Chapter 200: 200
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The afternoon sunlight penetrated through the giant windows, landing right on his right shoulder, warming it. The peace in the mountains outside the hotel couldn't help ease the feeling that he had missed something.
"This Contract Book is very strong indeed, isn't it, G? But so far, all the artifacts that we know have a powerful drawback or a certain condition for using them. I can't help but feel that my Reveal might not have shown me everything..."
He cerebrated with his arms crossed on his chest.
"We need to be sure first. Let's switch,"
Valentine decided and then closed his eyes after moving a few centimeters to the side to avoid the warm sunbeam. He fell asleep only within minutes and Graham woke up in his place.
The detective with green eyes took out his favorite black lighter and lit a fire with a flick of his thumb. While concentrating on the flame in front of him, he asked a question.
'What are the negative effects of Paulina's Contract Book?'
The flame in front of him flared up and gradually formed an image within it. It showed Graham a moving scene where a masked, bare-chested man was standing under the full moon. There was a stone table and the same Contract Book was laid open on the table. Around the table, there were a total of four people tied with metal chains, immobilizing them, and preventing escape.
When the moon shone at its brightest, the bare-chested man took out a sword and approached the chained people, slicing their necks one by one. Blood began pouring from their wounds and painted the ground red as their lives were snuffed out of them. The masked man then slit both his wrist and poured his blood, mixing it with the blood of his victims.
Once the bloodbath was ready, the blue-covered book on the stone table suddenly grew a pair of long, purple arms with sharp claws and a pair of bony legs whose flesh was falling apart. The book used its limbs to crawl off the table and soaked itself in the blood.
After that, the image disappeared.
Graham was speechless.
"That... thing is not a book. It's a monster..." his voice was troubled, "How could the mayor carry that kind of monstrosity with him all the time...?"
After learning the truth, he was less than eager to even get near the book. After all, the unknown was the most fearsome.
"Maybe we should try to divine its origin," he decided hesitantly.
Graham concentrated back on the flame and asked his next question.
'What's the origin of Paulina's Contract Book?'
Swoosh!
The flame was put out and everything went back to normal. The blue book was lying on the table like nothing had happened while Graham was sitting with a pale face, cold sweat ran down his cheeks.
"That's it. It's been decided. I'm not going anywhere near that book,"
Graham stood up and opened his suitcase swiftly. After that, he looked at the book on the table and issued an Order.
"I order you to move to the deepest part of my suitcase!"
The book didn't budge!
His Order had had no effect on the book!
"It... failed?" Graham was stupefied.
It was apparent that artifacts were different from enhanced equipment. It was his first time actually seeing one up close, so he still didn't know a lot about them.
"I guess we can't easily order artifacts around, or is it just this book?"
He had no other option but to move it manually. Graham didn't want to have too much skin contact with the monstrous book, so he pinched it with his index finger and thumb, and then dropped it to the deepest part of his suitcase. He then buried it under mountains of his clothes, hiding it from sight.
"And that's one fewer thing to worry about,"
After zipping the suitcase, he dragged it to the corner of the room and rubbed his palms against each other, 'cleaning' them.
"Time to continue with our mission. We're down to seven targets now, although judging by the rate of it, it seems that I don't need all the ten victims. I can feel that the Deity has been very pleased with our performances so far,"
"Although, the secretary didn't really blame the mayor, did she? Or maybe she did because, at her last moment, the mayor didn't take her side. I really don't know what that woman is thinking. She's just very mentally unstable... And she's a Shroud, so I don't think I can use divination to locate her,"
With Wiebe, Danny, and now Eveline out of the way, Graham could move on to his next target; Lucas Baltes. It would be a more difficult target since he was of the same rank as Graham. On top of that, the man was an Unseen, so he should also be good at stealth, and probably detection.
"For the crazy hag, her most valuable was the attention she was getting from the people in the office, especially the mayor and that Jonathan guy. I wonder what it will be for Lucas?"
Graham picked up the lighter that he had dropped on the table and lit a fire. He began divining about various things he needed to know about Lucas. It turned out that the man was happily married and his most valuable possession was the baby girl that had just been brought into the world.
"..." he was conflicted, "We can use Illusion to make him think that the mayor has kidnapped his daughter, but we have to take his valuable permanently, so we have to make him think that the mayor also kills his daughter. But the moment he goes home, he will see his daughter still alive, and it will ruin the plan..."
