Here he was again, in the unbelievably tidiest room of the most sophisticated guy that he had ever met.

  This time, he didn’t waste any time, heading straight towards the bookshelves. All kinds of both interesting and mundane books were quietly lying on the well-made bookshelves. Most of them were just reports of recent cases, which Merik had already read of.

  He found the book Albert instructed quite quickly but he couldn’t help but stare at the book with slight disdain.

  The book was seemingly out of place – it was noticeably different from the rest but what made Merik reacted in that way was its cover.

  On the cover was a beautiful drawing of a half-naked woman, with the title of “Beauts of the Town” and, the instance he saw it, Merik instantly knew it was his old man’s idea.

  Merik gave out a sigh in sympathy for his fellow comrade, Landon, in having to go through this surreal experience, perhaps every day.

  Nonetheless, once he decided to pull out the book from its resting place, a secret door revealed itself for Merik. So, go in he did and the door slowly closed behind.

  He had imagined a lot on how the room would be, but it was just an ordinary room – too simple, actually – a room that resembled a mini library, full of countless stacks of books and in the center, a table and a chair. Though how tedious amounts of case files, reports and books there may be, good thing for Merik was that, they were neatly and orderly placed accordingly.

  A ray of light was intruding the room that was emitting a faint smell of mold, but despite this, Merik felt that it was carefully kept.

  The archives ranged from unsolvable, mysterious occurrences and even including ordinary serial killers who had yet to be caught.

  Merik pondered for a moment on why it was necessary to go out of their way and secretly build a room if the files so far weren’t that much different from the ones he had been reading.

  However, soon enough, he learnt of the reason why.

  One of the files he came upon was a basic manual for the Head Captain of each division, filled with all kinds of hidden knowledge and information. For example, one of the facts happened to be the one he knew of – how the Overseers handle with remnants of Soulesses.

  Yes, it wasn’t the government that handled these – it was none other than the Overseers. They had to painstakingly go all around their respective region and handle people’s funerals, in a way, containing the situations as well.

  Basically, they were funeral philanthropists, though officers like Merik didn’t need to deal with such tedious ordeals. That was mostly the main reason why they were short in manpower – with almost all their staffs running around and giving people souvenirs in the place of their beloveds.

  The people who were left behind could at least have some form of closure. However, the reality was a lot harsher than they knew and it needed to be kept hidden at all cost.

  Merik sighed at the thought of this knowledge.

  He instantly refocused again since he wasn’t here for a leisure library. According to his lingering memories, what he wanted should be under the section of unsolvable, open cases.

  The number of files didn’t even amount to ten and Merik found it quite quickly.

  “The Case of Ashenwoods.”

  With a sense of nostalgia, Merik fondly rubbed the file’s front cover. And several silhouettes of people from the deepest parts of his heart, slowly appeared in his vision. He felt glad that he still vividly remembered their faces, especially, her, Amara.

  He took a seat and put the file onto the table and mentally prepared himself. He couldn’t quite grasp what he was feeling.

  Was it excitement? Was it nervousness? Anticipation? Fear? Anxiety. Regrets and guilts. A lot of guilts.

  And an indescribable longing towards what was once his.

  He embraced every complex feeling in his heart and started to flip the files.

  The case in summary was, how after the Overseers got a lead a mysterious criminal called the Deceiver, they meticulously trailed him all the way to a remote village named Ashenwood, the birthplace of Merik.

  The case was buried for so long since the mysteries behind it was seemingly shrouded in countless layers of twisted threads, with none able to unravel even to this day.

  Even Merik, the lone survivor of that tragic nightmare, still couldn’t thoroughly explain what really happened.

  It was too vague of a memory since only the feelings stayed rooted in his memories.

  This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  The moment he began, he instantly knew that this report was written by his mentor, Albert, in his own weird handwriting.

  Merik skimmed through most parts since they were just Albert, reporting on every meticulous matter which he deemed peculiar.

  Not even an irregular hooting patterns of owls were spared. Though Merik could understand it since they couldn’t make any mistakes when it came to dealing with such inexplicable character of the Deceiver.

  The Deceiver, huh?

  Suddenly, Merik’s eyes narrowed when he reached a certain part of the file.

  It described a team of Overseers, including Albert, Allen and three of the people whose names Merik didn’t recognize, almost catching the Deceiver in that very village called Ashenwood.

  However, the moment they were about to succeed, the said bizarre occurrence broke out and in order to save the people from Ashenwood, they had to let go off the wicked criminal and to this day, that man was still roaming free, staying hidden from the world.

  And, it further described the details on how they saved the locals from slaughtering one another but to their unfortunate surprise, no one came out alive, except for them.

  Merik’s brows were tightly knitted now after reading these parts.

  Because at least he knew it wasn’t how it really happened.

  He didn’t know about the part where they almost caught that the Deceiver but he definitely knew about the saving part.

