151 A New Base

"Please wait here," said Valentine to the driver of the motor carriage.

They had stopped near Oosteinde where the bridge crossing Amstel River was. The motor carriage had pulled over and was waiting near the bridge with the two large suitcases still inside. Valentine wasn't worried that the driver would drive away with his belongings because all public motor carriages were registered. If he did run away, it would really be easy to find him again.

Valentine walked up to a small quiet alley and stood in front of a brick wall between two big dumpsters. The light grey bricks looked normal at a glance, but it was actually the secret entrance to the black market.

"I want to enter," said Valentine.

The bricks became darker and they started dragging themselves, some moved forward while some others moved backward. The sound of two stone bricks rubbing against each other filled the area but strangely, nobody in the main street noticed it. After a while, there was the word 'password' on the wall.

"Wij Zijn Arm," Valentine said loudly enough.

All the bricks on the wall suddenly started moving, brushing against each other, and created a screeching noise. After several mesmerizing minutes, the wall revealed a gap that was wide enough for three people to enter. On the other side was an alley bustling with activities, which was a total contrast to the sight in behind Valentine.

Before entering Erbarmelijk Bazaar, Valentine put on a normal facemask to cover his face. Although he was already wearing a disguise, it was just another precaution that he had to take.

He took a step in carefully and once he was inside, he looked at his body.

"G, it seems that your Transformation is not dispelled by this place's power. Maybe because it's not just a mere illusion and the transformation is on a physical level?" analyzed Valentine.

He walked into the busy alley where people were selling numerous different items, most of which looked nothing like anything normal people usually saw. There were organs that looked to belong to nonhuman creatures on display as well as body parts of supernatural creatures. He walked past all the sellers and got deeper into the bazaar.

Valentine's goal that day was to have an identity card forged. Graham had divined the location the previous night and it showed a place somewhere in the bazaar. In the divination, the place had a white piece of paper logo on its roof.

It didn't take Valentine long to find the place that Graham's divination showed him. There was a white building with the logo of a piece of paper on it. He entered the store through the wooden door and was greeted by a woman in a brown hoodie. There was a smiley mask covering her face.

"Welcome to Aretha's book store. Feel free to take a look around," said the woman warmly.

"I need to make a new identity card," he said straightforwardly.

The woman then stood there while looking at the customer from head to toe.

"How did you know about that side of our store?" she said. Her pitch had become lower.

Valentine crossed his arms.

"I have my own way of getting information," he explained shortly.

The woman then nodded and gestured at Valentine to follow her. He followed the store clerk to the back room and she closed the door behind him.

In the small room, there was another person wearing big and round spectacles working at a desk. It was a man with a mask covering his mouth and nose. His hair was all white and he looked to be younger than fifty, judging from his skin and posture. He seemed to be so busy that he didn't even notice the two people entering the room. There was a pile of paper on one corner of the desk that looked endless.

"Ben, this guy needs a new identity card," said the woman in the hoodie.

Only after she spoke did the man look up. He observed Valentine for a while and then turned to the woman.

"Get him to fill in the form. And take the money in advance," said the man quickly and then returned to his work.

The hooded woman took a piece of paper from the desk and gave it to Valentine. It was a form that he had to fill in.

"The price is ten guilders. Please pay in advance. We will also take your photograph once you have finished filling in the form," said the woman in a professional tone.

Valentine was shocked by the price. It was more expensive than a mask and almost as much as a contract scroll! However, since he needed the identity card, he gave the money to the woman after getting it out of his wallet. He also didn't like haggling, so he didn't say anything about the price.

"Thank you," said the woman then left.

Valentine sat on another, smaller empty desk and used the pen there to fill in the form. He relied on Agatha's memory of the man to write the information down.

'Surname: Müller'

'Given Name: Hansen'

'Date of Birth: 14 March 1934 EH'

'Place of Birth: Rijssen'

'Gender: M'

'Height: 1.88 m'

There was a signature part at the bottom, but since Agatha's memory didn't give him any information about the man's signature, he just created a new one. It shouldn't really matter since he was just going to use the card for hotels mostly.

After he finished filling in the form, he stood up and gave it back to the hooded woman, who in turn gave it to the man called Ben. After that, the woman beckoned at Valentine to follow her to another corner of the room where there was a white background and some lighting installed.

"I'm going to take your photograph now. Please take off your mask and sit there. Don't move until I say it's okay, otherwise, the photograph will be blurry," instructed the hooded woman. Her voice sounded very professional like she had done something similar many times.

Valentine did as instructed and sat straight on the black stool. He looked directly at the modern-looking camera in front of him with a straight face. The woman turned on the light that shone directly at his face and then made a signal with her finger to let him know that his photo was being taken. Valentine maintain his posture and sat motionlessly until the woman signaled that it was done.

"Please wait outside. Your identity card will be done soon," she said.

Valentine nodded put the facemask back. He then exited the backroom to the main part of the store with various books. He was not in the mood to be reading so he just sat on the bench that was available and waited patiently for his expensive identity card.

"G, making an identity card at the government's office is free, why is this one so expensive?" he muttered. Valentine leaned back on the bench and sat leisurely.

