Time-Line: 10th April 2007
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Change of POV: 3rd POV
A man, middle aged man in his 40s, with gray hair probably from stress and a small goatee. He is wearing black coat, covering his entire body frame with exception of his boots and black gloves.
Man looked sharply at the building in front of him.
The man in question is D-Rank Hunter, in other words a Low-Class being by power ranking.
A cannon fodder.
Precisely.
He is standing in front of Church, in front of Church with dozens of Magical Presences, now obviously not strong enough to be considered even E-Rank.
But certainly above average. Above a standard for 'Basic Human' with little to no Magical Energy to begin.
This man is called Marco Romano, Italian D-Rank Hunter back on their Earth [Solo Leveling], he is now a spy for 'Human Faction' un-official for now. Of course.
Anyway.
Marco steeled his gaze on the Church before he breathed in and out. A type of a habit he developed back in D-Rank Dungeons, a habit to calm himself and his nerves before entering a Dungeon.
And considering this was a Church with exorcists, it might even be classified as E-Rank Dungeon.
The Church he is planning to visit would be one of the smaller ones in city Grosseto. In Italy of course.
Italy is truly a marvelous nation for religious people, at least that's what Marco though. And considering Heaven's presence here, it's undoubtedly a 'nest' of their own making.
No wonder Heaven favors Italy over most other nations.
He was done with waiting, Marco sure of his decision, acted.
Marco slowly stepped forward, one step at time.
Each step important yet resolute.
Till he was in front of the doors leading to Church, he slowly pushed them open.
~Creak.
Under his push, door's 'creaked' slightly, causing him to wince but he continued undisturbed anyway.
The moment he opened them, what greeted him was, well..
The usual interior of the Church. A marvelous white walls for first.
Paintings of Saints on the walls, dozens of benches merged together in front of them but leaving one single line for walking between them, on red carpet.
He cast one glance at right side of the church.
Benches, dozens of them placed one in front of the other. Creating rows upon rows of benches.
Then he glanced at left side, same as right side.
But what caught his eyes, were actually children.
Indeed, a Church that takes care of orphans. Nothing unusual about it, that is.
A twenty more or less orphans are standing upright, together holding hands. Boys and girls, ages from 3 year old to even 13 year old from what Marco noticed.
Marco's eyes moved over their features.
Most if not every single one of them is blonde haired. With several exception of pure white hair, and brown. But not black.
That's the most intriguing aspect that caught his eyes. And it might mean something...
But to not seem suspicious, he took a step forward into the Church. Marco immediately noticed how countless eyes fell on his figure, but for better purposes he ignored them for the mean time.
He needs to act as 'normal' as possible, and to appear as 'simple man'. A single father, that is.
His acting had certainly improved over the last weeks.
He continued walking forward till he decided to take a seat in the middle of the benches on the right side.
Closer side to children. Just so he could cast a better glance towards them, without much suspicion sent his way.
Children were singing in tandem, but what also caught his attention would be a priest in front of them.
His appearance fits the 'description'.
A particular priest, for sure.
A fat priest indeed, with a mustache.
All spies got same information and descriptions regarding their targets, they need to search Church's, look for fat priest and blonde haired boy with a mole below his left eye, a boy named Isaiah and a girl with white hair and green eyes who goes by the name of Tosca.
With of course a more detailed description than just : Fat priest and blonde haired boy. But for simplicity sake.
And of course, a fat priest who goes by the name of Valper Galilei. The most striking feature about his appearance.
That's all they know regarding their targets, and their communication center that helps them shorten their search by communicating with each others.
Since he had done this act multiple times, Marco clasped his hands in front of his face, as if in prayer.
He should go an become an official actor at this point, maybe acting as a fake priest in some movie with 7 heroes of past along with 7 mages fighting against each other for a corrupted cup.
Who knows, maybe it would be fun to be actor like that.
But he shifted his posture slightly, since he 'felt' someone approaching.
"Good Sir, may I ask for what you are praying for?" A soft voice spoke beside his left side, he opened his eyes to look at who asked him such question.
And he noticed them.
It was a Nun. A blonde haired nun, with blessed bosom and long hair. Wearing traditional Nun attire, concealing her whole body.
With soft, yet rather sharp but tender blue eyes, slightly frowning. And a small mole under her left eye, a beauty mark. And Nun's classic black uniform with white veil covering her head.
