Throne of Steam

The child was very well dressed in clothes of fine linen, and his golden hair slightly reflected the sunlight. But it did nothing to hide the ominous words leaving his mouth.

"Y-Yeah? What kind of things do you happen to see?" Garett answered while forcing a smile. He personally wasn't good at dealing with children, and he always managed to somehow make them cry.

"Ah, Mother says I shouldn't tell it to other people." The boy hesitated for a second before Garett interjected with patience

"You can always tell everything to the goddess, and 'She' will protect you." He pointed to the symbol that hung from his chest before continuing. "Have you prayed recently?"

"Yes! Every night!" The boy nodded promptly, his actions emanating anxiety.

"That means you see something every night?" Garett's eyes thinned as he asked.

'There's something off going on here… I'm not that lucky to stumble into something related to my mission so soon after arriving here, I didn't even look for it…' Garett's suspicious self started to give alarms inside his head!

"Yes…" The boy acquiesced in a low voice, his hands tightly grabbing onto one another. "Father brought us here to flee from those things, but they followed us even here!"

'Flee from what? This boy seems to be related to something…' Just as Garett was about to press for information, a tall, pale-faced woman approached from the side while wearing a tight dress.

"Vincent! Are you bothering the other guests again?" She reprimanded the young boy with a stern voice before turning to Garett. "Please forgive us, he's always talkative like that."

'So that means he has talked with other guests before? I'll talk to Alice before deciding if it's something worth investigating…' Garett rapidly concluded before standing and putting his fist to his chest as it was proper in etiquette.

"Not at all, Mam'. There's no harm in the words of children." He slightly lowered his shoulders before continuing in greeting. "You can call me Garett, to whom do I owe the honor?"

'Shit! I don't know all that much about etiquette! I've barely studied it before, only the necessary to better my chances of being accepted at the College…' Garett felt sweat dripping down his back! He already felt that it was difficult to interact with people from the upper-class, and interact with an upperclasswoman was even harder!

"There's no need to be so tense, sir." She chuckled slightly, a peal of gracious and subtle laughter resounded throughout the garden, somewhat washing away all of Garett's worries. "My name is Cecile Almir, wife to Eddison Almir. You should have heard about our family."

'Eddison Almir!?' Garett was dumbfounded, the Eddison Almir was a household name in Luxia kingdom, he was the owner of a line of factories and a banker on top of that! The money that flowed through his hands was only second to the royal family's vaults!

'Wait… Eddison Almir… fled? He was fleeing from something and came to Lhûn? That seems fishy…' Garett was finally able to calm down and notice the subtleness of the situation, he had a very deep inkling that Eddison Almir should be involved with the contents of his mission.

"O-Oh, the Almir household is a name known by every single soul living in our kingdom." Garett stuttered for a second before being able to recoup himself and looked toward the young boy. "I wish you well, young man. And I hope you are able to sleep soundly after praying to the Goddess tonight."

This elicited a deep frown from the part of the lady, her face visibly souring after listening to the full extent of his words.

"You were talking about that nonsense of seeing ghosts again, Vincent?" She berated once more, not caring for the presence of an outsider at the scene. "I think I told you to stop talking about that and to start praying to the goddess more! Everything will go away if you play wholeheartedly."

"B-But… He's from the church!" The boy said as he pointed to the symbol hanging on Garett's chest.

The frown on Cecile's face deepened, her pale face gradually darkening at the child's behavior.

"A clergyman, you say?" She turned her face and refrained from scolding the child once more. "May the Goddess bless us all."

"May the Goddess bless us all." He echoed with a nod before continuing. "You could say that I work for the church, even if I'm not a priest."

'Her expression seemed to worsen when noticing I came from the church… I wonder what is the reason for it, it's not common for a family of believers to be adverse to the church. Maybe I should just take my leave..." Garett calmly lowered his head to announce his intentions when he was interrupted.

"It is so? Nonetheless, it was a pleasure meeting you, but we should take our leave, it's time for Vincent's music lessons. We can't stop it just because we are not home." Cecile abruptly ended the conversation with a fake smile in her face and left after giving a slight bow in his direction, grabbing the young boy's hand strongly.

'That was… strange. She seemed in a hurry to leave, what do I do about that? Should I directly inquire about what they are fleeing from? Maybe I should ask Alice's opinion first…' Garett suddenly felt he didn't wish to continue on the beautifully decorated garden, something about the young boy's greenish eyes evoked chills deep down on his soul.