He leaned back against the chair, resting his chin on his right hand that was supported by his left arm.
"So far, we've managed to avoid harming anyone except our direct target. I won't go around killing someone's daughter. Absolutely not. So what should we do, Val?"
Graham looked out and saw the majestic mountain view outside the window. Clouds were rolling from the distance and fog had started descending upon the highest peaks of the mountains. Tonight, it would surely be cloudy again in Hoorn. The calm scenery outside helped soothe his mind and get the thoughts rolling.
"I think I've got an idea,"
Starting another flame, he began concentrating on it and asked questions related to his target. He needed to make sure he knew everything before setting his plan in motion. Once he was done, he put out the fire and put the lighter gently on the table.
"Lucas should be on a break right now, but he will begin his night shift from seven to three in the morning. The poor man got extra work because Danny just up and went... but that's perfect for us. I've exhausted all my abilities, so I can't do anything right now anyway, although, I still have one Thought Implant left and we'd better make use of it, Val,"
The Mass Illusion ability stored in Purloin had all been exhausted, so Graham concentrated and sent his energy into the belt to forget that ability. In its place, Graham planned to exploit the belt's nature and place another ability instead.
While Concentrating on the belt and himself at the same time, he began chanting.
"I, in the name of the Deity of Cunningness and Transformation, hereby plant the thought inside my own head that I will forget my fatigue!"
He felt that some kind of energy entered his brain and he welcomed it. Very slowly, he felt that the exhaustion he was feeling the whole day was disappearing. However, at the same time, a new kind of tiredness overcome him because using the ability took a lot of his stamina.
At the same time, on the belt that he was wearing, a new pattern emerged. He had successfully copied Thought Implant!
Now Graham could use it two more times instead of just once. Although if he had just used the last one on a real target, technically he would be able to use the other two from the belt for something else, he couldn't really do it. Copying an ability didn't have a 100% chance of success, so if he had failed earlier, he could just go to bed and reset everything the next day, postponing his plan a little. If he had been outside and the copying failed, he might be in a pinch because of that, depending on his situation.
"*Pant* okay, so now I'm really tired but at the same time, I am recovering stamina quickly because I've 'forgotten' my fatigue. At least the copying worked. Let's go, Val,"
Graham went to bed and closed his eyes. The tiredness from using his ability made it easier for him to fall asleep.
The sky outside slowly became darker and the fog descended lower, covering most of the city. The afternoon sunlight shone upon the sleeping detective and disappeared as the sun was setting, replaced by the dark, cloudy night.
Valentine woke up once it was dark and got up from the bed right away. He checked his watch and it was already nine in the evening. He changed his clothes to that of the mayor and this time, he carried the real cane instead of the fake one. Once he was all dressed, he put himself under Concealment. Graham didn't turn into the mayor before switching because the transformation only lasted for two hours, and the actual plan wouldn't take place until Lucas came home, so it would be a waste.
Once he was all shrouded in the mysterious yellowish mist, Valentine left the hotel room and went down to the lobby silently. The lobby was lively that evening with a bunch of people chatting and enjoying snake liquor as usual. Neither Stefan, who was standing behind the reception desk nor the guests noticed Valentine, who was walking casually past them. He exited the hotel and began walking east towards the man's house.
The fog outside was not as thick as the one from the previous night. However, it still reduced visibility. Even with his night vision, Valentine couldn't see through the wall of fog more than normal people could.
He walked quickly past the other people in the street who were mostly walking in groups. It seemed that most people didn't dare to walk alone in that condition, which was understandable. Luckily, Valentine had a knife, a gun, and an almost indestructible cane in his possession, as well as numerous supernatural abilities for self-defense.
The house where Lucas and his wife lived in was located on Watervalstraat, which was just two intersections away from Rivierstraat, where 'The Hotel' was. That was why he confidently decided to walk. The closer he got to the street, the louder the sound of the waterfall was. Apparently, there was a tall waterfall on the right side of the street coming from the mountains above, going down all the way to the abyssal cliff, whose other side lied behind the houses on Klifstraat.
Since it was dark and foggy, Valentine could see the waterfall that according to what he had heard, was very beautiful during the day.
"G, if we have time, we should stay here after our mission is complete. We haven't seen all, or any, even, of the tourist attractions here," he muttered with expectation.