"Although, I must commend their work ethics. They didn't even ask us any questions. It makes things easier. However, I am also worried about the amount of information they have on various individuals who came here to forge an identity card," he added while crossing his arms.

After waiting for a while, the woman finally came out with a piece of white card with orange marking on the side. It was the national color of the Republic, so it was a must to put it as the background of the identity card.

Valentine received the card and put it safely inside his brown wallet, along with the other cards that he had. After saying thank you shortly to the hooded woman with the smiley mask, he left the store and walked all the way back to the entrance of the bazaar. His driver should still be waiting, so he hurried back.

He walked closer to the public motor carriage that was still stopping near the bridge. He got in and checked all his belongings. After making sure everything was still there, Valentine told the driver to take him to his next destination. It was a hotel that Graham had also divined to be a safe place for them.

The driver drove away at once towards the west. The traffic at that hour was not really bad, so they arrived at the destination quickly enough.

The black motor carriage stopped in front of a three-story hotel with the name 'The Hotel' written in wooden planks displayed on it. It was located on Bloemstraat, next to a big park with a lot of brown trees and shrubberies. The hotel itself was painted in all dark brown like the color of the wood. There was a giant wooden double door at the entrance with glass panes to see through to the other side.

Valentine opened the wooden door and wind chimes tinkled above him. He walked straight to the reception desk carrying the two heavy suitcases and rang the small bell on the desk.

Ting!

There currently was no one standing behind the reception desk. He looked over to see if someone was hiding behind it but there was no one either. Valentine waited patiently while looking at the interior of the brown hotel. All the furniture in the lobby was wooden and they looked well-maintained. There was a big painting of a foggy forest on the wall and above the fireplace, there was a deer mount hung on the wall.

Creak...

The door to the back was opened and a teenager came out of it. He was smiling awkwardly with an apologetic look on his face.

"I'm sorry, sir, I'm sorry. I was in the toilet," he said with a lot of guilt in his tone.

The teenager then looked at his tall and muscular guess with an intimidating face and became a little scared. Valentine, on the other hand, was raising his eyebrows because he recognized the boy. It was Stefan!

"Sir, is there something wrong?" asked Stefan politely and cautiously.

Valentine shook his head slightly.

"Nothing. Aren't you supposed to be working in Zuideinde?" he asked out of curiosity.

Stefan looked rather surprised his guest knew about him. He had never seen the man before, so it was strange to him. He was someone who would never forget a person's face, so if he had seen him, he would certainly remember.

"Uhm.., since the sick receptionist is back, I've been doing nothing at home, so I dad-- Uhm, the manager, tasked me to look after the branch in West Sloten. He said it's to enrich my experience," explained Stefan seriously.

Valentine nodded.

"Give me two rooms, next to each other. On the third floor if you can," he requested straightforwardly.

"How long will you be staying, Sir?" asked Stefan in a made-up professional tone while flipping over the pages of the register on the desk.

"At least two days, but we don't know yet. Can I just pay you a deposit of one week and then just give me back the money if we stay shorter than that?" asked Valentine.

Stefan had a confused look on his face and then smiled awkwardly at Valentine.

"Wait a minute, sir, let me ask my dad-- the manager first," he said apologetically.

Stefan picked up the landline phone and dialed a number. Once the call was connected, he blocked his mouth so that his guest couldn't hear what he was saying, although, to Valentine with his boosted hearing, their conversation was as clear as crystal.

"Yes, sir, the manager said it is okay. May I see your identity card?" said Stefan after hanging up the call.

Valentine took out a piece of card with his new identity on it from his wallet and gave it to the young receptionist, who then wrote the information on the register.

"Sir, since you are booking two rooms, I assume there will be one more person staying here, is that right?" he asked.

"Yes," Valentine answered shortly, and then added, "He'll come here later. If you need his identity card, he can give it to you once he is here."

Stefan nodded and continued to finish the administration work. He also calculated the amount that Valentine had to pay for two rooms for two weeks. After he was finished, he turned back to his customer.

"The total will be two guilders and two stuivers, or forty-two stuivers for two rooms for a week," explained Stevan with a professional tone that sounded funny.

Valentine took out money from his wallet and gave it to the young receptionist.

"Thank you," he said and then wrote some more things on the register.

After that, he went to the wall behind him and took two sets of keys and handed them to Valentine along with his identity card back.

"Here you go, Mr. Müller. Your rooms are on the third floor, number 13 and 14, right next to each other. Is there anything else?" asked Stevan with a wide smile.

"Nothing for now. Thank you," replied Valentine.

He received the keys and put back the identity card inside his wallet safely. It was something very expensive, so he didn't dare to lose it. After that, Valentine carried the two large suitcases up to where his room was.

Stevan was just watching the customer when suddenly his face showed that he just came into a realization.

"Uhm, Mr. Müller, do you need help with your things?" he asked awkwardly.

Valentine let out a slight chuckle and shook his head, "No need. Thanks for the offer, though,"

Stefan then watched as his guest disappeared into the next floor. After that, he went back to the backroom to finish the video game that he had been playing before his customer came.