Chapter 9: Chapter 9 – Bee March

We were in the only room I missed. A deep layer of dust sparkled on the ground. Somewhere in a corner, a spider enthusiastically webbed its net. Spiders were useful, yes, but looked heinous. A shame, really, but now that I had seen her, her days were numbered.

However, there were other things I had to think about. For example, regarding what the branded man sitting in front of me said.

After blurting out incomprehensible lines, he seemed so out of it that my focus had shifted for a second. Or maybe I just aligned my mood with his…? That is to say, to stare into nothingness. Thankfully, Agham was back in the loop, asking the right questions.

“What’s the light? Mind elaborating on that?”

“…”

The man would only look to his knees. Once captured, he had probably resigned himself to endure anything in store for him. The most important thing was that he wouldn’t open his mouth. Agham tried his best to reason with him.

“Alright, I get it. We’ve gone on the wrong foot here. It’s late, we don’t know each other…No need for hostilities. I’ll get those binds off you, then we continue. You know, to talk. Like civilized people.”

But as Agham was about to move to the man’s restraints, he was met with harsh resistance, the man violently shaking the chair he was bound to, trying to avoid Agham’s hands. It was so unexpected, given the calm behavior the man put on earlier, that even Agham lost his cool for a second, and asked:

“Woah there, what’s the deal?”

He took a step back, ensuring that he wouldn’t get hit. Once he moved away, the man calmed down again, saying:

“You shall not.”

He glared at Agham, who acted unfazed.

“Why? Do you like being tied up? In that case, I’m sorry.”

Agham tried to reduce the tension that had built up in the room, before moving to the cuffs again. But the Black Mark member would not have it. He hesitated with all his might.

“My mission demands execution, my oath compliance! If you loosen those restraints, I will murder you.”

Those last words made Agham hesitate, understandably so. However, he didn’t know any other approach.

“…Scary. You’re not making any friends with that attitude, big guy.”

In the end, he decided to move away and not cut the man free. Better safe than sorry, he probably thought. But all that it meant was we were back at square one.

“Well, what do you want me to do then? Let you stare at my little guy over there? Are you a homo?”

“…”

This wasn’t going anywhere. I had to interject. Maybe if it was me, something could be gained out of this situation.

“Agham, I’m sorry to say this after everything, but he seems to have business with me specifically. Could you…you know…”

“Hm.”

Agham considered his options. But it didn’t take long for him to come to a conclusion. In a relaxed manner, he replied:

“Well, we got the time. I’m not used to this anyway. Enjoy yourselves, you two. Five minutes should be enough, right?”

That “five minutes” statement told me enough to gauge what Agham was going to do.  

“Yeah, that’ll do. Much appreciated.”

As Agham shut the door behind him, my eyes moved back to the man in front of me. Now that I was given the opportunity, I had to be careful not to make any mistakes. And I also had to test something out.

“I won’t ask the unreasonable. But I’d like to have your name. Feel free to give me a fake one, any name is fine. I think it would be bothersome to keep addressing you with “you”.”

“…”

He resolved himself to stay silent. But there was a clear reason behind that. Yet, was that reason really me?

“I will apologize for my…unseemly behavior from before. I had some stuff piled up inside of me, and you just seemed like the perfect target to let them out on. I know it was wrong.”

“…”

“Those aren’t really tattoos on your body, right? Seems more like brand marks. It was in the middle of the night in Casla when I was attacked by one of your fellow members. They had something like that on them, too. Though I guess it was a bit hard to see.”

“…”

No response. I needed to get at least something, anything, out of him. I didn’t want to anger nor provoke him…An appeal, maybe?

“Do you…do you have a favorite food?”

“…What?”

That must’ve confused him enough to open his mouth. Still, that worked just fine for me. But another thought came in right at that time, as he glanced over to the door.

“Is there something you’d like to eat? We have a great chef here. He’s a scary, scary Forn, but his food’s the best. If you have any wishes, I can make him cook it up.”

“Uhm…”

I was determined to break the ice, and then some more. I had figured everything out. It would only be for a short time, but I was determined to make good use of it. I turned to the door, and said:

“Hey Agham, I know you’re listening and all, but could you get Ozekar ready? He’s probably done anyway, right? Done with the cooking.”

From behind the door, Agham began to speak.

“Oh, well…Alright. You want a portion for him, too?”

“Yeah, bring it in. Can’t get anywhere with no food in our stomachs.”

