Chapter 60

60 To find a clue

Inside the chief librarian’s office, there was our huntsman captain, having a conversation with the chief librarian. With Justice’s order, chief Rody gave the location of the lost forbidden tome. Although the copy was destroyed by the great fire seven years ago, the real tome is hidden inside a mausoleum.

“Inside a mausoleum? Why is it a freaking thing that a precious, rare tome will be located inside a mausoleum?” Xavier just couldn’t believe his ears, not because he needed to go into a probably haunted place to retrieve a forbidden tome. “Why were there no attempts to retrieve the books from the mausoleum? Isn’t one of the librarian’s jobs to preserve documents and every kind of literature in the kingdom?”

“The crown prince has already warned me about your brash attitude,” said chief Rody, with a smile on his face. He kind of liked the young man, a commoner who became a custom noble because of his achievements. Chief Rody is one of the crown prince’s loyal followers, a custom noble himself. He owed everything to King Leon, Justice’s true father.

“Can’t help it, just in my nature,” replied Xavier with a smirk. He was indeed brash and rude sometimes, but that wasn’t really his intention. Unlike the three of his best friends, Xavier was raised in an unconventional household.

Tilted his head, trying to figure out the person in front of him, chief Rody just agreed with Xavier, “I guess so, we never know about someone’s past, and, of course, their nature.” He gave Xavier a set of keys, an old engraved one. “This is the key to the Beyor cemetery, the tome was inside one of the mausoleums.”

Xavier frowned, a disbelievable look came into his face. “You are joking, right? Beyor cemetery is one of the oldest cemeteries with almost a hundred mausoleums and it took us one day by carriage to reach it.”

“I’m not the one that decided to keep a forbidden tome in there, captain.” Chief Rody smirked at Xavier, obviously amused by his reaction, “Just think of it as an adventure.”

Xavier scoffed, “Yeah, easy for you to say, you’re not the one who’s going to an old cemetery for a book.”

“Oh, trust me, I don’t want to go there myself, and I suggest you wouldn’t go there alone as well,” said chief Brody. He called reached into a small mirror in his desk and called someone through the mirror.

.....

They called it a two-way mirror is a short-distance communication. Recent technology from the Alchemists’ department, they are trying to increase the distance but as for now, the only way the communication will work is inside an enclosed area.

There’s a knock coming on the door. Chief Rody gave permission to enter, and the librarian who took Xavier here is coming inside the room.

“Ah, Andy, thank you for coming, so let me introduce you once again to the captain of the huntsman, sir Xavier,” Chief Rody introduced Xavier to the librarian once more, and gave the two of them a piece of surprising news, “You will be accompanied sir Xavier to retrieve an old tome on Beyor Cemetery.”

“Ye... Yes, chief Rody?” Andy was nervous, he looks at Xavier and then his chief several times, “I... I am sorry. Could I maybe forfe...”

“No, you can’t Andy, you’re a junior librarian, you need this new skill more than everyone here.” Said chief Rody glaring at the already scared librarian, “Besides, what exactly you’re afraid of about Beyor cemetery?”

“Well... it’s everything about it, chief, Beyor cemetery is a legendary haunted cemetery.” The poor librarian tried everything he could to avoid the mission.

Xavier was intrigued by the interaction. It was visible to him that the junior librarian was afraid of a ghost, or it was supposed to be by the looks of it. He tried to calm Andy and gave him a good reason not to be afraid, but all the reasons just make the librarian more afraid than before. With a pale face and with a heavy heart, Andy accepted the mission while excusing himself from the room.

“Should he really go to this mission?” Xavier asked chief Rody, while his finger was pointing at the door behind him, “I mean, that poor man almost fainted just by the mention of Beyor cemetery.”

“He’ll live,” Said chief Rody, waving his hand casually, “Now, the important question is, when do you plan to go?”

“I’m on active duty this week, and, of course, still need to discuss this with the crown prince. I’ll keep in touch as soon as possible.”

They parted ways with a handshake. Xavier immediately goes back to the main hospital, hoping to see Anne from afar before he return to his office in the east forest. He galloped for the entire journey, just in time to see four guards enter the main hospital. Curious about the sightings, he took the horse to the stable station and entered through the same door where he saw the guards earlier.

He followed one of the guards into the inner building. A chief healer talks to the guard and takes them away. Xavier tried to follow, but a hand grabbed his arm from behind.

