Damn it, there was nothing suspicious about the tour given by Father. But I expected as much. Why would he reveal any of his dark secrets to me willingly? I am fairly certain that he showed me all of the non-suspicious areas of his church. I am counting on you, Rose, Dark Lord, and everyone that joined the infiltration team to find some sort of secrets for us. Fingers crossed.

  I waited for Rose in an alleyway where we had agreed to meet after we were done with the raid. She is currently giving her report to the Paladin Lord on her findings. I really hope she managed to find something or even anything. But she doesn’t have the Conceal spell, unlike the dark guilds, so it hampers her ability to infiltrate effectively.

  I inspected my pocket watch to see if the same issue was occurring on mine, but it was still moving. I might be seeing things, but it does look like the watch is slowing down. Best to have Stein check on my watch too. Hope I don’t come off as a demanding customer.

  Someone tapped on my shoulder, which made me smile. I turned and expected Rose to be there, but no one was around. I looked below and saw Moi smiling at me while hugging her teddy bear.

  “Did you really miss me that much to actually dream about me, Mister Zen?” she smiled.

  I was shaken awake by someone, which caused me to open my heavy eyes. Rose was looking at me all worried.

  “Onii-chan, did you wait that long or are you just tired? It’s rare for you to just sleep on the floor in a public place like this. Do you want to go back and take a rest?” asked Rose with a concerned look.

  “H… what? When did I fall asleep? I don’t even remember closing my eyes. Is this some aftereffect from kissing Baku?” I blurted out.

  “Pfft… what are you saying? You’re just tired, onii-chan. C’mon, let’s go home,” she chuckled as she pulled me up.

  “Hmm? No, no… we’re going to Stein, don’t worry about it,” I told her as I clapped my cheeks.

  “Are you sure? You don't have to force yourself just because I wanted to come along,” asked Rose with a worried look.

  “Yeah, I’m fine. Let’s go. Really, you don’t have to worry,” I assured her as I dragged her along.

  As we headed over to meet Stein, I thought of my dream earlier. Why did I have such an odd dream? Why did I even dream of Moi instead of Daisy when she’s my daughter? And why does it seem as though she was actually talking directly to me? Is there something she wishes to convey to me? I still have no idea about the extent of Moi’s powers and what she is capable of doing. I know she can read minds and predict the future. What else can she do? Communicate with me in my dreams? And that reflection I saw when she passed by the mirror. That is not a reflection that a normal girl should have. I will forever remember what I saw even in my dreams.

  “… chan, Onii-chan! We’re here,” shouted Rose.

  “Oh, we’re here already?” I snapped out of my deep thoughts.

  “Are you sure you’re okay? You’re making me really worried here,” she said as she started checking my forehead temperature with the back of her hands.

  “Sorry, I was just deep in thought. I’m fine, really. Let us meet Stein,” I told her as I knocked on the main door to his workshop.

  We entered, and the bell door rang from above the frame. I am not even sure whether Stein is in right now. He has a habit of leaving his front door open even though he is not in. I sat down and gestured for Rose to sit at my side.

  “So… did you manage to find anything substantial in the church?” I asked her.

  “Hmm… I wouldn’t call it substantial, but there was something fishy going on in there for sure,” she made a thinking face.

  “What do you mean?” I asked her.

  “Call it a hunch. I couldn’t find anything to back it up, though. I hope the Dark Lord or the others managed to find something,” she said.

  “Are you saying you get the tingles when you’re in there?” I asked.

  “Are you teasing me? Yes, it feels weird when I’m there. Say whatever you want, Onii-chan,” answered Rose nonchalantly.

  “I’m not teasing you. I felt the same. Something just doesn’t feel right when you’re inside that church, despite not being able to find anything wrong with it. I can’t really explain it,” I sighed.

  It was then that Stein barged through the workshop door and hurried over to lock the main door. That’s odd, I thought; he never locked his main door before, like ever. Something fishy is going on for him to be this cautious.

  “Are you being hunted or something, Stein?” I asked him.

  “Oh no. Hunted is not the right choice of word. I would say that certain individuals are overstepping their boundaries by constantly disturbing me about new blueprints. I told them that I do not sell exclusives and they will have to bid for themselves in obtaining the rights,” sighed Stein as he scratched his head.

  He seems troubled and I’m starting to worry that he might end up getting kidnapped or tortured for new blueprints in the future.

  “We can assign some guild members to be on standby here to protect you. It’s common for guild members to be bodyguards,” said Rose.

