Chapter XLVIII: Meeting with the Crows

 

            Damn, I thought it was Naiya, but I just realized that the inn they were staying at was different. This novel is getting harder to analyze. Too much sh*t going down.

 

            I mean, why the f*ck is Sheldon right outside the room they were staying in? Where the hell is Naiya? And why does Solis know Sheldon?

 

            “Sheldon!”

 

            The guy was shocked when he saw our main character running down the hall to catch up to him.

 

            “Um... Who are you?”

 

            “I-I’m from the Hunting Guild! Also, I’m a huge fan of yours! You’re the one who single-handedly destroyed the Raviente, right?”

 

            “Oh, you’re from the guild. I guess you’ve heard about that job.” Sheldon scratches his head when he sees Kevlar along the hall waiting for him. “Look, I appreciate your recognition but I’ve got important things to do-”

 

            “Tenen, get over here”, he calls his Anima. “The guy who killed the Raviente is here!”

 

            “Kid, I really don’t have time for...” He pauses when he sees Tenenbaum coming out of the room.

 

            “...Solis, this guy is looking at me funny”, she says as Sheldon scans her thoroughly with his eyes.

 

            “Kid... This cat belongs to you, right?”

 

            “Hey! I don’t belong to anyone-“

 

            Solis puts a hand on her mouth.

 

           “I’m sorry about that. She gets touchy when it comes to our relationship.”

 

            “Hey, kid, are you by chance an Elemental?”

 

            Before Solis could answer, Mea pulls him into the room as she steps out to answer for him.

 

            “Who are you?”, Mea asks with an antagonizing glare.

 

            “Name’s Sheldon. Are you his girlfriend?”

 

            “We don’t have that kind of relationship!”, Solis pops out from the door.

 

            “I’ll deal with this, Solis. Get back inside.”

 

            “But he’s-“

 

            “Now.”

 

            “Look, I think there’s a bit of misunderstanding here, miss so let me explain”, Sheldon speaks in digression. “Basically, I’m someone who can help him finish the job.”

 

            “And what job would that be?”

 

            “Have you ever heard of Binomial Nomenclature?”

 

            “Yes.”

 

            “Really...” He wasn’t expecting her to know. “Well, that saves us time then. Since that kid is an Elemental, he’s a part of the key components to reforge another key from the two amulets as depicted in the book.”

 

            “And?”

 

            “My colleagues and I know where it is and where to use it.”

 

            “Eve”, Cisqua calls to her. “He’s not a Demon.”

 

            “Is that cat yours?”

 

            “I belong to no one!” Cisqua hisses at him.

 

            “Alright, I’ll listen to what you have in mind, but we’re not complete yet”, Mea says in submission.

 

            “We?”, Sheldon questions.

 

            “There are six of us here.”

 

            A smile forms on Sheldon’s face. The same smile Accountancy students make when they successfully balance the Trial Balance.

 

            “Kev”, Sheldon calls him over. “I think we hit the jackpot.”

 

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            At the residential area a couple of meters (3.28084 feet per meter, you do the calculations you flippant imperial) away from the inn, a house much bigger than the others was accommodating more people than it used to since it was first built. Even though it’s a century old, the structure is still as sturdy as ever, and the area around it is quite elevated as a countermeasure to storm water.

 

            As of now, the house belongs to Kevlar’s colleague, a person I’ve been asking about in all caps and exclamation points a few chapters ago.

 

            “I didn’t know Violet owned such a huge place”, Sheldon comments while taking a seat on the couch by the fireplace.

 

            “Neither did I, until she lent me the keys”, Kevlar takes a seat on the couch next to Sheldon.

 

            “Go ahead, guys; take a seat”, Sheldon invites them.

 

            Elias, Maise, and Lanette were left at the inn while the Elementals were led inside the house. As they shuffled through the door from the front porch to the living room, Anna didn’t feel quite right when she recognized a dress folded on top of one of the cupboards, a dress that looks exactly like the dress Issei put on her.

