"It's open."
After hearing Leonard say that. Selina's mouth slightly slit open as her eyes lit up, I-Impressive! Truly impressive!
Leonard, are you perhaps the Lupin of this world?
Leonard rolled his gloves back to his left hand and proceeded to open the safe.
Within it are a mound of cash, jewelry amounting to thousands of pounds varying between emerald, sapphire, ruby and agate. Next to the stash are folded notes and paper sorted files that lined up tilt to the corner.
Among them, a metallic wristband caught Leonard's eye upon turning the safe open. It had a bluish-gray surface, perhaps made of lead as it bears quite a resemblance to the intricate designs of mural tapestries.
Even though it appears normal. Having a keen eye for supernatural things. Leonard cautiously retreated an inch away from the safe.
He then smiled suddenly and turned to Seeka. "Could you fetch me that cane beside you?"
Seeka was slightly perplex by Leonard's actions and at the same surprised that there was indeed a cane beside a hanging.
To her, since this building is experiencing a rally with no staffs within. Having a cane frequently used in this era would mean a person is present.
Assuming that the administrator had just forgot it. Seeka took the cane and handed it to Leonard.
Reckoning what the purpose of the cane. She saw Leonard used its handle to hook multiple finger rings that had sapphire gems embedded into them. He was careful about the metallic wristband sitting in the center.
"Is that... an artifact?" Seeka was quick with her deduction.
After Leonard was done gathering the specific finger rings. He took out the investigative report from his coat and replied, "It could be."
The wristband's features rings the lists that can make one speculate its authenticity. Perhaps it could just be a wristband that Carter had received, or that it's just his most prized possession.
However, clearly that's not the case. Earlier, the cloaked man with heavy cosmetics is undoubtedly a beyonder. The ability to blend into the shadows, usage of daggers that almost killed Leonard, his extraordinary speed and inhumane agility to dodge bullets preemptively.
"This Carter administrator..." Leonard said while he cross-references the sketched and described Rousette's ring to the ones he had gathered. "He has an Assassin targeting his safe."
"The Assassin could be aiming for the wristband, the files there or..." suddenly, he grinned and looked at Seeka.
"Instead of stealing. He's here to retrieve something in his stead."
Seeka scoffed softly and directed her gaze to where the cloaked man is tied. "A bold claim...."
"Heh." Leonard saw a distinct ring with a rose design that held its sapphire gem. It looked similar to the mildly coherent sketch.
"This must be it."
He stood up and left the littered rings on the floor. His lips curled up and safely withdrew Rousette's wedding ring to his compartment.
"We have no business as the Nighthawks here, and Carter seems to be a believer of the God of Storms." said Leonard as he twist his wrist reflexively.
"We'll report the thief and the Carter Works to the Mandated Punishers and tell that we chanced upon it during our commissions."
Rousette is a believer of the Evernight Goddess. This will prove as their reason to be involved with the commission.
Seeka didn't object. She simply walked away from the door frame to allow Leonard to exit.
They couldn't just take glimpses of the records and files in the safe. Considering the lawsuits and fines that the Mandated Punishers will exact and the chances of the wristband to be a Sealed Artifact is simply too risky.
Selina could still vividly recall the state of Milo after the ceasefire of the Mandated Punishers. She thought and sighed, Bunch of brutes would undoubtedly demand a territorial lawsuit...
Then at that moment. She sensed a turmoil on the coin case.
Leonard was slow to walk out and has been secretly taking out his coin case and allow Selina that's controlling the seed to spring out.
"Investigate the contents of the safe." he muttered audibly. He appeared as though he was talking to himself.
Seeka's head suddenly turned and she blurted out, "Did you say something?"
"Nothing." Leonard simply smiled. "Let's tighten the curtain and deepen the lad's sleep so the officials will arrive to him in time."
They went back to the man and coiled him further. Then recited a poem afterwards that allows for a deep dream. Soon, the two Nighthawks returned to the opened room and sneaked out of the window.
