After Walker's life-or-death confrontation, a group of professionals arrived at the scene.
One of which was the leader, Sephroteus Blazeheart. Known as Sephro among his colleagues, founder and leader of the Blazehearts faction, a group completely different from military or police—ones who investigated the supernatural.
They found the unconscious body of Walker Soliraine and the mysterious girl Lucille. Naturally, Sephro prepared a long list of questions but was forced to swallow it momentarily.
After ordering his men, Sidric and Alfred, to take the two along into the carriage, Sephro was left alone at the scene.
He kneeled down near the corpses of the Relené couple and something odd. Their corpses were odd, sure, but what unsettled him was their ears.
Their ears had remnants of dried blood, which seemed strange since their bellies were split open.
Sephro noticed a strange smell emanating from Julie Relené's belly, and out of curiosity, picked up one of the daggers the couple carried with his normal gloved hand and snapped to light a fire with his other using his Two of Hearts–leveled Relic glove, which was deemed as the lowest rank among Relic—tools created by infusing human knowledge with tools.
With the dagger, Sephro pushed the upper side of the horizontal slit, and what he saw unsettled him to the point his fire went out, and he had to stand up and take a few steps back.
As he had heard before, the Relené couple were expecting a child, and what Sephro witnessed was not normal. The fetus inside had petrified—not dried, but completely turned to stone.
Not your average murder, it seems. Sephro sighed and dropped the dagger.
Following the echoes of the drop, Alfred returned to the scene.
"What's wrong, boss?"
Sephro shook his head before responding, "Well, this case doesn't fit our expertise. Send a letter to the Erfinders."
Erfinders were people specialized in research, especially the abnormal. Meanwhile, the Blazehearts were ones who took care of any supernatural things that could break the Settlement's laws.
But the Hunters were something different altogether. Despite Walker being one of the only hunters remaining, he did not like to be given that title. He liked himself to be called something a bit better—A Jack of All Trades.
Alfred, the right hand of the leader, took out his note from inside his waist pocket and began writing. He requested the Erfinders' help while summarizing everything his leader told him and ending it with their address code: a waved line that ended with the letters E.F.
He then scraped the page, and with the help of a snap of Sephro's fingers, burned the letter. The remnants scattered into the wind and went outside of the window. That was the Wainwright Settlement's way of long-distance communication.
Sephro took a moment to stabilize his mind, then ordered, "Check for any anthologic or supernatural traces."
Alfred nodded and took out a crystal—a bright green crystal, or rather, an emerald. It was clear enough to see through it, and that was its purpose.
He raised the crystal to his right eye and brought it close enough to see through it.
At first, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but suddenly, black lines of smoke began appearing through the view given through the crystal.
A chill ran down Alfred's spine, freezing him in place momentarily before he regained his consciousness and blurted, "It's still here!"
"Are you sure?" Sephro asked, calm but worried.
Alfred quickly nodded and pointed near the door, to which Sephro replied with an order,
"Hurry and bring me water—and preferably salt and garlic along with it."
Alfred tucked the emerald in his waist pocket and obeyed the order by heading out of the room and towards the kitchen.
Sephro tapped his forehead three times before reaching for his belt and drawing four pure iron knives, throwing each one to draw a barrier around the place pointed by Alfred.
Right then, Alfred arrived with a glass of water, into which he had already poured salt, and he held garlic in his other hand.
Taking the glass of water, Sephro grabbed the garlic in his Relic-gloved hand and incinerated it above the glass. The incinerated garlic turned to dust before falling into the water.
"This'll do." He poured bits on each of the knives, then poured the entire thing in the middle of them.
The knives began clattering as if they were clashing with an unseen force.
A light dimmed inside the drawn barrier. It gradually increased in brightness—
then bang!
Their ears rang, and when they opened their eyes, they noticed the knives were missing—each had been repelled in different directions.
Seeing the impact caused by it, Sephro raised his eyebrows and scoffed.
"That Walker… he always manages to surprise me."