 

            She was reminded of what she’d been through and she quickly took hold of Credo’s hand so as to feel safe.

 

            “What’s wrong?”

 

            Credo stopped while the rest of them went ahead and got comfortable.

 

            “I don’t like this place”, Anna whispers, somewhat shook by what she remembered. It seems the scars still remain despite the death of the person who made them.

 

            “You want us to drag-a*s back to that tiny room?”, Credo jests to make light of the subject, but the reaction he was hoping for didn’t come.

 

            Instead, Anna took hold of his arm tightly as she pleaded: “Please!”

 

            Everyone was shocked when they heard her shrill voice so Credo spoke up to smooth it over.

 

            “We’ll be out at the porch”, Credo says, holding Anna’s hand as they walked out.

 

            “What was that about?”, Sierra questioned.

 

            “No clue”, Therese shrugs. “But hey, check this out”, she takes the folded dress on the cupboard.

 

            “Wow, that looks cute. Let me see”, Sierra approaches her and examines the dress.

 

            “Sierra, this looks like your size. You should try it on”, Therese suggests while testing the fabric.

 

            “Really?”, Sierra says while blushing, flattered by what her sister said.

 

            “Yeah, it’s really tight around the chest.”

 

            “Dafaq did you just say?”, Sierra’s hands were balled into fists.

 

            “That’s not something a virgin like you should be wearing, missy”, Kevlar speaks up.

 

            “Virgin? Wait... Is that supposed to be an insult or a compliment?”, Therese asks.

 

            “Neither. It’s just, that dress was commonly used by prostitutes in the last century”, Kevlar says while chuckling to himself.

 

            Therese instantly shoves it inside the cupboard in disgust.

 

            “What’s a prostitute?”, Solis asks innocently in his seat.

 

            The room went silent from Solis’ question.

 

            “Should I let him imbibe of our knowledge, Kev?”, Sheldon suggests.

 

            “By all means!”, Kevlar acknowledges as he laughed.

 

            “I don’t think that’s necessary”, Mea speaks up from her seat with her legs crossed. “I believe we’ve something to discuss about the information on the two amulets.”

 

            “Well, would you look at that”, Sheldon says in an amused tone. “Reminds you of a certain someone, doesn’t it?”

 

            “I know”, Kevlar agrees. “She’s so serious, almost like a younger female version of him.”

 

            “I don’t give a f*ck who ‘he’ is and I don’t plan on holding my breath from your immature ramblings, so if that’s all you have to say, we’d best be off.“

 

            “Okay-okay, we’re sorry”, Sheldon says, changing his tone into something more sensible.

 

            “Should I tell her about Binomial Nomenclature?”, Kevlar asks.

 

            “It seems she already knows.”

 

            “Alright”, Kevlar nods. “Do you know where to reforge the key?”

 

            “The Divine Library”, Mea answers.

 

            “...That’s... very good”, Kevlar says, surprised that this girl knows so much. He looks at Sheldon for a while with a face that says ‘How does she know that?’

 

            ‘I have no idea’, Sheldon’s face answers while he shrugs.

 

            “Um... Do you know how to get there?”, Kevlar asks her.

 

            “If I’m not mistaken, the place is unreachable since it was cut off from the Known Regions after the Cataclysm period”, she supposes.

 

            “Wait”, Therse interrupts. “If it’s unreachable, how were you planning on bringing us there?”

 

            “That’s easy...”

 

            Kevlar and Sheldon were surprised that she actually knows a way to get there as they watched her rise from her seat with arms raised. After taking a deep breath, she pronounces her plan...

 

            “I believe the Lord, God Almighty shall find a way for us!”

 

            This is what makes Christians look like idiots!

 

            “This is what makes Christians look like idiots!”

 

            Well said, Solis!

 

            Mea pouts at his comment and takes a seat as she whispers to herself.

 

            “How the hell was I supposed to know?”

 

            “That was the crappiest gag I’ve ever heard”, Kevlar speaks up, unamused. “In any case, it just so happens that my colleague and I here have a way to get there.”

