“meow…~”
“I know Mr. Royale, I’m not too thrilled by the early morning visit either, but he’s a friend and he’s been through a lot recently. I guess we can give him this much today.” I held back a yawn as I poured the tea into the cups, placed them on a tray, and made my way out of the kitchen, Mr. Royale following me drowsily.
“Here you go” I said as I placed the tray on the table and picked one cup myself before sitting on the couch facing my guest. Mr. Royale secretly snuggled himself on my lap.
“Thank you,” said Aidan, as he took a sip of the tea, “Good. I see you’ve taken it upon yourself to take care of Juliana’s cat in her absence. He seems to like you. By the way, you won’t happen to have biscuits to go with the tea would you?”
“Please Aidan, it’s 4 in the morning, I’m sure you didn’t just wake up from a coma and the first thing you wanted to do was taste my tea and biscuits.” I scowled.
“Haha okay,” he took a moment to sip the tea “When I woke up I went through everyone who got up and those who didn’t. Apparently, only you and Aline woke up before us, so Matheo went to meet Aline and I came he-“
“Wait, Matheo woke up too!? I asked curtly.
“Ah, yes he did. In fact, we woke up together, maybe a few minutes apart, but effectively together. When he learned Aline had woken up, he dashed to meet her and told me would meet us tomorrow at the office. I thought it wise to at least let you know about the current situation and get myself up to date with any possible leads you both have gained as of yet” he said as he sipped his tea.
“I see,” I said, losing most of my scowl “It’s okay, I’m not mad. How are you feeling first, are you sure you should be jumping to work already?”
“Mostly exhausted. All I want is to rest for another month or so, but that’s not how it works does it? Captain is still missing, and someone needs to take charge right now. Don’t worry about me, I’ll be sure to extort all the vacation I deserve after this is over, heh ” he chuckled dryly as he continued sipping his tea.
“Sounds like a plan. Anyway here’s what happened yesterday. So we decided to head to the undercity to investigate the missing vagrants when….”
I explained everything in detail and also bought my notepad to show the things I’ve noted down. We discussed things on the surface for a while while the tea lasted.
“It was certainly intriguing. We’ll have to look more into it, but for now, let’s leave it at that. I’ll leave you to rest for now” Aidan said.
“You know you can stay here for the night if you want. I’ll clean up the guest room a little.” I put my cup down and was about to rise up to do the work
“No no it’s okay, I wouldn’t wanna impose on you anymore. I’ll have to go have to get a shower and freshen up anyway.” With that he put down his finished cup as well and rose up from his seat “I’ll see you tomorrow Oliver! Thank you for your hospitality and sorry for disturbing you late at night.”
“See you tomorrow!” I escorted him to the door and saw him off. Seeing him walk out of the campus and take the turn, I closed the door and came back inside.
First I picked up the cups and proceeded towards the kitchen, washed them clean, dried them with the cloth hanging beside me, and placed them back on the shelves. Drying my hands against my pajamas, I picked up Mr. Royale carefully, trying not to disturb his sleep, I walked back to my bedroom and lay down.
I laid there for hours trying to sleep, but my thoughts were disarrayed and I found myself trying to piece together the crumbs of clues we had picked.
It was hard. And I always found myself coming back to the warning from the eerie guy from yesterday. What did he mean by ‘he’s’ not here? Who’s not here? Captain? Or the perpetrators?
What about you are all dead? Why? Who’s gonna kill us? And how are they gonna kill us? It doesn’t make sense, but something tells me I should take it much more seriously than I am right now.
He also said something about looking in the open? Open what? Amphitheaters?
‘If him saying “he’s not here” makes any sense, then I can assume whoever we are looking for is not in the undercity. And if the undercity can be considered closed, does being open mean the top side? Is the one we are looking for among us?
‘If it’s really like I think, then doesn’t it mean we’d have to do a carpet search? Do we have that kind of time? Does captain have that kind of time?
‘Hahhh’
All it gave me was a bigger headache, and I decided not to think about it. Let’s do something to divert my attention.
I got up from my bed, took my towel and a different pair of pajamas, and bee-lined towards the washroom. After 30 minutes, I came out accompanying vapors and the towel around my neck.
My next destination, the kitchen. Since wasting time and keeping myself busy was the goal, I couldn’t think of anything better than cooking something that would take me hours.
It’s gonna be a heavy breakfast, but it’s worth it.
