Elmer shook his head and pinched his eyes shut for a moment to make sure that he wasn't just mistaking things. But when he pulled them open his gaze still met the familiar features of Lev as he stopped a carriage and entered into it.
He clearly told me he was not an Ascender, so why was he coming out of a building for bounty hunters…?
Elmer stood motionless, sauntering into a thought so deep that he almost forgot he was not in his room but on a walkway teeming with passersby. Then, he unexpectedly jolted a step backward, causing him to stumble into someone.
"What—" A groan had firstly escaped the supposed person Elmer had bumped, but as words were about to make their way out as well, Elmer quickly whirled around, putting a stop to them as he bowed in apology.
"Forgive me," he said quickly, the glimpse he had caught of the person's features, replaying in his head. It was a man with bushy sideburns who wielded a plain cane, and was wearing a casual brown suit complemented by a black half top hat.
The man brought upon Elmer a tch, then said to him shortly after in something of a petulant tone, "Even if I accept your apology, how is that going to solve this?" He stamped a foot twice, and that action showed Elmer's eyes what they had missed, the dusty print he had left on the man's black lace-up shoes.
Elmer's eyebrows twitched upward once, and he instantly dropped to the ground on his knees, leaving the envelope he had been holding with his two hands to his left, while he used the hem of the sleeve of his other to wipe the man's shoes clean.
They looked very expensive, so he could not afford to give the man a chance to ask him to pay. He had no money left to spare—none that was his.
"I'm sorry, sir," Elmer apologized as he wiped the head of the shoe clean. "I truly am."
Then came the murmurs resounding all about him as he kept scrubbing at the man's shoes even though they were already clean. He closed his ears to them—to whatever words the passersby were uttering—and kept doing his work of apology dutifully. That was until the man forcefully pulled his feet away from him.
"Be careful next time." The man tsked and walked away, granting Elmer the leeway to cease the lowering of his head, and take a moment to meet the gazes of those who had the time of day to stare at him where he knelt, before he rose to his feet.
He looked about for a moment, and when he saw no sign of the carriage Lev had boarded, he sighed, crossed the road as soon as it freed up, and wandered into the structure that made up the bureau's building.
Luckily, this time, the building was as normal as a building was meant to be, bar the emptiness that made it seem a bit too deserted for a place where bounty hunters gathered to take jobs.
But he did not really think too much of it, as he had understood the last time he had been here that most—if not all—of the bounty hunters came during the early break of day to take their jobs, courtesy of Ms. Edna Smyth's words—whom he now caught sight of.
"Good morning, Ms. Edna," Elmer greeted as he propped up before her where she was behind the arched desk of mahogany she had taken for her seat, with her eyes firmly pinned on something of a written paper document.
She was dressed in a casual embroidered gown today and had her red hair packed into a bun, and when she looked up, showing Elmer her narrow eyes behind the rectangular lenses of her glasses, she looked quite refined, like the clerk she was.
"Oh, good morning, Mr…" She paused, her expression giving off the impression that she had wandered into thought. Elmer was not surprised that she found it hard to remember his name, after all, he had only come here once, and she probably had to deal with a lot of people every morning.
"Elmer Hills," he helped her out, shifting the edge of his lips to the side with a very unnoticeable smile.
Ms. Edna Smyth heaved out a low breath before saying, "Pardon me. I tend to forget people's names after a single meeting."
"That's not a problem if you do. I don't think too much of it," Elmer consoled her, the envelope in his hands held below his waist and in return hidden beneath the surface frame of the desk.
She shook her head lightly. "Well, a good morning to you as well, Mr. Elmer." There was another pause before she continued. "You didn't knock again."
Elmer gasped faintly, then let his head slump for a moment. "I forgot. Won't happen next time."
Ms. Edna downturned her lips. "I hope so. We don't want what happened last time to repeat itself, right?"
Elmer nodded. She definitely did not hate it any more than he did. He almost died, if he was to say.
"So, do you have any questions? I assume that's why you're here, unless…" Her eyes had gone down during her talk, but now they came back up to give Elmer a skeptical peer. And it did not take up to two seconds for Elmer to prove whatever thoughts she might have had right, as he blessed her with a nod and brought the data form with the forged Church's seal before her eyes.
His heartbeat galloped with this action and his shoulders tightened. A sense of fear that she might find out the Church's seal on the form was fake enveloped him as she took it from his hands with creased eyebrows.
