[A Morning in the Life of Chonky [Chonky's POV].]

I love my little Maxy… so kind and so strong… he's my son, after all. But he's smelly, sometimes—still, I love him.

Anyway, I wake up every day and peck on Maxy's cheeks for good luck. Hehe, he does not know it, however. Then I clean myself by licky-licky and then go on the walk. I am a very busy cat, after all.

I like to make sure Maxy knows what's happening around him, or if his friends are safe. So first, I go to baldy Sir Dol-Dol. He's very kind and leaves me tasty food every day in his bag. I then practice drumming on his bald head to see if he's alive, and when he moves, I leave—he's scary sometimes. After that, I go to Gab… but today, I saw another little one… Shane is his name, and he has many more little friends.

"Friends, I am telling you, Priest Sylvester is a great healer and a fighter. He alone exorcized the demon out of the Chief's son with ease… he punched and even made the demon cry. And right now, he's healing the people who were hurt by that demon in the head.

"He's the best—I'm telling you. He can destroy any monster with his beautiful light and songs. Look, he also gave me this thing, it's called a flute—you want to try it? Sorry, I can't. Lord Healer said I must care for it like a baby."

I want that flute too, so I will ask Maxy later. But I like this little human kitten. He says good things about my son—anyway, time to see Gab.

My duty is to wake Gab up every day, so I go to his room and lick his ear. He giggles and asks me to do more, so I do it and wake him up—Humans are very strange sometimes. But Gab is also very boring—all he does is write letters to his pretty sister and tell her to find a good man for marriage.

Anyway, time to see my favorite fun time, Felix. He's strange… I think Maxy needs to treat his head too. But he's also kind, so it's alright.

Ah! He's playing under his sheets today as well. I wonder why he moves so much. Is he beating something? Or… is there a toy inside there? I'm jelly—I wanna play with the toy too.

"Meow!"

If I can't play, no one shall play, so like always, I spoil his playing time under the sheets… he must play a lot, though—His face is always sweaty.

"Oh, for fuck's sake! Where does this cat sound come from every day?"

Hehe, that's what you get for playing alone. Anyway, it's time to return to Maxy and wake him up.

[End of a Morning in the life of Chonky.]

…

Sylvester called young Shane to his room and interrogated him about the various things he had been sharing with his friends in town. He had received so many gifts in the past few days that it was harder to keep them now.

"So you've been talking about me with others. It has come to my attention that you've been exaggerating my feats?" Sylvester asked the boy while he folded his arms and looked at him angrily.

Shane looked down in some fear. "I-I was just… I didn't lie—I swear! I was only telling them what you did and what I heard from others. I didn't see you exorcize the demon, but the guards on the town's wall told me how you punched the demon in the face. And—And you are really treating the sick, so I never lied."

"You're good at words, aren't you? Fine, if you truly wish to become a clergyman, you must pass a test. Here-" Sylvester handed him a booklet. It was not thin. At most, there were fifty pages. "These are the hymns that I have sung over the years. You are to memorize all of them by the time I leave the town, and if you fail, I will not let you become a clergyman."Shane's shoulder fell in fear, but he took the booklet with worship as if it was a treasure. "I will not disappoint you, Priest. I promise—I will go and memorize everything now. Bye!"

Sylvester chuckled, seeing him run away. 'This kid has too much worship towards him. I'm afraid he'd worship me more than Solis if he became a clergyman.'

"What do you think, Chonky? Can he do it?" He asked the little friend on his shoulder.

Chonky shrugged sleepily and yawned. "His brain is small. I don't think he can."

"Hah, indeed. I hope he does surprise me, however. It'd be a waste to let his high talents go to waste. Anyway, let's go now. It's time to heal the patients."

…

The cat was out of the bag. No, it was not about Miraj. The town's council was called, which involved various essential people in the town. The chief architect, chief carpenter, chief blacksmith, weaver, head of agriculture, and all the people with decision-making powers.

In a large hall, all ten council members sat together and discussed what must be done regarding the situation. It was no news to them that they all hated the church, and nearly everyone knew that Archpriest Oliver was a fake one.

But what they didn't know was that Chief Kennard was ready to have the town razed to the ground by plotting the murder of Sylvester.

"This is grave news. But it seems Lord Bard is not a vile person as that Archpriest was in the past. He knows about our plans and our crimes and yet does nothing. I just earlier saw him walk around to various homes and check on a few people he suspected of carrying the disease." The Chief carpenter spoke, an old man with an arched back.