----------------------------------------
“It’s good to see you back up Matheo. Aline was really worried about you, you know?” I gave Matheo a side hug as we met at the cafe near our office. He accompanied Aline.
“It’s good to see you too Oliver” Matheo said as he returned the hug and spoke with a smile “I heard from the nurse Aline wasn’t the only one worried about me. Thank you for visiting me.”
“Ah it was nothing” I waved it away, too embarrassed to say I was mostly busy with my thoughts while I was in there.
“I’m sorry if I’m ruining the moment, but we can relax and talk to our heart’s content after we are done with the case. For now, let’s focus on finding captain and leave finding the brethren members to the police department.” Aidan chimed in as he invited us to take our seats.
“That reminded me, have they had any luck with finding anyone as of yet?” Matheo asked as we all took our seats.
“No. I made a trip to the church this morning and apparently, we couldn’t find anything. Even with all these clues. It’s like they are ghosts and just vanished up in the air. All these years of searching, and we still couldn’t find anything. Even worse, we can’t even find low-level members we would occasionally find” Aidan described the situation with frustration visible in his voice.
“What of the waitress at Nat’s? She was highly suspicious back then, did they find anything out of her?” Matheo asked again.
“She’s dead.”
It was Aline who answered this time and both of them looked at her with mild surprise. I had asked her the same yesterday and I too was surprised when I heard the answer.
“Dead? Not missing? Are we sure it wasn’t a body double or anything?” Matheo questioned.
“No. They said one moment she was locked up in the jail perfectly fine, and the next she just went limp. Dead. The guards tasked with keeping an eye on were thoroughly spooked.” She explained.
Now this was very very interesting.
A person dying all of a sudden with no outside interference? Sounds very very similar to something I witnessed not so long ago. How did I not realize this earlier?
Seeing the knowing look in my eyes, Aline nodded at me and said “Yes, I’m thinking the same. Both cases are definitely similar and should be worth investigating. I have ordered for detailed information on the waitress and the guy. Let’s wait for a few days and see what comes.”
“Hmm” a concurrent hum spread around the table as everyone took a moment to digest the news.
“Anyway, we still have to conduct a detailed search across the empty warehouses and the abandoned factories and houses. Let’s divide into groups of two and move. It’ll be me and Aline; and Matheo and Oliver. Sorry Matheo and Aline, church policy.” Adian shot an apologizing look towards the couple.
“It’s okay, we understand” Matheo reassured.
“Hmm, today mine and Aline’s quota is to go through docks 1, 2, and also factories through streets 61 to 65. Whereas you and Oliver will go through the houses on streets 9 to 20. To keep the search easy and efficient, government officials from the ‘Department for Housing & Communities’ will be here to help us.” Adian detailed the plan.
“Let’s get going while the sun is still up. We’ll meet here by 7 pm, hopefully we’ll have something different on our hands by then. Matheo and Oliver, you’ll meet the official at street 9 near Kivea’s bakery. All the best.” With a final all-the-best, we moved towards our destination.
----------------------------------------
“You know Oliver, thank you for taking care of Aline while I was gone” Matheo said all of a sudden as we were riding quietly in the carriage toward Street 9.
“Han? Don’t be, it was mostly her taking care of me. I was as good as a child running the state. She showed me the ropes around the undercity.” I said.
“Yes, but I’m not talking about that. She told me how she almost had a breakdown and you listened to her patiently. I’m just thankful for that.” He said, again with that gentle, handsome smile of his. Gosh no wonder Aline fell for him.
“Ah that, don’t worry about it Matheo, she’s my friend too. And to be honest, I had no idea what to do otherwise in that case. Apart from sitting there, of course.” I said with a sheepish smile.
“You know that reminded me,” I continued “She said you haven’t proposed her yet? 4 years and I don’t even know how long you guys have known each other. How come you haven’t yet? I don’t wanna pry but are you perhaps not serious about her?”
“Hahh she has been bitter about it after all.” he sighed “It’s not that.... let me entrust you with a secret Oliver. What do you think about it?” he put his hands in the coat’s inner pocket and brought out a ring box. In it sat a beautifully crafted diamond ring, glowing against the sunlight.
“Woah, that looks pretty expensive. So you do intend to propose, then why the wait?” I asked after extricating my eyes off the ring. It looked really expensive!
