Keynes sat in Wagner’s surface garden, the only place untouched by the troopers, with a magnificent view of the lake and faraway skyscrapers of Geneva’s business district.

His mother sat on the other chair, watching him attentively.

“I appreciate it, mom. Your soothing helps a lot.”

“It’d make a better job if you talked to me about the things that bother you, Key.”

Keynes glanced at her from a sheet of paper. He wrote down his goals for the next few months.

“I worry about Fen,” he said. It was a semi-truth. He worried about her but at the same time, he’d given her the tools to grow stronger. She’d promised him to at least max out two attributes and level up before she attempted to break Tulli free. That wasn't all, he’d also had a word with Esopp after the ritual and the Level 7 had agreed to find out about the location where Tulli was held. It looked like Freeman was so paranoid that he kept knowledge from his closest allies and advisors now. In the case of Esopp it kind of made sense though. He left the World Government, although not officially.

“She is a strong girl,” his mother said.

Keynes nodded. Yes, Fen was strong, but also stubborn and volatile like a flammable in a burning house.

She’ll be fine.

His true source of distress was the vision, especially the second one and the manner it’d manifested itself. Whatever Chaos was, it just barged in and took Keynes’s mind further down the stream of time. Unless that wasn’t the future it showed him but a twisted desire of Chaos. Was this even possible? Turning an entire planet into a block of ice at a snap of fingers? Or a tree that reached beyond worlds … what kind of a creature it was? And then, that dying sun. The power to kill a star sounded… unreal.

Whatever it’d been, it left Keynes uneasy.

Then Keynes’s mind wrapped itself around the Shaper’s vision. Was it true or not? Either answer was terrifying in its own way.

What he’d seen when he’d looked up… He wished that Shaper lied and the vision was fake.

Eh.

Keynes threw the troublesome thoughts out of his head thanks to his mother’s soothing. A palm-sized glyph of mana rested on the table, next to a pitcher of citrus juice and two glasses. The glyph boosted mana regeneration by 25%. It sounded a lot because mana regeneration at Level 1 was a mere 4.2 per hour. The glyph added 1 point per hour. But as they spoke, Keynes’s father was working with new materials brought from the rifts on more efficient glyphs. From what Keynes heard, the next glyph of mana would provide whooping 6 points per hour. The 600% increase was massive. It showed how wide a divide between ordinary and rift materials was.

Pucci, one of Wagner’s chief researchers, said that having runes incorporated into the glyph could push it even higher but it’d require mana to keep the runes working.

And they were speaking only about Level 1 materials. Level 2 stuff was too expensive and scarce for trial and error at this moment but they had high hopes.

“Keynes?” his mother’s voice brought his drifting attention back to her.

“I’m alright. Yes, Fen is strong and she will be fine,” he said a little off-handedly, then his eyes fell on the sheet.

* Visit the White Mask assassin’s safe houses.

This was the first thing he wanted to do. The White Masks were still on his mind. Maybe he was naïve in thinking he could fight them but he’d seen firsthand what they were capable of.

And recently, they roused the city to rise against the World Government. Their ideology quickly spread beyond Geneva and now, it started to morph and twist. It was no longer only the World Government; now the bad guys were also the Old Blood and other rich families.

In other words, common people had enough of being Level 1s. Keynes understood that and shared their sentiment but they needed a structure to do so, not anarchy.

Rugman managed to extract more than 90% of his troopers from Geneva. Those who stayed were allegedly securing the government’s assets. Riots swept through the streets of Geneva on a daily basis.

“I am glad that Mr Zimmermann offered your father a full-time job,” his mother said in an attempt at restarting a conversation.

“Have you considered taking him to a specialist?”

“Keynes,” his mother said with indignation but Keynes didn’t back off. His father had always been a bit of a hermit but after Keynes’s kidnapping, he built a wall around himself. “This is your father you are talking about.”

“He’s changed.”

“So have you. Did I tell you to see a specialist?”

No, but I may need one.

He shook his head, not wishing to pursue the topic.

***

Later that day, he went to ask Kaito Ren for help only to find that he was gone. Christopher Wolf was gone too. At first, Keynes thought that they ran an errand for Wagner who was busy setting up their new company, but after running into Tyr, he learned the hard truth. Kaito Ren was upset about Keynes’s decision to let Daiyu Fen go alone to save Tulli but didn’t want to face him about it.

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“They went after her?” Keynes asked Tyr.

“No.” Tyr shook his head. “They have their own matters to attend to.”

“What do you mean? Where are they?”

“They haven’t told me.”

With that, Tyr was gone too. Keynes didn’t dwell on it, forcing his mind to stay clear. He didn’t need Kaito Ren for what he planned, the red-haired man would add a way out for Keynes but without him it wasn’t the end of the world.

Keynes left a note for his family and Wagner and ordered a taxi under a fake name. The prices were high but it was a miracle that taxis even worked during the uprising. Though the driver refused to take Keynes into some parts of the city.

