Chapter 084

Alvin waited in the train station for half an hour, disguising himself as one of the passengers whose train was running late.

While there, he kept an eye out on the passengers coming in. He paid particular attention to their trains coming from the direction of the Pritz Harbour. He didn't think that Peter would be alert enough to switch trains or take detours.

Sure enough, after a while, he saw Peter coming out of a train. He now wore an unassuming grey clock, but his expensive clothes could still be vaguely seen.

Alvin made sure to tail him out of the station, just out of his line of sight.

After boarding down from the train station, Peter started walking into Backlund. He did not hire a carriage, instead electing to walk, which was convenient for Alvin, as he tailed Peter. Soon, Peter went into the Empress Borough.

Alvin knew that he couldn't tail Peter into the Empress Borough, as there was extremely high security there. Unless he was wearing the Forgotten Cloak and there was some time distraction occupying the attention of the many Beyonders hired for security, he had a zero chance of being able to go in without being detected.

Alvin was a bit disappointed, but he decided to use the Ear of the Crazed to spy on Peter for as long as possible.

He didn't expect to get anything, as the Empress Borough was enormous, much more than the modest 100 meters his device enabled him. But he did it anyway. He was glad he did, because he heard something important.

"To the Red Rose Manor" said Peter, to what sounded like a carriage driver after which they quickly went out of range.

"Red Rose Manor? Prince Edsack's mansion?" thought Alvin with confusion. He then wondered if it was Butler Funkel, the guy who works for the royal family it was that Peter was meeting. He then decided to hang out in some random place, and wait to see if the Mirror of Malicious thoughts would be triggered.

"Yup. Definitely the Red Rose Manor" thought Alvin, as he estimated place based on the distance he felt the malice come from. He also vaguely saw an older man through to projected malice.

"I should be able to identify him if I see him. Maybe I should actively participate in Nighthawk's affairs and go on some missions. Maybe I can recognise this guy if I saw him face to face" thought Alvin.

He waited for some more time, but there was no sudden burst of malice.

The mirror had the same weakness as a Devil. In case the plan was to monitor or harm, as long as there was no killing desire, the premonition would not be as effective. If the message was passed further from the Red Rose Manor, the person on the receiving end wasn't in a hurry to kill him, and hence the lack of malicious thoughts detected by the mirror.

Just as Alvin gulped another mouthful of blood, and was preparing to remove the necklace, he felt a sudden burst of malice, from the complete opposite direction, somewhere in the Easter Borough.

Alvin was confused, and tried to detect the source of the malice. He saw a tall and thin shadowy figure.

After thinking for a while, he realised who it was.

"It's the Shadow Ascetic from the Aurora Order! The guy I managed to corner with great difficulty back then, but eventually did not kill, in order to not offend the Aurora Order, and because he gave me the Provoker potion. That thing was done weeks ago. Why is he suddenly displaying malice towards me?" thought Alvin

He wondered if he should inform this to Soest. Unlike last time, where he had to worry about the excuse of how he managed to disclose information that he couldn't because it was secret, the Mirror of Malicious thoughts was something he borrowed from the church, and Soest knew its powers well.

If he approached Soest and told him that he sensed someone was after his life with the mirror, and he couldn't say who, Soest would undoubtedly be able to identify that he was under some sort of restriction. The church would surely have some methods to bypass it, as he observed in the case of Arnold, the Marauder Pathway Beyonder, when the church bypassed the demigod level notary. This would be even easier, as the person who made him keep the incident a secret was a Sequence 8.

But first, Alvin decided to visit Even Rosier to see if he can find out what was happening. The last time he saw that kid, he was unsure of what to do, as his father had lost some item important to the Aurora Order, and was this kidnapped.

Alvin this went back to his bar, took off the Mirror of Malicious Thoughts, and changed into his standard equipment as Mr Hunt.

Alvin went up to the small villa owned by Stephen Rosier, and scouted around. He did not see anyone, hence, as usual he climbed up from the second-floor window, and slowly went down room by room, and made his way down to the ground floor.

As soon as he entered the living room, he saw that it was a mess, as if everything was knocked down and in a mess, as if there was a struggle.

"How was a Beyonder able to let the Sequence 9 boy make such a mess if they wanted to kidnap him? Even if I didn't sense the malicious thoughts with the mirror, if I reported this to the police, the churches could get involved and possibly tack them down" wondered Alvin as he went around, searching for clues.

He saw pieces of furniture that seemed to have been pierced with shadow daggers, similar to the one's he saw up close when he fought the Shadow Ascetic. He also saw weird and creepy pulsing auras in some hidden places, and the telltale signs of what appeared to be a ritual giving taken place. He also saw traces of multiple people all around the room.

"Did a bunch of guys have some sort of sick party here, before killing or kidnapping the little boy?" wondered Alvin.

But he increasingly felt that it was the right choice to tell the Nighthawks and let them deal with this incident.

Hence, he turned around and left.