Worst case scenario. John didn't expect the priest to be both persistent and dumb. The guy could have confirmed the truth to John with more direct questions, but John assumed the priest was tired of hearing half the truth from him.
What's even more bizarre is that the guy would gladly sacrifice his eyes for John. He knew these guys were fanatical, but he didn't expect it to be so bad. Although there is a way to heal such wounds from the church, it would require a significant amount of resources or time. In either case, it is a significant investment for a gamble.
And that priest won
Collaborating with a heretic, no matter how minor, can land you in serious trouble. And John's been caught red-handed. Even thinking about it made his head spin.
So he stops thinking about it.
He only needs to consider how to get out of this situation. The good news is that they can't find him anymore, all he has to worry about is Plutus's tracking light and the priest's chain.
The bed sheet he rolled over was short, so he could only swig down one floor into another person's balcony. Breaking into the building appears to be a good option, but John decides not to. The maze of rooms is rather inconvenient for him.
He is unfamiliar with this world. I have been here only for almost a day. And the room layout would confuse him rather than divert them. His best option is to climb to another balcony. It was easy to get to the building because it was so close.
But still, he was being chased. His reckless climbing hurt his body but he had no choice. It's either this or being caught.
With a quick glance behind, John notices two priests stumbling to chase him across the balconies of various buildings. Plutus is nowhere to be found, he's either cutting off John or staying with the burning priest. John had no idea, so he had to take a shot. When a pipe came into view, John jumped and grabbed it before sliding down.
His hand was injured because the pipe was not smooth. But he didn't care, all that mattered to him was finding his destination. He continues to run around the corner as two priests finish jumping down the balcony.
John makes another corner, confusing the priest even more. By the time he made 2 or 3 turns the priest completely lost sight of him. After checking that he was out of sight John immediately returned and made his way to the rendezvous place.
The midnight Inn
As the name suggested, it is a nighttime inn. John takes a look around before entering. The maid was waiting for her master in the first-floor lounge. John couldn't hear the receptionist speaking to him at this point.
He walks to the maid, out of breath and disorganized. But John was finally safe, Hilda is a 3rd circle mystic, and it would be difficult to find a divination that could locate her. The divinator must be 3rd circle or higher, which is uncommon even in the capital.
"Let..."
He couldn't hide his exhaustion anymore.
Uh
John wakes up again in an unfamiliar ceiling. This time, however, he was no longer surprised. Next to him, John noticed Theia sleeping on the sofa. John looked over to see the maid standing by the door with a disappointed expression on her face.
"Master, can you tell me why we need to save this girl?"
"...." John thinks about it for a second "I want to save her"
"....."
The maid stared at her master with incomprehensible eyes. John couldn't read her with those eyes. He responds with a half-truth again, stating that he does intend to save her. And continue with the original story.
"I sense that she isn't a part of a cult yet and having her rot in a prison would be too cruel"
"Is she worth it?" The maid could tell that there was something more but it seemed like her master wouldn't talk.
"I don't know..."
In terms of plot, he is fairly close to the original. Now that he is a wanted man and has escaped with a heretic, the story will continue as it did before. Also, now that he is among the people, the church will have to divide its forces to find him.
But from their perspective, he wouldn't be worth finding. Many big cults are blending in with normal people and now that John is out of sight is pretty hard to find. Even big sacred divinations that the priest did, needed something that could connect with him like his hair or blood.
They need to search for him specifically and in a capital city that has people in the millions, things could get hectic. Imagine asking for a brown hair boy in your district and having people report back saying they saw him. But they all report different people.
They could look for him themselves, but with two mystics and one in the third circle, they'd need at least five mystic teams to track them down without casualties. Otherwise, he would be fairly safe in assuming that the novel is correct.
After that, he just needed to bid his time. Waiting around a bit the story would have settled down. That's when he could make his move.
"Master, you know that the lord has ordered me to keep a look on you right?"
"Yes?"
"Why do you trust me?"
John look at her in the eyes
"You look like you are with the duke but you really don't care right? What's the reason you're with him?"
The maid looked a bit bothered, her mouth open a little but she composed herself and answered JOhn's question.
"The duke picked me up from the orphan...."
"There must be another reason right? One that made you a 3rd circle mystic."
Weak-willed mystics never exist. There needs to be something for you to pursue, whether it is the faith of the sun god or a heretic idea. You must have something for you to reach the 3rd circle.
"...." The maid bite her lips "Revenge, for the one that killed my parents. Could you give that to me?"