Sky didn't slow down.
Tervain's voice followed him for a few steps, then dissolved into the dull rhythm of boots against packed earth.
He adjusted the reports under his arm, though he'd already memorized most of the contents. Agricultural yield projections. Scout fatigue rates. Border irregularities.
These were the topics in the reports he read and these topics could be summarised to as, 'lack of sunlight due to odd nature of the sun only allowing 7-8 hours of sunlight in the span of 1 day or 36 hours causes the inability to grow most plants and has been mostly focused on mushrooms with some other plants in some special cases although Skelra reports that he might be able to pinpoint why the trees in the dark woods and the grass in the grassland can almost always grow without any problems despite the lack of sun or rain or many other factors'
For the scout fatigue it could be summarised as 'When the scouts were tasked with going to the ocean of researching the world throat that has been seen there and gather salt, they have developed sleep deprivation after coming back from camping near the world throat near the ocean side and have been reported to crave salty things and hear sounds like the ocean waves and a loud noise that they didn't seem to be able to describe properly.'
And for the border irregularities, it can be summed up to an unknown phenomenon causing some of the beast to attack the gates and walls of the kingdom but ever since the white stone has been in the process of being slowly restored or fused, it has stopped happening as often.
The path toward the IGS building curved past the outer barracks. A few scouts were still stationed there, some fresh from patrol, others pretending not to be exhausted. He could see it in the way they stood—small-adjustments to keep balance. Fingers flexing subtly to stay awake.
Sleep deprivation.
[looks more alive than you though]
'Shut up' Sky thought with a frown.
He reached the stone steps of the IGS headquarters.
The building was intentionally plain. No grand banners. No polished insignia. Just reinforced stone and narrow windows positioned too high to casually look through.
He entered without knocking.
Inside, the air was cooler.
Shelves lined the walls—stacked scrolls, bound reports, coded ledgers. A few clerks moved between desks in near silence. No one greeted him, but several eyes lifted briefly in acknowledgment before returning to work.
He walked straight to the central desk.
"I'm returning the agricultural distribution report," Sky said, placing the papers down neatly.
The clerk, a green haired woman with wire-rimmed glasses, adjusted them slightly. "You weren't required to."
"I know."
The woman nodded once and pulled the stack toward him. "Did you find what you need?"
"Yes."
"Anything concerning or anything you want to ask?"
Sky paused.
"No..."
The clerk studied him for a moment longer than necessary. "Ok, I hope you have a good day."
"You too," Sky replied evenly.
He turned to leave.
Halfway to the door, he stopped.
"Has there been any follow-up on the dead man?" he asked without turning.
A quiet shift rippled through the room. Small. Subtle. But there.
The clerk flipped through a side ledger. "If you are talking about the recent sucide it's pending."
"Cause of death?"
"Sucide."
Sky's eyes lowered slightly.
"You sure?" he asked.
"No external trauma consistent with the level of internal collapse observed," the clerk continued. "No toxins detected in standard testing. No signs of struggle and a will, which you yourself read."
Sky nodded once.
"Any witnesses?"
"No."
"Unusual activity in the surrounding district?"
A brief hesitation.
"Nothing officially reported."
[Unofficially, then.]
"I'll look into it," Sky said.
"That's not your department."
"I'm aware."
He left before the conversation could stretch.
He walked into the dirt pathway for a while.
He walked without hurry, but his pace wasn't slow either. His mind moved faster than his body ever did. The dead man. The stolen stone. The weird method that the intruders used to steal the stone when they clearly showed more intelligence at least enough to come up with a better plan than just wait and then come out of nowhere and steal it. The strange timing.
Too many independent variables.
[I think we should keep the assumption that these independent variables are actually independent and only keep it in the back of our mind so when we find a clue we can reach a proper conclusion.]
'…Sure' Sky thought letting out a sigh
He soon saw a group of buildings ahead, they seemed to be almost dead with only 4-5 people visible.
He turned down a side corridor between buildings, choosing the quieter path back.
Halfway through, he felt it.
A shift in air pressure.
Presence.
He stopped.
"…You can come out," Sky said calmly.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then a figure stepped from behind the corner.