Valentine kept walking down the street with the sound of water falling in the background towards the house of his target. Lucas's house was number 43 on Watervalstraat, and he had just passed house number 37. It should be very close already. He had reapplied Concealment before, and he did so again because he was almost out of the radius of its effectiveness.
Once he had found the house, Valentine knocked on the front door loudly. Because of his Concealment, small noises would just be muffled by the mist.
Knock! Knock!
He did it several more times until he heard the sound of footsteps approaching. He had to concentrate hard to hear the footsteps because of the noise from the waterfall.
He saw a pair of brown eyes looking through the eyehole in the door, confused.
Click!
The door was unlocked from inside before it was opened. A woman that looked to be in her mid-twenties stood in the gap, looking outside for a sign of someone. She couldn't see Valentine that was hiding in her blindspot.
Lucas's wife looked puzzled, as she heard the loud knocking but didn't see anyone. Her face began to show slight fear as she retreated back into the house. Before she had a chance to close the door, Valentine opened his mouth.
"I hereby put you under interrogation!"
Her expression turned blank and her eyes stared right into nothingness.
Standing in front of her, Valentine concentrated on the belt that he was wearing and tried to draw out the energy that it had stored.
"I, in the name of the Deity of Cunningness and Transformation, hereby plant this thought in your head: you want to go to and stay at your parents' house for five nights because you missed them dearly. You will bring your baby daughter with you and since you'll leave in a hurry, you cannot tell your husband,"
Valentine felt that his stamina was drained while at the same time, a kind of energy entered the woman's head. He took a deep breath and entered the house while she was still under his control. Sitting on the sofa, Valentine ended his Interrogation and let the woman return to her conscious self while he was recovering.
"Oh dear, what was I doing?"
Lucas's wife closed the door while touching her cheek gently like she had forgotten something. After that, she went upstairs to what seemed to be the baby's room. Valentine could hear her voice all the way from down there, so he could just relax.
"Dear, let's go see your grandparents. I really miss them and I'm sure you miss them too! We need to go now, otherwise, we won't get any public motor carriage. It's already very late now,"
The sounds of her footsteps came from above Valentine. It seemed that she was currently packing since he heard the sound of zipper and light doors being opened. It took the woman almost thirty minutes to finish packing, by which time Valentine had already recovered. She then went down with a large suitcase and a baby strap around her chest. Before she could go back upstairs to fetch the baby, Valentine put her under Interrogation again.
"I, in the name of the Deity of Cunningness and Transformation, hereby plant this thought in your head: every time you want to inform your husband about your and your baby's whereabouts, you will keep forgetting it for some reason."
After that, he released her from Interrogation as he stumbled back into the sofa in exhaustion. The woman again looked confused and then went upstairs to get her baby. She came back down not long after with her baby on her chest while her left hand was supporting her. Using her right hand, she dragged the suitcase behind her and left the house. Valentine could hear the door being locked from the outside, which meant Lucas should have his own key.
"Now that the wife is out of the picture, let's sleep and wait until Lucas comes home,"
He closed his eyes and his consciousness began fading.
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The afternoon sunlight penetrated through the giant windows, landing right on his right shoulder, warming it. The peace in the mountains outside the hotel couldn't help ease the feeling that he had missed something.
"This Contract Book is very strong indeed, isn't it, G? But so far, all the artifacts that we know have a powerful drawback or a certain condition for using them. I can't help but feel that my Reveal might not have shown me everything..."
He cerebrated with his arms crossed on his chest.
"We need to be sure first. Let's switch,"
Valentine decided and then closed his eyes after moving a few centimeters to the side to avoid the warm sunbeam. He fell asleep only within minutes and Graham woke up in his place.
The detective with green eyes took out his favorite black lighter and lit a fire with a flick of his thumb. While concentrating on the flame in front of him, he asked a question.
'What are the negative effects of Paulina's Contract Book?'
The flame in front of him flared up and gradually formed an image within it. It showed Graham a moving scene where a masked, bare-chested man was standing under the full moon. There was a stone table and the same Contract Book was laid open on the table. Around the table, there were a total of four people tied with metal chains, immobilizing them, and preventing escape.
When the moon shone at its brightest, the bare-chested man took out a sword and approached the chained people, slicing their necks one by one. Blood began pouring from their wounds and painted the ground red as their lives were snuffed out of them. The masked man then slit both his wrist and poured his blood, mixing it with the blood of his victims.
