The Witness

Sitting in the waiting room of a notary's office was a young man with a small, recently purchased notebook in which he was writing a list of chores.

The contents of the notebook were as follows.

Things to do during the spring.

Visit Russel and ask him about the stone. 

Go with Emily to the notary's office and sign the Sworn Brother contract. READY

Return to Loarre and see how to get my power back.

Find the strange flower in Emily's house.

Eat a taco.

- Well, everything in order and with one of the tasks already done, I would only have four more to do ... Mom would be proud of my organization. - Aren murmured.

The local people were intrigued by the appearance of that young man who looked like some kind of novelist or thinker recording deep and revealing themes in that notebook.

- As I supposed, I must watch my time ... I have to prioritize what is most important ...

Deleting and rewriting the list, it was updated as follows:

Things to do during the spring (1st Revision).

Eat a taco

Go with Emily to the notary and sign the Sworn Brother contract. READY

Visit Russel and ask him about the stone.

Go back to Loarre and see how to get my power back.

Find the strange flower in Emily's house.

- Perfect, everything is as it should be ... if I'm going to die soon, at least I'd like to do it with a full stomach.

Looking up, Aren noticed that he was being watched by the people around him, especially the women of different ages.

Coming out of an interior door, Roger and Emily along with others entered the room.

- It looks like everything is in order...well, I hope this can help you Emily. 

- Yes, thank you for everything Uncle Roger. - Emily said with an unusual happiness that she was trying to contain, but everyone noticed.

Roger smiled as if he were a father seeing his daughter happy.

- Well, now we only have to solve the most tedious part ... to present ourselves before the king and ask that you recover your inheritance by right.

- Yes," answered Emily, who was dressed in discreet clothes with a hat and glasses that hid her face.

"Really, who knew... Since he came to the house, he was afraid to even go out, but when this young man, Aren, came back, it was as if he had taken the courage to face reality... although I don't know what happened to him, I'm glad he's slowly recovering..."

Observing again the happy expression on his niece, the count thought again.

"Well, even if I don't know what the relationship between the two of them is; Emily has always been quite diligent and cautious in making decisions like these ... I don't think the boy is someone bad ... rather, now I am worried about him ... he is now under contract tied to the Gutierrez family and is in my daughter's sights."

Remembering the signing of that contract having already been signed by Emily and Aren; it was now Count Beltran's turn to sign as a witness to the pact between that young male and the Gutierrez house.

At the bottom of the contract the names were written.

Emilia Luna Rojas of Gutierrez

Arias Elrod D. Aren

Roger Mauricio Gutiérrez de Barrantes-Beltrán.

- It has been a long time since I saw that name ... people usually call me Count Beltran for having joined this family or Count Barrantes for the honorary position ... Now the name of this young man will also change ... - muttered Roger.

Within the contents of the contract mentioned the following:

The following will be the obligatory change of the name of the person who will become the title of JURIED BROTHER of the Marquisate Gutierrez. With full consent of all the parties and the witness, it is ruled that as of today 01/04/2096 the young man known as Arias Elrod D. Aren will bear the official name of Gutiérrez Arias Elrod D. Aren being in conformity with bearing the surname of the family of adoption and with the obligation of fulfilling all the requirements that the title entails.

That brief recollection over, Roger let out a tired little laugh.

"Ha ha ... seriously that was hard 'convincing' the bureaucrats ... Good thing I have some contacts to get this all expedited. Well, Emily's goal is done, everything was done as quickly as possible and discreetly ... ... I hope you both can pull through; you'll always have my support as long as I live."

Glancing over to where Emily should be, Roger noted that she was no longer at his side. This briefly startled the earl.

- Emily!!!

One of the men at his side told him where the young woman was.

Actually, the young woman was in the same reception room where everyone else was. Only the woman had gone to where Aren was; however, it wasn't just the two of them, but two other young women were there with them.

