The Time Square was packed full of people, almost giving Elmer the feeling that he had returned back to the Black Market. The only difference between the two areas was that this place was not a narrow street brightened by gas lamps which went on with no end, and also, there was no roof above his head.

Surrounding the perimeter were both tall and boisterous imposing buildings characterized by grandeur and elegance, their facades adorned with intricate architectural features, ornate moldings, and elaborate cornices.

Business establishments they were, Elmer knew at a glance, due to the sort of gentlemen and ladies that walked out of them. He even caught sight of a large facade engraved with the words ‘City Bank of Ur’ way down to his right, far off from where he was still standing in line at the small archway that was termed ‘entranceway 10’.

There were no fences that barricaded the Time Square, so anyone should have just been able to sneak in, skipping the coordinated process of lining up to pass through the entrance ways that were designated about, but no one dared.

Policemen were everywhere the eyes could see, and Elmer still believed some more would be in a few hiding spots. This place was seemingly both a site for leisure and high ranked businesses, of course security would be tight.

But despite the ambience of this location astounding Elmer, the moment he took a look at what the sky was slowly becoming, his expression slightly deteriorated.

“Please, no,” he mumbled as he watched the sun steadily losing its glow, quietly vanishing bit by bit, while the clouds became a mild thicker and darker.

Don’t tell me it’s going to rain soon…?

He had still been in his thoughts when the voice of the policeman manning the entranceway he was lined up before came upon him. Then, he turned his eyes away from the sky to see that it was already his and Ms. Edna’s turn, causing them to move forward toward the archway a few steps away from where the line was.

The policeman assessed Ms. Edna for barely a second before he motioned for her to pass, but as Elmer was about to follow suit, he put forth his palm across, forcing Elmer back by his chest just above the paper bag he had his arms wrapped across.

“Where do you think you’re going so quickly? What are in your bags?” the policeman queried in an unpleasant tone, and Elmer had little surprise taint his face. He had been expecting it.

“He’s with me,” Ms. Edna voiced from beyond the brick arch that made up the entranceway, and the policeman took a glance at her before returning them back to Elmer, now his gaze even harder.

“Well, then I’ll have to give him a thorough search if he’s to be let through.” All of a sudden his tone had become petulant.

“Do as you please,” Ms. Edna replied. And at the exchange of those words came a quiver which damaged Elmer’s stomach for a brief second or two as he immediately remembered what was cradled within his waist bag.

There was no way he was going to let the policeman search him. He was with a revolver!

Wait… Why am I scared…? I have my bounty hunter’s license with me… Once I show it to him everything should be fine, right…? Tch… How sure am I of that…? License or not, this is a square, I doubt they would let weaponry through… It’ll be better if I just prevent him from searching me…

“Paper bag,” the policeman said, his voice cold as though Elmer had already committed a crime. Perks of belonging to the bottom of society.

Elmer handed the paper bag willingly, and the policeman rummaged through it with a wrinkled face and scrutinizing gaze, the latter he shared between the materials in the paper bag and Elmer.

After the policeman was done, he gestured for Elmer to move a bit closer and he patted him down.

“Waist bag,” the policeman barked as soon as he was done with his body checks. Though, this was the one thing Elmer was unwilling to let him have a gaze into. “Hurry up, lad. There’s a line behind you.” He gestured his palm outward, motioning for Elmer to hand him the bag.

“I can’t,” Elmer voiced in a cool and collected manner after a moment of hesitation, then instantly shifted his gaze in an indiscernible way toward Ms. Edna where she was waiting and called for her with his eyes. He noticed a sigh from her while he returned his gaze to the official before him.

“Huh?” The policeman’s visage turned chaotic as he squeezed his face even harder than when he had been searching the paper bag. “I guess I must have heard you wrong, boy. Open the bag.”

Elmer shook his head. “I’m sorry, but I can’t.”

“What’s in the bag?!” The policeman’s voice turned ferocious.

“Personal items,” Elmer answered with a shrug, still waiting for Ms. Edna to come to his aid. “They’re private things.”

“Don’t make me take extreme measures with you. It’s either you leave or you open the bag. No. You’re not going anywhere. Who knows what you are carrying in there. You open that bag right now or I’ll—”

“My underwear,” Elmer cut through the policeman’s threats, his tone still well relaxed. And it was then that Ms. Edna finally arrived.

She slid a hand onto the policeman’s shoulder and whispered something into his ear, and two seconds later he was staring at Elmer with disgust taking the place of anger.

