Chapter 101 - Trace The Rune

He let the thought in his mind guide him and the words formed on the paper. They were three simple words…

However, Vern was far more focused on the golden lists that appeared. Unlike last time, the 'fate list' was not in the center. That spot was instead taken by a list with twelve different runes on it—the rest of its height being empty.

The fate list on its left looked the same as ever, while the one next to it, which should logically be the list that displayed traces of people around him, was quite static.

Yet before he could analyze it too much, the golden lists disintegrated into nothingness, and his eyes landed on the words, 'Who is this?'

Vern stared at the words, puzzled. Why does she…

.

.

.

Ohh…

He facepalmed. How the hell is she supposed to know who sent the note when there's no context at all? If there were multiple people who could send her a note, she couldn't magically figure out it was Vern.

.

.

.

Can I act like this never happened? He wondered, feeling queasy for making such a simple mistake. It must have been all the million new things he was learning.

If he didn't reply today and just sent another note a couple days later, she would be none the wiser, right?

However, he gave up on being a coward after a little thought. Given that someone's trace was such a guarded secret, she might get anxious not knowing who sent her the note.

Also, he had something important he wanted to try out with those lists.

Taking a deep breath, he recalled those veins of her viewpoint as well as her visage—those vibrant ruby hair and the striking mechanical wings, before writing, 'Hello Esther, this is Vern.'

He braced himself for ridicule but deserved it this time for being careless. It is what it is.

Soon, he felt another notion. That was quite fast! This must mean that the conversation is actually real-time.

His pen didn't wait for long and flowed, 'Aghh! I wasted so much time and materials setting up the ritual to reply to this undirected note. That scared the hell out of me, Vern! Always end your first note for the conversation with a signature like this!

-Esther'

He winced. It seemed he had caused her a lot of trouble because of his ignorance. Given that she didn't know it was him who sent that note, it was already unexpected that she managed to reply. Was that what the ritual was for?

This wasn't how he expected the conversation to start. So, he racked his brains and soon wrote down, 'I…um, didn't know. I am really sorry about that.'

Before he could write another apology, his hand moved on its own once again, and particles flowed out of the first rune of the twelve in the list, 'Hah! I should've expected it. Who else would be unlearned enough to not know the basic etiquette of note exchange. It's really my fault for not teaching you beforehand.'

Vern put down his pen on the paper to apologize another time, but he suddenly halted, a pensive look on his face. Instead of imagining her face and viewpoint this time, he tried to recall the three-dimensional symbol from the list that he believed to be the runic representation of her trace.

He wanted to see if he could send notes based on the runic trace rather than his own knowledge of her viewpoint. Because if he could…

.

.

.

He tried to visualize that almost impossible shape. He saw it just a moment ago, but it was already hard to remember its exact features.

It reminded him of Cryptic Constructor's rune a little, but that one was at least a lot of straight lines—very much in character for an Elden one that was all about structures.

Suppressing these distracting thoughts, he focused on mentally envisioning that rune, its atypical design, and the unexpected angles. With his best attempt at ready, he wrote, 'It was really my bad. I should have put more thought into it before reaching out.'

Then he waited, his heart beating with anticipation. Would it work?

Soon, his headspace buzzed again, and he let out a little cheer for himself. It really worked!?

Word by word, his hand moved, and it wrote, 'Huh? Did the cat get your tongue?' He furrowed his brows and she continued, 'I was just joking. It's understandable that you didn't know. When did you become so thin-skinned, eh?'

After finishing it, Vern tapped the nib on the pad repeatedly as he sighed, It didn't work. Well, how could things be so simple, after all?

All things considered, she was being quite understanding of his predicament. Going about it the right way this time by visualizing her face, he rushed to clear up the misunderstanding.

'Hah, no. I am still getting used to how this works. I am really sorry about the scare. I didn't think it would have implications like that. ~Still pretty new to all this.'

Shortly, he received, 'Are you saying it's hard to imagine my face? Wow. Here I thought you lost your humor bone.' Vern relaxed a little. She didn't seem very upset about this as she continued, 'Anyway, there's something you should know.'

'This isn't my convergence note, so I have to give away its ownership every day for a while, and they need to keep a record of everything that gets written down on these pages.'

That's where she stopped. But Vern looked at the latter part of the note with puzzlement. Why tell him that? However, it took him but a minute before a flicker of recognition crossed his face.

