"Wasn't I supposed to go before you?"

Aleister ignored her complaint. "Why are you involved in a shady underground casino in the sewers? You better have a good explanation for this, or else I'll tell your mom."

"It's for an investigation," Nana said. "My mom already knows because she assigned it to me."

Aleister accepted her explanation. She was already a Weaver, so it wasn't surprising she was already taking part in protecting her empire. However—he turned his gaze towards Elemmir. "Did you tell me the truth about how you received your job at The Curtain."

He gulped his food down at his question. After he coughed and pounded his chest a few times, in a quiet voice, he said, "I may have, stretched the truth."

Nana tilted her head. "What in the Nine Hells prompted you to follow me to that accursed place?"

"Then, what was true from what you told me that day?" Aleister pecked at his tea and determined it was still too hot. "From what I recall, you said someone approached you and offered you a job. Besides Nana's reaction, since I know her responsibilities, I refuse to believe she would be careless enough to involve you. And since there was no way she gave you the job offer—who was it?"

Elemmir sat his fork down. With an averted gaze, he inhaled a deep breath and then exhaled. In a hushed voice, he said, "It was Velsi who gave me the job offer."

"Y—your sister gave it to you?" Nana asked.

"Shh, I don't want mother to hear."

Aleister sipped on his cup of tea. Even he didn't expect this, but it only piqued his interest.

"It's because my father is in a rough situation," Elemmir said.

"Let me guess, he gambled away all of his life savings?"

"What? Of course not." Elemmir looked at Aleister in disbelief. "My sister told me that it's not just him in trouble, but the entire squadron he's a part of. They were captured, and are being held hostage."

"What?" Nana stood up. "This is a direct threat against our very empire. I must go report this at once."

"No, you can't!" Elemmir said in protest. His voice quivered, but still managed to keep the volume low. "If they find out I even told you, they'll kill not just my father, but the entire squad as well!"

"Don't worry, my mother will take care of it."

"Wait. She can't take care of anything just yet."

"Why not? And don't tell me you can do a better job than her."

"Of course I can't, don't be silly." Aleister put his cup down. "Just sit down and think about the situation for just a second. Since your sister isn't here, I can only base this off what I've been told." He looked at Elemmir. "Actually, would know where she is right now?"

"She's also in the army, but I wouldn't know where she's been deployed to," Elemmir said.

"I can check that information," Nana said. "I can also check where your father should be right now."

Elemmir nervously chuckled. "I had no idea you could access so much information just as the daughter of a government official."

Aleister looked over at Nana. She pressed a finger against her lips. It was just a good thing he learned of this now instead of after he let the information slip past his lips. Although, maybe Elemmir was just stupid for not knowing. How do you attend classes with one of the empire's princess' and not realize?

"I can do a lot more," she said. "How much money are they asking for the ransom? I can give you the money to pay it off."

"And I would recommend against that. That would be an obviously suspicious move from him. After all, how would he go from having to work in shady location to being able to afford however much it is."

"Five-hundred and seventy-five gold."

Aleister winced upon hearing the large amount. After Syn purchased all the new alchemical materials, he was left just shy of five-hundred gold. "Did you sister give you that job because of how much it paid?"

Elemmir nodded. "On a good day I would net around one gold coin. Only two years of work for me to pay it off. But my sister would also contribute."

"How odd is it that you ended up working in the same place Nana investigated?"

"Do you think there's some sort of connection between the two events?" Nana asked.

Aleister rolled his eyes. "Of course not. How could you even think of such a silly thing?"

Nana stayed silent for a few moments, pacing back and forth in the limited space she had. "Since I'm already investigating that place, my mom almost certainly knows about this."

"I wouldn't be surprised if she already knew. And, what exactly are you investigating?"

"I'm not allowed to tell you."

"I'll just go ask her."

"You can't. The events of the past few days have consumed all of her time."

"Then she wouldn't have time to help you with this matter right now, would she?"

"Shut up," Nana said, stopping in place.

"Are you talking about the Vitreus disappearing?" Elemmir asked. "I heard that the majesty herself will soon make a public appearance to explain the full situation. Your mom must be really important if she's helping deal with such an occurrence."

He must have connected the dots by now, right? Maybe he's just playing dumb. "Anyway," he said, wanting to redirect the conversation, "This brings me back to the original point I wanted to make. We don't want to alert the perpetrators even though I know you stopped working—"

"I haven't," Elemmir said, scratching his chin. "If I just stopped showing up, that would look really bad, wouldn't it?"

Aleister nodded. After all, that was the point he was just about to make.

"When I contracted Sewer Plague, I informed them that I fell ill, and couldn't work for a few days. After that priestess healed me, I told them that my mother started to ask questions, so the times I would arrive would be sporadic," Elemmir explained. "They didn't seem to ask questions and haven't fired me yet. So I think everything is fine."