Throne of Steam

The duo of hunters trod the streets while inspecting the area, as every little detail could help them in solving the problem creating those bizarre supernatural phenomena.

"Since those things can only be investigated during nighttime, why don't we find a hotel and settle down?" Alice was unperturbed and yawned in boredom; her energy reserves gradually waning. "We need to be rested to investigate those two phenomena happening in this area."

'You are only making an excuse so that you can sleep. Since you can't do what you want while having to monitor me…' Garett complained inwardly at her shameless attempt to evade from duty. Nonetheless, he agreed with her, as since they couldn't do anything about it right now, it would be better for them to rest during the day and work by night.

"Fine, Alice. Let's find a hotel, do you know any in the vicinity?" Garett followed her antics and acquiesced, faintly remembering the information on hotels in the region.

"Hehe... There's one..." She smiled mischievously, with her voice permeated by a strange tone of excitement. "It's a very expensive one, the executives of the factories and other businesses branched in the area usually stay there. Since the church is going to pay for the costs, why don't we indulge ourselves a little?"

'So I'm not the only one thinking of using the church's funds, do the other hunters always do things like these?' Garett mumbled to himself and nodded, expressing his intent on going with her arrangements.

"Let's at least take a look. It can't be far from the area we are investigating too." Garett only posed one condition, as it was only natural to stay in the area of investigation.

"Yes... actually, it should be around here! Follow me." Alice took the lead and marched forward, beaming with excitation. "I hope the food is good."

'So you were only thinking of eating luxurious food! Not that I care too much, I'm also a bit hungry...' He quickened his steps and followed her, his mind drifting in a world of different flavors he could only imagine.

The diet in Lhûn was mostly composed of cabbage, eggs, and oatcakes for lower-class workers; only the middle-class started to have a more satisfactory level of access to things like meat and grains for a more balanced diet.

As for the diet for upperclassmen, Garett wasn't too sure, as he never came into contact with this kind of world before. It was common to hear about rich people eating like kings with fresh crabmeat and turkey.

'I don't understand how can there be a fresh crab on a city built upon a mountain...' Garett mused to himself when his thoughts arrived here.

Most merchants wouldn't opt for using the trains for transporting goods, as it would only become lucrative enough if the cargo was a highly desirable one.

'The royal family charges sky-high taxes for protecting the train tracks. Well... you can't blame them, as they'd need to constantly employ marked for such a task..." During his reverie, Garett was continuously getting closer to the hotel.

Seeing that Alice wouldn't be so kind as to wait for him, he was forced to stop his thinking and quickened his steps after her.

...

The building was located in the middle of a square, and it was one of the few places in Lhûn where you could see a multitude of carriages and well-dressed people moving about.

"Are you sure the church will pay for this? This seems... a bit above our budget." Garett said with apprehension, it was like entering a world that didn't belong to him! Even if he had dreams of becoming rich and living a life of leisure, he had never really come into contact with this life before!

"Don't worry... I actually know someone who did this before, and his only punishment was to assist the Keeper for a whole month." She then showed her mischievous smile once more. "Don't you get along well with the Old Freak? To tell you the truth, I've never understood why they don't allocate us a fixed budget and leave it to us to decide whether to use or not..."

'Maybe because we may need to buy expensive items during the investigation!? The church expects us to have at least a bit of common sense...' Garett screamed inwardly, he knew something was off! Alice was expecting him to take the brunt of the punishment by pointing him as the one in charge of the mission!

"Come on, aren't you at least a bit tempted?" Alice continued to smile as she etched closer while puffing up her voluptuous cleavage.

'And now you are trying to seduce me into agreeing with your antics!? Do you have no sense of shame?! Heh, but you forgot something, I'm the rookie here! And it is your duty to stop me from doing things like these...' And just like this, with one of them trying to push the blame into the other, both of them entered the hotel hall.

...

"Ah, I feel like I'm in heaven." Alice dropped on the table after eating an enormous amount of crabmeat, she could finally understand why this was called one of Luxia's signature dishes!

"Yeah, but... haven't we gone a bit too far?" He said while looking at the receipt noting everything they consumed. He could feel the heartache at expending so much only in food! Two hundred cruises only in crabmeat, rice, and beverages!

"Maybe... but I'll die happily after experiencing this." She mumbled, her voice muffled as her face touched the table in a show of inelegance, eliciting glaring looks of the other hotel guests.

Garett acted much more composed and professional. From his chest hung the symbol of the goddess, and on his left hand, he studied one of the case's documents.

All things considered, he didn't look too out of place when placed in the busy lounge.

"Anyway, we still have a long time before evening, so what should we do in the meantime?" Garett asked with concern while studying the files of the two missing people, both of them were young and showed great potential; one of them was a young man that believed in the God of Knowledge, while other was a young woman that believed in the Goddess.

'The two didn't seem to know each other, but they might have been meeting in secret. The families of the two lived in opposite ends of the same street, so it was likely that they met a few times before...' Garett thought before briefly glancing at Alice's still body.

"Don't tell me you fell asleep..." He grumbled before hitting her head with the document files. "Could you please be a little more professional?"

"Don't bother me! We can only investigate at night anyway..." She grumbled while scratching her head.

"At least go to your room to sleep, people are staring at us." Garett frowned at her actions before standing up, his steps rapidly dragging his body out of the lounge and vanishing into the distance.

"He's so boring..." Alice mumbled before leaving in the direction of the rooms.

...

Garett eventually arrived at a beautifully decorated garden at the side of the buildings. A few stone benches littered the area, creating a peaceful and ideal place for resting and concentration.

'This is really nice, and there are not too many people around too...' The only other people in the garden was a little kid who sat at the furthest bench, very far from him.

He chose randomly one of the benches and sat down. The cold stone surface wasn't as uncomfortable as he expected, and Garett suspected he could stay in the area for long periods without complaining about it.

Once more, he took out the files of the two missing people and got to work. Since he was a kid he was fascinated by mistery, and now he could finally unravel a mystery himself!

'Trisha Dosett and Hans Elmstone... The girl vanished first, with the boy quickly following on the next night. Both of them tried to find the source of the whistling, only to disappear in the night mists...' Garett focused on the information he had at hand, even if it wasn't much.

'Trisha's family is composed of normal factory workers, and she was the only hope of the family, a star student at the teaching classes provided by the church, she had the potential to become something more than a factory worker...' Garett nodded as he could relate to her history, as he had come from a poor family and decisively left home early in hopes of eventually becoming a successful scholar.

'Hans... wow, his family is quite well off. His father is a supervisor at one of the factories and his mother a maid at the family of a local tycoon. They rarely see each other with these jobs...' Garett shook his head. A maid usually lived in the employer's house, as to be available at all times; and while a factory supervisor has a higher degree of freedom, the working hours are long and he rarely stayed home.

'The young man grew up alone... oh! The factory Han's father works as a supervisor is the same one that Trisha's parents work. I wonder if there's something related to their disappearance there...' Garett nodded and was about to continue his analysis when a soft voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Mister, are you from the church? Mother always brings me to the church..." A green-eyed child arrived in front of him at some point, his eyes focusing on the symbol pinned to Garett's clothes. "Mother says to pray to the goddess when I see something weird... So I pray a lot!"