Taking out needles Tristana left in his body he pondered about the power she used and the technique that made him talk without any ability to refuse. Such power was desired by many but what interested him more was where she learned it and how she knew what ailment and substance to use to include him in to trance-like state.
Was it lord of exorcist? Mentor from her life outside? Or did she learn it from the text she found somewhere?
"How did truth-seeker come to be?"
He asked David who right after Tristania left began to clean the waste she left behind. He did not even lift his head from work as he answered but his voice was full of emotions.
"Truth seekers were originally part of Walldrifters, together with blood demons and oracles but after they fell, they disbanded, and the main leader of truth seekers took one of the great halls for herself."
Hildebrant remembered the girl who stood atop the stage, her face illuminated by bloody light and her eyes full of calculating disappointment.
"Was she the girl on stage?"
Chuckling David stood up with pieces of the old chair resting in his embrace and nodded.
"Yes, Cecilie is a devoted believer of Worm Hive so after taking command of the truth seeker and population of Great Hall people are forced to participate in mass."
Hildebrant titled his head.
"If I remember correctly, it is not one of the rules."
Stopping before the opened door David looked at him with tiredness written over his entire face.
"Rules are not the only thing that binds people to do Lord's bidding."
Said David and then walked out of the room leaving Hildebrant pondering about his words until his gaze shifted to the painting of an unknown man.
Darius Main.
The man on the painting was in his middle age and his eyes stared at him with great intensity. The entire painting looked as if a man would come alive the moment he blinked and in that short time, he would strangle his neck.
The only thing giving the man some calmness was a rose in his hand.
In the middle of his thought doors opened and David came back with a big smile on his face.
"Guess what I found outside?"
Hildebrant just observed as he walked to him and from behind the doors dragged an old wooden chair closer to his bed without asking anyone for permission. His body moved unnaturally animatedly, and his feet didn't make a sound as if he was a ghost and not a living being but when he brought the chair closer, kicked the chair that was already there on the ground and put it next to his bed, he beamed another smile.
"How do you like it?"
Hildebrant shrugged.
"It's fine, I guess. Is this all you wanted to show me?"
"No, I have another thing I want to show you."
Smiling David slithered into the chair and leaned his hand against the handles while he continued to watch him with his cold eyes. They were similar and different from the eyes Cecilia had when she looked down from the stage. There was brutality and calculation but also something else much deeper emotion he could not evaluate even with his years of experience in observing people.
"So, what do you want to show me?"
With a smile, David retrieved something from his pocket and slowly showed it to him while he kept tapping the edge of a chair with his finger. It was a small golden case, sealed with a lid that had the symbol of a circle with a twisting worm inside of it on top of its surface.
The case made Hildebrant flames rage and hair on his body stood out.
"I was very interested in how you survived outside of great halls and afraid something similar would happen again so I bought this from a stall that was not far away with it you can be safe from any harm."
He said with affection, but his eyes showed nothing but contempt.
Staring at David, Hildebrant's face turned emotionless, his voice lost all its warmth and a little of the muscles he had on his body bulged turning his skinny figure into that of a prepared warrior. Turning his gaze, he gave a glance at the painting of a man whose eyes still stared at him with a mocking smile and then he gazed back at David.
"Can I ask something first?"
David grinned.
"Anything."
"Where is David?"
The room became silent and the person or being trying to play David chuckled.
"I don't know what you mean. Am I not here?"
Hildebrant did nothing just stared at the person in David's skin and the longer he stared stronger the grasp of the person who held the chair became until the arm of the chair was crushed into debris that fell on the floor.
Under hateful gaze, Hildebrant calmly watched the skin of a person change and deform until black black-haired petite lady did not sit on a chair that was once filled with the giant body of a man.
"Happy?"
Hildebrant titled his head.
"No?"
Girl clenched her teeth but then she sighed and leaned back into the now-destroyed chair.
"How did you know?"
"Coincidence."
How could he not know when their personalities were word apart? While David was kind and caring, the girl's interpretation of him was that of a cold and ruthless man. There were some similarities but from the beginning, when she walked in, she looked the completely same just on the surface.
"Do you want me to believe you just found it without knowing anything?"
Hildebrant shrugged.
"You don't need to believe me if you don't want to, I am not forcing you."
The girl sneered but then she calmed down and smiled.
"You are not forcing me the same way you didn't force your companion to escape from you."
This time it was Hildebrant time to close his mouth. From the beginning, Arrianete was a mysterious existence and the only thing he ever did for her was to open the cage on the ship. She had no obligation to stay with him, she was free to do what she wanted but hearing that she was gone filled him with a weird sense of loneliness.
"What do you have with it?"
Without his knowledge of why, the girl chuckled when she heard his answer and even began to smile a little. When he looked at her now, she looked pretty good with her black hair falling down her shoulders and silver armor that looked more like liquid than metal.
"Didn't you think it's weird you feel so much affection for an eight-year-old girl?"
The question hit his brain like a hammer and made his insides twist and distort. He wanted to refute but his mind was unable to find a reason why he should do it. He cared for her because she looked like his niece and didn't want her to suffer at her age but remembering a small girl holding the saber in her hand and severing human life Hildebrant clenched his fist.
"Did you even ponder where that affection came from?"
He didn't, he didn't need to but watching the girl's smile widen made his mind descend into chaos.
Noticing a change in his expression she pushed her hand closer to him and showed him a golden case with intricated symbols of Worm Hive and Yorm and Hildebrant stared at it with confusion until a melodious voice came out of the girl's mouth.
"This can help you, all you need to do is accept it but before that, I have an important question for you."
She said and then she leaned closer, her voice filled with venom and cold determination traversing into his ears.
"Do you know who Gabriel is?"