 

            “Where are we going again?”, Solis asks.

 

            “The Divine Library”, Sheldon answers. “You’ve read the book, right?”

 

            “What book?”

 

            “He’s the only one who hasn’t read the book among us”, Mea interjects. “I’ll explain it to him in due time.”

 

            “I see. Well, that’s not really important. As long as you all agree to cooperate, I’m sure our business will go smoothly”, Sheldon pronounces with a smile. “We can’t go there yet since we’re still missing two, but they should be here soon.”

 

            “How do you know that?”, Cisqua asks as she hops on Solis’ lap.

 

            “We have our connections”, Kevlar says with a smirk.

 

            “Who’s this connection of yours?”, Charlotte joins in while she hops on Solis’ lap.

 

            “Beats me. All of our informants keep themselves anonymous”, Sheldon responds.

 

            “Then how can you be so sure about this information?”, Tenenbaum hops on Solis’ lap as well.

 

            “They won’t lie if they know what’s best for them”, Kevlar answers.

 

            “You’re information is right”, Lux hops on Kevlar’s lap. “I think they’re pretty close.”

 

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            Earlier, Yvaine and Kat went out of the inn they were staying at for a little ‘shopping’ while Naiya was left at their room with Sticky and Crisostomo who was currently in a state of nausea. Apparently she left her coat with them, probably because the color was too flashy for her ‘shopping trip’. After taking a survey about the settlement, she found there were only two points of interest: the town hall and the large mansion among one of the houses in the residential area.

 

            From her observation point outside the inn, the cold sting of the ensuing monsoon starts to seep against her exposed skin, a little different from the winter chill she gets from The Upper Kingdom. It made her wish she had a less conspicuous coat. The first place she was going for was the town hall but there were soldiers from Berial Magus inside on guard apart from the local town guards.

 

            “Must be the embassy”, she comments.

 

            “Wanna go for it?”, Kat asks.

 

            “No, it’s a bit risky. The place doesn’t even have any windows I could fit in. It’s better to go for that mansion over there since there’s not much people out. The rain’s pretty strong too so it’s impossible for anyone to hear us while we’re in.”

 

            “How are we going in?”

 

            “That depends. Is there anyone home?”

 

            “Let me check”, Kat says while lifting off.

 

            After taking flight, she swooped down the building and closed her eyes. Similar to Lux’s ability to detect Demons, Kat has the ability to detect Humans. It’s a pretty useful skill when you wanna go sneaking around without being detected. After her survey, Kat flies back to Yvaine to report.

 

            “See anyone?”

 

            “Nope. Nobody home.”

 

            “We’re going in.”

 

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            The structure had two floors and an attic as observed from outside. Probably at most eight bedrooms upstairs judging from the number of windows, and two large rooms on the first floor, most likely the kitchen and the living room.

 

            After entering the house from the front door, Yvaine made a clean sweep on the first floor but found nothing much but a couple of coins lying around and a jeweled gold cross in one of the drawers. When the first floor was cleared and put back the way it was, she headed for the second floor, and to her surprise, she found something interesting.

 

            “The hell?”

 

            A small desk lay inside the bedroom as she searched, and on top of that desk, a book with the name “Ryan Perez” caught her eye. The book looked pretty familiar so she went ahead and took it.

 

            The cover reads “Binomial Nomenclature by Ryan Perez”.

 

            “Hey, isn’t that...”

 

            “Yeah. Dad left me something like this back then.”

 

            “I remember that. You used it as fuel for our campfire.”

 

            “That prick expected me to read it just when he was about to abandon me.”

 

            “Isn’t that great...” Kat was about to make a joke about having another book for firewood, but she felt a presence coming through close by. “Someone’s coming. Two of them.”

 

            Yvaine takes action and heads for the ladder leading to the attic before the owner of the house gets through the door. She’s planning to go for the window as her exit but not before sweeping what’s left in the attic. It’s a lot easier to maneuver up here since the rain drops muffle her footsteps.

