At this time, back in Tingen…
In a hidden basement of an abandoned house near the outer suburbs of the city, three individuals were seated under the diming light of a gas lamp and the faint sunlight entering through the cracks on the wooden floor of the ground floor above them.
Thankfully, nobody was around so nobody would hear or see them.
"Lucy, I just checked it out. the kid came again and indeed took the item and nothing else. Well, he is more cautious than I thought. He sent a homeless child in his place to get the item, so I could not capture him immediately." The old and skinny man said to the tall red-head while putting away the black clothes he had worn to keep himself hidden.
"I checked the child's mind, and he only met the boy a few moments before the boy sent him into the house to recover anything inside. He is cautious." The man added.
"Cautious enough to survive in this cruel world we live in…" Lucy, the read-head said softly, nodding at the old man's world before turning her attention to the stout man.
"Lucky, any updates on the boss' situation? Do we know what his mission was?" She asked him with a hint of anticipation.
"Almost! It will still take us another 2 days for the informant to uncover which mission he had accepted from MI9. It's not like such information is kept lying around the place just anywhere." Lucky, the stout man shrugged after giving the update, returning to eating his mega-sandwich.
"Good. We will use that to find Cedric. But we have to be careful. The nighthawks have been getting more and more active recently, and since boss is not here to intervene, if they see us, they will most likely kill us on the spot." She added while turning away from the two men, looking at the wall filled with information snippets from newspapers and handwritten notes. Multicoloured strings wound around metal pins connected various aspects of the giant mess, creating order among the utter chaos.
Her rough hand travelled along one of the blue coloured threads, ultimately landing on a particular article printed on clean white paper with pristine black ink.
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Archbishop of Evernight Church goes missing
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Her finger than moved, following the thread skipping through a series of hand written conjectures until she reached the end, where the blue thread lay limp, hanging off a metal pin. She took out a hand written note, applied a small amount of glue to it and stuck it to an empty space on the wall, then picking up a metal pin, and using the back of the metal glue bottle, to hammer it into the wooden wall. Then, she pulled on the blue string and wound it around the metal pin, frowning as she did so.
The two other noticed her actions, and did not react at first, but when she hammered in the metal pin, it immediately caught their attention as they leaned over to read, a deep frown appearing on their faces as they read it.
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Unknown Sealed Artifact of Grade 0 missing from Nighthawks…
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"I- I think it's better if we forget about this one…" the old man stuttered as he spoke. Meanwhile the stout man named Lucky just gulped on his saliva, nodding to the old man, sweat already forming on his forehead.
"Oh Maric, always the worrywart. It's not like we know what the artifact is or how it works. As long as we do not know this, it will also likely not be able to affect us unless we come into contact with it. However, my instincts tell me that this is somehow related to Boss' disappearance." She said, turning around to face the old man.
"A Hunter's instincts should not be ignored." The old man could only suppress his worries and nod slightly, sighing deeply to let go of his emotions and focus on collecting himself. After all, strong emotions would make you lose control much faster. This was a universal truth he knew about all pathways.
'But the child… I have a feeling he is also related to this somehow…' Lucy thought to herself, but did not say it out loud, choosing to investigate it further when the time came.
…
Meanwhile, in a house with a red chimney…
A white feather-quill began writing in a book on its own.
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The Knowledge Magisters, who were supposed to have already been captured and killed in a confrontation by the Nighthawks who had only recently found their location, were not. Unknown whether it was due to a stroke of luck or outside influence, the Knowledge Magisters shifted their base of operations to a more secret and remote hideout.
All this happened due to the influence of-
All this happened due to the influence of-
All this happened-
All-
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As the quill was writing, not only did the crimson moon glow, causing its power to be considerably weakened but that could not stop it. However, an unknown force kept lifting the tip of the quill off the book every time it tried to complete its statement, until it finally gave up and began writing other stuff, returning to its original course of trying to kill its owner.
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Unfortunately, their new hideout was coincidentally within the territory of Mr A of the Aurora Order. In a coincidence, Mr A's subordinate in Tingen informs him about the Knowledge Magisters and the vast amounts of knowledge they possess, who then activate members of his organisation to capture the Knowledge Magisters.
In this process, the latter stumble into the one and only Ince-
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This time, the quill was physically interrupted by a hand, that prevented it from writing out his full name, as he quickly crossed out his name and wrote another person's name, who he did not like at all. The name he had written was Dunn Smith.
After that, he put away the quill and inspected the book where everything was written. He noticed the repetitions that the Grade 0 artifact had undergone and a shiver went up his spine. Something was interfering with a Grade 0 Artifact, without him even noticing! It was best if he left the Knowledge Magisters alone for the time being.
He did not know what had caused this, but he knew one thing for sure, knowing too much or being too greedy for knowledge will lead you to a faster death than you could even imagine. Deciding to ignore this situation, he returned to his normal planning and scheming while remaining shut in the house.