27 First Investigation (1/2)

'Why did I agree with her? Did I suddenly turn stupid? That's very possible…'

Garett mused silently about the slow changes happening to his personality during the last couple of days, and he could conclude one thing. He was getting stupider by the day!

”This should be because I'm always with Alice…”

”What are mumbling about?” Alice's voice suddenly sounded from behind Garett. Both of them were just about to leave the hotel in order to investigate the two incidents in the area, and the sun was gradually giving way to the encroaching darkness of the misty night.

”Nothing you should be concerned with.” He retorted with a hint of annoyance, blaming her slightly for something she didn't even understand.

”Okay then…” Alice portrayed a puzzled look on her face before throwing this interlude to the back of her mind. ”What are we investigating first? You are the one responsible for the mission after all.”

”I think we should investigate the case near the canal first, it should be safer as well…”

”Are you still afraid of that kid?” She poked at him once more. She'd been doing this since she realized how uncomfortable Garett felt when she mentioned Vincent's existence.

Garett didn't bother with answering her, as he felt that it would only aggravate her behavior. More importantly, they came here hoping to find the cause for the supernatural incidents in the area; and he could clearly remember the captain hinting that the supernatural incidents should all have the same origin.

'And if that's the case… We should find something related to the Almirs there as well…' Every supernatural case was supervised and documented by the church, every single one of them had a reason for occurring! It was highly likely that the four cases he needed to investigate were connected to one another by the same origin!

'After all, if every one of them happens for a different motive, then it would mean that the church had slipped up four times! Even if Alice is unreliable, the other veteran clergymen would not let something like this happen…' Garett was fairly confident in his guesses, he had an inkling that he would stumble in Vincent's innocent looking face during his investigations!

”We know for sure that the whistler case is tied to the Almir family, we also know that the Almirs are fleeing from something…” Garett thought aloud to inform Alice of the possibilities.”But the kid said they were fleeing from 'things', and that means there's not only the Whistler following them.”

”It could also be the child imagining things, kids always say a lot of nonsense.” Alice bickered in at that moment, his forcefully deflating his confidence.

”You are only saying this because you haven't seen how abnormal that kid was..” He mumbled while shaking his head before continuing to explain. ”The noises near the canal should be easier to investigate... while the whistles only happen during specific times every night, the only limitation this phenomenon has is that it happens at different times every night.”

”Doesn't that make it harder to investigate it, then? You are only afraid to investigate the whistling.”

”Why are you being so annoying today?”

”It was you who woke me up from my beauty sleep.”

Garett sighed heavily before continuing to walking, intent on not bothering with Alice anymore and delving back at his own thoughts.

'Cecile Almir tells Vincent to pray to the Goddess, which means the whole family should be believers… Then… Why did she look so unwilling to continue talking with me?' Garett was still musing about the details of the encounter. Cecile seemed to be very wary of him when she discovered his affiliation, so it was highly possible that she was trying to hide something from the church!

”Someone in a position of power like Eddison Almir should have knowledge about the Hunters, so it's not impossible for Cecile to infer that I'm a hunter… after all, I'm too young to be a priest.” Even if Father Charles looks young, he was in reality even older than his mother! In fact, he seemed to already be a priest when she was still little!

”That means Cecile wants to pray for the Goddess but is against hunter interference… Why? If the family is having this kind of trouble, wouldn't seek help from the hunters be the only natural course of action?”

'Unless they are running from the church itself…' Garett scoffed inwardly. With each passing second, the duo approached the canal, and a foul-smelling stench invaded their nostrils with impunity.

The sewage of the whole area converged on this artificial canal before drifting deep underground again, teams of workers would periodically enter the sewers to assist with the drainage and keep the canal from being clumped.

It was a less than ideal solution for the problem.