"You wish to study energy weapons?" The question cut through the still air with a sweeping momentum, as the Old Keeper stern voice sounded in questioning.
"Yes, Sir Keeper. Is it possible to create this kind of artifact without using a mutant"s soul?" Garett asked in pa.s.sing, giving the impression that he wanted to experiment with a simple, soulless, artifact to be his first forging.
"Hmmm... If it is this kind of artifact, it is possible. But the energy output would be somewhat weaker." He answered to the young hunter"s doubts, rekindling a small flame of hope in Garett"s mind!
"Yes! It is possible, so maybe I can materialize one, then I could use it at any given time..." Garett could visualize him sometime in the future when he could materialize multiple firearms. Like an unstoppable a.r.s.enal, he would attack with the most diverse methods!
"Yes, there"s one weapon around that you should be familiar with, as it belonged to one of the fellows who died recently." The Keeper continued his mumbling, remembering the recent happenings. "It was designed by a junior apprentice on the church, using the energy of a Rank-C mutant, and I should be able to get the schematics for reference. There are also other items using the same principle but without using souls."
"A junior was able to create an artifact using the soul of a Rank-C mutant? Well, he may be junior to you, but he should be quite experienced already..." Garett thought to himself as he listened to the Keeper. The Old Hunter always referred to others as kids and young, so the "junior apprentice" might have been someone as old as the captain.
Arriving at this preliminary conclusion, Garett calmed himself and focused on the task at hand.
"I think it would be better for me to practice with soulless artifacts for now, and when the church finally bestows me a ritual, it wouldn"t be too late to start using souls," Garett added, remembering the Keeper of his known status as a common Marked. "So... can I study the forging method of those simpler artifacts?"
"Oh yes, I almost forgot you were a common person." The Keeper said, closing his eyes for a couple of seconds before continuing. "Yes...Yes, feel free to use the schematics. They should be somewhere around that shelf over there."
He pointed in one of the dusted shelves in the damp library, a mult.i.tude of furled schematics crowding the shelves until there was not even a single free s.p.a.ce.
"And you expect me to find something in there? Really? It would take a week to find what I want..." Garett"s eyelids perceptibly twitched, and he resisted the urge of cursing at the Old Keeper.
"Don"t look at me like that, the things you want to find are located at the end of the corridor, so you should be able to find without my help." The elder spat at Garett"s gloomy face before making way to the small room at the back, possibly to do the finishing touches at the clock-like artifact.
"Okay, then... let"s get to work..." Garett took a deep breath before stepping forward to the place pointed by the Keeper, already expecting to waste a lot of time only to find the right schematics.
...
The sunlight pierced the thin mist and illuminated the streets, creating a totally different atmosphere than the one that permeated the city at night.
"Are you ready, Garett?" Alice asked with a strange tone, her forehead frowning with a tinge of concern. "This is your first a.s.signment, so you should prepare thoroughly."
Her short red-hair slightly swayed with the breeze, and on her back, a large suitcase that contained her two gauntlets was attached strikingly.
"It will be fine, Alice," Garett rea.s.sured her, showing a confident smile and crossing his hands before his chest. "The Old Keeper helped me a lot, and the Captain personally commissioned him to create an artifact that would help me during the investigative process."
Alice then nodded in understanding after hearing him talk about the
Old Keeper, even if the hunters mostly avoided the eccentric old freak, none of them doubted his capabilities.
"Do you remember everything pertaining to the mission?" She pressed once more, just like a worried mother reminding her son.
"Yes, Alice. I remember everything, so you don"t need to keep reminding me." He waved in annoyance. "Do We really need to stay at a hotel even if we are inside the city? Couldn"t we just return home to sleep at night?"
"Sadly, no." She slightly shook her head before continuing. "We need to stay in the area to respond to any sudden developments, and we wouldn"t able to do that if we left the region every night."
"I see... So, let"s hire a carriage?" Garett didn"t want to walk on foot during any of the hunter"s a.s.signments! If the expenses are to be paid by the church, he had to make full use of the advantages!
"Why not?" She responded with a slight smile.
The duo then proceeded to leave the area, finally embarking on Garett"s first mission.
...
"So this is Tobacco Yard... I"ve rarely come here before." He commented in pa.s.sing to the huntress, his eyes fixated outside of the carriage.
"It"s a factory district, so there"s not much to see here anyway," Alice responded in pa.s.sing before pointing ahead. "Other than that, at least."
A crowd of badly dressed people stood at the side of the road, their faces dirty with oil and their faces were visibly sicken.
"The Kingdom was built upon lies!" A shout came from somewhere amidst the crowd of workers, the voice booming with energy and indignation. "All those n.o.ble ideals and promises of a brighter future the churches and the royal family promised - they were never meant for us! The only beneficiary of those policies are the already rich businessmen!"
