After reuniting with Anna at the tea house, I gave her a brief summary of what occurred. From what happened at Jackson's rented house to the pursuit afterwards. We decided to meet with the others and let them know as well.

Finding Cally and Leroy wasn't difficult. While Eastwatch was a popular vacation destination, meant for rest and relaxation, this was still the Solarian Empire. The city had a small shopping district that sold enchanted items and magical supplies. After all, plenty of House scions and minor nobles visited the city. Sometimes, they needed to perform a certain kind of magic.

Once Anna and I met up with our companions, I gave them both the same brief summary. When I finished, we decided to head back to the Southside Inn after Cally finished buying the supplies for her runic circle. While we could've gone to Mireya's shop, or the chamber underneath it rather, we didn't want to go there too often and arouse people's suspicions.

By the time we arrived back at the Southside Inn, it was late morning. We gathered in the room that I shared with Anna. Cally casted a few spells to ensure our privacy and prevent people from eavesdropping on our conversation.

That's when I gave everyone a more detailed explanation of what happened. I also showed them the invisibility bracelet that I took from my pursuer. When I finished, everyone wore grave expressions on their faces.

"If the kidnappers have Third Star martial artists, then they're a more serious threat than we anticipated," Cally said with a serious expression on her face.

Anna frowned.

"I'm more concerned about the bracelet that Gabriel found," she said. "It looks like the one that we found on the fiend that we fought in the Icefall region."

I nodded. Back in the Icefall region, my companions and I ended up fighting a Third Circle demon summoner and a Third Star fiend. It was a tough fight, since most of us had only been First Ranked at the time, but we prevailed in the end.

"I'm no artificer," Cally said. "However, if those two bracelets look alike, then there's a good chance that they were made by the same person."

"In that case, it's likely that we're dealing with the same group of demon worshipers as before," I said. "While they could've gotten the bracelets from an outsider, I doubt it. In their shoes, I wouldn't trust any outside sources. I'd want to keep it all in-house, so to speak."

The others nodded.

"Just to be sure, we should consult an expert," Cally said. "If nothing else, it wouldn't hurt to confirm our suspicions." She sighed. "If it is the same group of demon worshipers, then Leroy and I just wasted our entire morning for nothing. There's no point in confirming demonic activity if we know that demon worshipers are involved."

I mulled it over for a moment.

"Maybe not," I said. "The man I fought wasn't a fiend. When I checked his eyes, they weren't red. Perhaps the kidnappers aren't demon worshipers themselves. They could just be working with them, or even for them. There may not be any demonic activity at all, at least not directly."

Cally brightened up at that.

"I wonder what food stalls have to do with any of this," Leroy said, looking a bit confused. "You mentioned that the old landlady overheard Jackson talking about them. This could be a lead, or maybe Jackson was just hungry in that moment."

I shrugged with a helpless expression on my face.

"Your guess is as good as mine," I said. "However, we should still look into it, if only to confirm if it's a dead end or not."

Cally snorted.

"How do you propose we do that?" she asked in a sarcastic tone. "Go around and eat a bunch of food from food stalls."

"Yes," I said, nodding.

Cally blinked at me, caught off guard by my response.

"That was a joke!"

"Well, do you have any better ideas?"

Cally opened her mouth, before closing it with a frustrated expression on her face.

"No," she said after a moment. "Though maybe we can narrow down the search. There are literally hundreds of food stalls scattered all over the city. Investigating them all would take us months. By then, dozens more people would've been kidnapped."

I grimaced. Good point.

"We could focus on the food stalls that opened when the disappearances started, or just before then," Anna said.

The rest of us nodded.

"That sounds like a good starting point to me," I said. "Why don't you and Cally look into that?" I held up the two invisibility bracelets. "Meanwhile, Leroy and I will visit the collateral family of House Ironward to confirm whether or not these were made by the same person."

House Ironward were artificers. If anyone could tell us if the two invisibility bracelets were made by the same person, they could.

"Aw," Anna said, pouting. "Why can't we go together?"

Cally rolled her eyes but didn't say a word.

"It's best if I visit the collateral family of House Ironward in an official capacity," I said. "Which means bringing Leroy along, since he is my bodyguard."

Anna crossed her arms and scowled.

"Stupid Houses and your stupid rules," she said. "Why do you people need bodyguards? I don't, and I'm perfectly fine."

I had always wondered about that. For the Houses, having a bodyguard was a status symbol as well as a means of protection. It was also a sign that House scion had come of age. Kaylee and Cally didn't have bodyguards, since they were still underage. However, Anna was different. Why didn't she have a bodyguard? Was it because she came from a Clan? No, that couldn't be it. Andre had a bodyguard.

"Why is that, by the way?" I asked. "You may be part of Clan Thorne, but you're also a scion of House Thorne."

On the surface, Clan Thorne was a collateral family of House Thorne, making Anna a House scion. In fact, she was born into House Thorne's main family, meaning she was a House scion before she joined Clan Thorne.

"Well, I do," Anna said with some reluctance. "Several of them, in fact. I just don't like traveling around with them unless I need to."

