Four lamps sticking at four corners of the room lit the faces of Trace, Eimi and Deus. Everyone had different thoughts on their mind. Trace was thinking of ways to help Eimi , who in turn wanted to save her falling family.
"I do not have to ask if I want to search the house, do I?", Deus broke the silence.
"No!", Eimi stood up abruptly.
"How can you help her family?", Trace said looking towards Deus Garcia.
"It depends on how they can help me", Deus Garcia said in a grave tone.
"My mother was... injured when they took father away", was a slow answer in a painful tone.
"Can she speak?" Deus asked as if he did not hear the injured part.
"No..."
Eimi closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. If she wanted to help the family then this was the time. She clenched her fists and made up her mind to answer questions in place of her mother.
"There were seven intruders. Some of them were able to use talisman".
"A group led by Level 2 Reapers...", Deus said.
Deus dismissed the possibility of there being a Level 3 Sorcerer because the method to reach Level 3 was in control of the Federation. A top secret only bestowed upon Sorcerers who attained great merits for the Federation.
"I can assure you that I can provide enough protection to deal with that level of threat", Deus smiled lightly. "But only if you can help with my investigation. Do you have a list of your customers?"
Eimi who was looking down took a long breath before looking up. They did keep a list of all the customers. She nodded and slowly turned. For a brief moment her eyes met Trace's, who was looking back at her.
Eimi was holding two thick and long registers in hands when she returned. She placed them on the table in front of Deus Garcia. A blue register and another green. Both had the mark of Swirls family on the front and were decorated with swirling patters.
Deus Garcia quickly turned the pages, only stopping at random pages in between. After checking both registers, he smiled and stood up. And gave the impression that he was about to leave now.
"I promise that next time, I will return with news about your father. And if there is a third register, I hope you will find that for me.", Deus Garcia said before he got out of the house.
Trace looked at Eimi for a while before rushing out to meet Deus. At the gate leading outside the premise Deus standing still with the registers in his grips. It seemed like Deus was waiting for him.
"Hold it for me", Deus gave Trace one register.
Trace held it with both hands, and he thought the register had quite a bit of weight to it. He saw Deus' free hand taking out a letter from his breast pocket. The letter had a triangular seal guarding its contents.
"Destthine wants you to do something".
Deus threw the letter in the air and took the register back from Trace. Normally, he would not have done something so indecent but right now he was full of ecstasy. There was a third register and he could make the girl hand it over willingly when the time was right.
Trace caught the letter and saw the seal stamped with a triangle. He went towards to the room with the stone slab and sat on the veranda. The seal caught his attention and he tired to scratch it. A small dot was right in between the triangular seal.
After fiddling with the seal for a while, he decided to break it to open the letter. What could be inside it? After reading the contents he was shocked and a little bit glad. Shocked by what Mister Klavior wanted him to do in the morning.
And glad because of two reasons. One, he could finally play a small role in helping Miss Swirls and secondly, for reading the letter the fast enough. Slowly the corners of the letter disintegrated block by block. To his surprise, they rotated around in the air forming a butterfly and then disappeared in the wind.
"A type-Zade talisman", Eimi Swirls walked into the room.
Her emotions stirred on seeing the butterfly. When she was little, her father used to make such letters for her. Back then she wanted to see a lot of dispersing butterflies and birds but after growing up she realized how expensive such talisman were.
"Trace, can you live here when they send people to guard this house?", she asked sitting beside Trace.
"What do you mean Miss Swirls?"
Trace looked towards her, but she was looking in the distance. So, he also decided to turn his head towards the dark sky. For a moment he thought of tell her about the letter but decided against it.
...
"She fell asleep…."
A Level 1 Sorcerer was observing from a nearby building. Today evening he visited the usual lookout spot which was very far from Swirls shop but the Level 3 Sorcerer was not there. Neither was the Level 2 Sorcerer names Deus Garcia. Only a note with a map with marked lookout spots near Swirls shop.
It could have been a chance to use the high-grade telescope that was present on the lookout spot, but Level 1 Sorcerer could not direct mana outside the body. On the Level 1 Sorcerer's chest was a badge with seven edges and a small dot. A badge which won't shine no matter what.
