Victor narrowed his eyes, and for a moment, didn’t reply to Ulrich's overly enthusiastic attitude. In the end, he sighed with resignation.

  “Thank you,” he said, “And that friend of yours. Whatever her name may be.”

  “No problem, we are partners after all.”

  Saying so, Ulrich noticed a shift in Victor’s expression, a kind of hesitation perhaps. Partly, it was aimed at when he mentioned the ‘friend’. The seer gave it a thought and instantly realized why Victor showed such an expression.

  “You’re worried about her motive?” He asked, wrapping his arm around Victor’s shoulder. The latter glanced at it, but didn’t shove it aside and nodded.

  Seeing his troubled expression, Ulrich raised his arm, backing from Victor to a respectable distance before speaking his mind. “I was like that too when she first appear. But trust me, she also dislikes the Twilight Order just as much as we despise those heretics.”

  Victor's shoulder relaxed a little. Recalling Ulrich’s initial report from Captain Ottis, a smile gradually appeared on his face.

  “You did mention she was a member of the Yellow Order and used Pyromancy. Those persistence fellow from the Yellow Order are certainly known for their ‘flare’. Since that’s the case, I can be more at ease.”

  Pyromancy and the Yellow Order are intertwined? Like the Shadowmancing and the Ministry?

  “Are all members of the Yellow Order, Pyromancer?” He blurted, a bit curious. This organization was something he’d heard from Silas, the priest, however, the old man didn’t go too in-depth about the Runes of Flame, or his own path.

  “You can say that.”

  Seeing the confusion on Ulrich’s face, Victor cleared his throat and organized his words before correcting himself. “The Yellow Order mimics the orthodox church's structure despite having no official backing; no legality from the government of the Republic, or any nations across the five luminants. As a matter of fact, their members exist mostly in the Depths below and the Shadow Realm.”

  “I will say, their hatred and enmity toward the Twilight Order can date back all the way to the Era of “The First Drowning”, during the 2nd Epoch.” He added with a great deal of confidence.

  Now, that was frightening. The members of the Yellow Order, who worship the sun willingly dwells in the Depths? That nightmarish realms void of light, of life? The same place that corrodes your sanity just by existing in it? That made no sense. What was the purpose of that?

  The Shadow Realm, sure, he understood that reasoning. After all, Silas had preached that the Verdant Sun God they worship was the Golden Old Tree, which brought forth light in a realm lost from light. And so, it only made sense that the follower of the Yellow Order would choose to stay in the Shadow Realm, and perform their pious role of worshiping the ‘sun’ in the shadow realm.

  The same, however, cannot be said for the lifeless and lightless Depths where the Drowned Gods are known to dwell.

  Unable to contain his curiosity and confusion, Ulrich asked. “Why do the members of the Yellow Order stay in the Depths? I heard that once you enter that realm, it’s almost impossible to return to the surface, unlike the Shadow Realm, which was much more lenient in ‘its’ rules.”

  On that question, Victor smiled mysteriously, and the seer almost, almost, conjured a dark spear and smacked the man’s hard head with it. However, the man before him was his partner, not a dead skeleton, and as such, Ulrich was left disappointed.

  Yup, I like you better when you were blind, my friend.

  Victor didn’t seem to notice Ulrich’s violent thoughts and pondered the question. The trace of confidence he’d bear earlier had disappeared. Evidently, this too was a mystery that he could not answer with certainty. Though he had his own guesses as to why.

  “There are many rumors. Firstly, it’s said that there’s a projection of the Odetree in the Depths, so the Yellow Order, well, some of them, decided to worship that “Sun”.”

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  Wait a minute, Ulrich raised his hand to stop Victor from speaking, before adding his own understanding of the organization. “I heard from a certain someone that the Yellow Order is split, one worships the Sun in the Shadow Realm, and the other, the Depths. Is this true?”

  Just like he thought, Victor nodded with a musing smile. “That’s why I am skeptical of the Yellow Order. Two splits in the organization, both supposedly “Praises the Sun”’. However, one is much more conservative, and the latter, extremely radical. Perhaps, this too had to do with their sanity being shredded and rational mind stripped of reasons due to prolonged stay in the Depths below.”