  Woah, does Rose have that amount of influence over the guilds now? I know she is the most favoured member of the Light guild but still, you need approval from the Paladin Lord before you can actually assign anyone. What am I saying, the Paladin Lord is going to say yes to all her requests anyway.

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  “No need. That would be too much of a hassle. And besides, it is not like they come too often to cause me trouble anyway,” he said.

  “Stein, it’s not going to be a hassle. I cannot afford to allow my favourite inventor to be kidnapped or harassed by unwanted people. There are plenty of other inventions that I still want to create with you. I need you, Stein, alive and kicking whenever I come over to visit you,” I told him.

  He turned his back towards us and, judging by the motion of his arm, he seemed to be rubbing his nose. I guess he is not used to being praised or wanted, eh? Just as planned. Heh heh.

  “Well, if you put it that way. Guess I have no choice, I suppose. I’ll take you up on that offer,” he chuckled as he continued rubbing his face.

  Yosh! He took the bait. Grown men are weak towards compliments, which is something that I noticed myself. I bet it would have been more effective if Rose was the one who tried to persuade him, but it might have come off as flirting, which I am not about to allow my wife to do. Are you kidding me? Rose can flirt with pretty much anyone, and guys will be jumping over her.

  “We’ll sort it out after this. Let’s get down to business, shall we?” I asked him.

  “Of course. Right this way, Mister Zen,” he replied as he led us into his sacred room.

  ***

  “How can I help, Mister Zen?” he gestured as he sat on his favourite stool.

  “Let’s start with this. The watch sort of stopped moving all of a sudden. Even mine seems to be slowing down. Now I can assure you that I never dropped mine, and I can vouch for my wife’s one too. As you can see, there are no scratches or dents on it,” I explained to him as much as I could to avoid the repair charges.

  “Let me see them,” he took both watches and inspected them.

  “Ah, how silly of me. Have no fear, it is not any of your fault. Even I forget things sometimes,” he proceeded to look for something in his table drawers.

  Rose and I looked at each other with a confused look. It did not take long for Stein to find what he was looking for. He held out two small keys in his hand for us to see.

  “Apologies to both of you. I forgot to inform you that your pocket watches are actually a key-set type. Which means you need this key to wind the watches to ensure that they continue working as intended. Come here, let me show you how,” he said as he began removing pieces of the watch.

  “First of all, let me adjust the time with the key. Then, from the back, insert the key and rotate it clockwise. There you go, good as new,” said Stein as he smiled when his creation started working again.

  In another life, he would have made Frankenstein or something, but I’m glad he’s an inventor instead. The things he could do with his mind should he choose to go cuckoo and create questionable things.

  “Ah, a mechanical concept for the watch. Rotating the mainspring to power the other parts of the watch. Clever,” I said.

  He turned to look at me with disbelief on his face. Did I say something wrong?

  “Did you examine this watch from the inside, Mister Zen?” he asked me suspiciously.

  “N… no, I did not. I don’t even have the tools to open it in the first place,” I told him.

  “Well, there is no evidence that you have opened any of these watches. You amaze me, Mister Zen. Not only do you know the secret to how my watch operates, you didn't even need to open it to understand the concept of how it worked in the first place. I might run out of business if you were able to guess the concept of my most prized invention so easily,” he chuckled.

  “Nah, your brain is way better than mine, Stein. I just have a general idea of how things work. I can’t put those ideas into motion. Speaking of which, why not make it automatic or, you know, maybe remove the idea of needing a key in the first place?” I asked.

  “What do you have in mind?” he asked, while being intrigued.

  “Hmm, maybe using the crown rotatable to wind the mainspring instead? Or perhaps something to power the movement of the watch?” I spoke casually.

  “Then how would you adjust the time if the crown is the only rotatable part you have?” he asked.

  “How about a button or a pin to set which rotatable part you wish to control? Something to separate both of them?” I thought out loud.

  He closed his eyes and was deep in thought. Sometimes, I am kind of happy that he is willing to indulge in my crazy ideas, which I just thought of on the spot. How many inventors would be willing to listen to a commoner’s suggestion in the first place when their minds worked so differently compared to ours? We are like cavemen compared to how their brains worked.

  “You’re a man of ingenious ideas, Mister Zen. That is a brilliant suggestion. I can begin working on a new prototype with that idea of yours,” he nodded.

  “Now hold on there. I need to give you my feedback on the lighter. Hmm, how do I start? It’s definitely useful for sure when you need an emergency light source or starting a campfire quickly. Certainly more reliable than using matches in a pinch. This thing will kick off for sure. I just need to be much smaller though. The container holding the liquid gas is way too big in my opinion,” I explained to him while holding the lighter.

