4th Street, Thursday, November 5th, 5th Century Year 50, 9:30 AM
A restaurant called 'The Morning Graces' was located near Telecommunications Station Division 4. Serving both breakfast and lunch, it had become a local favorite for its savory flavors, drawing in both residents and passersby alike.
...At Table No. 3, tucked away in the farthest corner by the window, sat a man and a young girl.
Nicholas was staring intently at the menu. These dishes bore a striking resemblance to the typical Western cuisine from the world he came from— mostly featuring American breakfasts, steaks, and salads, mixed with French dishes and pastries. It was this very familiarity that kept his gaze fixed on the pages for quite some time.
He had come here with Haley... This young girl had invited him out to eat since the first day he was assigned to Station Division 4, but they hadn't had the chance until today. Table No. 3 was evidently Haley's usual spot, indicating she had been a regular customer here for a long time.
Around her neck hung a green jade pendant of a unique design. Perhaps because it didn't resemble any popular jewelry in this era, making it look quite eye-catching.
" That's a cool necklace..."
Nicholas's voice seemed to wake the young girl from her reverie. She flashed him a smile and quickly held up the pendant to show it off.
"It looks very distinctive and unique. Does it have any special meaning?"
Haley fell silent for a moment upon hearing that, then responding in a soft voice.
"Actually, it doesn't mean all that much. It's just..." Her eyes wavered briefly and showed a hint of hesitation but decided to continue.
"You know that I grew up in the Church's orphanage, don't you?"
Nicholas nodded to that statement.
"...From what I've been told, it seems my parents left me at the church's doorstep when I was still a baby. The only things I had with me back then were this jade pendant and a letter. The letter said they couldn't take care of me, so they begged mercy from the God of Death and Rebirth. As for this pendant, it was one of the few valuables they owned. They hoped it would serve as some form of compensation for the church to look after me."
The young lawyer fell silent upon hearing the girl's story. In truth, such tales were not uncommon... Within the slum district on the outskirts, beggars and starving souls were plenty. It was no surprise that there were many orphans abandoned by their parents.
"Father Ramones told me the church didn't sell this necklace but kept it for me as a keepsake... To be honest, I thought about selling it many times. After all, I've never seen my parents, and I don't even know who they are. But one day, curiosity got the better of me and I took it to an appraiser. It turned out to be worth only about 35 pennies."
Nicholas listened to the girl's words in silence, not knowing how to console her.
"You don't have to comfort me, really. To be honest, this has never actually bothered me. I only kept it because I thought it looked pretty."
Despite her words, Nicholas could still notice the loneliness hidden within her eyes. The atmosphere between them lapsed into silence.
The Haley he saw today seemed absent-minded and quietly subdued, different from her usual cheerful demeanor, It was as if something heavy was weighing on her mind.
Nicholas noticed her clouded mood and couldn't help but speak up.
"What's wrong? You've been really distracted... is having a meal with me really that depressing?" he remarked jokingly.
"It's not like that, Senior! I was just... thinking about something,"
Haley quickly denied it, her face reddening slightly. It seemed his words had helped ease her gloomy mood somewhat.
"Do you have something worrying you? Can I help with anything?"
Not to boast, but Nicholas felt that listening to others' problems was one of his greatest strengths—a natural byproduct of his career as a lawyer.
"It's nothing important, really..." the girl said in a low voice. Her thumbs pressed against each other instinctively, a habit she displayed whenever she spoke about something that troubled her.
"...I just feel like I'm completely useless," she lamented, piquing Nicholas's curiosity.
"Why would you think that?"
He asked this with genuine interest. He had never imagined that the girl who always seemed so cheerful would harbor such feelings deep down inside.
The young girl was quiet for a moment before answering softly.
"If I tell you, please don't be mad at me, Senior."
"I promise." Nicholas gave his word, which seemed to calm Haley's emotions somewhat.
"I've been an apprentice for over six years now. I've tried my best to train constantly, but it feels like I haven't improved at all. Compared to you—who had never been trained before, yet managed to pass the Trial of Rebirth and become a Spirit Medium so quickly—I feel like a total failure as an apprentice…"
The young girl poured out her feelings with tears welling in her eyes.
Haley was an orphan taken in by the church. For as long as she could remember, she had been taught and raised with only one goal—to be an apprentice. She barely met the selection criteria. In class, her grades were always near the bottom of the rankings. She had failed and stumbled time and time again, despite trying her best.
Throughout the past 6 years, her name had never once been put forward for the Trial of Rebirth. Nicholas listened quietly to the young girl's words. He understood this feeling very well. It was exactly how he had felt before being sent to this world.
Especially when she compared herself to him—an ordinary person who had become a Spirit Medium in such a short time after encountering supernatural incidents—it was only natural for her to feel disappointed and hurt.
"I'm afraid that I'll just fail again... I keep thinking... that maybe I should just give up."
Nicholas sat listening to Haley quietly. Her emotional state now was full of confusion. He wanted to encourage the young girl before him, but this was a delicate matter involving her own future. It was a decision she had to make for herself, and he had no right to interfere or tell her to follow his advice
—But then he suddenly thought of something.