Agham’s footsteps went from being really close to slowly growing distant. Of course, he just had to listen in on us, didn’t he? That was the problem. But now, we were truly by ourselves, and I had also shown my sincerity. Was there anything else I needed to do?

“Now then. No ears listening in.”

The man’s defenses melted immediately.

“Utgarda.”

It sounded like a name, so I replied in kind.

“Lenn. Nice to meet you. Now, what is that light you speak of?”

“Something we have to put an end to. Fate.”

He wasn’t speaking clearly, but he was eager to talk. Either he doesn’t like Agham, or…wait, what did he just say? That didn’t make sense, right? I tried to analyze his behavior, but it was hard to both do that and also continue the conversation. I gave up on the analyzing part and chose to continue with the latter.

“…How do you put an end to fate, though?”

“Simple. But its roots will remain. Eventually, you’ll see. However.”

“However?”

Utgarda was visibly shook. He pulled something out of his memories, something awful. But he kept on talking in a way I couldn’t possibly understand.

“I saw it. And it’s there, always. The color doesn’t matter. It will…continue.”

“Color?”

Utgarda started shaking more, but then it grew to a halt from a knock on the door. Agham was back, and sooner than expected. The smell of freshly cooked food hung in the air, coming through the slits in the wood. Talking to a person who wasn’t in the right state of mind was no good idea, so I decided to end it here.   

“Well, Utgarda. Seems like the food’s arrived. We can talk later.”

“…”

I moved to Utgarda, and began cutting down on his restraints. This time, he didn’t resist. Agham raised an eyebrow when he saw it, but accepted it. We brought him food, and then left him alone in the room. Of course, we made sure to lock the door. It wasn’t yet time to let Utgarda go.

Agham and I went to the living room, where we would discuss our findings. Or rather, mine.

“I didn’t get much while you were gone, but the Black Mark seems to be tasked with observing some light and…keeping it under control? I don’t understand how that makes them attack a whole city.”

“So, terrorists then? That only makes it harder for us.”

True. In the end, the info we had gotten out of him was so miniscule, we hadn’t gained much of anything.

After finishing our meals, we returned to look after Utgarda. Meanwhile, Ozekar was tasked with watching the rest of the house, just in case something would happen. But as Agham opened the door, something incredible happened. My eyes could’ve popped out of their sockets.

Utgarda was nowhere to be found. The door hadn’t been unlocked, and there was only one tiny window in the room, unopened, clad in iron bars, something Utgarda shouldn’t have been able to escape from under any circumstance. To say we were confused would be an understatement.

“What? But how?”

The food we left him had been completely eaten up, leaving nothing but a perfectly clean plate behind. It almost seemed as if there had never been food on it in the first place. Agham looked at me, hiding his frustrations behind a forced smile, and said:

“So much for that. I guess tomorrow, we’ll have to report to the brigade empty-handed, Lenn.”

“Yeah…Sorry.”

Still, Agham was very good at controlling his emotions. He recovered in no time, making half-hearted jokes.

“It’s not your fault. Let’s just say it was black magic or something. That’d fit their theme, anyway.”

There was no way to look for a guy in a black robe through the wallowing darkness that had settled outside. Especially one that had been thoroughly trained by some mysterious organization. No, it was likely we would never see him again.

Agham spent the rest of the night writing a letter to the brigade. The next day, we were to go straight to their office. Meanwhile, I went back to cleaning. I ended up spending most of that time in the interrogation room. When I went to sleep, I noticed there was an extreme tightness forming around my chest, one I just couldn’t keep under control. This felt pretty new to me.

To keep it off my mind, I tried reading from the guide, with meager results. The letters wouldn’t align. My vision wasn’t that good. I wasn’t actually in the mood to read, either. In the end, I stopped after just a few sentences, gaining virtually nothing in the process.

I made myself the promise to read it the next day instead. After all, there was no need to get hung up over every single thing. Surely, with how things were going, I would have all the time in the world to get through the whole thing ten times over.

With that newfound determination, the tightness that was still enveloping me seemed to loosen up a little. Getting to sleep was no longer an issue, it just took longer than usual.

The following day, Agham, Ozekar and I would all go together. Ozekar’s task was to gather materials directly from the city and bring them on-site for his job, while Agham and I would go to the brigade. Apparently, today was my day off, so it’s fine, said Agham, even though I just started working yesterday.

With his usual “Don’t worry, it’s alright” kind of demeanor, he quickly brought an end to the discussion. The three of us took the same path that Ozekar and I went on before, and we also rested at that same tree in that same forest, on those same benches. Only Agham wasn’t sitting down.