It didn’t matter, four out of five addresses in the White Mask assassin’s book were in safe zones. The safe houses turned out to be ordinary flats and were empty. Even furniture was gone. Keynes and Alice checked every nook and cranny but to no avail.

He returned to Wagner’s estate by evening, finding—to his surprise—Vivena waiting for him.

“Where have you been?” she asked.

“I don’t think I have to tell you where I am going,” he replied, taken aback by her question.

“You’re the most wanted man in the world and Geneva isn’t the safest place right now.”

Keynes opened his mouth but nothing came out. Something in his chest moved and he didn’t like it because he was sure, his understanding of her motives was different from hers. He didn’t need or want hope.

“Not even a word?”

“I don’t know what to say, really.”

That surprised her and she toned down.

“Just don’t go out there alone, okay?”

Keynes sighed.

“I can’t do that.”

He turned and went inside the building. Vivena caught up with him and they walked for a while in silence until she spoke up, although awkwardly.

“I was worried about you.”

Keynes almost missed a step. He didn’t see a reason for her to worry about him unless…

“Or were you worried about me stumbling upon a rift and causing the next outbreak?”

He didn’t mean it to sound rough and spiteful but the words were true. What hurt was that Vivena didn’t deny them. It ended their conversation, Keynes went to his room, leaving Vivena with a very confused expression. She clearly didn’t have any idea how Keynes felt about her.

The next day, he got up early and sneaked out of the house. This time Keynes didn’t get a taxi. He needed to train and running would do some good for him.

A few hours and many inventive curses later, Keynes reached the district where the assassin’s last safe house was.

It was an apartment building in the shape of a pyramid. It had many large balconies with lush greenery. It was a high-end location fit for wealthy businessmen, not an assassin.

Unless, the assassin was a wealthy businessman himself, Keynes thought.

He drew closer. The apartment building was fenced by a high steel fence with a guard posted at the gate. The guard perked up and stopped Keynes from crossing the gate.

“It is private property,” the guard said. “You need proof of living here to enter.”

“What kind of proof?”

The question made the guard suspicious but it was too late to take it back.

“If you lived here, you would know,” the guard moved his hand to the side, where he kept his stunner. “Just go back wherever you came from. Or I’d have to call the police.”

“A friend of mine asked me to visit his apartment—”

“You still need proof of living,” the guard interrupted him.

Keynes turned and walked away, keeping an eye on the fence. There had to be another entrance or an emergency exit. It was required by law.

He was right. The exit was on the other side of the apartment building. It was locked but unsupervised. For Keynes nothing was truly locked anymore. He opened it then rushed to the nearest building’s emergency exit. Going through the main entrance was out of the question. If there were other guards asking for proof of living, it’d put him in a very bad spot.

The building itself was a labyrinth but Keynes’s memory trivialised its complexity. With a memorised plan of the building, he easily found the apartment he was looking for.

He unlocked the door, then pushed it slightly.

No one is inside, Alice said, startling him.

“Alice,” Keynes snapped then added in his mind. Don’t do that. You scared the crap out of me.

Sorry, she replied not sounding apologetic.

The apartment was fully furnished, spacious, well-lit by the natural light and had a balcony that looked like a garden. Keynes wondered if any of the plants and trees there came from Wagner.

He doubted it.

Wagner mostly did focus gardening and this would require a natural or standard version.

To Keynes’s disappointment, the apartment had no secrets. It was just a beautiful living space, nothing else.

Master! Someone’s coming!

Keynes heard the click of a key and panically started looking for a place to hide. Having no idea what to do, he hid behind a thick curtain.

That is a stupid place to hide, Alice said.

Be quiet, Keynes scolded her.

People entered the living room, their conversation focused on the current situation in the city. Keynes started wondering if he didn’t mess up the address until one of them mentioned the dead assassin.

“Do you still believe that Karim lives?” a man asked.

“Yes, he was one of the strongest White Masks. The government lies about his death,” a woman replied.

“Then where is he?”

“I… don’t know.”

There was a moment of uneasy silence.

Observe them, Alice. If they notice me, tell me immediately.

Alice did as Keynes ordered her but he could sense her disgruntlement. He didn’t have time for her temper right now.

“Do you think they will give us a chance?”

“To train in rifts and level up?”

“Yes. The rumour has it that they added another rift to the White Hall.”

“Another one?”

“It’s just a rumour but if it is the truth… we may have a shot at creating a true army.”

Keynes raked his memory for any hints of the White Hall in the assassin’s notebook. He found none. Also, what did he mean by ‘added another rift’?

Once again silence descended and Keynes wished to see what was going on in the room. He hated being blind. It made him feel vulnerable.

A phone rang, Keynes got a bad feeling that his presence inside the building had been discovered.

Alice, be on alert!

Yes, master.

The woman answered the phone and after a few ‘oh’s and ‘I understand’ the conversation clearly ended as she said in a shaky voice.

“It was her. It was Persephone. She wants us at the White Hall!”

“Us?”

“Yes,” the woman said, her voice squeaky from excitement. “And she wants us now!”

Behind the curtain, Keynes smiled. That was too easy.