The day was bright and calm. In this buzzing city, everyone was doing their work.
Dr. House, as the president of one of the most famous universities and hospitals in Paris, was naturally very busy. Writing and approving files, performing surgeries, promoting charities, training new interns, and teaching at the university took up most of his time.
Today, he was in his office as usual, writing, reading, and signing some files. Just as he was writing, his body suddenly jolted as he looked toward the door.
Soon, a female blonde nurse knocked on the door. "Can I come in, Sir?"
House nodded and smiled warmly as he said in a gentle tone, "Yes." His voice was as soothing as a lullaby.
The blonde nurse came in and informed House. Her tone was a little hesitant. "Umm… Sir, there is a man outside who wants to adopt a child from the nursery."
House's brows furrowed in confusion. The hospital had started a program years ago to promote the adoption of orphan kids. It had initially worked very well due to the reputation of Murphy House, the high rate of advertisement, and the amount of support given to people who adopted these children.
But now, after some years, its effects had dwindled. There were still people coming here to adopt regularly. What was so weird about it?
House was just about to ask for more details, but the blonde nurse answered before he could. "He has also requested that he wants to meet you," she said with some reluctance in her eyes.
House noticed that her cheeks were a little red; she was flustered. House got a premonition that the upcoming events wouldn't be normal.
Standing up from his chair, he gave a slight smile to the nurse, indicating for her to walk and take him to the man. The nurse understood what he meant and started to walk toward her left.
House followed her through the hallway until they reached the area of the nursery. In front of the nursery room—where all the babies were in cribs and being looked after by nurses—were a pair of silver steel benches.
On one of the steel benches sat a man. When House's gaze fell on the man, his entire body froze in shock for a second.
He had never thought that there would come a day when he would react like this upon seeing a man.
The man was sitting with his right leg crossed over his left. His skin was pale as snow, with black hair and sky-blue eyes that were like gems. On his right arm hung a closed black umbrella.
He wore tailored black clothes with a black tie and looked very refined. On his left earlobe was a silver inlaid cross-shaped earring, which matched his religious tastes very well.
House had been praised many times for his looks and appearance, but when he compared himself to this man, he could only admire him.
"Hmm…"
House was frozen for a few seconds just as the man turned his head from the nursery window toward House, jolting him awake. House was barely able to keep up his cool and demeanor.
The handsome man had a smile on his face as he saw that House had come. The man got up from the bench and walked toward House as he offered his hand.
"It is very nice to meet you, Dr. House. I am very delighted that you could find the time to come here and meet me."
House's gaze was focused on Eric's face, and he was even unable to hear any of his words. It was only after the man offered his hand that House understood what he meant.
House took a step back with widened eyes; he was startled again… He could understand now why the nurse was blushing.
House let out an embarrassed laugh and shook Eric's hand. "No, no, it is no problem, dear sir. Sorry for being startled. I wonder which baby you wish to adopt. I will personally handle the paperwork and give you some benefits."
"All of it can be discussed."
Eric was laughing on the outside; his smile was warm and very friendly, his elegant demeanor able to make both House and the blonde nurse's hearts flutter. But in his mind, thoughts were churning rapidly.
"Dr. Murphy House. He is an Auri Nova aura user of the Instinct pathway. His abyssal eyes can calm people's emotions down."
Eric had obviously known about the existence of House. He had gotten all the info before coming here from Edward. Eric was a vigilant person and knew that he couldn't trust one party not to do anything to him, and just go with the flow.
He had actually informed Edward of his plans before coming here. With this, even if he was trapped or ambushed by the other great bodies of the aura region, Edward could come and save him. The other Hypernovas obviously knew of this letter through their unique means; it could keep them in check, too.
This was the advantage of having multiple backers. It wasn't like it was in the past.
Eric had not expected that there would be another aura user in this hospital originally. But after Edward knew of his plans, he gave him the info on House. Obviously, it was very superficial and concise.
"Hmm… Why am I getting this strange premonition?"
The house had been having a premonition for quite some time. This premonition felt like a calm ocean, but one that could create tsunamis at any time and engulf him who was on the shore.
"Dr. Murphy House is an Aura user of the Instinct pathway. This pathway's main authorities and uniquenesses are related to premonitions. Among all the pathways, this pathway's aura users are the most 'sensitive' with the strongest and most varied premonitions."
"These premonitions can range from long and calm to sudden and exploding, slow and fast. They can sense danger days before it even arrives. As they advance, they can even see scenes of people who even think of hurting them. The aura users of this pathway are thus the hardest to hunt. But too bad—this House is just an Auri Nova."
"I would have killed him if he hadn't wanted to be recruited by the Truth Seekers. He has the power of the Precision aura, making every action of his precise, with his pathway's uniqueness complementing him. There is no wonder that he was able to perform so many surgeries and succeed in all of them."
While having these thoughts, he answered House's question. "There is no rush. I have heard that you are a very kind and religious person. I wonder if you could advise me on some stuff."