Once the bloodbath was ready, the blue-covered book on the stone table suddenly grew a pair of long, purple arms with sharp claws and a pair of bony legs whose flesh was falling apart. The book used its limbs to crawl off the table and soaked itself in the blood.
After that, the image disappeared.
Graham was speechless.
"That... thing is not a book. It's a monster..." his voice was troubled, "How could the mayor carry that kind of monstrosity with him all the time...?"
After learning the truth, he was less than eager to even get near the book. After all, the unknown was the most fearsome.
"Maybe we should try to divine its origin," he decided hesitantly.
Graham concentrated back on the flame and asked his next question.
'What's the origin of Paulina's Contract Book?'
Swoosh!
The flame was put out and everything went back to normal. The blue book was lying on the table like nothing had happened while Graham was sitting with a pale face, cold sweat ran down his cheeks.
"That's it. It's been decided. I'm not going anywhere near that book,"
Graham stood up and opened his suitcase swiftly. After that, he looked at the book on the table and issued an Order.
"I order you to move to the deepest part of my suitcase!"
The book didn't budge!
His Order had had no effect on the book!
"It... failed?" Graham was stupefied.
It was apparent that artifacts were different from enhanced equipment. It was his first time actually seeing one up close, so he still didn't know a lot about them.
"I guess we can't easily order artifacts around, or is it just this book?"
He had no other option but to move it manually. Graham didn't want to have too much skin contact with the monstrous book, so he pinched it with his index finger and thumb, and then dropped it to the deepest part of his suitcase. He then buried it under mountains of his clothes, hiding it from sight.
"And that's one fewer thing to worry about,"
After zipping the suitcase, he dragged it to the corner of the room and rubbed his palms against each other, 'cleaning' them.
"Time to continue with our mission. We're down to seven targets now, although judging by the rate of it, it seems that I don't need all the ten victims. I can feel that the Deity has been very pleased with our performances so far,"
"Although, the secretary didn't really blame the mayor, did she? Or maybe she did because, at her last moment, the mayor didn't take her side. I really don't know what that woman is thinking. She's just very mentally unstable... And she's a Shroud, so I don't think I can use divination to locate her,"
With Wiebe, Danny, and now Eveline out of the way, Graham could move on to his next target; Lucas Baltes. It would be a more difficult target since he was of the same rank as Graham. On top of that, the man was an Unseen, so he should also be good at stealth, and probably detection.
"For the crazy hag, her most valuable was the attention she was getting from the people in the office, especially the mayor and that Jonathan guy. I wonder what it will be for Lucas?"
Graham picked up the lighter that he had dropped on the table and lit a fire. He began divining about various things he needed to know about Lucas. It turned out that the man was happily married and his most valuable possession was the baby girl that had just been brought into the world.
"..." he was conflicted, "We can use Illusion to make him think that the mayor has kidnapped his daughter, but we have to take his valuable permanently, so we have to make him think that the mayor also kills his daughter. But the moment he goes home, he will see his daughter still alive, and it will ruin the plan..."
He leaned back against the chair, resting his chin on his right hand that was supported by his left arm.
"So far, we've managed to avoid harming anyone except our direct target. I won't go around killing someone's daughter. Absolutely not. So what should we do, Val?"
Graham looked out and saw the majestic mountain view outside the window. Clouds were rolling from the distance and fog had started descending upon the highest peaks of the mountains. Tonight, it would surely be cloudy again in Hoorn. The calm scenery outside helped soothe his mind and get the thoughts rolling.
"I think I've got an idea,"
Starting another flame, he began concentrating on it and asked questions related to his target. He needed to make sure he knew everything before setting his plan in motion. Once he was done, he put out the fire and put the lighter gently on the table.
"Lucas should be on a break right now, but he will begin his night shift from seven to three in the morning. The poor man got extra work because Danny just up and went... but that's perfect for us. I've exhausted all my abilities, so I can't do anything right now anyway, although, I still have one Thought Implant left and we'd better make use of it, Val,"
The Mass Illusion ability stored in Purloin had all been exhausted, so Graham concentrated and sent his energy into the belt to forget that ability. In its place, Graham planned to exploit the belt's nature and place another ability instead.
While Concentrating on the belt and himself at the same time, he began chanting.
"I, in the name of the Deity of Cunningness and Transformation, hereby plant the thought inside my own head that I will forget my fatigue!"
