The first beams of sunlight sneaked through the farmhouse's window. Slowly but at a steady pace, they climbed up the hanging blankets right onto the bed. Their destination was Gabriel's eyes, where slowly but surely they arrived.

Gabriel blinked once, then twice, then stared at the sight that greeted him first thing in the morning.

It was a pink rabbit plushie. Naomi held it with a gentle grasp, and like a professional puppeteer, he moved the plushie's limbs as he spoke.

"Good morning, sleepyhead!" The puppet said with a funny voice. "Did you sleep well?"

Gabriel stared at the plushie before him in utter silence. The expression on his face was quite terrifying, to say the least.

He turned his cold stare towards Naomi, who felt a shiver run down his spine. He made a grand mistake. He has disturbed the lion in his sleep.

"What are you doing in my room?" Gabriel asked, his voice filled with ominous frustration.

"Oh, uh, so about that…" Naomi scratched the back of his head. "I was kind of scared alone, you know, this place being so new and all––"

His answer did not satiate Gabriel's wrath.

Despite his demonic origins, Gabriel needed much of the same necessities as a human. Air, light, food and water, and also a good night's sleep. The latter was something he was extremely cautious about, making sure he gets to have at least 8 hours of sleep every night.

Naomi learned that too late. Faced with a ferocious and sleepy beast, he could only look away and hope for forgiveness.

"The truth is, I got spooked by one of the paintings in my room."

Gabriel's frown subsided as he widened his exhausted eyes.

"Painting?" He repeated the word.

Back then in the king's castle, there was a painting in Gabriel's room that gave him a strange feeling. Remembering that, he quickly sat up.

Only after an entire night's worth of sleep did he realize the large painting stationed above his bed. It was nothing noteworthy, displaying a few random figures standing in a meadow.

Gabriel stood up and took a few steps away from the painting.

"What's wrong?" Naomi was surprised by his sudden change in attitude.

Gabriel took his rapier from the side of his bed and aimed at the painting before him. He waited for a few seconds, but nothing changed. The image before him remained the same.

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Using the end of his rapier, Gabriel pushed the painting aside. He had expected to see a secret hole or peek-through in the wall.

But there was nothing. The painting hid nothing behind it.

Gabriel sighed with relief.

"I might be a bit too paranoid."

"See? I was sure you could understand!" Naomi pointed at the image. "Whoever painted these must have been sick in the head. Those people in the picture look like corpses, for god's sake!"

"Alright, I get it." Gabriel put on his butler clothes. "We should see the Duchess if she has any work for us."

Gabriel went to exit the room, but Naomi stopped him.

"We got another letter."

He pointed towards the night table, where a small brown envelope was sitting.

"When did it get here?" Gabriel thought to himself and took a look inside.

There were two papers this time.

One was a map that displayed a strange sequence of tunnels. They appeared to be manmade, and street names were assigned to every tunnel. Various points of interest were marked on the map, some by its creators and some by whoever left the letter for Gabriel.

The other paper inside the envelope was a newspaper article, published by "Astria Daily". The date assigned to it was "Third Week of the 504th Cycle", which meant that this article was published two weeks ago.

It went as follows:

"Blood on the Water!"

"Residents west of Neustadt have reported numerous sightings of green ooze coming from their sinks. These strange liquids were traced back to Chaos Rot origins, most likely an infected snail.

Other strange events took place when a repairman delved into the city's underground tunnels to fix the water conduit. Without any permission, this act was a desperate father's attempt to quench his children's thirst.

What could otherwise have been a controversial act turned into tragedy when on a Thursday afternoon, when residents have reported signs of human blood coming from their sinks.

Police investigation found the father's corpse squeezed into one of the water supplies, broken beyond any human form, and worst of all, still alive! The man lived for another thirty minutes before being put out of his misery by gunshot.

Government officials advised no civilians enter the underground tunnels without permission. They've also said the conduits are already being worked on and all unpleasantries should cease in the upcoming days.

This is not the first time Neustadt has been proved to be the least safe city in all of Astria. Duke of Marktstar, Khrysos von Helios has reported 'purchase of items with dangerous implications' taking place over the past few weeks.

Neustadt has been the hot topic in all of Astria for the past Cycle. Debates about whether it should be treated as an independent city are still ongoing and the senate is still frozen in a stalemate.

It will be interesting to see how things unfold."

End quote.

There were several notes placed throughout the text, all written with black ink, made by whoever left the letter for Gabriel to find.

In the first paragraph, the words "Chaos Rot" were crossed out by a large 'X' and the word "LIE" was written beside it.

The "Duke of Marktstar" was also crossed out and "DONKEY" was written above it. The part detailing purchases has also been crossed out, indicating it was another lie.

Lastly, besides the last paragraph was inscribed another sentence.

"Leave no one alive!"

Gabriel already knew what that meant.

"Someone must have been pretty salty when writing this, and I don't know who." Naomi yawned.

Gabriel put the papers into his pocket. He looked out the window and a wagon was already there, waiting for them.

"Grab your stuff, Naomi! And bring a lantern too, just in case it gets dark!"

Naomi scratched his head. "Lantern? Wait… Don't tell me––!"

"It's still early in the day, right?" Gabriel said as he tied the rapier to his side. "There better be no men at work, because we're going underground!"