After the conversation, they left one by one. Orion went to take care of the paperwork, Seraphine returned to the church, and Theron said goodbye and left in secret. Leon and Elias seemed to have a mission or something more important to do, so they also left, and Cassian, after making sure Luca had finished his food and medicine, took the bowl and left. The twins also left, leaving only Lyse, who was sleeping, and Amelie sitting there with Luca.
"Aren't you two going to work or something?"
"We are working!"
Amelie replied to Luca eagerly.
"What? What mission?"
"Our mission today is to guide you through your first mission!"
"I already have a mission on my first day?"
Luca was quite surprised; he hadn't expected to have a mission so quickly on his first day.
"Most missions will be fairly simple anyway. Dangerous missions are rare, so just relax!"
Amelie reassured Luca, who was feeling utterly helpless. He thought the first day was just an introduction. Luca looked at Lyse.
"But she's asleep, isn't she?"
"Don't worry, even though she's asleep, she'll be helpful when we need her!"
Luca just nodded and stood up, about to wake Lyse, when Amelie, despite her small stature, lifted Lyse with just one hand and hoisted her onto her shoulder.
"Let's go!"
Luca stood frozen before Amelie's overwhelming power, but said little, temporarily accepting it as perfectly normal.
Amelie led Luca to Orion's office, where Luca was to be interviewed to retrieve the file from the desk.
"Although this task is easy, I expect you all to be careful."
Orion instructed them as he signed his name, confirming their assignment.
"Yes!!!"
Amelie took the document and handed it to Luca as they were leaving.
"Read this!"
Luca took the file and quickly scanned the pages full of information. At a glance, it seemed like a 'fairly easy' task.
Accompanying the picture was a boy of average height with black hair and wearing light brown clothes.
This looks like just a search mission, but why bring him along with two people like Amelie and Lyse… they don't look like a team good at finding missing persons…
"Let's go!"
"But where are we going…?"
Amelie remained silent at Luca's question, responding with a bright smile.
"I don't know!"
Luca sighed. Why did he feel it was so unlikely this task could be completed today?
Lyse, who was asleep, began to mumble.
"The next page."
After saying that, she went back to sleep. Hearing this, Luca turned the page only to find a key.
"Oh! It's it! I almost forgot!"
Amelie gasped; perhaps they still had a glimmer of hope of completing this mission. Luca followed Amelie outside to the exhibition hall.
"Give me the key, Luca!"
Amelie accidentally shouted, holding out her hand, but it seemed no one heard or saw her or them. This space was truly powerful, and Luca gave the key to Amelie.
"I'm curious how you all created this place?"
"We didn't create it; it was more of a fascinating coincidence!"
"A coincidence that's also fascinating?"
"That's right! We have some props, and we left them here for everyone to borrow and use, but we didn't expect the props to be such special objects. When in the human world, they hide their presence, and many props do that. What they create is a special energy that forms this barrier! Sounds cool, right?"
Luca nodded; this was useful information about the self-concealing props, which was probably why Luxie turned into a doll while the album looked perfectly normal.
"I encourage you to keep a few props with you every day!"
Amelie said, taking a compass out of a keyed glass cabinet before closing it.
"Thanks for the advice."
"You're welcome!"
Amelie stepped outside, and Luca followed them out of the museum, with Lyse still sleeping soundly on Amelie's shoulder.
"Amelie... don't you think we need to disguise ourselves... or is Lyse being carried like this attracting too much attention...?"
Luca looked at everyone staring at them, feeling a wave of discomfort wash over him. He didn't like being stared at so much; even though he wasn't an introvert or a coward, he disliked it intensely.
Seeing Luca's annoyed expression, Amelie gently put Lyse down.
"Just bear with it, Lyse!"
She smiled brightly and then pulled them both to a less crowded place to talk more easily. They chose a quiet alley to talk. Amelie was once again pinned down by Lyse, who would sleep on her back anyway… Luca had never even seen Lyse open her eyes.
