287 Key
Franca finished the Magic Mirror Divination and then turned to Jenna, giving her interpretation of the answer.
“Normally, this means it’s dangerous, but we can handle it. If we’re careful, we should be fine.”
Jenna asked in surprise, “I thought the divination results would be straightforward.”
Surprisingly, such a brief sentence came with such a long explanation.
“It’s straightforward!” Franca emphasized with a smile. “If you visit the Divination Club in Quartier de la Cathédrale Commémorative and find amateurs, their readings will be even vaguer. It makes it easier for them to interpret any result. Oh, have you never had anyone do divination for you before?”
Jenna nodded frankly.
Performing a divination cost a fortune!
Franca looked thoughtful, her eyes darting around.
“You can subscribe to Psychic, Lotus, Arcane, and Hidden Veil. While they have their problems and errors in specific applications, they offer valuable basic knowledge about mysticism.
“Ah, right. Ciel often buys those magazines. You can… Uh, I’ll help you borrow them!”
“Alright.” Jenna had only heard of mysticism magazines but had never bought one.
Having obtained satisfactory divination results, the duo, who had observed the route and surroundings during the day, swiftly arrived at the entrance of Deep Valley Quarry under the cover of the night.
The gatekeeper, who seemed to be in his forties, was sleeping in a small hut made of rocks. Wrapped in a dirty, old, and thin felt cloth, he leaned against the mountain wall.
Suddenly, a slender, smooth palm reached out from the shadow beside him, covering his mouth with a white handkerchief.
The gatekeeper didn’t struggle. Within seconds, he went from slumbering to unconsciousness.
Franca, wearing a black hood, emerged from the shadows and clicked her tongue, sighing.
“The Bliss Society’s sedative is really effective. It saves me a lot of trouble.”
For this operation, she had borrowed Rentas’s sedative from Lumian.
Jenna couldn’t understand. “Couldn’t we just knock him out?”
“That would work,” Franca explained casually, “but that would leave traces. It won’t be easy to make it seem like he’s still asleep. Many bounty hunters and private detectives are involved in this mission. We shouldn’t be the only ones targeting this quarry. So, it’s better to be cautious and avoid leaving any loose ends.”
Jenna, who had lived in Quartier du Jardin Botanique and the market district for many years, roughly understood Franca’s point. She pondered for a moment and asked, “Are you worried that the bounty hunters and private detectives will have ill intentions if they find us entering the quarry ahead of them in the dead of night?”
Franca nodded, satisfied with her response.
“That’s right. Many bounty hunters and private detectives switch to becoming bandits, robbers, and even murderers, depending on the situation and their surroundings.
“They take risks for money, not for justice. Since there are no leads for this mission and the current environment is suitable, it’s in line with their style to steal from their peers and eliminate competition. After all, there’s no one else here.
“Of course, with our strength, we don’t have to fear bounty hunters and private detectives. But what if we make a similar mistake in another situation or face something more dangerous? That’s why we have to be mindful from the beginning.”
What Franca didn’t say was that, being women, they might likely suffer more.
Jenna nodded slowly, agreeing with the reasoning.
She had seen criminals kill an old man living alone for just 5 verl d’or.
Franca smiled and teased, “Did you want me to knock him out to get back at him for asking if you wanted to join the street girl business this morning?”
“Dammit! Am I such a petty person?” Jenna couldn’t help but curse.
Whether it was during her years helping her mother with chores or when she was a local singer in the market district, she had been asked if she wanted to be involved in the street girl business so many times that she was used to it. She was a little angry, but not too much.
To show her magnanimity, Jenna exhaled and said, “When you use that sedative on others, it reminds me of what happened to me.”
She had also been drugged and nearly became a victim that disappeared. Fortunately, she had encountered Lumian.
Franca simply acknowledged her words.
“I understand your feelings, but since you’ve embarked on the path of the divine and intend to become stronger, you’ll have to use various means to deal with your enemies in the future. You can’t give up on a better option just because you feel a little repulsed.”
Jenna knew Franca had a point, but she couldn’t help asking, “Can’t a Beyonder lead a quiet, ordinary life without being drawn into conflicts and battles while protecting loved ones?”
“In the past, maybe it was feasible, but nowadays it’s exceedingly challenging. The more you advance, the harder it gets until it’s virtually impossible,” Franca replied with a sigh.
Jenna fell silent for a moment before saying, “Could it ever be possible in the distant future, I wonder?”
Franca glanced at the “slumbering” gatekeeper and answered, “That prominent figure once told me that such a life might be attainable at the end of the Fifth Epoch and the beginning of the Sixth Epoch, if there’s even a Sixth Epoch at all.”
Sixth Epoch… Those words made Jenna reflect for a few seconds before she burst into laughter at herself.
“I guess it’s just wishful thinking on my part. Achieving that kind of life is simply an illusion. At least, it is for me. With superpowers and a history of attempted assassination, I know I’d be unable to stand idly by if my family and friends faced hardship. I’d feel compelled to use my abilities to tackle problems that go beyond what the law and police can handle.”
