Chapter 1.30.

 

A carriage approached Mike's house. It was not long before Tirel arrived there. After passing Mike's house, the carriage stopped at the next house.

Later, when Colonel Tirel was already at Mike's house, a young man in an elegant suit and carrying a long cane approached the carriage. Without a second thought, he got into the parked carriage. Inside was his man watching Mike's house.

"Anything interesting," Louie de Brian asked his man.

"Yes, Boss," replied the man. "A carriage stopped in front of the house a quarter of an hour ago. Two men got out of it. One by description resembled Colonel Tirel de Graaf. The other is younger. Who he is, has not yet been identified."

"Are they still in the house?"

"Yes. They are still there," his man replied. "And their carriage is standing further down the street. There, you can see it from here," he pointed his hand along the street.

He used a small pair of binoculars for observation. And through the rear window of the carriage, he could see the whole street. Louie took the binoculars and looked outside. He first looked carefully at Mike's house, the windows, and the front door. But he didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. Then he looked at the aforementioned carriage. It stood three houses away from them and was perfectly visible through the binoculars.

It was an ordinary, inconspicuous carriage. Standing beside it were three tall, bulky men. Dressed in cloaks with hoods thrown over their heads. Two of them were smoking.

"Has the mounted patrol been through here?" Louie asked.

"Yes, Boss. Before you came in."

"And they didn't stop and check on these guys?" He wondered.

"No, Boss," replied the man. "Only gave them a close look."

"I see."

"Boss, how much longer are we going to be here?"

"At least until Tyrel gets out of the house."

 

Mike stood in the guard's room. He was about to be given his things. Catherine de Graaf had arranged with Colonel Timothy de Rogan for his release. Mike now had no right to leave the capital and was to show up for his trial on court day. An Additional investigation into his case would now be handled exclusively by Captain Anderson. He had also arranged with him to visit his house the next day and record Martha and Doran's testimony.

Captain Miller will be investigated by an internal department. Lieutenant Thornton would probably be arrested, but Mike didn't know the details yet. Colonel Timothy de Rogan would retain his position and continue to run the department. The de Graaf clan would not stir up an incident.

Mike was most interested in Colonel Tirel right now. Catherine de Graaf, however, had not said half a word about him. Though she, too, was looking for him.

The door opened, and a guard brought in a box of Mike's things. The officer opened it and took out a paper with an inventory of things.

"So," the man said. "Here we have a mechanical hand watch. One item."

As he read out the list, he gave the items to Mike.

"A black metal ring with traces of magic. One item. Leather belt with black metal buckle. Lacquered black boots, one pair. That's all."

"That's all?" Mike stunned. "No documents, no wallet?"

"They're not listed on the inventory," said the officer on duty. "Sign for their return."

He put a paper in front of Mike listing the items to be returned and that Mike had no complaints against their department. With a sigh, Mike signed the paper.

Outside, three carriages were waiting for him, with Catherine, Teo, Anastasia, and her group. All of them were now standing near the carriages, waiting for Mike.

"Lady Catherine, what next?" He asked her as he approached them.

"You are going home. Get some rest, and clean yourself up. And then go to work tomorrow and come straight to my office."

"But I have no identification papers now, no pass. They didn't even give me my wallet."

"You take one of our carriages. And I'll have your documents restored by tomorrow," she told him, then turned to the others. "You and I are going to the Ministry. I need to have a word with Tirel."

"And what carriage shall I take?" asked Mike.

"Take the one at the front. It will take you home and then it's returned to the manor."

"Thank you, Lady Catherine," Mike said and bowed.

"All right for you. We'll talk tomorrow," she replied.

 

Catherine de Graaf entered Colonel Tirel's reception room. Teo and Theodor followed behind her. When she saw Catherine, Aireen rose from her seat and bowed quickly.

"Greetings, Madam General," she said to Catherine.

"Is he here?"

"No, Madame General."

"Where is he?"

"I... I don't know," said Irene.

Catherine quickly walked over to her and lifted her head by the chin with her hand. Aireen had to stand on her toes. Their eyes met.

"I ask again," she repeated slowly. "Where is he?"

"I really don't know where he is," Aireen replied. "But..."

"Tell me," Catherine threatened her. "Or I'll send you to the far north to the mines."

"My father and I broke up," replied Aireen in a trembling voice, and tears came to her eyes.

"Madam, you are frightening her," Theodor interjected.

Catherine turned around and looked at him and said, "I'm not in the mood for gentleness right now," and then looked into Aireen's eyes again. "Tell me."

"He's going to leave the capital."

"That's it," Catherine said in surprise and let the girl go. "And why did he decide that?"

"I don't know. But I think he is afraid of you, Madame General. Afraid that you have a grievance against him. And it will cost him his freedom."

"Gee, he's afraid. I warned him, and more than once," Catherine sighed, moving away from Aireen. "Where is he now?"

"He's been away on business since this morning. Even before I left for work."

"He's not going to stop by here?"

"No, Madam."

"Then we go to the Mansion. There's a better chance of catching him there," Catherine said.

"What will happen to me?" Aireen asked quietly as she was about to leave.

"Nothing so far," Catherine replied. "But you're coming with me now."

 

Tirel had been manipulating the pentagram in Mike's house for almost half an hour now. He thought he could use it with ease. He was sorely mistaken in underestimating Mike's creativity. There were crystals already inserted into the pentagram, and the colonel didn't have to use his own. He immediately tried to activate it, but even the outer crystals didn't glow. The whole time Tirel was trying to figure out what he was doing wrong whenever he tried to activate the pentagram.