There is another implication behind those words! She was essentially saying that this conversation wasn't private and he shouldn’t broach any topic that was supposed to be a secret. Like the Third Rune.

He nodded. That was a clever way to warn him without giving away the gravity of their secrets to future onlookers.

He replied, trying to play along, 'No problem. I was just…you know, hoping to check in and see how you're doing.' That was more than one part true.

He didn't know if this was the right move, but this was him trying to nudge the conversation back in the proper direction. However, this time, he didn't wait for her to reply and grabbed another pen from the holder on the next table.

Rotating his notepad upside down, he gripped one pen on his left hand and the new one on his right. The page from the convergence note was now under the nib of his left-hand pen.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Since the notion in my head already guides it, I don't need to be able to write with that hand. That was to say, even though he wasn't ambidextrous, it wouldn't be a problem to legibly write down her responses with his left hand.

So this time, when the list appeared, somehow still top-to-bottom, he drew the runic symbol of her trace with his right hand while his left moved on its own. 'I am…' and his hand stopped for a while before a single word was added, '…fine.'

Vern couldn't help but notice the pause, but soon his hand moved again, 'Hah, you know, it's the usual. Our Emperor died during the Duskfall, so many prefectures have broken the chain of command, and what's left of the royals is dropping like flies.

I suggested they better hide like rats instead of buzzing like bees, but well, they don't listen. Anyway, forget about this sad sop of a city. How are you holding up? Did those religious assholes try to mess with you again?'

She deflected his question. Not just that, the situation of the Senn Empire seemed far worse than that of the Calidian Empire. After seeing the prospering state of Ferrovane Heights, one part of him hoped that things would soon go back to the way they used to be.

All these were signs that he might be getting a little delusional.

If an empire as great as Senn was already on its knees, what did that mean for smaller autonomous countries and cities like Nvoria?

Switching back to his right hand, he wrote, 'I hope you don't try to overdo yourself for the sake of the empire. Besides that, I haven't had any contact with the members of Eternal Directorate.'

However, this was a good opportunity to reroute the conversation in the direction he hoped.

So he continued writing, 'But I am indeed quite worried about their actions, and was wondering if you came across some new information regarding the believers of Asea? Or about that Quentin guy and the girl who tried to spare us?'

His right hand continued to further perfect the shape of the rune, while his left hand soon wrote, 'Well, Mom's yet to be back from her chase, but it's very hard to pinpoint the exact perpetrators because of how widely spread the belief of Mother Asea is in these new times.'

Vern furrowed his brows. Is there nothing, then?

But she continued, 'Which makes no sense given their power and members.' Vern nodded. 'However, we've found these people calling themselves The Kin, and that's led us to quite a few radical believers of Asea—some that even knew about Quentin.'

'But hey, I am not going to drag you into this anymore. You've already suffered enough at their hands. If they're happy to let you be, I'd suggest we keep it that way.'

Vern narrowed his eyes, Yes, but I have no plans of letting them be.

So he shifted his approach a little, 'Hah, calm down, Esther, I have no intentions of engaging with them. I just want to be aware of the circumstances in case they indeed end up bothering me once I am no longer in the safety of the Vigil.'

Quite a while passed by this time before he felt the notion in his head, 'Well, it's not like I can't tell you, but many of our…members died to get this information to us, and I can't just…give it away right now.'

His forehead creased in thought at this one. He didn't expect to run into a wall like this. But her words were quite peculiar. She said, 'Right now.' Was it because these words might be scrutinized by her family members later?

Vern soon nodded. The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. In that case, he had two options—either wait until she had her own private convergence note or

.

.

.

'Hmm, Esther, if I remember correctly, Lady Andrea offered to remunerate me further for the event at the station. Could I use a part of that in exchange for this information?'

'Hey, what's the hurry? It's not like the kin is going anywhere. Wait a while or something.'

Hah, she was clearly trying to dissuade him from wasting his 'credit.' She probably would've just told him if she wasn't in this peculiar situation. However, he cared far more about comprehending the way this Kin organization worked.

The more he knew about them, the better he could plan his future steps on how to extricate Ari from all this. Favors and currency existed to be used, anyways.

'Unh, unh, it's okay, Esther. Don't worry about it. I prefer not to stress too much about unknown variables. So, knowing more about them would really set my mind at ease.'

