A bout of gentle knocking roused the boy from his sleep, and as Gaius sat up on the bed, May spoke from outside the door.

“Milord, people from House Varita are here to speak to you.”

The fog from sleeping cleared out of Gaius’ mind immediately, and the boy brought himself into a sitting position. After taking his time to choose his clothes, the boy splashed some water onto his face, and then opened the door. A small group of people were waiting for him — the receptionist May, the female Knight he’d seen yesterday, and a bunch of people dressed in the colours of House Varita.

“How can I help you?” Gaius leaned back on his door and spoke lazily.

The Knight forced out a smile and said, “I’m Knight Cassandra, from House Varita.”

“Knight Cassandra. Nice to meet you.” Gaius straightened his back slightly. “To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?”

“It is regarding the purchase of the Astral Wind, Lord Gaius.” Her mouth narrowed somewhat. “The purchase of that Engine was recorded a few days ago, and we would like to enquire about its whereabouts.”

“Oh?” Gaius raised an eyebrow. “It’s integrating with me right now.”

The Knight looked at the boy. “In that case, we would like you to follow us back for…some breakfast. After all, you should still be able to use the Astral Wind’s ability, no?”

“Very much so.” Gaius looked at the receptionist. “I suppose I’ll have lunch here, then.”

Gaius focused on his Astral Wind, placed a marker by tying one of the many threads extending out of him in his room, and then nodded at the Knight. “I like sausages and bacon for breakfast, by the by.”

The Knight smiled, with a hint of relief in her face, and promised the boy some sausages. She led the way downstairs, where a carriage had been prepared, and invited the boy onto it.

“What House are you from, Lord Gaius?”

Gaius smiled. “Not everyone is keen to flaunt their status, Knight Cassandra.”

“Of course, of course. Please, do excuse my indiscretion.” She smiled back. The boy nodded, in a manner that he would use to accept an apology, and leaned backwards with his eyes closed. From how they treated Gaius, and the Astral Wind in particular, it was evident that they were looking into how the murderer was able to vanish into thin air.

Teleportation, naturally, was one of them. And given that the Astral Wind had been purchased not even a week ago, people were most likely going to think towards its direction. Gaius smirked in his heart as these thoughts flashed through his mind. The boy could guess a few ways in which they wanted to catch the killer through examining anyone with the ability to instantly leave a place, but none of them were going to work on him.

After all, the illusion had never left. It was simply dispelled.

“We’re here, Lord Gaius.” Cassandra’s pleasant voice entered his ears, and the boy stirred. He followed the Knight down the carriage and into a beautiful garden. A long table had been laid out, and other people were sitting at it. Some were slipping away at glasses of water, while the rest were eating quietly.

But all of them were nervous.

“Who are these people?” Gaius asked.

“Anyone who has been noted to have the ability to leave any given area instantly,” replied Cassandra. “Now that you’re here, I don’t mind telling you the purpose of your visit. There’s a serial killer preying on the scions of many great Houses that are in this city. One of his trademarks is to wait for people to arrive, before bowing and vanishing on the spot.”

The boy feigned enlightenment as the Knight finished her words. “I see. You’re looking for anyone who has the ability to vanish, then.”

“Correct. Elinaris is a huge city, and there are slightly over ten people who can do such a thing. Fortunately, none of them are Knights, or else we would have far more trouble doing such an investigation.”

“Wouldn’t it be easier to investigate the Knights first?”

Cassandra pulled out a chair for Gaius to sit in. “We need to tell them that we investigated the other suspects first, or else they’ll complain. Strenuously.”

The plate laid out at his seat was full of sausages and bacon, and Gaius couldn’t help but sniff unconsciously. “Sounds rough.”

“It is my job, after all.” She looked at the others, and said, “I’ll be bringing the first person over to the witnesses now. Please, do enjoy your meal.”

She walked over to the head of the table and spoke a few words to the woman seated there. The two exchanged words for a second, and with a little sniff, the latter got up from her chair and followed Cassandra down a garden path, towards the mansion looming beyond.

It was awfully quiet, despite the fact that there were around eleven people all sitting around the table. Gaius stifled an odd desire to chortle, before picking up a fork and spearing a particularly juicy sausage. He placed it in his mouth, and bit down on the chewy meat.

There was something that made this particular sausage better than the ones at the Merry Cats. It was probably the seasoning, and the boy couldn’t help but to pity those who weren’t eating the food provided.

As Gaius moved on to the next sausage, an incredible sense of oddness filled his body. His hands shivered — something that rarely happened, for someone with such exquisite muscle control — and the boy looked upwards on instinct. The blue sky, the white clouds…all was normal.

But everything changed for a single instant.

Abruptly, the blue skies and the clouds turned black, while everything on the ground turned white. The people all around Gaius turned into white shadows, and in that infinitesimal moment, the boy heard a single echoing roar that spread into the void beyond.

Everything else returned to normal right afterwards, but sweat now dotted the boy’s forehead. Something had changed — Gaius could feel it. The sky was different, the land was different…the world had changed in a manner that was beyond Gaius.

And for the first time ever since he arrived on Orb, the boy felt fear.