Witch’s Journey - Chapter 7 Return Meetings

“Thank you, kids.” The police officer sincerely thanked both of them after he received the news.

Alicia and Sigil had already packed up and were ready to leave the city. Their hunt was over and they just had to wait for sometime before they could become full-fledged witches.

“I will drive. You are still tired from the spell.” Sigil took the keys from Alicia and jumped on the driver’s seat. Since it was already daytime, he had decided to retract the car roof.

“Say, Sigil. We both were pretty good together back there. How about teaming up for next hunts too?”

Alicia spoke as she leaned her head on the back of her seat, enjoying the wind and warmth of the sun on her face.

“I don’t know, teaming up with my fianc can be pretty awkward. Wouldn’t other witches think that you are keeping me on a short leash?”

Sigil smiled a little as he drove. After everything he went through the previous night, he had to give himself a little ‘me’ time. He finally understood the things he would be encountering in the future and to be honest, it was very hard to swallow all the information considering he was only a week old.

“My, my, aren’t you all hopped up about us getting engaged.” She squinted her eyes.

Even she could use a relaxing conversation after going through such a dangerous mission.

“Why wouldn’t I be? I consider myself lucky that I am going to be engaged to you.”

Alicia opened her eyes and looked at Sigil.

“Why are you watching me weirdly again?”

“If you weren’t driving, I would have gotten on top of you and kissed you.” She leaned back once again.

Sigil chuckled at her words.

“You know, you can kiss me without getting on top of me.” He smirked.

She smiled lightly.

“If I do it according to your suggestions, it wouldn’t be hot enough.”

“Touch.” Sigil continued driving.

“So we are a team now?” Sigil looked at Alicia.

“Sure.”

Alicia still had many doubts in her mind regarding Sigil suddenly touching Grachen’s spirit and making it disappear and also how he got the information on the ingredients of the spell.

Even then, she did not ask Sigil about all of this. She wasn’t being considerate or anything. Even Sigil knew that Alicia was quite blunt despite her noble looks. The only reason she let her questions slide is that she was mentally exhausted by the spell and couldn’t muster her energy to get in any kind of argument.

***

Garachy City, Local Graveyard.

Garachy City was known for its connection with the Witch’s Organisation. There is always a Chakra Stage Witch stationed in the city.

A scrawny man with light-brown hair and a thin face could be seen sleeping near a tombstone.

The tombstone looked relatively recent with a pun etched on its surface.

‘ Pardon me for not greeting.’

Whoosh

A grey owl suddenly landed near the sleeping man and lightly pecked on his palm.

The owl wasn’t an ordinary owl since it still looked lively during the daytime and its size was twice the size of a regular owl.

“Hmmm? Swingy? Weren’t you ordered to stay near the Specter’s eye?”

The scrawny man yawned and rubbed his eyes.

“Ohhh? The treasure has been destroyed? Oh well! I did not have much hope for that one either way. It would have taken 16 more years to complete the treasure and I don’t have time.”

Apparently, he could communicate with the owl without any difficulties.

The scrawny man sat and leaned on a nearby tombstone.

“Well, I still haven’t reached the stage of fifth chakra point. Heck! I haven’t even reached the fourth chakra point.” The man muttered to himself.

He took out a cellphone from the rag of a cloth he was wearing and dialed a number.

“Yeah! This is Eugene. I would like the report of the recent cases dealt in Chestcovia City by the organisation. Oh? You are saying that the latest report hasn’t been submitted yet? Alright, send me a copy when it’s submitted.”

Eugene hung up and slowly stood up.

The grey owl turned into a grey light and shot inside Eugene’s body.

His gaze suddenly stiffened as he read the pun etched on the tombstone.

A black light emerged from his fingers and shot towards the area beneath the words.

Another line was etched on the tombstone saying- No pun intended.

“Well, let’s go and meet other two familiars.” He stretched a little before walking out of the graveyard.

***

After half an hour, Sigil and Alicia returned to the Silver Fang City. The white sports car revved around the streets and finally stopped outside the gates of the Grey Family’s Estate.

“Huff finally home.”

Sigil exhaled deeply.

“Yeah, yeah, don’t become relaxed too quickly. We have to report to Dad, remember?”

Alicia stretched her hands as she got out of the car.

“You should do this more often.”

Sigil would be damned if he did not check her out while passing out a comment. Her whole body was displayed to him and his eyes captured every single inch of her.

