Glenn's expression was blank as he navigated the rubble and destruction of the summoning room, following in Javier's footsteps. As soon as the wound in his back was treated, the Pale Son insisted on dragging Glenn to someplace. The young man had followed without much resistance. For once, Javier had something he wanted to show him. That probably meant it was important.

Or that Javier was becoming...normal?

Somehow, that thought scared Glenn a little. He liked Javier the way he was. As creepy as he was reliable.

They arrived in front of a mangled mass of flesh fused with the floor in a bloody mess. Glenn grimaced and looked down at the corpse, discerning what could have been a red robe. It should be, but he couldn't be sure due to the huge quantities of blood. Javier pointed down at the corpse, then at a balcony further up.

"...Is he the guy who managed to give you that wound...?" Glenn asked as he crouched in front of the corpse. Javier shook his head and pointed back at the balcony. So, it wasn't the guy who hurt Javier, yet the silent hunter brought his attention to that specific person. Why?

'What's making you so special, then...?' Glenn pondered, scowling as he tried to search the mass of flesh. He pulled the red robe from it, trying to ignore the disgusting noise produced in said endeavor, and threw it to the side. He'd search it a little later, right now he was going to try and find any clues directly on the body.

'...I don't know what you're expecting to find, but good luck,' Diamanes chuckled mockingly. Glenn didn't react and dug through the meat with both of his hands, separating himself from the fact that it was a human he was searching through.

"Mashed bones, flesh, blood, and...oh, an arrow! I guess that's yours?" Glenn looked at Javier with a dark metal arrow tip in his hand. The Pale Son grabbed it and dropped it in one of his pockets, his facial expression undecipherable. Glenn shrugged and kept on looking.

"I'll take that for a yes, then..." He muttered, before frowning and looking back up at the balcony. It was high above, but not that high. No way a fall from there would reduce a corpse in that pizza-like state. The young man turned toward his silent comrade.

"Did you do something for him to be in this state, or...?" Javier looked back at Glenn with dead, empty eyes, neither confirming nor denying. Glenn moistened his lips, before smacking them.

"Right, I should have known your previous reactions were exceptions..." Glenn sighed and used Mundare to get rid of the blood and whatever else was there on his hands. He couldn't find anything, and looking further would just hurt his sanity.

"What sanity?" Nelg asked innocently, followed by Diamanes' surprised laughter. Glenn ignored both of them and brought his attention to the red robe. There were many pockets, surely he could find something? He looked through them, grinning as he pulled one item after the other. He displayed the objects next to each other beside the red...soup and the scarlet robe. He also took the occasion to observe the robe and indeed found some sort of symbol on the back of it, but he couldn't recognize it. Perhaps whatever made the corpse into the mangled mess it was now had also influenced and modified the symbol. He couldn't tell.

The symbol, in its current state, was a circle filled with deformed shapes, which he couldn't describe. Squares with no straight lines, disconnect geometrical forms...It looked like some kind of kindergarten kid's piece of art.

"I'll just copy it and check it later..." Glenn muttered as he took a sheet of paper and a pencil out of his dimensional bag and looked at the symbol. He silently looked at it for a few seconds, pondering, before putting his stuff back in the pouch and simply ripping the symbol off the red robe. Javier stared at him emotionlessly, but Glenn could swear he saw some disapproval. And so, he defended himself.

"It doesn't matter anyway, I'll share the results of my investigation with Onnea's guys later on!"

Javier remained silent, and Glenn sighed. He shoved the ripped fabric in his pouch, before looking at the items he found. There was a red brooch, a small notebook, two rings, and an empty pouch. Glenn knew it was an empty one because he had directly gone to try and find whatever was inside, but there was nothing. He suspected it was previously a dimensional pouch, and the death of its owner destroyed the storage space, but there was no way to tell.

"The brooch..." He mumbled as lifted the item, showering it in the light of a soft Sun's Touch. That spell barely used any Mana, and it was even less costly when he lowered the intensity, hence why he could cast it without much struggle. If he wanted to use it offensively, though, that was another story.

The brooch was made of a red metal that was warm to the touch and didn't have any engraving or anything to embellish it. There also didn't seem to be anything magical going on with it, as far as he could tell, but he didn't have a way to check that.

'Diamanes?' He asked without much hope.

'Nope, nothing. Or if there's something, it's too unimportant for me or you to care,' the entity replied without a second of hesitation. Glenn sighed placed the brooch back, and looked at the small notebook. It had a brown leather cover, as many books did in this world. Glenn opened it, frowning when he found the pages empty of any writing.