House's attention was immediately grabbed by his words. House was an upright and moral person. He hated people who lied and deceived others—that is why he had always hated politicians.
However, there was another reason related to his childhood. He always liked gentle, moral, and patient people. Eric was more than enough to get into his good graces.
The main credit should go to Truth.
House excitedly walked to the bench and sat down while Eric walked slowly with calm and elegant steps. "What is your name, sir?"
"My name is Mike Jackson. I have to say, the hospital is made quite well. You must have managed it quite well."
"Ahaha, do not mention it. It is nothing. I wonder what work you do to ask advice from me?"
"Oh, I am actually an avid member of a church in a certain part of the city. I quote the Bible there sometimes. My main job is to be a freelance journalist. I mostly write about tragedies. There have been a lot of weird things happening in Paris nowadays, you know."
House nodded.
"I am very happy to say that you are doing such a virtuoso work. I can only admire you. I am afraid that there is not much that I can tell you. I am ashamed.
"bout the incidents. Yes, I have noticed them too. Kidnapping cases, pregnancy rates going up, and missing persons cases. And many more. Some people have also reported that they have seen ghosts at night."
"Ghosts?" Eric asked with a confused tone. He was probing him. His acting was flawless; even if there were inconsistencies, Truth would cover them up.
House nodded again as he relaxed his back against the bench. "There have been many cases of people seeing ghosts and devil-like creatures. A majority of the people have described them as beings with black bodies, red eyes, and two horns on their heads in their houses at night. Obviously, minor details are different for everyone."
"I know this because over the last month, a lot of people have come to me for therapy."
"Ghosts… devils… horns. Devils!" Eric deduced in his mind and was quickly able to sense the source of these cases.
"Devils are pathway creatures of the Evil pathway with cursed spirits. Is there an Evil Pathway aura user among the aura users sent to Paris? Or is it due to a relic? Whatever the case, I need to investigate later and make sure that our apartments are safe and sound."
Eric quickly changed the topic. "I wonder if you have some stories to tell me that I can write about?"
House thought for a few seconds before pointing at a baby. "Yes, there is a recent one. You see that baby staring at the ceiling named Voyage? His parents got into an accident due to his being too eager to go out."
"His mother was only in her eighth month, but the baby was very healthy, and she went into labour too soon. It caused the husband to panic, which caused the crash. Speak about tragedy."
"This House is too trusting. Truth's passive ability is actually working on him so soon," Eric thought.
"I can give you the file if you want."
The muscles of Eric's lips twitched at that moment. What a coincidence!
"Indeed, it is quite a tragedy. I feel pity and sadness for him. May his parents' souls find peace in heaven above."
"I wish so too."
They took a two-minute silence as they prayed for the parents' souls. The blonde nurse had left long ago.
When they opened their eyes, Eric let out a forced chuckle. He pointed at Voyage. "I want to adopt that one."
"…"
"…"
"What a coincidence. Haha."
"Indeed. What a coincidence."
"I have to ask, Mr. Mike. Are you married?"
"No, I am single. Before you ask, I just want to adopt a child because I do not want to have a child of my own, but help some other child who has no one to take care of him. This is why I came here."
"I can relate. I am not married either, and it feels lonely at home, but I have my work to occupy myself with. Haha." House laughed.
The remaining part was very simple. Eric and House went inside as Eric let House pick up Voyage. Before, House had felt a lot of aura pressure from Voyage, but now Voyage had learned and didn't leak even a bit.
House did get some premonitions, but he ignored them all. Some checkups were done by the House before they moved to a room to finish the paperwork.
Eric was asked to fill out a form with his details, like name, address, phone number, etc. Eric was actually given a lot of discounts and more benefits than the average person.
House shrugged it off as just "favors." Soon, Eric had become the papa of Voyage!
He got a cradle and even a stroller to take Voyage out. Some medicine, diapers, clothes, and whatnot.
Voyage was acting very cuddly and cute all this time. Voyage opened his arms as he sucked on a pacifier.
He was truly way too cute. All the nurses who had taken care of him were crying as they played with him one last time.
All these nurses reminded Eric time and time again to take good care of himself. Eric's facial muscles were hurting from smiling so much. Not just that, they all kept giving him more stuff for free so that Voyage could have comfort.
*Sniff* *Sniff*
"Voyage!"
"It is time to go now."
"Goodbye out oh la la cutie pie baby!"
"We will miss you."
"You were the best babies we could ever play with."
"Make sure to take good care of him, sir!. No. You must!"
Pat pat pat...
Eric sighed inwardly, looking at all this.
If only they knew…
Soon, after some crying and patting of Voyage, Eric took Voyage in the stroller. They looked back one last time as they waved their arms at them.
The house and all the nurses also waved their hands as they cried and wiped their tears with handkerchiefs. After some minutes of them being gone, the nurses started to leave, still sniffing.
Just then, House realized something. "Oh. I forgot to ask which agency's newspapers he publishes in."
"Hmm?"
At this moment, a letter appeared in the hand of House.
It was from Sciffor of the Truth Seekers.