>>6154966“By the way, which temple do you come from, Walter?” You don’t think it’s one of the ones you know.
“Sorry, I forget the Mainland doesn’t have the same religion as ours, you’re split into 4 different kinds — don’t you? We’re closely affiliated to the one of Courage. Two diverging paths in a sense, the reason why it's lost to time.” Walter explains. “Translated, we’re the <span class="mu-s">Followers of Valor</span>. My local temple is in Gravenriden, it is one of many, and it had better days before the bombing.”
“Sorry about bringing this up...” You didn’t want to sour the mood, you recall this is the place where Yu Yan grew up…
“History is meant to be passed on.” Walter doesn’t mind. “We rebuilt from the ashes once, we’ll do it again.”
“We’re part of the lost generation for a reason, my man. We went through so much for no discernible reason.” Gregory feels kinship with the masked man. “The ones up there in their cushy chairs are always hidin’ somethin’.”
You wonder if Solomon knows anything about… well… everything!
“I remember the charity gigs we did for the reconstruction. Couple of years back, I went there and I couldn’t believe my eyes. Hard to imagine Gravenriden was ever ravaged by war…” Baz recalls with fondness.
“I haven’t visited in years… Maybe it’s time I do.” Walter nods to himself.
“Plane tickets are relatively cheap if I do say so myself.” Gregory suggests.
“Hey Gregory, you look more like a homeless guy than a guy working at the homeless shelter…” You point out the odd detail. Everyone, but the man in question finds it hilarious.
“Keen observation, kid. It’d kill you to be a little nicer next time?!” Gregory smashes the table to play up his indignation. It only causes the rest of the crew to laugh harder. “It was part of the gig. I worked for the Rokyo Clan before it got renamed to the Youhao. We got a whole informant group passing as homeless people, and one of the many middlemen. Had to pretend I worked there and all.”
“You know Victor?” You ask.
“Tinhead? Yeah, I do. Kind of a terrifying presence, man is sketchy. Always kept his secrets, you couldn’t snoop around, not even for a minute.”
“It’s likely you were the sketchy one to him…” Baz says out loud what everyone else is thinking.
“Whatever. I was doing my job. Both of ‘em.” Gregory shrugs.
“Why bother to have your ass over there? Couldn’t these hobos report directly? Are they dumb?” Brutus doesn’t understand the logistics.
“Place is shady as hell. Lots of hoops to jump through, every part had someone verifying somethin’. And if you’re paid to be a middleman, you work as a middleman. If you end up asking too many questions you end up in bad places.” Gregory points out.
“Damn right, fuckin’ sucks, but that’s the job.” Dylan agrees.
