Inner Sanctum Underground | 2:23 PM | Third Day

Because the walls of the abbey weren't a flat surface, it took much less time for the repurposed golem to clamber and skitter up the side of the building than inside the tower. Within a minute, it'd made it to the roof, with Ran moving it around to check for good positions.

"The incantations aside, This thing is burning through eris faster than I expected lugging all this crap around," she said. "If we mess around for too long, it might not make it back in time."

Linos considered this. "Let's try to wrap it up quickly, then. Push comes to shove, I'd rather we have it on hand to scout out our final escape route, even if it means we overlook something."

Ran nodded. "Alright."

"While we're here," Kam spoke up, "I'd appreciate if we might take one last look at the exterior of the kitchen. I know we saw it on the recordings, but there's a small possibility that the angle might've led us to miss some sort of clue."

"Good idea," Seth said, with a nod. "That should only take a second anyway, right?"

Kam gave him a funny look for a moment, but then quickly glanced away, obviously trying to act like it hadn't happened. Something definitely seemed odd about her attitude since we'd returned from the underground, but I couldn't quite piece it together...

Linos glanced at Theo for a moment, probably uneasy about closing off further possibilities regarding how his son could be innocent, but nodded regardless. Thus, Ran began by pivoting the golem towards the eastern side of the roof. Soon enough, it came to the edge, whereupon she awkwardly tilted the lens to face downwards.

As expected, there didn't seem to be anything particularly surprising at first glance. There was the window, of course, blood still visible on the interior of the glass, though mercifully the angle was such that we couldn't see Bardiya's corpse. There was the broader eastern wall of the building, with the larger windows towards the dining wall off to the left, the table where we'd all been seated not too long ago just barely visible...

And finally, the surrounding grounds. Flowers lined the periphery of the building undisturbed, and beyond that was the grass, which are bore no sign of anyone having been present.

...or at least, so I thought until Ptolema spoke up.

"Hey, uh," she said. "Is there something on the flowers, there?"

Several of the others glanced to her curiously, while Ran steered the camera around, trying to identify what she meant. "Where?" she asked.

"Uh, just a little to the left, right under the windowsill..." The lens shifted as she gave the instructions. "Yeah-- Yeah! See it?"

I'm not always the most perceptive person in the world when it comes to visuals, so for a few moments, I still didn't pick up on what she was trying to indicate. But eventually, I saw it: amidst the blossoms, subtle against their already pinkish color and the distortion brought about by the radio-sensitivity of the camera, was a small blotch of blood. It extended to the wall, too, obscured by the shadows of the other flora.

"Huuuuh," Fang said, drawing out the sound. "That's funny."

"Sharp eyes, Ema!" Seth said, looking pleased. "So the window really was open after all. Someone must've been pulling him through!"

"Just because the window was open doesn't prove anything, Mekhian," Ezekiel said, frowning. "Theodoros could have easily simply dropped a little blood down there to corroborate his story."

"You're both getting ahead of yourself," Kamrusepa declared. "Don't you recall what we learned from the recording? There was no one out there. The window never opened at all."

"M-Maybe somebody messed with it?" Ptolema suggested.

Kam looked to her. "That's not possible without leaving irremovable evidence, remember? The surveillance is part of this place, not the main system." She hesitated. "Besides, we don't know when that blood got there. Someone could have easily planted it after the fact."

"When would anybody have had a chance?" Seth asked. "And why would they?"

Kamrusepa looked like she was about to say something, but stopped herself, biting her tongue.

Because planting it there would help clear Theodoros's name, obviously,I thought. She can't say it without starting another fight, but if he were the accomplice, that would be the obvious move for Hamilcar to take in order to make sure he could still act freely.

But... We knew Theodoros couldn't have been the one to kill Sacnicte and Yantho. He couldn't be the accomplice. Could he?