  Either way, it left a sour taste in Ulrich’s mouth.

  The sun mark from Silas was troublesome, but he thought it wasn’t worth his attention. Yet, now that he’d learned about the other split faction of the Yellow Order, who knows what will happen if he encountered a crazed Sun worshiper who’s not as amicable as Anna Castella?

  “What’s wrong with you?” Victor asked, noticing his junior’s strange reaction.

  “Nothing.”

  The seer wondered if there was any new task that required the Ministry’s attention, and Victor’s response came swiftly.

  “Yup, we have missing cats, security protection requests, and some miscellaneous requests that are rather trivial.”

  Ulrich almost palmed his face, but didn’t want to ruin his gentlemanly image. So he just stared at Victor blankly, like a child deprived of his toy. “No murder to be solved? Criminal to catch? Or bastards to beat? Surely, in the entirety of Belham, there’s an affair or robbery somewhere at this moment, in this time!”

  Victor blinked, his impression of Ulrich twisted slightly while feeling a bit uncomfortable. “Since when have you grown so violent?” He murmured.

  The seer, with all his senses enhanced from all the accumulation of lesser runes in the shadow realm, heard his partner’s words. Unfortunately, this was a school ground, and he couldn’t give him a thorough beating.

  “And we Ministry, don’t handle the official business; that’s the Union’s department, the government. Unless a civilian request for our service directly, we stay offhand, got it?”

  “Okay.” Said Ulrich. His mind had already trailed off elsewhere, not paying his senior Watchman much attention.

  Heh, at least I have time to finish ‘that’ battle.

  Yup, battle. A perilous battle, no less scary than his duel with Knight Henrik: the dinner and meeting with Anna Castella. Praise the Mother, the seer was afraid of being burnt alive.

  …

  It has been days, and the rain continued, unrelenting in its will to drown the city. From the rain, a dense layer of fog blanketed the city, making it difficult for the carriage driver to see his way. Fortunately, Ulrich was able to guide the way with the help of his blessing, much to the carriage driver's astonishment.

  Having left the Ministry without being given a task, the little watchman focused his attention on fulfilling the ‘promise’ of treating Anna Castella to a meal. Ironically, they agreed to meet after twilight. Whatever that entails.

  As the driver tapped on the side of the carriage door, Ulrich inhaled, savoring the scent of rain and its earthly embrace one last time, then paid the driver before stepping in front of Maison de Lumiere.

  It was a rather lavish building, is what he would say if that were five years ago. Having dealt his fair share of work for the Shelbys’ Family, the once poor boy had stashed enough money and seen much of the city and what it had to offer.

  In that moment, Ulrich pressed down on his collar and hat, then made his way inside, greeted by a brightly lit receptionist.

  “Sir, may I ask if you have a reservation?” A suited young man asked, his voice extremely polite, smile beaming.

  “Yes, a table reserved for two…” Ulrich paused, glancing at his watch, “At eight.”

  “Let me check that reservation for you, just give me a moment.” Said the receptionist as he looked down, his finger tracing the long list of names that occupied the seats for the night.

  After what felt like an eternity, he looked up, his smile growing wider. “Sir, I found it. Ulrich Constantine and Madam Anna Castella, reserved seating of two at eight.”

  Saying so, a rather elegant server came by his side, offering to take the coat off his person. However, Ulrich refused. He didn’t want others to touch his unique suit, one of many dozens in his closet.

  “This way, if you don’t mind.” She said, leading Ulrich to the seating on the second floor, a table right next to the window.

  As he sat down, the view from the outside put him at ease. Honestly, if not for the mention of the Yellow Order, he’d probably have forgotten about the arranged meeting, as well as the reservation that was made days ago.

  Now that he was here, the little watchman couldn’t help but feel somewhat nervous. While his mind drifted for minutes at a time, a familiar voice came from his side, waking him up from his stupor.

  “How polite. You’ve been waiting for me.”