"Why do I have to do this again?"

Vern easily recognized the voice. As expected, a cane pushed open the entrance to the repository, and a silver-haired man dressed in an indigo coat strolled in with a pompous gait.

It's Ambrose, Vern nodded.

Behind the man was someone he hadn't seen for a while. He almost didn't recognize her. He narrowed his eyes and thought, It's Lady Antonia, isn't it? Ambrose's sister.

Wow, she looks so different. Last time, she wore heavy plate armor, but now she donned a simple white jacket over a striking blue top and a tall black skirt. The transformation shifted her appearance from a menacing deterrent during the initiation to someone resembling an administrator of a high-society establishment.

Her face, framed by sleek black hair, was sharp and elegant, with piercing blue eyes and a hint of indifference that conveyed both authority and grace. There was a cold precision to her every step and every minute detail of her movement. Maybe it was just his structural intuition talking, but he noticed a subtle aspect of controlled composition in everything.

It almost made him wonder if the rhythm they followed, belonged to structure fundamental, too. Except it wasn't like those crude jagged lines back in the dream. Everything she did was a dance of perfect curves, and there was grace in her each action. Suddenly, in one of those gentle yet perfect arcs, her gaze landed on him.

So he took this chance to acknowledge both of them, "Greetings, Lady Antonia. Hello, Ambrose."

The silver-haired man's cane came to a sudden halt as he turned towards Vern and replied with a look of shock, "What are you doing here, newbie?" Then, suddenly, he pointed the cane at him with an accusatory tone, "And hey, what's with this discrimination? Sis gets the lady treatment, but I'm just Ambrose? Not sir? Not young master?"

Vern chuckled and made to answer, only to be interrupted by Cedric, "Why are you so foolish, young finesse?" The scholar stood up and looked at Ambrose like he was some fool, "Do you think he's down here to clean the cobwebs or something? Obviously, he's here to learn how to keep the repository's pollution in check from me."

He shook his head and quickly carried his little stack into a wooden cabinet as he muttered, "Kids these days. So dumb."

Ambrose countered, "Old farts these days. Don't even understand the concept of small talk."

Vern noticed a hint of amusement in Lady Antonia's eyes as she nodded back at him. She made her way to one of the chairs across the table and settled down, closing her eyes.

Cedric somehow managed to stash the whole stack into the cabinet without ever letting them get a look at their titles and pulled out a small book from it. Holding it with one hand, he flipped it open using a bookmark without responding.

Ambrose sneered, "Cat got your tongue? Anyways, yeah!" He turned towards Vern, "You better address me as sir, lord, senior."

Vern knew an act when he saw one, especially with Ambrose. So he ignored the 'small talk' and asked something that had been on his mind for a while, "By the way, sir lord senior Ambrose, do we have any updates on the situation with Asea's church?"

It was an important question. He'd done so many things, but none of it directly pushed him closer to Ari. Something inside him was getting uneasy.

Ambrose's joking face suddenly turned sour, and he tapped his cane in an annoyed rhythm, "Hah, nothing. It's a fucking joke is what it is."

Vern waited, and without fail, Ambrose followed up, pulling a chair for himself with the cane's handle, "You probably already know this, but quite a few archons of ducal families firmly believe in Asea and wouldn't stand for a word against her."

"On top of that, their new reputation as the Healing church has made them almost untouchable. Thousands are flocking into Elmhurst and accepting 'The Mother' as their faith just to get their hands on her supposed tears that can heal any injuries."

Ambrose propped one leg on the other and rested the cane on his lap as he continued, "And can you blame them? That fucking thing heals everything almost instantly! Even high-shade observers specializing in healing visions can't come close to what they're doing."

Vern frowned, "But you remember what happens when it's overused, right? You fought them for quite a while yourself." He was alluding to the zealots who'd come to nab Esther back at the Steamscript relay station.

Ambrose sighed in frustration, "Yeah, but there's no way to prove it."

Ohhh… Vern gasped.

Ambrose nodded, "The blast evaporated everything—including any evidence. We have nothing to prove our words, and we can't really be sure something's wrong with the tears just from what we observed. Their abnormalities could have been a result of observing with a weak mind for all we know."

Fuck! "Is that why the whole thing just blew over?"