 

            As she pulls back the retractable ladder, the smell of... Okay, you know that bag you promised to clean but you ended up stuffing it in your closet, and after a couple of years you decide to open that closet again? That smell. Not unbearable but not pleasant either.

 

            “Alright, let’s see what we got”, Yvaine whispers to herself as she scans the room.

 

            There’s a lot of boxes and crates in the place but one in particular seems to have its lid off. A lot of cob webs say that nobody’s been up there for a while. There’s an old 40-watt bulb hanging from its wire with a piece of thread tied to a cork hooked up next to it as a light switch.

 

            The bulb immediately explodes to cinders when Yvaine pulls the switch.

 

            “Crap”, Yvaine says while plucking out the shards of glass that barely stuck to her arm.

 

            “Are you alright?”

 

            “Yeah, it’s nothing. I’ve been through worse.”

 

            “Just make sure you’re not bleeding.”

 

            After dusting off the shards, they checked every crate but all they found was more books about Binomial Nomenclature stacked up against each other while the boxes contained various papers which documented the old settlement. Apparently Bania used to be a lot bigger with its territory spreading toward the edge of Origami Canyon, but after the battle between the Fallen Forty-Four and King Orion’s army, everyone notified of the battle within the area vacated. Everyone else was caught in the cross-fire.

 

            “You find anything useful, Kat?”

 

            “Nothing but fuel for our campfire.”

 

            “Alright, let’s wrap this up.”

 

            “Already? What about the stuff on the second floor? They don’t seem to be coming up.”

 

            “This cross is enough for a few pounds of coins. Remember the rule?”

 

            “Yeah-yeah. ‘Don’t steal anything less valuable than what you’ve already found.’ I remember.”

 

            “Good”, Yvaine says making her way to the window. “Is anyone out there that could spot us?”

 

            Kat closes her eyes to concentrate and opens them to report.

 

            “The two are still inside the house. No one else seems to be in range so we’re probably good to go.”

 

            “Okay...”

 

            Yvaine slides up the window and the cold air smacks her in the face like [1] Janna’s ultimate.

 

            “I really need a new coat”, she remarks as she climbs up and slips through the window.

 

            From the rooftop she slides down the inclined surface of the roof until she comes to a stop on the gutter. The wet surface caused less tractive force on her gym shorts so it didn’t hurt her butt that much, but the cold rain was almost unbearable for her.

 

            “I hate The Lower Kingdom”, she says while easing herself to hang on the gutter.

 

            Once she’s ready to release the support from her arms she drops down and lands in front of the porch with her back turned against the house. Kat followed her and immediately threw herself under Yvaine’s long hair which was treading down her shoulder.

 

            From then she sprinted back to the inn and dried herself with a towel with her prize tucked conspicuously within her gym shorts... At least, that was the plan until...

 

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            “You think they’re ‘pretty close’?”, Mea skeptically questions Lux.

 

            “Yeah, they’re right outside”, Lux says, nodding.

 

            “That’s probably just Anna and Credo.”

 

            “No, I can feel three of them out there! Come on!”

 

            Lux hops off Kevlar’s lap and everyone except for the two gentlemen follows her outside. Of course, she’s a little too small to open the front door so she lagged for a couple of seconds until Mea opened it for her.

 

            “What’s wrong?”, Anna reacts to the sudden opening of the door.

 

            Credo and Anna have been sitting on the edge of the porch and watching the rain for a while, but there didn’t seem to be anyone else.

 

            “Did anyone happen to pass by here?”, Mea asks the both of them.

 

            “No, unless it’s a [2] Houdini Splicer”, Credo answers.

 

            “This is serious”, Mea declares.

 

            “I didn’t see anyone pass by”, Anna replies.

 

            Mea looks at Lux with a displeased face.

 

            “But I really felt it!”, Lux defends herself with both antennae twitching.

 

            “There’s no one here, though”, Therese says as she looks around.

 

            Mea glares at her again with the same face.

