Elvira walked out the salon after an hour. Her new style was very short, although Hitori was hardly surprised. There were still a few places where her hair was notably dented.

“I had to settle for a pixie with an undercut,” Elvira said, still fidgeting with her hair. “Thankfully I didn’t loose as much on top.” She added with a forced laugh, ”Otherwise I’d have an even shorter style than you do.”

Not that I care, but she’d probably appreciate a compliment.

“It looks good,” Hitori said. Elvira smiled back. “Very practical, like Ms. Athens.”

Smooth…

Elvira laughed and rolled her eyes. “Yes, yes, speaking of, I suppose we should get going?” She followed as Hitori led the way. “You do bring up an interesting point though.”

“I do?” Hitori said.

“Well, I’ve noticed most of our uh, classmates, have rather long hair. Is that more of that ‘Nova Branding’ stuff?”

“Probably, although I think you shouldn’t underestimate the power of a good braid, nor how dedicated some people can be to a style.”

“Hm, yeah, I guess that explains Bridget,” Elvira said. “She does seem, well, a little bit extra about everything.”

Hitori laughed. “Yes, that, and also everyone’s way too scared to yank on her hair during a fight.” Hitori slowed to a stop. “We’re here, by the way.”

“Already? Where?” Elvira looked around.

Hitori motioned to a squat, somewhat shabby building tucked beside the busy market. Above the door was a colorful marking, a gold circle surrounded by silver and green rings, with a splash of red cut halfway through from the top. Hitori pointed at the emblem and said, “That’s the symbol for the Mercenary Guild, if you ever need help they’re a reliable place to go, especially since they operate the old radio network. With an office in almost every city and village on Esper they can pass a message anywhere you need. There’s even one in the Academy.”

“That’s pretty handy,” Elvira said. “But isn’t this rather plain? I was expecting something a bit more, uh, glamorous, given how much Nova values its image.”

“Oh, the Guild isn’t a part of Nova,” Hitori said. “It’s rather the other way around, so Nova is technically subordinate to the Guild.”

“Technically?”

Hitori laughed. “Well, there are few bigger, and none richer, so we have a lot of sway.”

“I guess there’s politics for mercenaries too.” Elvira had a somewhat wistful look.

“Yes, unfortunately. Thankfully the headmaster deals with most of it. Anyway”—Hitori opened the door and ushered her inside.

The interior of the guild office was more refined than its exterior. The furnishings were plain but immaculate, and the cool light and subdued colors exuded a relaxing atmosphere. A few people milled about, chatting about missions in small groups or sitting at narrow desks working over electronic terminals. On a nearby wall was a larger and more complex version of the symbol over the door.

After looking about for a minute, Elvira leaned close to Hitori and said in a hushed voice, “Why don’t some of them have markings? Are they, like, students or something?”

“Everyone here is likely to have a Mercenary Emblem somewhere,” Hitori replied. “And if you look again you’ll see if they don’t have one on their skin, they’ll have a badge attached to their armor somewhere.”

“Oh, is that an option? Could I get that instead of a tattoo?”

“Well… not for Nova. Smaller companies can get by with a Guild Token, but more established firms are required to use an emblem.”

Elvira looked thoughtful for a moment, then asked, “Why?”

“Accountability,” Hitori said. “It’s important to know what company someone is with if there’s been an infraction.”

“But what if someone covers it up with a mask or something?”

“That won’t work. A Guild Emblem isn’t made with ink, but rather a kind of arte.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, though you’re also required to have a visible marking, for people without a tool to detect the signal.”

“Wait, what signal?” Elvira said. “Are you saying we’ll be tracked all the time or something?”

“No, the Emblem connects to your Vital Net, so you can turn it off if you want, though it will turn back on if you start fighting.”

“I see…” Elvira stood in silence for a moment.

Hitori smiled at her. “Yet more questions?”

She laughed. “I feel like it would take days to answer them all.”

“Probably years,” Hitori grinned. “Anyway, for now, we’re here visiting Bachija before we’re officially inducted into Nova and get an Emblem of our own, and we’ve decided to visit the Guild Office to research some local history.”

Elvira looked bewildered a moment before comprehension dawned on her. “Right, yes, of course.” She smiled. “We’re going to be very busy next year, after all. Gotta make good use of our free time.”

