The red sun hung low in the afternoon sky, as the blistering heat bore into the back of his neck. After shooing the greedy shopkeeper, he had headed out of the bookshop and explored the city on foot while picking essential items for the house.
Hot chips! Hallow's secret chips spice, fine and fresh!
Come on, come on, hearty Jacket pies for hungry hands!
Lanterns that light themselves! No match, no fuss, step right in!
A new edition of the Lady's Register for only a penny!
The breakfast pop-up stalls had already long packed up and were gone, swiftly replaced by the hawkers and kiosks in the afternoon. Countless shopkeepers were heartily promoting their goods, screaming at the top of their lungs while dragging unsuspecting wanderers to their stalls to inspect their goods. Felix ignored their yells while focusing on his way out of the crowd. He had already made it to the other side of town, which was rowdy and filled with all sorts of people
He held on to the items in his paper bag tightly while using his bowler hat to shield himself from the red, blaring sun. Dodging and swerving through the main crowd, he went past a group of beggars, on the other side, some dirty children in ragged clothes with sallow complexions, starving from malnutrition. He was not naive enough to stop and provide assistance to them. These pitiful members of society were usually exploited by vagrants and gangs to do their bidding. He had already learnt from a previous situation that if he was even slightly foolish enough to stop and help, he would be robbed in a matter of seconds. He subconsciously rubbed his left pocket, where his last 2 shillings were kept; as he quickly walked past them, he had already spent a fair share of his previous amount and even more than he had previously estimated.
He breathed a sigh of relief as he reached a less crowded area. A few iron constables were loitering around the area. Felix's lips twitched as he muttered silently to himself what use are they, when they are always missing when needed.
He froze as he spotted a man in an iron grey coat that was stiff on the shoulder with brass buttons. His face was stern, slightly worn by age, but his posture was straight and taut, standing in hawkish alert as he stepped out of a royal constabulary carriage. Senior Constable Edward Graves, a very kind man who protected the siblings from other law enforcement efforts from the consortium and the military, investigated the siblings after their father's scandal. He was also a well-trusted associate of their father and had helped the siblings on multiple occasions.
He unconsciously drifted back into old memories, back when Mr Corwin, his father, who was a respected and highly renowned linguist, had done a lot of work with the royal family and other academic institutions. He was a highly valuable asset to Vaelor and had helped them gain an edge on historical research and preservation by decoding several ancient languages from previous aeons. His research was immensely useful and had made various breakthroughs towards the exploration of the third, fourth and fifth aeons. He was recruited several times by reputable organisations, including the conservatory department of the consortium, but he rejected them and decided to remain a professor and an independent researcher; despite this, he lived very comfortably due to the huge stipend sent by the kingdom treasury for his contribution to historical research.
He shocked the entire research world when he decided to retire early and head out to investigate a mysterious ruin from an unknown aeon with an archaeological unit. Felix, who was about 8 when his father left for this ruin, continued to study linguistics from the foundation his father laid for him. He lived in constant fear of news that his father had died, and their household didn't hear any news nor receive any letters from him till 7 years after when news was released that everyone in the exploration, apart from his father, had died. He was accused of killing the other researchers and running off with whatever was found in the ruin.
The next few years were torturous to Felix and his sister; their mom decisively left the family after news of the scandal spread. Their father did not return even once during this period, causing Felix to heavily doubt the news of his survival. The stipend money ended, and the members of the registry seized all their fathers' assets, the house, the private carriage, everything. The conservatory also tried to seize his research unsuccessfully, as he had already destroyed it even before he left for the ruin. The siblings were constantly harassed by different organisations, the Royal Constabulary, and the consortium, which were constantly monitoring the siblings, searching for news of whatever their father found in the ruin.
Felix had already made some deductions; he was not stupid, and he knew his father found something of great importance. They were being harassed by the authorities to get that thing. The item was so important that it attracted two out of the three branches of the consortium: the registry and the conservatory, the royal family, and the House of Lords. It was for this reason that Felix never revealed he had any form of linguistic talent so as not to attract those greedy vultures into using him to translate his father's secrets. Mr Corwin, the once-renowned linguist, was now hailed as a murderer and a thief stealing national treasures. The siblings were not spared at all from this harassment and were not allowed to leave the city. Senior Constable Graves helped protect them until the issue died down and helped hand them the reserve money their father had saved for them, allowing Felix and his sister to move smoothly to Hallow City. This incident fuelled Felix into studying ancient history and archaeology in order to investigate that matter thoroughly.
Felix's eyes drifted as he noticed the new inspector badge settling on the senior constable's chest. He snapped out of his thoughts after hearing his name.
