Chapter 4: Undercurrents

"Mother, help me with this type-Zeus talisman".

Eimi said while wrapping her arms around her mother's. They were just finished dealing with a customer. Eimi smiled brightly and pulled her mother gently towards the back door.

"Type-Zeus talisman are dangerous Eimi, make type-Zanna or type-Zade talisman", her mother said.

"It's about time for an important customer", interrupted her father.

Swirls was a generation of talisman making family. Internal marriages were held in the family to preserve their craft. Although not famous, any family that practiced the art of talisman for generations was not ordinary.

Eimi tightened the grip around her mother's arm and looked away from her father. Recently, she was dissatisfied about how her parents had been spending more time in making talisman, especially her father.

The door of the shop was pulled open and a person trying to squeeze though with all the bags was seen. His hair was covering his eyes and a high collar hoodie extended up to his chin. Following him was a boy wearing exactly the same clothes but did not have such bizarre hair. His face was rather honest and simple. It was the master apprentice duo.

"Welcome esteemed customer", Vince Swirls greeted upon recognizing the Master.

Esteemed customer? Eimi had never heard her father call that to someone. She immediately began to despise the esteemed customer. Quietly, she observed the transaction.

"Hahahaha! Greeting to craftsman Vince and lady Geena. I hope the order is complete by now", Master said.

"Your excellency gave us enough time with front up payment. How could we not meet the requirement", Vince Swirls smiled in response.

Vince Swirls signaled his wife and quickly the task of bringing out the ordered talisman was carried out. Nothing fancy was brought when the wife, Geena, retuned. Only two small boxes were put forward on the counter.

The boxes were a little bigger the size of a palm. With a sliding mechanism different type of talisman popped out from the side. The talismans were of varying thickness but each of them was of same size.

"Everything you made will help my apprentice in the future. Trace, thank your benefactors. The talismans this genius craftsman and his excellent wife made will be very useful for you", the master said after checking the two boxes.

Everyone immediately looked towards Trace. The Swirls family looked towards Trace with astonishment. Especially, Vince and Geena who knew the number of type-Zeus talisman were in the order.

Zeus talisman were talisman exclusively made for combat. Moreover, any type of talisman could only be used from the second sequence of Level 2. The young man being was actually a Level 2 Sentinel!

Trace stepped forward and greeted the shop owners. He also thanked them elaborately and promised to treat them with the same honestly, they treated him with.

"That's my apprentice, he is only 16 this year", The master laughed and patted Trace's shoulder.

Eimi couldn't contain the shock and with wide eyes stared at Trace. She called herself a genius, a prodigy but even now at the age of 18 her level was the same as Trace. She consoled herself by reminding herself of her skills at talisman making.

The counter suddenly shook at this moment, and everyone disappeared except Eimi and Trace. Eimi saw Trace looking at her with the face carrying a honest smile. Slowly Eimi felt warmth spreading throughout her face. And the figure of Trace turned brighter and brighter till the light enveloped her entire vision.

...

The sun was already up in the sky. Eimi was still holding her knees and sitting beside Trace. Last night, Trace decided to not disturb her and simply carried out his duty to guard the house.

"Thank you, as always", after looking at Trace for a while Eimi decided to break the silence.

"Miss Swirls! It is relieving to know that you have been sleeping well", Trace blurted out on hearing Eimi's voice.

He then bid his farewell and rushed towards home. For a while he ran but eventually lost his breath. Realizing it was late than usual, Trace decided to take a carriage. On the carriage, he checked if the coins given by Miss Swirls for the night watch were still in his pocket.

Every day he would get paid a 5-Sherry coin. It was a really generous offer. For the first week, he did not get anything. He wasn't expecting anything either. But from the following week, this unexpected bonus was huge.

To be clear, the minimum cost of travel from Swirls house to his was a 5-Cava coin. With a 5- Sherry coin, he could make 10 trips. So expensive! The coins had values 1, 2 or 5 printed on them. The currency had three type of coins – Kir, Cava, Sherry.

...

After climbing up the stairs Trace pushed the door open. The dimly lit environment was enough to see that master was reading a newspaper. And on the table, there was two lunchboxes.

"Master, I am back. I apologize for being late".

"No need to worry about it, a young man ought to be late on his nights out sometimes", master said putting his newspaper down and grinned.

"It's not like what you think master!", Trace protested.

