Chapter 267 - The Investigators
Florencia was crossing her arms while she walked in circles. She was shaking her head in disappointment and a hint of victory, thinking she knew everything all along.
Elliot, along with his teammates and Florencia's friends were sitting tightly on one table while she claimed the space in front of it. She was now acting like she was their guardian after Elliot told her their suspicion with Daniel.
"I knew something was odd about that Daniel boy," Florencia said. "But no one listened. You thought I was going crazy, guess what? I was right."
"We had our eyes on their guild the moment we found out they put Elliot in a trance," Lance said. "Don't give yourself too much credit."
"But it was me who stood up against them at the beach, because I knew something odd was happening–"
"That's not what's important," Frederick said that made everyone silent. He stood from the cramped seat and walked to the other table, standing on top of it while crossing his arms. "What we need right now is to know what they want with Elliot."
"W-Why me?" Elliot stuttered, pointing at himself while looking around. "You think they're after me?"
"Normally, we should assume they're after the Twilight Bless," Frederick said. "But since they're particularly fond of you since the beginning, it would only confirm the suspicion that they are after you."
"I think I can talk to one of them," Ethan said. "The girl from their guild that I fought earlier, she looked like she wasn't willing to join. She was in distress, she was panicking and she was asking to back out."
"No one in their team look like they're willing to join this competition," Luck said. "Only that little boy Daniel looks so happy participating. His teammates sound afraid. There's something about him that we need to investigate."
Florencia clapped her hands once and grinned, "Lucky for you guys, you have someone who has an investigator for a family."
Everyone else tilted their heads and chorused, "Investigator?"
–
"Sorry for the sudden request," Florencia said by the doorway. "Thank you for coming."
She stepped aside and let four people in long trench coats in. They were all wearing a fedora hat that hid their eyes, while a black face mask hid their noses and lips.
"Everyone, meet my family, my cousins Lettie, Bernard, and Vince, and a far cousin of mine, Deneve," Florencia introduced. "They trained for the Royal Investigator's Office for years each and they can investigate on anything you want to know."
"Do we need four of them?" Elliot contorted his face, overwhelmed by the crowd of people in trench coats. "Can't we just hire one?"
"We need to work faster since the Battle of the Champions is almost over," Florencia said. "I will give them the details, so they can start with their investigation. When can we expect our report?"
"Tomorrow," Lettie answered.
"At midnight," Bernard added.
Florencia nodded in satisfaction and let them out. She was clapping her hands as if she had done a good job. "Now they will find clues and bring us our report tomorrow, by midnight."
"But you didn't even talk to them," Ed scoffed. "That's clearly a scam."
"Oh, no, no, no," Florencia walked over to him and pointed her temple. "Deneve can see what's in the mind. She's like Sittie, but with more limitations."
This brought up the thought in Devin's head. He needed to talk to Sittie to recover his memories, or to confirm if they were real. The mere fact that someone else could do it proves that someone might have tampered with his memories.
"Now that that's over, congratulations on your almost win, Ethan," Florencia took her friends' hands. "We will see you all tomorrow, the Champion should kill it!"
"Oh, wait," Ethan said and ran up to the three. They were just about to walk out the door when he called. "Christina, can I talk to you for a bit?"
"She's underaged!" George yelled that earned him an elbow from Elliot. "I'm just kidding, go for it!"
This time, Lance smacked him on the back of his head. When he didn't say anything negative against it, Elliot and Lance grimaced after realizing that this guy likes pain.
"Eww," Elliot said and retracted his hand.
Meanwhile, Ethan pulled Christina outside to talk about how he was able to get far in the round. If he fought Carridad on his own, he would've been injured, making him unable to fight Rocky and Janine in the final showdown.
"Hey, uhm, there was this girl…" Ethan trailed off.
"I know," Christina said coldly. "I saw her. I saw Monique in the fight."
Ethan was confused. Monique said that Christina and her were best friends, but based on Christina's reaction, they didn't get along well in the past. Or maybe something happened between them that tore their friendship apart?
"She helped me back there," Ethan said. "She said that she wanted to help you break free."
"That's funny," Christina chuckled. "She was the first one to abandon me. She was all I had, but she left because she was a coward."
Christina looked down to hide the tears that started to flow from her eyes. She was clenching her fists in anger, trying to maintain her composure.
"Please understand her, Christina," Ethan tried to plea. "She's only three years older than you. She still doesn't know how the world works. And your dad is a very powerful person, anyone would get scared if they were threatened by him."
"Is everything okay?" Florencia walked closer to them. Christina raised her hand to stop her and nodded.
"Everything's fine, Flo, you can go on ahead. I'll follow you," Christina said to her, not looking in her direction.
"Old man?" Florencia scoffed and walked closer to Ethan. "Did you make her cry?"
"What? No," Ethan raised his hands in surrender. "I swear, we're just talking here."
"Let's just go there Flo," Viper pulled the girl away while she was muttering words of refusal. She was threatening Ethan about not making her friend cry or else he would pay.
"I think she means well, she even helped me on the round," Ethan said. "Whatever the problem you two may have, maybe you both can still fix it."
"I screamed at her," Christina whispered. "She actually broke me out or jail once, but I screamed at her. I felt so angry at her for leaving me that I screamed at my only ally in that castle."
"It's not too late to fix things, Christina," Ethan placed his hand on the girl's shoulder. "You can always apologize sincerely when you see her again. Of course, if you're willing to ever repair the broken bond between you two."
"I am willing," Christina said. "But not right now. Not like this."
"I'll talk to her after this competition, okay?" Ethan smiled at her, making her smile back.
"Okay," Christina whispered and bowed. She ran to her friends, not looking back at Ethan who was grinning as he watched the children walk away.
On their way back to their inn, a stench filled the trio's noses. It was a heavy stench that smelled like it came from a swamp or a dangerously polluted river.
Florencia turned at the corner where the stench was and she could only fall to her butt. The others turned to the corner and gasped at the sight.
Florencia's investigator cousins were all crucified in an alley, all of them were covered with mud and dirt with a message on the wall that was written in blood.
"You're close, but not enough."