"Help?" The leader demon frowned, "You, a human, want to help us?"
"Indeed." Roko said, leaning back on his throne authoritatively, "After all we're both after the same thing."
"And what would that be?" The leader's eyes narrowed.
"The grimoire of course."
"How'd you...YOU TOLD HIM?!"
"Bitch please." Roko scoffed at the accusing glares being thrown at Olivia, "When you have as much experience as I do with these creatures, this kind of thing is obvious."
"Experience?" The leader turned back to Roko, "So you have experience with these monsters prior to Seawood?"
"I have damn near a lifetime's worth of experience." Roko sighed tiredly, "But if you want my help then you'll have to work under me."
"Pfft. You think we demons are so desperate that we'd lower ourselves to working under a human?!" Their leader cried, followed by a resounding chorus of cheers from his peers.
"How else are you going to make it to the next quarter?" Roko smirked.
"S-So you heard that! Never you mind, you puny human! We demons are known for playing the long game."
"I think it's been long enough as is, don't you think? Or shall I call your boss to check?" Roko replied.
"Y-You wouldn't dare!"
"I wouldn't want to bother more likely." Roko sighed, "After all, why bother when I can force your hands?"
"You think you, a lone human, can beat all of us?" The leader demon sneered as the other demons began to approach Roko's throne with murderous intent in their eyes, "You're a cocky one for a human."
Roko watched the demons beginning to surround him and sighed, "...On your knees."
An immense pressure suddenly slammed down on everyone in the room, a gravity so strong that every demon was forced onto their knees, bowing their heads in submission to the human on the throne.
"W-What's...this level of pressure?" Their leader grunted as he struggled to keep himself up with arms, "This level of power...how have I never heard of it before?"
"That's because of my contract with Olivia."
The demon pushed his head up to look up at Roko who was standing in front of him, within his own gravitational field seemingly unaffected.
"Any normal human would've exploded from his level of pressure." Roko said, staring coldly down at him, "You demons are quite sturdy aren't you?"
"You...this is...Olivia's power?" The demon growled.
"You should say that." Roko shrugged, "Or you could say it's half and half. Depends, really."
"How? Olivia was never this powerful."
"Very true. She couldn't even maintain a disguise spell properly. But now she can cast an invisibility spell that even every demon in this room could not detect." Roko said as he knelt down to glare directly into the demon's eyes, "Do you want to know how?"
"H...how?"
Roko smirked and snapped his fingers, signaling Olivia to release her spell, allowing all the demons to finally collapse onto the ground, tired from fighting the pressure exerted on them.
"Naturally, it's the contract!" Roko announced, strolling right past the demons back to his throne, "A properly written contract, a TRUE partnership, can bring about power this oppressive."
Olivia tossed Roko the contract they had stolen which Roko held up as he sat back down, "Scammy, exploitative contracts like this? This is what they deserve."
And without a word, the contract ignited in Roko's hands as he tossed it down on the ground for all the demons to see.
"That contract is null and void now." Roko said, "If you want to form a new contract, or modify an existing one so that you can attain such power, me and Olivia would be happy to help look them over."
"You...you want our contracts?" One demon asked, seemingly morbidly curious.
"The decision is up to you." Roko replied, "It's YOUR contract that you forced upon a hapless human after all. There might not be much that I can do. But if you want power akin to mine, I have a few ideas."
All the demons began picking themselves up, looking at each other with doubt towards Roko, something Roko considered an improvement over the hostility they had before.
"Are you here to find the grimoire or improve our contracts?" Olivia's fake husband scowled with clear contempt.
"I just hate sloppiness." Roko scoffed, "If you're going to make contracts, do it correctly."
"...And what do you need from us?" The leader asked, "With that level of power, you could destroy the entire town if you want to."
"For the time being, information." Roko replied, "I need your records to construct a clearer picture of what's going on. And from there, we'll see where my investigation leads."
"...You really think you can help us?"
"Chief, you can't seriously be considering his help!" Olivia's fake husband cried, "He just showed up out of nowhere!"
"...If we finish this early, I...I mean, WE can get a raise." Their leader mused.
"CHIEF!"
"If we're done negotiating then bring me your records." Roko called, "I'll be spending a day or two going them over."
"HA! I'd like to see you finish all of that in only two days!" The chief boasted.
"I'm really starting from zero huh?" Roko sighed.
"What about me?" Olivia frowned.
"You're married."
