Throne of Steam

'Why did I agree with her? Did I suddenly turn stupid? That's very possible…'

Garett mused silently about the slow changes happening to his personality during the last couple of days, and he could conclude one thing. He was getting stupider by the day!

"This should be because I'm always with Alice…"

"What are mumbling about?" Alice's voice suddenly sounded from behind Garett. Both of them were just about to leave the hotel in order to investigate the two incidents in the area, and the sun was gradually giving way to the encroaching darkness of the misty night.

"Nothing you should be concerned with." He retorted with a hint of annoyance, blaming her slightly for something she didn't even understand.

"Okay then…" Alice portrayed a puzzled look on her face before throwing this interlude to the back of her mind. "What are we investigating first? You are the one responsible for the mission after all."

"I think we should investigate the case near the canal first, it should be safer as well…"

"Are you still afraid of that kid?" She poked at him once more. She'd been doing this since she realized how uncomfortable Garett felt when she mentioned Vincent's existence.

Garett didn't bother with answering her, as he felt that it would only aggravate her behavior. More importantly, they came here hoping to find the cause for the supernatural incidents in the area; and he could clearly remember the captain hinting that the supernatural incidents should all have the same origin.

'And if that's the case… We should find something related to the Almirs there as well…' Every supernatural case was supervised and documented by the church, every single one of them had a reason for occurring! It was highly likely that the four cases he needed to investigate were connected to one another by the same origin!

'After all, if every one of them happens for a different motive, then it would mean that the church had slipped up four times! Even if Alice is unreliable, the other veteran clergymen would not let something like this happen…' Garett was fairly confident in his guesses, he had an inkling that he would stumble in Vincent's innocent looking face during his investigations!

"We know for sure that the whistler case is tied to the Almir family, we also know that the Almirs are fleeing from something…" Garett thought aloud to inform Alice of the possibilities."But the kid said they were fleeing from 'things', and that means there's not only the Whistler following them."

"It could also be the child imagining things, kids always say a lot of nonsense." Alice bickered in at that moment, his forcefully deflating his confidence.

"You are only saying this because you haven't seen how abnormal that kid was.." He mumbled while shaking his head before continuing to explain. "The noises near the canal should be easier to investigate... while the whistles only happen during specific times every night, the only limitation this phenomenon has is that it happens at different times every night."

"Doesn't that make it harder to investigate it, then? You are only afraid to investigate the whistling."

"Why are you being so annoying today?"

"It was you who woke me up from my beauty sleep."

Garett sighed heavily before continuing to walking, intent on not bothering with Alice anymore and delving back at his own thoughts.

'Cecile Almir tells Vincent to pray to the Goddess, which means the whole family should be believers… Then… Why did she look so unwilling to continue talking with me?' Garett was still musing about the details of the encounter. Cecile seemed to be very wary of him when she discovered his affiliation, so it was highly possible that she was trying to hide something from the church!

"Someone in a position of power like Eddison Almir should have knowledge about the Hunters, so it's not impossible for Cecile to infer that I'm a hunter… after all, I'm too young to be a priest." Even if Father Charles looks young, he was in reality even older than his mother! In fact, he seemed to already be a priest when she was still little!

"That means Cecile wants to pray for the Goddess but is against hunter interference… Why? If the family is having this kind of trouble, wouldn't seek help from the hunters be the only natural course of action?"

'Unless they are running from the church itself…' Garett scoffed inwardly. With each passing second, the duo approached the canal, and a foul-smelling stench invaded their nostrils with impunity.

The sewage of the whole area converged on this artificial canal before drifting deep underground again, teams of workers would periodically enter the sewers to assist with the drainage and keep the canal from being clumped.

It was a less than ideal solution for the problem.

A great number of officials advocated for a change in the way sewage was treated, with hopes of bettering the quality of life in big cities. Garett knew there was no hope in this movement, as it was not lucrative at all for those with the money, and the power, to enforce those changes.

Some scholars also advocated in favor of the movement, as there was strong evidence and cases of diseases that eventually caused death occurring to residents in areas near canals, and that was especially in cities like Lhûn. It was said that the city of Altra dumped its sewage in the sea; obviously, there were people advocating against it as well, calling it 'pollution' of the mortal realm, something that would eventually anger the gods and cause humanity to be smitten with punishment.

Sadly, Lhûn was a city with a very delicate position, and it couldn't dump its sewage on the nearby rivers, as that would pollute the water supply of a dozen villages nearby who depended on the rivers to live. As such, the sewage was redirected somewhere underground, but Garett had no idea where.

"The residents reported that the noises came from the area near the bridge. And there is no fixed time for it to happen; sometimes it can happen soon after night falls, or maybe it could also happen very deep into the night." Garett finished explaining the ins and outs of the case to Alice, a cold draft passing through their bodies while causing chills on the pair.

"So, what do we do now? It's getting late and I doubt people will be receptive if we knock on their doors at this hour." Alice pointed out. Many of the residences nearby had the lights turned off, without any sign of life on the inside.

"That's quite eerie, this place almost seems empty…" Garett mumbled while approaching the window of one of these houses. "It's like they are abandoned, the report didn't say anything about this."

"Do not put too much trust in the report, it's not a hundred percent accurate. Also… it's not surprising if the residents left their houses, most people would have all kinds of fantasies about monsters and the like when hearing such noises. The first thing they would do the next day is to leave the area." Alice explained while approaching one of the closed doors. "They could even have left the city."

"Isn't that too extreme?" He asked in exasperation.

"What would you do, Garett? It's a wonder there are people courageous enough to stay here…" She then shook her head after thinking more about it. "Actually, the may be stuck here. Not everyone can just leave after all."

These words sunk like a rock to the duo, dissipating the somewhat leisure atmosphere that accompanied them. The situation of the low class was something that was no secret among the people of the kingdom, and it was even worse for these people! Every night there were terrifying noises happening not too far from them!

"But that's strange too…" Garett said after pondering about it for a moment. "Two people in the other street left their homes to investigate the source of the whistling, but the people here just… left? That's weird."

"Now that you mention it…" Alice's expression got grave after hearing Garett's words. "It really is weird. The report doesn't mention anyone investigating, or missing people?"

"None, the only thing it mentions is the strange noises, that's why I thought it would be simpler."

Alice stopped hesitating and walked towards one of the few houses with lights still lit before knocking on the door, her brutish strength creating loud noises that echoed through the empty streets.

"Excuse me, sir. We came from the church." She shouted while forcefully banging the door. "We want to make some questions."

Step sounds came from the inside of the house. Strangely, they kept happening for a long time before Alice shouted once more.

"Sir? Is everything all right?" She said while starting to reach for the case on her back, her movements calm and deliberate.

The footsteps suddenly stopped, and the lights turned off right after; the once lit house suddenly turned dark and somber just like any other house on the streets.

"This is weird," Garett said at that moment, his senses prickling with suspicion.

And just as he said that; all the other houses on the street who had their lights still on suddenly followed in the actions of the first! The whole street suddenly darkened as every house plunged into darkness!

"There's everything very wrong going on here." He voiced once more, slowly materializing a handgun in the insides of his vests! He had already informed Alice that he 'brought' one with him, so he casually took it off and readied himself for any circumstances.

Gwauh! Gwauh!

A strange animal sound started to sound throughout the whole street! It didn't come from a specific location, in fact, it seemed to be emitted by every single one of the houses!