I blinked at her in surprise. I wasn't the only one. Even Cally seemed surprised by this revelation.

"You do?" Cally and I said at the same time, before glancing at one another.

"Yes," Anna said. "You've met them. Remember Captain Shannon and her people? They're my bodyguards."

Captain Shannon was Anna's bodyguard? She was a Third Star martial artist who led a squad of Clan Thorne's warriors. I met her in the Icefall region a few months ago, after she saved me from a demon summoner's attack. We hadn't interacted all that much, but I had a positive impression of her.

"Wait, why do you have so many bodyguards?" I asked. "One or two, I can understand. Maybe even three, in extreme circumstances. But an entire squad? That seems… excessive."

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Anna grimaced.

"Why do you think I leave them behind whenever I can get away with it?" she asked. "It wasn't my idea. Blame my father. He felt like one or two bodyguards weren't enough, so he gave me an entire squad. My mother agreed to it for some reason."

I opened my mouth to say something, closed it, before I opened it again.

"I knew Lord Trevor was protective of you," I said. "I just didn't realize it was to this degree."

"Don't your bodyguards resent you for always leaving them behind?" Leroy asked with a frown. "I get annoyed when my lord goes off on his own and gets hurt. I can't imagine how your bodyguards must feel."

Anna snorted.

"It's not like I have them idling away, doing nothing at all," she said. "I send them out on missions that benefit my clan." She paused. "Rather, I used to, in the First Timeline. In this one, I have them helping the Church of the Sun with fighting demons and such." She glanced at me and smiled. "A certain grand priest even wrote me a letter, praising my bodyguards for their skill and courage."

I assumed she meant Grand Priest Darius.

"The same grand priest also congratulated me on my engagement," Anna continued. "He also complained that he heard about it through rumors instead of hearing about it from a certain ungrateful brat. His words, not mine."

Yep, she was talking about Grand Priest Darius. I sighed. She was right. I should've informed him about my engagement to Anna. He was like a grandfather to me, and deserved to be treated as such. However, in my defense, I had been busy.

Still, that was no excuse. Grand Priest Darius helped me with the demonic incursion in the Icefall region. For that alone, I should've visited him in person and thanked him.

I made a mental note to rectify this mistake after dealing with the situation here in Eastwatch. As part of my apology, I should bring a gift of some kind. Hmm, what would be appropriate? Something to think about.

"To get back to the topic on hand," I said, diverting the conversation. "Why don't you and Cally investigate the food stalls while Leroy and I visit the collateral family of House Ironward?"

Anna sighed.

"Fine," she said, before looking at Cally. "It's been a while since I spent some alone time with this one."

Cally snorted.

"That's because you're a brute who spends most of her time indulging her lust," she said.

Anna let out a mock gasp.

"You wound me," she said. "I thought we were the best of friends."

"We're friends," Cally said. "I'll concede that much. However, Kaylee is my best friend."

Anna mulled it over for a bit, before nodding.

"Fair enough," she said, before standing up. "Well, there's no time like the present. Shall we head out?"

"You two go ahead," I said. "I need some time to get ready."

If I was going to make an official visit to the House Ironward collateral family, I needed to make a proper show of it.

"Here's a kiss for luck," Anna said.

I thought she was going to give me a quick peck. However, Anna grabbed the back of my head and shoved her tongue down my throat. It was quick, forceful, and left me lightheaded. By the time Anna pulled away, I was in a daze.

"Will you hurry up?" Cally demanded.

Anna chuckled and together the two of them left. I sat there for a bit, before snapping myself out of it. Leroy shook his head at me.

"I just don't understand your tastes, my lord," he said.

I shrugged at him before grinning.

"To each their own," I said. "Now, let's get ready."

With that, Leroy and I prepared for the upcoming visit.

The House Ironward collateral family occupied a small mansion located near Castle Sandstrike, in an area called the Upper District. This was Eastwatch's equivalent of Sunheart's Sun District, the part of the city reserved for the nobility.

While House Sandstrike ruled Eastwatch, a few other Houses had a presence in the city for one reason or another. They were all collateral families, to avoid offending House Sandstrike and causing friction. A number of minor noble families also lived in the Upper District, all vassals of House Sandstrike.

This area was quieter than the rest of the city, since there were little to no tourists here. It was also more beautiful. The streets were wider, and the buildings were more ornate and spaced apart. Small gardens dotted the area, adding a splash of nature to the urban environment.

Even so, this was still Eastwatch. The smell of delicious food and the sound of music filled the air. While there weren't any street musicians playing on corners, there were plenty of tea houses and restaurants that had their own bands.

Leroy and I traveled through the Upper District, riding in a hired carriage. I forewent any disguise rings, since I was here as Gabriel Sturm instead of my fake identities. I wore a typical House outfit, while Leroy wore a House Sturm uniform. However, we were regretting our choices due to the heat.

It was just after noon by this point, and the temperature was reaching its peak. Together with the humidity, I felt like I was being steamed. Leroy didn't look much better. It got so bad that I summoned a bit of my [Freezing Mist] to help us both stay cool.

