioned. Else, the objecting soldier wouldn't just lose their current position but be condemned to treason.
With a loud thud, the accused man had fallen to his knees. His futile cries had turned into incomprehensible gibberish coming out of his mouth. All eyes were focused on the one criminal who had tried to wind up divine beings. Except for one person. As Eyna had already lost the ability to see, she had no use in staring at this pitiful human. She was now standing completely disregarded next to the widely opened gate leading outside.
'I guess my presence is not needed anymore.' She thought and got a hold of the half-emptied bag of potatoes. With undetected steps, she walked towards the exit.
Eyna passed by the throne who had since his accusation hovered motionlessly above the city gate. Even though the wrath from her against this being could be felt now openly, none of the two took any action. Eyna didn't have the strength to harm the creature she despised. She probably couldn't even reach it as it was hovering three meters above the ground.
Thrones simply-mindedly actualized justice by watching the soul through the other's eyes. Therefore, from the throne's point of view, Eyna didn't even exist. This brought up an indescribable feeling inside Eyna, not even being worth a mere glance from her archenemy. Even so, she walked past the heavenly being and reached the outside world.
・・・
Eichstätt extended beyond its restricting city walls. Many houses were built under the protective shadow of the defensive facilities of the town. The people living there consisted mostly of poorer inhabitants who couldn't withstand the rising prices of the city core. Therefore, buildings gave off a more humble and rural feel. Even most of the road wasn't paved and holes had formed through the constant usage of heavy carts.
With the smooth layer of snow covering the blemishes, the street had turned into an area of countless traps hidden from plain sight. However, this made no difference to Eyna as she always had no chance to visually see these devastating pitfalls. Therefore, she had never been fond of leaving the heavily populated areas with their maintained infrastructure.
The cheap boots she currently wore didn't help with the current situation and she regularly stumbled like a small child who had just learned to walk.
On the other side, the suppression of angels declined on the outskirts tremendously. In comparison to the strict supervision inside the walls, the citizens outside enjoyed a much greater amount of personal freedom.
"I must say, I'm quite impressed," a male voice suddenly resounded right next to her.
Until he had announced himself, Eyna had not noticed his presence at all. Only now she noticed the two men walking leisurely beside her as if they had been acquaintances for a long time. It didn't need much thought to understand that these people would be the demons receiving the smuggled artifact.
"I know. Sometimes, I surpass my own expectations," Eyna answered as a matter of fact. She was pretty content with her plans.
"I have never thought in my life that a human managed to infuriate Lera to such an extent," the man continued.
'This is what he is impressed by?' Eyna thought, amazed. She had just marginally escaped the angel's grasps while carrying the artifact. But he was more surprised by her handling of Leraye. Eyna had already concluded that 'Lera' was probably the nickname of Leraye.
"Lera even wanted to barge in the angel's base and kill you herself if you had gotten detained."
"Hearing that, I reckon it was a good thing that I hadn't been caught," Eyna replied exaggeratedly.
It seemed like information had already gotten around. Even though the demons could not enter nor leave the city, they still seemed to possess some sort of high-speed communication.
Not wishing to continue this topic any further, she took the bag and began searching for the artifact. As half of the potatoes still lay inside the gatehouse it didn't take long until the iron casket emerged.
"Isn't this the item you seek?" Eyna asked and wanted to hand it over to the demon. However, the godly creature made no effort to receive it and just laughed.
"This is just a dummy we have prepared as an extra precaution. You can keep it. The real casket was stitched into the padding of the coat we have given you," the man explained.
Eyna's actions froze and visible shock spread over her face. It took a few seconds until she regained her composure and she carelessly let the worthless dummy fall back into the bag. She then removed the borrowed coat and passed it to the demon.
"It was interesting to work with a mortal. If there is nothing else, we will now take our leave. I would suggest that you wait a few hours before you enter the city again," he said, presumably with an easygoing smile.
Before the divine beings left they even gave Eyna a new coat. That was a much more gentlemanly action than she would have ever anticipated coming from a demon. Thankfully, it wasn't as heavy and uncomfortable as the previous one.
Eyna was left alone on the snowy street, a few blocks outside of Eichstätt. Albeit much had happened, it still was early in the morning. The first farmers just readied their carts to leave to the fields and the surrounding was silent.
Eyna couldn't make sure that all godly beings had left indeed. Therefore, she tried to keep up her calm and composed attitude. Still, Eyna wasn't able to disguise the faint mocking smile appearing on her face.