CHAPTER 61: CANDLE LIGHTS AND COBBLESTONE PATHS

Hermes looked up at the man. With a serious expression, he decided to ask another question that was plaguing his mind. "Such a prominent member has been condemned by the church. How come the Lysange family hasn't given a statement to the public yet? Shouldn't there be a lot of outrage regarding this case?"

It honestly baffled him. How can someone who belongs in one of the 13 grand noble families be persecuted this badly without anyone batting an eye?

The man, code named Lucky, casually sipped from his drink. "There is apparently a lot of infighting within the family. The Lysange family's spokesperson promised that they would give out a statement to the rest of the nobles across the empire, but never gave a definitive date. This is all public information, so I won't charge you for it."

'Infighting? Why?...' Hermes nodded. "I see... Is there anything else you have to disclose to me?"

The man took another sip of his beer. "There is one more piece of information, yes. Elizabeth Lysange was spotted a few days prior to the church condemning her of heresy at the Valencourt house. It was an undisclosed visit."

Hermes' eyes widened. 'The Valencourt house... What a coincidence... I have contacts with them now....'

Hermes tilted his neck upward and gazed at the man sitting opposite of him with a serious expression. "I would like to hire you for a covert mission."

The man placed his beer cup down and crossed his arms. "Tell me what it is, and Ill tell you if we can accomplish it or not."

Hermes nodded. "No problem. I want you to investigate the Lysange family. Anything regarding their infighting or discourse regarding Elizabeth's fate will be accepted. This mission needs to be completed in the coming four days."

The man pondered for a bit before glancing at his colleagues at the table across from him. After nodding to each other, the man forwarded his price.

"2,000,000 Sanctum. We request a 1,000,000 Sanctum upfront payment. The rest can be paid after we provide the information you are requesting."

Hermes stood up and smiled. He then reached out for a handshake, which Lucky happily obliged. "I accept that amount. I would like to receive daily reports. I will come to this place every day for the next four days."

The man nodded. "That will not be an issue. You can come by here at any time to request information. Just know that the code changes every day." He quickly told him tomorrow's code and allowed Hermes some time to memorize it.

After a minute, the two parties came to an agreement. Hermes swiftly scanned his badge once more, authorizing a payment of one million sanctum. After bowing courteously to them, he turned around and walked out of the decrepit storage room.

The man named Lucky, seeing Hermes already left, sat back down in his seat and placed his legs on the table. His colleague stood up and walked up to him.

"Boss... Are you sure about this mission? It's extremely dangerous. The Lysange family has a ton of Guardians stationed around the clock, protecting all of their properties."

He smiled. "Henry, if we want to expand our business, we have to take risks. Without risk, there can be no business."

"But..."

"Don't worry, I will be conducting this one alone. Besides, we can always sell his information to the Lysange family. I am sure they will want to know who is snooping around their private family matters. We will be making doe from both sides at the same time."

...

Hermes walked out from the hall designated for staff members, and onto the familiar mercenary pub, which was still vividly active with customers ordering drinks. The old man who had allowed him into the back of the bar was still standing behind the counter, casually wiping away a beer glass.

Hermes casually nodded in his direction and walked back to the reception desk. By now, he had realized that although he had not a lot of goals to achieve with carrying money around him; it was still important to have some spare coins in his pockets. After all, not every business he will have a badge reader similar to the one Shadow's Hand used for their transactions.

Walking up to the reception desk, he was greeted by the vibrant smile of the worker he had spoken to earlier. She greeted him casually.

"Mr. Hermes, how can I help you again?"

He smiled back at her. "I would like to take out about 10,000 Sanctum from my account."

She nodded. "No problem, sir. In what denominations would you like them in?"

"Royales, please." Each Royale was worth roughly 100 Sanctum coins.

After quickly completing his transaction, and checking if his Royales added up to a hundred, which they did, he swiftly put them in his pocket and walked out of the Mercenary Guild.

Looking up at the sky, the sun had begun to set, casting a crimson hue across the stone spires. With the vibrant light being emitted from the fragrant candles lining the street, a radiant atmosphere was made that calmed his nerves significantly.