“Exactly.” Hitori led her to the front desk, and after some conversation with the young Bachijan receptionist he secured them a pair of adjacent terminals. Elvira spent a few minutes playing with the controls under Hitori’s supervision.

She pointed to a symbol on the screen and said, “So this must be the database thing you mentioned?”

“Yeah, maintaining records is one of the Guild’s most valuable services.”

“Do you think they have a file on me?” Elvira said with a playful grin.

Hitori chucked. “Probably not. The companies submit information on their members, and Nova does that after you’re inducted.”

“Let’s find out.” Elvira typed ‘Elvira Valentine Peri’ into the search field and pressed enter. No result came back in the main query, but in the next section, ‘Records Containing’, a file appeared with the title ‘Aurelius Chromatius Marcus’ and a picture of a middle aged Duroterran man in a fine suit. Elvira quickly closed the list. “Nope, I guess there was nothing.” She laughed.

“To be expected.” Hitori nodded. “After all, you aren’t famous yet.” He sat down at his own desk. “Anyway, for now let’s dig in and see what we find.”

Hitori started with the obvious queries, though his search was hampered by a metafauna called a Reaper. Quite a few records came back about mercenaries with one listed as the cause of death. He tried a few more angles, then typed the word ‘ghost’ into the search on a whim.

There were a few mercenaries and soldiers who used it as a call sign, and a decent number of mission reports where some apparently supernatural phenomenon turned out perfectly mundane. He couldn’t find anything similar to what had happened with Dr. Penthu.

He tried ‘malhahonic projection’ next, but all he could find were records about the Projection Arte, a civilian tool for projecting an image onto a flat surface. Not without its uses, of course, but nothing like what Hitori was looking for. But then, what was he looking for?

Some record of the Ex Stone, he supposed.

Not sure why. It hardly matters, as long as we get it back.

Hitori sagged against his desk, resting on his arms. First the strange tag from Wickham, and now the Ex Stone. He found himself again wondering about some kind of arte based mind control. The thought seemed ridiculous—absolutely—but he couldn’t explain why he hadn’t told his team about the doctor.

It was strange, certainly, but was most likely an adaptation of the Shifting Arte, hardly impossible. Yeah, but why bother? He supposed it wasn’t pertinent to their mission, so it’s not like he needed to tell them. He sighed. Maybe he felt bad about Dr. Penthu.

He looked for him after the stone was taken, but couldn’t afford more than a minute before he had to grab Protius and retreat to the Inn. The man most likely died in the explosion, given the sensitivity to light. Very unfortunate, would have been a great lead in the hunt for Reaper.

“Hitori! I think I found something.” Elvira’s voice broke through his thoughts.

“Oh, what?” Hitori said. “I didn’t have any luck.”

“Yeah, I was stumped at first,” Elvira said. “But then I remembered my idea of a super Paladin and searched along those lines.”

“And you found something?”

“No, there were still too many reports about that metafauna,” She said. Hitori caught a hint of a sly grin on her face and frowned at her, which only deepened her smile. “From there I moved on to records related to the White Temple.” She looked at Hitori expectantly. When it was clear he wasn’t going to take the bait she poked out her tongue and continued. “Anyway, long story short, I found something in a dossier on White Temple history. Apparently they used to be led by someone called Reaper.

She continued, “I know it’s not much of a lead, but given the evidence, well, I thought….”

“That’s some impressive research,” Hitori said.

“Thanks.” She blushed. “I had plenty of free time at the compound, so I read a lot over the data link.”

“Looks like it paid off. I think our next stop will the White Temple.”

“To find more detailed records?” Elvira said. “This here wasn’t more than a mention.”

“Well, yes,” Hitori said. “But more to see if we can’t find that woman, or at least someone who’s seen her. As strange as it sounds, it’s starting to look like the White Temple stole the stone from themselves.”

Elvira laughed and grinned mischievously. “You said this job was party time central, so what’s with all the intrigue?”

“I wouldn’t get used to it,” Hitori said. “This kind of adventure isn’t the norm as a mercenary.” Speak for yourself. “Anyway, let’s keep researching while Gordon finishes shopping, then we’ll head out.”