Lady of the Black Sun

Chapter 320

Roy went to an apothecary shop in Novigrad's business district.

"Elsa? You mean the girl with gold hair and grey eyes who works at Lucky Cat? Of course I know her. She's a polite and likable girl, and she's the same age as my little Jasmine." The shopkeeper sighed. "Elsa would say hello to everyone she passed. Much more polite than my own girl."

Roy took a marigold potion from the rack and twirled it between his fingers. "You've heard of what happened to her, haven't you? Did you see her back on the ninth day of the ninth month?"

"I'm sorry, but…" Confusion flashed in the shopkeeper's eyes for an instant, and he said regrettably, "All I remember was I didn't hear her saying hello to me that day. It's strange to not get greeted after six months of hearing good mornings from that girl. I talked to Pwilt next door, and we thought she must have taken the day off to settle some family matters."

The shopkeeper didn't think the girl would go through that dangerous alleyway.

"I didn't expect security to have fallen this far, and in the business district too. A young girl disappearing just like that? Horrendous." The shopkeeper started raising his voice in aggravation. "What kind of monster would do that to an innocent girl like Elsa? Ever since she went missing, a part of my heart went with her. It's like I lost my own daughter. Even running this shop lost a bit of its appeal to me."

A moment of silence later, Roy snapped his fingers and lifted Axii from the shopkeeper.

The pudgy man shivered and woke up from his stupor. "I'm so sorry for the grumbling, dear customer. But poor girl, that Elsa." The shopkeeper was still wallowing in his sadness. He complained, "The Eternal Fire soldiers came to ask as well, but those bootlickers didn't mean to find her. They don't care about the girl. All they did was search the surrounding area, and that was it."

The shopkeeper looked at Roy. "Do you think she could still be alive?"

Roy did not answer.

***

Afternoon slowly turned into evening as the sun descended down the heavens. Roy asked everyone down the street who could have possibly seen Elsa, but he found nothing.

When the sun finally set behind the horizon, Roy and Todd slithered through the night and searched through the homes of the sundry shop owner, the jewelry merchant's son, and the minor aristocrat. These were the people Yarrin claimed to have harassed Elsa.

Aside from the addicts in the alleyway, these men who harassed Elsa were suspects as well.

***

Surprisingly, Roy found nothing suspicious in their houses. And Axii proved their innocence too. The jewelry merchant's son and the minor aristocrat had powerful wives that controlled their lives, so all they did was tease Elsa and nothing more.

The sundry shop owner was weirder. He was actually interested in Yarrin, and the only reason he teased Elsa was to get Yarrin's attention. He never interacted with Elsa aside from when they were in the flower shop.

The investigation ended up providing no results. Everyone around the flower shop claimed they didn't see Elsa on the day of her disappearance, and the suspects were cleared of their suspicions as well. That proved Roy's guess. Elsa must have gone into that alleyway on the day she disappeared.

At the same time, a sense of unease was brewing within Todd's heart.

***

Number 320 beside the river.

"That resident in the alleyway is a big suspect. We need to get them." Two men were seated around a round table in a squalid room, the dim yellow light shining on the young witcher's eyes.

"Why don't we stake out the alleyway tomorrow and see who shows up? Keep an eye out for any suspicious characters, especially the thugs and addicts."

Roy had two guesses about this case. One, the addicts, thieves, and thugs in the alleyways kidnapped Elsa and took her away. Or two, the disappearance was related to the magical energy he saw in the alleyway, which meant a sorcerer kidnapped Elsa without anyone knowing. That would explain why Bedlam's network couldn't find anything.

But that raises a question. Why would a sorcerer take interest in an orphan girl? Just because she's pretty?

***

"Todd, is there anything special about Elsa that you know about?" Roy thought the sorcerer might have taken interest in Elsa because she had a predisposition for magic.

"Anything special about her? What do you mean, like a birthmark?" Todd heaved a sigh and rubbed his cheeks as he answered regrettably, "She has no birthmark, and I left my home when she was one year old. Fifteen years I've never seen her. I don't even know what she looks like."

"You left when she was just a year old?" Roy stared at the dim lamp in disappointment.

"But there's something about her that I remember. She was born at a different time than most children." Todd remembered something, and he quickly asked, "Could that have something to do with this, Roy?"

She was born at a different time? Roy nodded at Todd, telling him to continue.

Todd stared into the distance and recounted, "Elsa was born in the afternoon. The sun was scorching, but then all of a sudden, everything went dark. You know what I'm talking about. A black circle engulfing the sun. It was daytime, but it was blacker than night. All my life, I had only seen that phenomenon once, and it left an impression."

Roy sat down on the dirty sofa without hesitation, and he heaved a sigh. The look of sadness on his face was making Todd worry.

