Sep 19th, 1349 of the Fifth Epoch…
Audrey, who had only recently advanced to Sequence 8; Telepathist of the Visionary or Reader pathway, held onto the letter she had received from her butler with hints of joy.
This letter had passed through the hands of at least three individuals, each of whom had already read the message, and ensured nothing was out of place, including but not limited to checking for death-threats, poisons, toxins, and any other dangerous situations before finally reaching her hands.
She had already realised that she had been far too naive when she had first joined the Tarot Club, sending her personal butler to send a message to the Dunant's store. Obviously Mr. Death had traced him back to her and found out her real-life identity.
Though, it did not seem to be too big of a deal, since Mr. Death did not seem to be that bad, and he had clearly realised most of her identity from the very first Tarot meeting.
'I wonder why he had written this letter to me?' Audrey opened the already opened cover and pulled out the letter, and opening it was a neutral expression.
[Dear Ms. Justice…]
The latter was rather simple. It stated that Mr. Death was very thankful for Ms. Justice's help in providing the information regarding the location of the ingredient he wanted. After thanking her, he gave her just one piece of information to act as payment for he information. Of course, physical payment was also there, but such little amount of money did not mean too much to her.
[Be careful Ms. Justice. Dangers lurk in every corner. Evil thrives in darkness. Sorrow is brought by disaster, but sometimes, just sometimes, disaster is brought about by sorrow. Not the sorrow of the few, but the sorrow of the many. Be careful, Ms. Justice, for Backlund, is not as safe as it appears to me.]
Audrey frowned at the information, as it told her a lot, without actually giving her any real facts.
'Disaster is brought about by the sorrow of the many… in Backlund. It must have something to do with the slums,' Audrey quickly calculated while placing the latter on the table for Susie to read, and randomly opened a drawer and chucked in the 30 pounds she had received as payment for the information as though it was some unwanted tissue paper.
'I suppose it is time for Detective Susie and Detective Audrey to investigate. But father and mother might find out. I should get Fors and Xio to do the investigating for me. Yes! A marvellous plan! I can have them investigate this while conducting Mr. Fool's task!'
"Fu~ fu~" Audrey smirked while letting out a proud but suppressed laugh, pride in her own deductive and scheming skills.
…
Max got off the train at a small town in Desi country, on the coast of Desi Bay. He glanced at the sun glaring down at them despite it already nearing winter. After all, he was closer to the equator now than before, the climate became less versatile, and the humidity had blasted through the roof.
Still, all Max had to do to maintain a cool temperature was simply 'double' the density of the air around his skin for just an instant, enough for the heat from his skin to travel to the thicker and thus more conductive air, before turning it back to normal.
He did not stop walking and made his way directly to the shop that Klein had divined Cedric would be at, ignoring everything else around him until he finally made it to a fishing net workshop, mainly used to repair broken fishing nets.
It was considerably popular, but Max could not find the old man here at first glance. Thus, he approached the cashier and asked if he knew an old, bald, and scarred man.
The female cashier who was slightly stunned at Max's odd hair colour and eyes, mixed with the rather handsome face he had as an adult, quickly came to her senses and thought for a moment before replying in a moment of realisation.
"Of course, we know him. Dean, stop cleaning and come out, you have a visitor!"
A moment of silence later, nobody came out. Seeing this, the cashier fumed.
"Dean! Get out here right this instant! Or I will tell Father! What will you do without a job then?"
Only then did a frail-looking bald man step out, with overgrown facial hair and even some spots of growing hair on his head, but still mostly bald. It was without a doubt Cedric Negan, but he had lost a lot of weight; mainly muscle mass from the looks of it. He also clearly had not slept too well, and he was missing an arm.
Looking at this old man, Max felt only two emotions; curiosity on who did this to him and who killed the old man, and pity.
He walked over to him, around the counter, and embraced him in a heartfelt hug, "Nice to see you again, you old baldie."
The words felt like a jolt of lightning to Cedric, whose lifeless eyes began trembling as if they had lost control completely. He silently raised his one remaining hand to Max's head, which was just about his own height, and ruffled his silver-white hair as emotions and memories returned to him.
"Max my boy, is that you??" His voice seemed hoarse and frail, like that of a dying man in the desert, suddenly seeing a mirage of water in the distance, knowing that it was likely fake, but desperately grasping onto the faint hope that it was not.
"Yes, it's me, the kid that Old Man Uxas took in."
"Ah… Uxas… Max… I- You need to know something."
"I know, Old Man Uxas passed on."
"…" Cedric opened his mouth to say something, but no words left his mouth as he just looked into the distance, countless emotions going through his mind, his eyes red from holding back those very emotions.
Sometimes, it was okay to cry, and let go of your emotions. But not this time. Cedric had to tell Max some important information, it was also the reason why Uxas had sacrificed himself, so that Cedric could pass on the message to Max.
Unfortunately, Cedric never got past the fact that his best friend and comrade in arms for countless years had just vanished, without a trace left behind, which was why Cedric had settled down here.
"Max, I need to tell you some things. But we will have to go to a more private location."
…
Meanwhile, back in Tingen…
Tom got off the train while wearing a top hat and black clothes. Behind him, three other individuals got off wearing similar clothes. One was the leader of the group; Harry, who was also the highest Sequence Beyonder at Sequence 7 of the Sleepless pathway; Nightmare.
Next was the rather hot-blooded female Beyonder; Mariah. She was at Sequence 8 of the Warrior pathway; Pugilist. Her pathway was also a reason why she was so 'enthusiastic' about enemies.
Next was Ashborn, the more normal of the group. He was at Sequence 9 of the Sleepless Pathway; Sleepless and had large bags under his eyes. But other than talking a little slower than others, he seemed to be the most normal of the group, considering the other options were a hot-headed warrior maiden and an uptight boss.
And last, there was Tom, who was at Sequence 9 of the Hunter pathway; Hunter.
'Alright, it's now time to get back at those fools who thought they could get away with kidnapping little Ademisaul!' Tom adjusted his suit and began walking confidentially.
Suddenly, a fast hand grabbed his shoulder, and it immediately felt like he was being stopped by a mountain, completely immovable.
"Where do you think you're going? We need to report to the local Nighthawk post first. Only then can we carry out our mission."
"…" Tom did not say anything as his show had been abruptly cancelled and all he could do was silently follow the group, with Harry at the head, and Mariah making sure he did not wander away.