"Azure, from the Pope himself, take this mission. Find the double agent. A traitor is a fucking parasite to the Chapel. It'll suck is dry before we know it," Monsignor spat.

As I walk down our headquarters, known as the Church, I take the card from the pocket of my coat and read the details of the mission.

That's a lot. But having this mission also means a lot: that the Pope, himself, recognizes me, a mere knight, as trustworthy and skilled enough to find and eliminate such high level of danger. If the Apocrypha, the syndicate's documents with the highest level of information that only the Vatican, the people directly below the pope, knows, is in danger, then the whole Chapel is in danger. The Chapel has only begun to make waves in the city of Hoxwell and the Vatican, especially the Pope, will never allow it to fall.

Our only competition here is the Empire and if they are in on us for a while now, with the Pope recognizing this threat, it only means one thing: the Empire has been hijacking and taking away deals meant for the Chapel. The goddamned Empire has been monopolizing and leading Nerosia’s streets, underground market, cartels, and crimes. And Hoxwell is merely a city in the proud land of Nerosia, and the Chapel has been tightening its grip on this city. We will never let it go.

Seeing the people in the streets of Hoxwell slowly become more cautious over time, many of the people here do not know who the members of the Chapel are, but they do know that there is a syndicate here called the Chapel, and they have been wreaking havoc here for a while now. As I pass by different establishment, I enumerate those that I know are owned by either of the syndicates. Royal Bank of Nerosia, Empire. Royal Skyrise Hotel and Restaurant, Empire. Hoxwell Classic Bar and Restaurant, the Chapel. Queen's Tailor, Empire. Oakwood Furniture Shop, the Chapel. And finally, Seven Days Suits and Dress Shop, the Chapel. Where the priests assigned to oversee missions are stationed. Many, if not all, of these establishments are merely fronts to shady, and oftentimes violent, businesses. However, we all mind our own businesses to maintain the peace people believe to exist.

"Azure," Priest Miguel nods as I entered the shop, "Got a mission?"

The Priests are the most basic unit of the Chapel. In a hierarchy, they rank the lowest among people of power. They run the errands, collect information, and send out whatever it is the upper units require. They are the eyes, ears, hands, and feet of the Chapel. Regardless of their rank, they are highly essential to the syndicate. Everything and everyone comes and goes through them.

"Yes," I say, "And a tough one, at that."

I hand him the mission information card. It was intentionally designed to look like a business card as a basic disguise.

"Ooh, six months, eh?" Miguel smirks. "They really believe in you, huh."

"I know," I wave tiredly.

"So, do you accept?"

"Yes, it's not like I have a choice." I take out a pen from my pocket, preparing to sign the card.

Miguel flips the card to the backside, which is empty except for my title in the Chapel placed just above the center, and slides it back to me. Below my title is where I draw a small cross to sign my fate away.

"Nice," Miguel says in approval. He places the card in his coat pocket, and signals for me to follow him through the door behind the counter. We pass through a short passageway, and enter through a heavy door at the end of it.

Miguel closes the door as I take off my coat and toss it at the hanger. I sit comfortably on my usual seat, and he asks "Anything you wanna know?"

"Poppy Contract."

The Priest walks behind the desk and rummages through the pile of papers. From there, he takes one thick folder that seems to hold many, many sheets of paper. No sleep again tonight...

"Here," Miguel hands me the folder and sits on the couch in front of his desk. "Everything there is to know about the Poppy Contract is there. Already arranged that in order," he added as I flip through the pages.

"Basically, the Chapel has acquired a farm for the opium business a few years ago. You know that, right?" I nod, and he continues, "The High Priests are overseeing the farm and the transactions that directly involve the initial production. The Bishops are in charge of the manufacturing of the drugs and the business deals. But because this is considered as the biggest step forward of the Chapel, nothing happens without the final word of the Pope."

True enough, all of the contracts bear the personal signature of the Pope, not the titular signature.

"See that?" Miguel points at the Pope's signature. I nod. "We reign over Hoxwell," he says, smiling proudly. "Not just that; we're also pushing our way in the neighboring cities. Cardinal Suarez was the one who personally proposed this sort of expansion to the Pope."