Seth continued in the wake of her hesitance. "Like, we know Hamilcar had to be doing that shit with Durvasa while we were heading over to the research tower, and then after that, we went straight here and started keeping an eye on where people are. Even if we fucked up and somehow missed him - or, hell, anybody­, ­on the out there off-chance that Durvasa somehow faked his own death and is in on it - it's such a huge risk for such a tiny thing, why would anybody bother?" He gestured pointedly. "I'm starting to wonder if we can really trust the systems here. Like, everyone is acting like it's 100% certain they haven't been messed with. But do we really know that for sure?"

"You can't make one argument predicated on the security center reporting data reliably, and then instantly follow it up by an assertion that it isn't," Kam said stubbornly. "You're contradicting yourself."

"...it would be incredibly difficult for even a member of the council to interfere with the operations here," Linos stated, after a moment. "Much more so than what we know happened in the administrative core. It's built as a fail-safe and a check on the main system, and to never be modified. You'd have to physically tear down the walls."

Seth spoke sardonically. "You mean, like Anna's doing now?"

Linos made a flat look. "Obviously that wouldn't be possible under normal circumstances, master Ikkuret."

"Maybe it was... Something that wouldn't have been picked up by the sensors...?" Ptolema suggested.

"For the last time,Kam said sternly, we shouldn't be seriously entertaining any ideas of the supernatural."

"I didn't say a ghost!" Ptolema protested. "Just... Something! Maybe some kinda technology or somethin'!"

Theodoros seemed uneasy with the conversation, rubbing his arms together and looking towards the wall.

Linos seemed to pick up on this, clicking his tongue. "...we can't get sidetracked with this, right now," he said. "Clearly, whatever took place at the guest house was complicated, and we can't rule anything out completely. But the fact remains that the best plan is still to stay together and ensure our escape above all else. Again-- The truth can be established later."

Neither Kamrusepa nor Seth seemed particularly satisfied with this, the former crossing her arms and letting out a furtive hum. Even Theo seemed only to relax slightly.

"Miss Hoa-Trinh," Linos said, looking towards Ran. "Reposition us, please."

"...alright," she said, with a small nod.

The golem stirred again, pulling itself back away from the edge, and moving towards the northern rim of the roof. She brought the lens to face the distant silhouette of the headquarters, little more than a shadow on the horizon.

"Very good," Linos said. "Let's start by investigating Neferuaten's.... Well, the belltower, I mean to say." He looked towards me. "Now, Utsu, as I said--"

"It's alright," I said, my voice a little weak. "I'm... Alright. I'll take a look at it."

He stared at me with a puzzled expression for a moment, then nodded. "If you're sure. But please, don't feel obligated. If you feel the need to stop, please go ahead."

I nodded in turn, while Ezekiel made a patronizing snort off to the side.

The lens focused, bringing the structure into clear view. Even though Neferuaten's death hadn't been what was really on my mind, the suddenness of the sight did shake me a little. We saw the bell at an angle from the underside, her legs still and limp, her shoes - did I miss them when I was there? - having fallen to the stone below. Everything up to her chest was in plain view, including the wounds on her body, but her neck and face were obscured by the metal. With the lens, they could still be made out to an extent, but not as recognizably human features. Thank goodness.

Maybe it was my own experiences, but something about the shape and posture of a hanged body always provoked a stronger gut-level response in me than other corpses. It was something about how close they were to looking as though they were still standing, their backs straight and arms at their side. Like they were walking on the tips of their toes...

I shuddered. The fact that the chains were wrung around her entire body made it a little better, but not much.

I wished Neferuaten was still here. She'd know what to do in a situation like this. And what I should do, even if I couldn't tell her the real truth.

"Sorry sight," Seth spoke sadly.

"Indeed," Kamrusepa said. "The world will feel her loss. Entropic Thanatomancy was one of the greatest leaps forward for the discipline in the last several centuries, and even now she was engaged in promising research." She raised a finger to her mouth. "That we could've prevented this, if only we'd realized what was going on sooner..."

