Aleister opened his eyes. Sick to his stomach. He rubbed his eyes and stood up. He shook his head upon laying eyes at the absolute state of his room. Random alchemical ingredients over there, his worn clothes in the opposite corner, the leftovers tins and crumbs of the sweet snacks he consumed in the middle of his room, and random junk everywhere else. Aleister hiccuped and poured himself a cup of water. He put on some clothes and walked into Lavinia's office.

Huh? He looked inside the room, then and the door, then outside. Her door was open? He glanced at her desk and then, with the clench of his fist, peered his eyes away. He wanted to search through her room so badly. But, he only saw a ending from himself if he continued. After closing the door, Aleister walked on over to the servant living quarters. Alfred crossed paths with him along the way.

"Are you perhaps looking for Miss Myra?" he asked.

"Oh, I actually was. How did you know?"

"Master informed me a while back that you might inquire about her location," he said, folding open a square paper. "Ah, let's see, she said to tell you, the closer you look, the further you see. What may appear transparent is opaque. Would any of these phrases carry any meaning to you?"

"Of course not." Aleister tapped his forehead with his fist. "None of that means anything."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," Alfred said. "She provided another—"

"Don't need it, I already found her." He pointed right past his shoulder and at Myra, who wore striped sleepwear. "Tell her to visit my room in about an hour and to bring me a cup of coffee or tea."

"As you wish," Alfred said with a deep bow.

Aleister walked back to his room. This sort of environment was not suitable for any sort of studies. On a blank sheet of his notepad, he created an organized grid of his room.

"You called for me, young—sorry, Aleister," Myra said. She slipped past the open door into his room. Her eyes widened as she froze in place. "Oh, my."

"Oh, my, is quite the understatement."

She tiptoed around the trash on his floor and placed a steaming cup in front of him. She sighed, as asked, "Like, how did you manage this?"

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"Now that is quite the excellent question."

She stared at him with blank-face. Clearly waiting for him to continue, which—he didn't.

"Alright moving on." He shoved his notepad in front of Myra. "This is how we'll organize my room one its cleaned. And yes, don't worry, I'm not going to leave you to tidy it up yourself."

----------------------------------------

"Ugh, it's over." Aleister leaned against his bed and doused himself with ice cold water. The summer heat, in addition to the cramped room, was about to knock him out.

"Now the floor is wet," Myra said, tying up the last trash bag.

He looked around and forgot how much space he actually had. "It will dry up." The only thing that concerned him were the alchemical ingredients. But they should be fine, hopefully.

"I'll go take these out then."

"Don't bother," Aleister said, stopping her. "I have to go out and complete a bunch of errands. You can wash up and continue what important business I pulled you away from."

"I finished the task Master gave me last night," she said. She took a sip of water before continuing, "Today was my rest day."

"Oh—whoops." Aleister scratched the back of his head. "Then, you can go rest now."

"Are you sure?" she asked. "Is there anything else you need me to do?"

"Why are you looking for work? Go rest!"

"I'll be in my room if you need me then," she said, leaving his room.

Aleister sighed. If anyone needed to stop resting, it was him. Time to get back on track. Well, starting tomorrow. He stood up and took the trash out before walking towards the City Watch Tower instead of a more local office to make sure this incident didn't waste anymore of his time. He also wanted to take a proper look at it. Something he really should have taken care of earlier.

As he arrived, he noticed that even though City Watch Tower was its official name; in reality, it was more of a castle. And much larger than Castle Kaynmur, to boot. The walls stood roughly sixty feet tall, from what he could tell, with a large metal gate blocking his entrance. He passed the security check and walked over the bridge and into the main hall. The guard had told him where he needed to go but he forgot, and ended up asking several others.

"Yes, it appears that they reduced your fine from five-hundred gold to fifty gold," the officer said. "Does that seem correct to you?"

It better be. Aleister didn't say this out loud, of course, and instead just nodded his head, handing over a coin pouch with fifty gold inside.

After the officer counted the gold coins, she filled out a blank form. It was only several minutes later she said, "This is your copy of the report. Inside of it contains the incident number, crime, perpetrator, victim, and everything else you might want to know about."

Aleister opened the manilla folder and noted the so-called victim's name. Calix of House Briar. What he would do with this information, probably nothing. But, if he encountered him again, perhaps some chicanery would need to ensue.

"Do you have any questions?" the officer asked.

"Nope, I'm all good," Alester said, dropping the folder in his bag. "See you, never—hopefully." He left the castle. He didn't know what he expected to see inside, but that wasn't it. They restricted his access to everything from the courtyard to the jail cells. He really should have just flaunted his influence a bit more. Whatever. He had little time to waste.