 

            “Look, I wouldn’t joke about something at a time like this!”

 

            “Then where’s the Elemental?”, Sierra steps in.

 

            “I... I don’t know!”

 

            “Come on, Lux. Is this because I ate the Finn Cake Mea gave you?”, Charlotte approaches her with a smug look on her face.

 

            “What? No!”

 

            Just then, Solis notices something strange.

 

            “Hey, look.”

 

            Solis points out as a pair of legs dangle from the roof. Judging from how the pair of legs sexually excite me, it probably belongs to a woman. After a bit of hesitation, she slides and drops down from the roof as some sort of cat with wings lands on her shoulder. She was about to walk away from the house but someone’s voice prompted her to halt.

 

            “Um... Excuse me”, Credo calls out to her.

 

            She didn’t turn back, but it seems she was whispering something to the cat.

 

            “I thought you said they were inside?”

 

            “Yes, they’re inside!”

 

            “Then who the hell called out to me just now?”

 

            “I don’t know! Maybe they’re Elves or something? I can’t detect Elves!”

 

            “Let’s make a break for it. You go left, I’ll go right.”

 

            “Okay.”

 

            Just as they were about to run, the rain drops suddenly stopped and a dark shadow towered above them. As Yvaine turned around, she found a young boy shorter than her holding an umbrella on top of her.

 

            “Are you okay, miss?”, the boy asks her with a comforting expression on his face.

 

            “I’m... fine, I guess”, she answers with an unnatural tone she never knew she could have. I guess she was taken by surprise.

 

            “What’s your name?”

 

            “What’s it to you?”, she questions, returning to her usual curt tone.

 

            “Well, my name is Solis. I’m sorry, but it’s freezing out here, and people normally avoid getting wet in the rain”, he retracts his statement politely. “Do you have a place to stay?”

 

            “I do. Can we go now?”

 

            “Do you have an umbrella?”

 

            “Yeah, of course. I shoved it up my a*s-crack earlier”, she replies with sarcasm. “You want me to show you?”

 

            “You can fit an umbrella in your anus?”

 

            “I was obviously joking”, she says with a face-palm. “You know, you remind me of someone in a lot of ways.”

 

            “Um... Does that mean you don’t have an umbrella?”

 

            “*Sigh*... I don’t have one”, she replies, giving in to his innocent tone.

 

            “You can have this one”, he says showing her a small automatic umbrella on his other hand.

 

            “Oh, thanks-“

 

            “I just have something I have to ask you.” He pulls back the unopened umbrella. “Are you an Elemental?”

 

            Yvaine pauses for a moment and then responds with a boorish tone. “Who knows? What the hell is that supposed to mean anyway? You seem like a really nice person, if you ask me, but a little punk like you shouldn’t be talking to... Kat, what are you doing?”

 

            Kat just flew over Solis’ shoulder.

 

            “Hey, that’s my special spot!”, Tenenbaum screams at her all the way from the porch.

            “Not anymore", Kat shouts back shrewdly.

 

            “You see, miss, I’m an Elemental too... According to various sources”, Solis says while pointing to himself with his thumb. “The sources I’m talking about are also Elementals. We’re gathering for-“

 

            “Oh-hoh... I get it now. You want me to join your little club.”

 

            “That’s... Well, you could put it like that if you want.” Solis looks back at the house and gives them a thumbs up. “For now, would you like to come inside?”, he says, facing her again.

 

            Yvaine thinks for a moment from his proposal...

 

            “This hunk of gold isn’t gonna go unnoticed for long. I gotta get out of here before they suspect me... But how... Hmm... Of course! I could get them to come with me and meet Naiya, then I could hide the stuff there!”

 

            “I don’t think so. Why don’t you guys come with me instead? There’s someone I’d like you to meet.”

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1. Champion from League of Legends

2. Enemy from the Bioshock series that can turn invisible

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“Um... Excuse me”, Credo calls out to her.

Isn't Solis the one who noticed Yvaine?