"She was born on a day of the black sun, and then there's residue magic in that alleyway. I think I know what happened to her on that day."

What Roy said next plunged Todd into a pit of despair.

"Todd, have you heard of the Curse of the Black Sun?"

"Y-Yes I did."

"Then you should know your daughter is a girl of the black sun. So… she might have been killed by a sorcerer."

Todd's eyes lost all glimmer, and his lips started to tremble. He knew all too well what kind of fate was in store for a girl of the black sun. Girls of the black sun were born during eclipses, and that cruel, cruel title came from the prophecy of the mad sorcerer—Eltibald.

He thought a group of girls of the black sun would gather one day to summon an evil god that would bring about the end of days. Back in Oxenfurt Academy, Roy talked about this prophecy with Montes, a student of the occult.

Roy thought this was mere superstition propagated by the stupidity of humanity, but the sorcerers and foolish citizens disagreed. Decades ago, the Curse of the Black Sun was a popular prophecy that made its rounds around the continent, and with it, a group of unfortunate children was born.

Renfri was an example of that, and Sylvia Anna was another.

"That prophecy has been debunked!" Todd muttered in disbelief.

"But some still believe in it. If the culprit is one of the believers, then they have a motive to kidnap Elsa," Roy said. "Eltibald used to have a lot of fanatics who lauded his prophecy as true and just. They scoured the lands for girls of the black sun just to capture and lock them up in towers. And then they torture, kill or use them as test subjects for their inhumane experiments. A lot of these fanatics are sorcerers."

Huh. Taking girls of the black sun only to use them as test subjects. Why does this sound so familiar?

"That can't be, Roy!" Todd shook his head. His eyes were bloodshot. It's been decades since the prophecy's heyday, and everyone treats it as a joke. Nobody takes it seriously, and they'd never capture any girls of the black sun.

Todd was starting to get agitated. He would rather believe that his daughter had been killed than be captured by some mad sorcerer. Human experimentation was a worse nightmare than death.

"Calm down, Todd. That's just a possibility." Roy slowed down. "And complaining won't do you any good."

Todd roared for a while before he quieted down and hung his head low.

"Calmed down, are we?" Roy massaged his temples. The case was getting more troublesome than he imagined. If it was possible, he didn't want to antagonize any sorcerers. Fighting a magic user was a lot more of a drag than battling regular humans.

Fortunately, he had companions here, and he was confident they could pull this off. Besides, he had some skills that were perfect to counter sorcerers. "And now we have to search all the sorcerers in Novigrad to find out who's the culprit."

"Too slow, Roy. Do you have any faster ways?" Todd was pacing around nervously. It's only been two months since she disappeared. If she was captured by a sorcerer who believes in that prophecy, then she might still be alive. But if we keep dragging this on…

"You want a faster way to find her?" Roy frowned and closed his eyes to think properly.

Todd stayed silent for fear of interrupting him.

Five minutes later, the witcher said something nonsensical. "Then we'll need someone who can dream in daytime."

"Dream in daytime? What do you mean?" Todd stared at the witcher.

Roy kept repeating that phrase for a while, and then excitement flared in his eyes. "That's right. We're in Novigrad!"

Todd quickly said, "Stop talking in riddles and tell me what you've realized, witcher."

"Novigrad Dreaming." Roy looked back into Todd's eyes. "Perhaps someone might be able to see through dreams and give us an answer to Elsa's whereabouts. They can lead us where we need to go."

"Who are you talking about?" Todd felt his heart thumping, and he held his breath. He was scared that the witcher might suddenly tell him it was a joke.

"Do you know what an oneiromancer is?" Roy asked quietly. He was reminded of another time in his past when he was playing as Geralt, and an oneiromancer in Novigrad helped him find a clue about Ciri.

"I think I heard of that when I was a kid. Oneiromancers are a very rare type of… diviner? Are you sure they're not scams?" Todd was doubtful.

"Dream divining is more powerful than you think," Roy half-lied. "And I've read about them in a book back in the temple of Melitele. It talked about a family of oneiromancers in Novigrad called the Tillys. They're not famous, and they're hiding in plain sight, disguising themselves as hypnotists and herbalists. I am fairly sure there's a real oneiromancer in this city."

"There are tens of thousands of people in the city, and the roads are built like the pathways of a maze. Where are we supposed to find an oneiromancer?" Todd was in a dilemma. "Elsa doesn't have that much time."

"We gotta go with the traditional way, Todd, and you're gonna help. Bedlam can't find out where Elsa is, but he should be able to locate an oneiromancer. Tilly isn't a common family name."

"I understand." Todd took a deep breath and resolved himself. "I'll travel to the Putrid Grove to see Bedlam. He's going to help, or he's going to weep."