The Broken Halo

Simon did not return to the apothecary immediately after leaving.

The slim official had checked for anybody following him before entering the backyard. There was no reason to assume he would stop being cautious simply because he had left the bundle inside a locker.

Simon walked through four different streets before entering a public washroom attached to a small drinking house.

When he came out, the narrow-faced rat demon was gone.

In his place was a short, thick-necked demon with dull yellow skin, uneven teeth, and a face that looked permanently irritated. Simon changed his clothes, adjusted his walk, then spent another half hour confirming that nobody had followed him.

Only then did he return to the area around the apothecary.

He did not approach the backyard.

Instead, Simon walked around the building several times from different directions, learning as much as he could without stopping long enough to appear suspicious.

The apothecary occupied two floors.

Customers entered through the wide front doors, while delivery workers used the narrow side passage leading to the backyard. The second floor contained several offices and storage rooms, but iron screens covered the windows overlooking the maintenance lockers.

Two workers crossed the backyard regularly.

One checked the returning medical containers.

The other moved damaged equipment into a small repair shed close to the wall.

There were no visible guards, but that did not mean the yard was unprotected. Simon sensed faint demonic fluctuations around the lockers whenever one of the workers opened them.

’A detection formation.’

It did not seem powerful enough to identify what a demon placed inside each locker, but it probably recorded when the doors were opened and whether an unauthorised method was used to break their locks.

Simon’s suspicion deepened.

The slim official had either been authorised to open the seventh locker or possessed a method of deceiving the formation.

Either way, touching the bundle now would be foolish.

Simon waited until the crimson light of the moon shifted and the apothecary’s western wall cast a long shadow across the side passage.

He walked past the building with a group of labourers.

For less than a second, his shadow touched the darkness beneath a narrow drainage ledge close to the backyard wall.

A ShadowEye opened there.

The position was not perfect.

It could not see the entire yard, but the seventh locker and most of the path leading toward it remained within view.

Simon left the area.

He found a cheap restaurant almost a kilometre away, ordered a bowl of sour root soup, and sat near one of the walls. His physical eyes remained on the demons around him, while part of his perception watched the apothecary’s backyard.

Time passed.

The two workers continued moving through the yard.

One opened the second locker and removed a set of cleaning tools. Later, another worker placed a cracked medical canister inside the fifth.

Nobody approached the seventh, and the slim official did not return either.

Simon did not become impatient.

A hidden arrangement did not become useless because its next part failed to happen immediately. Whoever was meant to collect the robe might come after the apothecary closed, during another shift, or on the following day.

The important thing was not to force the situation to move.

It was to remain present when it finally did.

Nearly an hour later, a black carriage stopped before the apothecary.

The vehicle carried the insignia of the Black Horn Office.

Simon’s attention sharpened.

A young official stepped down first. He wore a short dark coat and carried a black case.

The second demon emerged more slowly.

Two horns curved from the sides of his head, and Simon recognized him the moment he saw him through the Eye.

It was the same Two-Horned Demon who had leaned against the pillar outside the Black Horn Office and looked at him and Sonya with open disdain.

He was no longer dressed casually.

A fitted Black Horn coat covered his body, and three silver lines had been stitched around his collar. The apothecary workers straightened the moment they saw him.

The owner hurried from the front entrance and bowed.

”Senior Inspector. We were not informed that someone from containment would be coming.”

The Two-Horned Demon glanced at him.

”Don’t worry. This is very important and the channels have to be more secure than ever before,” his tone was flat, and the owner immediately lowered his head further.

Simon slowly placed another spoonful of soup into his mouth with slightly furrowed brows.

’Containment?’

The Two-Horned inspector entered the apothecary with the younger official. For several minutes, Simon saw nothing through the Shadow Eye.

Then the backyard door opened.

The inspector stepped outside with one of the apothecary’s workers following him.

He examined the returning medical containers, questioned the worker about the seals, then opened one of the cleansing canisters and tested the liquid inside with a black needle.

Everything appeared normal, and nothing about his actions suggested that he had come for the seventh locker.

The younger official entered the yard a few moments later and handed him a ledger.

The Two-Horned Demon read two pages before closing it.

”The batch numbers do not match the morning record.”

The apothecary owner paled slightly.

”That should be impossible.”

”Then find the original supply sheet and prove it.”

”Yes, Senior Inspector.”

The owner hurried inside with the younger official.

The inspector remained behind.

He waited until the door closed, then his expression changed.

The bored disdain disappeared from his face, replaced by a cold focus that would send a chill down the spine of a child.

The Two-Horned Demon turned toward the maintenance lockers.

He did not go straight to the seventh.

First, he opened the third locker and inspected the tools inside. He checked the sixth afterward, then moved toward the repair shed and examined the formation carved around its door.

Only after making his actions appear like part of the inspection did he stop before the seventh locker.

Simon’s eyes narrowed.

The inspector removed a thin Black Horn token from his sleeve and pressed it against the lock.

The door opened without triggering any visible reaction from the formation.

He pulled out the grey-black robe, then the copper tag with four lines slipped into Simon’s view, followed by the folded paper hidden within the cloth.

The inspector unfolded it, and his eyes moved across the contents without any change in expression.

Simon could not see the writing from the ShadowEye’s angle.

However, he saw what the demon did next.

The Two-Horned inspector removed a narrow strip of black material from inside his sleeve, and Simon could see that a tiny rune had been drawn across its surface.

He placed two fingers against the strip, and a dark red light appeared around his fingertips.

He then spoke in a voice that was low to the point that an ordinary demon outside the yard would never have heard it.

However, the ShadowEye did.

”The Fourth Shroud has been confirmed.”

The rune absorbed his words.

The inspector glanced toward the closed backyard door before continuing.

”The Eastern Hand is moving sooner than expected.”

Simon became completely still and the spoon that was about to enter his mouth stopped.

The Two-Horned Demon folded the black strip, and his final words entered it just before the light vanished.

”Tell the Sleeping Commander that one of his eyes was right.”

The inspector placed the original paper back inside the robe as though nothing had happened.

He returned the bundle to the seventh locker, closed the door, and walked away before the apothecary owner returned.

Simon did not move for several seconds due to surprise and disbelief of what he just heard.

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[A/N: Please read the author’s notes below.]