Chapter 366 - The Locket
The locket was in the middle of the table, surrounded by baffled and angered faces. Samson was sent in Avancia from the East to start a commotion starting from the market and the people there.
"But don't you think their plan is too…" Lance trailed off, trying to find the right word. "Small-scaled? I mean if they're planning an all out war, they should've been more prepared."
"I don't think we can answer any of our questions," Frederick said. "Our only lead to this was Samson, but it seemed like he was put under a curse of silence."
"But this curse is not just an ordinary curse, Fred," Luck pointed. "This curse is highly villainous. Not to mention, high level. Whoever is behind this isn't something we should take lightly."
Frederick turned to look at Elliot who was in deep thought. He sighed and tapped the boy's shoulder, "You don't have to go to the East if you don't want to. Let's just tell the king all of this and find you a replacement."
"No," Elliot said. "I want to do this. Now that this is happening, and that we may have a bigger problems in our hands, I want to be the one who solves that."
"Are you trying to become the next Raven Justice or something?" Frederick snickered, smirking as he watched the flames of passion burn in the boy's eyes.
"No," Elliot returned the gaze. "I want to become a guild leader."
–
Elliot was preparing for his journey to the East in his room when a knock on his door sounded. "Come in."
Lance's head popped from the doorway. "Can I speak to you for a minute?"
"Sure," Elliot replied but continued packing. "Is it about the East?"
"We're going to go to the king and tell him what happened," Lance said. "We can tell him what the East is planning so that he could do something about it. They easily killed of one of their own. I bet it won't be hard to kill an enemy."
Elliot sighed, "Just when I thought I could finally get some rest, and then this happened. So annoying."
Lance chuckled while he watched his friend pack his bags with puffed cheeks. Elliot was sighing from time to time while dropping his shoulders to avoid any conversation that Lance might start.
"Just be ready in five minutes," Lance said before walking out the door.
Immediately when the door closed, Jameson's head popped out from the floor. The window was open and a wind blew past it, with bKatarina appearing in front of Elliot not long after.
"That was an entrance," Elliot snickered. "What news did you get?"
When Elliot and Connor were about to go home after hearing Samson in the alley, Elliot sent the two out to investigate. Katarina was watching from the shadows while Jameson asked around for the man's identity.
"All I know so far is that he came from the East," Katarina said. "There was a woman earlier. She was tall, had a long coat over her body, a hat and a pair of black eyeglasses."
"I saw her too," Elliot said. "I think she's one of their boss."
"Not her," Katarina said. "That was the first woman who had a straight slicked back hair. She went away and a few minutes later, another woman came. This time, she had a short curly hair and was a bit smaller."
"What happened after?" Elliot asked, intrigued by the news just heard. He was proud of himself to sent out the two right after. If he was too late or didn't send them at all, this information couldn't reach him.
"I think the second woman delivered him the bad news," Elliot thought out loud. "Samson mentioned something about his wife and child and that they were killed. He gave me a locket and died right after."
"Wife and child," Jameson pursed his lips and seemed to analyze something. "I found out while I was asking around that Samson was a vendor in the market for three years. How can he become a spy?"
"Either he was sent here and had been under cover all these years or that he stole an identity from an actual vendor here," Katarina said. "The second one is more likely. I shadowed every move of him, and there are times when he seemed to be out of place."
"How?" Elliot asked. "Can you give an example?"
"Like sometimes he would say something that no one else would get," Katarina replied. "Be it a joke, or a daily term that anyone should know."
Elliot's was about to open his mouth and day something when a knock sounded from his door. Connor's voice came right after the second knock, "Elliot, let's go to the palace. We have no time to spare.
"Coming!" Elliot responded. He walked to the door and opened it, "Stay here. I'll be back."
The boy made his way downstairs with Connor. He saw Frederick and walked over to him, "Hi, can I take a look at the locket?"
The guild master nodded and fetched the small pendant from his packet. He handed it to Elliot who opened his palms and willingly accept the object.
After his talk with Katarina and Jameson, a thought entered his mind. He has never seen the locker after it was given to him.
The object was a small golden pendant the size of a peanut. The golden and wrinkled exterior will make any unsuspecting person to mistake it as trash, but when you look closely, the wrinkles on the pendant were actually a design. It was a series of engraved lines that made up most of the outside shell of the locket.
An item as intricate as this in the hands of Samson would make sense. After all, he told them that he was a general before he was demoted. He must've had this locket custom made for whomever he gave it to.
When opened, the locket had one small image. Elliot had to squint his eyes and look closely to make out the image. When it was clear, Elliot gasped when he saw a clear image of a man, woman and a child.
Their skin was dark, and their eyes were not narrow. The three of them were smiling widely, but what irked Elliot the most was how detailed the image was.
"What is this?" Elliot asked. "What painter could paint as clear as this. This is high-level art magic."
"That's all you've noticed?" Frederick quirked his brow and crossed his arms. "You didn't notice something else?"
"The people in this locket…" Elliot trailed off. "None of them is Samson."
"Exactly," Fredrick clicked his tongue. "Whoever that man was who gave us this locket wasn't the man in it."
Elliot was about to agree when a thought entered his mind. His conversation with Katarina and Jameson played in hid mind, making him think out loud, "What if he was wearing a disguise all this time? Maybe he was telling the truth. That vendor had been in his stall for years. If the East is actually planning an attack, it wouldn't make sense."
There people in tight bodysuits appeared behind Frederick. They were kneeling on the floor while the one in the middle was handing out a brown envelope.
"Thanks," Frederick said before the three people vanished into thin air. "I investigated for a buit and had found this out. Let me check. Rogue Investigators are very quick on their feet."
Elliot was silent as he let Fredrick read the files.. The red haired man finished all of them and cleared his throat after, "That man wasn't Samson."