“Xavier? What are you doing here?” Asked one of the guards.

Xavier knew the guard, they seldom have a chat in the bar, “Hey Foster, I could ask the same question, what the hell happened?”

“It was madness, one of the exam participants got injured and was brought to the emergency room,”

“Really? Who?”

Foster’s face was grim, he gave a sympathetic look and pointed at the room where the incident happened, “I don’t know, I just got here, but I’ve heard the suspect was a fellow participant as well, that poor girl, her right hand was crushed.”

Xavier had a bad feeling about this. He asked Foster one more time, “A girl? Who is it?”

“Hmm... She’s a silver pass recipient, her name... Oh yeah, Anne, she has very beautiful purple-colored hair that I have never seen before.”

As soon as Foster says the victim was Anne, Xavier rushed into the emergency room, ignoring the call from Foster. He asked around frantically trying to find her until one of the senior healers saw him.

“Excuse me, what happened here? You’re disturbing the other patients.”

Xavier turns his face to the senior healer, “Anne, where is she? Answered me, where is she?”

“Alright, calm down...” The senior healer saw the uniform with the captain’s emblem attached, “Captain, you need to calm down, Anne... Anne who?”

“Anne... Uhm... River Anne, the silver pass participant, where is she?”

“Oh, miss Anne, she is undergoing a small surgery right now. You could wait at the...”

Xavier grabs the shoulder of the healer, “What?! A surgery?”

The captain huntsman’s voice echoed throughout the hall of this vast hospital, everyone around them either looking confused or afraid of him. The senior healer tried once again to calm him down. One thing that he needs to be sure of is the peaceful environment for the patients and their families.

“Captain, please followed me, miss Anne will be alright, like I said, it was just a small surgery.” Said the senior healer, with a soft-spoken voice.

Xavier nodded his head and followed the healer. When they reached the room, he peeked through the window where he saw Anne being treated by another senior healer. She was smiling at the senior healer, while enthusiastically talking about something. He didn’t like even one bit, he was fine if Anne conversed and smiled to his best friends, but not with another man outside his circle.

“Who’s the b*sta... I mean the senior healer who treated the girl?” Asked Xavier, his eyes still focusing on the room.

“Oh, that’s Tim, the senior healer in the emergency room. Don’t worry, she is in good hands.”

The senior healer then excused himself, while Xavier stared at the scene from the emergency room. Although he hated to see how Anne made an acquaintance with the senior healer, he didn’t want to leave her until the operation was done. Her right hand was in bandages. The junior healer informed him that one of her fingernails was crushed by the impact, it appeared someone stomped into her hand.

Xavier knew right away, the act was intentional. He left the emergency room and left the main hospital. When night came, Xavier and Justice were already inside their usual room at the bar. They were drinking in silence, and each of them have their own set of problems, to begin with.

“What happened to Anne?” Xavier was the first to voice his concern.

Justice let out a sigh, “I was hoping you wouldn’t notice it this early.”

‘The f*ck Justice! She got bullied again, am I right?!” Xavier said to Justice, his hand slamming into the wooden table.

“Calm down, nothing is for certain, I’ve already ordered Bernard to lead the investigation.”

“How can you calm the f*ck down?! her fingers were crushed, and one of them is without a nail after the incident. You know how painful that was?!” Xavier was insanely desperate to find some answer from Justice. “At least tell me who’s the suspect.”

“No need to, Bernard is already on the case, we have another thing to do,” Said Justice while massaging his temple. He couldn’t let Xavier get a hold of the name of the culprits, obsessions sometimes know no boundaries, “Chief Rody told me about the Beyor cemetery, we need to go there as soon as possible.”

“No! What about Anne?”

“Xavier, the case is in the middle of being investigated, and Anne is already in recovery. She is in good hands, trust me!” Justice gave him a scold, also in an attempt to calm him down. “Please, Xave, the good thing we need to do for her, is to set us free from any dangerous spell. We never knew how the spell would affect us or Anne in the long run.”

Xavier looked into Justice’s eyes, he let out a sigh and sat with his hands folded on his chest, “Fine! But I want to do one thing first.”

“What is it?”

“We need to tell Anne about the bewitched spell,” Xavier said the words with full confidence towards Justice, who was surprised by the words he uttered.