Redstone: Sanctuaries
Chapter 30: A Surprising One

Hubbert Decker is confused. As if it wasn't bad enough for him that he was being targeted for murder, he now has to face the fact that he is dead.

"Relatedly dead," the correction of Rolan gnawed. "Again just dead in Redstone."

"I still have to go to Nordem."

"yeah. You're gonna travel by the name of Huges Boston or Jim Smith, whatever. Then your hair should be soaked in charcoal or something."

"Yikes!" Hubbert scrunched his nose.

"For your safety. They must have checked the redheads."

"Can I just wear a wig? I like my hair." Hubbert didn't mean to be sarcastic, but his tone did sound that way.

"You still have time to think about your favorite?" reply Rolan. "good. We can buy an old-fashioned wig that palace jokers used to wear. You must look very, very normal with long white wigs rolling in the ends."

Hubbert mengos. He walked side by side with Rolan towards his room. The doctor offers to drive her to the library, but Hubbert guesses that Rolan's intention is to watch her.

Spilled sunlight illuminated the corridor from the window panes on their right side. Hubbert looked out, wondering for himself how he could be dragged into the political drama of the nobles. He wondered what was wrong with his steps. Should he have gone to Nordem by sea? Shouldn't he have told Jose about the figure he saw?

Hubbert quit. Rolan looked at him curiously. "Why?" tanyakanya.

"What happened to Lady Redstone?" Hubbert asked. He wondered why this question had been forgotten. His eyes looked at Rolan seriously, demanding honesty. "We haven't had a chance to discuss this because we're busy talking about Van Heiden. What happened to Lady Redstone? You said he was sick in my place? Did you say I brought a demon into this house?"

Rolan was silent for a moment, looking like he was weighing what he should have said. "Say you see a strange man whose face is full of thread fibers, right?"

Hubbert nodded stiffly. Sunlight drenched part of his body. The sky was still blue out there, but he shuddered at the sight of yesterday. He thought he just saw it wrong. But the direction of this conversation seems to be revealing something else. Things he didn't want to know.

"Well, at night, Mary saw exactly the same thing as you," Rolan explained lightly. "So somehow, he got into another realm."

Silence crawled the corridor. There was a faint sound of servants working and grass cut. The sound was very faint, but so the only hold for Hubbert to convince himself that he was still in the real world. Rolan said a strange and senseless thing with a very light tone, as if every day there were people entering another realm. It was as if the man was joking. But Hubbert knew the doctor wasn't kidding. No matter what the explanation was, somehow he could tell that Rolan was serious.

"What about another nature?" Hubbert asked. "I wasn't told about this ... and .. Why did Lady Redstone get hit? Then ... Then if now I go to Nordem and be attacked by another apparition, how dong?"

Rolan laughed sweetly. "That's the goal. You can leave tomorrow and tell everyone you're alive, but Jose won't protect you. You could have another attack on the way, maybe you yourself will be thrown into another realm, it's up to you."

***

Brooks has known Jose Argent since he was a teenager. The young man always tailed behind his lion-like uncle, becoming a messenger boy and messenger.

Upon hearing that their new landlord was an Argent, Brooks thought they would get Marco, Edgar, or maybe Jacob, not Jose.

In his shadow, Jose is just a mischievous young man who is always jumping on the roofs of Redstone, befriending thieves and street people, even being called with the embarrassing nickname, Spare, backup.

When he saw Jose coming as a landlord, the shadow of the mischievous young man disappeared. Jose really looks like a big master. The way he behaves and speaks is different from what he remembers. Even Brooks always unknowingly turns formal and greets him 'my lord' even though Jose himself has allowed him to call first names.

Yes, Jose is still the same person as the teenager he remembered. The young man who always smiled was friendly. The kind young man.

Or so he thinks.

At the moment, Jose doesn't look at all kind-hearted. The young man—ah, no. Jose is no longer a teenager.

The man stood straight in front of Brooks. His eyes were cold and sharp, heartless. There were no remnants of friendly smiles there, not even the usual look of ignorant eyes. Brooks felt like he was dealing with a marble statue in the form of Jose.

"What does this mean, Jose?!" angry shouting. Watering eyes. Hand hurts. Her chest is kempis. "I came because you called me!" he screamed with a broken voice.

"I'm calling you to lunch together, Brooks," said Jose softly. "But what are you doing? As soon as you arrive, you're busy interrogating my waiter?"

"I'm not interrogating, for God's sake!" Brooks snaps. "I was just asking what happened! They say there's a dead man here!"

"There are soon, obviously," said the man next to Jose, who looked like the leader of the soldiers around them. The man was tall, grim-faced, his eyes cold. That's a killer's eye, Brooks knows him well.

Brooks breathed stingingly, dragging his body backwards slowly. He looked around in panic, looking for a weapon. His hand felt his waist, adding to the panic when he did not find his gun.

"Searching this?" Jose held out a hand that had been hidden behind his back. Brooks' gun is in his hands.

Brooks cursed, forgetting that Jose had long been known as the pickpocket-armed young master. Her tears spread. "Jose, if there's a problem, we can talk nicely" she asked trembling. "You and I have known each other for a long time." He laughed, using his hands to measure his height. "Since you were this small. If I offend you, I'm sorry. You always said I was your friend. Aren't you? You gonna give me a chance to explain? I don't even know why I was thrown here." His eyes swept around, growing more anxious when he saw no windows.

He panicked too much to understand what was happening. He remembered after talking to some servants, he went to see Jose. The man hugged him briefly—that was when his gun was taken? Brooks doesn't know. He doesn't feel it. As soon as they entered the house and the main door was closed, these armed strangers came up to him and dragged him downstairs, while Jose just stared with a smile on his face.

Is he going to die today?

Brooks trembling. "We can talk well" he whispered. Arm hurts. Blood flooded from there, flowing down to the fingertips, making it it itchy.

Jose took a breath. "First," he said kindly, "we can start from Hubbert Decker. Why do you want to kill him? Who told you to?"

Brooks froze on the floor. His eyes were staring, his breath was puffing. "Wind you?" reworked.

'Want to kill', not 'have you killed'?

***

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