During this, the seed had leaped into the safe. This time, Selina had a clear view of the wristband. Indeed, it exudes a radiant spirituality. It's likely a Sealed Artifact...
The seed carefully rolled past it. Luckily, it's an inanimate object and belonged to the dreamworld which Selina perceived to be very powerful. If there were lashes caused by the Sealed Artifact, she's safe inside the dreamworld.
Moving on, she used the vine to pull each folders out and laid them over the floor.
Finance allocation... confidentiality... huh, a notebook?
It was a leather-bound notebook with light weight content. The seed's vine turned the cover and she began skimming.
Lock combinations... Villa locations... Mistresses? A philanderer!
After two minutes. Selina finally reached the notebook's last page and subsequently closed it.
Sensing that she's overstaying her presence in the dreamworld. She quickly left the building through the window.
Leonard couldn't leave without it, as he can only obtain one per bestowal. So he made multiple excuses that made Seeka curl an eyebrow over his schemes.
Upon seeing the seed rolled back and tumbled to his shoes. He quickly lifted his gaze to Seeka, who's standing at the sidewalk. "Alright, let's head to a nearby police department now and report this."
...
In the corner room, a few meter distance from the Chanis Gate.
Selina's eyes fluttered open. She quickly felt the stiffness of her sleeping arms cushioning her head against a table.
Ouch! she withdrew back and shook both her hands to wake them. Subsequently, she felt her mental facilities in a state of momentary dissolution.
Her disoriented vision made it seem impossible to properly align her sense of inertia, preventing her from standing appropriately.
Phew... After awhile, she slowly recovered.
Pulling away from the table as she sat to a chair. Selina glanced at the wall clock, displaying the time: quarter pass three.
Klein, Frye and Dunn will be returning soon but her shift wouldn't end until it's dinner.
When she finally had the immaterial strength to move. She hastily checked the condition of the Chanis Gate before reclining back to her chair.
With only books to accompany her. Selina started recalling the records and the notebook within the safe. Carter had multiple intelligence associated with his name. Among them, there was also transactions with two cargo ship captains. The most recent one is five days ago...
Other than that, she saw no significance with the following information recorded in the notebook. Apparently, she saw a second one tucked into the safe.
She planned on reading it, but her limited time demanded her to leave. So regrettably, she lightly set those things aside and began considering the future.
The successful digestion of her Apothecary potion entails an advancement to Beast Tamer. Is possible, she wanted to advance as quickly possible. Selina still had a slim hope for the next advancement to enable her to cure terminal illnesses and help Old Neil recover.
However, she thought that secretly advancing wouldn't be the wisest decision. Even Klein advised her to wait until he becomes a Sequence 8 before she began advancing.
The plan was to learn from Spirit Medium Daly and submit an application to the higher-ups. Using contributions to obtain the recipe and extraordinary ingredients before officially advancing into a Sequence 8 Nighthawk.
But there was a difference between grasping a potion in a month and in a year. Selina could bear the scrutiny of the Holy Cathedral and become a talent for nurturing, but she didn't want the higher-ups to suspect both of them.
Thus, they needed to find a convincing reason to explain his circumstances.
Klein said he'd leverage his circumstances once Dunn grasped the acting principle from his hints... Selina muttered.
In such a way, the higher-ups of the Nighthawks would think that Klein had unintentionally learned something from Daly when completing his "mission" and had done a more thorough job than her.
This would make the higher-ups focus more on summarizing the laws and discovering the "acting method," reducing the suspicion placed on both of them.
So this means helping Captain and others learn the acting method! Selina added in her heart in great mood. She felt that Dunn is an excellent captain. He had no glaring flaws other than his poor memory. Thus, she also wanted to reduce the risk of Dunn losing control and make him more powerful.
In normal cases, Selina isn't against waiting for a year. But circumstances had already started compelling her to. Other than Old Neil's case; the red chimney, the coincidences, Marvik's schemes, and the sudden appearance of the meteorite.
Half of the issues are directed to her personally such as Marvik wanting her for a reason unknown, an allegedly new discovered god is trying to get her, and the schemes of the Rose School of Thought.