The others sat nearby and watched his unsuccessful attempts. Martha and Doran, for obvious reasons, could not help. They were honest about how they saw Mike's activation process from the side. And that process was extremely simple. Mike placed his hand in the center of the pentagram, and in a couple of seconds, it activated. The outer five crystals began to glow. A shield appeared around the pentagram. Then the five crystals in the center began to glow, and Mike quickly disappeared, vanishing into thin air. In the end, the shield would fall and all the crystals would extinguish.

"I don't understand," Tirel said after another unsuccessful attempt to activate the pentagram. "What am I missing?"

The colonel tried every activation method he knew. He tried all ten paired elements of magic in the process. All to no avail. Tirel stood up, straightened, and looked at Eric Shtof. He, too, tried to activate it several times, and also to no avail.

"Any ideas?" He asked Eric.

"Sir, maybe the problem isn't how you're trying to activate it," Eric said.

"Then what's the problem?" The colonel asked in amazement.

"It's in how it activates the first time," he said. "Maybe there's some kind of pentagram setup."

"The first time?" repeated Tirel, and then he froze. His eyes slowly began to widen in surprise. "Of course, how could I have forgotten that."

Tyrel took out a small notebook, where he carefully sketched the pentagram and the arrangement of the crystals in it.

"Where to start?" Aloud he thought. "Take the crystals out… Put them back in? No, something else is needed… A magical signature? No, not likely. Then what? There must be something to identify it… A password, a word. Too easy. What if it's too complicated? Magical energy is in everyone's blood, but…"

After thinking for a few minutes, he took a small pouch out of his pocket, walked to the center of the pentagram, and pulled out the first crystal. Nothing happened. After waiting a few seconds, Tirel continued to pull out the rest of the crystals.

 

Efi was busy with her own stuff when she suddenly felt the connection with Mike breaking off. She panicked and rushed down the hall with the pentagram.

She intended to activate the pentagram and strengthen her connection with the surface to make sure Mike was alive or not. Efi had already picked up the two round crystal plates that she used for the "glass eye" when she suddenly stopped. There was confusion on her face, mixed with surprise. She closed her eyes and quickly sank into a state of meditation.

Efi quickly latched onto the connection with Mike and to her surprise, he was fine. The connection was stable, but faint as if he had suddenly moved many thousands of kilometers away from the capital.

Efi opened her eyes. "Strange," she said aloud.

There was nothing wrong with Mike, but it was unlikely that he had teleported thousands of kilometers. Of course, in this world, teleportation was possible. Efi was standing on a pentagram right now just for teleportation. But it was not a simple process. It required a lot of energy and calculations. But most importantly, teleportation, or as it's commonly called simply transferring, happens between two pentagrams that create a puncture in space. You can't just send a living thing through one pentagram into the unknown. At best it will arrive in pieces. It happens because of defocusing, the dissipation of magical energy. That's why the second pentagram is necessary.

Efi thought about it. If he was all right, and he wasn't likely to have moved elsewhere. That leaves only one thing to do. The pentagram was the problem, or rather one of the two. She quickly tried to activate the pentagram.

"Protective field," Efi said aloud.

The outer built-in crystals began to glow. The first stage passed.

"Connection," the energy surged, and the inner crystals in the center began to glow one by one. A few seconds passed, and all the crystals went out.

"No connection," Efi said with a mixture of frustration and relief.

Someone on the other side deactivated the pentagram and severed the link between the pentagrams. It clearly wasn't Mike.

Efi pondered what she should do. She could, for her part, reestablish the connection, but only if the second pentagram was activated. And it was quite an energy-consuming matter, breaking the channel in space every time.

She pondered for a few minutes, slowly circling the pentagram. Suddenly she felt the connection with Mike restored. Someone on the other side had reestablished the connection between the pentagrams.

"What if it's not Mike?" Efi wondered.

It was unpleasant, but not fatal. Efi didn't know the reason why someone wanted to use Mike's pentagram and for what purpose. And she wasn't about to find out.

Efi knelt and placed her hand on the pentagram. A small surge of energy. She smiled predatorily.

 

Tirel finally managed to restart the pentagram. He did it on the first try. And he remembered to add a drop of his blood. He and Mike were related, after all, and fortunately for him, the pentagram accepted his blood. But the activation severely used up the energy of the five inner crystals. Tirel didn't know why, and he didn't care much either.

All ten crystals, both outer and inner, glowed faintly. A shield was activated around the pentagram. Tirel was ready for the final step: a transfer. He sighed, after all, he had spent the whole hour and was already feeling a little tired. He had spent a fair amount of magical power as well. Sighing again, he directed a small amount of his magical energy into the pentagram.

"Transfer," he said in a voice.

A few seconds passed... But nothing changed. The pentagram continued to receive his energy, but there was no transfer. A dozen more seconds passed. Everything was still the same. Tirel looked around and rubbed his eyes. He was still in the hall at Mike's house.

"Is there a problem, sir?" Eric asked him. The colonel looked at him.

"No transfer," he replied in surprise.

"Why don't you take a break?"

A couple more seconds passed, and the Colonel turned off the pentagram.

"Yes, you're right Eric," Tirel said. "We need a little break."

"And on that… Shouldn't we wait for Mike?" asked Eric. "I mean, they probably released him by now. Judging by the time."