After that, Moreira whispered to the young girl, telling her to leave immediately and feeling awkward because of the people passing by beside them. He thought they would consider him a perverted teenager because of that indecent act.
The young girl stood up first, followed by Moreira. Then she brushed off her black dress and straightened her hat.
'Why are those people looking at me with such gazes?' she wondered in confusion. Even though she had disguised herself as a human for years, she did not remember important things very well.
Her deep brown eyes glanced sharply to the right and left, enough to frighten the people staring at her, and they immediately left the sidewalk.
Without her realizing it, and without a single word leaving her mouth, Moreira had already walked past her with calm steps, thinking of returning to the previous place, the place where he had left Zavi alone in the middle of the crowd.
Meanwhile...
Zavi sighed as he continued walking. "Tch. That guy is troublesome too."
After grumbling in annoyance because Moreira had wasted time, Zavi walked while turning right and left to pass the people in front of him.
Several minutes passed. His chest rising and falling rapidly and his throat burning made his steps and body grow very weak. Not long after that, a calm voice yet carrying doubt came from the front.
Behind a man wearing a hat and carrying a brown suitcase with silver fittings at his side, a man with straight black hair and brown eyes appeared, making Zavi stop instantly.
"Mr. Lamena. I apologize if I have done something unpleasant to you!"
Zavi frowned.
'How did he know my position in the middle of this crowd?' he wondered, leaning against the barrier fence between the house behind him and the sidewalk beside it.
He took a deep breath and then said in a slightly restrained tone, "Come on. Let's head to Forgenate, take the train, and go straight to Greysia."
'Greysia is the right choice to search for an herbal potion capable of controlling Prisoner at its first level, Error.'
'Yes, if I don't look for it, I won't be able to control it.' Zavi straightened his gaze, thinking about something, something to manifest an animal by channeling 0.1% of the spirituality within his body.
But it did not work. When he first tried it, he thought about creating a crow by channeling his body's spirituality, but it failed. The crow appeared transparent, without flesh, and the rest of its body parts faded like mist carried away by the wind.
Without waiting for a response, he straightened his body and stepped forward first. Moreira's head instantly filled with various questions.
Is Mr. Lamena angry at me? Is he serious about this cooperation? And why did he act so normal when that woman entered the café earlier?
After thinking about it for a moment without finding an answer, Moreira finally decided to follow him from behind. He intended to observe Zavi's actions once they arrived at Forgenate or Greysia, two places very different from here.
...
At the city square, right at the edge of the roundabout road, a man with black hair with several strands covering part of his face leaned against the corner of a wooden fence. He wore a black bowler hat and a long black coat reaching his knees, beneath it a thin white shirt with a tie.
Beside him stood a cart belonging to a square vendor, and the tarps hanging above it shaded the road below.
He was waiting for someone. His eyes swept the surroundings, observing the people passing in front of him while waiting for someone's arrival.
The man was Albert Hammond. After hearing the news of the Duke's wife's death, an unpleasant piece of news, and remembering his closeness to that family, he decided to investigate who the perpetrators behind the murder of the three of them were.
Albert wanted to know the real motive of the perpetrators and the reason why the Duke's mansion, even if it was not the main residence, which should have been heavily guarded with servants and guards constantly moving from one room to another, had not realized that someone had slipped inside.
He thought, or rather, it was the intuition he felt.
'Premeditated murder? It is impossible for the perpetrator to show themselves openly. And regarding the timing that coincided perfectly with the spread of the letters in Sanerva.'
He did not know what had truly happened. For now, the only thing he could do was wait for his two friends and then immediately depart for the capital and visit the residence of Duke Hamrautav Avvalen, the crime scene.
...
Half an hour passed. After passing through the busy main road of Cosdever that led directly to the city square, crossing the district boundary, the two of them had stopped at the outskirts of Capa, in the east, on Street No. 12.
In the vast district of Forgenate, Zavi and Moreira boarded a horse carriage again after walking to a resting place for hundreds of horses, passing the main road from the FoodSky Route toward the western side of Capa.
Pamlinov Station. One destination. A station surrounded by tall, towering trees, lush and bringing a cool atmosphere mixed with smoke and steam from nearby factories, including the train.
After more than dozens of minutes of travel, delayed by various obstacles and several stops, they finally arrived.
Moreira paid the travel fare after the two of them got down from the horse carriage as promised. They then looked at the large station signboard, reading the station's name silently.
Below it stretched a corridor serving as the entrance access.
"Underground? Or just the entrance path?" Zavi muttered, amazed by the station's design, while also feeling that it looked familiar.
The two exchanged glances before descending the small staircase in front of them, unaware that something was watching them from behind.