"A... manifestation in front of the factories?" Garett mumbled, he knew about the manifestations that arrived at the papers, but he didn"t think they were so prominent in the Tobacco Yard.
"Yes, it"s quite common here. And we can"t even be bothered with it, so we can only let them do whatever they want." She mumbled with some annoyance in her voice. She evidently didn"t agree or believed in the ideologies shouted by the workers. "The Captain says they are just poor people and are the ones we are truly protecting every day."
"That makes some sense..." Garett nodded in agreement, as the population of lower-cla.s.s workers numbered the great majority of Lhûn"s population.
"Look! The rich ride comfortable carriages while we are forced to walk on foot with our damaged shoes!" The one that discoursed previously pointed a finger in the direction of their carriage, eliciting enraged cries from the ma.s.ses!
"And they are even pointing their fingers at us!" Alice grumbled irritatedly before knocking at the window and ordering the coachman to speed up, not that it was necessary, as the coachmen were already speeding to leave the area.
"They seem to hate wealthy people very much..." Garett said, his objective was to become rich! Would he eventually be a target of scorn from the ma.s.ses? "They don"t even know that we are not wealthy, just because we are using a carriage..."
"That"s how people are. They hate those better off than them and disdain those that have less."
The manifestation movement was gaining prominence in the cities not governed directly by the royal family. The churches wouldn"t suppress the enraged workers, as that would result in a drop in the number of believers, so the workers mainly localized in those cities.
And Lhûn was one of those cities, the royal family"s presence was very thin in the area. Different from more commercially important cities, Lhûn was a bastion mainly governed by faith. And even if the royal family forcefully pressured the manifestations, it only served to strengthen the movement on other cities.
"It"s really okay to leave them do whatever they want?" Garett asked, not really understanding how could the church allow something like this.
"It"s not like they are harming anyone, the churches" patrol teams will only interfere if they start to affect the order in the city."
"And what does it mean to affect the order in the city? Only after they start to affect the factories" operation? That doesn"t seem fair, they will never be heard..." Garett thought to himself. Nonetheless, he refrained from talking since Alice seemed to have a strong aversion to the manifestation movements.
"I wonder if something happened to her to elicit such a strong objection..." He silently mused before shaking his head, if she wanted to tell him, she"d eventually do it, there"s no reason to rush things.
"We are arriving at the area near the Ca.n.a.l, so we"ll disembark here." She suddenly informed, her voice returning to normal. "We need to inspect a few scenes were the supernatural incidents happened today before dark, so there"s no time to lose."
"What are we investigating today?" He eagerly asked. He wanted to finish this a.s.signment as soon as possible, as he still felt insecure about it for some reason.
"You tell me, Garett." She responded with a smile on her face. "You are the one responsible for the a.s.signment; I"m only here to observe and advise you."
"Right, I"m the one in charge..." Garett grumbled and took out a thick folder from his briefcase, on it were contained every phenomenon that happened in the area during the last month.
"We have... two things worth investigating around this area." He said while marking two different pages in the case folders. "The first one is... the sudden ravings that are heard every night near the bridge, those who live in the area are complaining a lot, and the church still doesn"t know the cause of the phenomena."
"That should be easier to investigate during the night, don"t you think?" She yawned and pointed at the other marked paper. "What is the other about?"
"This one... This one is a bit weird... and it would be best to investigate it at nighttime too." Garett said while a.n.a.lyzing the file. For some reason, he felt chills just by looking at the case description.
"Let me take a look," Alice said and, without waiting for his answer, s.n.a.t.c.hed the paper from his hands. "The residents of Kybald Street reported the disappearance of two people... every night during the last two weeks they could hear the sound of... whistles? Are you kidding me?"
"That"s exactly it," Garett said as he s.n.a.t.c.hed the doc.u.ment back and continued to a.n.a.lyze it. "The residents could hear the sound of whistles deep into the night, and the two residents that went to investigate it went missing."
"This seems more like a murder case than a supernatural one." Alice spat in annoyance.
"I would agree with you, but some other weird things are happening as well." Garett shook his head before continuing to explain. "The residents of the said street are having a stroke of bad luck since the whistling began. One of them even fell into the sewers through an open manhole."
"That"s... weird. It doesn"t seem easy to investigate either." Alice said gravely; her experience warned her that the case wouldn"t be as simple as it looked.
"I agree with you, but it seems to be the most... peculiar of all the recorded cases; and could be very well the center of our investigation," Garett informed while staring at the doc.u.ment in his hands, his intuition giving off powerful warning signs. "I don"t think we are prepared to deal with this, though."
"It doesn"t matter, we need to ascertain the risks before we can ask the church for reinforcements," Alice shook her head at his attempt to evade from the investigation. "So we need to investigate it anyway if we are to ask the captain for reinforcements."
"Sh*t, I knew it wouldn"t be so simple..." Garett grumbled in annoyance, he was very keen on turning tail and fleeing!