But his attention shifted to her 'magical presence' rather than her voice or appearance.
A Nun with capabilities of a D-Rank Hunter if her barely restrained Aura is anything to go by, so Low-Class being by this world standards. Just as strong as him.
He is uncertain if he would win the fight between them if one breaks out, or both might as well end up ending each other.
One of the things they noticed once arriving in this world would be their method of 'restraining their aura's '. Despite beings in this world trying their best to restrain their aura's, it's still obvious for Hunters to notice them, especially those with weaker aura. It might seem unusual, but it's easier to notice a weaker aura than stronger one. And it just makes this world's sensing abilities poor comparable to those of Hunters.
But all of that doesn't matter to Marco right now.
~Sigh, Marco sighed, as he released his breath.
"My daughter... She is not feeling well." He replied, he lied through his teeth as his face morphed from the unreadable one to one of 'sadness'. This is the same lie he told numerous times to other Church's in other cities till now when asked why.
It was his 'story' he goes with.
~Gasp!
Nun gasped as she covered her mouth, feigning shocked expression.
But Marco had seen that look and that face numerous times already.
It's fake, she doesn't care at all. But she needs to her job, that's what he noticed. But he is going to go along with it for his job's sake too.
"W-what disease?" She asked, her lips trembling slightly. She is not a nun, she is exorcist, a Killer.
A damn good and hot actress, that's what Marco though.
Hey! He was honest at-least, but he would certainly like to know why women in this world are 'better-looking than the ones from his own'.
"S-she, has cancer." He replied, forcing a single fake tear from his right eye. She might be a good actor, but is she a better actor than Marco? He took it as a challenge.
Nun gasped once again. " That's, that's horrible.." She whispered.
Marco nodded, agreeing with her. Casting a subtle glance towards the children.
That glance did not go unnoticed by the Nun.
She smiled at obvious 'sadness' she was in Marco's eyes before she moved slowly, approaching him before sitting down beside him. And putting her hands on her knees.
"Shall we pray together for your..." She trailed, prolonging Marco to answer her un-asked question.
"Isabella, her name is Isabella." He replied, his voice marked with pain of a worried father, something she deduced was 'real'.
"Then for Isabella." She clasped her hands in front of her face, in 'praying' pose as she silently began whispering under her breath.
Ha! If only she knew!
Marco did the same, but he certainly only closed his left eye in case 'Nun' was keeping warch over him but leaving his right eye open so he could 'watch' over the children.
He noticed, while most children were blonde haired, he noticed one girl, a white haired girl with green eyes that 'fills' the description. And beside her is a boy, that also fills the description they gained from Morgan-Sama.
Not one 100% accurate, but seemingly decent enough to warrant a detailed search about this Church, especially considering the lack of Churchs with all these 'suspects combined'.
Coincidence? He doesn't think so.
But.. They lack something more, they lack fat's priest name..
So, with that set in stone. He started truly praying for next several minutes, albeit for different reason than he proclaimed before.
They continued praying for a time before Marco stopped, so he decided to strike another profound conversation with combat ready Nun sitting beside him.
It slightly unnerved him.
"The 'priest' appears to love children.." Muttered Marco as he obviously meant at fat priest speaking to children now who stopped singing.
Nun beside him opened her eyes and smiled. " Indeed, Father Valper is indeed a kind priest. Children here love him very much." She replied, her smile full of 'happiness'. But Valper Galilei itself wasn't a taboo name, so she wasn't required to hide it anyway.
After all, this Holy Sword Project is something only the upper echelons of the Church know about.
Not even 'Heaven' is aware.
But unknown to her, the name 'Valper' was everything Marco needed to stop his search.
He stopped his smile that threatened to split his face in half, so it was time to strategically retreat.
That was what he though.
So he stood up, checking his watch on his left hand silently. Nun beside him frowned slightly, maybe suspicious with the gaze she sent his way.
2: 13 PM.
"It was a pleasure, meeting you..." He trailed off as his eyes moved towards the Nun, expecting a name from Nun in question.
Beautiful Nun smiled at him before chuckling. " Sophia, my name is Sophia." She replied, her gaze not falling from Marco's frame for not even a split second, her body tense.
Ready for action, as her hands slowly moved 'below here long skirt'.