He stood silently on the cobblestone paths, admiring the enigmatic view as civilians continued to flow past him in both directions. He began to ponder about what he should do next. Although he had obtained the information he wanted, there were still a lot of mysteries to solve.

For one, he had to understand what Elizabeth's trial even was. He had already come to the conclusion that he was back in time to some kind of historical projection of the Marcia Empire, 17,400 years ago. But what confused him was why? What exactly was so important about this timeline? Why did the System or the Will of the Universe chose this as the location for Elizabeth's Stage 1 Ascension mission?

The second thing that confused him immensely was why she had failed the test so miserably. After spending more than a week with her studying, he had realized how much of a genius she was. Her knowledge of mysticism, history, politics, and economic were way above what someone her age should know. And with the fact that during this trial, she had kept her noble identity, allowing her access to numerous resources, she should have had a fairly easy time completing said mission.

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He decided it was best to ponder about such things at a later time. In fact, he could probably get answers to both if he could figure out a way to save her from being executed. There were currently more pressing matters at hand, like repairing his gunblade. He swiftly unsheathed it from his back and began to stare at its intricate grooves, all completely fitted with newly formed cracks.

Hermes frowned. He had expected such an outcome. After he had utilized it in a very reckless manner against the Mutant Devil Wolf, he knew that the damage would not just happen to his own body, but to the weapon as well. After firing off that shot inside the beast's gaping mouth, he had done so without using his usual technique, causing the explosive shell to rebound on his own arm as well as the weapon itself.

Luckily for him, he now had enough money to repair it, and he knew the best place to do it as well. During his conversation with Lance at the bar, he had already asked him for directions to a reliable blacksmith.

Hermes looked past the dazzling cobblestone paths and skylines and began to focus on a simple street sign that read 'North Valorous Street.' He began to walk the opposite way, as a nearby intersection came into focus. A tram trekked along its path, carrying with it about a hundred or so civilians, all fitted in work clothes. He could tell from their exhausted expressions that they were all coming back from their day jobs.

The tram slowed down to a halt at its designated station, as droves of workers began to unload themselves off of it. Hermes waited his turn before stepping into the vehicle. He swiftly scanned his badge across a machine to pay for the ride and took a seat at the front.

He began to stare out of his window in boredom. A robotic voice blared out for all the passengers to hear.

"Next station, East Rochefort Avenue. The tram will begin moving shortly."

Suddenly, Hermes felt the presence of someone trying to sit in the seat next to him. He turned to face him. It was a man roughly in his 70s, draped in a black cotton frock coat and a matching vest and trousers underneath. The man exuded an air of timeless elegance, accentuated by the smell of his cologne. Atop his head perched a black top hat, which only amplified Hermes' perception of him as a remarkably wise person.

The old man sat down comfortably, mounting his trusty wooden cane between his legs, upright. He stroked his luscious white beard slowly and smiled in Hermes' direction.

"Young man, I hope I am not bothering you."

Hermes shook his head. "Of course not. Feel free to sit wherever you like."

The man nodded. "Thank you. Judging by your attire, are you a mercenary?"

"Yes, I am. I just got back from outside the city, actually."

The old man smiled. "I see. It's good to be young and active. Just be careful out there."

Hermes pushed his glasses up and nodded. "I will keep your words in mind."

The old man chuckled. "It's honestly really surprising. You are a Gold-rank mercenary at such a young age. I almost thought you were one of my students at first."

Hermes rubbed the back of his neck out of embarrassment. "Students?"

"Indeed, I am what some may call a historian. You reminded me of one of my dear students. It was fairly surprising. You strike me as the scholarly type, not a mercenary."

Hermes began to remember his own college days as a graduate student under the direct supervision of one of his professors. His research on black holes for his master's thesis was heavily scrutinized each time. Reminiscing about the past, his lips curled up into a warm smile.

"I guess you could say that appearances can be deceiving."

The old man's grayish black eyes glistened. He began to laugh. "Haha, you really are the scholarly type..."

Their conversation carried on about random subjects until Hermes reached his stop. He slowly bowed to the man before disembarking from the tram. The old man stared out of his window, watching the figure of the young man with an exotic blade strapped to his back merge with the wave of pedestrians on the sidewalk before disappearing from view. His smile softened as the gray tint in his eyes twinkled resplendently, as if stars littered the vastness of his irises.

