Eh, he has to deal with other problems right now.

As I was planning to continue my small talk with Norma, I realized that the sun was actively setting. 'Dang, time seems to perhaps pass faster within my domain, at least for me. Time is always much harsher on you when you are comfortable.'

I shook my head at the horizon as I turned back to Norma, "I give my deepest apologies, however there are some things I should probably attend to before the day is done."

It seemed like she had been deep in though, as she only half replied, "Ah, yes yes, I understand." Without another word, I gave a bow and began to leave.

I looked over my shoulder once I was getting far away, seeing her still lost in thought. I let out a sigh before commanding my Spirit, "Please do get her attention and make sure she gets back to her home safely. Once she is there, return to me." It gave a nod and doubled back silently.

With that addressed, I had to get back to thinking about how to deal with my main issue at hand. 'What am I going to do about the adventurers? I can't argue for Oliver to stay with me, as that would be out of character and suspicious. I also can't push him to leave, as it is a huge waste of an opportunity as well as suspicious in its own way. While Silvia suspects me, none of the others are truly hostile yet. I guess the best idea is to leave it in Oliver's hands... which would still be suspicious to Silvia. Damn, there is no act that isn't suspicious is some way, is there?'

I groaned while thinking about the situation I had been put in. 'This wasn't even some grand scheme I had worked so hard for. Now I understand how infuriating the social traps I made for people were. Ugh, I almost feel bad. Especially for that Yakuza guy, what was his name? Sugi? I don't quite remember, it was some type of tree. Who names their kid after a tree anyway? I most certainly would be angry enough to be a mob boss if my parents named me Oak or Pine or something like that. Either that or I would become a zoologist, seems like a fitting job.'

I returned to the square, the activities of the day beginning to die down. The market stalls were being packed up and finishing their last sales. People returned home from their shopping trips or shipments. I even saw a very minimal presence of the town guard about, though they were somewhat slacking.

At last I approached the tavern, and this time did not answer unannounced. I carefully peeked through the window, checking the interior environment. What I saw amazed me beyond anything I had experienced in this new life.

The party was sitting at separate tables. Oliver was seated at the bar, seemingly drinking and talking with the barkeep, who as usual was just cleaning glasses. However, Silvia and Grutrod were in their normal spot, having what appeared to be a somewhat heated discussion. Natalia was seated in the opposite corner, near the front door and watching both other groups nervously.

I carefully walked to the part of the window Natalia was near, and tapped the glass as softly as I could. She jolted and nearly fell out of chair before spinning around to look at the disturbance. Upon seeing me, her eyes went wide, and she quickly got up.

The attention of the other members went to her for a moment, and I hid behind the edge of the window. I heard a muffled excuse before she left the tavern in a more calm and less suspicious manner. Once she was out the door, however, she practically sprinted to me.

She ran up with a concerned expression and quickly went to the other side of me from the window so that she was out of view. She looked towards the door to make sure she wasn't followed before speaking. "What happened? I came back from resting in my room and everyone was fighting, you were gone but the barkeep said you had shown up again, and no one would tell me what was going on!"

I scratched the back of my head in a nervous gesture, "If none of them told you I doubt it is my place to..." I gave an apologetic look that I was surprised was met by a somewhat annoyed one. Before she could respond, I let out a large sigh. "If you really want to know I suppose I could tell you."

She glared at me slightly as she answered my statement, "What do you think? My party is fighting over something, I need to know what it is."

I let out a conflicted sigh, "What they are fighting over is... me. I suppose it could also be said as Oliver, but it is Oliver's decision involving me."

She shook her head in confusion, "What do you mean? You aren't making sense."

I took a deep breath to appear like I was preparing myself, "Oliver... decided he wished to join the church of Moged-Ruun." Her eyes went wide. "I told him to wait until the church was built before he decided, and to talk with you all. It seems that he did while I was away and you were resting, and Silvia did not respond well. She thinks I bewitched him and is accusing me of trying to steal him, Grutrod helped me escape then, so I just went to work on the church."

She stared at me dumbfounded before snapping herself out of it. "Alright, so let me get the facts in order. 1, the Normn kids were there to give you your church?" I teetered my head a bit before giving a hesitant nod. "2, Oliver decided to join your church? When did this happen?"

I clicked my tongue in fake thought, "He mentioned it on the way back from the event at Normn manor. It seems he had not mentioned it to you all yet. I for one turned him down at the time, though that has not stopped Silvia's suspicions." I let out a sigh and shook my head.

She slowly nodded her head a few times as she took in the information. "Okay... and then, he told them about this and it went poorly..." I shrugged, in that regard she practically knew as much as me. She didn't seem happy with this response, but seemed to understand well enough. "So then, you got back, came across the aftermath of this discussion, and swiftly left?"

I nodded, "That is about as much of the story as I can tell. I know nothing of the details of the conversations before or after my arrival. I tried to busy myself with the church construction in hopes of this passing over. However, it seems that was an ill hope based on the current state of things. If anything, it seems perhaps worse."

She pushed back her hat in order to massage her temples. "Yeah, it's not great in there. I can't argue with your choices though, I don't see better ones. You couldn't have helped to de-escalate at all, and it doesn't sound like you petitioned him to join in the first place."

I nodded, "Indeed, I had and still have not." I let out a large sigh, "Do you have any idea of how to fix this?"