- Hey, who do you think you are, his wife?! - exclaimed one of the unknown women.

- I'm not his wife, I'm his sister! - replied Emily.

- Hey, your little brother's old enough to have a babysitter! Can't you see you're a pain in the ass!

- You insolent brat! Let's fix this then! - Emily exclaimed angrily.

- What ... is going on? - Roger wondered.

Looking closely, Count Beltran noticed the silhouette of the young man sitting in the middle of the fight.

Only a disinterested and tired face accompanied by a long sigh could be seen on Aren's face.

- S-Sir, this is... - said one of the men accompanying Roger.

- Yes... a cat fight... Hahh... wouldn't this be something discreet, Emily? - muttered Roger.

That day passed without major inconvenience and everyone set out to take a break for the next day which quickly passed.

Inside the Royal Palace, in the same room where the Mayoress of Luesia and the representative of the Valdelomar group had been received, was Princess Lisbeth together with both men from last time and her guardian, Bruno.

- Do you think the performance was too obvious? - Lisbeth asked while reading the autopsy reports of those two women who died in Luesia.

- ... No... Well, maybe yes... at least for us..." answered Marcus.

- Maybe I should have asked them more questions and behaved more ignorant ... well, what's done is done.

- Yes, my lady ... with them are two groups who have informed us of the existence of this clandestine organization. Besides, it seems that what we are looking for is connected with knowing whether or not this organization called Le Front exists or not. - commented the old man.

- Yes, on the other hand, what do you think about what they answered? - asked Lisbeth as she reviewed the reports.

- Does it talk about that boy, Aren? ... Well, they didn't seem to be lying. They both had no definite description of this guy. They only mentioned that he was quiet and had a serious, but serene face; he also had a strangely calm demeanor.

- Yes... And? - Lisbeth asked as if expecting another answer.

- The white-haired boy ... seemed to know a little more than they did. As he said only the name I could notice how he reacted; it seemed as if he had a certain fear almost like a trauma.

Everyone present seemed to agree with that conclusion.

- For the moment, let's let things develop calmly ... it is not good for us to lose sight of them unlike what happened with the previous group.

The words of the young princess were explained by a memory. One that had happened not so long ago.

It was the same day that by her father's orders, Melissa and the other members of the mansion did not go out and kept hidden from the supposed appearance of a group of terrorists or that was what the news said.

In the same office where Lisbeth was now, that night, where the young woman who was tired of reviewing the documents where it was mentioned about certain creatures seen in some small towns in different parts of Spain, a strong wind abruptly opened one of the windows of the wide office letting the rain in.

Closing the windows, the young woman let out a sigh as she leaned her arms on the frame.

- What's going on, why won't my father talk about it?

Suddenly, the lights in the room went out.

- ¡¿?!

Quickly the young woman heard one of the palace servants say that there was a power outage.

The young woman sighed.

- This... it can't get any worse.

- Of course it can. - said an unfamiliar voice inside the office.

The princess's quick reaction caused her to pull out a small hand gun she was hiding in her cleavage and quickly pointed it at where she had heard the voice.

- How rude..." said a male standing near her desk holding the reports Lisbeth was reading.

Although it was somewhat difficult to see in the dark, the young woman seemed to have no problem.

- Who are you? - asked Lisbeth.

- ...

- Are you a ... Reformed? - she asked again.

- ... No ...

- Then who the hell are you? - exclaimed the princess.

- ... Who? ... Are you sure it won't be who? - said the unknown man.

Suddenly, in the darkness, several silhouettes of at least five more people appeared in the room surrounding the young woman.

The thought was consistent, a group of assassins or similar had come for her or so the frightened, but still reckless woman thought.

A hush fell over the place until someone knocked on the office door.

- My lady, are you all right? I thought I heard something. - said the voice of an old butler.

- Yes, I am fine. I just bumped my head when I couldn't see properly. 