“Get in,” the policeman said reluctantly as Ms. Edna’s hand left his shoulder.

Elmer took a glance toward Ms. Edna first, then another at the policeman, before he nudged his head forward in some sort of halfhearted bow and passed through the entranceway.

“Thank you,” he said as soon as he caught up with the clerk of the bounty hunters.

“You’re welcome,” she replied.

“What did you say to him?” Elmer asked immediately as he was curious.

Being able to convince a deployed policeman to patrol a public place to let through a mere peasant who had resisted checks after a few seconds of whisper should be tagged as a high feat. And the words which had been used for such he wanted to learn. Who knew when it might come in handy?

“I said nothing special,” Ms. Edna answered. “I only dipped a fifty-mint note into his pocket and told him to ignore you.”

Elmer’s brows curved up for a moment, then he scoffed. “I see.”

High feat, huh…? It was just standard bribery…

“So, what’s truly in the bag?” Ms. Edna asked as she led Elmer through the path that circled the large ceramic monument carved in the likeness of the Crest of Time, and past the iron benches where people sat for a rest or to engage in leisurely conversations. “It’s not underwear in truth, is it?”

Elmer had expected her to ask, so he was thankful that he had already done a lot of thinking on the subject of artifacts while they had been in the carriage.

Both times that their conversations had involved artifacts, Ms. Edna’s tone had always remained casual as though they had been talking about a pen or book, or some other basic material. So he had helped himself to believe that these items called artifacts were probably not rare things in the world of Ascenders.

The only problem was with how they were made and how they were gotten.

While he had been eavesdropping on Sir Reginald, he had heard the man having fears for the Church taking The Warlock’s Torch from him if they ever found out he had it in his possession.

Elmer had come to a notion from his employer’s words that it was probably the Church who was making those things and maybe distributing them.

But it had a slight fault.

If the Church were the ones producing the mystic artifacts, then how had Sir Reginald gotten ahold of one without the Church’s consent, seeing as they would have it from him if he was found out?

Elmer had also wanted to direct that same question at the mysterious person who had given him his own, but he had known better than to call upon the scrunching headache that usually came with venturing into that hidden memory.

Having put down the information he could lay his hands on without suffering, Elmer had come to a conclusion then that it was either some artifacts went missing from the Church, and they were still being searched for—The Warlock’s Torch being one of them—or they were not the ones producing them.

He had also come to another conclusion after comparing the ability of his mystic artifact to that of The Warlock’s Torch that artifacts were also probably ranked in some sort of manner. That reasoning made his employer’s fear of losing The Warlock’s Torch to the Church make sense, since an artifact with the ability to grant a wish in time would surely be of a very high rank.

And if that was the case, then he should be fine telling Ms. Edna about his, since he was probably not going to lose his own to the Church. His artifact was basically just a revolver that can harm supernatural beings, he was sure there were plenty others out there with similar abilities.

Also, if she was to ask him how he’d gotten it, he’d already decided to say that he’d bought it at the Black Market. Mentioning that underground place did not look to be in any way a bad decision to him, as he believed it to not be a place that was of secrecy to the Church. So, if they had let it be all this while, then they surely knew about the sort of things that were being sold there and approved of it. In that case, saying he got a mystic artifact from such a place should not seem weird.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

And besides, there was little chance any lie he might try to put forth at this moment to her would work. It was better not to risk it and force her suspicious nature to emerge.

Elmer sighed as they passed by a garden, each bed formed out of bricks, bursting with colorful and beautiful flowers sprouting from them.

“It’s an artifact,” he said to Ms. Edna, expecting some sort of reaction from her, but it had been only a moment of silence that she’d had for him.

She also spared him no glance, and in return Elmer remained relieved that her casual nature toward those things still existed.

“I see. I suspected you must have had something you trusted a lot when you didn’t make any inquiries on field materials whenever you took a job.” Words finally left her lips.

She’s not asking how I got it…? Is it that she doesn’t want to pry further or does it mean that there’s a fairly easy way to acquire artifacts…? If so, then how easy…?

“Field materials?” Elmer had had curiosity storm his face at those words, so he pushed aside the issue of the obtainability of mystic artifacts.

“Things that help when you come across the supernatural,” Ms. Edna answered. “Things like my charms.” She took a peek at him where he was strolling beside her, both of them seemingly of the same height. “Eddie must have told you, no?”

