Mission Start

Sitting at the table inside his hotel room with a magnificent view, Graham was holding a lighter and concentrating on it. There was an open notebook on the table that he hadn't had the need to use in a while and a blank pen next to it.

'Show me the map of this city,'

With a thought, the flame began burning brighter and an image that he wished for appeared. It was a real aerial view of the city which showed the parts of Hoorn clearly. There were also illusory texts floating above the streets, showing their names, as well as next to famous landmarks that most people knew of. At that point, he noticed that there was a section of the city that was located on the highest elevation in the city with gorges around it, making it look like some kind of fortress. The buildings in that part of the city also looked much more impressive than the rest.

After a while, the image gradually disappeared. Graham had made sure that he memorized everything and as many details as possible. He put out the flame at once and put down the lighter on the table. He didn't want to waste the precious time when his memory was still fresh.

Using the blank pen next to the notebook, he began drawing the map of the city on both pages of the open notebook, noting all the details from his memory. Although he still remembered perfectly how the city looked from above, his drawing and handwriting were bad, so it was more difficult to get a perfect replica of the map than he thought. After a while, a decently done map of the city was created.

"You should have been the one making the map, Val, but the memory is in my mind," he said and then sighed as he was looking at the map that he had made. He dropped the pen in his hand and picked up the notebook.

"At least this should be the most updated map of the city. If we just buy one, we don't know when it was made," he added while appreciating his creation. The more he looked at it, the more he felt that it was actually not bad, "You know what, Val? I think I did well," he said rather proudly.

With the map done, now he could divine the next thing he needed to know, which was the mayor of Hoorn's whereabouts. He lit another fire and focused on the flame.

'Where is the mayor of Hoorn currently?'

An image began to form and it showed a building that looked like the town hall. However, it quickly changed to that of a hotel that looked like a love hotel. The image then zoomed in to one of the rooms where a man and a woman were currently having sex. The man should be the mayor while the woman, judging by the fact that they were in a love hotel, must be someone other than his wife. The image then suddenly disappeared because Graham's concentration wavered.

"..."

He was at a loss for words for a while.

"Did we just watch people having sex, Val?" he said with a mix of emotions.

It was certainly unexpected. The mayor was currently not in his office but in a love hotel whose name Graham had memorized when his divination first showed the image.

"It will be a scandal if people know, so he must be there only with the few people he trusts. It should be easy enough for us to sneak in, then," muttered Graham while rubbing his chin.

Before going, he had one more thing to divine, which involved his safety. He stared at the flame that was still burning from the lighter in his left hand and asked another question.

'How dangerous is it for me to approach the mayor right now?'

The flame then showed an image of a piece of paper being burned. The fire in the divination consumed the entire paper at a very slow rate, which meant it had dangers but it was something Graham should be able to manage. After that, the image disappeared.

"So it's safe enough I guess, Val. I just need a good look at the mayor in person so I can use divination for more personal questions about him. But if we have the chance, maybe we can also use your interrogation to get the names of ten people from him directly," said Graham thoughtfully.

He concentrated back on the fire that was still burning and asked one more question.

'Where is 'The Love Bites Hotel'?

Another image appeared in the flame and now it was an aerial view of the city. The hotel where he was currently staying had a red dot indicating his position while another red dot was glowing in the target location. It was quite far from Rivierstraat, where his hotel was, so he would definitely need to take the public motor carriage. Hoorn, after all, was much bigger in area than Sloten. After that, the image disappeared.

Graham then leaned back on his chair and closed his eyes after putting out the fire from the lighter. After that, he muttered an Order to make himself fall asleep, and not long after, he had fallen asleep. Valentine woke up soon after that.

Since Graham only needed to see the mayor in person, he could do it through Valentine's eyes. On top of that, Valentine was better at stealth anyway, so he was the best person for the job.

Valentine didn't get up right away, but instead, he looked at his right wrist that now felt cold. He didn't have Graham's warm body so he got the full negative effect of the bracelet. He took it off before it got even worse and held it in front of him. While concentrating on it, he muttered slowly.

"I ask that you reveal your secrets to me!"

Illusory letters began appearing above Gloom's Redress and after a while, they formed a complete text. Valentine read the text carefully.

'Gloom's Redress. Current status: sated. This is a piece of enhanced equipment made by a medium-rank Transmuter. It was made from the remains of a Contractbound who died carrying their desire for vengeance to their grave. The wearer of this bracelet will feel the coldness of the dead, and if it is kept on, the wearer's flesh around it will begin freezing. It also requires nutrients in the form of the wearer's hair, otherwise, it won't work and will just freeze the wearer to death. If the bracelet is sated, it will allow the wearer to chant the Deity of Stupidity and Hatred's name to grant Stupidity to their enemy. It also has a chance to grow(?).'

The text then disappeared quickly while Valentine was puzzled by the last sentence.

"This bracelet can grow?" he muttered thoughtfully, but then didn't think more about it. He left the bracelet on the table and then got up.

Valentine approached the large suitcase and got undressed. After he took off his collared shirt, he put on a brown t-shirt that he had taken out of the suitcase. He then took out a black leather jacket before putting it on, and lastly, he changed his cotton pants to a pair of denim pants that felt more comfortable to him.

Not forgetting the bracelet, he picked it up from the table, along with the notebook that had the city's map and Graham's lighter, and stuffed them all inside the pockets. Although the jacket had fewer pockets than the coat, there was still enough space for everything he needed. He also didn't forget to put Purloin back on, along with his gun and bullet pouch. After putting Concealment on everything that might cause him trouble otherwise, he zipped his jacket and left the hotel room.