"...An empty notebook. Yeah, sure..." The young man grumbled as he went through all the pages, failing to find anything at all. His instincts told him there was something in the book, but no way for him to tell. He'll just keep it for later then. He then picked up the two rings, one seared with a garnet, and the other with an emerald. The bands were both of pure gold, with no impurities visible. The rings certainly looked expensive, that was for sure.

'...Diamanes?' Glenn asked again, with a little more hope this time. Diamanes remained silent for a few seconds, before cursing openly at his host.

'Fuck you! Do you think I'm your personal appraiser? And yes, they're both enchanted, damn it!' The entity replied angrily, before going back to being silent. Glenn raised a surprised eyebrow at the outburst, before smiling.

Oh, so treating Diamanes this way annoyed him?

Duly noted...

Glenn looked around him, before slipping the garnet ring on his right hand's ring finger. He waited for a few seconds, grimacing, before sighing in disappointment.

"I don't feel anything different...Alright, then..." He looked at a piece of rubble nearby and pointed at it while channeling Mana through the ring. He expected something to shoot out from his hand, but instead, a tense male voice rang in his mind.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"S...Sir Doloran?! You're still alive?!? How? I...I saw you die!"

Glenn blinked, before grinning wickedly. Oh, if that wasn't interesting... He looked at the ring and forced a cough out, hiding his mouth behind his hand.

"Cough, cough...I'm hurt, but an arrow wouldn't be enough to kill me. Where are you?" Glenn questioned, before glancing up at Javier, who was watching silently.

"Oh, oh, thank the Occult for that! Tomorr is still with me, but Novraar had to stay behind to stop some crazy Pale Son," The male voice sighed with relief, Glenn remaining silent on purpose.

"I...I know Novraar wasn't a real person, but..." the voice hesitated, "...is it still fine? I don't want to ruin my master's relationship with the Occult Wanderers, you see..."

Glenn's eyebrows rose, and his grin widened further. The Occult Wanderers? Hence "thanks the Occult"? More interesting stuff...and a new organization. Laurance was with the Occult Wanderers, then. He'll have to look into them if they're led by an Earthling. Or perhaps he wasn't their leader, maybe an ally? There was no way to tell for now. The young man concentrated back on the ring and coughed once more.

"Cough...Don't bother about Novraar. He did exactly what he was meant to do," Glenn spoke dryly, trying his best embodiment of an arrogant, cold member of a secret organization. So far, his interlocutor didn't seem to have noticed anything, so he'd just continue with the show.

"O...Okay, then. What should I tell the Count? Did the Devil's Hand and the Black Swordsman manage to stop the ritual? I know Sir Laurance is strong, but those two have a fearsome reputation to their name..." the male voice asked worriedly. Glenn rubbed his chin, smiling happily. So, both Sahro and he had a fearsome reputation? That made him smile. The bad guys were beginning to fear him, and he liked that. Why? He couldn't tell. It was just a pleasant feeling.

'What should I tell this fool, though...?' Glenn wondered, before replying.

"Sir Laurance managed to break the Wall and drive off the two bastards, but they fled the scene," He said with a disdainful tone. The young man spat to the side before coughing a bit more, diving deeper into the act, "...He couldn't finish them off, but then, he told me something strange..."

Glenn's mind raced as he tried to find the most confusing information he could give the idiot at the end of the line. What would throw the organization behind this fuckery up and down?

"As soon as he came out of the Gate, he declared the Thorn's Church and the Fallen Mother to be enemies of the Occult Wanderers. Tell your master that; Epinos and the Fallen Mother have fallen out of grace, and their believers must be culled," Glenn stated, taking on a serious expression as he said so. Javier was sitting on a piece of rubble, watching with empty eyes, not caring at all for whatever shenanigan Glenn was pulling.

The male voice gasped, "...Are—are you sure about that? My...My master won't be happy with this news, Walker Blight..." he despaired, almost succeeding in making Glenn laugh. Alright, so that red-robed guy/puddle was "Walker Blight". Was Walker a first name, or a title?

"I'll bet on the second," Nelg suddenly commented with a cheerful voice.

'So do I. The organization's name is Occult Wanderer. I don't know what the connection is between Walker and Wanderer, but there certainly is one, that's for sure.' Diamanes agreed while giving some of his thoughts. Glenn creased his nose, before taking on a darker expression.

"Don't question the words of Sir Laurance. He's beyond what you and your master will ever be. War must be waged upon the Thorn's Cult and the Fallen Mother. That's his words, and that is how it should be. Now, where are you so I can take Tomorr back? I've just confirmed Novraar's death."

The male voice remained silent for a few seconds, breathing raggedly, before finally replying.

"I'm in my office. I'll be waiting for your passage, Walker Blight. May you walk the Occult."

