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*** Author\'s Note ***

My story is not completely linear. There will be non-linear cases like this chapter every once in a while. Stay tuned! Enjoy!

*****

At the haunted orchard, after unearthing the remains.

"What are we going to do about them?" Eulene pointed at the skeletons. "Do we have to get entangled with those annoying cops again?"

"Actually, no." Xavier turned westwards. "I have a plan." He turned back to Eulene. "Can you look after them? I will be back before an hour."

Eulene nodded.

Xavier disappeared from his spot and zoomed towards the town. In no time, he reached his destination.

Before him was a signboard that said \'Derbury Disabled Children\'s Home.\' But he ignored the place and turned to the opposite direction.

There was a medium sized old house with a respectable yard and a small shack. \'Anderson Residence\' was written on the white fence.

Xavier walked past the yard and knocked on the door- not more than thrice. Any more in quick succession would be a breech in Avarese etiquette. After waiting for a few seconds, he proceeded to knock again.

After a few rounds of knocks, the door opened. The tall and lanky Carl Anderson, the director of the \'Derbury Disabled Children\'s Home\' had a frown on his face.

But the frown disappeared when he looked down and recognised the newcomer. "Greetings, Mister Godwin."

"Greetings." Xavier took off his hat and bowed, before wearing it back. "Pardon me for intruding at this ungodly hour."

"Relax, Mister Godwin." The director laughed. "I have quite a few good habits, and sleeping early is not one of them." He gave way and gestured Xavier to come in.

Xavier easily navigated through the completely dark hall and sat on a sofa. The director lit some torches and candles before joining him.

Xavier scanned through the hall. The shimmering torches and candles revealed the worn off wooden walls and floors of the room. Otherwise, it was neat and tidy. But most noticeably- or unnoticeably- there was hardly any furniture or article in the whole room except a small dining table and the sofa set. Evidently, the man\'s life was anything but lavish.

Xavier, with a voice softer than his tone, said, "I am afraid I bring bad news."

The director, who still could not hide his monstrous height wall while sitting, remained silent for a few seconds. He finally took in a deep breath and sighed. "It\'s okay mister Godwin. You have already done enough. You can cut the funding without any remorse."

"I wish that was the case." Xavier sighed. "I wish that was the case."

"Pardon?" The man knitted his brows.

"I wish that was the bad news I bore with me," Xavier replied. "But unfortunately, that\'s not the case."

"What do you mean?" the director asked. A terrible sense of foreboding struck him.

Xavier, after a couple of seconds of silence, answered, "it\'s about your daughter- Sylvia."

Director Anderson jolted up from his seat and inched closer to Xavier. Any lingering sleepiness disappeared as he opened his eyes agape. "Sylvia?! Where is she?!"

Xavier could sense the man\'s heart going berserk. He stood up from his sofa and led the director to his couch.

"I\'ll tell you." Xavier held both of the man\'s shoulder. "Please compose yourself first. Take in deep breaths."

After a few deep breaths, director Anderson steadied himself.

Ensuring that the man\'s vitals are regular, Xavier decided to reveal the truth. He took in a deep breath and uttered with the softest of his tones, "Sylvia is not with us anymore. She has… departed."

The man\'s heartbeat dwindled, slowing down every second. He sat there- unmoving. Even his rate of breaths began to slow down, as if he had forgotten how to respire. His eyes became blank- his mindless gaze piercing through everything.

Xavier, who was closely observing every single one of the man\'s vitals, noticed that things were going awry. He jerked the man\'s shoulder- barely waking him up from what seemed like a lifeless trance.

The director looked at Xavier\'s face. Tear\'s swelled up in the father\'s eyes, and soon they began to stream down his cheeks which seemed to age by a few years in mere seconds. His lips twitched, as if he was trying to say something, but no sound came out.

Xavier stayed silent. He had lost his fair share of loved ones. He knew what the man was going through. What he required the most now, was silence- to relive through memories and put everything together, but also someone to stay close by.

Xavier stood there- for minutes. He saw the grieving father\'s face getting stained with tear marks over time. He used his hydromancy to hand him glasses of water. The man was too much in distress to notice.

Once Xavier found out that the man\'s vitals had stabilised and he composed himself, Xavier walked back to his seat.

The atmosphere remained silent for another minute, with shimmering candles and torches being the only vibrant beings in the room.

The director emptied the glass of water before turning to Xavier. "Thank you." He sniffed.

"You seem to accept the truth easily," Xavier said, "despite it coming from a stranger."

"I always knew Mister Godwin," the man wiped off the tears from his face, "I always knew. I am her father. I just didn\'t want to believe it. And now that someone has confirmed it, I have no reasons to live in lies any longer."

Xavier responded with silence.

"I have no doubt in your words," the man continued, "but…"

"I have discovered her remains," Xavier said. "And I need your help in this matter."

"Help?" The director frowned.

"I am aware that you have been investigating the children\'s disappearance on your own," Xavier stated, "like I have been."

The director sighed. "I maybe the director of this small institution, but I am still an educationist. I am friends with the principals of various schools. After Sylvia…" he momentarily bit his lips, "after Sylvia disappeared, I did some investigation on my own and it did not take much effort with my connections to learn of the other missing children and the links connecting them."

"Did you not report them to the detectivete?"

"I did. But they passed it off as a coincidence. I even went to Aramon to hire a private detective. The newer ones said that the case was too high level and the more experienced ones were too expensive. I was left with no choice but to investigate by myself. And I made little progress over the years. I was so desperate that my suspect was a supernatural being related to an artefact." The man mocked himself with a condescending laugh.

"You were going the right path then," Xavier said.

"You just said you were investigating on the matter too." The director turned to Xavier. "And you progressed far ahead- even finding one of the… victims. Did you find the culprit?"

Xavier stayed silent for a few seconds before answering, "actually, we found all 13 of the victims\' remains."

"13?!" The man\'s eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

"Yes. Apparently, that full moon schedule was just a diversion of sorts. The perpetrator had other victims. As for the suspect, we are not sure yet."

"What do you need?" Director Anderson suddenly remembered Xavier\'s request. "I will help with my all."

"Forgive me for this, but I want you to take responsibility for this investigation and testify the findings to the detectivete. I have some… well… conflicts with a team of theirs- the one that recently started investigating the case."

"Of course!" the man agreed immediately. "But the fact that I will be taking the glory you deserve doesn\'t sit well with me."

"Trust me," Xavier assured, "it will be more of a trouble than help if I were to take the discovery to the detectivete. Besides, I had promised the team that Inwould not involve myself with the case anymore."

"Okay then. You can rest assured. I will take care of everything. But the fact that the case came into the light of the detectivete is… relaxing." The director sighed. "I just hope they can punish the culprit soon."

"We had better leave now."

The director wore his coat over the shirt he had on and went outside. He took out his red horse from the shack on the yard and hopped on it.

Xavier gave him the directions and briefed him on what to say to the detectives to avoid troubles and loopholes.

The director rode towards his destination while Xavier stood in front of the house.

"Good luck!" He muttered and disappeared from his spot.