"Okay Roko, we talked about this."
"Maybe you should talk about it with your husband then."
"You gonna help with that?"
"Is that part of my contract?"
"...No..."
"I'd rather not then."
"Goddammit, I should've put it in the contract!"
"Morning everyone." Corissa said as she arrived at the table everybody has been using since they arrived.
"Morning." Momo replied, though her head still hung low in depressive thought.
"What's wrong?" Corissa asked.
"Well there's still a lot to process." Kaguya sighed, her head lying on her arm as she rested on the table, "There's demons and eldritch and god knows what else in this town."
"Humans too probably." Helena moaned, "Including an evil Roko."
"That's the worst part." Momo groaned.
"Okay, okay, let's take things one step at a time." Corissa said, "Did you all get breakfast yet?"
"No." Helena sighed, "I mean, we ordered them but they haven't come out with it yet."
"I see. Ah, thank you." Corissa nodded towards Varis who finally arrived with a chair for her, "Excuse me."
Everyone looked up as Corissa placed her tray of food on the table as she finally took a seat.
"...Did you make that?" Momo asked.
"Yeah?" Corissa blinked as she sat down in front of her fresh greens salad with salmon and croutons with ranch dressing.
"Why didn't you cook for US?!" Momo cried, practically offended.
"Oh, sorry, I thought you were all making your own breakfasts now so..."
"No! We've just been eating out for the past three days!"
"That's unhealthy."
"Exactly! So why didn't you cook breakfast for us too?!"
"W-Well you've already ordered breakfast already so there's no point now right?!"
"Yeah! And it's still not here!"
"Plus your cooking is usually better anyway." Helena added.
"O-Okay then." Corissa said a bit embarrassed by the attention, "I'll start cooking for everyone again."
"Hooray!" The three girls celebrated by throwing their hands up in the air.
"That said, your food is taking a pretty long time." Corissa noted, "I wonder why?"
"Is something going on in the kitchen?" Momo asked, "You were in there right?"
"Yeah but I don't know if I noticed anything off..." Corissa scratched her head, "Then again, I haven't left my room for the past few days..."
"I don't see Brian around." Helena noted as she took another look around the packed tavern floor, "Maybe he's busy?"
"Lydia's not around either." Kaguya added, "I hope they're okay."
"Speaking of Lydia..." Momo frowned, "Wasn't Roko especially interested in her?"
"Maybe he likes her?" Helena suggested with a pointed glance at Corissa.
"Isn't Lydia married though?" Corissa blinked.
"NTR?"
"What's that?"
"Nevermind." Kaguya said, slapping Helena upside the head before she could even think to continue, "We can ask about it next time we see them. The more pertinent issue is what we're going to do now with our own problems."
"Right." Corissa nodded as she began munching on her salad, "Let's work through what we know and then figure out what to do."
"If only Roko was here so we could skip a step." Helena sighed.
"Come on, let's not focus on that for now." Corissa tried to say cheerfully, "We can be just as capable if we put our minds together."
"You think the four of us can equal one Roko?" Helena scoffed.
"Well, I DID mentor under him for a day during the school festival." Corissa puffed out her chest proudly, "So I might've picked up picked up a thing or two."
"After only a day?" Helena scoffed, "I doubt it."
"Well there's also all the other time I spent with Roko!" Corissa cried.
"Yeah but we're also there too."
"I've had plenty of time alone with Roko!"
"Yeah and we've been trying to get you to spent more alone time with him!"
"What?" Corissa blinked.
"Nevermind." Helena coughed, "Anyway, let's see what you got then."
"Alright." Corissa huffed, "So...tell me what you know then."
"Umm..." Momo tapped her head as she began recalling exactly what she knew, "So we tried tracing Roko's trail first. Which meant going to the library of course."
"Of course." Corissa nodded.
"And...well I think we found out some things."
"Like what?"
"Well a couple dozen books were missing pages." Helena noted.
"Oh. Like...they were ripped out?"
"Yeah."
"And that's suspicious?"
"I mean...kinda?"
"Kinda?"
"I mean they said they were infested with moths for a while so the pages were just chewed away."
"Oh...that's...weird."
"Yeah."
"...And we think this is suspicious?"
"...I dunno really. Sounds plausible I guess?"
"O-Okay." Corissa gulped, "Anything else?"
"I mean, this all started when we figured out that there were more people in this town than this town should be able to hold." Momo nodded.
