'Who even has that problem ?'
Him. He did. The fact that there were so many undercover Rings was most definitely first and foremost his problem.
As expected, after this, new priests came to search through the whole room, until the day ended with seven Rings total.
This was extremely bad news.
Still bearable, as most of them had already volunteered for the assault. They would be gone while the crucial part of the operation went down.
But still quite horrible, because of one simple reason.
They had not changed their schedule prior to this day.
Out of the seven days in a week, these preists were all supposed to work today, only two had another work day planned.
'If there are that many Rings today alone... How many in total ?'
Thinking about it a little more, he soon landed on a reasonable assumption.
On the final day, when most of the personnel went away for the assault, every single one of the guards left behind would be Rings.
...
'Hmm.'
This was.... Troublesome.
No matter how he counted, the number of agents on his side did not change.
He was alone !
Baoba suddenly felt like they were grossly outclassed.
"I'll just... Go hunt. See you."
Urtica ran away.
Everyone was silent for a long while. A single bird chirped right outside the window, clearly not reading the room.
"Sooo... that's.. bad. Right ?" Capcsium confirmed.
Baoba let out a deep sigh before replying. "Yes. It's the worst case scenario. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if 20% of my colleagues turn out to be Rings. And I'll have to fight them on assault day."
The mother floated to the middle of the room while her voice radiated outwards. "The numbers seem to be disadvantageous to you. How are you going to win ?"
"I'm... getting there."
A beat passed before she talked again. "Please don't forget that obtaining Noti is crucial to the Hunt. You will remain weak if we don't find a way to keep you hidden in the beyond while I bless you."
Baoba exhaled slowly with his eyes closed. "Yeah. No. I remember that."
Venus cleared her throat before taking in a very polite tone : "Great Mother, please don't take offense to our captain's words, I think he is currently trying to come up with a plan of action."
"I see." The orb slowly moved backwards until it reached the wall, then phased through it.
Ten seconds passed without a sound, before Pando suddenly got up and moved to her room. Following her lead, the two other girls left the living room as well, giving him space.
'.....'
He wasn't thinking in words. He always thought better in abstract form. But his brain was firing on all cylinders right now. It was too early to give up.
It always was.
***
Days passed.
It felt wrong to call them uneventful. The underlying tension sure as hell felt like an event. The days didn't feel dull, and were never once boring.
But in terms of actual external events... there was little to report. Almost nothing.
Two times after that last day, some new Ring went to inspect the room.
Baoba wasn't actually sure wether or not they were Rings. The very first day was too early for any weird buisness, but in the following week, there could very well be normal priests who simply heard about the lost ring from an undercover agent. They could also very well be looking for something else.
So that hardly counted as an event.
Baoba went through his first round of compulsory combat practice at church. It was extremely secretive, and mandatory, even for non volunteers. Calling it combat practice felt wrong, too.
The hardest thing about it was to pretend to be inexperienced.
Baoba had not seen Evans or any member of that party again. He felt quite glad about it.
No one acted suspicious. No one brought trouble. There was not even a small conflict in the church. Urtica's cover had not been blown, and he had started interacting with strangers even less than before, as instructed. Really, everything was fine.
Except Baoba. He was anxious. And tired.
And anxious.
'I almost wish something would happen...'.
Instantly regretting the thought, he corrected himself.
'Almost ! Are you hearing me, gods ? I said almost !'
Right now, he was coming home from work. He quickly checked that he wasn't followed, fearful of having jinxed himself.
There was nobody. He exhaled a breath of relief.
'Looks like they're cool this time.'
***
The very next day.
There was somebody.
He only saw it because he was being overly cautious. A normal person would not have suspected anything. But always feeling like you're being followed does help if it ever happens.
In the glass he always passed in front of specifically to make sure someone was not following him, he saw a shady figure walking behind him.
That itself was no big deal. Lots of shady figures were not actually threats.
The problem came when the figure was still here, even after multiple cautious detours.
'Shit. Here we go.'
He was being followed.
Leading the figure to the apartment was out of the question. There were many lines of sight into it if one looked for them, and keeping the curtains drawn all day would only be more suspicious.
Fighting was also not optimal, as it would immediately give him away.
He had to lose them, and do it fast, or they would start to wonder if his house was even in the city.
Contingency plan number 36 came to mind. He decided it was good enough. Following it, he continued walking normally, without looking back or looking too straight.
Meanwhile, the pursuer yawned.
This was not his first time tailing a suspect. It was also not his first time being sick of it.
'Why do they even think the elf is hiding ? Do they think that if there was one, they would bother pretending to be human ? Tsk tsk.' He shook his head, apparently not too concerned about looking inconspicuous.
'This is why we have to stop listening to that guy. With me leader, we wouldn't be wasting our time on this shit.'
Barnell was pretty close to being done. He had some expectations for this islander dude, but he just went straight home like everybody else.
Barnell was a simple man. He, too, had worked the whole day. He just wanted to go home to his wife and kids.
'Although, I bet the bitch overcooked it again... Haaah, why do I even bother...'
Would he ever get a single day of peace ? He beleived so less and less every day.
He quickly focused again. He had to give his all, or he might get expelled.
'Come on, man... How much longer are you gonna be walking ? How can you live so far away ?'
The target was going in the same direction as before. He was so obviously just a normal human it was annoying.
But at some point, Mr regular guy took a turn into a short alleyway. By the time Barnell reached it, he couldn't tell which way the target had gone. And after a quick search through every path, he was still nowhere to be found.
He scratched his head. 'Well damn. I actually lost him.'
...
'Who cares. I'm going home. If they want this specific guy so much, how 'bout they marry him.'
And with that, Barnell left.
....
Twenty minutes later, in the same alleyway.
Pando, properly cloaked, went up to a bunch of merchandise and talked to the pile of hides.
"You're safe. He's been gone for a while now."
The pile hesitated, before regurgitating Baoba.
"Are you sure ? It hasn't even been that long." He was panting and sweating from being under all those. After taking that turn, he had dived behind a box and summoned a good amount of hides above him. Hiding under a pre-existing pile like that in this time would have been impossible, which is why this plan had been chosen. But now, Baoba was starting to suspect it had been overkill.
Pando offered her hand and helped him get out. "This man has some of the weakest willmower I've seen. He gave up instantly. The last fifteen minutes have already been unnecessary. Trust me, he's gone. Right now, he's at his house, yelling at his family."
The pile's spawn froze. "He is ? Why ?"
Pando shrugged, almost naturally. "I don't know. I've actually been following this guy for a while. He does this pretty often. But his wife has been meeting up with a lawyer looking person in her lunch breaks. Now I'm just looking forward to the moment she breaks the news to him."
The church of Helio was in charge of marriage, and did support divorce too.
"Ok... I guess he'll will be busy with that, then. Lucky us. You'll still have to start following the stalking protocol. The one where you come and tell me the second you see I'm being followed ?"
"I remember." She cut him off. "I was actually on my way earlier, but you noticed before I got there."
"Right. Positive no one is looking ?"
"Yes."
"Let's go."