Preparations

The night felt exceptionally long, and only after the night was almost over, Garett was then able to close his eyes in a blissful sleep.

The major problem was the feeling of being constantly watched. Even with Alice present not too far from him, he couldn't get rid of the feeling that there was someone just waiting for an opportunity to pounce on him!

The second reason for his insomnia being the brutish woman talking in her sleep. Occasionally he would hear the names of the other hunters, with Burdren being one of them, and this made him question whether the woman was having a nightmare many times. He even had thoughts of waking her if she continued.

Eventually, the sunlight overcame the darkness and dispersed, giving way to the chirping of birds and morning winds.

Garett's pleasant sleep was interrupted by Alice's booming voice; her face exuded energy as she dragged him out of bed.

"Good morning ~! Let's go, Garett; we have a full day today, and we need to investigate whatever happened at your place." She then stormed off without waiting for him to say a word.

Why does she look like an energetic housewife? I've barely slept, she talked just too much... His head throbbed as he took his time to wash his face and rinse his mouth.

Leaving the room, he was able to localize Alice downstairs rather quickly. Her brilliant red-hair looked very conspicuous among the blond masses of the north.

"Let's go. We'll first drop by the hunter's quarters and inform the captain, so he'll probably agree on postponing your training for now." She remarked after noticing Garett approaching. She looked a lot more professional today, not exuding her usual style.

"Okay..." Garett could only nod, as he knew about his lack of experience and his opinions would surely be heard, but unlikely to be followed.

She's unarmed too, so it would be dangerous to search for the ransackers without her gauntlets... Normally, hunters would not walk around with their equipment while inside the city. Exceptions being inconspicuous equipment like knives or handguns, but something like Alice's gauntlets was too noticeable and burdensome to carry all the time.

Normal people had a very shallow knowledge about the world, and things like mutants were known as peculiar monstrosities living in the wilds, just like wild animals. Most people thought it was possible to hunt them with normal guns and had no knowledge about things like Marked and ritual bestowed powers.

While following Alice, his mind drifted to all kinds of places as he thought about the recent happenings, and two things stood out the most among them.

First, and more importantly, the strange cosmos he saw when absorbing Vellen's essence. That indicated something bigger, and Garett couldn't understand why would the Scholars not make use of it.

That can only mean they couldn't make use of it... It seemed like the only plausible explanation, while Garett couldn't understand the reason, the book took the initiative to talk to him and ask him to complete the ritual! From what he had learned about rituals, a few conditions have to be met before one can attempt it. It was also unheard of an entity taking the initiative and look for a contractor.

Did I meet the conditions necessary to the ritual, while the scholars failed at that? That's why no one attempted the ritual before me, even if it was in the hands of the scholars? Maybe my memory loss related to these conditions, but all these are just conjectures... A few possibilities surfaced his mind, the information he had was just too little, and the questions were too many.

"Alice." He voiced after steeling his resolve, his mind drifting back to the hypotheses from the night before.

That was the second thing that kept surfacing on his mind continuously. Did Father Charles send Alice to monitor him? So he was really being used as bait? Was she so unprofessional as to go drinking when she should be by his side?

"Were you ordered to keep an eye on me to capture whoever came after me?" He inquired, his face hard with belief in the guesses he conceived. Garett then stopped to wait for an answer; he wanted to be sure he could trust Alice.

"Oh... you realized?" She scratched her head with a troubled expression imprinted on her face. "In truth, I initially thought it was a normal procedure to investigate new recruits, so I wasn't really planning on following with it, it's just too troublesome, you know? But after your training ended yesterday, the captain said I should treat this assignment seriously. I was planning on starting today, but..."

"But you should've started yesterday. So I was really being used as bait?" He pressed once more, a little indignant of not being warned beforehand.

"I don't know. I was just put in charge of monitoring you, just like any other recruit is monitored. But you seemed very nice, and I don't like butting into other people's business too much." She answered, guilt permeating her tone. "When the captain told me to take it seriously, I thought there was something wrong, but I didn't think you would be in danger. I'm sorry."

Well, at least she had good intentions. I guess... He didn't continue on this train of thought as it wasn't his intention to create a gulf between him and Alice. She messed up, that was undeniable, but it was also good that she slacked off at the beginning, allowing him to hide better his few secrets.

Maybe I should just let it slide this time, as seems pretty sorry about the situation... Garett couldn't bring himself to be angry. Maybe it had something to do with him experiencing Vellen's life, living through worse situations, but at least nothing bad had happened to him.