Gill.
He looked as he always did—slightly slouched, expression caught somewhere between tired and apologetic.
"Ah," Gill said softly. "You noticed."
"You're not subtle."
Gill smiled faintly. "That hurts."
Sky didn't return the expression. "Why are you here?"
"Taking a walk."
"In a blind corner?"
Gill tilted his head slightly. "Well it's an excuse to slack off from doing my job but you're being more suspicious of me though."
"There's a dead man."
"There are always dead men but I see your point."
Sky's gaze didn't waver.
Gill's expression flickered.
Just slightly.
"Do you think I had something to do with it?" Gill asked, tone light—too light.
"Not really,," Sky said carefully, "Just feel like you're a bit suspicious."
Gill laughed softly, "That's a strange way to accuse someone."
"I didn't."
Silence stretched.
For half a second—barely perceptible—Gill's posture straightened. The slouch vanished. The tiredness drained from his face. His eyes hardened into something precise. Then it was gone.
He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "You think too much, though I can't really blame you."
"Yeah, good thing, I was wondering if you were gonna play the blaming game, so I'm thankful." Sky replied.
Gill's smile widened slightly.
"That's not very nice."
"Yeah but neither is stalking someone," Sky said evenly.
The air shifted again.
Just a little.
Gill's gaze sharpened.
"You're making bold claims."
"I'm simply making observations."
"And what do your observations conclude?"
"That you're quite odd.."
Gill chuckled.
"Everyone is," he said. "They all are odd, having many sides, which they wear and switch depending on a person so often not, seeing them in a different mask can make them seem like an odd guy."
"Is this a red hearing?" Sky asked.
Gill blinked slowly.
"No."
Another flicker.
"This is actually related to my behavior but considering the nature of your behavior I'm assuming that Luminar or any of the members didn't tell you did they?"
Sky watched him for several seconds longer than socially acceptable.
Then:
"If something happens," Sky said quietly, "and I trace it back to you—"
"You won't," Gill interrupted gently.
They stood there in silence, the space between them thinner than before.
Then Gill stepped aside, as if the conversation had ended naturally.
"Well," he said, voice returning to its earlier softness, "I won't keep you. You looked busy."
"No, before you tug your tail and walk away, I would like to hear the reason behind this behaviour of yours that you vaguely mentioned." Sky said, saying to Gill his eyes closing for a moment.
"Oh, right I probably should." Gill said as he got closer to Sky, "In summary and simple terms it's basically a split personality disorder."
"And in terms of an extended and complicated manner it is?" Sky asked.
"Hm…" Gill thought for a moment, thinking of the right words, "In a more elaborate manner, I essentially have multiple souls in me or at least fragments of it, from what I can tell about 83 but often not theses souls barely have the ability to command or talk to me so in a way there's 8 souls in which I feel their emotions and share all their memories which result in me being emotionally unstable at certain points due to the conflicting emotions that these 8 souls impose on me and my thought may be cloudy or overwhelming as all theses 84 souls can at least speak or make me hear their thoughts or words."
"So in short you can hear 84 souls but only feel and remember the emotions of 8 souls?" Sky asked, looking for confirmation.
"Yep, so I often have weird habits and twitching." Gill said as he put a hand behind his neck his face almost turned into a frown before he forcibly made it back into a soft smile. "Anyways I won't disturb you anymore and I'll probably be scolded if they find out that I've been avoiding my work for this king using this excuse."
Sky didn't respond.
He walked past him.
As he did, he caught something under the scent of stone and dust.
Faint.
Herbal.
Sharp.
Like Noxtorn leaves.
He didn't turn back.
Behind him, Gill's expression dropped entirely once Sky was out of view.
For a split second, multiple micro-expressions fought for control across his face—anger, amusement, irritation, boredom—before smoothing into something neutral.
His lips moved.
But the voice that answered wasn't singular.
"Not yet," one tone murmured.
"Soon," another whispered.
"Patience," a third insisted.
Gill inhaled slowly.
Then exhaled.
And began walking in the opposite direction.
— ✦ —
It was subtle.
So subtle he almost dismissed it.