  “Need a smaller container. Right, what about its reliability?” he asked as he wrote notes in his notebook.

  “Definitely reliable. Can be used during snow or when it’s raining. Will not break easily even if you drop it. Even if it gets wet, it still works properly. At times, you just need to flick a couple of times to light it up, but that is not really a bad thing,” I answered.

  “Mhmm, mhmm. Great. I think the only issue you have is with the size of it. Apologies as I just grabbed whatever container I had that was most suited for this first prototype. Glad it worked out relatively well despite being the first,” he nodded.

  “Ever thought of using glass instead? You can see how much gas is remaining inside if it were transparent,” I asked.

  “That would factor into the reliability portion. Glass is brittle and will break upon impact,” he explained.

  “So we need something that is transparent but durable. Hm, doesn’t sound like a material that we have currently,” I thought out loud.

  “Let me think on that, Mister Zen. In the meantime, is there anything else you would like to discuss?” he asked.

  “That would be all for this round. I’ll come back if I think of new ideas,” I told him.

  As Rose and I gave our farewells to him, I actually thought of something out of the blue that I felt would be beneficial for me in the long run.

  “Hang on, I just thought of something. Now I know you’re a man of science, but… do you think it is possible to create a device that can detect the presence of a demon?” I asked him.

  “I believe your wife is already well suited for that task, Mister Zen,” he lifted one of his eyebrows.

  “Rose’s spell is too obvious and it spreads around without a hint of secrecy. I need something more for covert purposes,” I told him.

  “This is something different from your usual request, isn’t it? A request as a member of the four great powers?” he clarified.

  “Yes indeed, this is a special request. I can foresee my need to use such a device in the near future,” I confirmed.

  He smirked and brought out another notebook after he kept his current one in one of his pockets. He had multiple notebooks? I thought he always used that leather-covered one for all of our discussions thus far.

  “About time you made a special request to the four great powers. I had been waiting for this day. Now, tell me what you need. This notebook is purely for such requests. It is an honour to be able to create something for a member. Come, tell me what you need,” he gestured.

  “I need something that can notify me when anything demon-related is nearby. Anything at all,” I told him.

  “Does it have to be alive or?” he asked.

  “Dead or alive, intact or in pieces. Anything from their hair, claws, or even their blood,” I said.

  “How do you want it to notify you? Subtle or obvious?” he asked.

  “As subtle as possible. I will check it when I suspect something is wrong. Not when things are obvious,” I explained.

  He wrote down his notes and nodded. I guess that is all the information he needed. I wonder if he is able to create something like that in the first place. I was hoping that it will be useful if I get the chance to sneak into that church again. I need some sort of confirmation that they are in fact doing something related to demons. There is something wrong with that church, and I intend to find out.

  ***

  “I just love hearing you talk with Stein. The two of you talked about things that can potentially change our future. I am so glad my husband is such a genius,” said Rose as she hugged my arm.

  “And here I thought you agreed to marry me because I was your elder brother,” I chuckled as we headed home.

  “I married you because you were the one who saved me and treated me with kindness. It didn’t matter if you acted as my brother, father, or whoever you wanted to be,” she confessed.

  I just chuckled and smiled at her response. I never thought of myself as anyone special in the first place. I just acted what I thought was right and in doing so, caused two females to fall head over heels for me. I had never planned or even thought of the consequences of my actions when people needed my help. I just acted in times of need.

  “Do you think Stein would be able to create such a device? It will certainly be useful for sure, but I’m having doubts he is able to invent such a thing. We are talking about something that reacts to demons specifically,” she said.

  “The one thing I learned about Stein is to never underestimate him. When it comes to him, the sky is the limit. He might be the first person to conquer the sun if he had unlimited resources. I have faith in him that he can deliver my special request,” I told her.

  “If you say so. I will try to share your beliefs as he has not failed us so far,” she said.

  “Alright, let us head home. I wish to get some rest before tomorrow comes. A meeting with the guildmasters awaits us,” I said.

  ***

  “Right, let us conclude our findings on the church,” said the Dark Lord.

  It’s the following day now, and we are all having our secret meeting at the hideout. I won’t lie, I am nervous about our findings. This is our only lead about the constant monster attacks on this city. If there is nothing at all, I have nowhere else to find more leads.

  “Zen, I’m sorry to say, even with all of our findings, there is nothing conclusive that the church is related to the monster attacks,” said the Dark Lord.

  Are you fucking kidding me?!

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