Hermes walked casually on the candle-lit sidewalk, heading toward the address he remembered Lance mentioning. He suddenly remembered something and facepalmed himself.

"Damn it! I forgot to ask what that old gentleman's name was... Oh well..." Hermes realized that there was probably no point in knowing it, anyway...

After taking a few turns across the street, he came across a door sign fitted with a symbol etched onto the wood. It was a symbol of a hammer and sickle crossed against each other.

Hermes laughed to himself. 'I guess the meaning behind it has been forgotten.' He casually strolled to the door and twisted the doorknob open. The sound of a bell jingled, signaling to the receptionist that a customer had arrived.

Hermes stepped inside the store, as weapons of all kinds were laid out for display on the walls. Unlike the forge, he entered back in Sanctuary City, this one held some separation between the lounge area and the workstation. This allowed for the heat from the ovens to not reach the reception desk. Hermes stared at the counter as a man in his forties wearing a leather apron and simple fabrics underneath greeted him.

"Hello, sir! Can I help you with anything?"

Hermes pulled out his gunblade. "I am here for a repair job. Is it possible?" The young man grabbed his chin and began to scrutinize the enigmatic weapon. Seeing the numerous scars across its metal, he frowned. "This has been poorly maintained..."

Hermes tried his best to hide his embarrassment. He had to agree with the man's assessment. Although Hermes had used it in a very reckless manner, a lot of the damage could probably have been mitigated if he knew how to maintain it properly. His training was still too inadequate and his experience, although substantial for someone who hadn't seen combat until a month or so ago, was still very inconsequential. If he wanted to be a better gunblade user, he needed to learn not just how to wield it, but how to take care of it.

"You are right. I am still learning how to wield it."

The man nodded while staring at the gunblade. "Yeah, I have never seen a weapon like this one before, but I can tell from the damage that a majority of it was self-inflicted."

"Yes, this weapon has a gun mechanism, as you can see. It can channel the explosive power of its shells into its sword swings." He began to point at the grooves across the blade. "While I was engaged in a battle with a mutant, I had to fire off this mechanism without the proper technique, causing the damage."

The man crossed his arms. "Alright, you can leave it here. I won't be able to fix it until I understand how it works. Luckily, it seems the damage is only on the blade itself, and not on the gun mechanism. It would have taken way longer to fix if that wasn't the case."

Hermes smiled. "Great. When can I see it back?"

"It won't take that long. Ill be creating a mold for the new blade in just a bit. It should be ready by tomorrow. Though, I can see that this is an Ecliptic-tier Stellar Artifact, so the materials will cost a lot. Is that fine?"

"No problem, state a price."

The man looked at the blade closely. "If we calculate the material and labor costs, I would price this repair job at 145,000 Sanctum. Is that alright with you?"

Hermes nodded. He scanned his badge across the machine and handed off his weapon for repairs. He also asked him to craft him a bunch more ammunition, since his earlier fights cost him all his shells. Luckily for him, he still had one gunblade shell remaining, allowing the craftsman to have an example of what to make.

He had expected to need to use it during the battle against the Xulu sorcerer, but who could have expected that he would simply succumb to the effects of a nightmare spell and lose his sanity on the spot with no way to fight back?

Just remembering that fight sent chills down his spine. Although he had already sparred against Ming Xue, a high level Celestial, this was the first time he had actually faced off against one that was a complete enemy out to kill him. He had fully understood just how powerful the higher stages truly were. This, however, didn't scare him; quite the opposite. It merely invigorated his motivation to get stronger even further.

After saying goodbye to the craftsman, Hermes stepped out of the smithy. He looked up at the sky; it had completely turned dark, with only the light of the candles near his feet and the swarm of vehicles overhead illuminating the street.

"Maybe I should call Lance to pick me up?" While he was considering this, another idea struck him. He had already considered this idea before, when he spoke with the Shadow's Hand agent, but he wasn't completely sure if he should do it. But after a bit of thinking, he decided it was his best option. Time was currently not on his side, so he needed to move quickly if he wanted to save Elizabeth.

"I guess it's finally time for me to meet up with them again..." He smiled and shook his head. "I really should have asked Eleanor for her address..."

End of Chapter