Sky was passing through the mid-corridor between the outer quarters and the storage wing when something brushed his senses — faint, dry, slightly bitter.
He slowed.
Just a fraction.
Noxtorn.
Maybe.
The scent was thin. Diluted by air. Nearly erased.
Purified Noxtorn carried a cleaner sharpness. Crisp. Almost metallic at the end.
Raw Noxtorn was heavier. Earthier. It clung.
This—
He couldn't tell.
Sky remained still for three seconds.
Then he continued walking.
[You smelled it.]
'Possibly.'
[Raw?]
'Uncertain.'
Maybe the corridor had seen injured scouts recently. Purified Noxtorn was common after the ocean clash. If someone had just finished stabilizing a wound, the scent could linger.
Sky's mind moved slowly through possibilities.
If what he smelled on Gill has purified Noxtorn them then either,
1.Gill was injured and treated himself.
2.Gill treated someone else.
Option one didn't fit.
Gill showed no stiffness. No guarded movement. No shallow breathing.
If raw —
That was different.
Raw was restricted. Painful. Rarely used.
But the scent had been too faint to confirm.
[Let's establish somethings that you might be using for your upcoming reasonings,purified Noxtron is used to heal or stabilise open wounds or injuries while raw Noxtorn is poisonous and is extremely painful used for torture and even in rare cases execution and they are somewhat difficult to get,]
And—
Sky paused mid-step.
Gill had stepped closer during the conversation.
Not threateningly.
Confidently.
As if he wasn't worried about residue being detected.
That meant either:
He believed no one would notice.
Or he wanted someone to.
Sky resumed walking.
So if we assume that Gill used it raw, then a new possibility comes, extended torture.
If Gill was injuring someone repeatedly and healing them to extract information—
Then that meant:
There was a prisoner.
Unregistered.
Unreported.
Alive.
And being kept somewhere controlled.
Sky resumed walking.
Maybe he was tired.
He hadn't slept properly in a long time. Maybe sleep deprivation altered sensory sharpness, though he was pretty sure that was false.
But the possibility that insomnia could distort smell recognition lingered in his mind.
He could have easily imagined the heavier note and memory could have filled it in making a fake perception that it was Noxtorn.
He didn't trust unstable perception.
Sky changed direction.
Instead of returning to the barracks, he turned toward the supply quarter.
The supply building was narrower than the IGS headquarters but more guarded.
Two workers stood near the entrance cataloguing crates.
Sky entered without announcement.
One of the quartermasters looked up. "Do you need something?"
"Yes. Inventory records."
"For?"
"Noxtorn leaves."
The man paused.
"…Medical or enforcement?"
"Inventory."
The quartermaster hesitated, then motioned toward a back desk.
Sky flipped through the ledger.
Noxtorn shipments were small. Logged carefully. Marked by weight and authorization seal.
The medicinal ledger was orderly.
Purified Noxtorn distributions logged correctly.
Raw Noxtorn reserve untouched.
Seals intact.
He inspected the containers personally.
No leakage. No tampering.
He checked weight.
Within the expected margin.
He stood there longer than necessary.
[So it was purified.]
'Maybe.'
[Or you imagined it.]
He didn't respond.
He moved to textile supply instead.
Bandages. Counted.
Eighty.
Tag read eighty.
He checked the withdrawal log.
He leaned lightly against the shelf.
If someone had used purified Noxtorn recently, missing bandages made sense.
But since not his theory should end.
He stepped back.
Another possibility formed.
Raw Noxtorn wasn't impossible to acquire.
Difficult, yes — tightly monitored within the kingdom from his old days if he thought the same regulations existed in this new kingdom.
But outside traders existed. Black-market herb collectors. Smugglers who harvested unprocessed plants before regulation.
Someone careful enough could obtain a small supply.
Sell it quietly.
Some rolls of cloth would be enough for controlled application.
If someone wanted raw Noxtorn for interrogation—
They wouldn't touch official reserves.
They'd source it privately.
That meant the inventory being intact proved nothing.
It only proved no one was reckless.
Sky closed the cabinet.
He replayed the scent in memory.
Was it heavy?