He felt that some kind of energy entered his brain and he welcomed it. Very slowly, he felt that the exhaustion he was feeling the whole day was disappearing. However, at the same time, a new kind of tiredness overcome him because using the ability took a lot of his stamina.
At the same time, on the belt that he was wearing, a new pattern emerged. He had successfully copied Thought Implant!
Now Graham could use it two more times instead of just once. Although if he had just used the last one on a real target, technically he would be able to use the other two from the belt for something else, he couldn't really do it. Copying an ability didn't have a 100% chance of success, so if he had failed earlier, he could just go to bed and reset everything the next day, postponing his plan a little. If he had been outside and the copying failed, he might be in a pinch because of that, depending on his situation.
"*Pant* okay, so now I'm really tired but at the same time, I am recovering stamina quickly because I've 'forgotten' my fatigue. At least the copying worked. Let's go, Val,"
Graham went to bed and closed his eyes. The tiredness from using his ability made it easier for him to fall asleep.
The sky outside slowly became darker and the fog descended lower, covering most of the city. The afternoon sunlight shone upon the sleeping detective and disappeared as the sun was setting, replaced by the dark, cloudy night.
Valentine woke up once it was dark and got up from the bed right away. He checked his watch and it was already nine in the evening. He changed his clothes to that of the mayor and this time, he carried the real cane instead of the fake one. Once he was all dressed, he put himself under Concealment. Graham didn't turn into the mayor before switching because the transformation only lasted for two hours, and the actual plan wouldn't take place until Lucas came home, so it would be a waste.
Once he was all shrouded in the mysterious yellowish mist, Valentine left the hotel room and went down to the lobby silently. The lobby was lively that evening with a bunch of people chatting and enjoying snake liquor as usual. Neither Stefan, who was standing behind the reception desk nor the guests noticed Valentine, who was walking casually past them. He exited the hotel and began walking east towards the man's house.
The fog outside was not as thick as the one from the previous night. However, it still reduced visibility. Even with his night vision, Valentine couldn't see through the wall of fog more than normal people could.
He walked quickly past the other people in the street who were mostly walking in groups. It seemed that most people didn't dare to walk alone in that condition, which was understandable. Luckily, Valentine had a knife, a gun, and an almost indestructible cane in his possession, as well as numerous supernatural abilities for self-defense.
The house where Lucas and his wife lived in was located on Watervalstraat, which was just two intersections away from Rivierstraat, where 'The Hotel' was. That was why he confidently decided to walk. The closer he got to the street, the louder the sound of the waterfall was. Apparently, there was a tall waterfall on the right side of the street coming from the mountains above, going down all the way to the abyssal cliff, whose other side lied behind the houses on Klifstraat.
Since it was dark and foggy, Valentine could see the waterfall that according to what he had heard, was very beautiful during the day.
"G, if we have time, we should stay here after our mission is complete. We haven't seen all, or any, even, of the tourist attractions here," he muttered with expectation.
Valentine kept walking down the street with the sound of water falling in the background towards the house of his target. Lucas's house was number 43 on Watervalstraat, and he had just passed house number 37. It should be very close already. He had reapplied Concealment before, and he did so again because he was almost out of the radius of its effectiveness.
Once he had found the house, Valentine knocked on the front door loudly. Because of his Concealment, small noises would just be muffled by the mist.
Knock! Knock!
He did it several more times until he heard the sound of footsteps approaching. He had to concentrate hard to hear the footsteps because of the noise from the waterfall.
He saw a pair of brown eyes looking through the eyehole in the door, confused.
Click!
The door was unlocked from inside before it was opened. A woman that looked to be in her mid-twenties stood in the gap, looking outside for a sign of someone. She couldn't see Valentine that was hiding in her blindspot.
Lucas's wife looked puzzled, as she heard the loud knocking but didn't see anyone. Her face began to show slight fear as she retreated back into the house. Before she had a chance to close the door, Valentine opened his mouth.
"I hereby put you under interrogation!"
Her expression turned blank and her eyes stared right into nothingness.
Standing in front of her, Valentine concentrated on the belt that he was wearing and tried to draw out the energy that it had stored.