Lady Healer agreed as she was in the meeting room earlier. "From what I've seen, Lord Bard is a man who can show extreme wrath to those he considers beyond salvation but show love and warmth to innocents and hurt. He is—a true man of faith."

"Yet this fool Kennard dared tried to harm him. What good is the bounty when we'll all be hunted like criminals? I call for a vote for dismissal of Chief Kennard—and it's an aye from me." The Chief Blacksmith spoke, the same man who tried to sharpen Sylvester's tools for free earlier to show gratitude.

"Agreed."

"Aye."

"Dismiss him."

"Yes."

One by one, all members of the council gave their vote, and Chief Kennard was dismissed from his position. The man was also sitting there, but his mouth was tied with a cloth as he was shouting too much earlier.

Just then, Lady Healer called for something else. "Let's vote to elect the next Chief of Sphinx Town. I name Sir Holand, for he was the one to defend our town every time, and he also helped Lord Bard treat the sick."

The voting process to choose the town chief was never democratic to the point that even commoners could vote. Because it was universally accepted that commoners could not be trusted with such power, they couldn't make well-educated decisions and could be easily swayed by rumors. Hence the ability to choose a new chief was always in the hands of a Council.

"I second this—Sir Holand is a man with a good head over his shoulders."

"I propose my own name."

"I vote for Sir Holand."

Soon enough, Sir Holand won by a majority vote of 6 out of eight. The rest of the two members of the council were not allowed to vote.

Sir Holand was not a fool and had discussed this whole deal with Lady Healer beforehand. So he took charge quickly. "I shall hold the trial of Kennard and Pollux(Fake Archpriest Oliver). But, I do not wish to anger the clergymen anymore, so I shall first speak with Priest Sylvester about this."

"What about Archpriest Aiden Silvereye? We have tormented him so much over the years… he will definitely want us razed to the ground." Chief Blacksmith asked in fear.

Sir Holand was of the same idea, sadly. "I will speak with Priest Sylvester about this as well. But in the meantime, I want all of us to help him get this town back on track. The spreading madness must be stopped quickly—or there shall be no Sphinx town left."

…

"You called for me, Sylvester?"

"Yes, Sir Dolorem. I wish to discuss something with you—of importance. By the way, the view from here is magnificent." Sylvester muttered as he looked around from the boundary wall of the town. This time he was at the back-side of the town from where he could look south at the barren mountains in the distance.

Sir Dolorem nodded and stood beside him. "Yet lurks evil here."

Agreeing, Sylvester handed a parchment to Sir Dolorem. The old knight read it and couldn't help but frown. It stated the current tally of demon-possessed and sick. The numbers were jarring, to say the least. Currently, out of seven thousand people in the town, one thousand had died, and three hundred were under treatment by Sylvester, but the scary part was the rate of addition of new cases.

Just today, one hundred and fifty new cases of mental disorders were reported. Yesterday it was one hundred. The rate of increase was exponential and beyond their capacity to do something.

"If this goes on, at this rate, I'm afraid there shall be none left in half a month. Not to mention, two more cases of real demon possessions have occurred. This is alarming, and I'm afraid we must prepare for the worst." Sylvester added, seeming a bit tense about what was to come next.

Sir Dolorem glanced at the mountains in the distance. "Did you send the letter to the Holy Land?"

Sylvester seemed visibly annoyed by that. "I did, and sadly, we're stuck here, Sir Dolorem. Since no trader passes through here, I could not use the Running men. I had to send one of the town's guards. They could not move beyond the Northern Duchy of Riveria as the letter bore my name. I could not write a false name either since no one would take it seriously in the Holy Land.

"As for the southern route, the guard tried it, but it seems the toxic purple mist has now taken hold of the Desert Road as well. So, in a way, we are cut off."

Sir Dolorem grunted in frustration. "Why is the administration not dealing with this Riveria matter? The king is openly against you."

"This is either a test for me, or the Riveria Kingdom has something that the Holy Land is afraid of. Riveria has been the richest kingdom for far too long—what are the chances they have a Supreme Wizard among their ranks… and many more Grand Wizards than we common low ranked folks know?" Sylvester reasoned.

Rubbing his chin, Sir Dolorem had to agree with this. "It's possible—frightful—but possible."

Sylvester let go of that matter as he had more things to worry about right now. "Prepare for the worst, Sir Dolorem."

"We must fight the bloodling?" Sir Dolorem asked, not really a fan since his last encounter.

Sylvester looked in the distance; the sun was on the rise. He nodded, letting the wind blow his hair as he closed his eyes. "We tried all means to heal the people, but the town's current state is irrevocable—so fighting the bloodling might just be inevitable."

___________________

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