There was something odd in her tone as she said those words, too.

"Alright, Utsu," Linos said. "Do you notice anything different?"

"Don't stress yourself, Su!" Fang said, in what felt like a strange interjection of encouragement. (Though maybe I just wasn't used to hanging around positive people.)

"I... No, I don't think so," I responded, glancing at them briefly. "I didn't notice the shoes before, but everything else seems the same."

He nodded. "Alright, then. We can probably rule out any further tampering with the corpse, in that case." He scratched the side of his head. "I confess this situation might have me second-guessing everything more than is healthy. In any case-- What are everyone else's opinions? Anything strike you?"

"Those wounds are from she was hitting the side of the bell, right?" Seth asked, his brow furrowed. "The broken bones, the trauma to the skin..."

"That seems a fair assumption," Kam said, with a nod.

"It looked that way to me, too," I added, my voice quiet.

Fang hummed a few notes thoughtfully. "I'm not really an autopsy expert, so take it with a grain of salt? But... By the way the blood's settled, I'd say most of those wounds happened a few hours after her death? Like, three or four, to take a stab at it?"

"That's a peculiar amount of time to take to move a body," Kamrusepa remarked.

"Yeah," Fang said. "Hmmm. Hmmmmmmm..."

Seth looked towards them. "What are you thinking, Fang?"

"So, like," they said, "after somebody gets hung - uh, hanged, whatever - the legs kinda swell up, y'know? Livor mortis and everything." They bit their lip. "And the weird thing here is that it looks kinda like it's been hanging for longer than she really it should've been, relative to the idea that she died a few hours before she went up there."

"Hold on," Linos said, his brow furrowed. "What exactly are you trying to suggest?"

"Well," Fang went on, looking towards the ceiling. "When you think 'hanging', you don't really think 'murder' to begin with. So... Maybe she was already like that somewhere else, and the 'killer' just moved her, I guess."

"You mean her death was a suicide," Kamrusepa said, an eyebrow raised.

"Hey." Fang held up their hands. "I'm just spitballing here. Take it with a grain of salt."

"What reason would Grandmaster Amat have to want to commit suicide?" Kam asked skeptically, her eyes narrow. "From what little time we spent together, I could tell she had her troubles, but it's not as if her life was going poorly. And she seemed perfectly normal during dinner - even rather proud of herself for what had happened earlier in the night."

Linos looked thoughtful, holding his hands together. "Unlike Hamilcar, I knew Neferuaten fairly well-- I wouldn't exactly call us friends, but we spoke often even outside our business with the Order. To be completely truthful, she did often come across as something of a lonely person, but she also had a strong will and a sense of dedication second to none. I can't imagine her killing herself, especially not on the spur of the moment."

"Mm," I mumbled in assent, frowning. "It doesn't seem like her at all."

It really didn't. Obviously, when it came to things like this, you could never really tell what was going on in someone else's head; I knew that more than anyone. But Neferuaten was the type of person who sometimes woke up at six in the morning to spend a full two hours making a complicated breakfast for herself. And she had a subtle but energetic enthusiasm for nearly everything.

If anyone 'wasn't the type', it was her.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"Maybe not," Seth said. "But if my life has taught me anything, it's that shit can happen fast. I've had days where I'm on top of the world turn like milk left out during a heatwave and leave me wanting to jump off a bridge, that's for sure." He looked to Linos, also sparing a glance towards Fang. "Neferuaten did all that stuff to try and show you that Su's grandpa's project or whatever was still viable, right? What happened after all that?"

Linos looked hesitant. "Uh, well. We had a meeting about it, of course, but didn't reach any sort of grand decisions. We neither formally opted to pick the project back up, or remained completely committed to its abandonment. There was talk of having an organization-wide vote on the matter as well during our next general meeting, among other things..." He cleared his throat. "There was a degree of tension, I'll admit - we're all still somewhat emotionally loaded about the topic."