Miguel reaches over and flips the pages until he gets to the contract affixed with the Cardinal's and the Pope's signatures side by side. "See? The Pope also approved of it. Cardinal said that acquiring more allies and partners will expand our network and dealings all the way over the seas. The idea is to make the businesses invest in our front businesses and covertly involve them in the opium business. No doubt about it, this means more money for us, right?" He throws his arms on the back of the couch and laughs carelessly.

"Birrough, Celwin, Windfour," He enumerates as if he has memorized the cities that have fallen into this Poppy contract. "But the problem was when we tried to get into Dimmertown. See," He adjusts himself and leans forward as he rests his elbows on his knees, hands clasped together, "Rumor has it that the Cardinal was against dealing with Dimmertown, the Empire stronghold. To him, progressing steady and slow is the way. But the Pope is ambitious and adamant on forcing our way in Dimmertown. As I said, nothing happens without the final word of the Pope, and the Pope's words are not just the law, but the gospel. Hence," Miguel gestures to the air around him, looking around.

I nod. "So you mean, we overstepped to the Empire territory and tried to deal with the Governor of Dimmertown, an obvious ally of the Empire?" I asked.

"Precisely," Miguel smiles, "To the Pope, allies come and go depending on the benefit they can get from the deal, and he believed our deal was way better than the Empire's. He promised a good fortune in the future, much more than what the Empire's already giving the Governor. I mean, the projected income in Dimmertown was 300 billion Neroes, assuming that we successfully woe the businesses there and safely get the government on our side. That's the best case scenario. We promise 60% of our income to the Governor."

"But he didn't buy it?"

"He did," He smiles grandly, "But he died," His smile dies and turns into a disappointed frown as if he was the one receiving a bad news after a good one.

A grave nod emerges from me. As expected, but what's the problem here? Did they not prepare for the worst case scenario? It is weird to me. The upper ranks are not stupid to not have predicted this, right?

"In case you're wondering, the Bishops did bring Deacons to point guns and threaten the Governor against talking," The Priest says matter-of-factly, "But they did not have the intention to kill, only to intimidate. This project's very important to the Pope himself that I think he'll kill anyone who causes a slight inconvenience to this business." He cocks his head to one side, "The Pope was raging mad at the Governor's death. But so was the Emperor. Pope believed that a slip was made that made the Empire aware of the negotiations. He almost killed the Bishops and the Deacons assigned to this deal. But every precaution was made, and every preparation was done. There were no lapses."

"And the Emperor?" If they did not discover the deal, then why was the Emperor himself mad?

"That's the thing about it. They did not kill him, and neither did we. So, what happened?"

On the last page of the files, an image of the Governor when he was alive and an image of his corpse are there. There is no doubt that he was killed. It was a brutal crime scene.

"Do you see those papers beside the corpse?" The Priest asks.

I nod.

"That's the first draft of the Poppy Contract expansion to other cities, and the word Dimmertown was scribbled as an addition in that specific draft."

My eyebrows furrow to this. "You mean, the original copy of the draft?"

Miguel looks directly to my eyes and slowly nods, "Yes, the original copy. The one the Pope himself had when he first proposed the idea to include Dimmertown in the plan. And remember, all copies of all contracts, deals, and meetings do not ever leave the Vatican room. Every thing is to be surrendered to the Pope and filed away safely and accordingly, even if each member has their own specific copy. Nothing leaves the room."

"So," I say slowly, "The traitor."

Miguel corrects, "The double agent. But we'll get to that story next time. First things first: Poppy Contract. So, yes, for now we only know this person as the traitor."

He gets around his desk again and pulls out another folder, this time containing only a few sheets of paper, which, when I open, happens to be pictures of the suspected Chapel members.

"Waterlily the Nun, Mother Heidi," He said, pointing to the appropriate pictures respectively, "And Cardinal Suarez." Miguel pulls the Cardinal's picture and places it in front.

"The Cardinal, himself?" I ask in disbelief.

"Yes," He nods grimly, "Any and all information related to these people as suspects are there. You can take all those home for studying. Just take care of them."

I nod, closing them all slowly, half lost in thought. Once I put my coat on, I place all the files in the innermost pockets, securing them, and fully buttoning up the coat.

Once we got back to the front of a shop, he hands me a receipt, a disguise for a note on when I must return with all the files and start the job.

Interpretation: Return the files and start the job in two weeks' time. Failure to do so means violation of rules and the price might (will) be death.

"Be safe!" Priest Miguel waves goodbye with a friendly clerk's smile on his face.