Thursday, 1st August
For the past few days Caleric had spent his time at the library. The siblings had gotten Aron's word about leaving on Friday. With only a few days left Caleric had used all of his time to gather as much information as he could from the Feren Central Library.
Cally had used the past few days to help Mr. Vincent a few more times and also show Mara around, introducing her to the workshop.
...
32 Hillroad Street, Vincent's Workshop
"You are leaving tomorrow?" Mr. Vincent asked.
"Yes."
"This is so sad, I will miss you so much." Mara, who was standing behind Cally, hugged her. The hug was tight enough to choke Cally.
"We met like four days ago, why are you being emotional?" Cally barely managed to speak with a cracking voice, trying to break free from the hug.
In the meantime Vincent had prepared a golden five crown note. He offered it to Cally.
"Your last payment and my gratitude."
"I can't accept this. This is a lot." Cally frowned.
"Wherever you move to, I am sure you'll live independently, so turning down money is not the best, right?" Vincent smiled as he put the note in Cally's hand and rolled her fingers closed.
She sighed.
"Thank you Uncle Vincent, I will never forget you and your workshop. If I ever get a chance and drop by Virelia, I will visit. You better have more interesting things to share with me by then." she returned a grateful smile.
...
Feren Central Library
Caleric was sitting in a corner. There was only one book opened in front of him. He was reading the book, which seemed to have knowledge about human behaviour. In his past life, he had read several complicated books about psychology.
Although Caleric was against the idea of learning by reading books and preferred to come up with concepts based on his experiences and experiments, he had still read multiple psychology books.
One thing Caleric was never interested in about psychology was neuroscience or neuropsychology.
He could easily tell what a person would do in a particular situation and why he would do whatever he did. But he wasn't interested in knowing what changes the individual's brain underwent at that time that triggered the corresponding response.
The book he was reading at the moment was a brief account of a person's adventures through the underworld, where he encountered dangerous people and criminals, and how he managed to survive. The book was in the form of an autobiography, but segregated chapter-wise, with each chapter featuring a principle the author had come up with.
After reading the entire thing Caleric found out that the book was really good. From the perspective of the world where psychological advancements were quite limited at the moment, Caleric found the book to be ahead of its time.
There are always unknown people who have mastered the art of understanding humans. They never get the popularity they deserve, perhaps because they don't wish for it nor do they share their tricks. Caleric thought, feeling a sense of awe.
The book didn't teach him anything new, for Caleric had tried most of everything there was in it, except for experiences like "What would you do if there are 10 guns pointed at you."
There were a lot of immoral and unethical things in the book. The fact that it was in the library meant that it had gone through legal filtering and censorship, however even after that the book was really dark, or one could say unhinged.
There is a little easter egg in this book. I don't think many would realise, but even though the author refers to herself as a "him," I can see traces of it being written by a female. Whoever wrote these experiences is a "she."
Does that mean the actual person who adventured through the underworld was not a "he" but a "she"? Or is this not an autobiography but a biography written by someone else? It does say it is an autobiography.
After reading the book Caleric didn't simply switch to another. He went through the book again, this time analysing the phrasing along with the experiences that were recorded. He was interested in solving the mystery of the author's sex.
Caleric had been chatting online for the past two years. Paired with his already existing understanding of behavioural differences among males and females, he could essentially find out whether a piece of text was written by a male or a female.
After a thorough analysis Caleric was sure of it. Whoever the author of the book was under the pen name of Rosen Con was definitely a woman. The other surprising thing after this discovery was that the book never had mentions of "seduction."
It's not as if the person was against putting her body at stake. It's either the seduction parts were not recorded, or it's that the woman had truly survived the underworld without ever exploiting one of the deadliest of the seven deadly sins—lust.
If it's the latter, then my respect for this Rosen Con has increased several folds. I wonder if I will ever cross paths with her. Although I wouldn't know, as it is an alias—a really obvious alias using the word "Con," as in "con-artist."
The reason Caleric was so surprised at this fact was because the author wasn't just anyone. At one point, she had ruled the underworld itself. The book told the story of her rise, her dominance, and then her gradual disappearance until she left the underworld for good.
The world Caleric was in was still backward. Women were seen as lesser than men. Only those born into wealth or those gifted as wielders could claim some measure of equality.
In this world, it wasn't rare for a woman to be forced into pleasuring her superior in exchange for a promotion. There were laws against such acts, but they were hollow, never enforced the way they should have been.
In a world where women were treated as lower beings, their worth tied to serving the desires of men, the underworld was even more merciless. For a woman to claw her way to the very top without ever being touched—it was nothing short of extraordinary.
Caleric drifted into his imagination. He pictured himself meeting Rosen Con and talking to her for hours about his own psychological tricks. He imagined being told her experiences in greater detail. Caleric had a habit of getting lost in his world of thoughts whenever he found something that amazed him.
"Mr. Caleric?" A voice called out to him, breaking his imagination. It was the librarian, Juliet.
"It's almost time for the library to close," Juliet said in a slightly nervous tone.
Upon hearing her, Caleric took out his pocket watch and flipped it open. It was 8 p.m. He had been sitting there for twelve hours.
After exchanging small talk with Juliet, Caleric left the library. On his way home, he kept thinking about Rosen Con, letting his imagination wander and continue from where he had left off earlier.
...
After reaching home Caleric was greeted by his maid. She had the same blank face as ever. Beside her, Cally was dozing off on the sofa.
The sound of the door made her wake up.
The siblings had dinner together. Recently they had been eating together quite a lot, something that hadn't happened in the past.
Caleric didn't have any problems with eating with Cally, but throughout the meal she wouldn't utter a word, creating a really awkward atmosphere. Caleric, who had to pretend to be oblivious to it, could only silently cope with the awkwardness.
It would be their last meal in Virelia, in their own house.
Aron was a good person. Not only a good father who had raised two prodigies, but also someone genuinely kind at heart. He lived by his morals and ethics.
For that reason, Aron's stay in Virelia had extended for a while. After completing his unfinished work, he deliberately waited to find new employers for his servants. Using his connections, he made sure they would end up in good hands.
He ensured that after he left, none of his servants would lose their livelihood or fall prey to exploitative masters.
As for the Gnalet mansion, he donated it to charity, to be transformed into a school, an orphanage, or a hospital for the benefit of others.
Cally and Caleric's house was rented using their own money. They had paid in advance for half a year's rent. They had been living there for a little over eight months now and had to pay the rent on the first of every month.
It was the first of August, and even though they would be leaving the next day, according to the rules and regulations of renting houses from that particular housing association, they still had to pay 15 Milith.
Cally wasn't happy with this, but she wasn't in the mood to get involved in legal issues. Besides, Aron had already paid the rent on their behalf.
After having dinner Caleric went up to his room. He wasted no time and went straight to bed. The bed that gave him a sense of ownership felt extremely soft and comfortable, despite not even being as good as his own bed back on Earth.
Caleric slept soundly. It could be the last time he slept on that bed.
...
5 AM, Friday morning
A message had arrived on the grafoton at Cally and Caleric's home.
Their personal maid, whose duty was to check the grafoton regularly and update them on any messages, headed over to the machine that displayed text.
She pressed the button that would read the message aloud. The machine crackled before producing a voice.
"Aron Gnalet was murdered."