“Been a while since I was here. Man, that brings back memories.”

Agham just stood there, with his hand pressed against the giant tree. A while, eh.

“Hey, Agham. I don’t know if you ever told me, but why exactly did you come to Casla? This place seems to be perfect enough. The situation over there was obvious a year or two ago already, right? With the tensions and all.”

“Oh, I didn’t tell you? It was work. Just work. I’m an adventurer at heart, and I wanted to get a grip on these legendary copper mines for myself while I still could. And also, while those still existed.”

“You seem very passionate. Let me hear a mining-related story of yours when we’re back.”

“I didn’t think you would be interested in that sort of thing, but yeah, why not? There’s lots to tell. But don’t forget what you said, okay?”

Agham removed his hand from the tree and started walking off, waving his hand to us.

“Well, we can’t be dozing off forever. Ozekar, you’re raring to go too, right?”

Ozekar returned it with a slight nod. He probably didn’t want to speak around Agham, either. My legs felt a little sore from all the walking I did, but it wasn’t anything to ride home about. So, we continued marching.

After another hour, we reached Edel.

Yesterday, I would only be able to look at the city from the outside, but this time it was different. I laid my eyes upon those massive gothic-inspired houses again, with the tiny gaps in between. The inside of the city was fully paved with stone and had lots of gray and purple related designs to it. One of its major trademarks that I could immediately make out was its flag, a black eagle upon a white-purple background, proudly spreading its wings. That kind of reminded me of something…Anyway.

And it was this sense of pride that could be felt throughout the capital. Pride in its long lineage, in its culture. In the middle of a city, a gigantic castle stood tall above and beyond the rest of the buildings, seemingly even stretching into them, except for a towering cathedral not too far from it.

The cathedral looked like a gigantic piece of art, rather than your local church. The many defined edges, the meticulous designs of what must be well-known saints depicted on its walls, guarded by an array of different birds around them, the grandiose entrance, a massive door that even a giant could fit through. How long did it take to build this? And the plaza built around it was enormous, too.

“Have you ever been inside there?”

“Nope. But maybe that’s for the better. It’s best not to raise your expectations.”

“Hm, okay…”

Near the middle of the city, the brigade had set up their temporary establishment. The only thing distinguishing the building from the others were the kind of obnoxious looking blue banners hanging down from it. But really, that made all the difference. A strong king’s blue could be spotted from anywhere.

Greeting us at the front door was none other than Turvi herself. Agham quickly snatched away my chance to do the greetings.

“Ah, Turvi. Wonderful day, isn’t it? How’s it going?”

“I’ve been better, but it’s fine.”

She seemed just fine to me, except for the band aid covering her right hand. As she was right-handed, that would hinder her quite a bit, I thought. When I got my turn to say something, though, her mood shifted.

“It’s been a while. How have things been?”

“Hi.”

That simple, abrasive tone definitely rubbed me the wrong way. I thought she would be happy to see me, so why put on that attitude? Even so, I was glad she made it out of Casla without any injuries.

“I didn’t really know whether you even survived that night in Casla or not. Honestly, this is such a relief. If you’ve got some time, would you tell me what happened? And where are Miss Tallier and Maya?”

Instead of answering directly, Turvi made a quick gesture for us to come inside, saying:

“You came for something else, right? That first.”

“Oh, okay…sure.”

She wouldn’t tell me. But then again, out of all people I know, Turvi was the last person likely to do that, so I honestly don’t know what I expected from her. Still, the face she put on wasn’t ordinary.

We made our way inside and were sat down in a small room. I felt a bit of déjà vu. But this time it didn’t feel as intimidating. I had Agham on my side, too, and we were here for a mission, not an interrogation.

He gave Turvi the letter, and she opened it right in front of us. After reading through it for a minute or so, she only had this to say.

“I see. I’ll be handing this over to the commander shortly. Thank you for your work.”

With a flick of her hand, akin to how I saw commander Martin do it before, she called over a blue uniform and take away the letter. It was then that I confirmed she was kind of…ticked off. As for why, neither Agham nor I could tell. Meanwhile, Turvi wanted to end the conversation right there. 

“You’ll hear from me soon. Until then.”

Turvi stood up, and was about to leave, just like that. I had to stop her. No matter what urgent work she had to do, I didn’t care. It would only take five minutes, no, even less than that, to bring the catching up behind us. Honestly, it might have been simply because of her attitude towards me, or maybe some pent-up feelings in my gut, or both, but I couldn’t hold myself back any longer.