"Is it?" Corissa blinked.
"Yeah. And they're varied people too." Kaguya added, "Like there was somebody with a police uniform from Castoid City."
"That's pretty far away." Corissa nodded.
"Right? It's weird."
"Right...so we find this suspicious?"
"...I dunno..." Momo frowned, "I mean...it's weird cause this isn't really a tourist destination but without verifying everybody in the town, I dunno if it'll serve as a basis for anything."
"Oh..."
A silence followed for a while.
"OH!" Kaguya cried, "Wait, rewind! There was that criminal!"
Corissa looked around as the other two girls looked up and began agreeing with her, "Criminal?"
"Yeah, he was like a terrorist or something!" Kaguya nodded.
"Wow! So what did he do?"
"He uh...blew up a water fountain."
"...Is...is that it?"
"I...I think so?"
"...And...we find this...suspicious?"
"...Maybe?"
Another silence fell upon the group as they were left enervated.
"A-Anything else?" Corissa asked, trying to sound positive.
"I don't even know anymore." Helena moaned.
"Well...what were you doing at the church then?" Corissa asked.
"Ah we were just...following up on a myth."
"A myth?"
"Yeah, apparently Seawood used to have a river but the water god took it away."
"Oh. Really?"
"Yeah we were trying to think what Roko would do and asked for a source for that myth and he directed us to the church." Helena released a long sigh, "But like, it's apparently a well known story among the locals so I guess it was kind of pointless anyway."
"What was the god's name?"
"Zaffira Morgana was what I think the priest said."
"That...is not a god I'm aware of."
"Huh?" The girls looked up as Corissa resumed eating her salad with a thoughtful look in her eyes.
"Zaffira Morgana doesn't sound real." Corissa mused aloud, "The gods I know are named like Vertdail or Ashurno. The strangest gods I know were Sacrasia and Sagracia for the gods of Light and Darkness respectively. The Goddess of Water I always knew was Salaphira. What branch of god would Zaffira Morgana be?"
The girls stared at Corissa blankly, "You...you know the gods?"
"Not personally, no." Corissa scoffed, "Come on now. But I know churches and the gods they worship so I know the surviving ones I guess. I used to study their mythologies and ideals to ensure the churches in Cordis were operating properly. Just a little job I sort of gave myself to help out while growing up. Did...I never tell you about this?"
"...Corissa, this is big." Helena said.
"I-Is it?" Corissa blushed, "I don't know if it is, there might still be branches of religion and gods that I don't know about so-"
"No no no, have more confidence in yourself." Momo nodded, "This could be a lead!"
"W-Well..." Corissa munched on a lettuce leaf as she tried to hide her embarrassment and growing pride, "I-If you say so."
"So...what do we do with this lead?" Kaguya asked.
A small silence followed as the girls considered their options.
"...I guess...we try and find out who this Zaffira Morgana really is." Helena suggested.
"Okay...so does that mean we go back to the church?" Momo asked.
"There's no way they bring the church back a third time right?" Kaguya frowned, "Not after what happened last time?"
"I mean...no harm in checking right?" Helena shrugged, "If it's not there we can start asking around if there are other churches."
"Yeah. I guess so. If nothing else it's a good start."
"There's no fucking way."
"I can't believe it."
"For real?"
"Are they stupid?"
"A THIRD FUCKING TIME?!" Helena screeched up at the church that had reappeared after Corissa vaporized it yesterday, "ARE YOU CAPPING SO FR RN?!"
"What?" Corissa turned to Helena confused.
"They've got to be capmaxxing. Fucking Capmaxxers. Minmaxxing on constitution. Drop stating on intelligence."
"Helena, reign in the slang please." Kaguya sighed.
"Okay, so there has to be some reason they keep bringing back this church." Momo nodded, "Is it like important or something?"
"Well, only one way to find out." Helena nodded as she began walking towards the church.
"Wait, I think they're having mass right now!" Corissa hissed as she looked over their schedule board, "There might be other people there! What do we do?"
"Don't worry." Helena grinned, "I got this."
A low hum filled the church pews. Ambient music played to heighten the spiritual experience for church believers who bowed their heads in silent prayer. Hands clasped, the priest stood over them, as they all directed their thoughts, their gratitude, their hopes and wishes to the god they believed.
Then Helena kicked the door open,
"I know you're here, Haddock, you big fucking nerd! Where's my goddamn money?!"