"Don't tell me…" she muttered while she glanced over the form, examining each line on it with her shallow eyes. Then when she got to the seal in the form of a jagged circle of a clock, she took a bit longer and became a tad too quiet, and that caused Elmer's folded hands to turn clammy.
He took a foot backward, his mind telling him what quiet usually entailed in this situation. There was no thinking about it, if it was that she had caught on to him then he would run away. There would surely be another way to find The Warlock's Torch.
Ms. Edna Smyth looked up at Elmer then, and his chest squeezed momentarily.
"Do you mind if I ask how you went about this?"
Does that mean that you have caught on to its authenticity, or are you just genuinely asking…?
Elmer quickly dropped his head and adjusted his glasses in order to hide the frantic movements of his eyes, while he searched his mind for the words of reply to give to her.
He cleared his throat soon after as he looked back up at Ms. Edna and found her scrutinizing gaze unrelenting; if anything, it had been topped by a raised brow.
"I did what you said I should," he told her. "I filled the form and mailed it to the Church. Did I go about it the wrong way—again?" His last word had been said in a subtle but deliberate tone as an attempt to create some sort of guilty conscience in her so that she would reconsider the question she had asked.
"Oh no." She waved a hand. "That was not what I meant."
Good… Elmer intoned in relief and chuckled after.
"I'm glad. I'll lump this into one of the few times I've been happy to have been mistaken." Ms. Edna Smyth smiled. "So, what did you mean then?" Elmer asked, feeling that was the natural thing to do next, and also because he wanted to know. Although, that thought had a twin, a very distinguishable one in fact, if he compared them to Ted and Ned.
This twin did not want to know what she meant, it did not even like that such a question had been asked. What if another troublesome query stemmed from Ms. Edna's mouth? What then?
"What I meant was," Ms. Edna started, and Elmer shoved the twins in his mind aside, "how did you get the Church to grant you their seal in a little over two weeks? It's not unheard of, I guess, but it's rare." Elmer was glad he was not being asked another nerve-wracking question, but why was her gaze narrowing again? "Are you special?" she blurted, and Elmer worked so hard to keep his scoff in.
Ms. I'm sorry to break it to you, but this young man before you is anything but special, I'm merely a criminal…
Unable to hear his thoughts, she continued, "Some sort of prodigy?" She picked up the form and glanced through it again. "I don't mean to be rude, but it's just that you're a low class citizen in the society, there's no way you could have afforded to do what the high class usually did to get the Church's seal in a short time…"
Elmer's head dropped slightly. Ms. I will take it that you mean the high class are always granted priority over the Church's seal because of money… If that is truly so, then isn't that quite fascinating…? The Gods are as poor as I am, and as much the criminal I am as well…? He almost laughed at the absurdity.
If the Gods were involving themselves in the same crimes criminals were being punished by the law for, then does that same law also punish the Gods? If not, then who exactly punishes them for their deeds?
Elmer's heartbeats momentarily spiked in a tender fury.
He and his sister had basically been victims of kidnapping and violence, and now the Church of the God of this city was involved in bribery.
Weren't Gods meant to be model figures for people? Weren't Gods meant to be benevolent? Weren't Gods meant to do no crime?
Those beings were in fact not Gods, they were just celestial criminals.
"Mr. Elmer?" He heard Ms. Edna's call to him and he snapped away from his flaming thoughts. "Are you alright? You spaced out." Her head was tilted slightly to the side as she watched him.
Elmer sighed then dipped his fingers beneath his glasses and pinched his eyes. "I'm sorry. I was just thinking about how nice it would have been if I was actually special."
Ms. Edna's head straightened on her neck immediately. "Oh," she let out in something fairly similar to disappointment and fell silent.
Elmer nodded. "Yes. I just left a note stating my cause in the envelope. It's more of a personal issue so I can't say what, but I'm quite glad it worked." He smiled without a choice after his nose did its usual twitching. "Just my luck, maybe."
Ms. Edna sighed and dropped the form. "Do not mind me, I was just…" She suddenly poured out an unusual laugh in between her words. One as silent and soft as the chirps of birds, and one Elmer had never expected due to the kind of expressions her face usually had. "I was just fascinated by the prospect of meeting a prodigy. Old habits came alive, I think."
Elmer rubbed the back of his neck. "Forgive me for not being one." Then, as he watched Ms. Edna smack her lips and lean forward while stretching a hand beneath the desk, he had a question storm his head, one he did not hesitate to let free. "Are you… an Ascender?"
She ceased her fiddles beneath the desk and looked up at him. "That was unexpected."