The House Ironward mansion was short, a single story tall, but wide. It occupied a large plot of land, which was surrounded by a tall wall. I also noticed several magical defenses in place. All in all, the place was a small fortress. It would take a considerable amount of power to break through.

The hired carriage dropped Leroy and I off at the front gate. I paid the driver extra to stay and wait for us to come back out. Afterwards, I approached the front gate. To my surprise, there weren't any guards. Instead, I noticed a pair of… Well, at first glance I thought they were statues that looked like armored soldiers. Each one carried a stone spear in its hand.

However, I sensed mana from the both of them. That's when I realized that they weren't statues at all, but magic constructs. These were a special kind of enchanted item that were semi-autonomous and could act independently, almost like living beings. Powerful wizards could even imbue magic constructs with spirits, enhancing their abilities by an order of magnitude.

Magical constructs were both expensive and difficult to create, as well as maintain, making them quite rare. That's why I hadn't recognized them at first. Few Houses had them, let alone anyone else. The only exceptions were artificer Houses, since they could create their own constructs.

When I approached the front gate, the magical constructs moved, blocking my path with their spears.

"State your identity and purpose for visiting," the magic constructs said at the same time. Their voices sounded harsh, like grinding stone.

"My name is Gabriel Sturm," I said. "I am here to visit this collateral family of House Ironward." I pulled out the letter of introduction and showed it to the magic constructs. "I have a letter here from the heir to House Ironward."

The magic constructs studied the paper, before nodding.

"Stay here," one of them said. "I will inform the master."

The same magic construct walked through the front gate and left. While Leroy and I waited, I took a moment to study the remaining construct. I wasn't an expert, but even I could tell that it was well-made. Whoever created it must've been a skilled artificer.

From its mana, I guessed that it was equivalent to a Third Star martial artist in terms of strength. I could defeat it if necessary, but its stone body would make it difficult at my current strength. Perhaps if I used some of my new Ice techniques to weaken it first… My train of thought trailed off as I considered the various means and methods I'd used to take down a stone construct.

A few moments later, the other construct came back. It was accompanied by another stone construct, one designed to look like a female servant. The latter even wore clothes for some reason.

"Greetings, Lord Gabriel," the servant construct said in a pleasant female voice. She spoke in a polite, formal tone. "Please follow me to see the master. However, I must apologize in advance. The master is busy in his workshop and may not notice your arrival right away. If you would prefer, I can bring you to the drawing room instead."

I shook my head.

"No, bring me to your master," I said. "If he doesn't notice me right away, I can wait."

The servant construct nodded.

"Very well then," it said. "Please follow me."

Leroy and I followed the servant construct towards the back of the property. Along the way, we passed through a garden being tended to by more even constructs.

"Are there any actual people here?" I asked. "Or are all the servants constructs?"

The servant construct paused before answering.

"The master has… Difficulty dealing with people," it said. "He prefers constructs."

I raised an eyebrow at that. An anti-social shut in who preferred the company of magic constructs. Perhaps coming here had been a bad idea.

A few minutes later, we came across a building located behind the small mansion. It looked solid and sturdy, as if created to withstand explosions. Or maybe contain them. Perhaps both.

"Is this your master's workshop?" I asked.

The servant construct nodded.

"Yes," it said. "He had it built so his experiments wouldn't damage the main building." It glanced back at me. "Please, take care when you are speaking with the master. Most of the time, his workshop is quite safe. However, accidents do occur. If that happens, I will shield you with this body."

This body? That was an interesting way to phrase it. I studied the servant construct. This one was different from the others we came across. It was too lifelike. No matter how much constructs resembled living beings, they weren't. They were similar to robots on Earth. However, constructs imbued with spirits were another matter altogether.

"You're a spirit, aren't you?" I asked.

The servant construct stilled, before turning its-No, her head towards me. Well, spirits didn't have genders as far as I knew. However, since Kiki was in a female body, I decided to view her as a woman for now.

"Yes," she said. "You may call me Kiki."

"I'm surprised that you admitted it right away," I said. "I thought you would try to hide it."

Kiki snorted.

"Why would I?" she said, dropping her formal tone. "It's not like I'm some shameful secret. I just don't bother telling people that I am a spirit. Few ever realize it on their own." She tilted her head. "I wonder what gave me away."

I shrugged.

"Maybe it's because I made a contract with a spirit myself," I said. "I'd bring her out to greet you, but she's sleeping right now."

Kiki leaned forward a little. Leroy tensed, ready to take action just in case she tried anything. However, Kiki just studied me for several moments before nodding.

"Yes," she said. "I can sense her inside you. The two of you must have a strong bond if she can use you as a vessel."

I smiled.

"We're partners," I said.

Kiki nodded.

"I'm a little jealous," she said in a wistful tone. "To be one with-" She shook her head and adopted her formal tone again. "I apologize for getting distracted. Let me bring you to the master now."

With that, she walked towards the workshop. I blinked at her retreating figure, caught off guard by her sudden change in attitude. Leroy and I glanced at each other, before we followed after Kiki.

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