Stella clamped the bread and handed it to Alex, her movements skillful and agile.
Alex hugged the large paper bag that was still emitting heat, feeling the familiar weight in his hands, thought for a moment, and opened his mouth to speak: "Mrs. Stella, I also want a few slices of white bread, and a small jar of fruit jam."
Stella was slightly surprised, pausing her movements: "Is there something happy?" These were things Alex only bought on holidays, for example, old Pastor Arthur's birthday, for example, Independence Day; at other times, he definitely wouldn't bear to spend, this boy always saved every copper coin.
"I just told you earlier." Alex said, his eyes brightening a bit: "Some good things happened, I want to celebrate a little."
The corner of his eye caught a glimpse of the croissant filled with rich cream placed in the glass cabinet, the crust golden and glittering under the oil lamp: "Mrs. Stella, how do you sell this?"
The old lady glanced over, answering: "One silver coin for two."
Too expensive!
Alex clicked his tongue; one silver coin was enough for his food for five days; that guy Toby indeed still hid private money, but this was not a problem worth investigating deeply; after all, he couldn't be so wasteful.
"Alex, how about three slices of white bread? Which kind of fruit jam do you want? Blueberry jam is on sale today, only need three copper coins." Mrs. Stella suggested, her eyes full of concern.
"Yes, Mrs. Stella." Alex took out banknotes from his money bag, counting each sheet carefully: "Total is 19 notes, right?"
According to the exchange rate between gold coins and banknotes, one copper coin was one banknote, one gold coin was exactly one hundred notes.
"That's right." Stella walked out, putting the bread into the bag from earlier, then walked to the other side of the counter to get the fruit jam: "Alex, these jars of jam were made the day before yesterday; the flavor is still very delicious, but you must eat them quickly."
Alex nodded; usually only food about to expire would be discounted; he naturally knew these jars of jam couldn't be kept for long, but to him, that was already a delicacy.
"No need to worry; I will finish them all tonight."
After saying goodbye to Mrs. Stella, Alex hugged the food with a satisfied face and walked towards home; the guard squad at the door immediately gathered, following behind, not saying a word, forming a human wall separating him from the surrounding world.
Leaving the noisy city area, these tall guards no longer attracted attention like that; their silhouettes blended into the falling night, instead bringing a sense of reliable safety.
From afar, Alex saw the small forest being blockaded, yellow warning tapes of the Church stretched across the path, inside was pitch black as ink, trees silent like ghosts, no changes could be seen. He stopped walking; at the same time, the extraordinary people always hiding in the dark coincidentally held their breath, the atmosphere suddenly becoming tense.
Alex also made no strange actions; he looked at the small forest a few times, eyes narrowing as if searching for something in the dark, turned around and asked the captain behind: "When will this place be unblocked?"
Taking a detour was very time-consuming, the dirt road was bumpy and hard to walk; he had rested from work for two days, if he didn't go to work anymore, he feared he wouldn't even be able to afford black bread; moving corpses was very tiring, he didn't want to take a detour every day.
The captain was just a normal guard, his face revealing confusion, clearly not knowing these internal matters of the Church; he honestly said: "Sorry, I don't know. The blockade order came from superiors very suddenly."
"Don't know? Aren't you the Judg..." Alex's expression changed slightly; he realized something was wrong, hurriedly swallowing the second half of the sentence into his stomach: "Cough, isn't this your job?"
"Each person has their own job." The captain answered briefly, the rigid tone of a soldier.
Alex seemed to grasp something; he didn't continue the dialogue with the captain anymore, reached out and patted Gary on the shoulder. The small spirit was telepathically connected with Alex, understood his intention immediately, flapped wings and flew up, transparent body gliding past the blockade fence, hovering around the forest area.
Not long after, the boy flew back, hovering in front of Alex, holding out a tiny finger.
Saw a stranger.
Alex understood the boy's meaning; Gary added by gesturing with hands and feet: Not just one, many people, they hid very carefully.
Alex thought, then it must be six people.
The Chief Judge said: A squad of six people.
Currently following him, he feared, were just normal guards playing the role of a diversion; the six people in the dark were the real extraordinary people protecting him.
Putting it that way, ordinary people working for the Church also didn't know of the existence of the extraordinary organization. They only followed orders without knowing what they were facing.
He connected it with June's expression when he went to receive the allowance earlier. Clearly, that hateful classmate of his also didn't know the existence of extraordinary people, because the person leading him into Simon's office was another young man with a much more composed temperament.
Civil servants working for the Church were also divided into the knowing faction and the unknowing faction.
Really complex.
Regarding extraordinary power related to gods, it was all complex like that, layer upon layer of secrets piled up on each other.
Don't know why, Alex associated it with the fact that Elias stopped at the right time every time he explained to him. The things the church was doing, he feared, were just like what Elias did; ordinary people knowing too many things would also be polluted or go mad.
Now he just didn't know, how the strength of those people in the dark was, whether they would discover the secret in his house.
When Alex returned home, the sky was already pitch black; sparse stars began to appear in the sky.
The guard squad stood in the yard; six large men packed the narrow small yard, taking up extreme space.
"There is no extra space." Alex said, pointing at his dilapidated house: "There is only one mattress used for winter, and it's also not enough for one person to lie comfortably."
The captain indicated they didn't care; a mission like this was too normal, they could stand guard all night in the cold mist.
Although they didn't know why superiors told them to follow this teenager who looked weak, this did not affect their professionalism.