A Terrible Villain And Their Destiny

“I don’t understand.” Bryson grumbled to himself as he sat in the back of a limousine that was unfortunately occupied with Florence, Kristel and Lottie.

“What? Don’t you understand?” Lottie asked nibbling on a few lemon cookies.

“Why are you all here? Don’t you all have something better to do?” Bryson snapped.

“Mister Phillip told me to join you.” Lottie said stuffing herself with the cookies, her face puffing up like a chipmunk as she indulged herself, “Cookie?” She asked offering one to Kristel.

“Oh! Uh, yes. Thank you Miss Lottie.” Kristel said timidly while she fiddled with her hairpin before she accepted the sweet treat.

“Why in the world would he ask you to join me?” Bryson asked.

“Likely for similar reasons why Duchess Coldwater asked you to bring Kristel and I.” Florence said.

“Reasons I still don’t know.” Bryson said still grumbling.

“I’m sure everything will be cleared once we get there.” Florence said calmly.

“I hope we get to use these cool licenses.” Lottie said holding up a plastic card and staring at it.

“Another thing that raises questions.” Bryson muttered. Added to this is the strange fact that Bryson and these girls were headed to the city for some reason, and they were given a set of licenses and paperwork. Giving them the jurisdiction to investigate the area.

But for what? What is going on there? What does mother want me to do? Bryson thought. He had a bad feeling about this. Clearly his mother already knew something was amiss occurring in the area and chose to send Bryson to deal with it. Likely that meant that it wasn’t going to be too dangerous. But that didn’t make Bryson feel much better.

His questions were slowly being answered the moment the limousine they were in slowed to a halt. Peering outside he saw a few police cars around what looked to be some type of museum. Standing on the steps he saw a man talking to the officers.

I swear I’ve seen him before. Bryson thought staring at the man trying to discern who this was. From his flashy clothing, Bryson could surmise that he was of high standing, though he was still too far away to discern if that crest the man had on him was that of a noble emblem. The familiarity Bryson felt seeing the man told him that he had definitely seen the man before, likely at one of Duke Coldwater’s parties.

As he glanced back to his group, he saw Kristel suddenly freeze and go pale with fear. In a moment it clicked with Bryson. Ah, so that’s Blizwarn. Bryson thought as he looked down at the paperwork he had been handed, then back at the police, then back at Earl Blizwarn. Hmm.

“We’ve arrived Lord Bryson.” The driver announced once the car was parked.

“Alright, wait for our return.” Bryson said. Another minor annoyance was that it seemed that his mother purposefully gave him a driver that he had never ridden with before. It seemed that he was going to have no one to rely on but this team that his mom set up for him.

Hooray for me. Bryson thought internally exiting out of the vehicle. Looking over to the others he saw that Lottie had quickly exited out of the vehicle next to him while Kristel and Florence still remained inside.

Kristel looked like she wanted to run and hide and Florence simply sat next to her holding her hand and trying to assure her. Bryson gave a small sigh as he tried to figure out what to say to help her.

“Hey.” Bryson said gently to Kristel, “You’ll be fine. He’ll be talking to me; you can stay here if you want. I’ll be back.”

“N-no.” Kristel said, “I can come. I’m going to become a knight.” She said trying not to let her voice shake.

“Are you sure?” Bryson asked. Kristel gave a small nod of affirmation in response.

“Alright, come on out then. I don’t want to be here all day.” Bryson said.

Bryson then headed straight towards Earl Blizwarn and the officers. One officer approached to stop him. In response Bryson showed him his card that permitted him to enter the area. The officer looked at the card in surprise but recognizing Bryson as Coldwater and the licence to be valid he let the group through.

“I’m not sure why I’m here either.” Bryson muttered when he saw the officer’s face.

Getting his way over to Earl Blizwarn he introduced himself, “Earl Blizwarn. My name is Bryson Coldwater. I have been sent here by my parents to help you.”

Earl Blizwarn looked at the boy curiously, “Duke Coldwater sent you?” He asked sounding a bit more amused.

“Duchess Coldwater.” Bryson replied.

“Ah, I see. The Duchess believes that you can aid in finding the stolen relic?”

“At the very least she would like me to help oversee the investigation. I do not know how much I could do to help aid in the investigation, as that job should be left to the professionals.” Bryson said as he handed his paperwork to the officer next to the Earl.

“Well these are valid. You do have access to our resources. I welcome you to this investigation Lord Coldwater.” The officer said glancing through the sheets.