"I, in the name of the Deity of Cunningness and Transformation, hereby plant this thought in your head: you want to go to and stay at your parents' house for five nights because you missed them dearly. You will bring your baby daughter with you and since you'll leave in a hurry, you cannot tell your husband,"
Valentine felt that his stamina was drained while at the same time, a kind of energy entered the woman's head. He took a deep breath and entered the house while she was still under his control. Sitting on the sofa, Valentine ended his Interrogation and let the woman return to her conscious self while he was recovering.
"Oh dear, what was I doing?"
Lucas's wife closed the door while touching her cheek gently like she had forgotten something. After that, she went upstairs to what seemed to be the baby's room. Valentine could hear her voice all the way from down there, so he could just relax.
"Dear, let's go see your grandparents. I really miss them and I'm sure you miss them too! We need to go now, otherwise, we won't get any public motor carriage. It's already very late now,"
The sounds of her footsteps came from above Valentine. It seemed that she was currently packing since he heard the sound of zipper and light doors being opened. It took the woman almost thirty minutes to finish packing, by which time Valentine had already recovered. She then went down with a large suitcase and a baby strap around her chest. Before she could go back upstairs to fetch the baby, Valentine put her under Interrogation again.
"I, in the name of the Deity of Cunningness and Transformation, hereby plant this thought in your head: every time you want to inform your husband about your and your baby's whereabouts, you will keep forgetting it for some reason."
After that, he released her from Interrogation as he stumbled back into the sofa in exhaustion. The woman again looked confused and then went upstairs to get her baby. She came back down not long after with her baby on her chest while her left hand was supporting her. Using her right hand, she dragged the suitcase behind her and left the house. Valentine could hear the door being locked from the outside, which meant Lucas should have his own key.
"Now that the wife is out of the picture, let's sleep and wait until Lucas comes home,"
He closed his eyes and his consciousness began fading.
The afternoon sunlight penetrated through the giant windows, landing right on his right shoulder, warming it. The peace in the mountains outside the hotel couldn't help ease the feeling that he had missed something."This Contract Book is very strong indeed, isn't it, G? But so far, all the artifacts that we know have a powerful drawback or a certain condition for using them. I can't help but feel that my Reveal might not have shown me everything..."He cerebrated with his arms crossed on his chest. "We need to be sure first. Let's switch,"Valentine decided and then closed his eyes after moving a few centimeters to the side to avoid the warm sunbeam. He fell asleep only within minutes and Graham woke up in his place.The detective with green eyes took out his favorite black lighter and lit a fire with a flick of his thumb. While concentrating on the flame in front of him, he asked a question.'What are the negative effects of Paulina's Contract Book?'The flame in front of him flared up and gradually formed an image within it. It showed Graham a moving scene where a masked, bare-chested man was standing under the full moon. There was a stone table and the same Contract Book was laid open on the table. Around the table, there were a total of four people tied with metal chains, immobilizing them, and preventing escape.When the moon shone at its brightest, the bare-chested man took out a sword and approached the chained people, slicing their necks one by one. Blood began pouring from their wounds and painted the ground red as their lives were snuffed out of them. The masked man then slit both his wrist and poured his blood, mixing it with the blood of his victims.Once the bloodbath was ready, the blue-covered book on the stone table suddenly grew a pair of long, purple arms with sharp claws and a pair of bony legs whose flesh was falling apart. The book used its limbs to crawl off the table and soaked itself in the blood.After that, the image disappeared.Graham was speechless."That... thing is not a book. It's a monster..." his voice was troubled, "How could the mayor carry that kind of monstrosity with him all the time...?"After learning the truth, he was less than eager to even get near the book. After all, the unknown was the most fearsome."Maybe we should try to divine its origin," he decided hesitantly.Graham concentrated back on the flame and asked his next question.'What's the origin of Paulina's Contract Book?'Swoosh!The flame was put out and everything went back to normal. The blue book was lying on the table like nothing had happened while Graham was sitting with a pale face, cold sweat ran down his cheeks."That's it. It's been decided. I'm not going anywhere near that book,"Graham stood up and opened his suitcase swiftly. After that, he looked at the book on the table and issued an Order."I order you to move to the deepest part of my suitcase!"The book didn't budge!His Order had had no effect on the book!"It... failed?" Graham was stupefied. It was apparent that artifacts were different from enhanced equipment. It was his first time actually seeing one up close, so he still didn't know a lot about them."I guess we can't easily order artifacts around, or is it just this book?" He had no