She appears to be ready for a fight, that's what Marco concluded, so it was definitely a time to retreat.
He nodded before replying.
"Then, Nun Sophia, I bid you goodbye." He told her with a 'mock-bow' before he walked away from the benches, but he couldn't help shivering slightly. A glare piercing his back, perhaps?
But he ignored it, but still on guard just in case. They shouldn't have suspected much.
He exited from the Church, the moment he did, that same piercing glare disappeared. But he certainly was not about to sigh or do anything that may blow his cover for now.. No, he still is not safe distance away from the Church for that matter at hand.
' A kid and girl with almost exact descriptions, and a fat priest with 'Valper' name. What a coincidence, you say..' Marco though to himself, as he turned to another street, cars passing by.
And then, Marco noticed a taxi passing by. Since he needs to get away from this area as fast as possible, this should do nicely.
He extended his hand towards it, sign for it to stop nearby.
A red car stopped beside him, with yellow 'TAXI' written on it's doors.
Window opened on the car, revealing it's driver to be a fat man. Fat man in his 60s, long and unkempt grey hair, and beard as well. Wearing nothing but grey shirt and pants with sandals, and smoking cigar.
Marco never cared for looks anyway. Instead he shifted his gaze towards licence plate in mean-time, to memorize it.
"Jump in lad." Driver spoke, his old gruff voice resounding. Marco opened the doors before taking his seat and strapping the belt over himself. " I need ride to farthest Hotel in the city." He replied.
Driver looked at him with confused face. " Why farthest when I can ride you to nearest?" He asked him out of curiosity.
Marco tilted his head slightly.
"I'll pay, money is not a problem. Beside it's... personal." Not wanting to argue with this useless subject, Marco just sprout some bullshit he could think of as fast as possible.
Driver just shrugged his shoulders, not caring much. " Ah I get'ya lad. My wife also cheated on me once, and then I run off to farthest city I could to escape from such humiliation.." He replied.
And then, Marco felt true fear for the first time.
This old man, he misunderstood everything!
"Ah, it's not like that.." He trailed off, but Driver waved him off before starting up the engine with a simple twist of keys.
~RUM! RUM!
"Nah, I know how you feel young lad. I was your age too once. I know that feeling. I won't hold it to ya!" Old man replied before opening the window and throwing his cigar away. " Ya know what, It's on the house from me."
Marco simply gave up from arguing at this point, but it's fine.
He doesn't need to pay for a ride = more money for him to drink off.
So anyway, with a dozen minutes or so of un-eventful ride, Marco was left at 'Isabella's Heart' Hotel. A smallest yet farthest Hotel in the city from the Church, at outskirts of the city that is.
Marco looked at the hotel, it does not look that much impressive. And the style looks like old Roman/Greek with Columns at the wooden doors. 'It does bring up old history lessons.' Marco smiled at that, remembering his past.
His past studies in college and high school back then.
Ah, such good old days. He though.
But no matter what, he walked forwards, opened the doors and walked into the hotel. He immediately noticed a desk in the middle of the 'hall' and 'receptionist' writing something on the laptop.
The moment he stepped in, receptionist cast a look at him.
Receptionist appears to be a young man, with tan skin, at most in his early 20s with short black hair. Wearing black suit. Completing a 'professional' look.
Marco walked towards him with a small smile.
"Hello, I'd like a room for one night and dinner if possible."He requested, young man shot him a smile before nodding.
"Understand sir, we just have one free..." Young receptionist replied with his own 'business smile' before opening one drawer and pulling something out from it.
With closer look, it revealed itself.
That something just so happens to be a key, with [1[ engraved on it.
"Room 1 is free, room is on second floor, a night with dinner would be 60$." Receptionist replied before extending the key towards Marco who nodded before taking them.
"Thank you."
"It was my pleasure, sir." Young man replied,
Marco only nodded before he proceeded to walk up the stairs.
When he entered second floor, Room Number 1 was immediately at his right side. He inserted the key for the room, twisting it and turning it.
~Plop.
And with resounding 'plop', doors opened, he stepped into room before once again closing the doors and using key to truly seal them off.
He took his phone from the pockets, before he opened 'Group Chat'.
Then he typed.
<[I found them]>
Chapter Word Count: 2,654
Chapter before edit = 1,904 Words
Chapter after edit = 2,654