- Oh, that's exactly why I brought you rechargeable lamps. May I come in?

- No! ... right now I'm ... indisposed ... leave them there, in about 3 minutes I'll go get her.

- I-I understand, my lady. 

 Within seconds of the butler's departure, the conversation continued.

- Very wise of you; I see you care about your people. - said the unknown voice.

- ... What do they want? - said Lisbeth while still keeping her gun pointed.

- These reports ... it seems we are not the only ones to know about this. We will give you one more clue. 

The young woman with light purple hair did not understand what the person was referring to. Suddenly, she noticed how he had taken out some papers and put them on his desk.

- These days, it seems that printed reports are more secure than digital ones ... you avoid problems of hacking, leaks and cyber theft, don't you?

- What is that? - Lisbeth asked.

- The pharmaceutical company and distributor, Le Front, is aiming to create something disturbing and unnatural. The creatures that are written in your reports can be supplemented with this information. Look at it as a gift.

- Sir, they are here. - said a woman's voice from that group.

- Yes ... it seems that the 3 minutes are up. - said the mysterious voice.

These words puzzled the young woman; it was as if she had been frightened that they would discover her plan.

- Well, keep this in mind. If other people come to confirm what you will see today, consider that you are very close to your goal. This is all a little gift from the Watcher.

Suddenly, the doors opened and the office was illuminated by several lanterns that were actually weapons carried by several men who had entered.

No one but the princess was inside.

Once that memory was over, one of those present spoke.

- Did no one really see how they entered or left? - asked Marcus.

- I am sorry to say that it is true ... the security cameras did not notice the entrance of a group like that. - replied the old man.

Remembering that event depressed the old butler a little.

- Well, at least it didn't end in anything disastrous, didn't it? - Bruno commented.

Unexpectedly, there was a message in the inbox that sounded from the young princess's laptop.

- A message?

- Yes...?

- Is something wrong, princess? - asked the old butler.

- It seems to be a bureaucratic matter ... the date is a day ago.

- Bureaucracy? ... How annoying! That's why I don't like the aristocratic mute very much. - Marcus opined.

- Well, it's my job..." said Lisbeth with some disinterest.

 Lisbeth sipped her cup of tea, but after a few seconds, it spilled on the table.

- Your Majesty? - exclaimed the butler. 

Marcus and Bruno were concerned about what happened.

- Lisbeth, what's wrong? - Bruno exclaimed.

- Oh, I didn't expect this. - commented Marcus as he looked at the laptop screen.

As he approached the desktop, Bruno could see the message.

The content described the following:

Notification of legal contract of oath No 0017784-03.

We hereby forward the contract drawn up by the Valenciarte notary's office, signed on 01/04/96 at 2:37 p.m. The attached contract refers to the formalization and cession of the title of SWORN BROTHER of the Gutierrez marquisate where the heiress Emilia Luna Rojas de Gutierrez and the citizen Arias Elrod D. Aren (whose name is subject to change according to the contract) were presented with Count Roger Mauricio Gutierrez de Barrantes-Beltran as witness.

We expect its prompt officialization by public entities and the signature of King Theodore I, King of Spain.

We are also enclosing the passport size photos for the corresponding files that may require them. 

Considering the current situation of the referred marquisate, we ask for discretion on the subject.

The photos showed the faces of Emily, Aren and Roger.

- Wait a minute... those are not... - commented Bruno.

- Marquisate Gutierrez? Wasn't that the prosperous marquisate where the heiress of the late marquis had disappeared and is now ruled by her distant relatives? - commented the old butler.

The reaction of both was obvious, although greater, than that of Lisbeth whose surprise was at the appearance of both the young man and the missing heiress of the Gutierrez family.

There were many questions to be answered such as Emily's sudden appearance, Aren's whereabouts, how the two were in the capital together and what their relationship was.

A slight chuckle was heard.

- That guy sure is all over the place. - Marcus commented.