Someone broke into my room just to steal a piece of paper they can't even read? This doesn't make sense.
Gregor tried hard to think of a reasonable explanation, but everything he thought just sounded illogical and unreal.
Maybe they thought the alphabet looked cool and decided to take it. Like those animals that like shiny things.
Gregor lampooned.
Since Gregor knew that no one in that world would be able to read a text written in modern English, he decided to temporarily ignore the fact that someone had invaded his room.
I need to investigate Thompson's relationship with Matthew's mom; I can't waste time looking for that paper. Even if the person who stole it can read English, all they will learn is that im a Delusional.
Unbothered by the situation, Gregor changed into his clown costume and applied his makeup before leaving the hotel.
....
Gregor's timing could not have been better; the children were all talking, deciding what they were going to play next.
The sound of the bells in Gregor's hat immediately got the children's attention.
He calmly approached them with a smile.
"What are you guys doing?" Gregor asked as he crouched down to match their height.
"We are about to play hide-and-seek; would you like to play with us, Pedrolino?" One of the children asked.
Since Division Bell was a very small town, it was extremely rare for performers of any type to appear and present themselves. Because of that, when Gregor first presented himself as Pedrolino Pierrot, he immediately got the children's attention, and with his next presentations on the following days, they even became friendly with him.
Hide-and-seek, really? I can't get any information with that...
Gregor thought.
"I can't play hide-and-seek; the bells in my hat will give me away," Gregor said, pointing to his hat.
"That's not a problem; you can be the seeker!" A child loudly said.
"Yeah, please, Pedrolino!" Another child said.
With that, the other children also began to ask Gregor to be the seeker.
"Sure, sure, I'll be the seeker," Gregor hesitantly accepted. He didn't want to play; he just wanted them to stop yelling.
The children cheered before running to hide as Gregor began to count.
My plan was to ask questions while making some cheap tricks, but how am I supposed to do that while playing hide-and-seek... Gregor complained in thought.
After finishing counting, Gregor began to look for the children.
Most of them were in obvious places—behind trees, laying behind bushes, some even climbed trees.
There was only one boy hiding. Gregor looked through the whole square but still couldn't find him.
Gregor spent almost ten minutes looking for that boy; he was already annoyed and tired of looking.
Gregor looked around, making sure no one was seeing him before clenching his fists twice, activating his Eye.
He quickly glanced around, counting each light.
While using the Eye of Providence, besides people becoming flashes of light, Gregor's vision also became blurry. The colors merged and swirled, turning into different shades and sometimes completely different colors. While using the Eye of Providence, Gregor could barely discern a white wall from a black door.
The only thing Gregor could focus on while using the Eye of Providence was the unique lights people had. They were the only things that wouldn't swirl or merge with the rest of the environment; the lights wouldn't move unless their owner moved, in which case they would immediately replicate their owner's movements.
When Gregor noticed this the first time, he realized he could use the Eye of Providence to locate someone based on their light, but he ignored it since he could only see the lights of people who were already in his field of vision, considering it useless and nothing more than a party trick.
But it was in situations like those that this aspect of the Eye of Providence proved to be a hidden advantage for a Delusional.
After activating his Eye, Gregor found the last boy in less than a minute.
The boy was hiding inside a bush. Gregor had looked over that bush more than three times but never considered the boy could be inside.
The children were impressed that Gregor found all of them and insisted on playing again.
Outnumbered, Gregor had no choice but to give up on his original plan of gathering information and play with them.
....
Thursday, May 2nd. 17:00.
Gregor played hide-and-seek with the children the whole afternoon. He was tired of running around looking for them.
As it was getting late, the children's parents arrived to take them home. They were pleasantly surprised that Gregor was playing with the children; they were worried that the funeral would affect the children's mood and make them worried or scared.
One of the last parents to arrive happened to be Matthew's mother.
Gregor didn't waste time; as soon as he recognized her, he clenched his fist twice, activating his Eye.
He looked at the woman's beige light.
The vision he saw seemed to be a direct continuation of Thompson's vision.
The woman had drunk the wine and immediately fell to the floor.
She tried to get up, but her whole body seemed to be losing control, as if she were paralyzed.
She looked at Thompson, and even though she couldn't speak, her face showed how scared she was.
Thompson, on the other hand, was smiling the whole time, and when he noticed she had lost control of her body, only being able to move her eyes, he took a dagger from his cloak.
After seeing the vision, Gregor clenched his fist twice, deactivating his Eye.
So she is another victim of his...
Gregor finally realized.
Even though he still didn't know the nature of their relationship; since Thompson never had any personal relationship with his victims other than her; Gregor was satisfied knowing she was a victim, since with that, he could finally put his plan into action.
Gregor saw that the woman was about to leave with her son, and without wasting time, he ran over to them.
From behind, he placed a hand on the woman's shoulder.
The woman turned to look at Gregor; she looked confused about what he wanted, and before she could say anything, Gregor said,
"Madam, we need to talk," Gregor said in a calm yet authoritarian tone.