"But nothing serious," Ran said.

Linos nodded. "Nothing serious. She seemed a little put-off by our hesitance to embrace the success of the experiment wholesale, but nothing more."

"Um, sorry," I said, chiming in as picked up on something Linos appeared to be stepping carefully around "You said there was talk of having an organization-wide vote about it as well? So... You had a vote with just the six of you?"

Linos's eyes widened slightly for a moment, and he glanced to the side, coughing into his fist. "Mm, that's right. Neferuaten called a vote to make a public announcement regarding our success in achieving functionality with the Apega-- Er, █ █ █ █ █'s project. She said that it was a great discovery and there was no point in delaying, since our work is no longer a secret." He fidgeted slightly. "However, many of us felt that it was premature for such a thing. After all, there are millions of people across the Remaining World suffering from non-neural debilitating conditions and terminal illnesses today. If the public discovered we had a means to cure such conditions absolutely and without risk, it wouldn't be like we'd just put out another research paper. The demand would be unfathomable; greater than we could hope to meet here by a factor of thousands for years, even assuming the technology could be somehow replicable with further research."

"Wouldn't it be better to treat some folks than none at all?" Seth asked, craning his neck to look at him directly. "My dad always says that if it's within your power to save a life, you should."

Linos rubbed his brow. "You must know it's not that simple, master Ikkuret." He leaned to the side of his chair. "When people's lives are involved, they don't act rationally. Say we did announce that we had this technology, and that we could treat, I don't know... The highest realistic number would probably be a hundred or two a month, if we factor in setup and charging time. That's the easy part. But then we get to determining who those few hundred should be." He clasped his hands together. "We could judge priority by lottery or try and implement some sort of criteria based on urgency... But chances are, no matter what we did, we'd be condemning a lot of people to death via omission." He looked up at us. "Let me tell you from first-hand experience: There is nothing that drives people to madness like facing death, being told there's a way they could escape it, and having that escape denied to them. A lot of human beings, including the influential and powerful, will do anything to keep themselves alive. Anything."

"You mean, people would threaten you?" I asked. "Or try to storm the sanctuary?"

"I'm not trying to indicate a particular hypothetical, Utsu," Linos said. "I'm just saying that when there's that much, I don't know what you'd call it-- That much social pressure on a person or organization, that many desperate people who need something from them, it doesn't tend to end well for you. People will try to break down your walls with every tool conceived by man - legal, social, physical, you name it." He made an uncomfortable look, glancing to the side. "Trust me, it's happened before."

It wasn't like Linos was wrong in any of his assumptions; a lot of this was just a reiteration of the same concerns he'd discussed with Ran and I back in the research tower. But he was also obviously giving vague justifications to avoid saying the more selfish reasons the Order might have to conceal the technology. With that many visitors, all secrecy surrounding the sanctuary would disappear, meaning everything to do with the Order would be far more vulnerable to leaks, and probably greater legal scrutiny at that. With how their internal culture seemed to operate, it could mean the end of the entire organization.

"So Neferuaten's motion was defeated," Kamrusepa deduced, somewhat redundantly.

Linos nodded. "Unanimously. Honestly, I can't believe she even thought it would pass - she knows all of this just as well as the rest of us. She was probably trying to make some sort of point, since she was always more conservative about us becoming a public organization to begin with." He shook his head. "I know what you're probably thinking this might have something to do with her death, but that seems incredibly unlikely to me."

"Still, when was this?" Kam asked. "Before dinner? After dinner?"

"After dinner," Linos said. "At about ten. Hamilcar set a small meeting to discuss the day's revelations after the end of the conference, when the rest of you would be back in the guest house. After that, we split up for the night. I was down here with Neferuaten watching the bicentennial, but she left after the First Administrator's speech an hour or so in. I assumed she was going to bed. That was the last I saw of her..."

The room was silent for a moment. Kamrusepa looked up at the ceiling for a few moments, then clicked her tongue.

