"Since you've received hints, this is an important clue." Captain Dunn stood up, motioning for Klein and Kenley to follow him to the team members' room.
"Miss Seeka, replace Leonard at the Chanis Gate. Miss Royale, guard headquarters. Frye, fetch Old Neil—this matter might involve rituals, and we'll need his expertise." Dunn's voice carried unusual urgency.
"What's happened, Captain?" Frye asked, noting Dunn's grave expression.
"We may have news about the Antigonus family notebook's whereabouts."
"I'll drive the carriage," Kenley volunteered eagerly.
"I'll handle it." Leonard appeared from downstairs, having overheard their discussion. "If this truly involves that notebook, the coachman's role extends beyond driving—environmental observation and early warning are crucial. Leave such matters to the senior team members."
Given the circumstances and the persistent rain outside, Kenley didn't argue. He joined Captain Dunn, Klein, Old Neil, and Frye in the four-person carriage while Leonard climbed onto the driver's seat, donning a thick windbreaker.
"Giddyup."
The carriage lurched forward, racing toward the location Klein and Kenley had visited hours earlier.
"Damn, a two-hundred-pound mission," Frye said enviously. "Why don't we usually get assignments like this? Last security company job I worked was rescuing a cat from a tree. The old lady only paid us one pound."
"The security company is merely our cover," Old Neil replied, adjusting his black classic robe. "Team missions are our true priority."
Trust Old Neil to always emphasize duty first.
"Of course, if divination is required, you might consider leaving it to me." Old Neil patted Klein's arm kindly. "Perhaps we could take turns?"
Damn...
"Yes, of course," Klein nodded repeatedly.
Captain Dunn gazed out the window, lighting his pipe and smoking slowly. The tobacco's rich aroma filled the carriage.
You're suppressing laughter, aren't you, Captain?
The carriage stopped roughly a hundred meters from the target building. Leonard found a passerby to watch the vehicle while the others followed Dunn to the three-story building's entrance.
"No movement in the vicinity," Leonard reported after surveying the area. "Damn this rain—it'll have destroyed most traces."
"Which room?" Captain Dunn asked Klein.
"Third floor, innermost room on the left."
"Kenley, you and Leonard take the rear. Klein and Old Neil stay in the middle." Captain Dunn knocked his pipe against the carriage door. "Let's move."
The group filed up the stairs behind Captain Dunn, their steps silent to avoid disturbing nearby residents.
Captain Dunn drew his revolver, keeping it ready in his right pocket as he gently tested the closed door.
Locked tight.
"Allow me." Kenley withdrew a dagger from his waist, sliding it into the door crack and twisting carefully. The door opened with barely a whisper.
Immediately, waves of bone-deep cold washed over them. Kenley activated his spirit vision, watching more than ten wraiths float through the door crack, their empty gazes scanning the surroundings with chilling indifference.
Klein shivered as something seemed to breathe cold air down his neck.
"Those are local spirits—nothing to worry about," Old Neil said, tapping his brow twice to activate his own spirit vision. "They pose no threat to us."
Spirits again...
A putrid stench wafted from within. Klein felt the overwhelming smell assault his senses, driving straight to his skull. Unable to bear it, he rushed to the stairway window and vomited violently.
"Besides these spirits, I sense no dangerous presence," Frye reported, though Captain Dunn continued frowning, apparently detecting something else.
"Old Neil?" Dunn prompted.
"One moment, Captain." Old Neil produced a small bottle from his pocket, dropped two drops near Klein's nose, then offered it to Kenley. "This will temporarily block the worst of the odor."
The mixture's sharp scent of lemon and disinfectant restored Kenley's ability to breathe. Though the foul air remained detectable, it became tolerable.
Moving to the doorway, Old Neil made a mysterious gesture with his right hand. Kenley observed as a spectral eye materialized behind the older man, scanning the room's interior through the crack.
The eye swept left, then suddenly fixed on Kenley and Klein for a full second before continuing its survey.
"No one inside—only one corpse," Old Neil announced, lowering his hand.
"Frye."
At the captain's command, Frye stepped forward and opened the door fully. An elderly woman's body slouched in a rocking chair, yellow-green fluids seeping from her decomposing form. Corpse spots covered her skin, and her mouth was twisted into an unnatural smile, as if she'd heard something amusing before death.
The door's movement stirred the air. Her rotted eyeballs plopped to the floor, followed by chunks of putrid flesh from her arms.
Frye strode into the room without hesitation, examining the corpse with the detached interest of a connoisseur studying fine art.
Captain Dunn and Leonard followed, carefully searching for clues and evidence while exchanging quiet observations.
"I'm definitely applying for hazard pay this month," Old Neil muttered, pinching his nose as he retreated to the stairway beside Klein.
"Kenley, find the patrol officers downstairs," Captain Dunn called from inside. "We need to identify this corpse."
"Klein, does this place feel familiar?" Dunn wiped dust from a table with his gloved hand.
Klein entered the room reluctantly. The half-empty cup of spoiled coffee, cold ashes in the fireplace, and dust-covered curtains filled him with unease.
The scene overlapped perfectly with his earlier vision. That sense of familiarity, of having been here before, crystallized clearly. The ethereal, elusive whispers penetrated invisible barriers once more:
"Hornacis... Flegrea... Hornacis... Flegrea... Hornacis... Flegrea..."