Fifteen minutes later, at the Lut Estate.
Aurus was sitting in his office, going through the paperwork with his butler at his side, as one of his servants delivered an immediate report from one of Victor's observers.
Inside was the report that one of the people from the Church of Mardrago had left with Jack and gone towards Victor's Mansion.
After rereading it twice, Aurus was in deep thought.
"Bring me the reports of the past two weeks; I need to read them again." —Aurus
"Right away." —Butler
Placing his thumb's fingertip on his chin, Aurus began making assumptions.
That Jack, I could confirm that he is Vast Lehatot's agent.
That's expected of him; I myself would have at least ten in the same situation, so it's not a reason to worry.
If my memory serves me correctly, reports say he spent a week at the church, and now he brought back a member to the mansion.
This also connects with the fact that Vast Lehatot himself went to the church for about two weeks daily in the morning until meeting him.
"Your Excellency, the reports have arrived." —Butler
Aurus took the reports and read all of them.
They included the recent daily life of Jack, Aldric, and Bren, as well as other things.
Of course, the reports on Jack and his party lacked significant information since the main target of observation was Victor, with only the recent week raising their observation priority.
All of them were seemingly unrelated, but after reading them together, Aurus was able to see a pattern, and using Victor's actions as the lens, he linked those unrelated things to him.
It seems that he took action when I left town. There are still some places that don't connect.
Aurus took a sheet of paper and began writing.
'First, Jack is in the social circle of a Trainee Deacon of Mardrago. He probably met and got converted into an agent when they were not observed.'
'This probably happened a few days before this Jack went to the Church of Mardrago with the excuse of finding an observer from the church.'
'And Vast Lehatot just so happened to be there?'
'Second, Jack also bought paper and ink before meeting him to probably write a report...'
What did he write? Up until that point, he was presumed dead as well...
Aurus read the reports again.
"Did this Jack work for the Syndicate Leader Varen?" —Aurus
Varen and the other Captains had formed a Syndicate with him as the leader so as to be able to object to the blockade without risks.
"Yes, but he stopped going recently." —Butler
"Investigations show that Varen used him as a possible informant." —Butler
This gives reason, but other questions as well.
"How recent?" —Aurus
"The exact date is not given since he was not the main target of observation, but roughly above two weeks." —Butler
Aurus continued his writing.
'Jack discovered something that forced him to abandon his role as an informant for Varen and immediately report it to Vast Lehatot.'
This is still all over the place...
"You should have told those guys to observe every member of the church when Vast Lehatot began going there." —Aurus
"I apologize for my incompetence." —Butler
"Begin proper investigations on Jack and his social circle; also look into Varen. There is something about him that caused Jack to retreat." —Aurus
...
Back at Victor Vast Lehatot's Mansion.
Aldric was bidding his farewells to Jack; about an hour had passed from when they first arrived.
It was getting dark.
Victor, who stood next to Jack outside the carriage, spoke.
"Are you sure you want to leave now? I'd like to invite you for dinner; if needed, I will provide a room." —Victor
Aldric, who was much more comfortable speaking with Victor, smiled.
"I have to politely decline; I told Priest Aldwin that I will return today." —Aldric
"I see. Have a safe trip, then." —Victor
Victor tapped Jack's shoulder and let him speak with his friend as he left.
On his way inside, he twitched a little before shaking his head, the same way you'd do when you remember something embarrassing.
"Honestly, the food here is very good; if you want, I can bring some of it to you when I go back into town." —Jack
"Lucius and the kids at the church would certainly love that." —Aldric
"But you be careful if you come to town, especially with Varen." —Aldric
Victor had told Aldric the matter about the Illegal Warped Crystal while keeping from him the fact about Instability. He knew that Varen was a scary person due to his connections, since the only people that were able to move those things around were high-nobles or royals.
Or at least, that's what Victor told Aldric. While he had some knowledge about Warped Crystals since he was a trainee Deacon, he didn't know much past the fact they are something that makes devils.
The only ones that knew what they truly were were a few very secretive families that dealt with them, all of which were subsidiaries of Lehatot, their number at eighteen with the Main Family of Vast Lehatot included.
"You should also find a way to get Bren a new place to work at." —Jack
"I also need to get him to stop going to the Sixth Tavern; Chel used to be a crew member, after all." —Aldric
It was already dark by the time the two of them finished talking.
"I should go now." —Aldric
"Take care and have a safe trip." —Jack
"You should also go and eat together with Mr. Lehatot and that Young Miss. Eating alone is against doctrine." —Aldric
"I will." —Jack
Seeing Aldric leave, Jack suddenly had a thought.
Huh... Apart from that bread and apples, I never strayed from this doctrine.
Inside the carriage, Aldric finally had a moment to think more deeply.
Mr. Lehatot is completely unlike how people paint High Nobility as...
I do understand why Jack didn't wish to tell me the other reasons; they were not polite to talk about.
He looked at the window to his left; outside was dark and had a field of grass. In the distance, a river reflected the light of the South-Side of town on the other side. He could see the ruined burned buildings of Faithful Street on the other side.
Especially that girl... She was quite pitiful.
During Victor's explanation of the reasons behind asking Jack to move in, one of them was T2, who wasn't present at the time.
How she was poisoned in a political strife by her Lady's Maid, whom she believed her Best Friend; how she found the reasons behind it and her eventually being removed from the household with what Victor called a random excuse of a boarding school.
How her previous kind and open personality with a healthy stubbornness turned closed and she began to rarely speak. Of course, her Mirror-Half TIME took over matters personally, and she was more stubborn; eventually she got rid of the second wife that T2's father took. She was the one behind the poisoning, but she used another less deadly method to remove her.
Jack also heard of this for the first time, and he understood the reason behind Victor's outburst and beating of T2's Father.
Aldric moved towards the window.
He opened the window; the wind blew in, letting in the wet burnt smell that remained from when they burned the neighborhood.
The smell couldn't reach Victor's or Aurus's mansions, but it could quite easily reach North-Side due to the winds.
"This smell..." —Aldric
Don't tell me they burned it because the smell reached Up Town?