“Well, it doesn’t matter if you check me out. It was the bald owner that I wanted to smack when he checked me out.”

She replied nonchalantly as she walked past Sigil.

“It wouldn’t kill you to act a little shy.” He sighed and followed the little missy.

***

“You mean that someone planted that treasure and did not report it to the organisation?”

John leaned on his desk, his thoughts unknown.

“How did you know about the original recipe?” John asked and looked outside the window.

“Anonymous message.” Sigil decided to come out clean. It would be stupid to try to keep this a secret and if he took a step back, he did not even need to keep this a secret.

“Ohh?”

John looked at Sigil, prompting him to show the email he received a day before.

John frowned after reading the message.

“What did the sender mean by warning about leaving the city in two days?”

“I don’t know, Mast- . Dad.”

Sigil replied.

“Alright, don’t mention anything about the treasure in your report. By the looks of it, this treasure was still in its infancy. If your suspicion is correct, then that Eugene already knows about you two and it would be better for you two to keep a low profile.”

Even though the Grey Family is counted as one of the best Witch Families out there, it still doesn’t hurt to be cautious.

Alicia and Sigil nodded.

“To sum it up, because of the sudden treasure, this case would have been officially turned into a five stars case. Since the existence of the treasure wouldn’t be made official in the report, you two will only get the original rewards.”

John smiled at both of them.

He took out two pouches and tossed it towards both of them.

“But you still completed a five stars case as your first mission. For that, I will be adding a personal reward.”

He took out a small box from his pocket and placed it on the desk.

John’s palm touched the box as a green light flashed by.

Click

The box opened and he took out two keys from the box.

“This is the key to the personal library of the estate. Unlike the Elders, you two will only have the access to the chambers for two weeks before the keys disintegrate.”

He passed on the keys and let them take their leave.

“Well, I can easily open the seventh energy gate with this reward. What about you?” Sigil played with the pouch as he made his way towards his bedroom.

“Same here. Let’s hang out later, I am really tired. I will bring Beth with me before dinner.” Alicia went towards her room while yawning.

The condition of opening the inner gates wasn’t too harsh. If one had appropriate materials, he or she could easily open the gates without any hidden consequences.

After he entered his room, he immediately slumped on his bed. A habit of his past life.

Vrrrr

His cell phone suddenly vibrated.

“Hmm? Who’s calling me now?”

He saw the name on the screen of his mobile and had an urge to put his fist through his cell and punch the caller.

He sighed before answering the phone.

“Yeah? What do you want?

His tone neither considerate nor cold.

The person on the other line was sitting in one of the bars of the town.

The caller was wearing a formal black suit. A glass full of scotch in his hand and a polite smile on his face. His black hair was trimmed from the side while the rest was combed neatly and slicked backwards.

A tattoo of a rose could be seen on his neck, half covered by the collar of his shirt.

If Sigil saw him, he would immediately describe him as a 90’s gangster.

“Sigil! My man, good to hear you too! I am back in town for a little business. How about we hang out?”

He was Ivan Redhawk of the Hawk family.

“Is your brother here?” Sigil maintained his tone.

“*Chuckles* I told you that I will take care of him, didn’t I? He is in the family dungeon. If he does something like that again, I will kill him myself.”

Ivan chuckled as he sipped on his scotch.

“If you don’t then I will. Anyway, I just returned from a case for my Rite of Witchcraft.”

“Hooh, our little boy Sigil has grown up, huh? So, when do we meet?” Ivan smiled at the cute bartender as he talked with Sigil. He had the kind of a charm that could work on any female including the girls with daddy issues, mature and single women and distressed housewives.

He was a womaniser.

“I ain’t meeting you man. You already know me. Even if we screwed around, we never forced anyone. If we didn’t catch your little pig in time, even I would have been severely punished.”

“Come on man, for old time’s sake. I really have some stuff to talk about.”

Sigil thought for a moment before agreeing.

“Alright, tomorrow morning, the usual place.” He hung up after setting the time.

Ivan smiled as he put his cellphone in his pocket.

“So, love. How can I entertain you!” Ivan smiled as he leaned on the counter, making the hot bartender feel a little fuzzy.

“Now that I think about it, I should check on Aria.” He stood up and walked out of the estate. He still had loads of time before meeting with Alicia and catching up with Beth.

He entered a Caf named ‘The Silver Waffle’.

There weren’t many customers at this time of the hour. The whole caf was neat and well maintained. The moment he entered, a silver shadow immediately shot towards Sigil, crashing into him.

