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Chapter 125: Holding unto secrets (Part 2)

Although the place was full of artifacts and trinkets, Oscar never thought of it as messy. He could picture himself working there every day, and he would always find what he needed.

"So..." Alan began, leaning against the workbench. "What\'s up?"

"Before we start, let me give proof that what I said is true. You should\'ve received a message from my Guild Master a moment ago. Could you verify that, please?"

A message from Astrid? Alan thought, slightly frowning. As soon as he opened his User Interface, there it was, above every other notification. It read:

Astrid: Hi, Alan! It\'s been a while, huh? Well, straight to the point. Is my friend Oscar there? If he is, good! He\'s there to retrieve the goods. You can totally count on him. Bye!

"What goods?" Alan asked, and Oscar cleared his throat.

"That\'s the excuse she came up with to send me here. She suspects your inbox may be compromised."

That\'s the same thing Ricardo Silva told me months ago.

"So, her \'you can count on him\' bit refers to..."

"Yes. Every info I share with you will be as if it was coming out of Astrid\'s lips herself. You can also rely on me to deliver any message you want."

Alan bit his lower lip without noticing. Knowing that Astrid relied on this man as her most close confidant definitely sent a piercing sensation to his chest.

Stay cool... I trust Amelia in the same way too. Don\'t think too much about it.

"All right then," Alan said, smiling mildly. "I\'m all ears."

Oscar glanced at the door, as if he was fearing someone would barge in suddenly. "This is about the Londorus incident."

Images of a leveled city, a gargantuan two-headed dragon, and an evil woman with white hair and skin as pale as the moon crossed Alan\'s mind all at once.

"What about it?"

"I was there too, remember?" Oscar spoke softly, and it may have been his imagination, but Alan could swear this huge guy was slightly trembling. "I even fought that mysterious woman in black..."

"Yes. And when she caught up with me later on, it told me everything I needed to know about the battle\'s result."

"She was after you, Alan," Oscar said bluntly.

"I know..."

Oscar chuckled looking away, her expression turning somber for a second, as if he could still remember that dark day vividly. "Then you must also know that the woman in black knew exactly where to find you..."

That info was not new. The fact that Amelia Laflamme appeared that day out of nowhere too and helped him fight the enemy was quite suspicious.

Alan finally gathered the courage to ask her about it one month after founding Phantom Seekers together. That night, she was enjoying a glass of wine on the rooftop. She snickered first, but after a long moment of silence and a sigh, she confessed.

"I was spying on you on behalf of Kathleen Maher... My then new boss was eager to take revenge for the humiliation you and your beloved \'Ex-Guildfriend\' made her pass in front of her entire guild. Kat prepared a little surprise for you that day, and I was her accomplice... Oh, and my old bestie too. She was supposed to be the one to twist a knife in your heart... Figuratively speaking, of course."

Alan took a deep breath before speaking. "Amelia told me about it. Before quitting Death Bringers, she helped Kathleen Maher and Karen Svensson prepare a trap on me on Lancesmith Bridge. But the woman in black appeared first."

"That\'d explain the fake Astrid..." Oscar said to himself before meeting Alan\'s frown. "Ah, right. Astrid--the real one--told us she encountered someone impersonating her getting a beating by the other terrorist... a woman named Scarlett."

Amelia never mentioned an \'Astrid impersonator\'... Was that the \'dagger pointing at my heart\'?

"Does Astrid suspect Kathleen is involved with the terrorists?"

"No. Why send Karen in the first place?" Oscar replied, folding his arms. "And that Scarlett gal wouldn\'t have attacked the \'Fake Astrid\' if she was in cahoots with them."

"But that doesn\'t discard the other Death Bringers that knew about this so-called prank, right?" Alan continued. "Oscar... I\'ve already thought about all this."

"Sure. Astrid says you\'re quite smart." Oscar smiled, and Alan wondered if it was a genuine, friendly expression. "She just wanted to make sure you haven\'t lost your sharpness..." He chuckled. "You know, she wishes that Amelia is the culprit. That\'d make things easier for her, she says."

"Well, that\'s not the case, though."

"I know, I know. She\'s part of your guild, so you trust her unconditionally. Unfortunately, we can\'t say the same about our people."

"What do you mean?"

"If a Death Bringer was not involved, then someone from our guild may have followed you that day and informed the woman called Serenity about your location," Oscar said without being able to look Alan in the eye. "Someone that didn\'t quit like the rest of Marco\'s followers... Someone that still resides at our HQ to this day."

I also thought about that possibility...

"Is that why you\'re so secretive about this?"

"Alan, no one from Shooting Stars knows what I\'m about to tell you with the exception of Astrid... And I\'m only involved because of chance! I... We—" He cleared his throat and gulped the drink he had brought with him. "...We know about your search for the Singular."

Alan\'s first reaction was to deny it. "What? What do you mean by that? I don\'t..."

"The Singular managed to infiltrate the Novus. You were sent to look for it. And these people... these terrorists wanted to silence you."

The way he\'s saying it... It\'s kinda vague. As if he doesn\'t know the exact details.

"Who told you all that?"

Oscar pulled out something from his inventory, as if he was waiting for that moment. "Here."

It was a card with a name written on it, \'Carlos Fuente,\' and the logo of a bow and arrow at the back.

"Who\'s this?"

"The closest we have to a clairvoyant here in The Novus."

"Bullshit."

"Of course you reacted the same as I did, but you should meet him. He knows things..."

"Is he the one that told Astrid about the \'you know what\'?"

"YES! I just happened to be with her that day when Carlos suddenly showed up at her café. They talked for about an hour while I waited outside. He told her about you being monitored 24 hours a day, and when he glanced at me, he said, \'you can trust this one to be your messenger\'... As if... As if he knew my involvement in this whole scenario wasn\'t as impactful..." Oscar took a second to breathe and pointed at the card. "Astrid wants you to meet him. He... this Carlos guy, may be able to help you find a solution to... whatever this is."

Alan looked at the card with dread. Using a \'clairvoyant\' to find the Singular? Isn\'t this the same as cheating? It may be, if this guy is not a fraud!

Alan could only imagine what Ashley would say: \'We must use any tools at our disposal...\'

Yes. That\'s what she\'d say.

"All right," Alan finally said, saving the card in his Inventory. "Tell Astrid I\'ll meet him."

"So it\'s true..." Oscar said, uneasy. "That the Singular is here..."

"I thought you firmly believed what Carlos said."

"Yes, but, hearing it from you... It all kind of makes sense now. Your three-year absence... The fact that the woman in black was looking for you at Londorus, and then a second time at Unus Town... Why hasn\'t she attacked you again all this time?"

Because she knows I can\'t do anything yet. Because I have no clues about her location or her real identity...

"Who knows," Alan replied.

Oscar remained silent for a bit, and his face reflected that he was struggling with what he was going to say next. "...P-Please forgive me, Alan. For kidnapping you that day. I swear I..."

"Forget that. Okay?"