That was a demonstration of the strength carried by that creature—or rather, spirit.
"Do you know the name of that, sir?" Alfred asked, still a bit nervous.
Sephro thought for a moment then replied. "I don't know."
Several footsteps sounded from below, then two men in white cloaks and hats greeted Alfred and Sephro, their clothes the exact opposite of the Blazehearts. One was about 1.90 meters tall and the other significantly shorter than him.
"You arrived sooner than expected, Sir Abraham." Sephro returned the greeting, his eyes set on the shorter man.
Sir Abraham lifted his hat and placed it on his chest, revealing his greyish-blonde hair and longer-than-average beard of the same color. He had wrinkles on his face.
"My gratitudes for informing us. However, our time is valuable, so if your call was without interest to us, you'll have to pay. Understood?"
"Haven't I earned your respect enough for you to know that I wouldn't invite you without reason?" replied Sephro, maintaining his respectful tone.
Sir Abraham breathed out from his nose and gave a nod of understanding before patting Sephro on the shoulder and entering the room.
"Bernard, over here!"
The tall and long black-haired Bernard moved past the Blazehearts, his form a significant show of his prowess.
Sephro pulled out his pocket watch and looked at the time. It was later than midnight.
"We have nothing more to do here. Let's go."
He began walking in front, letting Alfred follow him along. Sephro walked with his eyes glued to the longer needle of his watch, slowly moving forward.
Outside the villa, he took a deep breath and let it out, white smoke coming from his mouth and nose.
Then, the realization struck.
Winter had arrived.
"This'll be a long one," he muttered, gazing at the moon.
…
In the morning, at the hospital of the Serina district.
Lucille opened her eyes, followed by pain flowing through her entire body.
She took some time before attempting to get up. And she successfully did so—but the pain remained. Every muscle of hers moved, followed by her grunts. She realized she was wearing a hospital gown.
As a young girl who had recently reached puberty, Lucille was 14—and the recent event was apparently more than she could handle.
However, her family's orders were clear in her mind:
To bring in the successor for her family at the Grand Coliseum of the Euphorian Kingdom.
She began opening up doors to check the patients while leaning on the wall.
Once, she saw an old man at his deathbed. Then a child in distress. Then a man with a broken leg. Each time, she got more embarrassed by not being able to find her target.
After trials and errors, she finally found him—found the man who saved her, one capable of fulfilling her goal, and one who fit the requirements set by her family.
The man lay in the hospital bed—not straight, but rolling and hugging his blanket in his unconsciousness.
At first glance, no one would take him for a patient, but a man enjoying his sleep.
Lucille entered the room and carefully closed the door, walking on her toes to not make a noise.
She eventually got near the bed and sat on the couch, gasping for air. She had become exhausted faster than usual.
She picked up the jug, poured herself a glass of water, and gulped it in one go.
However, due to her lack of strength, she could not put the glass back in its place, and it ultimately fell to the ground—
making a loud noise that not only startled her but almost made her faint.
Walker's eyes opened wide as he let out a scream—but what scared him was not the glass breaking, but something that occurred in his dream.
He immediately looked to the side and saw the blonde-haired girl he met at night—and gradually relaxed.
He put his hand over his eyes and gathered his thoughts—and also tried to hide himself from the embarrassment.
Lucille, nervous and weakened, clasped her hands in her lap and tried to speak.
But she barely could.
"Uh-uhm, good morning… mister."
"Oh, good morning to you."
Walker removed his hand and raised his upper half up.
Lucille became more confident and gathered what she wanted to say.
"I, uh… have something to tell you."
"What is it…" Walker raised his head. His vision suddenly turned inverted. Everything looked green to him, and Lucille was as bright as the sun—but around her roamed a mysterious presence, a black smoke that whirled around her.
Seeing that startled Walker. He knew that there was definitely something wrong. He reached for his revolver—but it wasn't there.
What the hell…
For the first time in a while, Walker felt helpless.