Nera eyed him curiously and Allen proceeded to tell her about his dream and what the voice had told him about the Grim Reaper and the Grim Pieces. While he was explaining everything to her, she tilted her head to the side.
“That sounds pretty crazy, right?” Allen queried after Nera did not say anything for a moment.
“I’ve heard stranger believe it or not. If we take this at face value, this means that there are nine people at least involved in this mess and that the Grim Reaper isn’t the one behind it." She held out all her fingers except one for emphasis.
“Who exactly is the Grim Reaper anyway? You can’t actually be talking about the Grim Reaper, a literal walking skeleton with a hood and scythe, right?”
Nera shook her hood.
“Nah, the Grim Reaper is just a person...probably. They’re just called that because they’re infamous for causing all sorts of mayhem. No one is quite sure what their deal is, but they’re definitely powerful and definitely not someone you’d want to run into in a dark alley or the middle of a fortress.”
“If they’re so dangerous, why hasn’t anyone captured them yet?”
“They can’t. Many have gone after them and tried but they have powers like the ones you were told the Grim Pieces have. They can warp the Underworld to their will. If anyone tries to fight the Grim Reaper, they can just throw those saps into some hole at the bottom of the Underworld and call it a day.”
“So the part about the Grim Pieces coming from the Grim Reaper lines up then.” Allen stated hesitantly.
“I’m not sure about that. Why would someone as fearsome as the Grim Reaper give their power up? It doesn’t add up to me.” Nera dismissed.
“Then, maybe someone is just imitating the Grim Reaper’s power with the Grim Pieces?”
“Nope…I’ve never heard of anything that could replicate the Grim Reaper’s abilities. If those did exist, the Grim Reaper would have been caught a long time ago. I feel like all that talk about ‘Grim Pieces’ is just a hoax regardless of what you heard in your dream.” Nera proclaimed before allowing herself to fall backward onto the roof and look up to the morning sky. Her messy black and white hair was scattered in all directions.
“Ugh, we won’t get anywhere just guessing aimlessly like this.”
"So, what now? We don’t have much more idea about last night than before." Allen wanted to be sure of what happened, so he could try his best to avoid anything like last night as well as possible. He was sure it was the same for Nera.
Nera groaned at that question.
"I guess we'll have to ask the Nitwit below us. He's a Crafter as well and a lot more familiar with magical stuff than I am, so maybe he knows something. But, make sure you don’t say anything about me having a ‘Grim Piece’ or whatever. My reputation is already bad as it is.”
Allen nodded in response and she promptly stood up to her feet and walked over to the roof's ledge."See you downstairs and happy climbing squirrel boy." With that snide remark, she nonchalantly walked off the edge of the roof.
"Ugh, you know I'm still healin-Wait, shouldn't she be healing too, but when I looked her over there wasn't a scratch on Nera. Just what is she?"
Allen walked through the front door of Trinkets & Treasures several minutes later. This area of the building looked much more like the antique and machine parts store he was told it was. As Allen looked around at the shelves of tools and knickknacks, he could not help but think about how odd a combination this was. At the counter, Nera stood waiting with her arms folded along with the odd man he had seen earlier behind the counter and the mechanical penguin standing atop of it. It seemed to not be as agitated as it was before.
"..." Allen froze as he spotted what else was behind the counter. There, standing next to the shop owner was a woman dressed in an elaborate French maid outfit. The woman's skin and hair were completely a metallic bronze and she had lines going down from her eyes that were currently closed, which made Allen figure that she could see without them using some sort of hi-tech sensors.
"An android maid? You really have one of those? I’m getting less and less convinced all this isn’t some strange hallucination or an elaborate prank."
Allen had seen a few marvelous technologies since coming to Atelier City such as hologram and hover technology but nothing as advanced as a fully functioning android maid.
"Oh yes, you could say she's a family heirloom. We did not get to properly introduce ourselves, did we? I am Walter Isaac Theologia, but you can call me Wit and my android maid is Owlette." He motioned towards the android as if showing off a brand-new car.
"Oh, we didn't? I'm Allen," He followed, still kind of dazed about seeing the android maid. It was like something out of an old sci-fi show.
Nera seemed like she wanted to say something at that moment, but she just shrugged instead.
"Let's get to the point, Nitwit. Have you ever heard of a Grim Reaper Trial?"
Wit looked perplexed for a few seconds and began to fidget as he appeared to thoroughly rack his mind over the question while Allen and Nera peered on expectantly. The tension was so thick, even a saw wouldn't be able to cut through it.
"No, can't say I've heard of that at all. " This response instantly deflated the tension in the air and caused both Allen and Nera to let out a deep groan.
“You can just forget it then. It was just something mentioned those thugs that beat us up were talking about. They were probably trying to scare us by throwing the Grim Reaper’s name," Nera exposited deceitfully before letting out an extremely awkward laugh. Allen figured she was not the type that was good at lying.
‘It should be alright though. But, we were beaten up by thugs? What exactly did she tell them happened?’
Walter seemed to see no holes in her story and continued on like normal.
“Then again, I may be a Crafter but I don't associate with other ones much. I spend too much valuable time tinkering with my machines to waste time socializing in magical society."
Allen perked up at this.
"Magical society? You mean there's a whole group of Crafters somewhere?"
"Indeed, right in the heart of Atelier City, in fact. Actually, how about you two repay me for letting you rest here by delivering a certain package there, and maybe you both can find some clues about your perplexing situation as well?"
Allen thought it over carefully for a few moments. Going into the underworld for a third time could be very dangerous but also worth it if he was able to get the answers he sought.
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