The man ran his hand through his silver hair and nodded grimly. "That and the fact that a lot of resources changed hands under the table somewhere. Unfortunately, our words don't mean much in front of tens of other people in power, and from what I've heard, Puppeteer of Crimson Court has no plans of pressuring the crown because of their internal problems."

Vern made to follow up, but Cedric suddenly chimed in, "Hey, kid. You coming in the elevator, or should I go by myself?"

Vern looked back and pondered for a few seconds before replying, "It'll take me a few minutes at the very least."

"Bah, I'm going then. I have a lot of reading to do." Vern noticed a licentious undertone and narrowed his eyes. As Cedric turned, a sudden idea crossed Vern's mind, and he smiled mischievously.

He unleashed his perception and interpreted the lever of the lamp-shaped elevator out in the dim hall. With a simple mental command, he envisioned one of its gears turning smooth. Instability Inducement.

Not letting this small endeavor delay his original conversation, he turned back to Ambrose and asked, frustration leaking from his words, "So, Vigil has no plans of doing something about such a massive incident?"

Ambrose sighed, clearly a companion in his misery, and to their surprise, a gentler voice echoed in the room, "Unfortunately, we don't have the motive or means to do anything about it just yet."

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

He turned towards Lady Antonia, who'd chimed in, her eyes still closed in what looked like a meditative trance. Ambrose turned towards her, "But sis, something has to happen! I almost lost my fucking rhythm that day. So many bystanders died. All because of what? These religious fucks. These pathetic leeches that squeeze our citizens of their belief under the name of religion. These—"

"Enough. You're slipping out of the rhythm once again," she intoned. Ambrose, who was getting all worked up, instantly shut up.

She then added, probably for both of them, "The church's reputation is currently at its peak. If we do anything to undermine them without proper justification, we'll essentially invite a political disaster that even Akira can't deal with."

"Vigil's position in the political diaspora of Elmhurst is quite unstable already, and while the recent infusion of nobles' kids into our ranks has made it better, it's far from being enough to go against the church. We can't risk it. At least not until we have solid evidence of their misdeeds."

Vern wanted to interject but didn't know how. He did have some extra information that he got from Esther last time, but none of it was really incriminating. He stood there, deep in thought, unsure how to progress this matter.

But I can't just do nothing. He'd wasted so much time already. Sure, I can't fight Quentin, but I need to start getting a hold of their nerves and find something.

After a bit, he asked probingly, "What if I investigate them through my own channels and in my own time?"

Lady Antonia's eyebrows suddenly twitched for the first time ever, and Vern wasn't sure if he'd said something wrong. In his limited interactions with her, he hadn't seen her get riled up easily. Nonetheless, she said, "That would be…" and paused. After lightly moving her hands to some intangible rhythm, she added, "…ideal."

Huh? This time it was Vern's turn to be confused. He hadn't expected such a positive response to his proposal. Heck, he'd really thrown it out to see their reactions and judge the risk based on that. After all, he was going to go after Asea's church regardless of their response.

But this?

Ambrose was just as flabbergasted, and he uttered, "Sis, you must be joking. You can't…"

She cut him off, "No, now that I think about it, you might be a great candidate. We made sure your involvement in the station incident was kept strictly confidential and have already reached a mutual agreement with Von Industries to keep it all under wraps. Last I remember, according to our bureaucratic insiders, you're not even on their radar. You have no living family they can influence you with, nor do you have a noble station to consider."

Vern leaned on the table and listened closely. This response was far more considered than he'd expected. She—no, the vigil seemed to believe he didn't have a family for some reason. Did Asea's church register Ari as dead in the official records? Why else would they think his sister wasn't around?

"On top of that, you have the reason, motivation, and skills to conduct a minor investigation, am I right?"

Vern hesitated for just a second before he gave a soft hum and a nod.

"Then, I don't see why you shouldn't go for it. Obviously, you'll need to step carefully, and we can help you with a couple of things, but know that our hands are far more tied in this matter than you might think. At least until we have something damning against them."

"In our circles, they are everywhere, and they hear everything." Ambrose actually nodded to these words.

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Thump Thump

At that moment, a frustrated yell echoed from outside, "Bah, what is this? Why is this junk not working? I need to go!"

Vern turned and noticed Cedric pushing and pulling the lever to no avail, growing frustrated by the second.

"Anyways," she added, "In my capacity as one of the Captains of the vigil, feel free to consider this as a low-priority mission with no specific instructions other than to find out what you can without getting into trouble."

