(In celebration of the release launch on Wednesday, the 12th, here's an extra chapter—and another early plea for first-day subscriptions.) In a stone chamber underground at the Backlund Diocese Nighthawks Squad headquarters.
Captain Thomas asked Daly, who had just finished her divination, "What was the result?"
Daly said, "Hobart was telling the truth."
"So Brigadier General Christine really has a Sealed Artifact connected to 2-355?" Thomas frowned. "How come I've never heard anything about it?"
Daly guessed, "Perhaps it isn't a Sealed Artifact held by Brigadier General Christine?"
"No, that's impossible!" Thomas said. "Hobart is only Sequence 9! How could he have a Grade 2 Sealed Artifact?"
At this point, they still did not know that Hobart had already advanced.
Daly shook her head. "We were right to develop him into an informant, even External Staff. At the very least, this lets us keep a general grasp of his movements and impose some restraints on him."
Thomas sighed and stopped dwelling on the issue of a Sequence 9 possessing a Grade 2 Sealed Artifact. He asked Daly, "Have you made up your mind? This is already Cecima's second invitation. Joining the Red Gloves would give you much broader prospects."
Daly smiled. "Joining the Red Gloves means running all over the place. That would be too boring."
Thomas sighed emotionally. "This is an opportunity that countless people dream of!"
A little after two in the afternoon, Hobart arrived at Blanca Street 192.
What he had told Daly that morning was, of course, the truth. Wasn't the "Country of Disorder" precisely the unique "Sealed Artifact" and "Mystical Item" of the Lawyer pathway?
Furthermore, 2-355 did indeed have "some" Connection to the "Country of Disorder." He had prepared that line of explanation long ago, and it was enough to deal with divinations