Mia's face paled, "Eldritch? So those 'adventures' that sold the amulets are actually the cultists?" She felt nauseated when she looked at the true form of the amulets. The fact that she couldn't detect the eldritch aura before was a concern. "How come the stall owner was selling these? Even if he isn't a mage, a quick glance with magic sight is something every merchant should do when inspecting items. Is he working with them?"

Emile shook his head and took out another amulet, "Take a look at this one with your magic sight."

Both Astar and Mia did and to their shock, the second amulet didn't emit the same aura or magical signature. In fact, the amulet didn't emit any magical energy and seemed to be just an inert jewellery. Mia put more mana into her eyes and chanted a reveal spell but to no avail, the amulet still looked mundane.

"There is a powerful glamour spell on put on these amulets, it okay that you can't detect it or dispel it. If it wasn't because I've had a lot of exposure to illusion magic, I wouldn't have given it a second thought either." Emile waved his hand over the amulet and it then shone with the same ominous glow as the first amulet.

Astar clenched his teeth, the fact that he missed this irked him greatly. When he was with The Hunt he was known for his perception and detection ability. He realised that he had become too complacent and vowed to improve his skills in the near future.

"And to answer your question Mia, yes it is most likely that it is the cultists that sold these. Which is a very bad sign."

Mia turned off her sight as she felt a headache coming, "What do they do?"

"They emit a faint mind magic that affects the user's mind and everyone in their vicinity. I'm not really sure but from what I can tell, it can alter people's memory and override the mind's ability to perceive things."

Astar asked, "What do you mean to perceive?"

"If I was the controller of this amulet and you were wearing it, I could trick your mind into not perceiving me. Essentially making me invisible to your senses."

Astar and Mia's jaws dropped at Emile's hypothesis, that the amulets could override a person's senses made them far more dangerous than they thought.

"Is there any way to stop it?" Astar was now very concerned that an unknown number of these amulets were spread throughout the city. If the cultists used this as an opportunity to gather and launch an attack, then the citizens of Bastion Hill were nothing more than sitting ducks. Worse was if they took control of the leadership then no one would know that the city had changed ownership.

"It isn't very difficult to block the amulet's influence if you are aware of it and have sufficiently strong mental strength. You two should be fine now that you know about it. The bigger problem is those who are already affected by it. For those, you have to be careful since eldritch magic latches on victims very strongly."

"If you are not careful when you remove it then the victim can fall into madness and have their mind broken. The best way to do that is either remove the source, kill the controller or seal away the amulet and let the influence on the victims slowly dissipate. Some light magic can remove it quicker but only a skilled healer can do it. The process is akin to removing a tumour."

Astar took out a communication device "I need to tell Vivian right now. They should only use verified items but since these amulets look mundane it might have slipped through. What are you smiling about, Emile?"

Emile had a cheeky smile on his face that Astar wanted to rip off, "I didn't realise that you were so close with the innkeeper."

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"What do you mean?" Astar frowned.

"That's your personal device, so for you to give her your number the two of you are closer than I thought."

"What the hell are you talking about?." Astar frowned not liking where this was going, and Mia also began to smile like Emile. "She is the granddaughter of my former mentor, so I thought it would be a good idea to keep in contact with her."

"Oh? So you have already moved to that stage as you have already met her family." Mia put her hand to her mouth in shock, "I heard that beastkin relationship move quickly but this must be some record."

Emile attacked him from the other side "Does your sister know about it, I know that she has been concerned about your relationships. The last time I spoke to her, she was complaining about the casualness of …" He would have said but a hand came up to block his mouth.

"Stop, don't you dare feed my sister any of your liars" Astar hissed at Emile. "She is already nagging me about finding a long-term partner."

Mia giggled on the side, "Hehehe, I didn't realise that Astar was scared of his sister. Well, at least I know where to go when I have something to complain about you."

Astar scowled at her but knew that he had no comeback. To change the topic he looked at his watch and said "Listen we have already been delayed enough, and we need to get a move on if we are to see all the orphanages. We will discuss the amulets tonight once we have more information." And with that, he left the alley and headed towards the nearest orphanage. Still giggling both Emile and Mia followed him.

It only took another half an hour before they came near a large two-story building with a metal fence around it. The sign over the main gate read "Welcome to Little Adventures' Home, home for children of all races."

They stood at the end of the street eating some street, observing the entrance. Astar gave them a quick overview, "According to the intel, this is a home for orphans whose parents passed away in during adventure duties. If the children don't have any relatives or guardians to take care of them, the adventure guild will offer them a home."

"It is one of the benefits they offer and a reason that many parents don't retire when they have children. The assurance that their children will be taken care of, lifts a big weight on their shoulders. The orphanage offers free education and training, and its staff are all retired adventures."

He took a piece of paper from his cloak, "So going over the plan again. This paper is a recommendation from The Hermits Home. It will allow us inside the door, and to talk to the staff. We will say that we are adventures whose former colleague passed away a while ago."

"Both Emile and I have official guild badges, so that is not a problem. We say that our old friend left the republic and we didn't know they had passed away since we were on a long expedition to the Lost Continent. We will say a fake name and describe the boy, if he isn't there we will move on."

The other two nodded and followed him as he walked towards the orphanage. When they reached the gate, a guard sitting inside a guard post called them over. "Greetings gentlemen and lady, I don't recognise you. May I ask your purpose for coming here?"

Astar walked forward bringing out his adventure badge and the recommendation, "Good morning, we are adventures from the Republic of Acadia and we are here to check on the son of a former party member."

The guard inspected the badge, "Oh, can you please elaborate?"

"Yes, one of our former party members semi-retired a few years ago due to a severe injury and decided to settle down to take care of their children. Their partner was born in Bastion Hill, so they decided to live here. However, they tragically passed away about a year and as far as we know their children were left orphaned."

"If your friend passed away a year ago, why did you only come now." The guard didn't seem to buy their story, "The Republic isn't that far away and if they are your companion then you should have come here a long time ago."

Astar's face displayed great pain and his eyes were filled with sadness, "That is what should have happened, but unfortunately a week before they passed we left on an expedition to the Lost Continent. You know how difficult it is to communicate with the outside world when you are deep in the Lost Continent."

The guard's expression softened "I do and I'm sorry for your loss." He looked over the recommendation from the Hermit's Home, "I'm also sorry for doubting your integrity, I can see that the Hermit's Home has vouched for your honour."

He took out a communication device and sent a message, "I've called the director of the orphanage, she will be here in a few minutes."

They expressed their gratitude and waited patiently. About ten minutes later, a woman wearing the attire of a priestess emerged and welcomed them with a warm smile. Despite her friendly demeanour, they couldn't help but notice a red amulet around her neck that appeared all too familiar.