"That's... okay, let's go." His emotions got the better of him this time, and he eventually chose to let go.

...

Upon hearing Alice reporting the last night's happenings, the only thing Dante did was let out a sigh. He felt very grateful that Garett was a quick thinker and instantly realized the situation he was in and ran towards Alice for help. He was a lot less pleased with Alice, though, and he was already musing over a suitable punishment.

"I'm sorry for not letting you on par of the situation, Garett. But you are not trained yet, and any abnormality on your behavior could have alerted those we are trying to catch. As for Alice... she is very sorry about her dereliction of duty, and it is also my fault for not informing her of all the specifics," Dante apologized with his usual stoic voice, and it made one wonder if he was really sorry. "I'll be personally accompanying the both of you on this investigation. While the church isn't betting its chips on this operation, it would be very helpful nonetheless. And rest assured, Garett, as you'll receive appropriate compensation for your help."

Were you still going to reward me if I didn't realize anything? I'm more inclined to believe you'd just let slide without informing me of anything... Garett complained and was a lot less understanding with Dante for some reason.

"Let's change your training today to investigation practices, and we'll inform the old Librarian about the sudden change in schedule, lest he picks on you about skipping class." Dante smiled slightly before standing up and wearing his jacket, his eyes stopping on Alice for a second. "As for you, Alice, we'll discuss a suitable punishment for you when everything settles. For now, we'll require your undisputed attention."

"Yes, sir." She slightly bowed with her hands clasped behind her back, a classic display of deference in Alexian military customs. "Should I inform the Keeper myself?"

"Yes, while you're on it, please apply for using the mystery lens. It would help in our endeavor." And just as Dante's words left his mouth, Alice left immediately.

"What are those mystery lens, captain?" Garett took the opportunity to ask with his instinctive thirst for new mysticism knowledge.

"Oh, yes. Did the old Keeper teach you about artifacts yesterday?" Dante said while lighting up a cigarette, and extended his hand to offer another to Garett, which he refused. "Speaking simply, artifacts are items forged by artisans, using body parts of mutants and other kinds of mystic items."

Yes, the Keeper said something about that, I was expecting him to continue on the subject today, but we have to postpone that... Garett nodded while listening, perking his ears to listen to every detail.

"I'll let him continue to teach you the general knowledge, but the lens is a special monocle that was made using the eye of a deceased priest, in life he had the ability to see every influx of energy that happened in a local during the last day." Dante puffed the smoke, directing it to the ceiling while both of them waited for Alice's return. "Using that, we can pick on some clues the ransackers might have left while they searched your place."

So that's the reason, but what does he mean by 'see every influx of energy'? That's not very specific... Garett portrayed an enlightened expression, his mouth involuntarily asking what he wanted to know.

"What do you mean by energy, captain?"

"Energy is... a little more difficult to explain. Everything emanates energy, our bodies too, and putting it simply if we use this artifact, we can see 'shades' of what happened at that place during the last twenty-four hours."

Does that mean they can see whatever I did yesterday? I wonder what do these shades mean, and to what degree can they display what took place... He didn't feel too worried about that, as if even the scales and chalice of the two churches couldn't detect his powers, it was highly unlikely that it could detect the 'energies' from the book's powers.

Alice eventually returned with a small wooden box in her hands, a low of engravings related to the mists ornamented the receptacle. Garett felt a slight prick on his eyebrows as he stared at these engravings; it was as if they contained the powers of the mists!

Alice extended her arms and presented the box to the captain as if waiting for him to open it. To that, Dante only smiled lightly and shook his head.

"Young Garett here never used an artifact before, so maybe we should let him do the honors today. What do you think, Garett?" He turned his head, proposing an unexpected request.

Are you trying to make me forget the fact you used me as bait by letting me use an artifact? That's not going to work, captain... Garett felt his lips twitching, Dante was actually this kind of shameless person!

"I-I'd like to try, captain" He promptly changed his attitude and responded. If he could be the first to use, he could confirm how well the lens could inspect the happenings of the day before.

If the lens could somehow detect him materializing his knife, he would do his utmost to divert the team's attention and focus on only investigating the assailing!

Yes! I'm feeling very lucky recently, all things considered. Somehow it doesn't feel right... Garett noticed that everything was conspiring in his favor lately, and in all honesty, it seemed very suspicious!