Editing City Series:Volume2 Chapter 2 (section)

===Part 5===

As it grew dark outside, artificial light filled the Savoy Hotel. That pure white electric light was not like moonlight and did not flicker like flames.

Humans were the only beings that suited that light.

That white light filled the hotel’s first floor lobby from every direction and someone stood on the stairs continuing up from that lobby.

It was Moyla.

From halfway up the stairs, she looked around and Overrode the lobby. She checked past the towering marble columns and made sure there was no one at the front desk or the entrance by the windows.

“Where is he?” she muttered.

Her shawl-covered shoulders lowered and she began to cough. It was an unpleasant cough. The intermittent sounds seemed to come from the very depths of her body.

“Kh…”

She leaned against the stairway railing to endure it.

It took her several minutes to catch her breath.

…''Is this due to London’s air or is it getting worse?

She looked down at the hand she had used to hide her coughing and saw red speckles on the palm.

She wrinkled her brow a bit and stood up.

“Are you okay, Moyla?”

She looked toward the voice and found a young man in a minister’s outfit standing in the center of the lobby. It was Ralf.

He held an umbrella instead of a gun.

“Yeah, an umbrella is useless against this fog. I’d love a waterproof coat from Burberry right about now.”

He almost seemed to be talking to himself, but he made sure Moyla could hear.

“This country is a lot of trouble. But I had some time, so I got three more voices.”

“How is your gun doing?”

“Pretty well. …More importantly, I heard you coughing just now. Are you okay?”

“Eh? Yes, I’m fine.”

She clenched both her hands as she answered. She crossed her arms below her shawl to hide the blood in her clenched hand and she descended the stairs.

She moved out from behind the marble columns and into the entranceway where Ralf was already sitting on a sofa. She smiled bitterly when she saw him taking up an entire three-person sofa by himself. She sat in the opposite sofa.

“Ralf, um…”

He reflexively responded to her voice.

“I won’t tell you were Valeath is if that’s what you want. You’d go after him if I told you, wouldn’t you?”

“It is my job to protect him.”

He quickly removed his sunglasses when he heard that and he looked directly at her with his narrow eyes.

“Then that speeds things up. He isn’t out there to fight. He just wanted to see the young man who was apparently adopted by that Hard Wolf. I found out about him yesterday.”

“A family member of that Hard Wolf?”

“Something like that. He’s apparently a demon, so normally a minister like me would handle him, but…there was something peculiar about this one.”

“Something…peculiar?”

She was taken in by his conversation and he gave an embarrassed smile when he noticed.

“Sorry. I kind of dragged you away from the main point, didn’t I?”

“I have nothing to do but wait around here anyway.”

He crossed his arms and unabashedly Opened his thought about her being a smart young woman.

Her white cheeks flushed a little, but she kept her thoughts Closed.

“Could we get back to the conversation?” she asked.

“Sure. Some of it will be a little hard to say, but I’m just going to get it out there.”

The smile vanished from his face and he checked to make sure no one else was around.

“You know why I’m working as a Hound, right?”

“Yes. You said before it was revenge for the villagers you were supposed to protect.”

“That’s right. No matter how strong my faith was, god didn’t save them, so-…”

Moyla stopped him there.

“You don’t need to say any more. …It would only be painful for you.”

“Yeah, and it’s nothing I can exactly brag about. …Now, as for Valeath’s past…”

He hesitated.

“Maybe you’ll understand if I mention a certain incident. The Borderson family has long protected an area in southern Germany surrounded by the Black Forest.”

The look in Moyla’s eyes changed when she heard the name Borderson. She was now staring intently at Ralf’s expression as if trying to see through it.

But he did not mind.

“Reichle Borderson was a Hound and the young leader of the Busters there, but there was a demon attack on the day of his wedding. The demon had transformed into a human and masqueraded as his friend.”

“…”

“It’s said the demon killed his bride Melda and devoured the souls of all the people living in that land.”

“But Reichle Borderson defeated that demon.”

“Yes, I’ve heard he defeated it with the assistance of a servant girl who had managed to escape. And when he defeated the demon, he let its blood wash over him to gain a spell known as an Over Contract.”

He gave a weary sigh.

“A few years later, a swordsman named Rickland Valeath appeared in Germany accompanied by a witch named Moyla Telmetz.”

Ralf stared back into Moyla’s eyes.

She said nothing and kept everything Closed.

“Yes,” he nodded on his own. “People who have lost something important to them, something they should have protected, or – I’m a little embarrassed to say it – someone they loved, all have a similar feel to them.”

“What about it?”

Moyla tilted her head and Ralf gave a clear answer.

“The young demon I saw yesterday felt a lot like Valeath.”

“…!”

Moyla trembled at that.

“What…do you mean by that!?”

“I’m not entirely sure.”

Ralf tilted his own head and asked a question of his own.

“But what would you do if you found someone with all the same traits as you?”

“Eh?”

“What if someone like that was standing right in front of you? Do you know what you would do?”

“…”

She fell silent, but he leaned forward and gave his answer.

“I don’t think I would be able to stand it.”

They were sharp words and they Overrode what kind of human he was.

But she did not respond. She did not agree or disagree.

After a glance into her eyes, Ralf sighed and fixed his posture.

“If it were me, I’d tell that other me that they could never surpass me.”

But…

“What will Valeath do?”