Omniscient PoV. same as before, I can’t separate this pov then another one at two different chapters, it will make them quite repetitive and boring.
Standing in front of the pub, one hand tucked inside his white ulster coat, Gregory Turner inhaled from the pipe in his grasp. The pipe smoke curled around the brim of his fez hat.
His eyes flashed golden.
‘?’
The glow lingered for a brief instant before he stopped inhaling. Gregory lowered the pipe slightly and knitted his brows.
Next to him stood Naomi Crowle. She leaned on her cross-headed cane, her long yellowish hair falling past her shoulders, trimmed bangs framing an attentive gaze. Like Gregory, she wore a pristine white suit underneath the white ulster coat.
Noticing the change in his demeanor, she asked with a note of concern in her voice.
“Captain, what’s wrong?”
Gregory did not answer immediately. He stared ahead, his pupils moving slowly.
“Wait.”
He raised his hand.
Naomi instantly focused her attention on the pub's main door. Her fingers tightened around the cane’s grip, her posture stiffening.
At the same time, the door flung open.
A young boy stepped out.
He looked in their direction, his gaze sweeping over their attire before settling firmly on Gregory’s eyes.
"..."
Gregory narrowed his eyes.
This boy… looked unique. His demeanor was strangely mature for his apparent age, his cautious gaze devoid of the fear most showed when facing an Inspector.
He wore an exquisite noble outfit: a white flock coat and matching trousers. Despite the grime of the village, his outfit was clean. A bandage wrapped around his head, concealing most of his hair and part of his face.
‘Why does a mere noble boy have the presumption to stand so boldly in front of us?’
Gregory noticed the boy's posture.
‘He imitates me?’
Standing in front of the pub, with one hand in his pocket, leaning his weight casually on his right leg.
In the boy’s right hand was a mug, lifted lazily, probably imitating Gregory holding the pipe.
‘Why?’ His mind spun, analyzing the boy. ‘Is it to distract me? Or a mockery? A challenge?’
Behind them, the laughter from the pub dimmed, then nearly died out.
Patrons inside pressed closer to windows and doorframes, peering out with wide eyes. They must be particularly aware of the Inspectors’ prestigious presence. Some even sneaked out the back, jumping through windows to avoid scrutiny, but Gregory ignored those small fry.
His focus remained fixed on the boy.
‘There is no weapon on him.’
There were no special weapons on his body, besides a common kitchen knife hidden beneath his coat.
But Gregory wasn't worried about that. How could a mere kitchen knife stop them?
Gregory noted everything about the boy in his mind. Even his scent.
‘A peculiar smell. A bit strong and sweet, but not entirely unpleasant.’
The bandage hid damage beneath. He could see hints of burned flesh, hair brittle and sparse, almost gone in places. A survivor of fire?
‘With that distinctive presence, we should have noticed him long ago. How come we know nothing of him?’
Out of nowhere, a peculiar-looking boy appeared in a village they had under surveillance?
So casually, this boy actually had the audacity to imitate him, holding a mug of water while talking to them! The Inspector of the church!
Troy and Hazel had gone to investigate earlier, yet they did not report him.
"..."
The boy smiled confidently as he walked toward them, closing the distance without hesitation.
“Are you,” he opened his mouth, his voice calm and steady, “the Inspectors from the Church?”
Gregory puffed out another cloud of smoke from his pipe. His eyes flashed golden once more.
‘[Appraising]’
‘Not a Bless. Not even a Stagefarer…’ His brows drew together slightly.
“We are indeed. And whom, may I ask, are you?”
Behind him, Naomi stared at the boy, confusion plain on her face. She could not decide whether he was harmless or a threat, and that uncertainty made her tense.
‘What is going on?’
Although she wasn't sure she understood the silent communication passing between the Captain and the stranger, she upped her guard.
A boy this young could make the Captain this wary?
Was he an anomaly here? Or an outsider?
She gripped her cane tightly, ready in case the moment shattered into violence.
Meanwhile, on Arnold’s mind—
‘Damn, they look strong.’
Arnold grimaced internally and wondered if this was a stupid idea or not. The man radiating power and golden eyes, the woman tense and ready to kill, it was a lot for one vessel to handle.
He glanced down at the mug still in his hand.
‘I forgot to put it down…’
Well, what was done was done. He took a sip of water to cover his momentary lapse.
“?”
Once done, he noticed the Inspector’s gaze became weirder.
‘What’s going on?’ he tilted his head.
Probably assessing him. Arnold straightened his posture and thought.
Since their main body was safe anyway, why not take a risk?
As expected, a wave of unfamiliar sensation washed over him.
It was light, almost buoyant, as if some invisible pressure beneath his chest had finally lifted, making him breathe easier.
‘Maybe,’ he thought, ‘I could use some help from the church to escape this place.’
It was far better than being trapped here.
If the village was already dangerous, how could he guarantee the forest would be any better?
If the Church were here, perhaps the enemy of his enemy could be at least a ticket out.
“My name is Anon. Anon Marion.” After finishing his line of thought, Arnold cleared his throat and answered.
“It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” He lowered the mug and bowed his head with practiced politeness.