"The Swirls daughter is pretty talented. All my worries would be gone if she made lots of talismans for you", master teased.

"I could buy talismans with my own earnings", Trace showed the 5-Sherry coin to his master.

"You can buy them in the future with your earnings. But remember, the more powerful a talisman, the more expensive it is".

"Could Mister Klavior be buying expensive talismans from his earnings?"

"Klavior?"

Trace nodded and master immediately realized who. The Church of Scarlet Parry… Master pondered. It could turn out a bit messy, but people only grow from experiences. You were filled with emotions first now it's time for experience, he said in his mind.

"Stay on your guard this time. Your last friend was quite a character". Master shook his head.

A shiver went down Trace's body. He remembered about the first friend he made, and his eyes twitched. Oh, how thankful he was to his master for saving him from that trap.

"Just see how the Federation officers operates. Klavior guy won't harm you but there is no guarantee that a Level 3 Sorcerer can save you all the time".

...

One of the secrets to become a great Magician is sleep, Trace recalled his master's words before going to sleep. When he woke up, it was already evening. So, he headed out hoping to see Kaizyu and learn about what was happening to Swirls family. But more importantly, to buy groceries.

The sun was sending its last rays towards the sky staining clouds with orange. Time to close the blinds and turn away from the lifeless sky. People were heading out towards the glowing streets of the East. But Trace was walking in the opposite direction.

Trace turned right taking the road straight to the Swirls Shop. After delivering the groceries, he headed straight towards here. Probably today Miss Swirls will agree for the Federation's help.

Standing in front of the Swirls house was a stern man with edgy face. The Level 2 Sorcerer who was the former in-charge of the Swirls case. He was dressed in, what looked like a formal attire, red and black. The most striking feature of his attire was a three colored triangular emblem on his belt.

However, the emblem was very different that the plain triangular batch Klavior showed yesterday. This one was like a miniature pyramid with triangular base. It did not bulge out much making it look like a star with three colors.

"You must be Trace Hollows", the man said in a plain but overbearing tone.

Without waiting for Trace to even acknowledge it, he took out his badge which was a silver badge with three dots in it. But the dots disappeared once the badge shined with a silver light.

"I am the in-charge … in the Swirls Case, Deus Garcia. Perhaps you can arrange a formal meeting with Vince Swirls' wife for me".

Trace nodded slowly and led him towards the back of the Swirls shop. He took out the key from his left pocket to open the gate. But to his surprise the gate did not open. A gust of heaviness passed through his abdomen. He just stood there while Eimi asked for Deus Garcia' batch through the gate and only after verifying it was genuine, she opened the gate.

Everyone walked on the path that led to a mini hall. While walking Trace looked towards the room that had the stone slab. For a moment he thought of heading straight towards the wooden veranda there but could not stop following Deus.

"I would prefer to have a meeting with your mother, Geena Swirls", Deus Garcia said getting straight to the point.

"She- she can't talk", Eimi said looking away.

"This is an important matter"

Deus was clearly getting impatient when Eimi did not reply any further. If he was in-charge of the case, then already the remaining Swirls family would be under custody. Lacking concrete evidence did not matter much for the Sovereign Jurisdiction Department (SJD), only the methods and results did.

The Federation was very strict regarding rules and regulations. The strict policies and control over all Level 3 Sorcerers and above made the Federation's jurisdiction span over one fourth of the entire continent. Even after this, the balance and peace was maintained.

It was unclear why the Federation did not take over the entire continent, but many said they were not interested in wastelands. The Federation was a very stable organization. Over the last 600 years many terrorist organizations had been crushed by the Federation.

"Many organizations tried to overthrow the Federation. But no matter much deep their roots dug into the nations, we uprooted them", Deus said. "And again there is a sudden linear rise in criminal activity. These are signs of emergence of a new terrorist organization".

Deus Garcia stopped after stating this. Something happened four or five years ago, and he was sure of it. So were many of his colleagues of Sovereign Jurisdiction Department also suspected the same. But unfortunately, not everyone was qualified enough to know exactly what happened.

Huge undercurrents were churning. He knew something big was brewing. And he wanted to be a part of it. For the last four years the more he focused on details of the cases he worked on, the stronger this feeling grew.

Even though he found nothing his desire only grew. Destthine was taking over the Vince Swirls case? On the top he showed discontent, but waves of emotions were blooming in this mind. A grin couldn't help but leak from his lips when he saw Vince Swirls' daughter.