“Now come on, wait a second. We’ve still got a few minutes.”

It came out quite bossy, and through that, I managed to grab her attention instantly. Those orange glowing eyes seemed to consume the rest of her face like wildfire spreading across it. I had let loose a hound. But when she responded, there was still some composure in her words.

“I have no time for you, nor that man over there. Not yet. Now get out.”

To that, I had no response. Sure, I was acting out too much, obviously. But that kind of hostility doesn’t just miraculously grow overnight. Whatever happened while I wasn’t with her, it changed her, and not necessarily for the better.

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Frankly, I had hopes of getting closer to her in some way. Things didn’t have to go like this. Turvi was not like the other people I met so far. She was interesting, and I felt that I could place my trust in her. If anything, she kept true to her duties, and that was admirable. But after only spending a few days together, barely talking to each other, and now reuniting like this…I really didn’t think it would turn out this way.

My hopes got shattered. And mending this painful situation would take a long time, too. That is, especially if she didn’t have any intention to do so as well. As we walked outside, I was still trying to think of a way to fix it all, and go back to speak my mind, but nothing worthwhile came up. 

Agham made a face as long as mine. Defeated, we were just standing there, in front of the blue building we just came out of, staring into space. Come to think of it, that whole conversation with Turvi might not have even lasted for one minute. It did feel longer than that, though.

“Agham, do you know whether Maya and Miss Tallier are safe? You heard that at Vermas?”

He sighed.

“Well…I was curious, too. They must be fine from what I’ve gathered, but I wanted it to come from the Ms.’s mouth, just like you.”

“Urgh…What are we going to do now?”

“Hm…”

We collected dust standing in the same place, pretty much blocking the entrance all the while. But I was too stumped to care. I passed the time looking into the sky, counting clouds, before Agham came up with an idea.

“…We both have the day off, so we could…you know.”

I knew what was coming. It came out of Agham’s mouth, after all, and I wasn’t sure I was in the right mood for it.

“…Are you really suggesting that?”

Also, that suggestion didn’t solve any of the problems at hand. It was just an escape from them. I thought about it for a moment. But as my mind was already empty, with no alternative in sight, it was hard to decline. In the end, I decided to agree.

“Yeah. Yeah, let’s do that.”

Elated, Agham got his second wind. And he must’ve been waiting to say the following words for the longest time.  

“Alright, that settles it. I’ll be your guide for today, and I’ll show you everything. Prepare yourself, young man!”

“…Young man? Okay…”

He fumbled around with scraps of paper he pulled out of his pockets, and said:

“Well then, first on our list is: This!”

With a wide gesture, Agham pointed to the cathedral. Of course, he had to go there first, when he already said that entry to the building wouldn’t be permitted.

“Didn’t you say not to my raise my expectations? So, why choose that?”

“Oh, well, we wouldn’t be able to go in, but it’s a nice starting point. You know, location-wise.”

“Oh, so that’s what you mean. Sure.”

With that, we were on our way, back to the cathedral. There, he also told me about the significance of the plaza the cathedral was built on. Apparently, the plaza came first.

Agham said that this would be the place where the duchy’s parades happen, among other important cultural events, since it’s the biggest open area in the city. With a size of almost one square kilometer, the mostly free open area, excluding the church itself, was certainly the most suitable place to hold any kind of gathering.

And then, there were some unique cultural aspects regarding the Inmar Duchy in particular.

“Unique cultural aspects? What kind?”

“Well, I wouldn’t say we hold festivals all that often. But for-Oh, would you look at that? There’s your example.”

Just a short breath away from us, a ragged man got taken in by a guard that took him to the middle of the plaza. As for why this was all happening, the guard went on to announce it himself.  

“Attention, attention! We’ve got a thief on our hands! If you may, raise your arms, and under the watchful eye of justice, enact proper judgment!”

This seemed to energize some of the people around us. They were readying their purses, fruits, anything that was on their hands. The guard pinned down the captured man by his clothes with purple tinged knives and then took a stance a few meters away from him.

What happened then was pretty surreal.

People threw what they had at the pinned down man, be it fruits, coin or…whatever else that lump of brown might could have been. I didn’t want to imagine it. During all that pummeling, the man didn’t say a single word.

