The rain was still falling outside, slicing the harbor lights into broken streaks. Only patrolling crew remained on the cruise ship's deck. In the distance, a black convoy drove down the coastal road, its wheels crushing through puddles and spraying water along the curb.
Tserriednich sat in the car, studying the harbor through bulletproof glass.
The cruise ship was moored in the rain. Patrol crew in raincoats passed the stern every few minutes. Searchlights swept across the sea, then turned toward the docks piled high with cargo containers.
The driver did not look back.
"Your Highness, should we keep moving? The patrols over there are all Morel's Purple Smoke Soldiers. If we get any closer, they'll spot us."
"Then stop."
Tserriednich turned the metal tag in his hand. An inverted cross was engraved on its surface, its edges worn with several scratches.
Pariston sat beside him, several surveillance stills spread across his lap.
One showed Morel carrying Shuto onto the cruise ship. The boy was missing an arm, blood streaming down Morel's clothes. Another had been taken outside the Foundation. Bai Zhu was getting into a car with a document bag in his arms, dressed neatly in formalwear with a quill pen tucked into his breast pocket.
Tserriednich picked up the second photo.
"Is he some experimental subject your Hunter Association has hidden away?"
Pariston smiled.
"The Association has no taste for that."
"His ability isn't Nen."
"There are plenty of people in the Association researching strange abilities. If there really were an experimental subject like that, more than a dozen factions would already be holding meetings to fight over who got to dissect him. Then they'd argue for another half year after the meeting, and in the end, no one would get him."
"You think highly of him."
"I