Gregory mirrored the gesture with a restrained nod.
[Lie Detection]
‘A false name.’ Gregory concluded immediately as the falsehood registered in his senses, yet not a single trace of it surfaced on his face. His expression remained composed.
“My name is Gregory. Gregory Turner,” he replied, one hand to his chest. "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
“...”
“...”
“...”
Tension filled the air. The sound of villagers around them was almost muted in their minds.
Gregory’s gaze was unwavering, while Anon’s remained relaxed. They regarded one another in silence, both probing without words, sizing the other party.
“?”
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
Standing behind Gregory, Naomi glanced back and forth between them, her brows furrowed.
Contradicting their emotionless standoff, she could not grasp the reason for this exchange.
After a pause, Gregory spoke first, breaking the silence.
"Might I inquire if there is something you require of us, Mr. Marion?"
‘They don’t seem that bad.’ Arnold thought, measuring the people in front of him.
Davis’s words about them were still vivid in his mind. “Despicable scum,” he had called them. Yet the man before him did not radiate cruelty. At least, on the surface.
Instead, he carried the rigid bearing of someone accustomed to scrutinizing others.
‘The man in front is the captain. His eyes are glowing. He must be using some kind of ability right now. Assessing me?’
Gregory Turner appeared to be a middle-aged man with neatly combed dark brown hair and an angular, ascetic face. His features were sharp rather than handsome, defined by discipline.
His attire was nearly symmetrical. If not for the white enameled insignia of an eye over an open book pinned to his chest coat, it would be perfectly symmetrical.
‘Severe obsessive tendencies. Possibly cleanliness fixation. Maybe even germophobic.’
He noted, observing the man’s subtle habit of constantly wiping the stem of his pipe with a pristine handkerchief, even when it appeared spotless.
“May I ask, why are you here? At this particular pub?” Arnold spoke, ensuring the pause wasn't long enough to breed suspicion.
‘Will they notice my Field Vision?’ At the same time, he extended his Field Vision out cautiously, 15 meters.
‘There is no one else lurking around. Only the two of them,’ he thought while scanning the perimeter, awaiting the answer.
All this thought process took only brief seconds. Since they had two minds, Izzy's calculation had been enhanced. She was using both minds' power to its full extent.
'Poor Isa.' The girl was groaning in their shared mind right now.
‘Careful, but arrogant.’ Izzy judged. Only two people, and they really stood face-to-face with Arnold? A complete stranger who just came out of the pub specifically to confront them? She wasn’t sure if she could call that bold, or simply arrogant.
There had to be something backing Gregory up. Maybe he walked a very strong Path from the Harmony faction, a very high-stage Farers, or had a secret weapon hidden under that coat.
"..."
In that same brief span of seconds, Gregory frowned.
Something tingled in his mind, a dissonance he couldn't quite place.
‘Why is he so confident?’
Did he not know the fearsome reputation of the Church? Or did he know it and simply not care?
Was it cockiness, or a thorough plan?
‘[Scan].’
He extended his perception to 600 meters, and immediately, a translucent circular map was drawn in front of his mind’s eye.
At its center were two small yellow points, marking their current position.
‘Those two are running away.’ The two men that Gregory had noticed earlier, the ones inside the pub’s private room.
In his circular map, every normal person was a small gray dot. Except for these two; their dots were a pulsating crimson color, marking them as targets of interest, and they were scrambling away through the back door into the alley.
These two… if he guessed it right, they must be the thieves that the Baroness hired to guard or conceal something nearby.
‘Is he buying time for them? Here, under the very nose of the Church? Can there be some connection between them?’ Gregory wondered.
In the scan, the boy himself also appeared as a gray dot, which either meant "ordinary" or "unknown."
‘But that doesn’t make any sense. There was no reason the anomaly in this village should draw in an outsider, unless…’
The village’s Anomaly Properties were still poorly understood.
It was classified as Code 02 in file U-02-156, meaning it was dangerous enough to warrant an inspector team first.
Not to mention they were standing in its territory, in its open maw.
He thought quickly. ‘Is it using the boy to hinder us… or…’
Or this boy… was another part of the anomaly himself?
“We’re conducting an inspection,” Gregory said at last. He slid the pipe into his chest pocket, freeing both hands. “A criminal escaped custody. Since pubs are known to harbor information, we came here.”
Arnold nodded lightly.
‘That should be a lie,’ Arnold thought. After all, Benjamin had never been caught, nor had he ever mentioned escaping custody.
Or was it another criminal? Benjamin had never mentioned this. Did they not really relate at all?
‘They hide their objective, since they don’t trust me, and by extension, the village.’
He had already guessed as much. A cover story, or perhaps a half-truth. Either way, it gave them a reason to be here without admitting their true purpose, keeping their cards close to their chests.
“I see… if that is the case…” Arnold spoke slowly, while the gears of calculation spun in his mind.
‘Was their objective really Benjamin?’ he wondered.
Arnold remembered the conversation between Benjamin and the Herald. That old man was directly related to the Herald… although, he was already dead.
Perhaps they were hunting his legacy, or his associates.
‘They are not hunting me, are they?’