Elmer downturned his lips with a shrug. “Yes. He did. Why did you assume that?”

“He talks a lot.” She exhaled. “I hope that didn’t come out as rude.”

“You’re fine,” Elmer said. “By the way, about the charms, how—”

“Katherine!”

Elmer had been about to ask how the charms were made and as well their uses, when Ms. Edna suddenly interrupted him in what seemed like a voice laced with utmost worry.

She rushed onto the garth surrounding the path they were on, and toward one of the tall, beautiful trees that had been grown on it. Her expression was the one of panic, and it was the first time Elmer had ever seen the genteel clerk act in such a manner. His brows fell at that.

Elmer followed Ms. Edna with both his legs and eyes, until he saw a person seated on a patch of grass beneath the canopy of the tree she had rushed to.

Elmer had a slight shock at the sight. The person had an uncanny identicality to Ms. Edna, as they both shared the same flawless alabaster skin and red hair. The resemblance was almost twin-like, if only the other lady was not younger—far younger.

There were also some other differences that kept Elmer from mistaking them both—along with the variance in outfits as well.

While Ms. Edna was dressed in a simple daytime gown of grey with her hair neatly packed into a bun, this other lady was of an attire comprising of a sleeveless white blouse and black knee-length skirt with suspenders running over her shoulders. Her hair was of a frizzy nature, and it fell over her shoulders down toward her back. She also had full lips, a vast contrast from the thinness of Ms. Edna’s.

And it was these little dissimilarities that brought Elmer to the conclusion that if they were not twins, due to the age difference, then there could be only one thing that would bring about such a resemblance in features.

Mother and daughter…? Elmer’s eyebrows squeezed. Ms. Edna has a daughter…?

“Oh my. I’m sorry, Katherine. I was a bit caught up.” Ms. Edna threw her Gladstone bag beside Katherine as she bent over and placed her hands on the young lady’s shoulders.

“It’s fine, Mother. I haven’t been here for long.” Katherine smiled and gently removed Ms. Edna’s hands, her words confirming Elmer’s deductions.

I had not been expecting Ms. Edna to be a mother… Then why the Ms…? Is she a single mother, unmarried…?

Elmer had already been exiting his train of thoughts when suddenly he glimpsed Katherine throw her deep brown eyes at him.

They had a hint of sleepiness to them, not the type that gave the notion that she really wanted to get a shut-eye, or that she was tired, but just something akin to that. Sleepy eyes, Elmer decided to give them that name.

“Who’s he?” Katherine asked, directing her mother’s gaze toward Elmer.

Ms. Edna cleared her throat as she glanced at Elmer, momentarily concealing her motherly behaviors with that of the clerk of the bounty hunters. Elmer smiled softly at that.

Somewhat stern at the bureau, but soft with your daughter… Nothing to be ashamed of, Ms. Edna…

“He’s an acquaintance from work,” Ms. Edna answered after she and her daughter had risen to their feet.

“Huh?” Katherine exclaimed with a pull back of her brows and soft jerk of her head. “Doesn’t he look too young to be involved in your line of work? He doesn’t seem to be older than I am.”

“I know,” Ms. Edna said to her daughter as Elmer walked onto the garth and closer toward them. “He’s somewhat different.”

Elmer had a bit of guess on why a person as young as him being in this line of work was surprising to Katherine.

The usual way of becoming an Ascender was by going through the Church’s college, which meant entering at eighteen years of age and graduating at twenty-two. There was also going down the route of registering with the Church and passing through their screening process where they watch you daily, but with the current way he was now viewing things, someone of his age might not have even been allowed to become an Ascender.

The illegal way was not something he’d have expected Ms. Edna to tell her daughter, so that was probably out of it.

Her surprise was justified.

“Hello,” Elmer shifted his paper bag to his left hand, then stretched forth a handshake at Ms. Edna’s daughter. “I’m Elmer Hills.”

She shook his hand after clearing her throat. “I’m Katherine. Katherine Smyth.”

“It’s my pleasure to make your acquaintance.” He smiled, but Katherine did not reciprocate. It was then that she had her nose fold up a bit.

What…? Elmer’s smile faded. Did I say it wrong again…? Surely not… Then what’s with her reaction…?

“No, you did not?” Katherine took back her hand slowly, causing Elmer to chuckle weirdly as his eyes darted toward Ms. Edna’s plain expression for a moment.

“Didn’t what? Did I make a mistake with my greeting?” he asked with a lowered volume of his voice.

