Chapter 038

Alvin walked into the study, with the timid Evan right behind him. He spotted the man who he had fought with earlier sitting in the central chair.

He gave a sharp look at Evan, who shrunk behind Alvin.

"You want to talk. Now is the time for that" said Alvin.

The man gave a creepy smile looking at Evan and said, "Your father knew he couldn't hide from us forever. So he hid that thing. And to our surprise when we interrogated him, he kept it a secret even from himself. That can only mean one thing. There is another Secret Supplicant helping him"

"At first, we were looking for traitors in our midst. There are very few of us, and you see, and the ingredients for the Secret Supplicant are almost exclusively in the hands of the Aurora Order. And no one would willingly enter this Pathway to spy on us, since they can never reach Sequence 7 safely, and also that Secret Supplicants are very likely to lose control by unearthing a secret they shouldn't have"

"Then, we realized that we were looking at it all wrong" said the man looking intently at Evans "It is also possible for the child of someone who and taken multiple Secret Supplicant potions, like your father, to also become one. And since he was born into this Sequence as long as he doesn't go out of his way to court death, he can keep himself in control"

Evan stayed silent.

"Of course, this is all just theory. We can easily confirm this, but we don't want to. Hence, I came by to give you an ultimatum" said the man, getting up.

"Two weeks. That's all the time you and your father have. Either we have that thing, or else" said the man.

Evan gulped, but then timidly said, "I need some more time"

"Too bad you don't have it" said the man, as he walked out of the room, and went outside.

Alvin looked on, as he went outside, blended into some shadows outside the house, and vanished.

"Well then. It seems like there is more to your story than you initially said" Alvin said facing Evan.

Evan had weakly collapsed onto the couch, looking pale and weak. Hearing Alvin, he turned around, gave a weak smile, and said, "You probably have figured it out by now Mr Hunt. Yes, my father worked for the Aurora Order. He did pass some of the powers that the Order gave to me somehow. And the main reason he fled to Backlund is that the Order turned on him, because of some important item that he stole"

"What is the item? And where is it? And how did you evade detection until now?" asked Alvin.

"My father had secretly made many secret identities for us. Some of them were known to the Order, others like this one were not. I don't know what the item is, just that it is very important" said Evan.

"Where is it? And do you plan on returning it?" asked Alvin.

"That is the problem. They think my father stole it. But actually he lost it. They probably think that it's because of a powerfully kept secret that he did not give them the information. But truth be told he has no idea. He fled because he knew that the Order would not believe him, and would not care and instead take it out on him" said Evan.

Alvin looked at Evan silently, before nodding. "Well then, what are you going to do now?" he asked Evan.

"I don't know" was the weak reply.

"Well, I can't help you any further kid. There are stronger people in the Order who I am no match . And I already said I would keep this a secret" said Alvin.

"I understand" said Evan.

Alvin waved, and left Evan and strode out of the house. While he felt bad for Evan, he was only a Sequence 9, and helpless against the behemoth Arora Order which had demigods in Backlund.

"Maybe I can use the Red Castle and wrote a note to Soest, and get the official Beyonders involved. Maybe they can do something" thought Alvin, deciding to try that out later.

He then went back to the bar.

"Sir, these just came for you" said Frank as he handed two letters to Alvin. Alvin took one of the letters, which had no writing, save for a small symbol which he recognised from the Nighthawk badge given to him by Gordon.

He opened it, and sure enough, it was a letter from Gordon.

Gordon congratulated him for the completed mission in the Seven Rings Carnival, and asked him to meet him in the Saint Samuel Cathedral in the afternoon, so that they could discuss his reward.

Alvin then took the second letter, which was addressed to some faraway village. Seeing the address, Alvin recognised it as the fake address he was using to communicate with some of his former noble friends, like Viscount Glaint.

The address was purposefully made unclear, and the post office would keep letters like that separated, and return them back to the sender. He had a person there that could pluck the letters from there and deliver them to him.

He would then wait some time which he thought was appropriate, date a letter for a few days prior, and send the letter directly to the person, and have him stamp a few official looking seals to complete the act, and then deliver it to the recipient through the normal channels.

Using this system, he could safely exchange letters without actually revealing his location. And generally no one would go to the post office and thus uncover the scam he had in place.

And while there was the chance that his inside man at the post office would be compromised, the delivery of the letter from him to Alvin was down in a round about way, which minimised chances of exposure.

Alvin tore open the envelope, and started reading.