“26th October, 876.” he said ambiguously.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“It was the day we met, me and Aline, back then when we were just some neighbors whose families bonded over their devotion to our lord. I don’t even know if she remembers the date. It’s been 50 years, and that’s the day I plan on proposing to her. Just one more month Oliver. I’ve been waiting for 4 years for that day.” He said nostalgically.
“Just another month huh…. I truly envy your patience man. I truly hope you and Aline will have a wonderful life ahead” I said, drawing a circle across my chest and tapping my glabella.
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“Thank you! I hope so too” he said with that same ridiculously gentle smile on his face. Gosh Aline!
“By the way how do you even remember the date so precisely?” I asked.
“Ah that, ah-ha-ha you know how we immigrated from a different state right? The day we settled here was also 26th October 876, and Aline and her parents ended up as our neighbors. So….. it was not really that difficult to dig up the date you know.” he embarrassedly confessed.
“I see, well at least you did your homework.”
“Anyway, enough of me. We’ll have enough time to discuss these details. I wouldn’t want it on my conscience to marry and not even invite Captain. So we better find him fast if you want free food” he said with a cheeky smile.
“Haha, that’s an amazing motivator.“
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“I know right! It’s ridiculous how many empty houses we have and they still keep increasing house prices. So many of them are just under the name of some minister here, some officer there. No use! They are just gathering dust.”
“Meow meow”
“Yeah, there’s no point complaining about it now. We still have to go through this for another 4 days. I just hope others can wake up quickly so we can get this over with quickly enough”
“Meow ~”
“Thanks, anyway enough of me. Let me do the dishes quickly and then get to sleeping. The next few days are gonna be rough.” I said to Mr. Royale who sat on the stool I gave him, beside me, listening about my day curled up in a ball, while I cleaned the dishes.
Finally done after 5 more minutes, I dried the rack a little, washed my hands, picked up Mr. Royale gently, and went to my bedroom. Placed him on his designated pillow and tucked him in his small blanket (it’s actually a towel I bought for guests in case), got in the bed myself, and while thinking of the day which passed and the one waiting for me, I closed my eyes and felt my thoughts silence.
----------------------------------------
“Do you think Aidan will be enough to go through the docks alone? I’m not doubting his capabilities, but there are things only a different perspective might notice when you are searching for something. Sometimes we are blind to the answer in front of us.”
“I know, but I guess we have to trust him on this. We don’t have any other alternative anyway. We are running out of time and since Vincent has woken up, we need his help.
“I still support him pairing Aline with Vincent to look through the factories and other complexes while he goes alone for the docks. I’m sure if he needs it, he can take the help of locals there.” I said to a worried Matheo.
“I don’t trust those locals” he whispered with a rare frown on his face, barely enough for me, who sat beside him, to catch the gist of it. I’m sure our friend who sat in front of us didn’t catch it.
The carriage was enveloped in a slightly awkward silence for a few moments before I spoke again “So Mr. Xander, how many houses do we have to go through in street 22?” I asked the official, with an exotic name, who was here to help us.
“Cough excuse m..e, as I..I…I… I was saying, street 22 has seventy t..t…t…two houses, among which eight..t..t are empty. Th..th..three of them belong t…t…o small level minist..ters and clerk level official, but the last 5 owners have died recently and their houses are still unoccupied.” Xander said with a stutter. I can see his eyes gleam for having completed the last part without one. A weird thing about him I noticed was his uneven nails.
“I see, so any problems from anyone about searching their house?” I asked.
“No Sir!” a little jumpy, he took a second to calm down and speak again “th…they don’t dare go against th..th..th..the church, not..t..t..t t..to mention in current ti..times.”
“Good, it shouldn’t take too long then.” Matheo sighed with relief.
“Hmm it shouldn’t” I agreed.
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Knock knock
‘Who would it be now?’ I thought as I got up from the couch where I was having my dinner. Went to the washroom to wash my hands and made my way down the hallway as I opened the door.
It was Juliana.
“I’m sorry Oliver, I hope it isn’t too late?” she asked.
“Ah no it isn’t, please come in. When did you get out? How are you?” I invited her in.
“I just got out. I was so worried Mr. Royale would’ve died without me, so I rushed home. But getting there I found him missing so I asked around if they’d seen him go somewhere, and they said they saw a black-haired gentleman taking him.
