Inside the Third Prince's Palace.
Elliot stood before the Stage-Play Difference Engine, rubbing his chin in puzzlement.
When he had discovered the event [Maeve and Simon] on the Difference Engine early that morning, he had immediately sent Vanessa to trigger it.
He had even come specifically to operate the Difference Engine at the Third Prince's residence to guard against any accidents.
Yet, somewhat to his surprise, everything was normal.
Vanessa and the others still had reservations about forcing their way into a believer's home to investigate, but he could see directly inside through the scenery. Not only Simon, but even Maeve, who had written the letter, was in the house.
She had shut herself in her room and was crying miserably under the covers, completely oblivious to the knocking outside.
Could it... really just be an ordinary quarrel between siblings?
Still uneasy, Elliot found the laboratory where Simon had been staying and carefully examined its contents.
There was nothing unusual inside. It seemed to be merely a study, with plenty of books on its shelves and nothing else worth noting. Seizing a moment when Simon was in another room, Elliot had Vanessa use [Mother of Concealment] to reduce her presence to a minimum, then climb inside.
Vanessa obligingly activated [Spirit Vision], and soon her words appeared on the brass dials.
[There don't seem to be any supernatural items.]
[Let me take a look at these books...]
[Hmm? Mostly books on history and archaeology?]
[They're all publicly available books. Nothing special.]
[A thorough examination would probably take a lot of time...])
Seeing that Simon was about to return, Elliot had Vanessa climb back out.
"Strange. Could this really just be an ordinary daily quest?"
Daily quests did frequently appear on the Difference Engine, especially as the faith gradually grew in size.