"Do not trust the church! They have been lying to you all!"
Slowly more and more people gathered around to listen to his sermon. If one could even call it that.
From what Kurt had learned from Sophie, the people of Eldoria are serious when it comes to their faith. This all started all the way from the founder of Eldoria, Lucas M. Dorothy, who, just as much as the Saintess, revered Goddess Bula.
But now a man, in priest clothing no less, is telling them that they should not trust the church and that they'd been lied to? As expected, they were not happy.
"What did he just say?!"
"How dare you!"
"Aren't you a priest?!"
The priest however did not back down. "I was a priest! I left the church and my faith behind the moment I learned the truth. Have you not wondered about what happened to the missing children?!"
"Missing children? Those aren't missing children, their children who have been blessed by Goddess Bula in order to serve the prophesied child!" An old lady in the crowd retorted.
"That's where you're wrong! Don't you see? You have all been brainwashed by the lies they tell you!"
While Kurt was listening to all this, three men in the same attire as the priest made their way through the crowd.
"Excuse me young man. We would like to pass through." They politely asked Kurt to move.
'Uh oh~ Someone's getting in trouble~' "Go ahead." He made way for them to go through.
"Thank you. May Goddess Bula bless you."
"Those are not servants of the prophesied child… they are-"
"Excuse me, Father." What looked to be the leader of the three interrupted before he could continue.
"... I have left my faith behind. Do not call me that, you heretic!"
GASP
The whole crowd fell singlet after that proclamation.
"Very well then, Peter. We will not call you that. The Goddess forgives even those that stray from her righteous path, for they all return to her eventually."
"I will never-"
"However, I must ask you to stop what you're doing. You clearly do not know what you speak of and you're upsetting the people."
"Yeah, leave you idiot!"
"You blasphemer! Do not disrespect Her name like that!"
"Go away!"
The people started getting riled up. With many calling him a blasphemer and screaming at him to leave, it was clear that whatever warning he was trying to convey was not getting through.
"You hear the people, Peter. Leave. Whatever you're trying to do won't work." His eyes turned fox shaped and he wore an evil smile that was out of sight to the people, but Kurt caught it clearly.
"You cannot change what they believed all their life. Their faith is unbreakable."
"...Damn you." He looked at the crowd and saw that no one was willing to hear what he had to say. So, he stepped down and left.
As he was walking, the fox eyed priest stopped him and whispered something in his ear. Although Kurt couldn't hear what was being said, he did notice the subtle look of fear that flashed on Peter's face. After he was finished whispering, the priest let Peter go.
He then stood on the box himself, raised his arms as if to hug the crowd and spoke,
"Everything is alright, my fellow believers. Contrary to what was said I, Bishop Tobias, personally guarantee that all children that have been taken are faithfully carrying out their duties in order to serve the prophesied child. So let us forget that this moment ever happened and continue on with our lives. And may Goddess Bula forever be with you."
Clapping and cheering resounded all around as they felt their hearts be at peace. With some die-hard believers even crying while kneeling as they thanked and praised the Goddess.
Stepping away from the scene, Kurt looked at the defeated back of Peter as he walked away and looked at the road ahead where the commercial district would be.
'Hmm… I now stand at a crossroads. It's either I go about my business and pretend I didn't see anything or I stick my nose where it doesn't belong and maybe find a clue about those missing kids. Which is a stupid question since there's only one answer.'
Kurt turned around and went after Peter.
'Better stick to tailing for now. Never know if any of those priests are watching from somewhere.'
Keeping a safe distance away from him, Kurt followed him for about 10 minutes before he finally stopped and sat on a bench inside of a little park.
"Hey there." He greeted Peter and sat down next to him.
"Who are you?! Are you with them?! Have you come to finish me?!" Peter cautiously shot up from his seat.
"Calm down old man, I'm with no one!" He lifted his hands in the air to show that he meant no harm.
