The Final Memento

Ashes. Smoke. A charred black building that had hidden the secrets of the church. Burned down in the haze of toxic dust.

Only the sickeningly sweet smell of burning flesh of the person most important to her was missing.

That's right. Someone had firebombed the inner temple the night before the royal investigation.

In hindsight, it was probably not the best idea to tell the alleged criminals when the investigation would be so that they could get rid of the evidence.

Callisto could feel her skin itch with the remembrance that she could have taken some papers when she had first discovered the white-collar crimes.

Surely, that couldn't have been the only moment there would ever be to find evidence.

Besides, she had gotten such a great deal. With dragon scales, fangs, and blood in her coffers so graciously given to her, Callisto felt as if she was some contract genius with now many benefits she was getting from simply helping out the prince.

Though, having to sift through the burnt ashes of what used to be the secret room didn't make her feel too good about the prospects, and reminded her of how much she hated fires.

Nox's eyes bore into the back of her skull as she set up a magic circle over the general area as if she somehow were to blame for the setback.

Though, Callisto noticed that it didn't seem like he was too distraught about this obvious tampering with the investigation.

He probably didn't care too much about the result, which is why she brought some people of her own to reach the truth.

Callisto's probing turned up negative as well. Whoever covered up the evidence did a good job of erasing everything. In doing so, they also erased all evidence of Callisto's own traces of snooping around.

That could mean only one thing to her though: They had a holy magic user on their side. And based on the game, the only person who could use powerful holy magic was…

Ethyl. How was she involved? No, why was she involved?

Ethyl shouldn't have the level of knowledge of high-tier holy magic as of now in the story, as well as be involved with any deeper plots beside her cookie-cutter love story.

Unless there was someone-or something-that she didn't know about had an equivalent power.

All that remained of the paper trail were ashes and empty halls. She felt the gnawing feeling of regret growing on her as she desperately tried to find any traces of evidence.

Callisto didn't even think that if there was no evidence of any crimes, the only sin that she cared about wouldn't be revealed either.

Cursing under her breath, Callisto distracted herself and went for the room that she was anticipating the entire time.

The now-unlocked treasury.

----

'They really shouldn't feel comfortable with hoarding this amount of gold,'

Callisto thought, knee-deep in shiny yellow coins. They clinked loudly and with a polish that just from the sound, a person could tell that they were newly minted, and never used. Their only purpose was to decorate a room.

Out of a sudden curiosity, she bit into a coin, leaving a faint dent with her canine, and tossed it back into the massive pile, dissatisfied.

Nox had thankfully left her to her own devices, but also gave her a pissy look as he went to go talk to the other investigators as if it was Callisto's fault that there was no evidence.

Uh, Nox was kinda right, but he didn't know that, so Callisto was still annoyed he kept acting like a hateful child towards her.

She was doing him a favor by letting the royal family get the credit for what would have been a huge criminal case.

But back to the task at hand. Amongst all the shiny metal, there were a couple of items of interest.

Fancy suits of armor that looked like they haven't been worn in ages, judging by the design of the armor.

Callisto wondered what a church could possibly need for such fortified knight's armor since the Saint Templars simply wore light metal plates over their robes.

But most importantly, a little way into the treasury, behind hills of gold, was a sphere about the size of a bowling ball set on top of a marble pillar.

It was clear, but became a milky-white around a fracture on its side, and a bright light came from within.

It was Lux's Orb.

A little underwhelming now that Callisto had seen it in person, considering the importance that the saintess had placed on it.

Now she knew for certain where it was, though the lady didn't think she could do anything about obtaining it. For now.

But if she played her cards right, Blake could be useful for her.

Callisto scanned the room once over, looking for the 'Relics' she needed so badly.

What did they look like? How many were there, and how many did she need? Callisto had no idea.

But she had a feeling that she wasn't the only one looking for them. Not just a feeling, no, she knew. Based on that book, 'The Truth of the Conception'. Hopefully, they would be willing to share.

If not, well, all Callisto needed to do was find out who they were and…

Callisto didn't get to finish her thought, as something caught her eye that made her heart almost stop altogether.

A ring. Not just any ring. The color, the design… It was a ring from her original world, the one she received for their first anniversary. Could it be a coincidence? Only one way to find out.

The ring had an inscription on the inside that said: 'My darling moon, the stars could never outshine you.'

She remembered that phrase by heart. [He] was quite the romantic when he wanted to be.

She remembered him getting super embarrassed when she mentioned it, even though all she wanted to do was brag about it.

'How? Why? This doesn't make any sense…'

She looked at the ring, slipping it onto her ring finger with ease. A perfect fit. Callisto sighed.

She honestly didn't care how it got here. She already had too many questions and too few answers. It provided her with some solace while the antee ramped up around her.

After a moment, Callisto took it back off and slipped the ring into her pocket after a furtive look at the entrance of the treasury.

"What are you doing?"

She turned around with a start, a hand on the astrolabe dangling on her waist, relaxing when it was just Nox.

Seriously, how do all these guys manage to sneak up on her? She trained every day, but the main characters were on another level, she supposed.

"Nothing."

Nox looked around, a frown on his face.

"There's way too much gold in this room."

"I agree. It's kind of obsessive."

"No, I mean, it doesn't match up with the ledger." He hit a binder of papers against his free hand, signaling to Callisto that there was hard evidence that wasn't destroyed. Her eyes lit up, and for a second she almost dropped her eye glamor.

"You found proof?"

"Yeah, no thanks to you. Also, the investigation has ended for today, did you find anything?"

"Other than Lux's Orb being damaged in the back of the treasury, not really."

"What?! That's awful! How come they didn't report it…"

The conversation drifted off as people made their way back home, the night dawning on the nobles.

And as the sun set, with questions unanswered, the red-haired man who knew all watched the moon rise as he turned a ring on his index finger. Absentmindedly taking it on and off, tracing the interior etching with a hollowness in his heart and a sinking feeling in his stomach.

A sinking feeling that told him that, for the first time in his life, he would regret his actions.