He was only at the second sequence of Level 1 but still had no trouble seeing clearly in the dark. Thus, by moving to a closer building the Swirls shop was visible with naked eye. Moving this close had its disadvantages, the enemy would know and not act. Or probably act towards him first.
The Level 1 Sorcerer sighed eating the extra special lunchbox he originally bought for the Level 3 Sorcerer. He was only involved because he picked up a whistle and a note lying on the ground, a few days ago. There was a crazy blue and white bird with sharp eyes and a red mohawk that tried to wrestle away the note and whistle from him, but he held fast.
...
Next morning, Trace left the Swirls house nervous. It for time for him to carry out the mission mentioned in the letter from Klavior. He walked towards the mentioned location. A few students heading to their school early, some workers cleaning the streets, people buying the early newspaper, and many others.
Trace went towards the newspaper stall and picked up a newspaper. This was the place! There were a few other people reading newspapers around the small stand. Four different newspaper bundles were kept at the side and the shop keeper were busy counting coins while keeping an eye out for thieves.
Some decided to buy the newspaper while others left after reading for a bit. People came and went but Trace stood there looking at the attire of ever person that bought newspapers. His eyes locked onto the incoming attire.
The woman who matched the description on the letter had a white belt wrapped around her thin waist. Her upper body was covered by blue velvet but could not hide the stunning proportions. As she walked her black netted stockings revealed themselves.
"Butterflies?"
Trace couldn't help but notice the butterfly patters on the black net. It was just as the letter described along with the fur wrapped around her shoulders which extended up as a hoodie to cover her head. Gloves on her hands hid the rings and matched with the cloth covering her legs.
After the woman brought newspapers, Trace left the newspaper stand and followed her for a while. He was bracing himself for what was going to happen next. After a few twists and turns on the streets he saw a handkerchief fall.
He quickly raced to pick it up. The handkerchief was light blue a butterfly sewed at one corner. A soft scent entered his nostrils. It was very different and stayed on his nose for a while. Trace rubbed his nose and gulped; one part of the mission was complete. Now for the next part, he caught up to the lady and extended his hand to return the handkerchief.
"Even a dream of thousand suns, intangible flowers and florescent lake would be incomplete without you".
The woman smiled and wrapped her palms around the boy's extended hand. The handkerchief along with the boy's hand were fully covered by her hands. She spoke a few words of thanks but stopped midway.
Trace felt that her voice was extremely smooth, and her words were genuine. For a moment he forgot that this was supposed to be an act. And smiled back foolishly accepting the thanks.
She slowly pulled Trace's hand close and pressed it on herself wanting to see an expression change. But Trace just stood there rubbing his head and giving an expression of 'I did not do anything special, but you are welcome".
After a while when the woman did not let of his hand, he looked back at her confusingly. Under the hoodie was a young face, it had a frown and was glaring back at him. Not knowing what he did wrong, he put up an apologetic face. The woman smoothly removed the handkerchief from his hands and turned away.
"Everyone turns out to be the same", she mumbled.
Trace saw her walking away. It seemed like she was walking faster than before and was about to remove her glove. But she stopped midway and turned back. Not knowing what to do, Trace suddenly bowed with an apologetic face.
When he looked up, the woman was gone. Suddenly, he remembered about the letter, the task! He lifted his hands for a quick inspection. The handkerchief on his hands had been replaced with a red needle sticking on his palm. The mission was a success! He firmly closed his grip and dashed towards home.
...
Running all the, Trace only stopped in front of the stairs. He couldn't wait to tell his master about this expedition. But sitting on the stairs to his master's shop was a man eating a sandwich. The man seemed to be in his early twenties and was on his pajamas.
"Hello, my name is Khufu Azami".
Khufu Azami was a patrolman of the Police Department of Koyoko city. He was assigned to help Deus Garcia because of the special circumstances. This morning, he left the lookout when Trace left and rushed home to sleep.
Just after he changed his clothes and hopped in bed that damn bird with a red mohawk began knocking on his window. He suspected that the bird had picked that time purposely. Thus, instead of changing his clothes, he rushed out in his pajamas to quickly carry out the order.
"I have a letter for you", he took out a letter from his pajama pocket.