"What ?"
Evans liked to predict situations, he was good at it. This, however, was unexpected.
"What do you mean ? No one else in this city can possibly take down a general."
The bishop showed an outwardly understanding demeanor. "You are correct, no one could do it. However, as you might have heard, Toulu has recently welcomed another group, similar to yours, they are the ones who took the mission."
'Those new arrivals... Looks like they indeed meant trouble.'
This was a problem. Evans's whole plan hinged on the food bag, and that hunt was pretty much the only way to get the funds legally. Other, simpler missions were available, but they were heavily disputed and much less profitable. After all, monsters tended to reappear after some time, and their loot was rarely worthwhile. Only a fool would spend that much money on such a fruitless endeavor.
Furthermore, the church claimed every mission or trade offer originated directly from their god, Helio. This guaranteed fair payment, but also prevented any sort of haggling.
The price, as well as the rewards, were fixed.
'Missing out on this mission would delay everything by a couple of months, at least. In the meantime, we'll also need to expend resources to live and deal with unexpected situations.'
'Being new has been a big advantage of ours, we can exploit the system from outside. If we give them time to catch up, things might get even more complicated... No, before that, we have to see about those newcomers...'
A split second later, he snapped out of his thinking. He showed a polite face and excused himself : "Ah, I see. I suppose we will see each other a lot during these next few months, then." His politeness dropped a little, letting a hint of defiance show in his eyes. "I hope to continue this mutually friendly relationship through all of our future discussions."
On that, they left on their own, back trough the front door.
The priest, who went back to sweeping, and bishop Anderson stayed at the back gravely.
The priest stopped his actions once again."Look at them, not even trying to hide their intentions. Will our mesures really be enough ?"
Anderson let go of his smile and displayed grave seriousness instead. "It should be. They can't outwardly attack, as that would give us a reason to refuse them our business, which they apparently need. The gall, using us like this, hiding behind our own honour !"
He shook his head. "But we are prepared. They can do nothing we have not predicted."
Sighing, the priest picked up his broom. "Let's hope you're right."
As the distracted worker went away, Anderson kept glaring in the direction of the squad, deep in thought.
***
"Man, What's that guy's deal ?"
While the party was maintaining their equipment back at their inn, Julius had found a chance to complain about something.
"We didn't even do anything to him ! He keeps giving us quests, and we keep completing them, that's it ! This guy hated our guts since we walked in this town, I'm telling you !"
Jeanne was reassembling her gun on a desk in a corner of the room. "It would be better if that was it. It would at least mean he doesn't have a problem with the way we do his missions. From the looks of things, we will have to take a lot more than previously planned."
Stephan stopped his blowtorch and raised his welding mask. "On the other hand, they'll be much easier ! I think I recall that last general was particularly dangerous. To be honest, I, uhh, wasn't looking forward to it."
Not entirely owning what he said, he quickly turned his back and hurriedly started working again.
Evans was not cleaning or repairing anything. He had not talked since the cathedral, and was now sat on the side of a bed with his eyes closed.
No one dared to bother him, it was clear the talented leader was thinking.
'...That won't do.'
Regardless of the cause, it was clear the church disapproved of them. The only reason dialogue was possible at all was because every mission was put out on public boards, and everyone could see who would take on which. How would it look for the embassadors of divinity if they went back on their word for no apparent reason ?
Not great. It would even be pretty bad.
So they couldn't outright refuse business. But they certainly could do other things.
For example, only displaying the worthwhile missions when or where the party wasn't looking.
Or find ways to hit them with taxes, or enroll merchants to give them a hard time with higher prices.
There was no separation between Toulu's government and its church. Sure, there was a city hall, and a dedicated team of politicians, but they were under the command of the city's bishop. Only massively successful merchants had a chance to escape their influence.
In short, during those few months of setback, the church could find a myriad of ways to make their lives worse.
There didn't seem to be a reason to, but that apparently didn't stop them.
'So we better do something now.'
Evans suddenly stood up and called out : "Agent Dark, you're coming with me. We have to check on that new party."
Jeanne was clearly already prepared, she immediately got up and started to pack up a small bag.
Julius looked around, confused. "Wait, what are we doing ?"
Putting on his overengeneered jacket, the captain clarified : "The church clearly wants to stop our plans, for some reason. However, they had no way to do so, because their quests are public, and there are always too many bystanders at the church to do anything secretly. So we got our way until now."
He verified his plasma gun's state and hid it under the previously mentioned jacket.
"Now, we are one step away from success, and while we were out of town, this new party that was here for a few weeks without accomplishing anything or getting into any trouble conveniently steals our last opportunity right under our noses, giving the church a good amount of time to do whatever they please to mess with us.
"Now there is indeed a chance that this is a coincidence, that we are just seeing things, that I am paranoid. This is what we are confirming right now.
"If it is so, then what we should find is a capable squad preparing for battle, which just so happened to take a mission at the wrong time. They will surely not be against help, and we will be able to deal with them as partners. However, if I am right...."
After countless gadgets found their way into a just as impressive number of hidden pockets in Evans' uniform, he was finally ready to go out.
"Then we will see a bunch of opportunists who got paid by the church just to sit around and do nothing."
His usually stern and serious face revealed a confident smile.
"Truthfully, I hope it's the latter."