With light steps, Valentine quickly made his way all the way from the fourth floor to the strangely empty lobby. Stefan, the receptionist, was nowhere to be seen. The young man would often do something like that, so Valentine wasn't alarmed. He left the hotel quietly and went out to the street.

His face was hit by the sharp, cold air once he left the warm hotel. He was hungry, but since he didn't want to miss the chance, he needed to quickly go to where the mayor was. He waved his hand and not long after, a public motor carriage pulled over.

"Where to, Mister?" asked the driver before Valentine hopped on.

"Grotstraat," replied Valentine shortly as he entered through the passenger's door.

The driver had a meaningful smile on his face, but he didn't say anything else. He drove away and then made a U-turn at the gap in the road separator. The driver then kept driving east until he turned to the north at the next intersection.

Unlike Sloten, which was built in mostly blocks with sections of the city that were easy to remember, Hoorn was built following the available mountain paths, creating a very confusing layout of the big city. He had gone uphill, downhill, turned left, and right before he finally arrived at the destination. The street names there also had a different theme. In Sloten, the streets were named based on the area where they were in, like Grotemarktstraat for the commercial area. In Hoorn, it seemed that the street names were taken from nature.

"Grot means cave in old Tulpese, isn't it, G?" muttered Valentine while looking around the street before he got out.

"Fifteen pennings, please, Sir," said the driver.

Valentine understood that it was indeed far from his hotel, so he complied and took out his money. After paying through the gap in the glass separator, he got out, and once again, the cold air hit his face The difference this time was that the air brought with it a subtle smell of perfume for some reason.

At that moment, it dawned on him. He finally understood the meaning behind the driver's smile. The whole street was a Rosse Buurt, or red light district!

He was surrounded by tall hotels with steams coming out of their chimneys and pipes. The dominant color in that street, unlike the other streets that he had observed, was pink and red, creating a strange yet arousing contrast between the colors and the industrial building designs. Although it was still early in the afternoon, there were already many people of both genders standing behind glass windows trying to attract customers.

"G, look at all this. The driver must think that we're looking for 'something' here. If he hadn't picked us up from another hotel, I'm sure he would have offered us a hotel that he knew of here," muttered Valentine while looking around.

There were people of different ages flocking the street, but it was dominated by the male demography, although the number of female passersby there wasn't anything to scoff at. It was apparent that Hoorn was progressive in that aspect as well.

Without paying attention to all the 'goods' displayed in the 'stores', Valentine continued what he needed to do there. He walked down the street towards a specific hotel where the mayor was currently located, and once he found it, he walked into an alley before entering the hotel.

"Ah! Yes! Yes!" came a continuous voice from behind a dumpster.

Although he couldn't see it, Valentine was sure there were people having sex behind the dumpster. He had to focus hard to ignore all the noise that kept coming constantly, especially since his hearing was magically enhanced. He stood where people couldn't see him and quickly used Concealment on himself.

"I hereby declare the sounds I make a secret!"

He spoke as quietly as he could, and the people having sex didn't seem to notice his voice amidst their own noises.

"I hereby declare my face a secret!"

"I hereby declare my presence a secret!"

After that, he also recast the Concealment on all his items because he had left the effective radius of his ability.

Once ready, Valentine quickly left the alley so that he could get away from the people enjoying themselves there. He was honestly distracted and if he had stayed any longer, he wouldn't have been able to hold himself back from checking, especially since he was concealed.

Stealthily, Valentine entered the hotel called 'The Love Bites' through the main door since he couldn't see any other way in. When the door was opened, the woman behind the reception desk seemed surprised, especially since she didn't see anyone because Valentine had sneaked in quickly. A strong smell of perfume entered his nose as he walked past the hotel lobby.

He walked upstairs toward the location that the red dot in Graham's divination indicated. The mayor should be in the room farthest from the stairs on the fifth floor. There was no elevator in that hotel since elevators were still rare, so he had to walk manually. As he was walking, he didn't hear any strange noises coming from any of the rooms despite his boosted hearing, which meant that the rooms in that hotel were sufficiently soundproof. Valentine kept that little fact in mind as he made his way up.

Upon arriving on the fifth floor, Valentine carefully watched his surroundings and found two people wearing black suits standing in front of a room. Their faces were covered by masks and sunglasses, making it difficult to see their identities. They must be the mayor's bodyguards. They hadn't seemed to notice Valentine, so he cautiously approached the two men and once they were within range, he used Reveal on them.

"I ask that you reveal your secrets to me!"

'Danny van Houten, one of the mayor of Hoorn's most trusted bodyguards. He is adept at martial arts as well as using firearms. He is currently in a contract with the Deity of War and the Deity of the Tongue.'

Once the text disappeared, Valentine used the ability once again on the other man.

'Lucas Baltes, one of the mayor of Hoorn's most trusted bodyguards. He is very proficient at martial arts and close quarter combats in general using various cold weapons. He is currently in a contract with the Deity of Invisibility and Treasures.'

Valentine was crouching behind a potted plant that was shaped to look like a pop culture heart while analyzing the information he had just got.

"Contractbounds... that's not unexpected, is it? And it seems that we've also hit the jackpot, G," he muttered quietly.

His goal here wasn't to fight, but only to take a glance at the mayor, or if possible, to use Interrogation on him. He also couldn't afford to cause trouble for himself yet since he didn't know how powerful the mayor, or his backing, actually was. He could only stay there and wait while also coming up with a plan to turn the man called Lucas into a contract scroll.