Inauspicious

At the onset of dawn, in the dark interior of the morgue, a white figure stood bright.

A stack of files in his hands, his apron swayed left and right as he walked.

He lowered the files from his face and glanced at the half chewed body of a man. His lips frowned, not sure of where to hide it. The body belonged to the man who was suspiciously hiding in the dockyard while stealing sights of Fein. He surely wasn't a DOR member.

While it remained a mystery who he was or what he was doing in the dockyard, his body was told to be hidden as soon as possible.

The doctor sighed.

"Is it because I'm the only doctor here or they're just putting too much work on me? I couldn't even stay in the party till the end."

He left huge sighs in between his speeches. "I don't even do forensics and here i am.." he, for a little while, looked around. "Maybe I'll just cremate this body instead of disposing of it. No one should be around at these hours except the operators."

The doctor proceeded to transfer the body to a stretcher and pulled it out of the morgue. There wasn't a separate cremation room for which he took the body to the engine room where the workers burn coal to keep running the ship.

Down in the depth of the ship, as he finally arrived, he straightened his spine and wiped his forehead. He felt like he had come back from digging a cave.

"Now I'll have to put the body…"

He glanced from the corner of his eyes, hearing some abrupt noise of groaning.

In fright, he gulped, shoving his saliva down his throat in suffocation. His feet were shaking, mind entwined with thoughts..

No way! It wasn't supposed to be here!

He quickly began to complete his quest, amid which, suddenly a body plunged atop him, bit on his neck and tore some flesh along with a fragment of his head apart.

It was done so quickly that the doctor not only failed to detect its movements, but also failed to feel the pain inflicted to him before he died.

The dark shadowy body happily fed on his brain, leaving his body behind.

The following morning, it was time when Fein had an appointment fixed with the doctor. The dressing for his recent injuries needed to be removed.

He trudged along the corridor, covering his path to the doctor's office.

His head filled with thoughts of future possibilities.

The Chief of DOR wished to meet me especially. Why? Not only because I'm a beast slayer. Nor am I the first one ever who has slain one. He has some ulterior motive which not even Ms Yulia is aware of. Is it about the internal strife that she spoke of? Where can i know what actually happened inside DOR? And how the Blessed City came into existence..

While absorbed in thoughts, he opened the door to the doctor's office.

"He isn't here." Fein found the office devoid of the doctor. Nonetheless he stepped inside. His head tilted left and right in inspection.

There's a hook in the wall, probably to hang his white apron there. But his apron was missing.

The doctor came here before he left to go somewhere else. He should be wearing that apron now.

Where else could he go wearing his doctor's apron if not for work?

He sighed. His voice vibrated in his throat as he mumbled. "Maybe I can't get them removed now. 346 seconds wasted." With that said, he shut the door behind his back and left.

"Yes ma'am. I've also contacted the headquarters…" Meanwhile, located on top of the ship, inside the office room, Ludic glanced down at the pendrive that he handed to Yulia a while earlier. "..and that's the best I could collect about Fein Rasmond."

Commanded by Yulia, Ludic tried pulling some ledger about Fein though it bore no results.

"How absurd." Yulia giggled. "According to our information, Fein simply just started to exist in this world 2 months ago. He coincidentally appeared before Eudimor.. coincidentally became a beast slayer and he coincidentally intrigued the chief."

"That's a lot of coincidences in here." Mumbled Ludic. "I'm glad that you realized sooner than later that Fein is mistrustful. He hides way too many faces behind that ignominious smirk of his."

Whatever Ludic spoke about Fein might not have been wrong, although Yulia, on the other hand, was actually suspicious of their headquarters. More than Fein himself, the DOR headquarters seemed to be hiding a few things under their rug. It tingled her inquisition.

Yulia side glanced up at the man towering behind her seat. It was entertaining for her considering how Ludic missed no chances to defame Fein even though it was unnecessary. She scoffed at his futile stupidity.

"You really hate Fein, don't you?"

"It isn't about hatred ma'am. I simply find him inauspicious. He's a living curse."

"Hahaha. What an amusing way to put it." She extended her hand, asking for another file. "The other record… did you bring it?"

Ludic instantly handed her another pendrive on top of which the name Kuina Lemberg was written in bold fonts.

"I appreciate your hard work, Ludic."

"You're welcome, ma'am."

It was when Kuina was walking about the ship's corridor. Her face mellowed out of softness, lips curved with a happy smile, sea blue eyes exuding joy. In her hand laid the obsidian blade Alaister ll, polished and sharpened as if it was newly forged. While Fein was asleep, she requested to have his blade repaired.

And today was the day his blade came back as new. She was brimming with excitement, wanting to surprise Fein with his new blade.

But… upon arriving at his room, she couldn't find him inside.

"Fein… isn't here." she lowered her gloomy face. Though she smiled, knowing that at least he's alive and can walk by himself. That was enough to make her happy.

"You're oddly attached to that boy, aren't you, Kuina?"

Startling Kuina, Yulia spoke.

"Ma'am Orks? Do you want to meet him as well? But Fein isn't here…"

"No." Yulia gently shook her head. "I'm not here to meet him. But you."

"Me?" Kuina pointed at herself. "Sure. How can i help you?"

Yulia's medals and chains jiggled in harmony with her boots. She lessened distance with the girl and leaned lower to her ears. "You do not want a repeat of what happened to your toddler brother… Do you?"

The pupils in Kuina's eyes shrunk. Her breathing stopped upon hearing the next sentence Yulia whispered into her ears.

"And you don't want to go through that again, right?"

"How… how do you know about it?!"

Her trembling eyes glared at Yulia. Her fury caught on by Yulia's sneer.

"I know the past of each and every person in this ship. However…. There's only this one person that I do not know of."

"Who is that?!"

"Fein Rasmond."

Kuina fell into the depth of silence. She could speak nothing and only hear Yulia.

"I know everything about everyone here. All their past and present are recorded. But the only thing that i found about Fein was that he suddenly appeared before Eudimor one day. What he was doing or where he was before that is not even recorded in the legislative of the headquarters."

"So. What about it?"

"Doesn't it bother you that you know nothing about a person that you adore?"

Kuina refuted, raising her voice a bit louder. "I know Fein! He's so polite and humble! I know how caring and brave he is! And how he's desperately searching for his sister!"

"Yes. Nothing beyond that. You only see what is shown to you Kuina. I don't want to break your admiration. But how much of it do you think is true?"

The dainty girl gasped.

"I suggest. You should know more about the person you adore." Yulia left after dropping a piece of her suggestion.

The above conversation was nothing but a plot laid by Yulia to spy on Fein.

She had been curious about the boy from the beginning. Added that even the head is intrigued by him, she had to discover the past behind Fein.

This curiosity of her's prompted her to use Kuina for espionage without her even realizing it. She had planted the seed. Now all she had to do was wait and let Kuina do the work for her.