"We don't have fake identities, but this compass only needs a little information, and it can lead us to the location we need!"
"This compass sounds really useful."
Luca praised the watch after hearing Amelie explain its function, and she smiled even more brightly.
"That's right! Orion is the owner of this artifact! He's so cool, isn't he! Basically, just give it enough information! Then this compass will work!"
"So, are there any limitations?"
Luca immediately asked if what they said was true, that the tools would be much weaker in real life, and some would even become completely useless —that was what Luca predicted based on what they said.
"Yes! This compass, instead of pointing us to where we need to go, will be more circuitous! It will lead us to people with small clues, and then we have to figure everything out ourselves!"
"You mean in the game it will show us where we need to find the object, but in real life it will only give clues?"
"That's right! This compass sounds cool, but it consumes a lot of energy; it uses the user's own energy to operate!"
Luca nodded. If everything had side effects, what were Luxie's and that album's? He used Luxie a lot, but he hadn't experienced any side effects yet... maybe he just hadn't realized it, but actually, he did feel a little tired each time he used it.
Amelie carried Lyse on her back and gave the compass to Luca.
"Just tell it the information, we'll share it anyway to save energy for both of us!"
"Okay."
After reading the information from the file into the compass, the needle began to spin continuously until it pointed south. They headed south together, following the compass's guidance.
They stood in front of a house. When they knocked, a couple came out.
"You… haven't we already provided the information?"
Judging by their demeanor and appearance, these two looked very much like the boy in the picture.
"We want to know some additional information to help speed up the investigation."
They were assigned by the king, so they're probably posing as police officers.
"Ask whatever you want quickly…"
The wife was not happy to be asked about their pain.
"When was the last time you two saw the boy?"
"It was about four days ago, in the evening."
Luca nodded. After all, one of the others was asleep, and the other wasn't very communicative… everyone could only rely on Luca now.
"Did the boy show any strange behavior? Or anything unusual before he disappeared?"
"He was a little strange, as if possessed. He kept saying something, but we couldn't hear what he was saying…"
Luca nodded and asked for a little more information, but whether it was important was another question, as they weren't in the mood to answer Luca's group. So, with the new information, Luca added more details to the compass.
However, because there was so little information, it led them in circles aimlessly, and the information kept repeating itself. After questioning about three more people, the fourth person, this time had a more important clue.
"You asked if I've ever seen this kid?"
"I think so. The other night, I saw him inviting my son to do something. The boy even mentioned something about a mysterious organization. But my son refused."
"A mysterious organization? Do you know which organization the boy was talking about? Or do you know where it is? If not, do you know which way he went?"
The woman pointed to the road on her right.
"I don't know what that organization is. I only heard my son say that the boy said it was like heaven. As for the direction I saw him go, it was to the right."
"Thank you for your cooperation."
Luca bowed in thanks and led Amelie and Lyse along, following the compass after finally gathering some information that had led them down a new path and direction.
"We've spent almost half the day already!"
Amelie sighed in frustration while Lyse slept soundly, leaving Luca equally exhausted; this compass was draining his energy.
"Give it to me!"
Amelie reached out to take the compass to help Luca.
"Are you sure? Aren't you carrying Lyse? It will take a lot of energy."
"It's alright!"
Luca could only nod as they walked, finally stopping at a strange building.
"Strange."
Lyse started muttering again.
"Danger…act now!"
Then she fell asleep again without saying another word, and Amelie's expression worsened.
"We have to hurry!"
"But weren't we just supposed to find the location and report it to Orion?!"
Luca panicked because this was the correct location; the compass continued to point inwards, but hadn't they already completed their mission?
"What Lyse said is almost absolutely right, so let's just follow it. What's wrong with breaking the rules a little?"
Amelie carried Lyse and ran inside.
"This is exhausting…is this what it means to bring trouble upon yourself?"
Luca, though tired, still ran after the two into the old building.