Hunter of the Evernight
Chapter 600: A clown

Chapter 600: A clown

Within Room 82 of Boars Inn, a most peculiar sight persisted, consisting of seven immobile individuals.

Of course, one had to understand that only five out of those seven were immobile as a result of paused time while the other two were frozen in shock and substantial confusion.

One of the two, Ulysses, a young lad no older than 22 with a lean physique and brown hair stared in utter disbelief at the empty box placed on the bed, his mind whirling as he struggled to understand how things had devolved to such a degree.

Parting his lips, he broke the silence that lingered in the room with a simple question. "How?"

But he was met with silence and so, he asked again. "How?"

Alas, silence followed yet again.

But he would not be denied an answer as he asked for the third time. "How!"

"I don’t know!" Ana exclaimed in exasperation, her expression the epitome of confusion as she, just like Ulysses, couldn’t understand how they had been robbed.

She had been meticulous, creating an enchantment using her hair as the base ingredient, ensuring that those who came close to the box would be frozen in time until her return.

Yet not only had the box been emptied of its contents, it had been returned to its original position with the enchantment still intact.

"This doesn’t make any sense." She muttered as she scratched her head.

Just then, footsteps echoed from behind, announcing the entrance of another.

Alex walked up to the box and without hesitation, snapped.

Inky blackness dotted with white speckles spilled from his shadow before rushing to envelop the box.

"What are you..."

"Hush," Alex said, silencing Ulysses with a word and a gesture.

Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and allowed himself to sink into what the box had in store for him.

Alex found himself watching, from the perspective of a box as five men barged into the room with a sixth person following closely behind.

The reason he didn’t group the sixth with the others was because he could immediately tell that they were special.

For one, they weren’t dressed in the attire he had noticed most Pheripoli wearing and even stood in stark contrast to the other six, who were dressed for the job.

Instead, they appeared as a clown, a rather strange one with a quarter half of a mask over their painted face.

He was quick to notice that though the five thieves and the pierrot entered at the same time, it seemed as though the thieves were unaware of the clown’s presence as they discussed amongst themselves, calling up a name that Alex was familiar with.

It got stranger as he watched the thieves fall prey to the enchantment Ana had prepared yet the clown only paused for a moment, not because they were affected but like they were scrutinizing the box with intrigue.

Then, out of nowhere, the clown clapped excitedly before proceeding to make his way forward, unimpeded by the temporal enchantment.

After that, it was easy to tell what happened next as the clown emptied the contents of the box into a satchel that somehow didn’t seem to act like it was being filled by something.

Then, the clown left and Alex found himself back in Room 82, once again with his perspective.

"A clown," Alex remarked, causing Ulysses to freeze and Ana to frown.

"A clown?" Ana inquired, with Alex nodding, only for Ulysses to ask.

"A clown robbed us?"

"Yes, he seemed strange. He was able to bypass the enchantment without issues."

"Damn it." Ulysses cursed aloud. "That must have been a member of the Bazaar."

"Are they all strong enough to bypass an enchantment setup by me?" Ana inquired, unwilling to accept that they were that strong.

Ulysses shook his head. "I can’t be sure but it should be possible for the leaders of the Bazaar. They are said to be blessed by the Jester, serving as Apostles though how the Jester can maintain all of them is still up for debate."

"What now?... Do we go after them?" Ana asked with Ulysses replying.

"The better question is how did they find out about our gold."

"It doesn’t matter now." Alex calmly remarked. "We have to leave the city today."

"But how?"

"I’ll handle it."

Ana didn’t know how to react, learning that she was the one that had indirectly caused their current predicament, but Alex wasn’t planning on holding it against her, as he remarked.

"We are leaving now. Come with me."

Saying those words, he turned and left the room while dragging along one of the thieves with Ulysses and Ana exchanging looks before following closely behind.

***

Eucleides had just finished paying a visit to his airship in the workshop.

Considering he was to be leaving in a few days, it was best to get things in shape before then.

As he got out of the workshop, which was a large ironworks factory, on the second step, he walked up to the carriage waiting for him and entered inside before knocking on the door to alert the driver to take him home.

Moments after the carriage began moving, a hoarse voice came from beside him, snapping him from his thoughts.

"Mr. Eucleides."

Eucleides, stunned out of his mind, glanced to the side to find a man, or at least, if he could call it a man.

It was a humanoid figure covered in shadows with a plague doctor’s mask obscuring his identity.

He appeared without warning, possessing a presence that spoke of a silent death.

"Who are you and what do you want from me?" Eucleides inquired alarmedly in Kantoj, barely keeping his wits about him considering he was familiar with the supernatural.

Usually, he shouldn’t have been worried as he was equipped with certain enchanted items to combat such situations but Alex had come in a way that made him understand that his defenses were nothing short of useless.

Taking a deep breath, Alex replied in fluent Kantoj. "You may call me Hector and I require the aid of a ship."

"Why?"

"To take me to the Boundary."

"If that’s the case, there’s no need to appear in such a manner."

"I have my reasons, Eucleides," Alex replied while pondering the real reason inwardly. ’I’m broke and I don’t have the time to start playing detective.’

He had already done something he said he wouldn’t do, killing unnecessarily just so he could assimilate the person and become them.

It was already at a point of no return.

Eucleides swallowed hard before replying. "My ship is still being serviced. You’ll have to wait."

"No need, we are leaving now."

Saying that, Alex knocked on the carriage, and a moment later, it made a U-turn, heading back to the ironworks factory.