Or was that his mind imposing context after the suicide?
He pressed fingers lightly to his temple.
Maybe fatigue could fabricate patterns.
Maybe his Insomnia exaggerated subtle sensory input.
Maybe he had been expecting instability, expecting sabotage.
What if there was nothing?
What if Sky was forcing structure onto coincidence?
He disliked that possibility most.
Because paranoia disguised itself as vigilance.
And he refused to become irrational.
He exited the storage wing quietly.
No accusation.
No report.
No movement against anyone.
Instead, he made two silent assumptions:
One —
Someone could be using raw Noxtorn sourced externally.
Two —
He could be wrong.
Both remained viable.
Until something concrete shifted, he would not act.
As he returned to his quarters, the faint scent seemed gone.
Or perhaps it had never been there at all.
Sky paused at his doorway.
If someone was cultivating instability—
They were patient.
If he was imagining it—
He was the unstable element.
Neither conclusion was acceptable.
[But this lacks relation with the other things right?] The shadow who was behind him listening to all these, spoke after a long silence.
'Huh?'
[If he has the smell of Noxtorn it doesn't prove that he was involved with the suicide and it doesn't prove any relation with him and any other possibilities other than the trapped prisoner theory which is still quite a stretch and even then what will you do if that happens? What if he was doing this with teh permission of teh other members but they were being secretive to hide it from the public, it's not like the group has shown a pure moral compass so they could resort to torture as a punishment for criminal or use to extract information from others.]
'Ah I see your point.' Sky thought as he wondered if he should just take it a bit easy on himself, these thoughts were the things making him unable to sleep so maybe he shouldn't carry them all of them.
It would definitely allow him to get more rest, that's for sure.
Can't stop thinking.too weird.Odd the voice behind him spoke with a low voice.
[Yeah but we should just stop overthinking it's making us lack sleep.]
'Yeah but It's barely been 19 hours since I woke up so there's still about 10 hours even if I go to sleep at the same time I did…well tried at least.'
[Hmm…maybe you can check out the place where the woman that luminar found is being kept]
"Nah, feels weird as a man visiting a woman who just recently lost her purity."
[Talk to Nester then she probably needs help and you can just do what she requests if you]
"Makes sense," Sky said as he turned towards where Nester was and started to walk there.
— ✦ —
"So I'm assuming Eli has successfully infiltrated?" Ron asked, leaning back in his chair as the dim cave light flickered.
"We sent her there," Biny replied flatly, her arm still locked around someone's neck. "Didn't have time to stay and confirm whether Luminar actually took her in."
"Yeah, yeah, I get that," Robert wheezed. "But do you have to choke me while explaining?"
"Yeah," Biny answered without hesitation, tightening her grip slightly. "You screwed up. I even suggested tossing you out, but that stupid doc wanted you alive."
"Biny, stop." Ron sighed. "And Greenet, this isn't funny. I don't know why you're about to burst."
Greenet was visibly shaking, trying to hold in laughter.
"Ah… my bad," he muttered, inhaling deeply to steady himself.
"Tch." Biny clicked her tongue and finally let Robert drop.
He hit the stone floor, coughing violently.
"By the way, where's the doc?" Greenet asked.
"He'll be coming here soon and Greenet won't bother sitting at his seat just because he's not here." Ron replied, looking at Greenet.
Greenet who was about to deny such allegations was made silent with Ron's look making him realise it would probably be better to not deal with this.
There were six chairs arranged around the uneven stone table. Two empty.
Greenet's seat, unfortunately, was positioned beneath a crack in the cave ceiling. Every two or three seconds—
Drip.
Water landed precisely on Greenet's left shoulder.
"Why don't you take Stolte's seat instead?" Biny suggested lazily.
"Hell no! He'll beat my ass." Greenet interjected interrupting Biny.
"Did someone mention my name?"
"Ahhh!" Greenet exclaimed, jolting so violently he nearly slipped on the damp stone.
Stolte stood behind him.
He was blind in one eye and his other pupil was purple and had short pitch black hair and his staggering height of 7ft 2 made him easily toppled over Greenet's height.
