Not a minute after I sat down, our explicitly temporary boss entered the room. He looked over all of us as he walked towards a spot where he could face us all. He had a mound of clothes in his arms, which he ungracefully dropped on the closest table.
"Alright, I'll make this short as I don't want to be here, and you all should be on the road as soon as possible. Transportation should be ready outside the west gate. There will be two carriages; how you split yourselves amongst them is up to you. You aren't expected for a few days yet, however arriving early would reflect positively on the Church, so try not to stop for too long too often. Additionally, I've brought your robes. You are expected to wear these in public at all times. Finally, on your mission, always keep in the back of your mind that your actions will reflect directly on the Church; do not forget that decades of training are required until one is trusted enough to become an Adjudicator, and that you are expected to fill that role, albeit crudely, without any of it; do not forget the main purpose of an Adjudicator is to protect the people."
Immediately after he finished speaking, he started walking out of the room, but before he could reach the door, the robot, Syzygy, tossed out a question I had been considering asking myself.
"Is there anything more about the present situation in Bervil we should know about? Anything that may make our job more difficult?"
The handler stopped walking briefly, looking at the figure of the metal man that towered over him with something approaching a glare.
"Everything that has been deemed important enough for you to know is in the material you already have. Beyond that, figure it out yourselves when you get there."
He then left with a faster pace than before, not repeating his mistake.
Soon after he left, Simon looked over all of us and smirked.
"What's his problem?"
I chuckled, and Syzygy made a strange low pitched humming noise, which I assumed was his way of doing the same, but we were the only two who seemed to find it amusing. Oddly, Lemon was staring intently at the doorway our handler had just left through.
"I don't doubt him when he says he doesn't want to be here, but there was something in that I don't trust. Then again, he could just be an asshole, which seems likely given our interactions with him, but it seemed like he was choosing his words carefully."
Lemon then sighed and stood up, picking up his bag.
"We still have a job to do, so let's get moving. I'll think on it more along the way."
He threw his bag over his shoulder, grabbed his spear, and started walking for the door, but not even two steps later, Syzygy stepped forward, gesturing for Lemon to stop.
"Don't forget the robes."
"Ah, fuck, right. Man, I hate jobs that make you wear a uniform."
He took his bag off his shoulder again, setting both it and his spear on the nearest table, before walking over to the mound of robes. He started sorting through them, quickly deciding to spread them out across the table. There were five in total, all the same size except for one which was considerably larger. They were a plain gray, with all of the edges turned out and sewn down, revealing a silver interior. The design was much simpler than the robes of the other Church members I had seen
"Big one's for the big guy, I assume. Everyone grab a robe before you head out."
He picked up a robe and put it on. It fit perfectly and seemed to magically seal itself around him. He shot a look at Claire briefly, the meaning of which I assume had something to do with her already having a robe, before walking back towards his bag and spear, picking them up, and making his way out of the room. Once he neared the door, the rest of us moved to collect our robes, soon following him out of the room. The robes themselves appeared to be made of two pieces of fabric stitched together, those being a tougher, grey outer layer, and a softer, silvery inner layer. It was fairly heavy and felt thick but was surprisingly comfortable. The sleeves came just past my wrists, and the body of it ended just high enough to not restrict movement or get dirty easily. They were also hooded, unlike the rest of the Church robes.
The six of us, looking like a mother goose and her goslings, made our way to the west gate of the city. The whole way there, we drew looks from almost all the passersby; person after person, I watched their gazes pass over us, taking extra time on Syzygy and Claire, before making some expression of surprise or confusion and going on their way. Apart from that, the walk was uneventful. Even the guards at the west gate let us through with hardly a glance at us. Granted, the rules were likely less strict with exiting than entering, but six people, each with a travel bag, could hide a fairly large number of stolen items, which made me expect a search at the least.
Upon leaving the safety of the city walls, there was an immediate change in the weather and lighting. The ever-overcast sky was back, although we were spared the typical drizzle. The washed out, mostly grey colors of the world were incredibly jarring having gotten used to the soft golden glow of the City of Twilight. There was something else odd about the scene I couldn't place immediately. Everything looked just a little unnatural. As we walked, I kept observing our surroundings until I realized what was causing this feeling. There were next to no shadows, something which was in stark contrast to the long, exaggerated shadows within the Capital.
