Night Patrol

"You can use this room whenever you wish to take a break. And if there's anything you need, you can look for Ilias in the guardhouse."

"Understood! Is there anything else you might want to warn us, Mr. Logan?"

As expected, Alicia always takes the initiative.

Mr. Logan thought for a while before saying, "In any case that you happen to discover the source of the voice, if possible, don't let anyone else know. Inform me immediately."

Does he care about his reputation that much? Shouldn't we gauge the risk level first?

"That's a given Mr. Logan. And speaking of which, can we ask where you usually hear the voice?"

"That's hard to answer. In fact, if it were only me, I would say it starts near the manor. But it's totally different from what everybody else claims. Some say it starts from rowhouses' area. Some say near the bungalows while the other says near the apartment. By the way that they describe it, it doesn't seem to me that they're lying or anything."

It's definitely not something a mere human would do. It was obvious that there's a supernatural involved in this! I mean, the people won't just get together one day and sabotage Mr. Logan, will they?

"By any chance Mr. Logan, I hope you don't mind me asking," I said hesitantly.

"No! I don't mind at all. So long as it will help resolve the problem."

He was more understanding than I initially thought him to be.

"Do you recall offending anyone in the past? Or anyone who held grudges against you perhaps?"

"I don't think so. I have no memory of me offending anyone before. Besides, I am always careful about my image, especially since I work in this type of industry."

"I see."

"Why are you asking that, Jack. You think it's a scheme made by someone targeting Mr. Logan?" For the first time ever since we got inside the room, Dominick asked.

"Yes. I was thinking along the lines with that. I mean, if we think about it that way, it's more likely that it was orchestrated by someone. Do you really think it will happen for no reason at all? That everyone in the Veritas Homes will just suddenly start hearing voices for no apparent reason?"

He nods his head to my explanation but didn't say anything afterward, he seems to be agreeing with me as well. I turned to Mr. Logan who appear to be in deep thoughts.

"You're indeed amazing, Mr. Jack! I haven't thought of that!" Alicia exclaimed.

I would be happy if you stop glorifying me too much, anyone would be able to think of that if they use even a fraction of their common sense.

"It's nothing big."

"Still—"

"Speaking of people who held grudges against me, I can't be too sure about that. As embarrassing for me to admit, I can be quite oblivious at times. So we can't rule out the possibility."

***

As soon as Mr. Logan left, we started discussing how we would do the night patrol.

"We can do it separately. That way, we can cover a much larger area." Dominick suggested.

And honestly, that wasn't a bad idea at all. Normally, I would have agreed but not this time. If by chance that something unexpected happens, I'm not sure if I can defend myself. My fighting capability is almost nonexistent!

"Not bad. But shouldn't we go together first? I mean, shouldn't we scout the whole place together first? It's not that we're on a race anyway."

"I think so as well! We should scout the whole place first then we decide from there if we want to do it separately."

Having Alicia on my side, it was decided.

Phew!

The three of us agreed to start from the rowhouses' area.

The sun has already set but it's not dark at all since there were street lamps illuminating the brick road.

I noticed it since earlier, but people here don't seem to have a habit of strolling outside their houses unless necessary. I only caught sight of around four people since we arrived. And now that it's night, it was only us who are wandering outside.

I find it odd. Especially since the place is so beautiful that if it were me, I would probably spend my whole day admiring the landscape.

"Say, Mr. Jack. Why did you work in the agency?" Alicia suddenly asked.

She's the second person who asked me that.

"No reason in particular."

"I see. Though looking at your performance, I admit your income right now must be higher than normal and decent jobs out there. But I'm not saying this job isn't decent, okay? It's just that it's very hard to get hired in this agency. It even took me almost three months before I got in with all the background checks and training. According to Adrian, you have a literature degree, that's why I wonder why you still chose this unstable job."

Hard to get in? But I got accepted on the day that I applied! And it's not even 24 hours.

"Are you sure it's hard?" I asked skeptically.

"Of course! Why do you think there are only very few of us despite all the benefits and how laid back Mr. Alec is? All we have to do is accept requests we think we can do. That's not hard at all. And yet we barely reached ten."