"Like I said," Fang said. "Grain of salt, you know?" They laughed awkwardly. "Feel like every time I think out loud, you guys go down some big rabbit hole about it!"

"...indeed," Linos said, blinking and rubbing her eyes. "Ultimately, without a proper autopsy, we won't be able to confirm Neferuaten's manner of death with certainty. So it would be better to just move on for the time being." He looked to Ran. "Miss Hoa-Trinh, let's start with an analysis of the bedrooms on this side of the building."

"Alright," she said. "This'll be a little rougher than last time. The 'temple' part of the building is kinda in the way, and the angle is worse for the windows."

"Just do what you can," he told her.

"Um," I said, letting go of Ran's hand, the image disappearing from my eyes. "Sorry to interrupt... But remind me. Almost all of the arcane lenses in this building were disabled, right?"

Kam eyed me curiously.

"I... believe so, yes," Linos said, after a moment's thought. "There might have been one or two at the periphery of the building--"

"No, that's not what I'm trying to get at," I said, shaking my head. "Rather, do we know when it happened, exactly? When they were all broken?"

Linos blinked, then held a finger to his mouth. "That's a good point, actually. I skimmed back a few hours before I woke up, and didn't find anything, but earlier in the night..." He hummed thoughtfully. "Why, were you thinking of looking for evidence of what might've happened to Neferuaten?"

"Yeah," I said. "I mean... If it's alright. It feels as though it's worth trying."

Linos looked up at me for a moment with an expression that was first thoughtful, but then shifted into gentleness. "No, it's a good thought. Go ahead, Utsu-- And thanks for the help."

Ran looked at me for a moment, too, a stiff sort of sadness in her eyes.

I was still attuned to the logic bridge from earlier, so I didn't have to move - I just hadn't wanted the distraction of trying to process two different sets of mental images being shoved into my brain at once. I pulled back up the interface of the logic bridge, navigating my way to the recordings.

I wasn't really certain why I was doing this. Obviously I was still upset, a dry, hollow feeling in my chest constantly pushing at me in the background. Maybe I was looking to reclaim some small sense of agency and purpose by imagining I could solve Neferuaten's murder. I'd figured out what was happening with Lilith and helped turn the situation around, so why not here, too?

But what did it matter? She was dead. The damage was done.

Regardless of this understanding, I persisted.

I checked the main building first. It was almost too perfect: All of the lenses, save for the one I'd noticed was still active in the conference room, shut down in swift sequence at midnight, the images going dark with no sign of why. One had to assume it'd been done using the Power. Interestingly, it looked as if whoever was responsible had used something physical to block their field of vision rather than breaking them outright, as rather than no data being present at all, there was instead darkness with subtle blotches visible.

I had to assume it was done this way to prevent the system from overtly picking up on the damage and sounding some sort of alert. Still, it raised the possibility that we could potentially restore the lenses to functionality. ...though, it might've been a little late for that.

It wasn't hard to see where Neferuaten had gone in the immediate aftermath of her conversation with Linos. Using the various perspectives, I followed her to the eastern staircase, then up the stairs to her room. After about 30 minutes, she left and briefly made her way down to the kitchen, leaving with... Some sort of packaged food? It was hard to tell with the lighting. After this, she returned to her room and remained there until the lens in the hall failed.

Well, shoot. That doesn't help.

Still, I wasn't out of options. Next, I decided to check all of the recordings elsewhere. I watched the feeds in the research tower, which only showed the central room, and so wasn't particularly useful - there was footage of Durvasa, Anna and Zeno entering a room on the tenth floor together, but not much else. Likewise, there wasn't really much to see around the abbey, though I did find the moment when Lilith and I brought our luggage over to the headquarters instead.

It was eerie, seeing myself in a scene I didn't participate in. My expression looked distant as I lugged my bags along the stonework.