Unlike the north gate, the exterior of the west gate was comprised of a handful of large, warehouse-esque buildings. Given the large barn doors on each, many of which were left open, it was clear these were the stables of the city. The stable buildings lined either side of the street extending from the wall, with the width of the street being roughly triple the width of the gate. Further up the street were two carriages, each preceded by two strange creatures.
They were massive-bodied animals with six legs about the same length as a human's, but thicker and structured differently. They ended in strange hooves that splayed out somewhat under the likely immense weight of the creature but would contract once the limb was lifted. The body of the animal resembled a barrel, but with extra masses of muscle above each leg and around the shoulders, from which briefly extended a neck like a tree stump connected to a head like an anvil. Two thick, curved horns extended from either side of the animal's head, wrapping forward and down, protecting its face. Even from a distance, I could tell they would stand higher than average human; truly, they were terrible creatures.
As we got closer and awe started wearing off, I couldn't help but wonder where such beasts could hail from. There were only two types of animals that could exist in this beast-ridden world: those that were fast and those that were strong. These things seemed to occupy both groups, but I couldn't help but wonder about the environment where these things would fit in.
Once we passed through the gate, we spread out of the single-file line we had been in, allowing me to check everyone's reactions, but I was underwhelmed; they all seemed completely unfazed. My observations didn't go unnoticed by Lemon, who smirked at my amazement.
"Never seen a cow before, Slate?"
"Cow? What kind of cows have you been around?"
"What do you mean 'what kind of cows'? There's only this kind."
The smirk never left his face as he spoke, not until Syzygy decided to chime in.
"No, Lemon, those are Wizonen, not cows."
Lemon tsked and looked away.
"Ach, you're no fun. Perfect opportunity to prank the newbie and you throw it away."
There was a second of awkward silence before Syzygy, with a cold voice, free of any emotion, spoke again.
"Lemon, I seem to recall there being some rather serious complaints about you hazing your team members in the past. I also believe you had been told, in no uncertain terms, that your behavior was to change if you wanted to remain a team leader."
Lemon's face immediately went cold.
"Those complaints were exaggerated; they were just a bunch of fuckin' runts who'd never seen a real fight or done any real training. Coddled their whole damn lives, and the minute someone actually steps in and tries to set them straight, they break chain and go crying to daddy to have the Big Scary Team Leader punished for doing nothing but his fucking job."
There was a boiling rage behind his almost monotone rant. Silence once more descended over the group, no one knowing what to say, nor if there was anything to say.
"If you say so."
The exchange between Lemon and Syzygy finished, we travelled the remaining distance to the carriages in silence.
There was a stable hand at the carriages to help us load our bags, not that it was particularly necessary. Lemon and Claire took one carriage and Simon and Syzygy took the other, which was expected. I looked at Noah, silently asking him which carriage he'd rather ride in. Our eyes met, he looked over both carriages briefly, and then ultimately made his way to the brothers' carriage while I made my way to the other. Once we were all loaded, the stable hand got our attention.
"There is food for the animals tucked in the compartment at the front of either carriage. They are to be fed thrice a day, sunrise, early afternoon, and midnight. They will stop when they grow hungry and when they reach crossroads. It is your responsibility to instruct them which roads to take. This is as simple as pointing to which road they are travelling and ensuring they see you. Each point should be marked, however if the signs are damaged, just keep them going roughly north past the first right turn and you should get to Bervil on time. You all, personally, will be fined heavily if the animals do not arrive in roughly the same condition they are in now. Now, if you all are ready, I will give them the signal to get moving."
The stable hand looked between each carriage for a few seconds before walking between them. Past this point, I lost vision of them, but soon there was a hard jolt, and we were off. We moved much faster than I expected, quickly passing the stable hand, and quickly drawing away from the stables. Before long, they could easily be covered by a single finger.
As I watched the city grow smaller and smaller behind us, I looked towards the sky. The rippling, light gray clouds sheltered the sky behind them from view. Judging by the quality of the light what found its way through the clouds, it was late morning. As the city faded from view, I thought of the market and what had occurred there. I thought once more about what Vulper said and prayed internally that this trip would be free of any major conflict. I then turned to Lemon to share Vulper's words.