Franca nodded in agreement. “That’s just the way it is.”
She hadn’t simply digested the Assassin and Instigator potions hoping her attire alone would do the trick, nor had she only encouraged her friends by instigating them.
Without much ado, Franca bent down and picked up the brass key from the gatekeeper.
“There’s just one door. Why are there so many keys? Are they all for his house?” Franca muttered as she exited the hut and walked toward the entrance of Deep Valley Quarry. She tried each key, one after the other.
In the end, she muttered to herself in shock and suspicion, “None of it is right…”
“None of them are right?” Jenna hadn’t expected such a possibility.
If not a single key could unlock the entrance to Deep Valley Quarry, what was the point of watching the door?
Franca said, partly instructing and partly thinking aloud, “Perhaps this set of keys is a decoy. The real key must be hidden somewhere else.”
She then said to Jenna, “Search the area. I’ll take a look at the gatekeeper.”
Jenna didn’t object. With her Night Vision, she began searching the nearby bushes and crevices starting from the hut.
Franca squatted beside the gatekeeper and meticulously searched his body from head to toe.
When she reached his crotch, she bent her finger and flicked it firmly. She sneered and whispered, “Jenna may not be petty, but I am!”
After their search, the two of them met at the heavy wooden door, shaking their heads to signal they had found nothing.
Franca clicked her tongue and said, “There’s definitely something wrong with this quarry.
“That guy is truly a gatekeeper. He’s only meant to watch the door but lacks the ability to open it!”
“Are we still going in?” Jenna asked hesitantly.
“I’ll give it another shot.” Franca extended her right hand to the copper lock embedded in the heavy wooden door.
Thick frost emerged from her palm, filling the keyhole.
The frost continued to accumulate and compress until it finally solidified into ice.
Franca skillfully extracted the ice block, revealing a transparent key.
That works? Jenna was surprised and eager to see what happened next.
Sensing her gaze, Franca said smugly, “I have a friend, you see—I really have a friend—one who’s quite skilled at picking locks. We had a conversation about using a Witch’s power for such purposes.”
Once she made the ice more solid, Franca inserted it into the keyhole again and twisted it gently.
With a click, the heavy wooden door swung open.
Franca retracted the ice key and allowed it to melt, erasing all traces.
Before venturing into Deep Valley Quarry, the Witch hung the brass key back on the gatekeeper’s waist and adjusted his posture to make him appear asleep.
With that done, Franca fetched a pouch of coins and took out a thick iron-colored ring adorned with tiny spikes.
“This is the Ring of Punishment I mentioned before. You’ll wear it today. I’ve already explained how to use it and its taboos. One thing to remember: you can’t use it more than three times within an hour. Also, take it off immediately after the operation and put it back in this coin bag.”
“Alright.” Jenna extended her left hand and allowed Franca to put the iron-colored ring on her middle finger, keeping their skin in contact.
Franca couldn’t contain her inexplicable joy as she adjusted her hood, confidently pushed open the creaky wooden door, and stepped into Deep Valley Quarry.
Once Jenna joined her inside, she made sure to close and lock the wooden door behind them.
This made it nearly impossible for anyone outside to detect their presence within the quarry.
As skilled Assassins with night vision, Franca and Jenna didn’t rely on carbide lamps, yet they could easily see everything within the tunnel.
The passageway was in a state of disrepair, covered in moss, and with cracks running along the stone walls, giving an ominous feeling that any moment, a piece might collapse.
A short distance ahead, they noticed an empty hole, no different from the other underground ones they had seen before.
For almost half an hour, Jenna and Franca diligently searched the small area, looking for any signs of suspicious activity, but their efforts yielded no results.
“Something’s definitely not right,” Franca whispered, her voice barely audible, as they returned to the spot near the tunnel entrance.
The complete absence of anything unusual happening made them even more suspicious about the gatekeeper not having the key to unlock the door.
Jenna pondered for a moment and then suggested, “Maybe he’s afraid that someone might storm in and cause the mine to collapse, so he decided to keep the key away. A gatekeeper’s job is only to intercept, not to open the door.”
Before Franca could say something, they heard a distinct click.
It was the sound of the Deep Valley Quarry’s door opening!
Franca and Jenna exchanged glances and quickly found cover not far from the exit of the tunnel.
The quarry door creaked open, and the soft bluish glow of a carbide lamp spilled out, pushing back the darkness in the tunnel.
Franca and Jenna peeked out and caught sight of a man in a gray robe.
The man had a white apron wrapped around his waist, a typical garment worn by ancient stonemasons. The hood of his robe rested at the back of his neck, not covering his head.
Such attire was commonly associated with ascetics or monks of the God of Steam and Machinery Church.
Holding a lit carbide lamp, the monk had dark, short hair. His left eye was a mesmerizing combination of iron-gray gears, screws, and springs, all supporting an emerald-green crystalline false eye.
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