" Felix! " The stern expression on the inspector's face was quickly replaced by a gentle smile as he noticed Felix. He walked up to him while remarking. " I just got transferred to hallow what a pleasant surprise to meet again"
" Inspector… " Felix was lost for words after meeting someone from that incident years ago
Inspector Graves touched the badge on his chest, then chuckled, "No need to be so formal"
He then continued sadly, "I kept looking for you and Eleanor, but you were impossible to get a hold of "
He looked around quietly, then gestured to the other Iron constables to keep watch as he led Felix into the constable's carriage " Let's speak somewhere more private "
Felix nodded as he followed the inspector into the warm carriage. Inspector Graves stirred a cup of warm tea and passed it to Felix, who nodded gratefully as the inspector shut the windows. Sitting back on the chair, Mr Graves picked another cup of tea, blowing some air into it and sighing while asking Felix
" How have you guys been doing over those years? "
Felix smiled bitterly as he recounted their life for the past four years in Hallow, while Inspector Graves listened without interrupting. Of course, he left out a few bits like the strange incidents of last night. After Felix was done with his narration, Inspector Graves sighed as he remarked
" You have gone through a lot ", he dropped his teacup while looking pitifully at Felix.
Felix didn't reply as he stared in silence while going through some of the matters. Even more than you think, inspector. He jerked as he suddenly remembered and asked hopefully
"Have you been in recent contact with my father? "
Inspector Graves shook his head in disappointment, " No… I still don't have the faintest idea where he is " he stared distractedly while adding, " He left something for you… you left so suddenly before, so I could not hand it over " he then reduced his voice as he whispered,
" I'll send it by post "
Felix nodded, quite disappointed at the lack of his father's whereabouts. He also knew Inspector Graves was too kind to tell him the obvious truth; his father had probably passed away for good. After all, no one can hide from such powerful authority for that long.
Inspector Graves ordered the footman to drive to Felix's destination as it had become quite late. While he stayed in the carriage, he discussed with the inspector about mundane matters, like where most are of crime in hallow was to help him adjust better to his life in Hallow as an inspector. After a while, the constable's carriage finally stopped in front of his apartment.
"Remember to contact me if you ever run into any form of trouble, oh … and send my regards to Eleanor "
"I definitely would, thank you so much, Inspector Graves " Felix hopped out of the royal constabulary carriage and walked up to his apartment with his paper bags filled with stuff he had bought in town.
Mrs Burns, his red-faced neighbour, stood gossipy on her balcony while watching him get out of the constabulary carriage. As a stay-at-home wife, she usually waited on her balcony around this time to wait for her husband, who worked as a miner, to return home from work. She waved her chubby hands at Felix while asking loudly
" You haven't gotten yourself into any sort of trouble, have you now, lad? "
" Definitely not, Mrs Burns ", he smiled politely while walking into the apartment. A huge part of their successful integration into Hallow was becoming less reclusive and being very polite to everyone. The only thing he hadn't changed yet was his religion, still staying faithful to the crimson goddess and not converting to the sovereign.
Mrs Burns frowned, looking away, her face wearing a slight look of disappointment. As a devout worshipper of the sovereign, she wasn't very open to the idea of working like Eleanor and still had very conservative values. Most of her children were long grown and married off. The loneliness from staying home made her very gossipy in nature.
Felix smiled, ignoring her as he carried the paper bags up to his unit, swiftly unlocking the door. His unit was currently silent, which helped him confirm that Eleanor was still out.
He took off his hat and opened the curtains slightly. removing all the kitchen ingredients he had gotten from the city today and arranging them. After changing into comfortable clothes and sorting the things he bought out, he rolled his sleeves higher and started preparing a hearty supper.
He easily chopped the beef into small cuts, mixing it with a few spices while placing it into the saucepan. While whistling, he diced up the vegetables from the cupboard, as well as fresh ones he had just bought and added them to the saucepan, mixing the lard with a full bowl of water. He left the saucepan on fire while dicing the potatoes on the side.
After years of living alone with his sister, Felix had become a very decent cook from the constant cooking and was even quite good at multitasking.
He closed the lid of the pot, put the jacket pies he bought earlier and some sliced bread on a plate, and brought out two mugs for tea while waiting for his stew to be done. Then he sat down on the makeshift couch near the windowsill and brought out a paper. Earlier, while going through the paper bag contents, he had noticed the paper he had tossed carelessly into the bag.
Sitting comfortably as the red sun rays reflected into the apartment, he brought out the newspaper and went through all the headlines, leaving the major ones on the front page for last. Black spire mine in another workers' scandal. How surprising.
He read through a small column in the paper that quickly caught his attention, the sketch of the man was eerily similar to Mr Langley, although there were some slight discrepancies, his usually complaining neighbour had been quiet all day. Was he non-verbal because he had gotten into some kind of trouble with the police?
DISTURBANCE IN DOWNSIDE DISTRICT
A brief but notable incident occurred yesterday afternoon, in which a man resisted detainment by local authorities with what witnesses described as "unnatural vigour."The individual, identity currently unknown, is said to have sustained injury without apparent effect before fleeing the scene on foot. Officials declined to comment further, though the matter is believed to be under review.
He frowned slightly and looked back at the sketch, then at the text again. It was probably nothing. The papers exaggerate things like this all the time. The likeness to Mr Langley was also probably a coincidence. He dropped the papers to go check on the stew he was cooking, as the scent wafted into his nose. Dishing the stew into a bowl and accompanied it with fresh bread and a little butter.
Right on time, the door turned as another key was inserted, revealing Eleanor in her going-out dress, holding a decorative fan and the latest edition of The Lady's Register. A sombre expression rested on her face. She untied her bonnet and stepped out of her lace ankle boots.
"You would not believe what Mrs Burns just told me happened to Mr Langley."