Chapter 5

Darkness in Paradise, Part 1 is the fifth chapter of Claymore by Norihiro Yagi, first published in the May 2001 issue of Shonen Jump.

Short Synopsis
Raki and Clare arrive in the Holy City of Rabona. Since the city forbids Claymores to enter, Clare has to take a special medicine that will change her eye color but at the cost of her ability to sense Yoki. Clare meets Father Vincent and arranges a meeting with him at night to discuss the Yoma that is plaguing the town. Clare manages to make it to the meeting place and humbles Father Vincent by asking if Raki could be taken in by the cathedral if she does not survive the battle with the Yoma. On her way back, she runs into Sid and Galk. She manages to fend them off and disappears, though she revealed that she was a girl in the process.

Detailed Synopsis
The chapter opens with Raki and Clare entering an inn with intentions to rent a room. Clare, however, is not wearing her uniform but a cloak over a long dark dress and her eyes are dark.

Infiltrating the Holy City
Clare falsely explains to the innkeeper that she and Raki are traveling siblings, making their living by selling antiques their father owned. While she does this, she seems a completely different person: she is more friendly and polite, even smiling. Raki 'proves' their claim by showing him a statue that is nearly as big as him. After some banter about the price, Clare and Raki go up to their room. They pass a guard, who comments to the innkeeper that newcomers are suspicious, especially since there are rumors of a Yoma in town.

Clare and Raki are in the Holy City of Rabona, where unnatural creatures like Claymores are banned. Rubel, in addition to giving Clare a disguise, also gave her a container of black pills. These pills suppress her Yoki aura and change her eyes back to their original color, but at the price of being able to sense Yoki aura. She will be able to infiltrate the Holy City, but she will not be able to openly search for the Yoma. Rubel added that she should pretend Raki is her little brother. Clare accused him of picking her specifically because of this. He lightly denied this however.

Clare and Raki leave the inn after settling in, with Clare showing her false friendly persona to the innkeeper again. Raki marvels at her acting skills and she replies that she was trained to do this sort of work at the Organization. They reach the cathedral and descend to the baptismal chamber, which is full of aged mummies which disgust Raki. A priest hails them and Clare correctly identifies him as Father Vincent.

As she is baptized, she drops the words 'Rimuto' and 'Sutafu' into the ritual. Realizing that she is a Claymore, Father Vincent instructs her to come to the cathedral that night to the topmost room on the south side. He also warns her that there is a curfew in place so she cannot go directly to the meeting place.

Sneaking Out
That night, Raki is forced to eat Clare's meal as well as his own in order for it not to look suspicious. The large amount of food makes him ill, but he takes it in his stride. Clare has changed into a shorter dress with a shorter cloak with long boots and, after the innkeeper has collected their dishes, she disappears out of the window into the night. To avoid the tight watch, she moves along the rooftops and uses a grappling hook to get to the meeting room, where Father Vincent is waiting.

When she arrives, he explains how the priests have been picked off one by one by the Yoma. He has kept this a secret from the public, fearing that they will lose faith if they find out that their god cannot protect them from Yoma. Clare coldly replies that it doesn't matter whether the victim is holy or unholy: so long as they have flesh, they are vulnerable. Father Vincent expresses his fear of being a victim to the monster and promises to pay any price. Clare replies, like she did to Raki's village chief, that a man will collect the money later and, if she dies, there is no need to pay. She also adds that it might be more difficult to find the Yoma since she cannot sense it.

Before leaving, she requests of him that, if she dies during the battle, Raki must be taken in and looked after by the priests. Father Vincent is amazed and humbled by this request. Though he is a servant of his god, he fears only for his own life while Clare, who is reviled as an unnatural half-breed, worries only for Raki and mankind. He gladly accepts her request but tells her to keep it a secret from Raki so as to not upset him. She agrees.

Caught
As Clare jumps across the rooftops to get back to the inn, knives fly out of nowhere and seem to strike her. Then, she narrowly dodges an armoured soldier slashing down at her. The knife-thrower is a slighter, unarmored, younger soldier. Both close in on her and she dodges both knives and sword. Then, she uses the younger soldier's knives to defend herself and, in the end, throws her cloak in his face to escape. This reveals that she is a woman, which the soldiers realize before she runs away.

The younger soldier makes to run after her, but the armored one holds him back. He holds up the knives that supposedly hit Clare and they are revealed not to have a spot of blood on them. They did not hit her after all. As the bewildered soldiers wonder what she was, Clare makes her escape.

Characters In Order of Appearance

 * Father Vincent