These gave her no choice but to improve her abilities as soon as possible.
Gulp! Selina consumed the last bit of milk in her mug.
With many things whirring in her mind. She slowly stood up and tried to sort her thoughts until she can function again.
Lifting the mug. She casted her gaze on its smooth, marble surface before sighing, "I want to drink more before going back..."
...
The lofty palace stood tall and silent while the ancient, mottled bronze table and twenty-two high chairs remained the same.
Klein took the seat of honor and made a brown goatskin and black fountain pen appear before him.
He picked up the pen and wrote seriously: "I should tell Dunn Smith about Mr. Azik."
Then, he took the topaz pendant from his left sleeve and did a spirit pendulum divination.
The spirit pendulum divination resulted in the pendulum spinning counterclockwise, which meant that he shouldn't tell him!
Putting down the topaz pendant, Klein thought about it and decided to make an attempt with dream divination, just to be sure.
Thus, he changed his divination statement to: "The result of hiding matters related to Mr. Azik from the Nighthawks."
Klein held the goatskin, recited the statement seven times silently, and leaned backwards to enter a deep sleep.
He saw himself in the illusory, blurry, and distant world. He saw that he was struggling while drowning in a sea of blood.
Then, there was a hand that extended and pulled him up from the blood sea. The owner of the hand was Azik with bronze skin and a small mole near his ear.
The image shattered and reorganized. Klein saw that he was in a dark and gloomy emperor's final resting place. The surrounding coffins opened one after another.
Azik stood next to him, looking forward, as though he was looking for something.
Just then, Klein exited the dream in an instant and saw the illusory, gray, and boundless fog.
The symbolic meaning of the earlier dream is that, if I were to hide the related matters about Mr. Azik, I would receive his assistance when I'm in danger in the future. Heh, the danger might have come about because I helped to keep the secret... What does the last scene mean? I will discover some mausoleum with Mr. Azik? Yes, perhaps the mausoleum has other symbolic meanings... Klein clasped his hands together and supported his chin while he interpreted the contents of the dream divination.
Combining it with the earlier result of the pendulum divination, he decided to not report his inference to the Captain, but merely bring up that a townsfolk had taken out a portrait of the first Baron Lamud, and that the portrait looked like a history teacher in Khoy University. Klein couldn't be sure that Dunn wouldn't hear about it elsewhere, so he had to at least mention it.
Of course, Dunn was unfamiliar with Azik and didn't know of his recount and strange dreams, so he would find it difficult to connect them. Klein even suspected that the Captain wouldn't quite remember what Azik looked like.
Then, he stopped thinking further and planned to leave the world above the gray fog. Just then, he noticed the crimson star that had been silent all this time was twinkling with faint light again.
Klein extended his spirituality with interest and saw the young man that spoke Jotun again. He saw him kneeling before a pure crystal ball.
The young man was still wearing the black tights that were different from the clothing of countries in the Northern Continent. His facial features were blurry and distorted, but Klein could faintly see his brownish-yellow hair.
He knelt there and prayed with an unusual pain in his tone.
Klein leaned sideways to hear. He relied on his beginner-level Jotun and barely understood what the young man was saying.
"O Magnificent Deity, please cast your eyes on this land that you have forsaken.
"O Magnificent Deity, please allow us, the People of the Dark, be freed from the curse of our destiny.
"I am willing to dedicate my life to you, using my blood to please you."
...
A land that was forsaken... People of the Dark... Magnificent Deity... Klein murmured the few key words and suddenly thought of a place that The Hanged Man had mentioned once.
The Forsaken Land of the Gods!
It appeared in Roselle's diary too! He even sent out a fleet to search for it, but it was fruitless... Klein squinted his eyes and wondered if he had guessed correctly.
He tapped on the edge of the long bronze table with his fingers. After three taps, he came to a decision. He extended his right hand and touched the illusory crimson star.
The cloud of crimson immediately exploded, and the light flowed in like water.