It was a fox.

This fox was almost a size of a puppy and started licking Sigil’s face like an actual puppy.

“Yeah, yeah, good to see you too, Foxy.”

He stood up and hugged the fox in his arms.

This wasn’t any ordinary fox but an offspring of the Silver Fang Wolf of the grey Family and a Three-Tailed Spirit Fox.

This was also the familiar of the owner of this Caf.

“Ah! Mom! White Bro is here.” A cute teen shouted as she immediately stopped waiting on a table, leaving the customers disgruntled and a little humorous.

“Yo, Aria! You have been a good kid, right?” He smiled and placed the silver fox on the girl’s head.

Her name was Aria Grey. She was one of the talented kids of the family with a bright future ahead of her. Her small, black hair was tied up into a ponytail while she wore a light-blue skirt and a grey apron. She was only fourteen years old and had already opened her second gate.

“Hehe, of course, I am a good girl. Ah! I almost forgot! Please sit here and I will bring you your regular meal.” She immediately ran inside the kitchen and left Sigil to his own.

“Aren’t you well received? She is never this excited when she sees me.” A melodious voice entered his ears as a mature woman with Black hair sat in front of Sigil. She was wearing the chef’s outfit and her hair was tied into a bun. Her light-grey eyes staring at Sigil and her petal-like red lips held a smile.

“So? What brings the most talented young master of the Grey family to this small caf?”

The chef mocked him.

“That depends! Are you done mocking me?” He smiled at the new arrival.

“Yeah, yeah! Congratulations on the successful completion of your case.”

“You already knew?”

“It’s a small town and news travel fast.”

“I suppose.” Sigil leaned back.

“So? Did you have a little ‘fun’ during your trip with Alicia?”

Her eyes turned crafty and her expression longing for some gossip.

“Stop it already Elder Linda!” He shook his head.

“What Elder? I am only 21 this year.”

“Family rules! Any member who has achieved the Chakra Stage is the Elder of the Family.”

“Like you ever cared for such rules.”

Sigil shrugged.

The woman in front of him was Linda Grey, the youngest Elder of the Grey Family since the family’s establishment.

“You are right. I should have started by complimenting on your figure and how this chef’s outfit does you injustice. If I haven’t personally seen you in your training outfit, I would have thought that you don’t have much to show off.”

He chuckled.

“There you go!” Linda smiled.

“How’s Aria holding up?”

Sigil suddenly asked Linda.

“Well, you know the kid. She bounces up no matter what.”

Linda smiled.

Sigil sighed and couldn’t help but shake his head. If he was in Aria’s shoes, he would have already stopped any contact with strangers and his smile would have already gone for a long time.

“Don’t feel bad for her. If even you take pity on her, then she would truly feel sad.”

“Yeah! Anyway, I need your help too.”

He passed his cellphone to Linda and told her about the anonymous sender.

“Can you track the sender?”

“I can try.” She forwarded the email to her cellphone and returned his phone.

“So? How you holding up? I know all about your case this time. Such unexpectedness is really rare on your first case.”

“It’s not much. We completed the mission and that’s what matters.”

“Here!”

Aria arrived cheerfully with a plate of a sandwich and a cup of coffee.

“Thank you! Aria.”

Sigil thanked her, causing her to blush.

‘No, no, no.’

Sigil immediately shook his head to restrain his urge to tease the cute kid.

“Aria, the other customers are also waiting.” Linda smiled at Aria, causing her to scamper away.

“Oh yeah! I also wanted to know about the familiars we would be allowed to choose from.”

“Sure, I will send you the information about them. But I can’t send the confidential info.”

“Thanks.”

Linda stared at him as he ate.

‘Really, all the girls of this world really like to stare creepily?’

He couldn’t eat his meal in peace.

“What?”

“One of the RedHawks is in town.” Her eyes observing his expression intently.

Sigil nodded.

“I know. It’s Ivan.”

“Why is he here?”

“I don’t know. He contacted me and I am meeting him tomorrow to know that very reason.”

Linda narrowed her eyes.

“Even after what his brother was about to do to Aria?”

“Well, I did cut that Pig’s willy off. And Ivan says that his brother was sentenced to their family’s dungeon.”

Only after hearing this did Linda’s mood get better.

“Alright! But don’t hang around with him for too long. They may never lie but they are well-known schemers.”

Linda stood up and made her way towards the kitchen.