I didn't want to get sidetracked, but seeing that, I couldn't help but feel a little curious. I diverged from my original objective and instead began to flick back earlier in the recording, looking for other instances where I might've appeared. There wasn't an arcane lens with a close view of the bathing area at the side of the abbey, and all I saw from skipping through the footage of the hallways was that I went briefly to my room slightly after seven and then left again a moment later.

But that was just the guest bioenclosure; there was a lot more to check here in the Order headquarters. I moved backwards in time, first deciding to take a look at the dining hall. We'd only stepped idly through it during Neferuaten's tour, but it was an impressive area - an oblong hall that attempted to cultivate an atmosphere that almost felt reminiscent of an old castle, with bare stone floors and a grand fireplace adjacent to an oversized oblong table, wrought of the darkest wood.

I skimmed to a random spot in the middle of the dinner. Almost everyone in the sanctuary was seated - all eleven members of our class, Mehit, and the six members of the council, with Hamilcar and Fang positioned at the far and rear end respectively; the first among equals and the guest of honor. (I can't imagine how much this must have pissed Kam off.) Other than Balthazar, the only two missing were Sacnicte and Yantho, presumably since this was a more formal affair and it wasn't thought appropriate for low-ranking staff to be present.

It seemed like we'd been dining on Mekhian food, with large platters assembled at various points on the table with a large selection of sauces, spices, and complexly prepared meat and vegetables - food from the State was generally eaten communally and in large portions, with people serving themselves as needed. Even when it came to fine dining, the dishes were generally small enough to be portioned out in this fashion. It was a very egalitarian approach, as one would expect from one of the world's only Paritist nations.

I'd hated it when I'd lived in Mekhi, but I'm anti-social and spoiled on expensive food, so that's neither here nor there.

It was hard to make out much conversation, since everyone was talking at once and the lens was positioned at the rear of the room. Skipping through, I only caught some snippets.

"Mm, this kik alicha is really good!" Ptolema called out to Hamilcar cheerfully. "The spices are so-- soo---"

"Thank you, miss Rheeds," Hamilcar replied. It surprised me to see that he was capable of eating conventionally, but sure enough, the metal fixtures around his head opened up to offer a window to a thin and obviously surgically-repaired mouth. it was a little eerie - when he spoke through his artificial mechanism, it didn't have to move at all.

"My great-grandma always says that it's so hard to get the balance of the flavor right! She's from Kem-Ahret, so she knows her stuff," she went on. "Who made it?"

"That would be Aruru," Hamilcar informed her. "She is responsible for most of our catering duties in the absence of our regular chef."

Ptolema instantly frowned. "You mean, this was made by a golem...? Huh."

I flicked back a little earlier.

"So," Kamrusepa said, speaking to Durvasa and Neferuaten with a sly smile on her face. "Now that we're all done with the public-facing part of this affair, what did you really think of my presentation?"

"Here we go," Seth said flatly.

"I do not make a habit of hiding my feelings in the name of diplomacy, miss Tuon," Durvasa said, lifting a fork to his mouth. "I agreed it was a promising concept held back by accessibility, and I meant it."

"I do think the design was perhaps a little overcomplicated," Neferuaten mused. "Rather than having an arcane trigger, it would be simpler to link it to blood pressure. And though you are a Chronomancer, Chronomancy seems like an indulgence for something so simple. Aetheromancy would be just as good in 9 out of every 10 solutions."

Kam seemed disappointed in the reply. "I wanted something that would function without fail, grandmaster."

"Mmhmm." Neferuaten took a sip of water. "Let me tell you something, Kam-- In medicine, all cures must be considered not just in isolation, but in the context of the world in which they are to be employed. Your concept depends upon someone carrying around an object like this 24 hours a day. Do you not think people might be hesitant to do that, considering it's so expensive?"

Through all of this, I kept looking to the 'me' seated at the table. She was sitting quietly, taking small and unenthusiastic bites out of her meal, looking like she was thinking about something deeply. Occasionally, Ran or someone else would make light conversation, and she'd respond mutedly, though not with obvious dejection or disquiet.

