Big Mama went silent for a few long seconds, and Viva blinked in curiosity as she wondered what was going on. The lieutenant standing behind Viva was also confused, and the two of them looked at each other before Viva decided to try to talk to Big Mama. But the werewolf bartender standing behind them suddenly put his hand on Viva’s shoulder, and he shook his head when Viva looked at him. The werewolf held a finger over his mouth, and then he spoke in a very low voice.

"Big Mama is consulting the higher spirits. She has the ability to see threads of fate beyond this realm, but she needs absolute quiet to reach the fates."

Viva blinked in shock, and she looked back at the smoking fat woman in surprise! She was a seer!? Viva had heard about seers before! The gift of seeing was not something you could train or develop like regular magic. It was something you had to be born with. All seers were very special children, and they were treated with high respect by other mages. Seers were usually trained by the church to become priestesses or priests devoted to the higher gods. But Viva had no idea how a seer would end up as the leader of a group like the Full Moon Mercenaries. Why wasn’t Big Mama taken to the church like the other Seers? And how did she become like this?

Viva couldn’t help but wonder how Percy and Big Mama became acquainted as well. From what Viva had seen, Big Mama had a lot of respect for Percy for some reason, and the werewolf bartender feared Percy a lot. So whatever story was tying them together had to be a really interesting one!

Big Mama’s silence continued for a few more minutes, and there was complete silence from behind the curtains. Viva started getting really bored, so she was already glancing around the room to study random objects. But eventually, there was a gasp from Big Mama, and Viva turned back to the curtain as she saw Big Mama take another large puff from her pipe. Big Mama spoke up with a wise voice.

"The object you seek is known as the [Statue of Eternal Rest]. It is an artefact crafted long ago by the Grim Reaper and gifted to the ghoul race of demihumans as a reward for their service."

Viva blinked in surprise when she heard it, and she glanced at the Lieutenant for a moment before she asked.

"Do you know where this artefact is, ma’am?"

Big Mama took another long puff.

"No, nothing like that. The artefact was lost to history more than fifteen hundred years ago. Long before the demihuman war. But from the information the higher spirits gave me, traces of it were last seen somewhere in the Western Verati Canyon outside the city of Hendrix. It’s current whereabouts are unknown."

Viva and the lieutenant shared another look when they heard this. The Verati Canyons were a series of canyons that had been created by the attacks Verati unleashed during the demihuman war. Verati had so much power in his magic that almost every major attack from him was capable of reshaping the entire landscape of the kingdom! Right now, there were fifteen Canyons and twenty-five hollow mountains named after Verati as a tribute to the battles he fought in those places. But the Western Verati Canyon was one of the largest canyons in the entire kingdom! It stretched for about a hundred miles horizontally, and it was deep enough to fit an entire mountain into it! There was no way they could search for anything in a place like that!

The lieutenant finally spoke up for the first time.

"Uhm... Big Mama, is there not some way to narrow down the location of this artefact even more?"

Big Mama scoffed in irritation.

"Of course, you would want more. I have just given you information that you would’ve never been able to find without me, and yet here you are seeking more? How greedy can you be, human?"

The lieutenant felt heat rising to his cheeks from how Big Mama spoke to him, and he was about to give her a piece of his mind, but Viva touched his arm and shook her head. They had come here to ask for Big Mama’s help, and she had given them a lot of help already. It would be very disrespectful for them to complain about the help not being enough! The lieutenant understood what Viva was trying to say, and even though he still wanted to know more, he decided that this was enough for now.

"Thank you for your help, ma’am. We’ll be on our way."

Viva bowed thankfully, and Big Mama let out a puff of smoke before saying:

"Tell Percival Big Mama misses him. Since he thought of me this time, I’ll be expecting a visit soon."

Viva’s smile became slightly strained, and she nodded thankfully one more time before she and the lieutenant finally left the room. The werewolf led them down the stairs and escorted them all the way to their horses, and when they were getting on, the werewolf put his hands together and spoke in a slightly pleading tone.

"I hope there are no hard feelings about how we welcomed you earlier. I’ll be sure to tell my boys to behave next time, so if it’s possible, can we keep that between just us? There’s no need to involve Master Percival."

"Uhm... yeah, sure, there’re no issues. Thank you for the help."

Viva answered uncomfortably, and she said goodbye before she and the lieutenant finally left!

.....

[Verati Academy Main Building]

[The Headmaster’s Office]

The office of the headmaster of Verati Academy was located at the top of a tall tower on the west end of the school. The office was extremely large with multiple shelves on the walls that contained artefacts and magical books that had been collected by Headmaster Leonart over the years. On one side of the room, there was a large wooden table positioned in front of a massive glass wall that overlooked the entire academy! Right now, Headmaster Leonart was standing in front of the glass wall with his hands behind his back and looking out on the large school with a troubled look in his eyes!

There was a piece of parchment on the table behind the headmaster, and a magic pen was moving across the paper and signing various documents that the headmaster needed to finish tonight.

Leonart’s mind was currently on the student who had been killed a few days ago, and he felt a sadness in his heart at the loss of such a young child. Leonart had spoken to the girl’s parents, and they were devastated to hear about their daughter’s death. But the conversation that was really difficult was the one Leonart had with the parents of the accused girl, Dalia. The parents were adamant that their child was innocent, and Leonart didn’t know what to tell them yet.

’Will you be able to solve this case, Verati?’

Ka-cha!

The sound of the door opening made the headmaster turn around slightly, and he smiled when he saw the beautiful woman who entered. Her name was Rosaline James, and she was the current head of the academic staff at the academy as well as the Professor in charge of Ancient Runes. Rosaline had a long, angular face and full red lips. Her hair was a pale blond, and she had green eyes that seemed to pierce into anything she looked at! She was currently wearing a dress shirt and a pencil skirt that came down to her knees, and even though she was dressed professionally, her figure was so extraordinary that it was impossible to hide her wide hips and large breasts!

Rosaline was holding a stack of papers in her hand, and she put them on the table before she spoke.

"Headmaster, these are the final drafts for the planned excursion. You can have a look at it when you’re ready."

The headmaster chuckled slightly, and he turned around and said:

"Rosa, didn’t I tell you to call me grandfather when we’re alone?"

Rosaline’s cheeks reddened slightly when she heard it, and she turned away in slight embarrassment before she said.

"S-Sorry, grandfather. I just wanted to keep things professional."