In the argument between Commander Jurgen and Lieutenant Otto, I remembered that the stolen item was a sigil with a powerful forbidden curse on it. Naturally, the specialty of curses belonged to the Rook series. But, this was not a regular case. It was apparently, as I had second-heard, an import from the Land Beyond Mag Mell, supposedly part of the Mana Of Holy One series.

Some notes were crossed out, and new notes were written over them, like each path of the maze being explored and rounding back to the start. The report outlined the cause of Oulanem’s awakening first, and it always seemed to link back to this cursed sigil incident. The import happened through a concerning method as well, and the mana traces found on it were discreetly found to be similar to Commander Jurgen’s.

That was the obvious link. However, that was not all, not in its entirety whatsoever. Stefan’s report mentioned the exact cause of awakening as being the case of the sigil’s usage. It was puzzling how a mere sigil could lead to identity change, lest one of great power as Oulanem. 

That was enough proof that the spirits alone were not involved.

I seemed to have dozed off, and I was now in a strange dream with surroundings feeling larger than they should be. Frederich sat in front of me, who was telling me about the argument in the Eastern House. It was not one from my memory, that was for sure.

“Sir, I do not think the argument happened out of spite. Some rumors suggest that it happened because of the curse. What do you think of it? “

His voice seemed to come from the back, and it took time to let myself become focused on the movements of his lips in sync with his voice.

“Sir?”

Then, he came close to my ears and whispered.

“Can a curse really hold that much power to let one be estranged of their own identity?"

Then, I saw that I was walking down the hallway of the Eastern House, overhearing people’s talk.

“Did you hear? Commander Jurgen apparently took the 1st investigatory unit under his command.”

“Sir?”

I was again sitting in front of Frederich, and pointed my gun at him, and said in a tone I had heard before.

“Why did you betray me?”

Then, I remembered Heinrich’s words in his last moments.

“Do not move, you traitor!”

Did Frederich betray me for the same reason as Heinrich did? All my inferences were in the air, not grounded in any logic or reason. Now, I was reminded of Lukas’ identity overturn. Whose identity it was, I could not tell. All of these cases, with Frederich, Lukas, and Lieutenant Otto, seemed to share a commonality of identity estrangement.

I woke up, and I seemed to have turned the report pages to one sticky note:

“Commander Jurgen is the master of Giestig, and Rausch.”

Now, the cases of psychological interference linked back to Commander Jurgen, albeit Stefan did not conclude that. However, the strangeness remained that it was an import from another land. Nonetheless, I missed the obvious detail which was hinted back when I met Commander Klaus, and Giestig was casted. The moment Commander Klaus suggested that he was not the cause of it, it should have become clear that a third party was involved. 

I should have looked into it earlier, and my failure has cost the lives of many.

I postponed the remaining contents of the report for later. I could not spare an instant and let Commander Jurgen have his free reign over the lives around me. I selected the members of my unit, submitting it to the Commander. I did not discuss it with him firsthand, and when I mentioned it, he seemed to trust my judgement.

With all this information, I still could not discern Commander Jurgen’s motive for action. The main question lay in the choice of personnel to carry out his actions. There was also the mystery behind who the identity was being overturned into, which clearly was not from a small group of people. After all, ‘Giestig’ always required another identity to be turned into.

I returned back to each and every member to inform them about their potential assignment. When I met Stefan again, I discussed his line of inquiry with him which led him to the conclusions he made in the report, purely out of wonder and curiosity.

“Sir, the report contained all information that came up during my investigation at the repeated designations in the Eastern house. It was thanks to Commander Klaus for assigning me there.”

Now that he had mentioned the Commander, I could only fathom how he realized that there was an anomaly about the Eastern House. Despite this, I did not understand why he did not tell me about Stefan’s assignment. He also seemed to have realized that I had seen the sight with him holding the gun. The answer to how remained unknown to me.

As the links started to make sense, there were some aspects of the case which still remained a mystery, such as the link to all this to the mansion.

“Look at the hour, sir. Would you like a cup of coffee?”

While he was pouring a cup, I asked him about the mention of the “mansion of rebellion,” which was there in the report, written on a sticky note.

“I had overheard this from the talks of Commander Jurgen with his fellows, and he seemed to always mention it. I was not able to discern its meaning until later, when Commander Jurgen slipped the address.”

There was not much to work from here, except that there might be a clue hidden in the mansion that would point to his motives, or his whereabouts. After the formation of his own investigatory unit, it was deemed ‘dangerous’ by the military due to them delving into forbidden magic, and Commander Jurgen has been missing since. I was not aware of the exact details myself.

“They had apparently been experimenting with some of the original spirit magic. I think they are referred to as primordials.”

Now, it was as if I had read about it before, and I did, in the mansion’s library, where there were mentions of blasphemous rituals. The fact that it was imported, and magic under the name of Niamh was used, started to make some sense. It seemed the answers will truly be revealed after a revisit.