The Judgement Of Divinity (TMOE #2)

Chapter 2: Unsolicited feedback

By Dyris, was Eliza Garlic chatty.

Lucius barely had a chance to say anything as they walked through The Entrails to reach the finer parts of town. Eliza didn't seem bothered by the fact that she did all of the talking whatsoever.

"Sorry, I only brought one umbrella," she said as she held Lucius closer to shield him from the rain.

Lucius replied with an awkward smile, ears reddening without his permission.

"So, if you're Lucius then you must be that, uh, town chief's relative Sam's been talking about, right?" she then asked, and Lucius nodded.

"I am." Despite his wish to run away he did enjoy talking about himself, even if it was his other identity, and he didn't exactly have a choice but to walk considering Eliza's blood-stopping grip on his arm. "We're cousins."

"Oof, that's gotta be rough," was her reply as she kept staring forward, and Lucius raised an eyebrow at her.

"... How so?"

"I mean, she's pretty much... In over her head, don't you think?" Eliza made an effort to sound careful but her amused smile gave her away before the rest of her words did. "And when I say pretty much I mean a lot."

The corner of Lucius' mouth twitched, but he swallowed the offended yelling down and bit his knuckle instead as if in thought.

"I like to think she's handling things quite well, but perhaps I'm..." He grimaced. "... Biased."

"Things have been a mess since she assumed her position." Eliza laughed under her breath as she adjusted her umbrella to keep covering both of them. "As if The Entrails and surrounding areas didn't have it rough enough before, now the anglers are disgruntled as well. And who's that gonna affect?"

"The... Anglers?" Lucius asked, knowing the answer Eliza was looking for but couldn't quite grasp why.

"The worms," Eliza confirmed Lucius' suspicion, and he gave her a disapproving look. Wasn't it enough that they referred to them as that? No need to embrace it.

"I'm sorry, I don't want to sound rude. I just want to clarify." Eliza turned her head to fix her gaze on Lucius, though despite the serious topic her expression remained kind. Perhaps it was the charming effect Lucius' Scourge pact had on people, or she was genuinely affectionate even towards people she barely knew. "The upper crust are used to getting what they want, and when they don't they seek it out elsewhere. They'll bleed the lower classes dry, if not for business, then for revenge."

"That's—" Lucius bit his lip. He knew he couldn't change things within a day or expect to run over the richer class without any retaliation, but he liked to think he'd handled it somewhat well so far. He'd even been polite to Mr. Whitbrow, for Archon's sake. "So—So what, things are gonna get worse because she tries to help the lower class? How the Waste is she gonna make things better if she can't upset the anglers?"

"Beats me." Eliza shrugged, sending the water drops on the umbrella falling to the ground. "If someone knew, then it wouldn't be such a big problem, would it?"

Lucius wanted to let out an exasperated groan so desperately.

"So right now all she's successfully managed to do is anger everyone, instead of fixing things? That's..." He looked around the bleak area just as they were about to exit The Entrails. "... That's a bummer."

"Oh, it's not that bad," Eliza tried comforting him. "Most people I know, me included, do think she's trying her best and means well. We just think she's a bit clueless on what she's doing."

This did not make Lucius feel much better.

"The others, well... They're a bit suspicious," Eliza continued. "Why would an upper class lady care about The Entrails unless she has something to gain from it, after all?"