"There is a story I heard when I was a child. Would you like to hear it?"
Haley lifted her tear-stained face, looking at Nicholas with a puzzled expression, but she gave him a small, slight nod. Seeing that, Nicholas smiled and began his tale.
"Long ago, there was a marine experiment involving a shark. The researchers caught a shark and placed it inside a large water tank. Every day, they released bait into the tank at the same spot to feed it. Then one day, they changed the arrangement. Besides placing bait at the usual spot, they also placed another one on the opposite side of the tank. However, this prey was enclosed behind a thick glass wall—strong enough to prevent the shark from reaching it…"
He paused for a moment to let the girl visualize the scene before continuing.
"When the shark noticed the other piece of bait, it immediately tried to reach it. But no matter how hard it struggled, it couldn't get to the bait. Each time it charged forward, it crashed into the glass barrier and eventually injured itself. It kept trying for many days, but in the end, it gave up and stopped paying any attention to that bait completely…"
Nicholas looked at Haley, who was now listening intently. Having been an orphan since she was small, she seemed more mature than others her age, yet deep down, she was still just a sixteen-year-old girl. Telling a story seemed to be an effective way to spark her interest.
"A few days later, the researchers removed the glass partition. But it turned out that from then on, the shark never bothered with that bait again. Even though the glass wall was no longer there, the shark still 'saw' the barrier standing between itself and its prey..."
Having reached this point, he asked Haley,
"What do you think the moral of this story is?"
Haley pondered for a moment before answering in an innocent voice, "That sharks have terrible eyesight?"
Her remark made Nicholas chuckle softly.
"Well, you're not wrong," he said. "But in truth, the moral is this: it's only natural for people to give up after facing the same failure time and time again. But on the other hand, if that shark hadn't given up and had tried to go for that bait just one more time, there would have been no glass wall to stand in the way of its success."
Nicholas turned to meet the young girl's eyes waiting to see if she understood the message he was trying to convey.
"So you believe that if someone keeps trying hard enough, they'll eventually succeed?"
What Nicholas said wasn't truth and was still far from reality. But if possible, he himself wanted it to be true. If possible, he himself...
"I... just want to believe," Nicholas replied.
He wanted to believe that anything was possible if one truly puts their heart and soul into something. Perhaps it maybe just a childish thought, but without hope and faith— if one believed something was impossible from the very beginning—then there would never have been any chance of achieving it in the first place.
Upon hearing Nicholas's answer, Haley's eyes began to sparkle. The turmoil and confusion that had clouded her mind slowly faded away, replaced by a firm determination—it seemed she had already made up her mind.
"I want to believe the same thing you do, Senior," Haley said to Nicholas.
"I want to try my very best. I want to stand up and fight again, no matter how many times I fail… I want to become someone like you."
A smile broke across her face. It seemed the cheerful and friendly girl Nicholas knew had finally returned.
Nicholas smiled back, reaching out to gently pat Haley's head with affection.
"Hehe... even though I'm an orphan, I think if I ever had an older brother, he would be just like you, Senior Nicholas,"
Haley said while bowing her head for Nicholas to pat easily.
Nicholas paused for a slightly. In truth, he had never had a younger sister, but he imagined that if he did, this was what it might feel like. Still, he kept the thought to himself.
"I think we should order our food now," he said. "I feel like the staff has been glaring at us for quite a while."
Come to think of it, he had been staring at the menu for quite a long time earlier. Not to mention the conversation just now. It wasn't surprising that the restaurant staff would react that way.
"Roger!"
Haley chirped, raising her hand to order with a bright smile.
...And so, the cheerful meal between the two of them continued.
…..
On the night of November 6th, beneath a waning moon, the deserted 1st street lay shrouded in darkness. Amidst the faint moonlight and the light snow falling against the surrounding tall buildings, the figure of a young man appeared.
Nicholas wore a medieval cloak adorned with grand patterns, resembling the attire of a nobleman. He wore black boots and gloves that looked snug and agile, while the upper half of his face was concealed behind a silver mask, topped with a black top hat.
Nicholas stepped forward, following the directions indicated in Roderick's blueprints. Today was the day he would finally settle his mission.
Earlier in the evening, he had attended a meeting with representatives from the Mikolash Company at his home until around seven o'clock. After seeing his guests off, he quietly slipped out of his residence through shadows and traveled to the 1st Street to carry out the plan he had prepared.
The outfit he wore tonight was a custom-made suit, commissioned in separate pieces from various tailors across the City of York. Nicholas had long anticipated that a day might come when such a disguise would be necessary, and he had prepared it in advance.
The district he was currently in served as a water treatment and maintenance area, connected to the river and the sewer system. As a result, very few people passed through here.
Amid the heavy silence, Nicholas finally arrived at the sewer outlet that marked his destination.
This was the gate that would take him into the residential area of the upper class behind the stone wall that blocked off the district.
Nicholas closed his eyes and gathered the spiritual energy in his body. His senses sharpened as his body temperature plummeted—matching the cold, piercing glint that now emanated from his eyes.
"Now... let the judgment begin."
06.11.550
Nicholas Parlay
Spirit medium (Éna)