As soon as they entered, both of them felt as if the air had frozen. The scraping sound of shoe tips echoed along the corridor floor and the rows of pillars on both sides filled with candles whose lights were dim.
After descending the first staircase and walking for several minutes, they descended the second staircase. The underground floor amazed them again. A beautiful garden existed within the corridor, filled with various types of plants and many people resting there before going down the second staircase or going the opposite way.
Actually, the station entrance was not entirely underground. The residential area above had land far higher than the railway tracks built by the government.
Therefore, building stairs became the main solution to facilitate access. There was also an open path leading to the station, although it was straight ahead, quite far away, and located in the southwest.
Two minutes after exploring the corridor, passing dozens of steps that were quite slippery because they were cleaned only once a week, they finally arrived. They stood still in front of the stairs while looking at the crowd of people passing ahead and also several large trees with brown leaves scattered almost covering the station floor and the ticket area.
"Let me handle it," Zavi said softly. "Don't wander around. Just wait on that seat over there!"
Zavi's index finger pointed toward a row of wooden benches located on the left side, opposite the ticket area on the right.
Today was Sunday. Many people were lining up to travel outside the city. Some wanted to go to Creanvell for business matters, Minehold for gas trading, sightseeing in the city of Monitty known for its natural beauty and culture, and so on.
Their destination now was only one, going to Greysia, the hometown of dozens or even hundreds of herbal potions that originated there. Why did Zavi choose to go there? Shouldn't he ask about herbal potions from experienced people or someone who possessed the Prisoner ability?
Previously, Zavi had thought about it long before performing the ritual. He did not want to ask the person who had told him about the ritual, did not want to involve that person or Ren.
Asking Albert? That was ridiculous. He was not that foolish to reveal something that should not be touched by ordinary humans. Besides, Zavi knew that Albert had never performed a ritual nor had any contractual relationship with other beings to obtain supernatural abilities, "Hollows".
This was the only method he could take. Choosing another person to accompany him, coincidentally meeting Moreira that night and proposing cooperation while he himself had previously been suspected by Albert.
He had anticipated that if Moreira betrayed him or tried to kill him, Zavi was not worried at all. He knew, he had understood the clues one by one. The people in the Hava district had acted strangely when they tried to capture him. The black-feathered chicken that tried to peck him. Everything had been carefully thought through.
Finally, Zavi realized that a level 4 Prisoner ability without control would activate on its own, attacking living creatures such as humans or animals that had malicious intentions toward him.
He was not sure whether evil spirits would experience the same thing if they had malicious intentions toward him. But Zavi wanted to confirm it further before completely mastering Prisoner.
However, he wondered whether it was only malicious intent that triggered the activation, or if there were other factors.
Half an hour passed since they arrived at the station. They had already obtained tickets and were now inside train carriage number three, waiting a few more minutes before the steam train fully started moving.
Sitting across from each other, with the window slightly open, both of them frowned, filled with disbelief and confusion. Moreira briefly glanced at the beautiful yet frightening young girl he had previously encountered, who was now sitting beside him, but his gaze quickly returned to Zavi.
Zavi raised his index finger and tapped the edge of his seat. "What does this mean?" Zavi muttered in confusion. "Did you plan all of this and invite that young girl?"
From outside came the soft hissing sound of steam, the wheels beginning to creak loudly enough to ring in the ears, signaling that the train would soon move, leaving the station and crossing the unstable plains surrounded by tall and lush trees.
The atmosphere fell silent for a moment. While confusion still enveloped the two of them, from carriage 2, three people arrived. Albert, Luke, and Feyne walked calmly past them. Without realizing their presence, the three then sat in the seats directly behind Zavi.
"Why are you insisting on going to Sanerva? Could it be that you want to..."
Before Feyne finished her sentence, Luke nudged her with his elbow, giving a simple signal for her to stay silent and follow wherever Albert went.
He sighed. "Alright, alright," Feyne said weakly. She took a deep breath, then turned her head to the left, looking at the crowd outside the window.
Albert remained silent. His thoughts were filled with visions of the possibility of a terrible riot like the event three years ago, an incident that had killed hundreds of people, including officers, citizens, and travelers from outside the city.
He knew that the Duke was greatly hated by some of the city's residents and even by people from other cities because of his arrogant attitude and his habit of oppressing the lower class for his personal interests.
"Damn," Albert whispered irritably. He did not know what would happen to his parents after this, who were still in Sanerva.
Feyne and Luke exchanged brief glances. They understood that this journey to the capital was not merely an ordinary visit, but an effort to bring Albert's parents home, or more precisely, to trace the connection between this incident and the interference of supernatural forces.