It really was strange, because I would have thought I'd have been devastated if I'd heard bad news from Samium, but did I really know for sure how exactly I'd react? How exactly I'd process it? Despite my breakdown a few minutes earlier, I'd grown decent enough at keeping negative feelings off my face most of the time. And it wasn't like I often viewed myself externally.

Viewing myself externally.Seeing myself like that brought on strange, uncomfortable feelings. It reminded me of when I was younger,

It didn't seem like I was going to find anything revelatory from the dinner, so I decided to go further back, switching to the lens overlooking the conference room - it would be interesting to view myself giving my presentation, and especially the meeting between myself and the conclave. If what Fang had told me was true, then maybe there would be things about the situation I'd understand that they wouldn't.

Maybe time really is looping somehow, and I really did remember. Maybe there's a way to redo this whole weekend.

Fantastical ideas aside, it would also be interesting to watch Hamilcar's reaction to everything. Maybe if I kept watching him, I could pick up on something.

...however, I quickly noticed that, during the time frame I was interested in, following the reconvening of the conclave at about 5:30... The lens was blocked again. It wasn't the case that the culprit had disabled it much sooner than the others - it was definitely active from eight in the evening onwards, - but for the latter part of the conference, there was nothing.

I went to the points of transition to find out what happened, and was surprised by what I discovered. Just before we all must have returned to the room, at 5:37, Durvasa openly levitated up to the ceiling to cover the lens in front of the rest of the council. Much later on, Neferuaten removed it, before looking to the rest of the council - the only people still left in the room other than Aruru - and following them out of the chamber.

I blinked.

So... They prevented a recording being made of the second half of the conclave on purpose?

Why?

I frowned to myself in thought, crossing my arms. That was definitely something I wanted to follow up on later, but it would have to wait. For the time being, I needed to get back to my original goal.

Fang had estimated that Neferuaten had died about 3-4 hours before the bell had started ringing and I'd found her. That put her time of death at about 1-2 AM. What I needed to do was search every record remaining from around that time for clues. Even if they didn't involve her directly, they could give some indication of what happened - for example, I could catch a glimpse of Hamilcar.

I caught up to the present in the recordings of the abbey and in the research tower. Starting to lose hope, I checked the arboretum, not expecting to find anything. There was nothing really in there, and it was only had two arcane lenses, one of which viewed the entrance to the tunnel we'd pass through, and the other of which pointed at an angle towards the Everblossom, but seemed to be one of the ones disabled by the culprit. However, I noticed an anomaly: It wasn't disabled as early as the others had been, remaining active until 1AM.

I raised an eyebrow. Curious, I skipped through both in a hurry, moving quickly past midnight...

...and, to my surprise, found what I was looking for.

At 12:51 PM, Neferuaten suddenly arrived through the gateway to the inner sanctum. Amidst the darkness, she walked slowly across the grass, seeming in no particular hurry, until she arrived at the seal which led out into the open water (well, at least, what had previously been open water) and the body of the Nittaimilaru.

She opened it, took out her scepter and cast a few incantations, and shut the heavy bronze door behind her.

And then... Before she returned, the transmission cut off.

I blinked again.

Wait... What?

I’d seen the gateway to the exterior area the first time I visited the Nittaimalaru, but hadn’t thought much of it; I’d assumed it for emergency maintenance if something went physically wrong with the project, or just a relic from when it had been originally constructed, before the water had been filled in.

So... Why would she be going out there, in the middle of the night, alone? Without anyone seeming to know about it?

I switched to the live transmission from the other lens, hoping to find some sort of clue Neferuaten might’ve left behind, but unfortunately, the angle made it almost incredibly useless, since she hadn’t taken the tunnel. I thought about turning to Ran and asking if she had time to have the golem look towards the arboretum bioenclosure. This could be important.

I turned to ask her--

And suddenly, everything went white.