“They said you gave them your name for when I return so I rushed he- ooh Mr. Royale!! How are you? Did you miss me? You didn’t disturb Oliver too much did you?” she took him in her arms as soon as she saw him walk out of the living room, and bombarded him with questions, for which the answers were…
“Meow meow”
He sounded happy…. ‘your emotions don’t control you… your emotions don’t control you…’
“I hope he wasn’t too much of a trouble Oliver. He can be a little….excited sometimes.” she said in a somewhat nervous tone. As far as I could tell.
“Oh no, he was a very good boy. I enjoyed his company” I replied
“Thank you so much for taking care of him in my absence. I owe it to you this time.” she said sternly.
“It’s okay, you don’t have to. I did it 'cause I wanted to.” I replied.
“Thank you again, Oliver. I wouldn’t take more of your time, it’s already getting late. I’ll see you tomorrow!” with that she took Mr. Royale and went away. By the time the poor feline realized it was being taken away from me, she was already out of the gate. But I believe I saw one last look it gave me, it looked just a little sad, and then the door was shut.
Hahhhh
‘I guess I’ll just go sleep, I don’t feel like eating anymore’
Walking back into my living room, I picked up the plate half full of food, came back to my kitchen, and threw it all in the dustbin. Food be damned!
Cleaning the plate, I opened the shelf to place it back into place when I remembered about the jute bag in another shelf I had stocked that day.
‘I should have given her the cat food….it’s okay, I’ll give it to her someday else.’
Breaking out of my thoughts, I washed my hands and came out of the kitchen before heading towards my bedroom.
Opening the gate, I saw a pillow kept a little differently from the others on the bed and a towel folded over it. I took them and threw them in the closet, got into bed, and tried to fall asleep.
----------------------------------------
“I’m glad all of us are up and in perfect health. Wish I can say the same for Morgan, but I’m sure he’ll be up very soon as well” Aidan addressed us in the office. After two weeks of renovation, it was finally declared safe for use again.
“It’s like the people behind Morgan have tried hard to keep him unconscious for as long as they can. I’m sure he hides valuable information, but all we can do is wait. It’s very frustrating.” Vincent said, with frustration and anger oozing out of his voice.
“We’ll get our answers when the lord wills it, for now, the focus of our meeting is Aline. I believe the information you requested on the waitress and the former Inquisition lunatic has arrived?” Aidan asked Aline.
“Yes, I’ll give everyone an abridged version for now, if anyone wishes for the more detailed file, they can contact me later” saying that she reached for the first file on the table and started reading,
>
>
> “ Name: Maud Sicre
>
> “ Age: 182 years old
>
> “Current status: Permanently dead
>
> “ Occupation: Former trainee knight for the empire, former member of the Inquisition Order
>
> “ Reason for expulsion (as a trainee knight): Was chosen by Aurinko and decided to follow his wishes.
>
> (as part of the order): Schizophrenia, bipolar, and tendency to act violently. Believed to be due to the high number of deaths he has endured in his life(no treatment possible).
>
> “Reason of death: Drowned and was torn apart from inside out by his own pus. The use of mysterious means is suspected.
>
> “ Notable merits:
>
> 1) Fought in the siege of the Demon Whisperers in 828
>
> 2) Fought in the war against the Avital empire and bought down several commanders.
>
> 3) Taught new generation members the ways of sword-wielding and survival in foreign areas.
>
> ……”
>
>
It was a list of a few more achievements, nothing too memorable. Then she picked up the next file and read,
> “ Name: Jeanne Coritama
>
> “ Age: 28 years old
>
> “Current status: Permanently dead
>
> “ Occupation: Former waitress at ’Nat’s’ restaurant
>
> “ Reason of death: Mysterious shutdown of body while arrested under the guard of two police lieutenants.”
“Anything notable about the woman’s past?” asked Aidan.
“That’s the problem, there isn’t. She was just a normal child who grew up on Street 39, went to school, had normal friends, went to the government college on a scholarship, and started working at the restaurant. The only odd thing I’d say is she willingly chose to work as a waitress in the restaurant, despite being eligible to work at much better places.” Aline reported.
“That indeed is odd….” Juliana said “As a woman, if I had better opportunities, I’d hardly waste them for a waitress job. I think she deserves another level of examination.”
“Hmm, Oliver and Matheo, take Vincent with you when you go for your search today. Martin will join Aline and I will move with Juliana. Let’s leave now, we’ll discuss other things after we come back with more evidence.” Aidan ordered.