"Oh, Stolte you're back already?" Ron asked as he noticed his presence
"Yep and your plans to foil his plans of giving back the stone failed didn't it?" Stotle replied looking at Ron with pity.
"Plan?" Robert questioned
"Yeah, that guy had planned for them to take their stones from our hands long before we even took it and I attempted to try and foil it."
"So I almost died because of your small action of rebellion!?" Robert exclaimed.
"Oh, shut up" Biny said as she hit Robert in the head putting g back on the ground again.
"Cut him some slack" the doc spoke as he walked into the room.
Taking his chair and sitting down as he put the bag he was carrying on the table.
"How are you doing Cale?" Stolte spoke as he too sat down in his seat, "Also how did you feel about betraying Ron?"
"Hmm? I have no idea what you mean." Cale replied
"Oh stop pretending, I know you secretly destroyed over 48 traps we had set and planted fake traps in place of them that didn't work so we wouldn't notice them unless we tested them and I also know about the fact that you would make the guards in the cave stop guarding while Ron was gone." Stolte spoke looking at Cale with a cold expression.
"Oh, that? It's already been settled, I did talk about it with Ron." Cale replied not changing his expression even once.
"Yeah I can confirm that." Ron replied.
"Before we move on I would like to ask why did we even prevent the stealing back of the white stone? Like I know it's a part of his plan but why does it even need to be stolen back." Robert spoke after finally managing to stand up.
"Oh, that's something only I know and no I don't plan on speaking about it." Stolte spoke up, answering Robert.
"Why-"
"It's classified and that guy told me not to say it any of you f**k's, especially to Ron considering his behavior." Stolte spoke, interrupting Robert.
"Can we just move on to the discussion of the plan?" Biny spoke up, getting bored.
"Oh, yeah sure, I brought some instructions back from him and I think Cale also has some slight idea on what we plan on doing, guessing from the bag he put on the table." Stotle spoke, turning his gaze towards Cale.
"Yeah I do," Cale replied
"Mind if you open that bag first then?" Stolte requested.
"Sure" he replied as he opened the bag…
— ✦ —
"So the reason you're bothering me is because…" Nester began.
"I have nothing productive to do," Sky replied calmly.
She stared at him for a moment.
"Hmm…" Nester thought for a bit before standing up and carrying the report and analysis she was writing.
She stood up and went and got a small piece of charcoal that was pre-shaped to write, taking it and putting it down in front of Sky.
"Normally I'd use ink but since I'm sure you're not that insistent on having your hands dirty so we'll use charcoal." She replied as she returned to her table and began to look below the table, searching for something.
"And uh.. what is this?"
"Basically it's an analysis of problems we have and we are just organising them by the frequency of them to see which problem to tackle first." She replied as she took out a pile of papers from the table and placed it in front of Sky.
"Each issue gets a point value based on severity. For example, 'lack of proper clothing' might be two points. 'Malnutrition due to food shortage' would be around twenty-five."
"And I'm guessing to get the final point we have to multiply with the frequency right?" Sky asked.
"Yep, and these papers are all the problems that have been seen and reported by the IGS and the other members, more prominently, Luminar." She replied.
"Read them. Identify the core issue. If the issue repeats, create a frequency table and increment it."
"I see…" Sky replied in thought, "So what will you do now?"
"Oh, me? I gotta go and establish what items we have in our storage and see how much of it I'm obliged to use freely to my wishes and then see if any raw resources can be used to make something and what to make and also what to sell or give away to the citizens, scouts, etc." Nester replied as she stood up and planned on heading to the storage to see the report.
"That seems like it's a hassle," Sky replied, "Also I'm assuming that the reason why you are giving so much away is to lower the death count of the overall population right?"
"Yep, we're doing this so far but I'm also quite concerned about the fiend rouges so I've been having Merick and the other elite scouts take shifts to observer but I might have to plan an attack to disband that group soon enough," Nester replied as she stretched her stiff body.
"I guess shit only went worse after the fall…" Sky replied, reminiscing about his times with his old members but he soon snapped out of it.
It wasn't a time to remember the past for he might regret it and he can't be burdened by the past or regret.