After a full seven minutes, and yes, I faithfully counted those, the guard then set the man free. At this point, he was battered, bruised, but also…smiling? The man picked up the coins and fruits from the ground, even those that had been covered in…brown… and then bowed to the surrounding crowd, before making a hurried exit to an alley.

“As you can see, things like THAT happen around here.”

I didn’t get it. What just happened here? A thief got caught, publicly humiliated, and then what? He picked up whatever useful things he could find, then got the fuck out. The guard didn’t even move, he just let him go. What kind of principles do the people here follow?

“Agham, I trust you are well-versed with the culture regarding…this.”

“Oh, that one’s simple. So, you’ve got a thief, right?”

“Right.”

“And the guards don’t really want to bother with small-time criminals, you know, like throwing them in jail, having some legal procedure involved, talking about rights…”

“…Okay?”

“But they can’t be too cruel. So, they let the people decide. In a weird way. Anyone interested can take part in a thief’s public “trial” and then feel free to throw something at him. Condemn him? Throw some stones, maybe dirt. Pity? Something to eat, maybe some money. It’s what the thief stooped so low to gain, anyway. With a few new coins in his pocket, it might take a while before he starts thinking about thieving again. That, and then there’s the law about thievery, which smooths things over.”

“What kind of law?”

“If it’s done once, you’re good. Do it twice…”

Agham moved his hand to his neck, making a throat-slitting gesture, with his usual overacting on top. That might have been intended to make it more comical, but it wasn’t very effective in lightening the mood.  

“Death, huh…”

“No second chances in Edel. But the first one is free. You’ll see this pretty often, so keep your belongings tightly on you. I’ve yet to see someone get any bad punishments at the first try or die from a pebble.”

“I see…”

“Well, don’t let it dampen your mood too much. Throwing something isn’t mandatory either, and you’re not under constant supervision. Relax.”

I hadn’t seen any beggars since I came here. In Casla, you would see them constantly. Well, with those tensions going on there…But to see none of them at all in a main city, that was still very perplexing. Was this because of some law here, too?

Following our conversation, my eyes wandered around, spotting a now open door near the gate of the cathedral. Come to think of it, how much power did the church hold here?

“Yeah…By the way, we haven’t really talked about it, and I get what you were trying to say, but since we’re here already, why not go in at least once? The cathedral, I mean.”

“Uhm…yeah, but…”

Agham looked troubled hearing me say that, like he had to be cautious about what he was to say. Unlike my thoughtless wandering, he was looking out for something.

“The thing is, Lenn. You don’t belong to any faith, right? Only the faithful can get in, if you catch my point.”

Bingo. Now, what about the other powers?

“Oh, is that so. That’s a shame. But we’ve still got the castle and-”

“Uhm…”

“…What?”

“The castle is mostly for soldiers, as it’s their main garrison. You would need to have some sort of permit to get a tour and frankly, I…Well…I don’t really know anyone very well, there…so…”

Agham told me not to let my mood be dampened, but this sure did the trick. Obviously, not everything in a city can be a tourist attraction, but for it to turn out like this…I could now understand why Agham was so knowledgeable in other things like inns instead. That, and the fact he was more of a people person, anyway. That certainly didn’t apply to me, though.

Even so, I gained a lot from this.

“…Alright. I see how it is. Then, we can just go to whatever you would recommend. I trust you can show me something spicy.”

Agham caught his second, no, in this case, third wind.

“Something spicy, eh? I’ll take your word on that. Let me think…Oh, I know just the right place. Not too far from your workplace, too. You’ll like it, definitely.”

“Let’s see what you’ve got. I’m all yours.”

“Okay, first…is this. We’ll walk through that first.”

Agham pointed towards one of the ends of the plaza, a street like any other around, with no particular features whatsoever. Also, that street was in the opposite direction of where the mines were. Not that it mattered for today, but I constantly had that location in the back of my mind.

“So?”

“Don’t you worry, it won’t take us long.”

Taking to that ominously average-looking street, we soon arrived at an average-looking house. Agham knocked on the door twice, then laid off, just to knock twice once again. An obnoxious creaking sound could be heard as the door was being slightly opened. A small, gray hand whisked towards Agham, handing him a purple handkerchief before vanishing again in the opened crevice. Then, the door shut.

“See. Only took a second.”

Impressed, I let out a whistle. Edel must be Agham’s specialty after all. He knew his way around, that was certain. It made me wonder we weren’t openly approached on the streets before. Maybe he only knew shady people?