As we all stood up to leave, I couldn’t help but ask Aidan, “Do you expect it to get violent today?”
“I don’t know,” he said with an unsure expression “I have a bad feeling about it. It doesn’t hurt to be safer”
“You can’t trust people from Street 39, I’ve heard some weird things about the street. It’s better if Vincent comes with us” Matheo added from the side.
I don’t know how much I believed Matheo’s word on the matters of commoners, but I’m not gonna argue against extra protection.
Boarding our carriages, we each moved to our destinations.
We moved to Street 31 where we are supposed to meet Xander. From there we’ll be covering streets 31 to 44. An increase, cause the further away we move from the Church St, the less wealthy the populace gets, and with it comes a decrease in land prices and an increase in population fighting to be under a roof.
5 hours later, we have searched through streets 31 to 38. And our next destination was Street 39.
“Are you worried Oliver?”
“No, but I’d rather not get in a scuffle. We are already two men down, I’d rather not allow it to get higher, Vincent” I said, looking at Vincent.
“It won’t come to that, I won’t let it.” he said, sitting crossed legs and hands crossed across his chest. He was the example of a perfect physique, and if I was honest I envied his body a little. I wish I could get that without exercising. But that was a fool’s dream and I like my current routine, well the one before this erupted.
“Thank you” I nodded at him.
“Th..th..there are only t..t..t..two houses for us t..to search in this stre..e..et, sir. One is ei..ei..eight and the other is twenty-nine!” he stressed the last word a little, most likely attempting to force through the last part without any stutter.
“Hmm, good then” Vincent said, flexing his arms a little as we reached the street.
Alighting from the carriage, I sensed something. It felt familiar, and I reached for the edges of my consciousness to understand the feeling. But I couldn’t. It was ever elusive, as if I had never known it, yet it felt familiar. It was a paradox.
Looking around I looked at the houses. The houses varied in shape, size, and color with no artistic flair behind them. The streets have gotten much narrower than before, and the main road branched like a tree, leading to even worse living conditions.
And every eye was on us.
People peeked through the gaps in the doors, through the windows behind their curtains, spying on us. Following our movements. Whispering among each other.
It unnerved me. But not as much as I’d like it to. No. We have seen the same treatment in a few streets before us. I don’t know how they recognized us coming, but they did.
What unnerved me was this weird feeling I was getting. It felt like an attraction towards every house, but also a repulsion. I don’t know how to define it. And it was giving me a migraine. There was just too much information at the same time.
“Matheo! Vincent! Do you feel weird?” I asked, my face contorting in pain.
“No.” both said at the same time.
“Is it similar to how you felt back in the undercity? What are you feeling this time? Are you okay?” Matheo asked solemnly before noticing my condition and came to support me.
“It’s not similar… if the last time was like a tsunami drowning me, this time it feels more like two opposing answers at the same time. I feel a weird attraction to every house here as well as a repulsion. It’s…. it’s too much!” grinding my teeth, I said in a hoarse voice.
“Vincent, let’s leave for now.” Matheo said, helping me back in the carriage. Vincent too came to help and I took the help with open arms. It was getting difficult to stand and my breath came in intervals. My vision was getting blurry and I pressed against my temples to alleviate the pain, but nothing worked.
Finally, after an unknown amount of time, I felt the information inflow decrease and the migraine subside as I opened my eyes, only to find myself head plastered against the seat.
Taking deep breaths I tried to sit back properly, it only hurt my sensitive head more, but I powered through and sat properly, only to find a concerned Vincent and Matheo, and a scared Xander who was biting his nails.
“Drink some water, you’ll feel better” Matheo passed me a water bottle, which I took with shaky hands and drank hungrily.
“Calm down, take slow sips.” he advised from the side.
It was only after completing half the bottle, did I feel better and I passed the bottle back to Matheo.
“How do you feel now?” Vincent asked.
“Yea… much better now. I’m sorry we had to abort the mission because of me. Can you guys give me some time to think and organize my thoughts?” I said, not having the energy to talk right now. Every time I do, it prickles my sensitive brain and I’d prefer not to feel that.
“It’s okay, take your time and rest for now. We are heading back to the office for now. You can rest there.” Matheo reassured.
“Hmm” I gave a final hum of approval and looked out of the open window.
It hurt so much. It had hurt so much. But there was the undertone of another feeling.
It was of loss.