“No. No, it’s not that.” Katherine groaned softly as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Just, let’s be casual with each other, please. Doesn’t speaking in that sort of manner wear you out?”

Elmer took in a deep breath and heaved out an exhale of relief. He hated botching first impressions, and he had feared he had done that.

“Sure.” He smiled. “Nice to meet you,” he changed his manner of speech, and this time Katherine’s lips curled to the side in a mild manner.

“That’s better. Also, I’m sort of bad at remembering names, therefore I use something of a sobriquet to keep my memories intact. So—if you don’t mind, of course—calling you El instead of Elmer would help me out better, and in return you can just call me Kate. I know the name Katherine can be quite daunting to say all the time, that’s assuming we come across each other some other time.”

You say casual, but your manner of speech is very refined… Elmer took a peek at Ms. Edna where she was just watching. That’s the daughter of a very intelligent woman for you… But it seems you took after your mother’s short memory span for names as well…

“I don’t mind,” Elmer told Kate, and she nodded in response.

“Thank you, El. I like the glasses,” Kate said before turning around and scooping up a bunch of fliers from where she had been seated.

She went over to her mother and gave her a few.

“What am I to do now?” Ms. Edna asked with an ignorant look on her face that Elmer had never thought he would ever see.

“Nothing much, Mother. Just hand them out to whoever you can,” Kate said, prompting Ms. Edna to nod and scurry toward the edge of the garth which spelled the beginning of the square’s pathway. There, she started to hand out the fliers she had been given to any of the passersby who gave her the light of day.

Kate returned to Elmer.

“Uhm… I know we’ve just met and all, but if you don’t mind helping out as well?” Her fingers were already shuffling in between the bundle she held, dividing them in half as she awaited Elmer’s answer.

Elmer took a second to side-eye the slow thickening clouds of the sky, and also Ms. Edna as she was dutifully doing what she had been told to do. She had agreed to help him with the divination of the exact location of the maggot-faced man, but only after she had cleared her appointments, and that was why he had followed her all the way here.

Elmer now knew that handing out the fliers for her daughter was the appointment she had been talking about.

He had wanted to just ask her to tell him the method since he did not have the time, but he had thought against it. Considering all she had told him about the corrupted ones, he had believed it to be much better if he took her help instead for the divination.

And also, the fact that she had not just gone ahead to tell him the method even without him asking meant that there was probably a reason for her saying she would do it herself. He was surprised as well that she had not tried to talk him out of continuing the job despite the dangers it seemingly posed. Most likely there was a reason for that as well.

This train of thought was what had kept Elmer from pushing it.

It should be a while before the rain falls…

Elmer nodded at Kate with a smile. “Let me put this down first.”

“Thank you,” Kate said as she shuffled out of the way for him, allowing Elmer to place his paper bag just beside Ms. Edna’s Gladstone bag.

He returned to Kate and received the fliers she had divided for him, putting before his eyes a brown paper, seemingly made from wood pulp, printed with the diagram of a piano and written under it the words: ‘College Entrance Piano Performance. Time: 10:00 A.M. Venue: The Church’s College Grounds.’

Elmer took his eyes to Kate then. “You play the piano?”

“Yes,” she replied.

And normally, that was where his question should have ended, but he was a curious man, and he liked to ask.

“The Church’s College? Are you a student there?”

“No,” Kate answered. “The entrance exam is tomorrow. This piano performance is a part of it. Well, for someone like me who wants to further their knowledge on music while studying.”

I see… You want to become an Ascender as well… I wonder how many people enroll in the Church’s college every year, and how many of them actually get to become Ascenders, not Losts…

The fact that Ms. Edna is even letting her daughter take this risk of a leap is shocking, unless there’s some sort of way the Church curbs the percentage of failed outcomes if you go through their college… That actually makes sense…

Then, does that mean elixir taking has its own levels as well…? Something like going through the college lowers the risk than if you just simply let the Church watch you and after which gives you the go ahead to contact a licensed alchemist…?

Elmer downturned his lips with a lackluster nod.

As Eddie said, knowledge of all these things are with the big boys…

It was quite fascinating, but the most fascinating to Elmer was the fact that the Church taught music on the same grounds where lectures on madness and its effects took place.

Well, music was medicine. Maybe learning it had its own perks.

Kate cleared her throat loudly, forcing Elmer out of his thoughts. “Shall we?” She said soon after, and Elmer nodded, prompting them to hand out the fliers in their possession.