"I'm someone from the crowd earlier. I wanted to hear more of what you were saying. My name is Kurt." He put out his hand for a handshake.
"...I see. Kurt huh?" He shook his hand and sat back down. "My name's Peter. You can forget about earlier. Just think of it as a crazy old man spouting crazy nonsense."
"Nonsense? I have reason to believe that what you were saying is not far from the truth."
"What are you talking about?"
"Arlo. Does that name ring any bells in that old noggin of yours?"
"Arlo?! You know Arlo?! How?!"
"Is it that strange that I know a priests' name? What if we coincidently met at a church one random day?"
"Of course… you're right. How silly of me to think- HEY!! What are you grinning like that for?!" Peter reached out to bonk his head.
"Whoa whoa whoa! Calm down, I was just messing with you."
"I swear, young people these…" He put his hand down and calmed his composure. "Why did you mention Arlo? Did you know he's been missing for a week now?"
"A week? I met him yesterday."
"Yesterday? Where is he now? He should know what happened to those kids."
"Arlo's dead."
".... What? He's dead? What happened to him?"
"I killed him." Kurt said with a serious face. "Because he was a sick cultist who knew nothing. If I had to guess, I'd say he was the bottom of the pecking order. Just a goon who follows orders without being in the big boy meetings."
"How could you kill him?! We could've at least had a prisoner of the cult. Even if he was just an errand boy, he should at least have known about a base we could raid! Or what they were planning to do with those kids!"
"Although I don't know of any bases, I do know what they are planning on doing with the kids."
"You do? Please tell me!" He grabbed Kurt's shoulders in desperation.
"...."
"What? Why are you quiet all of a sudden?"
"Is there something you're not telling me?" Kurt took Peter's hand off him. "You're coming off way too strong."
"That's…"
"Is it something you can't speak about?"
"That's right. I hope you can understand, so please tell me everything you know."
"Alright. From what I've gathered it would seem that the reason these cultist freaks kidnapped those kids is because they believe, just like you, that the church is a bunch of liars."
"They what?"
"Yeah. Arlo spoke of a prophecy. In that prophecy it is said that-"
"That a child of golden hair and crystal blue eyes will be born in Eldoria this year, yes I know but what does that have to do with the other children?"
"I was getting to that. The reason they kidnapped the other children is because they're afraid."
"Afraid? Afraid of what?"
"Wait, sorry, 'afraid' is the wrong word. It's more like they're disgusted. They're disgusted by the fact that the prophecy says that the child will be of a direct bloodline to Goddess Bula. He claimed that 'they're', that being the cultists, are the true children of the Goddess."
"So, they took innocent children?! How does that make any sense?"
"That's the thing. They don't know who or when the child will be born so they took whoever matches the description and have decided at the end of every month, they'd kill them."
"Kill…. them? No no no… how are we going to stop this?! I-I can't…" Peter nervously bit his nails.
"Hold on now, Peter. I do have some good news. I believe that I've stalled their plans."
"Y-you did?" He stopped panicking. "How? And for how long?"
"As sick as this sounds but they planned on streaming the whole thing. Called it a 'show'. For that they needed these things called display tags. Long story short, they don't have them anymore. As for how long, who can say? It could be for a week, or they'll wait for the next month as they think of another plan."
"Ok, that's good. You did well Kurt." He started mumbling to himself. "Today is the 18th of February. We still have a week and some change before the 28th…"
'Looks like you don't get a birthday this year, Arlo.' Kurt smirked.
"Kurt!" Peter abruptly stood up from his seat.
"Yeah?"
"Thanks to you I know I still have some time to save her."
'Save her?'
"Do you remember Bishop Tobias and his two lackeys? I have reason to believe that they are involved in all of this."
"What makes you so sure?" Kurt stood up next to him.
"That's because…" Peter hesitated. "That's because they want me quiet. Otherwise, they'll kill my-"
POP!
PSSHHHH
Blood sprayed all over Kurt as Peter's head exploded right next to him.