other option but to move it manually. Graham didn't want to have too much skin contact with the monstrous book, so he pinched it with his index finger and thumb, and then dropped it to the deepest part of his suitcase. He then buried it under mountains of his clothes, hiding it from sight."And that's one fewer thing to worry about,"After zipping the suitcase, he dragged it to the corner of the room and rubbed his palms against each other, 'cleaning' them. "Time to continue with our mission. We're down to seven targets now, although judging by the rate of it, it seems that I don't need all the ten victims. I can feel that the Deity has been very pleased with our performances so far,""Although, the secretary didn't really blame the mayor, did she? Or maybe she did because, at her last moment, the mayor didn't take her side. I really don't know what that woman is thinking. She's just very mentally unstable... And she's a Shroud, so I don't think I can use divination to locate her,"With Wiebe, Danny, and now Eveline out of the way, Graham could move on to his next target; Lucas Baltes. It would be a more difficult target since he was of the same rank as Graham. On top of that, the man was an Unseen, so he should also be good at stealth, and probably detection."For the crazy hag, her most valuable was the attention she was getting from the people in the office, especially the mayor and that Jonathan guy. I wonder what it will be for Lucas?"Graham picked up the lighter that he had dropped on the table and lit a fire. He began divining about various things he needed to know about Lucas. It turned out that the man was happily married and his most valuable possession was the baby girl that had just been brought into the world."..." he was conflicted, "We can use Illusion to make him think that the mayor has kidnapped his daughter, but we have to take his valuable permanently, so we have to make him think that the mayor also kills his daughter. But the moment he goes home, he will see his daughter still alive, and it will ruin the plan..."He leaned back against the chair, resting his chin on his right hand that was supported by his left arm."So far, we've managed to avoid harming anyone except our direct target. I won't go around killing someone's daughter. Absolutely not. So what should we do, Val?"Graham looked out and saw the majestic mountain view outside the window. Clouds were rolling from the distance and fog had started descending upon the highest peaks of the mountains. Tonight, it would surely be cloudy again in Hoorn. The calm scenery outside helped soothe his mind and get the thoughts rolling."I think I've got an idea,"Starting another flame, he began concentrating on it and asked questions related to his target. He needed to make sure he knew everything before setting his plan in motion. Once he was done, he put out the fire and put the lighter gently on the table."Lucas should be on a break right now, but he will begin his night shift from seven to three in the morning. The poor man got extra work because Danny just up and went... but that's perfect for us. I've exhausted all my abilities, so I can't do anything right now anyway, although, I still have one Thought Implant left and we'd better make use of it, Val,"The Mass Illusion ability stored in Purloin had all been exhausted, so Graham concentrated and sent his energy into the belt to forget that ability. In its place, Graham planned to exploit the belt's nature and place another ability instead.While Concentrating on the belt and himself at the same time, he began chanting."I, in the name of the Deity of Cunningness and Transformation, hereby plant the thought inside my own head that I will forget my fatigue!"He felt that some kind of energy entered his brain and he welcomed it. Very slowly, he felt that the exhaustion he was feeling the whole day was disappearing. However, at the same time, a new kind of tiredness overcome him because using the ability took a lot of his stamina.At the same time, on the belt that he was wearing, a new pattern emerged. He had successfully copied Thought Implant!Now Graham could use it two more times instead of just once. Although if he had just used the last one on a real target, technically he would be able to use the other two from the belt for something else, he couldn't really do it. Copying an ability didn't have a 100% chance of success, so if he had failed earlier, he could just go to bed and reset everything the next day, postponing his plan a little. If he had been outside and the copying failed, he might be in a pinch because of that, depending on his situation."*Pant* okay, so now I'm really tired but at the same time, I am recovering stamina quickly because I've 'forgotten' my fatigue. At least the copying worked. Let's go, Val,"Graham went to bed and closed his eyes. The tiredness from using his ability made it easier for him to fall asleep.The sky outside slowly became darker and the fog descended lower, covering most of the city. The afternoon sunlight shone upon the sleeping detective and disappeared as the sun was setting, replaced by the dark, cloudy night.Valentine woke up once it was dark and got up from the bed right away. He checked his watch and it was already nine in the evening. He changed his clothes to that of the mayor and this time, he carried the real cane instead of the fake one. Once he was all dressed, he put himself under Concealment. Graham didn't turn into the mayor before switching because the transformation only lasted for two hours, and the actual plan wouldn't take place until Lucas