That would be very bad if they were here for ‘Isidora’.
‘The one at the back…’ His gaze drifted to the woman wearing a white suit beneath a long coat, with a cape covering half of her upper body, similar to Gregory’s.
She was holding a cross-headed cane; she must be very pious. Everything about her attire spoke of formality and doctrine.
His Field Vision involuntarily dropped lower than intended, scanning her form—
“Mmm.”
He quickly averted his gaze.
‘Izzy…’
‘It’s… my old instinct. Sorry.’
Izzy felt the need to apologize for the accidental invasiveness.
This Field Vision was too strong and overpowering! It picked up details she hadn't consciously meant to seek!
“My apologies.” She guided Arnold and bowed his head politely to the Inspectors.
“Why?” Gregory asked immediately, his voice laced with alertness. The sudden apology had not gone unnoticed.
But Izzy did not immediately answer.
Instead, she controlled Arnold to raise his gaze slowly, studying both Inspectors thoroughly, creating an atmosphere of unnerving scrutiny.
Still…
‘We are one. Why are you pretending to be so innocent?’
Izzy and Isa were one in the first place. Why did this young mind reprimand her all of a sudden for a slip of attention?
‘Gah! T–That…’
‘Whatever.’ Since it was not the time for an internal argument, Izzy quickly returned to Arnold’s perspective.
Arnold switched his attention to the woman behind Gregory and profiled her.
‘They are hiding something.’
The woman appeared to be in her mid-twenties. She was very amateurish compared to her partner. Her posture was stiff, not fully confident.
While Gregory remained composed without much emotion on his face, her expression betrayed her unease. Her worried gaze flicked between her superior and Arnold, hesitation written clearly in her eyes.
‘She is on edge.’ They undoubtedly knew something about the village.
‘A modest woman, a bit self-conscious with the way she constantly adjusts her grip on the cane, unassertive and…’ He knitted his brow, his Field Vision focusing on a peculiar detail on her finger.
‘A ring?’
There was a simple gold band on her ring finger.
‘She is married? How? The Church allow that?’
Arnold had initially assumed that the Church of White would be very strict about celibacy. Based on patterns from Izzy’s former world, a religious institution dressed so uniformly in white would impose strict vows of purity, especially on women.
But it was not the case here?
‘The White Church… What an interesting religion.’ Izzy chuckled internally.
She controlled Arnold and asked.
“It’s just… Mister Turner…” Arnold stopped mid-sentence.
‘Should I ask them?’
For Arnold, how could he be sure these Inspectors were safer than the village? How could he be sure that they did not relate to the wrongfulness of this place?
In Izzy's mind, she already had an answer.
Or to be more specific, a question that could help her filter it out.
A mischievous thought flashed in her mind.
“May I ask—”
[Evil Detection]
“!”
At the exact same moment, a jolt of foreboding slammed into Gregory’s heightened senses! An ominous premonition flashed like lightning behind his eyes as he looked at the boy's eerie, bandaged smile!
‘No!’
He raised his voice hastily!
“Wait—”
But it was too late.
Arnold slowly opened his mouth.
“...How does one get out of this village?”
Simultaneously, the sound around them vanished.
The distant murmur of villagers, the chatter of the market, the clinking of tankards from the pub, and the rustle of the wind all dissolved into an absolute, suffocating nothingness.
A crushing pressure seized their hearts, a physical weight pressing down on their lungs.
Naomi’s breath hitched. She clamped her mouth shut, her eyes widened, and her pupils dilated in primal terror.
Gregory winced. A hurtful prick, like a thousand frozen needles piercing his skin simultaneously, assaulted him. His heart hammered frantically against his ribs, and cold sweat broke out profusely across his forehead. Every hair on his arms and the back of his neck stood on end.
His Evil Detection ability flared in his mind, screaming a deafening warning that drowned out all other thoughts.
[Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection][Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection] [Evil Detection]
…
“...”
“...”
“...”
“...”
‘[Scan]’
Gregory’s glowing golden eyes moved around rapidly, scanning the environment. Although the villagers were still ostensibly working and moving, engaged in their pantomime of daily life, he could feel it.
All eyes were looking at them.
They were watching.
Naomi instantly raised her silver cross-headed cane and looked around with trained, fearful vigilance.
Gregory narrowed his eyes on the boy. He shook his head.
“You certainly know how to jest, boy.”
He did not immediately answer the question. Instead, he turned on his heel and walked away.
Naomi hesitated for a fraction of a second, glanced once more at Arnold, then followed Gregory without a word.
“???”
Arnold stood there, blinking.
‘Did he… just ignore it?’
This… Izzy really did not expect it.
—
(Moonday, four days left before the full moon Rite starts.)
So, this is my first time writing various different thought processes of different characters at the same time... (well, maybe not first, but ehh, you know@@). I'm not sure if I handled this properly. I felt like I did it okeist? But uuh, when I reread it, something really is not clicking, not sure tho.
The draft only has Gregory's perspective...But I think it kinda boring to only have that one character without Izzy's mind process.
What do you think of this chapter?
is this chapter hard to read for you (back and forth between various perspective
