Book 4: Chapter 60
Book 4: Chapter 60
Mr. Skelly walked up the interior of a building. It was empty since its residents had gone out to sing for free food. He had a ghost pass through a door to unlock it, and he found his way to a window where he had a clear view of the square where the citizens and tramps were singing. Well, it was more of a circle in front of the church, but the citizens stood in a mostly neat square. Mr. Skelly pulled up a chair, setting it by the window, and took a seat. He lay his arm across the bottom of the window frame and rested his chin on his shoulder.
“Well,” he said. “I suppose my next actions depend on the church’s response. If they’re the ones who set up that giant necromancy ritual underground, then no doubt, they’d have no qualms in performing evil actions. However, if they’re actually good, then maybe they’d hand out food?” He turned his head a hundred eighty degrees without moving his body. Behind him, there was a relatively smart ghost and the skeleton capable of speech. He sighed and didn’t bother asking them what they thought before turning his head back around, completing a full circle with his skull.
Outside, the sound of singing was still going strong, way stronger than it had been during the morning. Even more people had gathered since then. It was approaching evening, but the church hadn’t made any response. Mr. Skelly waited. He didn’t mind. As someone who had been alive—technically dead—for over a few centuries whilst being unable to sleep, he had mastered the art of daydreaming. Since recently, most of his daydreams involved Alice. He imagined her wearing a flowery dress, something she’d never wear under normal circumstances. He imagined her roasting meat, taking food out of the fire before it had even begun to cook. He imagined her raising a fist and punching down a wall. He wasn’t sure why he imagined that, but he wouldn’t be surprised if she had while he was gone. A wall was a good substitute for a skull. Was it odd that he missed having his skull knocked off by Alice?
Just as Mr. Skelly was getting lost deeper in his daydream, there was a sudden shift in tone of the citizens’ singing. It sounded … angrier. Had a stray wizard realized the potential of a mob and tried to incite a riot through some subtle magics? Mr. Skelly frowned and straightened his back, sticking his head out of the window to see better. The tiny distance he closed didn’t help much. Sometime during his reverie, the sun had crept to the end of the earth, about to set below the horizon. “Ah.” A small exclamation escaped his mouth, and he nodded. “They’re getting hungry.”
Unlike skeletons, people needed to eat and sleep. When they didn’t get adequate food and rest, people tended to get antsy. The citizens singing in the square had sang for nearly the whole day, not leaving their spot. No doubt, they were afraid of getting less food if they were further in the back. Mr. Skelly scratched his head. He still didn’t know how that rumor started. Maybe there was a miscommunication among him and the tramps. They were pretty terrified at the time while making the deal; it was understandable if they thought the church would be the one providing the food. “My original plan was to…, ah, forget it. It doesn’t matter now.” He shook his head and pulled his torso back inside the building, taking a seat, waiting for the church to take action.
If Alice or Vur or Tafel were around, he could bet on what the church was going to do, but he was all alone, surrounded by practically soulless undead. Even if he applied a few tricks to guarantee his victory, the undead would never be able to appreciate it. He exhaled out the two holes in his skull that were the remains of his nose, and he sighed. Shortly after, there was a scream that came from behind.
Mr. Skelly’s head swiveled on his spine, and he made eye contact with a girl. She screamed again and ran away as fast as she could, disappearing from the doorway in an instant. He shrugged and gestured for the skeleton behind himself to close the door. Then he swiveled his head back to face the crowd below. They were moving, and the hymns weren’t as loud, but they were still going strong. However, after the hymn ended, a resounding sentence rang through the air as if all the citizens agreed to shout it at once.
“We want food!”
“We want food!”
“We want food!”
Thunderclaps rang out as the citizens chanted and stomped their feet. Mr. Skelly raised his nonexistent eyebrows at the sight. Did he someone start a riot? What happened next couldn’t possibly be his fault, right? Definitely not. All he had wanted was for a few tramps to sing. Who knew the peasants were going to surge forward, running towards the church. There were a few guards, and Mr. Skelly couldn’t see too well, but he imagined they clashed with the citizens and were quickly overrun. According to the tramps, there weren’t super strong existences, most people having the same strength. Even trained knights would lose to thousands of civilians if they were caught in a bad position.
Mr. Skelly scratched his skull again. Even if the church took action to slaughter the citizens at this point, he couldn’t really label them as an evil existence. They were simply defending themselves from a mob. “Well, everything’s turned into quite a mess, huh?”
***
“Your Holiness! You have to escape! The peasants are enraged, and the Swiss Guards are doing their best to hold them back!”
Leo X couldn’t wipe the baffled expression off of his face. What in the world was going on? Everyone was asking him that question throughout the day, but who was he supposed to ask!? “We’re leaving! Hurry up and run!”