came home, so it would be a waste.Once he was all shrouded in the mysterious yellowish mist, Valentine left the hotel room and went down to the lobby silently. The lobby was lively that evening with a bunch of people chatting and enjoying snake liquor as usual. Neither Stefan, who was standing behind the reception desk nor the guests noticed Valentine, who was walking casually past them. He exited the hotel and began walking east towards the man's house.The fog outside was not as thick as the one from the previous night. However, it still reduced visibility. Even with his night vision, Valentine couldn't see through the wall of fog more than normal people could.He walked quickly past the other people in the street who were mostly walking in groups. It seemed that most people didn't dare to walk alone in that condition, which was understandable. Luckily, Valentine had a knife, a gun, and an almost indestructible cane in his possession, as well as numerous supernatural abilities for self-defense.The house where Lucas and his wife lived in was located on Watervalstraat, which was just two intersections away from Rivierstraat, where 'The Hotel' was. That was why he confidently decided to walk. The closer he got to the street, the louder the sound of the waterfall was. Apparently, there was a tall waterfall on the right side of the street coming from the mountains above, going down all the way to the abyssal cliff, whose other side lied behind the houses on Klifstraat.Since it was dark and foggy, Valentine could see the waterfall that according to what he had heard, was very beautiful during the day."G, if we have time, we should stay here after our mission is complete. We haven't seen all, or any, even, of the tourist attractions here," he muttered with expectation.Valentine kept walking down the street with the sound of water falling in the background towards the house of his target. Lucas's house was number 43 on Watervalstraat, and he had just passed house number 37. It should be very close already. He had reapplied Concealment before, and he did so again because he was almost out of the radius of its effectiveness.Once he had found the house, Valentine knocked on the front door loudly. Because of his Concealment, small noises would just be muffled by the mist. Knock! Knock!He did it several more times until he heard the sound of footsteps approaching. He had to concentrate hard to hear the footsteps because of the noise from the waterfall.He saw a pair of brown eyes looking through the eyehole in the door, confused. Click!The door was unlocked from inside before it was opened. A woman that looked to be in her mid-twenties stood in the gap, looking outside for a sign of someone. She couldn't see Valentine that was hiding in her blindspot.Lucas's wife looked puzzled, as she heard the loud knocking but didn't see anyone. Her face began to show slight fear as she retreated back into the house. Before she had a chance to close the door, Valentine opened his mouth."I hereby put you under interrogation!"Her expression turned blank and her eyes stared right into nothingness. Standing in front of her, Valentine concentrated on the belt that he was wearing and tried to draw out the energy that it had stored."I, in the name of the Deity of Cunningness and Transformation, hereby plant this thought in your head: you want to go to and stay at your parents' house for five nights because you missed them dearly. You will bring your baby daughter with you and since you'll leave in a hurry, you cannot tell your husband,"Valentine felt that his stamina was drained while at the same time, a kind of energy entered the woman's head. He took a deep breath and entered the house while she was still under his control. Sitting on the sofa, Valentine ended his Interrogation and let the woman return to her conscious self while he was recovering."Oh dear, what was I doing?" Lucas's wife closed the door while touching her cheek gently like she had forgotten something. After that, she went upstairs to what seemed to be the baby's room. Valentine could hear her voice all the way from down there, so he could just relax."Dear, let's go see your grandparents. I really miss them and I'm sure you miss them too! We need to go now, otherwise, we won't get any public motor carriage. It's already very late now,"The sounds of her footsteps came from above Valentine. It seemed that she was currently packing since he heard the sound of zipper and light doors being opened. It took the woman almost thirty minutes to finish packing, by which time Valentine had already recovered. She then went down with a large suitcase and a baby strap around her chest. Before she could go back upstairs to fetch the baby, Valentine put her under Interrogation again."I, in the name of the Deity of Cunningness and Transformation, hereby plant this thought in your head: every time you want to inform your husband about your and your baby's whereabouts, you will keep forgetting it for some reason."After that, he released her from Interrogation as he stumbled back into the sofa in exhaustion. The woman again looked confused and then went upstairs to get her baby. She came back down not long after with her baby on her chest while her left hand was supporting her. Using her right hand, she dragged the suitcase behind her and left the house. Valentine could hear the door being locked from the outside, which meant Lucas should have his own key."Now that the wife is out of the picture, let's sleep and wait until Lucas comes home,"He closed his eyes and his consciousness began fading.
