Hal had quickly accepted the detective's deal without really thinking it through, and now he bore two cufflinks with the Haverfield emblem on them.
He was to use them to communicate with the detective, but only for important matters, and one of those matters would be what he found out at the congregation.
Hal's mop touched the marble floor of the mansion as he quickly cleaned through Mr Faizo's room, as he did one of the duties assigned to him as his assistant.
"The congregation is a place where all the books written by the scholars are kept" Hal had read about this congregation from one of the scholars' journals.
It was said to have been founded by the first scholars to set foot in Haverfield and has ever since acted as a site of education for only the most brilliant of people or the most influential of nobles.
And soon enough, Hal would be heading there himself; he pulled out the card that would allow him access to the congregation's archives, where he would look for the books belonging to the scholar who stopped the curse back then.
"He should have at least given me a name or something to start with", he let out a sigh as a new hindrance to his task rose in his mind, almost bringing tears to his eyes.
"How am I supposed to convince Mr Faizo and Elizabeth to let me go to the congregation anyway?"
The sun appeared from the horizon as the morning rays bathed Hal in their elegant sunlight. He appreciated the beautiful sunrise before him, but there was a sweet sadness in that beauty, for it meant one thing.
That was another day of Elizabeth's training had arrived.
***
Hal was sent flying across the emerald grass, painting it red as he flew by. He stayed on the ground as he bled out profusely until his heart froze.
His hoarse breath left his mouth as he was once again revived by one of the Elizabeth clones that giggled at his pathetic sight.
"At least you survived a little longer, but I am more impressed with Tai; he has the other me on the ropes"
Hal's eyes located Tai, who was pushing back the sword Elizabeth, their swords met blow for blow as they too exchanged scratches from time to time.
In fact, for a moment it almost felt as if Tai had the win until Elizabeth suddenly dug her feet into the ground and ducked one of Tai's strikes before standing up and driving her sword through the poor swordsman.
Hal felt traumatised by the incident, but also disappointed in himself for being unable to do as much as Tai was
"He's learning first, I believe he will soon ignite his soul and awaken a trait. I give him two weeks or so, as for you to do better and stop hesitating to take my life, if you can't kill a clone, then you won't be able to kill the real thing when the time for it arrives"
Elizabeth got up and retracted her whip before turning back to Hal and offering her hand. A smile almost came on to his lips when he heard.
"Your dagger?" Hal froze "What?" Elizabeth let out an exasperated sigh before repeating herself
"I won't be keeping them, just checking what they can really do. I can read souls, hence I'll be able to tell the ability of your dagger, so hand it over"
"Read souls", Elizabeth's face twisted into a frown as her voice rose to an intimidating level "Yes, it's just like how it sounds, so do you want to know your dagger's capabilities and name or not?"
Hal still wanted to ask to elaborate, but was afraid of being strangled to death by the whip in Elizabeth's hands, hence he reluctantly handed his dagger over.
Elizabeth received it and stared at it for a while before turning around and remerging with her other clone.
"See you tomorrow, boys, and Hal, I expect more from you tomorrow, and Tai, keep it up"
Tai came over and sat next to Hal, his poor shirt ripped to bits by Elizabeth's sword "That was impressive, Tai. Come on, tell me your secret"
Tai looked a little bit dazed even after being healed as he took a few moments to answer, "To tell you the truth, I'm just trying to aim at her weaknesses"
"What do you mean by that?"
Tai smiled at his friend, "I remember how I was called the weakest link by Lady Roxanne. It troubled me a lot, but after thinking of it for a while, I decided to make it a battle style"
Tai drew his blade, and it gleamed in the midday sun as Tai slashed down with it a couple of times.
"I don't care what you are planning, I won't try to predict your moves, and I will charge forward no matter what, as I look for your weakness, a weak point in your defence, attack, or even mind and use it to cut you down"
There was a bit of obsession in Tai's eyes, enough to make a shiver run down Hal's spine, but also a little bit of advice.
'He stopped trying to predict her and instead focused on his own strategy, one that would turn his own weakness into strength while discovering the weaknesses of others'
"You know what, Tai? I think I'm going to follow in your footsteps for a while"
After the two boys rested and had a shower, they returned to their afternoon duties, as Hal was now supervising all the kitchen food to check for poison.
He didn't like it since he had to taste the food himself, even though the Harleyclover house had precautions in case he got poisoned.
He finished the duty without a hitch, a gentle smile manifesting on his lips. He turned to the anxious head chef, who had dull black hair and eyes.
He wore a white chef's attire, and his moustache was enough to put any other to shame; it curled up into a weird design, looking close to a man flexing his muscles.
Hal quickly got rid of that, though, as he smiled at the chef, saying, "Another nice meal, good sir"
The chef's lips curled up as he nodded and bowed
"Thanks, Mr Hal, I do appreciate it"
Hal left the room only to run into a courtyard maid who called to him
"Mr Hal, you have a visitor, please follow me"
Hal did not hesitate as he hastened his steps to keep up with the maid, was the detective, Lady Roxanne or maybe Albert?
He arrived in the room as his eyes soon widened.
"Joset, you're here", she was seated on one of the many couches in the Harleyclover living room with a cup of tea in her hand.
She turned to Hal and smiled at him. Hal rushed to her side and almost bumped into Tai, who was coming from the other hall.
They both stopped an inch from each other as a sigh of relief left both of their lips.
Joset giggled at the sight of them as she signalled them to come sit next to her.
"So, how have you boys been doing?" Hal wanted to tell about the multiple times he had been stabbed by Elizabeth, but later chose to keep his mouth shut when he saw Elizabeth enter the room
"What are you doing mingling with my students?" Elizabeth's voice was filled with scorn as she stared daggers at Joset, who gladly stared at her with some of her own
"Long time no see, Elizabeth"
Elizabeth scoffed, "I think it should have been longer"
Tai and Hal looked from one to the other as a craving curiosity took root in their hearts
"So, is there something that happened with you two?" Tai took the liberty to ask the question, to which Joset smiled and replied
"Just like the three of you, we just had to be a team of three as well, but at some point we decided to take apart our team"
"We decided more like you and Margret made the decision on your own, I mean, we were the best of the best, we even woke our aspects together, but then you two woke and ended it all"
"Aspect, Team wha…"
"I'll stop you right there, little Hal, I'm not in the mood for your questions today. Besides, your new teacher will teach you what aspects she is"
Elizabeth gritted her teeth as she moved to Joset with a fury in her eyes, "But tell me why you ended it? Why did you and Margaret decide to end our team, and without my consent?"
Joset closed her eyes as she kept her voice calm and serene, unlike their new teacher.
"We did not get your consent because you wouldn't have agreed, and we disbanded because…"
A new voice joined the three as Tai and Hal turned to see a lady with brilliant orange hair and eyes, who wore a scarlet suit. Her hair was tied into a bun, and her aura was serious, like the other two Hal was familiar with
"There is only one reason we disbanded, and that was because we were becoming monsters"