"Oh. Yes, to be fair. But I just had myself wondering and I thought to ask."
Ms. Edna remained quiet and looked back down beneath the surface of the desk. Then as she brought forth a paper and slid it to Elmer she said, "Yes. An Echelon 10."
Echelon 10, what's that…? Elmer's eyebrows squeezed. But Ms. Edna said no more that could help quell the question he had in his head, instead she tapped on the form she had slid to him and directed his eyes to them.
It was almost the same as the certification data form he had received, only this one had the emblem on its header as the eye carved into the windows of this building, and beneath it written the words: Licensing form.
Then, Ms. Edna spoke as she stretched a pen at him, "Fill that. It's for your bounty hunter license."
Elmer cleared his mind immediately, took the pen from her, and leaned over on the table to fill in the form. He rewrote in all the blank spaces for his personal information, societal class, motives, and expertise the exact same words as he had done for the certification form. After signing, he shifted the form back to her with an exhale as he straightened himself.
Was he all done now?
Ms. Edna took the form and said, "I'll get back to you."
Elmer's eyes widened as though he had been stabbed through the chest by a longsword.
Get back to him? She had to be joking.
"What do you mean?!" Elmer lunged forward sharply, dropping his palms on the desk and making Ms. Edna to feel the same confusion as he did.
"Relax," she told him, quickly composing her startled self. "It's just for three days. I mentioned it to you last time that the emperor and the Synod of Churches have to put down their signatures for you to have your license. This does not require them to examine you so it does not take as long as the certification. Be here on Thursday and your license would have been ready."
Elmer lost the strength to argue; anymore and he would seem too desperate. And Ms. Edna struck him as a very skeptical person. There was nothing he could do but wait, anything else would be a risk to himself.
His hand slid onto his chest.
There were only about two weeks left before a month elapsed, but without the license he would not have the leeway to freely and fully partake in the activities of the supernatural. And if he couldn't, then there was no way he would ever find The Warlock's Torch.
Elmer's head throbbed once at the thought of failure and the consequences that would come from it, and as he rubbed his temples, his eyes found their way to the Enochian symbols engraved on the doors behind Ms. Edna.
He sighed and looked back at Ms. Edna who had leaned over to put both his forms into a drawer. "Just three days, right?"
"Yes," she replied without taking a glance up at him. "Just three."
"Alright," Elmer said, and then Ms. Edna Smyth sat up straight. "I'll be back on Thursday."
"Good."
Elmer had found a purpose to give himself for the three days while he awaited his license. He did not want to be idle and waste away what little time he had left, so he decided to focus solely on completing the journal's translation before the three days had elapsed.
His actual stash of money remained about five mints and a few pence left, but that should be enough to last him. When he got his license he would take a job at the same time and earn some money. And if the bounty hunters really made as much as Patsy had said they did, then whatever he might get should be enough to help him till the month's end as he searched for The Warlock's Torch.
It was a plausible plan, but with his streak of success in things such as this he only hoped it would work out.
He also had the thought to take the bag that had graced him at the alleyway to the police. The more it was close to him, the more tempted he would be to spend it. But he had already stolen from it, what would happen when the owner somehow came for it and notices his money missing? Would he be punished for that?
Maybe he should wait until he had made enough money to replace what he had taken.
Elmer was about to finally take his leave when a question he had planned to ask, even before he entered the building, suddenly rushed through his head.
His eyes widened at once in realization of his forgetfulness, and he quickly uttered to Ms. Edna, "Excuse me," she looked up at him from what she had been reading, "I saw a person leave this building before I entered, what did he come here to do?"
She upturned a brow. "Why are you asking?"
Elmer hesitated for a bit before saying, "He's my friend, Lev." His nose twitched once.
Ms. Edna blinked, lowered her eyes to the paper before her on the desk, then took them back to Elmer, less narrow than before. "He came to put up a job offer."
A job offer…? That answer only gave Elmer another question to seek a reply for.
"What job offer?"
"That's quite confidential, Mr. Elmer. We keep our employers' jobs postings private to anyone who isn't a bounty hunter. When you are one, then I'll gladly fill you in on whatever you want to know." Elmer's stomach tightened. This was going to bother him. "By the way," Ms. Edna continued. "You could just meet him yourself and ask, could you not?"
Elmer shook his head. "I assume it's something important, isn't it?" Ms. Edna nodded. "Then he would never tell me. Do not worry about it. I'll wait till Thursday, if the job posting is still up, I'll find out then." Elmer bowed, turned around and took his leave.