Second World

The scene inside was startling. He saw the duke and the castle guards circling Winston, who had already lost the phantom apparition and was lying on the floor face down. He was being pinned down by Captain Salem. He appeared to be unmoving, but Jack could still hear a slight groan from him.

Was it safe? Jack came into the door. The duke saw him and waved for him to approach.

”We have banished the Cardinalʼs possession. His influence is no more. But Winstonʼs soul had been damaged, it would be a long time before he could return to normal, or ever,” the duke said. Jack could hear a deep sadness in his voice, his relationship with the butler was certainly not shallow.

”Cardinal of Phobos, do you know about him?” Jack asked. ”I have also entangled with Cult of Phobos in one of my quests some days ago. I think they should be related.”

”Yes, I had heard about an adventurer that located their den in the Slum District. So, it was you? It was probably fate that brought you to my mansion then,” the duke replied. ”Little is known about this cult, they are a mysterious group. But we think they are a cult worshipping the God of Fear. The kingdom had sent its agents to learn more about this cult since it appeared inside this city. It seemed to be originated from a foreign power. Now that they had made an attack on my dwelling, I will make sure to have the kingdom focus on gathering more information about them.”

”Could we find out more about them from Winston?” Jack asked.

”I doubt it. The connection had been severed. Winston probably wasnʼt even aware when he was being targeted. Furthermore, his mind had also been affected. He would not be himself for some time.”

Winston was still struggling with a ferocious expression, but his eyes were hollow. It seemed like its body was only struggling out of an automatic response. He no longer had the imperious strength like when he was still possessed by the apparition. Captain Salem pulled him up and asked his guards to take the butler away.

”Thank you for your help,” the captain said to Jack. ”We wouldnʼt have been able to find out about Winston and the Cardinalʼs possession if not for you.”

”Speaking of which,” duke Alfredo turned to Jack. ”I still havenʼt gotten the stolen item back.”

”Oh, right,” Jack said after being reminded by the duke. He took out a piece of torn paper from his storage bag. When he found this ʼpaintingʼ, he couldnʼt believe such junk like this was the cause of all these troubles. But after he inspected it, He kind of understood. It was a similar piece of paper that had caused Gilbert, who had given him the Sword of Light and Burning Life Art skills, to be hunted down by the Cult of Phobos. The torn piece of paper in his hand was one of the three pieces of Fragment of Map, another one of which was in his inventory, also given by Gilbert. He never expected that the dukeʼs prized possession was this Fragment of Map.

Jack gave the Fragment of Map to Duke Alfredo. He was tempted to keep the thing, after all, he already had one piece. With the dukeʼs piece, he was only missing another piece to complete the three pieces of the fragments. However, if he did that, he might fail the quest, not to mention it would also cause animosity with the duke. Furthermore, he still didnʼt know the purpose of these fragments, and the cult of Phobos also seemed to be hellbent on acquiring it, he found no reason to put himself in trouble for these fragments.

”Thank you,” the duke said after getting back the fragment. ”I really owe you one. You have done extremely well in this investigation, I will throw in a little extra for the quest rewards, you can collect them in the Adventurers Association tomorrow.”

”Thank you, duke Alfredo,” Jack said. At the same time, he heard a voice notification.

”You have successfully completed an investigation in an exemplary result. You have unlocked a hidden talent, Investigator.”

Talent? Jack exclaimed in his mind.

”By the Goddess! You are exceptionally lucky!” He heard Peniel exclaiming in his head.

ʼWhat is that?ʼ he asked her.

”Check it in your ability window,” she replied.

Jack opened it. Under the Inherent Ability section, he could see a new sub-section titled Talent.

Investigator (Talent)

Intelligence +10%

Wisdom +10%

Has a chance to detect clues in the environment.

Has a chance to detect lies during conversations with NPCs.

This talent thing provided him with a boost in his Intelligence and Wisdom, which was a good thing. Because his equipment was mostly tailored for the melee class, hence none of them, except for his magic staff, had provided the stats that boosted his magical capability. With this talent, he would not be so lacking when it came to his magical power.

There were also these detect clues and lies, probably useful in solving quests. He thought about it, wasnʼt this detect clues something his Godeye-monocle already did several times now? So he simply got an ability that his tool had already provided.

ʼItʼs a good addition, but why call it talent? It was just another inherent ability, right?ʼ Jack said.

”Inherent your sister!” Peniel scolded, ”Inherent Ability was something that you acquired through an external source. While Talents were something that was already inside you. They just needed to be unlocked, usually via certain actions. Just as how you unlocked this Investigator talent after perfectly solving this case.”

ʼOh…ʼ

”Furthermore, some quests can only be triggered or accepted if you have the appropriate talent. When you get to a higher level, you will find more of these quests that have requirements. Among which is the requirement for certain talent.”

ʼI see. Then it would be better if I could collect as many talents as possible.ʼ

”Did you not hear my explanation? Talents are not something that is acquired. It is something that is already within you. Some people have it, some people have none at all. Some have it but might not get it to unlock for their whole lives. So it is not something that you can go and collect. You can only depend on luck for this kind of thing.”

Jack shrugged. Well, if it was not something that could be worked on, then there was no need to put effort into it. He would just let fate decide on this Talent matters. He looked at the Duke who was already putting the fragment back onto the display stand.

Captain Salem came back after giving instructions to his subordinates and dismissing them. He asked Jack, ”by the way, I am still curious. You mentioned that Joselyn never took that fragment out of this room, so where did she hide it?”

The duke turned to him as well, clearly also interested in the answer to the question.

Jack smiled. He then walked to the display stand where the duke had placed the fragment back.

”May I?” He said to the duke while gesturing at the display stand. The duke stepped back to allow him access to the display stand. Jack removed the glass cover, then put his hand on the panel where the Fragment of Map was resting on. He shook the panel a bit until it shifted, then the panel got loose. He took out the panel with the fragment piece still on it, then turned it around and put it back onto the display stand.

Since the panel was made of solid wood, it had the same surface between the front and back. The fragment piece was now hidden at the back of the panel. The fragment piece was a special item that did not emit any marking on his monocle, same as other junk items. Thatʼs why his God-eye monocle didnʼt reveal any sign about it despite the fragment piece was right in front of him.

”It was here the whole time?” Captain Salem uttered.

”It is,” Jack answered. ”Joselyn never took it out. She just made it look as if the piece has been stolen. I came here to check about it and take it away as a precaution, before I went to dinner and laid the trap for Winston.”

”How do you know it was there?” Duke Alfredo asked.

”Joselyn had the same display stands in her chamber. They were also made by Matias. She must have been experimenting to find out more about the stands in order to apply this trick.”

”If that was so, then she in fact had no intention to steal the fragment. Do you know how Winsto..., I mean, the Cardinal of Phobos, extorted her to do the stealing?”

”No, I didnʼt find out about that. I guess she must have been under threat. Maybe Your Grace can start by checking on her family members, probably one of them was under threat by the cult.”

The duke turned to the captain.

”I will get onto it once I finish up here,” captain Salem said.

The duke nodded.

😉