Kayla and Milo reached Paul Toliver's study pretty quickly once they made it to the church building. He was a pretty busy man, but was happy to make time to speak with Milo.
"Hello Milo, Come on inside" Paul said greeting him at his door. Milo and Kayla walked inside of the door into a spacious office that looked like something from the distant past. The entire perimeter of the office was lined with shelves of paper books, and the large desk in the middle was made of finished wood. Milo had not seen one of those in quite a while. Behind his desk was a large portrait of a middle-aged black man with glasses that Milo recognized as Saint Vernon. Milo noticed Kayla eyeing the portrait for a couple of seconds, probably not happy to see his picture in a context of veneration. The tablet computer on the desk was the only sign of modernity in the office. Milo introduced Kayla to Paul and he and Kayla sat down in chairs on the front of his desk.
"We just have a few questions to ask you, Paul. Of course I think you understand, but I need to remind you that you need to keep what we are talking about here completely confidential.
"Of course" Paul said nodding his head.
"Great." Milo replied. "I want to know if you know anything about the Morian mining guild or about Wally Gold."
Paul said nothing for a moment, giving an expression showing hesitancy rather than thought. "I know some things, Milo, but I will need assurance from you that this won't get out to anyone in the royal forces or the outworld authorities. Worshipping anywhere in outworld is not only illegal but frankly dangerous, and the way things are now I'm not sure banishment from the sector isn't the worst thing that can happen."
Milo noticed Kayla taking a deep breath next to him. She looked to be using a lot of effort to keep her mouth shut. "Not only can I promise you that, father, but I couldn't promise you otherwise. We are not to out ourselves to anyone. We're not going over there to track church parishes or rebel groups."
'"Wally left for outworld a couple of years ago. I tried to talk him out of it, but he seemed very sure of what he wanted to do."
"Correction" Kayla piped in. "He was over there." Paul looked at him with a surprised look on his face.
"You've heard about that fire on the Morian frigate as it was returning from Marzala? He died on it. I'm sorry." Paul nodded his head.
"I'm sad to hear that. It is a real loss as he was a great ambassador of the church. He was much too adventurous for his own good."
"What do you know about his parish and the guild?" Milo asked. Paul took a deep breath.
"The Morian mining guild is a front for the outworld parish of the Church of Saint Vernon, as I think you suspect. And it isn't just a mining guild. They've got farms on the archipelagos of the planet Verde, which has the most fertile farming soils in the known galaxy. They never got a permit for it, and I don't see how it was never shut down."
"What do you know about Matthew Snedecor?" Milo asked.
"Not much" Paul said. I did go over there for a visit about a year ago and I met him. Nothing really stands out to me about him. He just seems like another young soul trying to figure out who he is. Wally let him join the guild hoping to bring him into the church, but I don't think he was ever interested."
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
"Is there anyone over there you know that will talk to us?" Milo asked.
"If I were you I would talk to a man by the name of Bart Broyles. He helps handle the parish's money and helps them with goods that need to…move about the sector without detection. I know him fairly well."
"Do you think Broyles will talk to us?" Milo inquired.
"Probably not" Paul said without hesitation. "He will deny having any involvement with the outworld parish. It would probably be a waste of time. I wish I had more information for you."
"Do you think you could vouch for us?" Milo asked. Paul sat for a moment silently pondering what he was being asked.
"Why exactly are you looking for Snedecor?"
"We have to-"
"We cannot share that information with you, sorry." Kayla cutting Milo off. "We can really only tell you what you need to know to help us out."
"Can I have your word then, that you aren't going to be handing over any church parishes to outworld authorities?" Paul asked.
"We will do what we need to do to complete our mission, even if it harms the illegal religious activities" Kayla answered.
"I can tell that you don't think very much of the church, do you?" Paul asked turning his attention to Kayla.
"I don't think it's too much to ask to keep your activities in places where they are legal just to keep the peace. There are already enough problems maintaining peace in outworld as it is."
"The church is about peace and understanding. All we want is for them to not fear us and respect the dignity of the outworld members of the Chuch of Saint Vernon."
"You're trying to claim peace as a tenet of your church when your denomination's founder is responsible for the human-elf war?" Kayla snarled.
"Young lady" Paul answered, "if you would take the time to learn the real history of the pre-war period you'd see it wasn't the church that wanted war. I understand that people like you might think the kingdom is the paragon of civilization but they are cold pragmatists and utilitarian to the core."
"What do you mean by 'people like me'? You don't have any idea what my opinion of the elves and the kingdom is!" Kayla said now returning to her argumentative tone.
"Don't worry about it, Kayla." Milo interjected. "Paul, I can promise you we have any intention to bring any harm to any church members anywhere. Can you get Broyles to open up to us?"
"I would just tell him that I sent you. That might help your chances. He's a guy that might be doing more illegal things in outworld than just about anyone, and he's going to be pretty cautious about letting strangers come to him."
"Do you know where he lives?" Milo asked.
"In the temperate regions of Xanadu in a place called Worzac Town. It's a place where you have a lot of retirees."
"How recently do you know for certain he lives there?" Milo asked.
"A while, but he might still be there. Worzac Town is a wealthy residential area exempt from paying royalties to the kingdom."
"Well, thank you Paul" Milo said trying to preempt any further argument or prying from Kayla. Paul shook hands with both Milo and Kayla and they left. Kayla was silent as the left the church.
As they were driving back to headquarters, Milo broke the silence with the remark Kayla knew was probably inevitable. "Just what's your issue with religious people, anyways?"
"Not religious people, Milo. Just religion itself."
"You think all that is observable has an explanation grounded in physical laws? What's the harm in believing in a limited, benevolent force beyond the laws of nature?"
"Nothing, but gods don't work like that in any religion. And they always tend to have the prejudices and ideological aims as their prophets."
"If you're going to have an ideological aim at least have one of peace like the Church of Saint Vernon."
"Well, they should keep their preaching of peace to places where it's welcome, and not in outworld" Kayla remarked as they climbed into his car. Neither said anything for about the next minute or so.
"Victor is getting deployed" Kayla finally stated.
"He'll be all right" Milo said not knowing what else to say. Kayla was quiet the rest of the way back to her house and he said nothing, leaving her with her thoughts.