[??? is reacting to strange energy...]
It had appeared again. It was now the third time I had come in contact with this "strange energy." The craziest part about it was the fact that I still knew practically nothing about it.
'Just what could it be?' I thought to myself. 'Is it related to fire?'
I shook my head, unsure what kind of conclusions I could get from this.
"Hello, can you hear us?"
I tried talking to her, but it was clear that the girl's state of mind was gone. She could no longer comprehend our words.
It was extremely similar to when I had fought against Oliver Lix, with the only difference being that he hadn't died from whatever he had taken. However, maybe the only reason he was still alive was because he was healed by the best healers in the whole world.
"Who are you?" A voice suddenly resounded from behind. "You're not allowed to be here."
A small group of officials were now before us, all wearing the same uniforms. They seemed to be Altrix's Police Force.
"Actually, we are," I replied mindlessly as I handed them the small piece of paper where the A-Rank Quest was written.
Immediately, they stared at us differently, mainly with surprise.
"Have you even held a weapon before in your life, kids?" the guard in chief asked as he glanced at us.
After all, we were all very young compared to them. They must have thought there was no way we would manage to complete this quest since they hadn't managed to find the cause.
"We have. Anyway, we have some questions about this whole incident."
The guard in chief just started laughing. "Whatever, just get out of our way. We need to deal with this first."
The small group of officials pushed us to the side as they hid the body with a piece of cloth and began dragging it back inside City Hall, as far as possible from the population's eyes.
I watched the population's reaction to those actions. However, once more, none of them seemed bothered in the first place. None of them even looked in their direction, as if all of this was normal.
"Shouldn't you identify the body and tell the family what happened to their daughter?" Amelia asked, finding it all quite strange.
The guard in chief just sighed. "Are you here to tell us how to do our job? She's probably an orphan, and even if she has a family, they'll forget about her soon enough."
The more we exchanged with them, the stranger they seemed.
Still, it seemed we had found our way to our destination. We were now inside City Hall and, surprisingly, it was pretty much devoid of any staff.
"Where are you dropping off the body?" I asked.
"With the rest of them."
"Can we come with you?"
The guard sighed, clearly annoyed by our constant pestering. "Just stay here. We'll come back once we're done with this."
We nodded as we sat on a small couch. None of us spoke; however, with the glances we exchanged, it was clear that all of us had picked up on it.
The guards were definitely strange. Their reaction to finding a dead girl on the streets was definitely abnormal. It shouldn't be handled in such a way, ever. Just like Amelia had said, the normal reaction would be to find the girl's identity and contact her family.
However, they had acted as if none of that was important... as if retrieving the body was more important than giving the family closure.
'The mayor is also nowhere to be seen...'
"Stay here, I'll come back in a few minutes," I told Amelia and Ivy.
Those guards were hiding something, I was sure of it. I just needed to figure out what it was.
I moved in the same direction as them as I remembered the path they had taken earlier. They had gone to the left of the hallway and then taken the stairs. However, I now needed to figure out which floor they had gone to.
I eliminated the higher floors since most morgues would be found in a basement, at the lowest level.
'I'll head there first. It's what makes the most sense.'
I swiftly moved down the stairs and arrived at the lowest level, where a plain door without any windows could be found. However, just as I tried to open the door, I realized it was locked. I thought about forcing it open but decided against it. I could always come back later.
-Click.
I looked down at the door's handle as it began to slightly move.
Whoever was on the other side of this door was trying to open it.
I had around ten seconds, at most, before the door would be opened and they'd find out I had followed them all the way down here. I glanced around, trying to see if there was anything I could hide behind. I tried to find a single shadow to use [Shadow Manipulation], but there was none. The stairway was incredibly well lit.
I clicked my tongue. I had wanted to listen in on their conversation, but it seemed I wouldn't be able to do that.
I began running up the stairs as fast as I could, making sure that I wouldn't be found out by the guards, making as little noise as possible.
I could already hear their voices as they came out of the room.
"Did you see the look on their faces? It's like it was the first time they had seen a dead body."
"I don't know what the Mercenary Center is thinking, sending a couple of newborns here."
Then, I recognized the guard in chief's voice.
"It's actually a good thing for us. Don't you think?"
I wanted to hear the rest of their conversation, but I didn't want to take the risk of getting caught. I picked up my pace and found my way back upstairs.
However, when I opened the door that led to the hallway, I noticed that a new face was sitting next to Amelia and Ivy.
"Ah, seems like he's back from the bathroom," the strange-looking man smirked. "Though, I think he went the wrong way. The bathroom is over there."
The man pointed to the right of him, in the opposite direction of where I came from.
'Is he the mayor?' I frowned. 'Why is he looking at me like he wants to kill me...'