Vern pondered for a while. Well, I was going to look into it anyway. Still, he wasn't about to just get nothing out of this. So, he asked, "Can I expect some kind of backing if things go south for me?"

She nodded, "Yes, we can indeed get you out if things turn south officially, but if you get into hot waters, we might not even have a chance to get to you. So, put your safety first and stop where you think is appropriate."

Find a balance, you say? "I can do that," he nodded, acutely aware of Cedric's growing frustration due to his meddling. Continuing to ignore it to further destabilize things, he asked, "Anything else I should be aware of?"

She nodded, "Keep your distance from their Cathedral up here in Ferrovane Heights. Too many observers congregate in there, and you'll be caught snooping around before you even hear a word other than the prayers."

He pulled out his notepad and began writing notes as she told him all about places to avoid, and people to keep a distance from. She also gave him some details about anomalies related to the church, ones that didn't have a proper conclusion or leads.

After a couple of minutes of this back and forth, she finished, "That's enough to get you started. If you have anything to report, you can either find me in my office by the stairs or ask De Flanc for my schedule if I'm not there."

Vern nodded diligently, surprised by how easy it was to talk to her compared to the tales he'd heard from Lucian and Arthur.

"Ah, lady above, you stupid kids! COME HELP ME! This thing won't work. My numbers can't find out why, and even if they could, I'm no mechanic."

Ambrose looked over and laughed in schadenfreude, "Wait for someone to call it up, Old man. Don't disturb us, we're busy here."

Cedric grumbled something inaudible as sounds of kicking became louder.

Vern finally decided to leave and release Cedric from his misery. Doing so would give him some insight alignment for embodying instability before stability, after all. But then, Ambrose added, "Hey, newbie, you might want to do something about your sword and gun."

Vern glanced at him with a side-eye, "What do you mean?"

"Heh, you're not exactly sneaky hauling that thing around. It doesn't look…elegant, you know." he said, stroking his own cane to make a point, "You should invest in an artifact that can turn your weapons' forms into something more gentlemanly."

After having ridden the tram and carriages with Duality strapped to his back, Vern was more than aware of this. Feeling called out, he countered, "But your family is the one who made it."

Ambrose opened his mouth to say something, but then clicked his tongue as if he hadn't considered that. Still, Vern sighed after a bit, "Anyways, do you have any recommendations on how to handle this?"

Ambrose was deep in thought when his sister spoke, "We can help you out with that. Tell De Flanc I allowed you to grab one of the second-shade illusion artifacts from the resource allocation hall. Pick one out whose side-effects don't run counter to your perspective and strengths."

That was an entirely unexpected windfall, and Vern wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"That's greatly appreciated. Thank you very much. I'll reach out if I have anything to report." Vern wanted to express his gratitude better, but Cedric had begun screaming at the people above, and Vern didn't want his joke to start a commotion. With a flourish, he bowed and said, "Now, I should help out Cedric before he falls down the elevator's pit," as he made his exit.

Ambrose chuckled and turned to his sister, who remained quite calm at all this.

"What's got you so worked up," Vern asked the old scholar without letting his smile extend too wide.

"This garbage of a thing you fundamentalists made is what's getting me worked up," he rasped, kicking the metal frame another time for good measure.

Vern got in, made a show of slapping the gearbox, and used Stability Inducement before pulling the lever with a crank sound. The gate closed, and the whole contraption began to move without a problem.

Cedric looked at him as if he were some monster, "How did you…Bah! Stupid things," he declared and turned to his book without any more words.

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.

.

"Sis…why did you agree so readily?" Ambrose asked, his carefree smile gone, "That's not like you. He might not be working directly under you, but I've never seen you get convinced so quickly."

After a while, she sighed, "It's Akira. He actually meant to ask Vern to look into this after Vern had some time to relax, but given that Vern asked for it himself, I expedited the process. Akira thinks Vern has a better chance at it than most of us."

Ambrose replied, "I don't know about that, sis. I know we're restricted in what we can do aboveboard because of our positions, but I am not sure if it's any less than what a solo observer could figure out all by himself. And a first-shade observer at that."

Antonia shook her head, "For a lot of matters, it's not about the strength, but perspective. I don't know why, but Akira thinks his perspective and situation lends him a better chance than us, so we'll let it play out for a bit and reassess the risk over time."

"I…see."