"Yes, I'll do that. Even if she's unreliable most of the time, she's still a lot more experienced…" Garett turned to the stone bench and started to pack the documents he was studying when he noticed a crumpled ball of paper lying underneath the bench.

"What is this? This is not mine…" He extended his hands and grabbed the piece of yellowish paper, and then he started to unfold the paper without a definitive reason, his thoughts still replaying the conversation before in all its strangeness; it was then that he froze.

'F**K!'

The paper had an image drawn with crooked traces, just like a child scribble made with haste. It portrayed the image of a man with a top hat and a cane, from his mouth musical notes emerged before ascending to the air with a continuous fashion! And if one turned the paper to look at its back it was possible to see the second drawing of a man that sat on a stone bench while reading some kind of paper!

'Is… this what I think it is!?' Garett turned to look in the direction the mother and child duo left, his pupils constricting instantly when he saw the boy still looking in his direction with a perturbing smile stamped on his lips!

Every hair on Garett's body stood on end, and he resisted the urge to immediately run and find Alice since it would draw too much attention to him. Firmly holding the files, he took a couple of steps back, not looking away from the child while waiting for it to disappear into the distance.

Garett broke into a cold sweat and followed the opposite path that the child had gone into, his legs trembling slightly as he made way to Alice's room.

…

"Are you telling me a child scared you and then you came running for mommy?" She spat in annoyance after he forcefully awoke her, her eyes still half-closed in a tired fashion.

'If you put it like that… No! What am I thinking, It's obvious this is related to the case, Alice is just being unreliable again! Yes, I'm certain of it…' Garett shook his head and looked angrily at Alice, thinking of ways to get back at her.

"If you don't start treating this mission seriously…" He paused for a second while thinking of a way to threaten her. "I will do the checkoff from this hotel! And then we will stay at a cheap inn near the canal!"

Alice's eyes instantly opened, she was ordered to stay near Garett every single minute of the investigation! If not for the case, for the risk of him being suddenly attacked by angry scholars screaming 'Repossession'!

"Okay! Okay! My Goddess…" She instantly responded to the threat, only to show its effectiveness. "Repeat whatever you said before, I wasn't really paying attention."

'You…!' Garett nearly spat a mouthful of blood as anger gradually emerged in his heart, he thought that after the captain punished her, she would become more forthcoming with her duties, who knew that she wouldn't change at all!

…

After a long explanation of all the details, Alice nodded gravely in understanding. Her eyes closing for a second as she slowly simulated various possibilities that could relate to the Almirs fleeing and their abnormal son.

"The Almir's, huh…" She shook her head in acceptance before continuing with a stern tone, all her sleepiness vanishing from her countenance. "This boy… he seems abnormal, and if everything you told me is true, it's even stranger…"

"Why?" Garett asked in return. He had calmed himself after Alice's antics stopped after she returned to her experienced self as a veteran huntress.

"I don't remember ever hearing about Eddison Almir having a child."

She narrowed her eyes slightly and gazed at the outside world through the open window. The slight breeze swayed the curtains in a peaceful fashion that melded perfectly with the orange light emanated by the sunset as shadows gradually overtook the light, giving way to the arrival of night.

"Eddison Almir is a public figure, everything about his life would be noticed in the papers, especially something as groundbreaking as him having a son." She noted with a strange look on her face while turning to Garett.

"I didn't think you were this kind of gossiper…" Never once had Garett read the columns reporting gossips on celebrities' lives! Eddison Almir was a name everyone in the kingdom had heard at least once, so of course, he was treated like a celebrity!

"Now who is being unprofessional!?" She barked indignantly at his remark, fury and shyness mingling together as she calmed herself. "Things are getting troublesome…"

"How do we deal with this, then?"

If things were really related to Eddison Almir, it would be an immense headache! The church couldn't just barge publicly into the life of someone like Almir, someone in his position clearly knew some secrets, and if he opened his mouth to say something... it was tantamount to telling the world about the existence of Marked!

"Should we consult with the captain?" Garett mumbled, carefully considering this course of action.

"No, not yet at least." Alice denied the possibility, her face portraying a strong, if out of place, conviction! "Don't you want to gain enough points as to be bestowed a ritual? If we discover all the ins and outs of this… we will make a huge leap in our contributions to the church! Both of us will be granted enough points to get whatever we want!"