The walk back was eerily silent; only ever broken by Myra's sniffling, which she said were from the spices kicking in. As the half-lit street lamps flickered, Aleister couldn't help but feel a creeping sense of dread. He walked faster.

"Are you scared of the dark?" Myra asked.

"No," he said, even though his actions betrayed his words.

She let out a quiet giggle. "I wouldn't have expected that from you, especially since you can still see in it."

"So can you, but despite that, the dark still limits our vision," Aleister looked over his shoulders, "And our shadows merge in with the surrounding darkness. Do you know how many creatures live in the darkness?"

Myra looked at him with a blank stare as she asked, "I can't tell if you're being serious or like, playing some sort of prank on me right now."

"A little of both," Aleister said with a wry smile. "But, I'm not joking about monsters living in the darkness and shadows."

"I've only heard about such creatures in fairy tales."

"Even if all mentions of them are just from fairy, tales meant to scare kids into not leaving their bed in the middle of the night, there is almost certainly some truth to them," Aleister said. "After all, the creatures that do exist in the darkness don't make their presence known, and when they do, most likely kill or kidnap their victims without any trace. Which, while uncommon, still happen." He continued to muse upon this idea. "Maybe, I'm on to something."

"The only thing on you is the sanshin you just now stole from the Shrine of Sera!" said a voice that echoed from behind him.

"Sorry, but I'm afraid you've got the wrong people," Aleister said as he turned around.

In front of him were three officers of the Osetia City Watch. They dressed in the standard blue and yellow outfits given. However, all of them, including the elven woman that spoke to him, wore special symbols of two petaled lilies. This indicated their positions as Sergeants of the Watch and not simple grunts or recruits.

She looked down at her notepad and said, "We presume the suspects are one male thief and one female thief based on their body shapes. Unfortunately, they covered their bodies and wore masks but one of our officers caught a glimpse of white hair." She looked up at Myra. "You don't see that many people with white hair around here, do you?"

"Yeah, that's pretty true," Aleister said before looking over. "Master wouldn't have happened to give you some sort of identification or something, would she?"

Myra nodded and took out a signet ring and gave it to him. Aleister then presented it to the officers.

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"House Everkiss?" the woman officer said after careful examination. She and the rest of her group took a knee. "Please, accept our apologies for this inconvenience."

"I told you the thieves wouldn't just be talking a casual stroll in the middle of the night," said the dwarven man behind her.

"Yeah, but what about if they just wanted to blend in," the human woman next to him said.

"What in the Nine Hells would they blend into?" the dwarven men said, shocked. "Do you see any bloody crowd out here?"

"Can you two stop bickering for just one moment?" The woman that lead them stood up. "I apologize for any trouble this may have caused."

"Not a problem," Aleister said with a shrug.

The officers looked at each other and silently discussed some matter between themselves. They appeared to have come to a decision. The human woman stepped forward. "I'm sure that you have heard of the Sacred Sanshin that belongs to Osetia's Shrine of Sera?"

"I have," Aleister said. To be honest, he didn't remember most of the details surrounding the Sacred Sanshin or the Shrine of Sera. Even though he read Judel's Guide, it had been so long since he forgot most of the details and would need a quick refresher.

The woman nodded. "Then you would know how the Sacred Sanshin is an instrument that was granted to the Shrine by a Prophet of Sera herself, right?"

He nodded. In reality, he didn't remember, but found the explanation given to him quite convenient.

"Then you would know how they use it for all of their ceremonies, right?"

Aleister rubbed his neck. "I'm not quite sure I understand what you're trying to tell me. I already know of its importance, that it was stolen, and the basic description of the presumed perpetrators."

"What she is failing to say," the elven woman behind her stepped in, "is that we, and the entirety of the City Watch, would be grateful if you could perhaps use some of your connections and aid us in the search. Which needs to be done in absolute secrecy, as news of this should not get out. Of course, the Commander would be more than happy to reward you for your efforts."

"What kind of rewards would he even give them?" the dwarf complained. "More gold?"

"Never hurts to have more gold," the human woman said.

"This isn't something I expected to happen tonight, but you have piqued my interest," Aleister said.

"Don't worry too much about it as this matter doesn't exactly concern you, and many others will also participate in this search," the human woman said.

"That makes it sound like you don't want our help," Aleister said, receiving mixed messages from her.

"Your help is not needed, but we would appreciate it," she said in clarification. "Now, if you don't mind, we must get going and continue our search." The three of them promptly left.

"That was—awkward," Myra said.

"True," Aleister said.

However, as he walked back to the manor, he couldn't help but think about why and more importantly, how someone managed to steal such an important artifact in the first place.

"Maybe they need it for some sort of evil ritual," Aleister said.

Syn yawned. "Why are you still talking about this? Just let it go."

"I can't stop! Not knowing the reason is just eating at my mind," he said, changing into his sleepwear. "Oh, whoops," he held the signet ring between his fingers, "I forgot to give this back."

He left his room and walked across the second floor and over to Myra's room, where he found the door slightly opened. He didn't know if this meant she was in her room or not, but decided to still knock. There was no answer.

Aleister's eyes began to droop as Syn's yawn from earlier seemed to affect him as well. However, he thought he heard something from inside her room. He abstained from peeking inside, but perked his ears up. To him, it sounded like, crying. Aleister didn't know how to react and instead, walked back to his room.