Glenn hesitated to reply but shrugged and decided to simply pull off the ring, cutting the connection. He had more chances to keep the act up if he sounded like a cunt more than an identity thief. At least, if there was some kind of code to end the conversation, Glenn hadn't messed it up. Or maybe he did. Doesn't matter in the end, Glenn was practically sure of his interlocutor's identity. The young man threw the garnet ring up and down as he looked at Javier, who stared back with emotionless, dead eyes.

"Tell me, Javier. Someone who is under the orders of a 'count', who has an 'office', and who has contacts with people of power... Does that allude to anyone in particular?" Glenn asked, not expecting any reply. Without much surprise, the Pale Son only looked at him silently, his lips sealed. Glenn waited a few seconds, before nodding.

"Yep, you're right. I'll go check with Sahro, and maybe Milena if she's awake, but I think I know where to look next..." The young man trailed off, before grinning widely, a disturbing contrast next to the inhuman mangled mass of flesh lying a few meters away.

"I'm a pretty good actor, aren't I?"

As always, Javier didn't respond, for better or worse. Glenn dusted his hands off and glanced at the last ring, the emerald one. He quickly slipped it on and channeled Mana into it. This time, he wasn't disappointed when nothing happened, for he had expected it a little. Nonetheless, he'd still bring the items to an appraiser for more information about them, just so he was sure. Glenn stored all the items in his dimensional pouch before heading off for Sahro and Milena, not sparing another thought to the liquid corpse.

Luckily, Milena had woken up during his investigations, and Sahro seemed to have recovered quite a bit of his energy. The Black Heir was leaning against a wall, watching over Milena who was sitting with her arms wrapped around her legs tightly, her face pale and her eyes empty. Glenn glanced at her and grimaced, before approaching Sahro.

"...Is she okay?" He whispered, before earning a deathly gaze from his friend. Glenn scowled and sighed.

"Of course, she's not..." Glenn shook his head and went in front of Milena, crouching to put himself at the same eye level. Milena looked up and smiled weakly, her arms shaking.

"...Hey, Glenn."

Oh. That was bad. Really, really bad. Glenn tried to smile back as best he could, but seeing this fierce woman in such a pitiful state made him feel strange, even a little sad.

"I heard you pretty much saved Sahro's life?" He asked, trying to cheer her up. Milena's fake smile grew slightly and her eyes regained a bit of their focus.

"...He did most of the work, protecting me when I used the Contagion Mind Hex..." She trailed off as her eyes peered into the distance, the images of the scaled-armored knights killing each other replaying in her head. Glenn noticed it and smacked his lips, getting her to concentrate back on her. What should he do in this situation? Offer a shoulder to cry on? But he wasn't that close to her and she wasn't the kind to cry on someone else's shoulder...Tell her it was fine? But it wasn't fine. No, it was normal for her to be like that after forcing so many people to kill each other. He was the weird one for being okay with it all.

'I guess it takes dead kids for you to feel like there's a problem,' Diamanes remarked mockingly. Glenn felt a bolt of ice digging through his heart and his expression froze over. He slowly looked at his left, purple hand, silent. After a few seconds, Diamanes spoke again.

'...Sorry. That was inappropriate,' the entity apologized. Glenn blinked, before shaking his head.

'At least you're aware of it...' Glenn concentrated back on the traumatized woman in front of him, his eyes lighting up when he found a way to stop her from spiraling down into depression. He stood up and clapped both of his hands, getting Sahro's attention as well, Javier observing at the periphery.

"So, I've got a question for both of you," he said as he looked at the Black Heir and the fallen noble, who looked back at him, "...I managed to get some information out of someone who was invested in this matter."

Milena's head perked up, interested. Glenn concealed a smile as he continued.

"I have a few clues, but I'm not sure. He mentioned he worked under a noble, a Count to be precise, and that he would be present in his office as if it was the most evident place. Also, he seemed close with powerful people..."

Milena almost jumped up, her eyes gleaming as she grinned of a true smile.

"That's evident. It's the Eastern Town's Mayor, Lazarre!"

Glenn made a shocked expression, before grinning widely.

"Shit, I didn't think of that! Excellent, now we know where to look! Thank you, Milena!"

The lady blushed and turned back, her distraught a little less than before.

"...You lied. You knew it was the Mayor as soon as the thing with the Count was mentioned," Nelg remarked, failing to put a dent in Glenn's smile. Diamanes remained silent, seemingly reflecting on his previous, hurtful words.

'I have no idea of what you're talking about. Hehe.' Glenn replied mentally, before looking down at Redan, who was still asleep.

It was time to get out of here.