“You don’t seem too surprised mister…?” Bryson said.

“Detective Snowberry.” The officer introduced himself, he was a larger man who looked to be in his mid forties, “Other noble families have done similar things for past cases before.”

“The precincts are fine with this?” Bryson asked sounding surprised.

“We don’t always get a choice in the matter.” Detective Snowberry admitted, “But for the most part it usually works out well enough. The families that send their children to join these investigations tend to choose the best they have.”

“But you said most of the time.”

“There have been situations where their presence had made things harder. But still, having high-quality magic users is always going to have benefits considering that they are rather rare.” Detective Snowberry said.

“Have any of my siblings worked on one of these investigations before?”

“Yes, both Lord Gareth and Lady Viola have helped in investigations before, they both proved quite capable.”

“That’s news to me.” Bryson said.

“Could you please continue this conversation some other time.” Earl Blizwarn said, “I believe there are other matters to discuss.”

“Ah, yes. My apologies.” Detective Snowberry said, “I suppose it would be appropriate for you to tell Lord Bryson here what has happened. I will be continuing on with my search. I will see you in the precinct if you need anything after this.” As the detective headed off, Earl Blizwarn directed his attention to Bryson.

“So Lord Bryson, your mother Duchess Coldwater sent you here to help retrieve what I lost?” He asked.

“Um, I actually was not told the specific details. I thought something had happened within the museum?” Bryson asked confused.

“Yes, a family heirloom that I lent had gone missing.”

“I see. What was this item?”

“A mask that was used by one of my ancestors.”

“Was it enchanted?”

“Yes, with a minor illusion spell that allowed voice amplification.”

Bryson blinked in surprise, “For what purpose?”

“Ah.” Earl Blizwarn said realizing Bryson’s confusion, “This is not a mask for combat. This was used for the theatre. It was one of the first masks to be used for that purpose. It was extremely valuable back then as it is now.”

“First? How old is this thing?” Bryson asked. Basic amplification spells on items have been around for centuries at this point.

“About three hundred and fifty years ago and is valued at five point two million credits.”

“Ah. I see why you are concerned about it being stolen.”

“Indeed.”

“Woah, five million for a mask?” Lottie said in disbelief.

Earl Blizwarn looked over to Lottie, seemingly noticing the other three for the first time, “Yes it is.” He said cautiously, “And you are?”

“Oh, I’m Lottie!” She said with a bright smile, “This is Florence and Kristel.”

Florence gave a small bow of recognition as she purposefully positioned herself in front of a jumpy Kristel. Kristel spent most of her time looking at the ground and nodding her head in response to her name.

“They’re here to assist me.” Bryson said after receiving a quizzical look from the earl.

“I see.” Earl Blizwarn said with a dismissive nod, “I suppose that if they were approved by your mother then they can be here as well.” He said not even sparing a glance at Kristel.

“So is there anything you can tell me about the robbery?” Bryson asked.

“I’m sure the detective can give you more details, but it seemed as though early in the morning right around dawn someone broke in and stole the mask.”

“Just the mask?”

“Yes. It was being held in storage as it was supposed to be displayed in a different area of the museum for the week.”

“Huh. Has the mask been around here for a while?”

“A couple of weeks now.”

“I see. Thank you for the information, I’ll leave you to yourself.” Bryson said as he indicated for the others to follow him.

“So we get to play detective. That’s going to be fun right Kristel?” Lottie said cheerfully.

“H-huh? Oh yeah.” Kristel said still focusing on the retreating Earl Blizwarn.

“Oh come on Kristel, don’t worry about him. He doesn’t even know who you are.”

“It’s always good to be cautious with these things.” Bryson said.

“Oh please. I doubt your brother even remembers me. You don’t need to be so protective over me.” Lottie said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

“I just know you’re dumb enough to let yourself be seen.” Bryson said rolling his eyes.

“Hey! I would never.”

“Really now?”

“Of course, it’s something you want right? If it’s what you want of course I’ll keep myself hidden.” Lottie said earnestly which caused Bryson to be taken slightly aback.

“So what do you think of this Earl?” Florence asked changing the topic.

“Him? I’m not sure. Don’t you find it a bit weird that he had two valuables stolen from him in what? Two months?” Bryson said.

“You think that he’s up to something because of that?”

“Well mother sent me here with her for a reason.” Bryson said pointing to Kristel, “I would like to see why.”