We slowly made our way to the edges of the city, walking around a ton, sometimes seemingly in circles, until we reached a place not too far from the mines. From there, it would only be about 10 minutes to walk to the bathhouse. And what we stood before was yet another inconspicuous building. The only difference to the surrounding ones was a hand-sized star-shaped mark next to the entrance.

“Shall we?”

“…Where, here?”

“Yep.”

“Okay…”

There were no boundaries on how shady this all was.

“Oh, and hold this.”

Agham gave me the purple fabric he obtained earlier. Then, he repeated the same pattern from before, knocking twice, waiting, then knocking twice again. Would I be able to successfully replicate it? Being able to do so could open up some options for the future…

But as I wanted to remain as clean as possible, I decided on discarding the idea.

A little slit on a head’s length opened up from the iron door, and greeting us was a pair of gray eyes. The person behind the door took a good look. I was still holding the handkerchief, clearly visible to them. They then began to speak.

“Your plus one…”

“With his keep.”

The heavy door slowly unraveled itself. Tons of locks must’ve been put on it. When it opened, there was no one in front of us, as if the person behind it popped into thin air. What was left was a dark, mysterious hallway that Agham was all too eager to go into. He really wanted to me something.

Going through the hallway, something made itself apparent. The place we were in was well-kept, and not a robber’s cove. The duller colors of stone were covered up by colorful blankets, and the smell reminded me of lavender. Above all else, it was warm, the sheer opposite of what one would imagine some dark, creepy hallway to be like.

I had conflicting feelings on whether I ever wanted to be treated like a VIP in life, but maybe something of that sort was to happen. Taking the layers of security surrounding this place, this wasn’t just for anyone. Agham told me I would like it, too, and with all of this going on, I was inclined to believe him.

After a few more steps, the hallway merged with a single big room at the end. Entering that room, one thing became clear. This wasn’t some hideout. It was a treasure trove. And what it was filled with filled me with unbridled awe.

It was stones. But not just any stones. Glimmering, shining, big, small. Every variety, any variety. Red, green, blue and whatever in between. In short, very valuable, stunningly beautiful gems.

My eyes didn’t know where to go first. The charm gems generated was universal to human perception. They were the embodiment of greed. And I was a greedy person.

“This truly is something worth seeing.”

The only ones in the room were the two of us, so I took the leisure of roaming around from showcase to showcase. Agham didn’t mind at all, though he didn’t do the same. Instead, he was standing before a very particular display case.

“Right? These are some beauties, I tell you. Come over here.”

He was standing next to the expose of a high-quality ruby. And looking upon it, even someone like me with next to no experience on this topic could tell that it was perfect from every angle. It was truly unfortunate I didn’t have the money. Otherwise, this would’ve been the birth of a new hobby for me. However, why was Agham drawn to this one, of all things? Could it be that…? I asked:

“Don’t tell me this is actually- “

“Mine.”

“…Wow.”

One thing was for sure. Agham wasn’t a pushover, even when it came to mining. The ruby shone like nothing I had ever seen before, not that that counted for much, but it really was something special. To be able to get your hands on that means to be a professional. Agham explained.

“They keep it in here, I get a small fee every once in a while. Good business. Gems are meant to be looked at anyway. I would feel bad if it was collecting dusty in the old house. It’s been sitting in this place for quite some time, and is one of the main attractions.”

“No surprise in that. Honestly, this is one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen, hat’s down. And this whole exposition is sponsored by some gem enthusiasts?”

He paused.

“…Yeah, something like that.”

“I was wondering what kind of story you would tell me when we get back to base. I definitely didn’t expect…THIS.”

“Oh, that wasn’t even the story I prepared for you. But if you’re interested, I can tell you this little one’s story, too. But only when we’re back at my place, of course.”

“Really? I would be lying if I said I didn’t want to hear it. Coming across such a masterpiece must’ve been one hell of an adventure. And whoever worked on it, too…”

I tried my best to wring some information out of him, but Agham was too hard of a nut to crack. He saw right through me.  

“That’s a trade secret. I’ll have to blur out the names and places a little. I trust you understand.”

“Oh, definitely. As far as I know, details don’t necessarily make for a good story.”

Agham furled an eyebrow.

“Well…that can be true. I actually had a discussion on that before, and…”

“…And?”

“Right. But let’s save that for when the time comes. For now, just enjoy yourself. We can’t be in here for too long.”

As I looked around, I saw a clock near the entrance. It was ticking down, and it only had another ten minutes left before reaching twelve.

“Understood.”

 

-End Of Chapter 9-

 

 

 

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