  Because they didn’t.

  They failed in saving any of them since they disappeared without a trace. And only Merik was saved by Albert but he only vaguely remembered it as well.

  But here the report was saying the Overseers tried to save those people – the same people who seemingly vanished into thin air.

  Merik gritted his teeth to suppress the boiling rage rising from his inner heart. His fist was thumping the table in a rhythmic beat, and his mind in deep thoughts.

  Merik noticed several odd things in Albert’s writings. From the beginning, he included every single tiny detail but these details noticeably turned into more of vague speculations towards the end.

  It was as if the file itself was a diary, that slowly fell out of love with its owner.

  Even the writing style changed abruptly. It seemed that by the time they reached the village, Albert wasn’t the only one writing this report anymore.

  Merik knew distinctively that the participants decided to fabricate the truths but he could only guess why.

  Mostly, he just couldn’t understand on why Albert would do something like this. He kept finding reasons in his heart for his own mentor but these uncertainties were hopelessly trying to drown Albert in a negative light.

  His memories were too much of a liability here as well, since he could only recall vague scenes of him running away from something... or someone.

  It was true that the villagers were fighting against one another but he didn’t know why they were fighting in the first place nor what happened next.

  Heart rending pain and traumas stayed rooted in his heart while the actual memories didn’t.

  But then.

  He saw a thin paper weakly attached to the original file. The weird handwriting was without a doubt, Albert’s.

  Merik’s eyes glistened and focused intently on it.

  This time, it seemed to explain most of the events that happened, from Albert’s point of view.

  Did he purposely leave this for me?

  This piece of paper contained a lot of information and certain explanations for the events.

  It said that the villagers indeed fought one another in a terrifying manner because they have been turned into something else.

  Something that was foreign to their world, something grotesque in nature, something unfathomable, something bloodthirsty or even worse.

  That thing was called…

  “What’s...”

  ___________________________________________________________________

  “Miss Cora, let’s proceed.”

  “Oh, right.”

  After dazedly staring at the beautiful theatre, Cora’s eyes regained their luster at her Head Captain, Landon’s words.

  They were now in the Eastern Square of Brownmourn, the most fancy and popular district, out of all the squares in their city. This district could also be considered an entertainment zone since wherever she laid her eyes on, there were dazzling shops, restaurants or even... accessories she had never seen of or heard of in her entire life.

  Granted, she was a poor, countryside girl and any sorts of fun activities she knew that resembled some form of entertainments would be throwing a fireball towards a target and yelling “Bullseye!” whenever it hit the mark.

  That’s why she was in such an astonished daze, staring at such a wonderful stadium – a host to only the most prominent theatre troupes, operas, comedians, choirs and so on.

  Currently, on the huge billboard, the title itself was written in a uniquely eye-catching way. It was one of the most anticipated plays called “Damsel in Distress” by the famous “Unfazed” troupe, coming in a few days.

  Cora slightly sighed while quietly following behind Landon while having all kinds of unsatisfied thoughts. She knew she had been tagging along Landon as per her job as well as fulfilling a personal request from her supervisor but instead, it was nothing but him, wandering around, greeting and asking people all kinds of ordinary questions.

  He was looking for someone but Cora couldn’t help but feel somewhat disappointed. But at the same time, she was content with seeing how this particular district looked like – the place which she had been wanting to come since she got here. Though, Merik never indulged in letting her wish come true.

  Merik...

  Now, her gazes sharpened when she thought of her senior. The same senior she was disappointed and mad at for how he dealt with the pitiful woman back then, which led to their current awkward stage.

  In her heart, though, she painfully knew it wasn’t him she was discontent with – it was herself, for being such a weak, inconsiderate, selfish lump of irrational emotions. She acted exactly how she wasn’t supposed to, while losing her composure and drowning in her own self-imposed ideals, she almost cost both their lives.

  Which was stupid.

  If it weren’t for him miraculously clutching at the end, she wouldn’t even be here, enjoying these wonderful aspects of the city she'd never even dreamed of.

  Mostly the reason why she couldn’t force herself to properly talk to him and go back to the way it was.

  Combining all these reasons and dissatisfaction towards herself, she reaffirmed in her mind that just getting promoted to being an Overseer here was just a mere beginning, not a life-changing achievement she should be proud of, and for her to even attempt her dreams, she was still thousands of mountains apart.

  However, rather than despairing over these endless mountains, she had already decided to just take a step at a time.

  A trace of fiery determination flashed in her hazel-colored eyes and her thin lips curled up in satisfaction.

  Which was why, she had to take her first step – learning more about Merik, Landon, the whole of the garrison, and every knowledge she needed to surpass her father, her... sister, herself.

  She sped up a little bit to match the pace of Landon, who was steadily yet quickly walking in front of her. She wanted to know what really happened towards the end of that night.

  Properly.