He continued switching his hands back and forth as drawings from different angles of the rune became clearer and clearer, and she wrote, 'Hahhhh.' He could almost feel her sigh through the words.

'Then, listen well. The 'Kins' use a pyramid structure where a group of a dozen or so followers will be led by a first-shade Wrath Guardian. They usually handle preaching in a small neighborhood.'

'After that are Sanctuary defenders that handle multiple Wrath Guardians to defend the territory and set up the atmosphere for proselytization. Beyond them are Aegis Wardens that preserve the sanctity of all the sanctuaries in a city.'

'Finally, the last one we know is the name of Shade sequence of that bastard himself. It is called Form Sentinel, apparently giving him the power to form all those bizarre shapes. The Kin we captured mentioned that they usually handle the affairs related to the religion in a whole Empire.'

Vern actually stopped drawing the rune for a second to note down all these titles. The names of all these sequences clearly held a lot of value. Maybe they can come in handy when he was cleaning up trash on his own.

Then his hand moved, and she wrote, 'Hmm, maybe one final thing I can add is that the Kin, as an organization, is said to originate from the birth grounds of their mother.'

Vern bit back almost instantly, 'And where is that?'

'Can't tell you. Why? Because I don't know either. Most of the ones we captured had no clue about the place except a firm belief that it existed.'

Well, that sounded like a dead end. If Esther and her mother couldn't get it out of them with their resources, what was he to do?

Not wanting to devolve into destructive thoughts of self-reproach, he instead wrote, 'I wonder how Lady Andrea is planning to deal with this?'

Vern's left hand moved slowly as it glided over the paper in circle after circle before transitioning into words, 'I…don't know. She doesn't tell me much. I knew all this only because some of the Kins were captors in our estate.'

Vern sensed a hint of…loneliness in those words? He slowly inscribed, 'Esther, are you really okay?'

No reply came for a while, and right when he decided to follow up, his hand moved, 'Yes, it's fine. Mom is just a little…distressed because she lost someone.'

Another deflection. She really didn't want to talk about whatever was causing her discomfort.

Giving in, he changed the topic a little, 'She probably still has a plan. After all, she has handled a situation like this before, right…?''

This time, when the list showed up again, he couldn't find any flaws in his drawn representation of it, so he focused on the words instead, 'Well, Aetheric Collective is very different from these Kin people who are nothing but shady business. They even aske…'

But his hands abruptly stopped moving, and right when he felt something was off, it started again, 'Ahh, umm, it seems I'll have to run. Duty calls, you know! Cultists to capture and sacrificial lambs to save. It was nice chatting with you, Vern, but please wait a few weeks. This is…really inconvenient.'

Damn, he cursed his poor luck. Things were just beginning to get interesting. At least the name Aetheric Collective should help him figure out more himself.

Hmm, it seems like she's got a lot on her plate. Did something go wrong within her family when she was missing for three days?

Because it made little sense for her to not be allowed a few pages of the note for herself as the heiress of the family.

She also mentioned that her mother had lost someone. Did that cause her position in the family to change or something?

So many questions, yet such limited information to work with. Sighing, he prepared to bid farewell but then suddenly halted.

Shifting his gaze over to the diagrams of the runes from many different angles, he visualized it in his mind and penned, 'Esther, please take care out there.'

But it didn't seem...enough.

So he took a deep breath, and right before the runes merged into a single symbol—ready to be sent, he gritted his teeth and added, 'I might not have a way with the words, but I want you to know that I'm here to listen, truly listen, whenever you need it. So drop me a note if you've got something on your mind.'

That felt better.

If her response seemed to not acknowledge his words, he was prepared to write them again swiftly. So when his hand moved, and the words 'You, as well,' took shape, a somewhat sad smile formed on his face, and she finished with, 'I will…try.'

His eyes lingered on those last three words for a while as he kept the nib held against the paper. Yet seconds turned into minutes, but his hand didn't move anymore.

She was really gone.

Dropping the pen, he rubbed his temple, trying to soothe the headache that was threatening to emerge. That took a lot of concentration on his part.

He'd figured out a great deal today. A bypass method of communication, the hierarchy of the 'kin,' the name of organization which Hensen belonged to, and finally, there was Esther's situation—

However, that's when his thoughts were cut short, "Master Vern, there's a mission waiting for you."